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
Despite the extension of the home buyer tax credit, real estate executives expect more pain ahead, with CNBC's Diana Oli...
More Videos
- Watch Foreclosures, Seriously
- Home Buyer Tax Credit Expansion Heads to Obama
- Congratulations America, We're All Landlords Now
- Wells Fargo Bets on Housing Recovery
- Home Buyer Tax Credit Done: Does it Matter?
- Better Times for Mortgage Banking
- 'Beleaguered Big Builders' Sitting On Piles of Cash
- Home Buyer Tax Credit: Final Deal?
- A Compromise on Home Buyer Tax Credit?
- Mortgage Bankers Can't Afford Their Own Home
MOST SHARED
- US Becomes Top Country Brand Under Obama: Survey
- BofA Board in Civil War Over Lewis' Succesor
- Obama Delays Start of Asia Trip to Attend Memorial
- Sweeping Health Care Overhaul Bill Passes House
- Framed for Porn – By a PC Virus
- What Stocks to Buy Amid Health Care Overhaul: Strategist
- Kraft to Formalize Hostile Cadbury Bid on Monday
- GE, Comcast Agree on NBC Universal Valuation
- Tamminen: Why Does Oklahoma Want To Drown New York?
- Food Network, HGTV Drive Scripps Networks' Upside Surprise
- Tommy Lee, Medical Tourism and Nasty Santa, Your Emails
- U.S. Markets Gain 3% for the Week Despite 10.2% Unemployment
- Disney's 'Carol' Tests Widest 3-D Release Ever
- Stimulus II? Jobs Tax Credit=Cash For Clunkers
- Rockwell Automation Earnings: What Options Are Saying
- Gold Will Touch Higher Lows and Higher Highs: Analyst
- Is Misery Alive And Well in Your Office?
- Goldman Sachs Head Says Banks Do 'God's Work'
- Fed's Bullard: Tighten Only When Recovery's 'Solid'
- Bankers Are Like Domino's Pizza Franchises: Expert
- Kraft to Formalize Hostile Cadbury Bid on Monday
- GE, Comcast Agree on NBC Universal Valuation
- Hottest Zip Codes for Home Prices
- US Home Values Follow Sales Higher, For Some
- China Urges US to Control Deficit to Stabilize Dollar
- US Health Care Reforms Face Tough Path in Senate
RSS FEED
» Help
powered by digg
Realty Check
Text Size 
May.23
10:41 AM ET
Wednesday, 23 May 2007
Hate Writing the Mortgage Check? Charge It!!
 |
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?
MORE FROM CNBC
TOPIC : Real Estate
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes