Ruth Golod

Residential real estate loan prices are on the move for the third straight week. This comes as no surprise to anyone who reads the business section on a regular basis. The Fed has been raising the Fed Funds Rate for quite a while now and has signaled that this is unlikely to change any time soon. The markets are starting to catch up now as 30 year, fixed-rate mortgage rates have reached a near-4-year high.

New+York+Real+Estate, New+York, Real+Estate, Residential, Mortgages, Interest+Rates

tags: interest+rates, mortgages, new+york, new+york+real+estate, real+estate, residential

It seems that I am not alone in thinking that there is a general slowdown in the real estate market in New York as well as in other areas. Many articles have been published this week quoting sources like government economic reports, local MLS board statistics as well as first-hand observations by real estate professionals. All have basically come to the same conclusion…property sales have slowed down over the past three to four months and a trend is starting to emerge. Do I think this means there is going to be a “crash” in the market, not at this point. But, I think you are kidding yourself if you think that the economy and real estate sales are slowing down finally.

New+York+Real+Estate, New+York, Real+Estate, Sales, Homes

tags: homes, new+york, new+york+real+estate, real+estate, sales

I think the market is made up of the smartest people in the country. They know when to play along and when to “stay the course,” as someone from Washington will surely say today and tomorrow (etc). U.S. Treasury prices fell for the fourth straight session and have pushed yields to 21-month highs. Clearly the people behind the scenes on “the street” know that the Fed is unlikely to stop their course of action and continue to raise the Fed Funds Rate again in the next few meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee.

U.S. Treasury debt prices fell for fourth straight session on Monday as data on factory orders and the real estate market did little to change views that the Federal Reserve will push interest rates higher. January U.S. factory orders fell a bit less than expected but still recorded their biggest drop since July 2000. However, the report was full of upward revisions of individual components that offered support to the view that the Fed was probably not finished raising short-term interest rates.

New+York+Real+Estate, Interest+Rates, Fed, Fed+Funds+Rate

tags: fed, fed+funds+rate, interest+rates, new+york+real+estate

The New York Attorney General is investigating large title insurance companies like First American to see if they made illegal payments to favored customers and referral fees to agents in the state of New York. Clearly the antiquated system of purchasing and selling New York real estate is in dire need of reform. The lawsuit earlier last year about how large brokerages do business and investigations like the current one by the NY Attorney General are surely not going to be the last.

New York authorities are investigating whether some of the biggest U.S. title insurers illegally paid secret rebates to favored customers and referral fees to agents, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing people briefed on the probe. New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and the New York State Insurance Department estimate such payments raised title-insurance costs for millions of New York homeowners, the paper said, citing the people briefed. The probes are examining whether title insurers including First American Title Insurance Co. paid millions of dollars in premium rebates to big real-estate developers and national chain stores, as well as referral fees to title agents, mortgage brokers and attorneys who delivered clients, the paper said.

New+York+Real+Estate, New+York, Real+Estate, Title+Insurance, First+American

tags: first+american, new+york, new+york+real+estate, real+estate, title+insurance

As if you have not heard, the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) union workers are threatening a strike if a deal is not struck between workers and the MTA by midnight tonight. Estimates put the costs of such a strike at one half of a billion dollars every day. That is some serious cake. ABC reports that it would be impossible for the city’s immense business world to function without the almost 5,000 buses and more than 8,250 operating. This was evident after Sept. 11th, 2001, when the MTA rushed to get transit services back into operation soon after that tragic day. Four out of 5 workers who work in New York’s central business district, get on a bux or subway to commute during rush hour, according to the MTA. Hopefully, they will reach an agreetment and we can all put this behind us.