Crash Survival Zone

Cutting-Edge Energy Technologies Such as Solar Panels Don’t Deliver as Much Bang as Plugging Leaky Homes

Like a lot of Americans, moving-company owner Art Delaney has been trying to curb his energy use to help the planet and pinch pennies. First he got serious about recycling. Then he traded in his SUV for a Toyota Prius. [...]

You’ve probably heard about the Obama administration’s plan to help millions of homeowners refinance or modify their mortgages. This column is meant to answer some of your questions on whether you qualify.
The Treasury Department released the broad outlines of its plan last month, but on Wednesday provided more details about how the plan will work.

The [...]

The Obama administration on Wednesday launched a $75 billion foreclosure relief plan, as new data showed one in five U.S. homeowners with mortgages owe more than their house is worth.

The mortgage plan, part of a $275 billion housing stimulus program announced last month, enables struggling homeowners to modify loans even if they are “under water.”

Homeowners [...]

One in five U.S. homeowners with mortgages owe more to their lenders than their properties are worth, and the rate will increase as housing values drop in states that have so far avoided the worst of the crisis, a new study shows.

About 8.31 million properties had negative equity at the end of 2008, up 9 [...]

U.S. home prices plunged at a record pace in December, data showed on Tuesday, while consumer confidence also hit a record low in February as Americans feared an already deep recession was likely to get even worse.

Prices of U.S. single-family homes fell 18.5 percent in December from a year earlier, with the pace of decline [...]

When Yale professor Robert Shiller stopped by recently to discuss Obama’s housing fix, I also asked him about the housing market in general.

Specifically, where are we in this historic price collapse? Finally nearing the bottom?

Not a chance, said professor Shiller–unless the government finds some way to miraculously levitate prices again.

Despite the 25 percent nationwide decline [...]

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.
Crisis of Credit

The Wide and Lasting Impact of Quitting a Mortgage

Benjamin McNelley said he loathed the idea of walking away from the mortgage on his four-bedroom, two-bath house in Fauquier County.

The former Prince William County prison guard said he worried about what the decision might mean for his credit rating and whether he might still be on [...]

The president, speaking to business leaders at the White House, says trouble in the housing sector is at ‘the root of our economic challenges.’

As Congress prepares to pass his economic rescue plan, President Barack Obama today promised to turn immediately to the housing crisis, saying he would soon offer more details on how to address [...]