The Chicago 77

16 July 2009 ? A Chicago architectural icon is losing its identity today. Or is it? Willis Group Holdings, the London-based insurance broker who has leased a substantial portion of the Sears Tower, will officially change the building’s name on Thursday. But how many of us Chicagoans will give up tradition and call the building [...]

15 July 2009 ? Bonds opened down 16bps today and continued to get worse throughout the day. Currently (2:45 p.m.) bonds are down 68 bps which is pressuring the mortgage interest rates. This is the 3rd straight day that we have seen the bond market drop and as I mentioned in Monday?s update there was [...]

15 July 2009 ? According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, Stan Liebowitz, University of Texas Economics Professor, shared his findings on mortgage foreclosure trends since 2007. Overall, Liebowitz learned that sub-prime mortgage lenders are not the primary cause of current market conditions, and in essence, debunked the prevailing belief that these [...]

Earlier this month I highlighted some key points about short sales: What is a short sale? How does it compare to foreclosure? Are short sales on the rise and does this mean I should wait to buy? This week, I?m outlining the challenges faced when dealing with a short sale, what is being done?if anything?to [...]

14 July 2009 ? Today the mortgage bonds opened up down 19bps. They are currently (1:00 p.m.) down 28bps in part because of a higher than expected wholesale inflation reading. The concern is that this may?emphasis on may?lead to inflation but that would take some time to determine. However bonds typically will react negatively to [...]

The Chicago Tribune posted an article in yesterday’s Business section titled, “Chicago housing prices drop even faster.” In the article there was a graph which posted home prices and their price reductions broken down by neighborhood. The news source for the pricing was Trulia. Trulia is a website where seller’s and agents alike are welcome [...]

14 July 2009 ? Are the Cubs bankrupt? Well . . . not exactly. Their parent company Tribune Co. is currently in bankruptcy and is looking to possibly sell the team along with other assets like Wrigley Field. After originally leaving the team out of its original December filing the Tribune Co. is now considering [...]

13 July 2009 ? Today mortgage-backed bonds opened down 6bps and are currently down 9bps. There has not been much volatility today with the bond market, but everyone is holding their breath for the earnings to come out which I had mentioned in last week’s daily update. We are in a holding pattern to see [...]

13 July 2009 ? Trulia reports that nationwide as of July, sellers cut $27.1 billion from asking prices. This is the first month Chicago has made the top ten list nationally. The volume of price reductions in Chicago was $229,444,054, ranking the city at number seven. Thirty one percent of active listings took an average [...]

10 July 2009 ? Mortgage backed bonds struggled yesterday and closed down 34 BPS. This morning bonds opened up 38bps and continue to maintain the gains?currently the mortgage backed bonds are up 50bps. The Dow is down 31 and has not had a significant rally in some time. Chevron warned investors about concerns over future [...]

10 July 2009 ? Affordability is driving more buyers back into the market according to a survey conducted by Realtor.com. As reported today on Rismedia, bargains are motivating millions of buyers to engage in the market and at the same time delaying homeowners to sell. For 14.6% of first time home buyers, the federal $8,000 [...]

9 July 2009 ? The 30-year fixed mortgage rates have really made a nice run over the past 4 weeks. Yesterday the mortgage bonds finished up 66bps, which is a very nice gain. The bonds were helped by a successful 10 Year Note Auction. Today we anticipated the bonds to open up lower as they [...]

9 July 2009 ? The National Association of Realtors is working to amend the new Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC). A new bill, the HR. 3044, has been proposed by U.S. Reps. Travis Childers (D-Miss.) and Gary Miller (R-Calif.). They have teamed up to champion the bill that would put a moratorium on the [...]