While residential housing experts fret about the future of market recovery — threats appear to be looming left and right, from higher rates to increased regulation — the boom in commercial mortgages is getting less ink. But could the boom in CMBS hold lessons for the residential market? …read more

In San Francisco, what’s more important to voters than crime and safety? The answer, according to a recent study: housing and the cost of living. Housing costs have jumped significantly during the past year, along with a shortage of affordable housing for average wage earners, the San Francisco Examiner found. …read more

File this under “strangest story of the day,” as news appeared yesterday that the Vancouver has amended its building code — and doorknobs are out. Existing doorknobs can stay in place, the city said. …read more

As reports of inventory shortages keep appearing, the driver isn’t entirely that investors are crowding out retail home purchasers — as Trulia (TRLA) chief economist Jed Kolko notes in an article appearing at The Atlantic, vacancy rates are unusually high. Homes are intentionally being kept off the market. …read more

By Ryan Lundquist I started scratching out blog posts almost five years ago, and I’ll admit I’m excited to hit post #1000 at some point next year. Along the way it’s been fun to build great relationships, learn, share information, earn some new clients, get speaking gigs and gain attention from local and national media. […]

Bush-Backed Singapore Firm Snapping Up U.S. Real Estate At Throwaway PricesForbesNeil Bush, the brother of former U.S. President George W. Bush, is using Singapore as a springboard to bankroll his real estate ambitions. Early this week, he announced that Singapore-listed SingHaiyi Group of which he is a non-executive chairman, had … …read more

Sacramento County wants to nearly halve the share of low-income units that homebuilders must include and reduce their fees after developers complained the current affordable housing law has hurt the real estate market. …read more

Here’s Why The Philippines’ Economic Miracle Is Really A Bubble In DisguiseForbesChina’s stimulus plan called for an aggressive credit-driven infrastructure and residential real estate-based economic growth strategy that resulted in the building of scores of cities and other projects – many of which are still empty or unused … and more …read more

Hands On With the Nokia Lumia 2520 Windows RT TabletForbesWhat that translates to is slightly less screen real estate and slightly faster performance but in both cases those differences are not big enough to get too excited about. Both come with 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage (you can get a 64 […]

“Prospect Mortgage announced today that on Nov. 8 it confidentially submitted a draft registration statement for IPO of common stock,” according to Bloomberg journalists Jody Shenn and Christopher DeReza in an email. …read more

The credit quality of the average borrower underlying an impending Credit Suisse RMBS issuance helped the firm obtain solid provisional credit ratings. …read more

Central Valley Community Bancorp Declares Quarterly Cash DividendEIN News (press release)Central Valley Community Bank currently operates 21 full-service offices in Clovis, Exeter, Fresno, Kerman, Lodi, Madera, Merced, Modesto, Oakhurst, Prather, Sacramento, Stockton, Tracy and Visalia, California. … Company’s ability to continue its … and more …read more

A majority of the HW 30 stocks wrapped up Thursday on a high note after a positive jobs report and gains made by Fed Chair nominee Janet Yellen in her attempt to gain Senate approval. …read more

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, more families might not have to travel as far to visit their parents, as more senior citizens begin moving in with their kids. …read more

Some analysts believe JPMorgan Chase was just being a good corporate citizen when it bought Bear Stearns and WaMu in the heat of the financial crisis. But the bank is receiving no favors for taking on the risk. …read more

Investing When Everything Seems ExpensiveForbesPrudent investors stay invested, even when markets seem to be peaking, by holding a balanced portfolio that includes stocks, bonds, real estate and commodities. It might turn out to have been a “pricey” moment to get in. But unless your time horizon is … …read more

Central Valley Community Bancorp Declares Quarterly Cash DividendMarketWatchCentral Valley Community Bank currently operates 21 full-service offices in Clovis, Exeter, Fresno, Kerman, Lodi, Madera, Merced, Modesto, Oakhurst, Prather, Sacramento, Stockton, Tracy and Visalia, California. … Company’s ability to continue its … and more …read more

Central Valley Community Bancorp Declares Quarterly Cash DividendMarketwired (press release)Central Valley Community Bank currently operates 21 full-service offices in Clovis, Exeter, Fresno, Kerman, Lodi, Madera, Merced, Modesto, Oakhurst, Prather, Sacramento, Stockton, Tracy and Visalia, California. … Company’s ability to continue its … and more …read more

A plan to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac received a negative reception from one Obama administration official, kicking off concerns in the mortgage industry that support for private capital in the housing finance reform package is not as solid as once predicted. …read more

Jobless claims fell by 21,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 323,000 last week, according to a Labor Department report released Thursday. Most economists had expected claims to fall to 334,000. …read more

Janet Yellen’s candidacy to become the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve Board got a boost Thursday, as the Senate Banking Committee sent her nomination to the full Senate by a 14-8 vote. …read more

Now that the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are highly profitable and paying huge sums of money to Treasury each quarter — and, as of the third quarter, having mostly repaid all of the government loans given to them during the financial crisis — the fight about what to do with the GSEs’ gobs of […]

Joy in MudvilleAthletics NationIn 1888, Ernest L. Thayer, a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner, witnessed a baseball game played in Stockton on the muddy banks of the San Joaquin River, an area known as “Mudville.” Afterwards, he composed one of the most … His six-year stint … …read more

The debt ceiling debate that led to government stalemate in October is expected to linger well into 2014, creating possible repercussions for the U.S. housing market. …read more

Real estate trends in the West have some analysts calling a real estate bubble in the Golden State. Prices continue to increase despite existing home sales volume falling 7 percent in the Wester U.S. in October from the previous month. …read more