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Housing prices and Montana politics.

One thing that this recount confirmed about Missoula is that it is a progressive town. John, Lou Ann, and Geoff are all considered progressive Democrats. Engen, it should be noted, is a progressive Democrat who has a lot of support in the business community. Missoula’s progressivism has served it well during its periods of rapid growth. While housing prices are rising, it’s tough to compare Missoula and Bozeman and think that Bozeman’s more free market flair is doing a better job of dealing with the growth.

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Read more from this blogger: It’s Engen v. Crowley

If you're looking to buy a house, consider Lawrence, Kansas.

Experts nationwide warn of a housing bubble which, if burst, could have a significant impact on the American economy as a whole. With housing prices seeing such frantic increases, many residents have been forced to relocate from cities such as San Francisco, Miami, and Boston.

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Read more from this blogger: Lawrence Housing Market Shows Little Cause for Concern

Looks like the FTC is investigating the laws of supply and demand.

If Joe is selling his house and has one person placing a bid then he may not expect to get too much for it. However, if demand goes up and he gets 20 bids on his house and sells it for double for what he paid for it then should he be investigated. No.

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Read more from this blogger: FTC investigates housing prices.

Click through for the bubble roundup.

Well, here’s the digest version of some interesting articles regarding the housing bubble many of us find ourselves in.

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Read more from this blogger: Housing Bubble 2005 Roundup

According to this report, collusion between mortgage brokers and appraisers is creating an increase in foreclosures.

The AP reports that Ohio is being especially hard hit by a growing nationwide problem - inflated appraisals and collusion between appraisers and mortgage brokers. When borrowers need to sell a property appraised for more than its real value, and often with negative equity as a result, the homes often end up as REO where inflated appraisals contribute further to losses when used to set pricing.

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Read more from this blogger: Mortgage brokers, appraisers fueling foreclosure increases

I'm seeing lots of posts indicating that banks and mortgage brokers may be culprits in high housing prices.

Banks have pushed up the value of homes since they make more money for selling larger loans. not to mention that they have no risk since they sell the mortgages after they sell them to consumers. the loans they try to sell are risky as you can read below…

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Read more from this blogger: Real Estate

Not uncommon to hear about financial institutions and insurance companies taking advantage of economically disadvantaged.

If anyone is aware of any other local programs, I’d definitely be interested in hearing about them. In particular, I’d be interested in hearing about mortgage brokers that are working to educate minorities.

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Read more from this blogger: Minorities paying more for loans in Seattle?

This site has lots of good mortgage and home buying information.

A home equity line of credit - which lenders and mortgage brokers may refer to as a HELOC - is a different kind of home loan available today.

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Read more from this blogger: Let’s talk about home equity lines of credit…

Housing prices are affected by a range of political activity, including tax limits like Proposition 13 in California and zoning laws.

Nowhere is this more apparent as in the anti-development activism that is done under the aegis of the environment. And the result has been apparent in housing affordability. The correlation between high immigration states coupled with liberal political power and housing prices is evident. Those of the left like to blame developers as the cause of growth but developers build for the market and it is population growth mostly the result of immigration that drives the demand. If the population is stable then we only need to build new houses to replace those whose useful life is over or for those who want something better. And since those new ones built out of preference for something better would leave another house on the market increasing the supply relative to a stable demand.

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Read more from this blogger: Beyond Letters

Housing is an important investment and it's a good idea to take as much time as you need to make a good investment.

Another reason why I didn’t want to make an offer then and there was that I was afraid I might be forgetting something important about the whole process. We went to a first home buyer seminar and talked to some mortgage brokers and in both instances, we received various advice about buying a house. The only problem was that, we couldn’t remember most of the advice given. I had to refer to the notes we have filed at home.

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Read more from this blogger: We Don’t Like Being Rushed

Housing affordability can have an impact on the number of families that can live in a city like San Francisco.

The San Francisco Bay area hasn’t fared much better with a year over year increase of just 387 students in that six county region. Apparently children are becoming as unaffordable as our housing prices.

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Read more from this blogger: California School Enrollment: The Dirty Little Secret of The Education Budget Wars

In metropolitan areas like Los Angeles, the only way to add more housing units in a drivable area is to build up.

Northwestern Orange County — handy as a commuter’s jump-off for points north, south, and east — has come under pressure for more housing. Most of the housing is single-family detached suburban tract housing, with some standard apartments, townhouses and condominiums in complexes generally separated from the detached houses. But as housing prices have shot through the roof, great pressure has built up to increase the density of the housing.

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Read more from this blogger: Denser Housing

This is a huge housing dislocation.

Many families are attracted to the settlements because of their lower housing prices and proximity to the large cities of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Dozens of families uprooted from Gaza this month have been given temporary housing in West Bank settlements, though it remains unclear how many want to remain permanently.

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Read more from this blogger: Israeli settlers proliferate in West Bank

I think New Orleans will be rebuilt. The geographical problems it faces seem just as bad as Florida with its hurricanes or California with its earthquakes. If mother nature's calamities were enough to stop building cities, we'd all probably end up in three states in the midwest somewhere.

A number of factors mitigate against New Orleans becoming viable. The city’s geographical condition - low-lying, over-settled, ex-swamp, hurricane-prone - means that hurricane Katrina isn’t necessarily the worst it can get. Many of those with home insurance may realise this and decide to rebuild elsewhere - that will include many of New Orleans’ main professionals - and tax-payers: doctors, lawyers, professors and so on. The Wall Street Journal thinks many businesses will relocate completely.

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Read more from this blogger: Is New Orleans worth rebuilding?