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Posted
Oct 22 2009, 04:06 PM
by
Louis Navellier
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Buying a house is one of the biggest purchases most Americans will ever make. And right now, the housing market is the one of the biggest anchors holding back the U.S. economy. Though a recovery is under way in many sectors, the housing market remains a problem, and it looks likes it's going to get even worse.
7 Housing Stocks to Sell Now
Why do I say that? Here are seven reasons I'm convinced the housing market will continue to crater:
Reason #1 - Low Housing Starts
On October 20, data showed new housing starts were worse than expected, as builders remain cautious. While the total number of starts edged up a bit from 587,000 to 590,000, the increase was well under Wall Street's forecast of 610,000. Single-family starts appear to be leveling off—not increasing as some had hoped—and multi-family units saw a dramatic 15.2% drop on the month.
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Posted
Oct 19 2009, 11:33 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
If you own shares of Fannie Mae (FNM) or Freddie Mac (FRE), you're sitting on a whole lot of nothing, according to analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. The analysts cut the price target on both stocks to zero and downgraded them to underperform. In order for these mortgage giants to survive, the analysts said, they need to be recapitalized from the banking industry. But even if that happens, their common and preferred stocks will be worthless. The government has funneled $98 billion in capital into Fannie and Freddie, according to MarketWatch.
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Posted
Oct 09 2009, 01:53 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 Want to buy a house with just 3.5% down and high monthly payments? Talk to the Federal Housing Association, which still backs loans on terms that private lenders would never go for.
And now, the FHA is having so many problems that it may need a taxpayer bailout, reports the New York Times. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to see a disaster in the making here. FHA head David Stevens is trying to downplay the issue, saying his agency will not need a bailout. But at the same time, he admits that 20% of the loans the FHA insured last year are facing foreclosure or other serious problems, according to The New York Times. The FHA wasn't meant to turn out like this.
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Posted
Oct 02 2009, 05:13 PM
by
John Reese
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
When it comes to investing, I firmly believe that reinventing the wheel can be a dangerous game. If you want to beat the market over the long haul, I think your best bet is to learn from those rare investors who have done just that -- that's why I created my Guru Strategy computer models, and it's why at the end of every week I examine what some top strategists have been saying about the market and the economy.
Over the past week, continued uncertainty about the economic recovery has made for some divergent opinions on where the market is headed. On the whole, however, the gurus I keep an eye on have leaned to the bullish side.
Kent Croft -- whose Croft Value fund is in the top 7% of funds in its category over the past three, five, and ten years, according to Morningstar -- says, for example, that he’s still finding plenty of value in the market. He told Yahoo! TechTicker that he's high on quality firms that offer “growth at a discounted price”; he has his eye on Cisco, and some high-dividend plays in the healthcare sector.
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Posted
Sep 30 2009, 10:41 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 The huge wave of layoffs that hit this country has given rise to a new word, one that irks me almost as much as "bromance." This new word I'm talking about is "mancession," which describes the fact that this recession has hurt men more than women.
In fact, women are on the verge of surpassing men on the nation's payrolls, The New York Times reports. In July, women had 49.9% of all payroll jobs. But this isn't because more women are working. What has happened instead is that more men have lost their jobs. And presto: A "mancession" is upon us. Dr. Phil devoted a show to men who couldn't deal with their wives becoming the family breadwinners. Are we headed for a social crisis?
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Posted
Sep 25 2009, 08:04 AM
by
Minyanville
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
This article is written by Minyanville's Ryan Goldberg
Home sales fell last month, and so be it. Every home that doesn’t get sold is another bailout I don’t have to finance. (See "Home sales drying up.")
Congress included an $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers as part of the stimulus package passed last winter. As many as 40% of all homebuyers this year will qualify for it, and it’s expected to cost the government $15 billion -- more than twice the original forecast -- thanks to its popularity.
Bing: More about the homebuyer tax credit
The tax credit is scheduled to expire on Nov. 30. Not surprisingly, the real estate industry, including the 1.1 million-member National Association of Realtors, wants Congress to extend the credit at least through next summer, and to expand it to $15,000 and allow all buyers to qualify. The cost: $50 billion to $100 billion.
This is a redistributed tax from renters to buyers. As a proud renter, I’ve had enough.
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Posted
Sep 22 2009, 08:48 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 The economic recession in the U.S. has taken a toll on construction jobs available, and as a result fewer immigrants are coming here from Mexico and other countries.
That's the general take after census numbers show the number of foreign-born people living in the U.S. has declined for the first time since 1970, The Wall Street Journal reports. About 38 million foreign-born people lived here in 2008, a decline of 100,000 from the previous year. Bing: Census figures on gay marriage, health insurance
If that doesn't seem like much of a drop to you, consider that between 2000 and 2006, the number of foreign-born in the U.S. grew by 1 million a year. Compared with that growth rate, the decline seen last year is staggering. Of course, it's hard to get an exact count on all this because millions of people are in the U.S. illegally, the Journal reports.
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Posted
Sep 21 2009, 12:15 PM
by
Jim Jubak
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 The program that gives first-time home buyers an $8,000 tax credit is due to expire at the end of November.
The Federal Reserve will talk about winding down its buying of mortgage-backed securities in its two-day meeting this week.
Will that be the end to the rally that saw new-home sales rise 9.6% in July from June (the biggest sequential month-to-month jump since 2005)? And that saw stocks of home builders such as DR Horton (DHI) and Lennar (LEN) soar 40% and 66% from July 1 to September 21?
Bing: More about the tax credit for home buyers
Could well be. The signs aren't good. (For other signs that we're not out of the financial woods yet, see my post “Credit card defaults move up again in August.”
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Posted
Sep 11 2009, 02:11 PM
by
James Dlugosch
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
There is a lot of money being made in the recovery of the housing market. Are you participating? If not, you should be.
Last week, I recommended a very small publicly traded company that makes doors and windows in Florida to readers of my paid investing advisory, Penny Stock Winners. With the stock trading for some 60 cents on the dollar, this was a high-risk, high-reward speculation.
Bing: More on the housing recovery
But this rocket ship took off shortly after I made my recommendation, peaking at a gain of more than 300% in only a few days of trading. I had my subscribers sell and lock in at a gain of 250%.
What is amazing to me is that this story is taking place across the entire sector. Here's what I mean, and three of my favorites in this arena.
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Posted
Sep 11 2009, 10:34 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Another day, another story of a banking executive making a boneheaded move. And this one seems too unbelievable to be true. A Wells Fargo honcho in charge of foreclosures decided to make herself right at home in a $12 million Malibu beach house, moving in and throwing big parties soon after it had been surrendered to her bank, the Los Angeles Times reports after talking to neighbors. What could make this story even more outrageous? How about a dash of Bernard Madoff? The former owners of the home were victims of Madoff's Ponzi scheme. They lost a fortune in the fraud, their real estate agent told the Times. Bing: Bank executives gone bad
The owners turned the house over to Wells Fargo last May, but the bank refused to show the house to potential buyers, the agent said. And then, neighbors say, the foreclosure boss moved in.
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