Current Housing Indicators |
| CURRENT | PREVIOUS | ||
| Existing Home Sales | 4.49m | ▼ | 4.74m |
| New Home Sales | 309,000 | ▼ | 344,000 |
| Housing Starts | 583,000 | ▲ | 477,000 |
| Building Permits | 547,000 | ▲ | 531,000 |
| HMI | 9 | UNCH | 9 |
| Existing Home Prices | $170,300 | ▼ (annually) | $199,800 |
| New Home Prices | $201,100 | ▼ (annually) | $232,400 |
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May.23
10:41 AM ET
Wednesday, 23 May 2007
Hate Writing the Mortgage Check? Charge It!!
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AP |
"Obviously you have to be approved for the loan and depending on your credit line, it's all governed by the same standards," Christine Elliott of American Express tells me.
The loans, for now, also have to come from American Home Mortgage Corp [AHM Loading... ()
Now my first concern here is the slippery slope thing. Granted, American Express Card holders are the crème de la credit of the charging brigade. Christine tells me that beyond using the card for cars and boats, it's become extremely popular for the jet set to put payments for fractional ownership of private jets on the Amex. I'm guessing those charges are more than the Southwest fare I just booked to Islip for my summer vaca.
Amex-ers are also using the card for exclusive resorts, where membership fees can run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Amex allows card members to use plastic for luxury condo rentals as well.
"Given our card member base we have the lowest credit losses in the industry, and the people transacting in rent are even lower than our card member base," Christine assures me.
But what about the precedent? It's one thing for the gold standard, the inventors of the gold card, to offer this kind of perk to its pecuniary elite, but what happens when Visa and MasterCard [AHM Loading... ()
Don't get me wrong; again, I love plastic and I love real estate, and a marriage of the two does sound slightly romantic. The question I'm asking though: Is plastic really the kind of foundation you want for your home?
Questions? Comments?
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