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Realty Check with Diana Olick

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  Friday, 13 Apr 2007 | 5:20 PM ET

The Jury is In, The Bailout is Out

Posted By:
You bloggers don’t mince words do you? First off, I want to thank all of you for writing in—a one day record for the Realty Check blog, 165 responses in one day and 9 more floating through the ether overnight (seriously, Jay J., what are you doing blogging at 1:21am???). I can’t possibly post all your responses, so I thought I would at least list some of the subject lines ... »Read more
  Thursday, 12 Apr 2007 | 11:37 AM ET

Bailout or Buzz Off?

Posted By:
Bravo, to all of you for writing in, and may I just say that perhaps the politicians should be reading this, because if they think a government bailout would be popular, they’d better think again. We got about 57 emails to the realty check site in the hour after I did the bailout piece on TV, and I can’t find even one post that supports a bailout. »Read more
  Wednesday, 11 Apr 2007 | 1:57 PM ET

Secondary Market, Primary Target

Posted By:
I’m interested in getting some opinions on a story I’m reporting today because I’m not sure I agree with any of it. As the subprime crisis continues to unfold, and tightening lending standards bring the already sluggish spring market to a crawl, the blame game is heating up on Capitol Hill. Some lawmakers want to hold the big banks accountable. Bear Stearns, UBS, Lehman Bros., Merrill Lynch, they buy the loans, pool and securitize them. It is estimated that mortgage backed securities issued in 2007 will top 2 trillion dollars, not all of them consisting of subprimes of course. »Read more
  Monday, 9 Apr 2007 | 12:02 PM ET

Builder Bullies

Posted By:
I’m reporting a story on Lennar today. The sixth largest public homebuilder in the nation sent out an interesting letter to its contractors a few months ago offering them two choices: (A) Reduce your unpaid invoices as of 1-26-07 by a minimum of X [many have reported up to 20%]… or (B) Not reduce your unpaid invoices and be excluded from bidding future work for a minimum of 6 months. Those companies who choose to participate in this request and/or can exhibit the best price possible will continue to have every opportunity for future business with Lennar. »Read more
  Thursday, 29 Mar 2007 | 4:38 PM ET

What Ever Happened to the Fixer-Upper?

Posted By:
I’m not going to talk about mortgages today. I’m not tired of the topic; I just want to remind myself that there are other stories playing out in the real estate market. Lest we forget, people are still buying and selling homes, legally and responsibly, and I want to focus on that for a minute. »Read more
  Wednesday, 28 Mar 2007 | 11:08 AM ET

Good Grievance: Your Emails And My Replies

Posted By:
Ok, I want to take a little space here to respond to a number of complaints you readers have been sending to the RealtyCheck mailbox. Don’t get me wrong, I love it that you’re riled up, I love it that you disagree, most of all I just love it that you read all this stuff, so here goes: »Read more
  Wednesday, 21 Mar 2007 | 5:59 PM ET

Tell Me Lies, Tell Me Sweet Little Lies

Posted By:
I’m working on this story today about the ripple effects of the subprime crisis on the wider mortgage markets, specifically something called an Alt-A loan. What’s an Alt-A? Well, I did a little net-search and found a wide variety of definitions: »Read more
  Tuesday, 20 Mar 2007 | 11:59 AM ET

Fits and Starts

Posted By:
With anxiety over the subprime mortgage market, calls for tighter lending standards, continued high inventory of unsold homes and home prices dropping from coast to coast, to call Tuesday’s housing starts number curious is an understatement. The U.S. Department of Commerce reports housing starts in February jumped 9% from a month ago but are still 28.5% below February 2006. This is the biggest jump since January of last year and comes off a 14% drop in starts in February. »Read more
  Tuesday, 20 Mar 2007 | 9:37 AM ET

Home Builder Confidence Slips over Subprime Worries

Posted By:
Anxiety over trouble in the subprime mortgage market has home builders changing their vision of a recovery in the housing market.  After a slow and steady rise from a low in September, the monthly survey of home builder confidence from the National Association of Home Builders slipped three points in March. »Read more
  Thursday, 15 Mar 2007 | 4:52 PM ET

Let the Litigation Begin

Posted By:
Continuing in the blame game … today we took a look at all the potential litigation, which will inevitably be the next bit of ooze in all this subprime seepage. Yesterday lawmakers on Capitol Hill were pointing fingers, then today, in New York City, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, asked about the subprime market, jumps on the bandwagon, “We’re looking at that market as well.” Then in DC, at about the same time, Sen. Hillary Clinton says, “This market is clearly broken, and if we don’t fix it, it could threaten our entire housing market which in turn would threaten our entire economy.” »Read more

About Realty Check

Realty Check takes you from the housing boom to bust and beyond. Led by Diana Olick, we were here when the house came crashing down and we have the singular expertise to explain how it will be rebuilt. The goal of this blog is to bring the market, the rescue plans, the politics and the pontification home to you, with clear concise explanations of the wildly complicated issues in all facets of real estate today and tomorrow. Realty Check is read by leaders in the real estate industry: Investors, Realtors, Big builder CEOs, Mortgage Bankers, Wall Street Analysts and Administration Officials to name a few.

  • Olick serves as CNBC's real estate correspondent as well as the author of the "Realty Check" blog on CNBC.com.

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