Realty Check
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 |
Realty Check Video Gallery
David Henry, Kimco Realty Corp. CEO and head of the largest REIT in North America, discusses the increase in effective r...
States negotiated a $25 billion agreement with the top banks, with CNBC's Diana Olick.
More Videos
#DIANAOLICK ON TWITTER
- Robo-Deal Is All About Lowering Mortgage Principal
- As Mortgage Refinancings Surge, Banks Struggle
- Forty States Sign On to Foreclosure ‘Robo’ Settlement
- Running Robo-Settlement Numbers
- Own vs. Rent Riles Government Housing Policy
- Obama's Mortgage Refi Plan to Go Through FHA
- Housing Demand Defies Fundamentals
- US Treasury Forcing Mortgage Principal Forgiveness
- Robo-Reality: Final Foreclosures Fall as Pipeline Swells
- New Financial Crimes Unit Could Throw Wrench in ‘Robo’ Settlement
- New York Fashion Week Hits the Runway as Colors Pop
- Mulling Buffett's Stock Advice? Get in With REITs: Fund Managers
- LinkedIn Earnings Bode Well for Hiring and Social Media
- Top Five Mistakes to Avoid in Online Dating
- Victor Cruz ‘Understands’ Gisele's Super Bowl Frustrations
- Tamminen: The United States of India
- Unusual Volume: Taleo Jumps After Oracle's $1.9 Billion Offer
- Warren Buffett: Stocks Will Outperform Gold and Bonds .. and They're Safer 'By Far'
- So Now You Can’t Give Microsoft Away?
- Stocks Looking Past Europe for a New Driver of the Rally
- Israel Likely to Bomb Iran This Year: Political Analyst
- Greeks Strike Against Austerity, EU Demands More Cuts
- EU Agrees Rules for $700 Trillion Derivatives Market
- Citigroup Takes $50 Million Loss in Lending Rate Probe
- Barclays Warns May Miss Medium-Term Profit Goal
- Will Romney Regret Opposing Michigan Auto Bailout?
- In Europe, Stagnation as a Way of Life
- The Secret Lives of Traders—Seeking the Next Hot Thing
RSS FEED
» Help
Hate Writing the Mortgage Check? Charge It!!
Published:
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 | 10:41 AM ET
Text Size 
By: Diana Olick
CNBC Real Estate Reporter
CNBC Real Estate Reporter
 |
AP |
] is breaking new ground, allowing its card members to pay their monthly mortgage bills on the card. I know what you're thinking, but hold on... Amex is requiring that these be prime loans only, so you can forget that whole subprime mortgage implosion issue. And of course, they'll be charging you $395 to enroll in the program."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... ()
], the first lender to offer this Express Rewards Mortgage program, and oh to think of the rewards!! Christine tells me Indy Mac will be joining the gang this summer, and while she can't discuss others, she assures me there will be more.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... ()
] jump on the bandwagon, and average folks who live entirely on credit start to see plastic stars in their eyes? Plenty of Americans have gotten into plenty of trouble using plastic to pay for items that should simply have walked on past. And we all saw what happened when the mortgage industry started offering "exotic" products that allowed people to use their homes essentially as credit cards: the economy and housing industry are now paying a hefty price for that.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?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
