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Author Archive for Steve Cook
Steve Cook is managing editor of Real Estate Economy Watch, which was recognized as one of the two best real estate news sires of 2011 by the National Association of Real Estate Editors. Before he co-founded REEW in 2007, he was vice president of public affairs for the National Association of Realtors. In 2006 and 2007, he was named one of the 100 most influential people in real estate. During his 30 years in public affairs, Cook has been a broadcast news correspondent, served two Members of Congress as press secretary and was a senior executive in the world's largest independent public relations firm in Washington and Chicago.
If you live in one of the nation’s largest cities, you might be wondering why foreclosures are getting worse in your real estate market than they are nationwide despite the encouraging headlines reporting that foreclosures are finally on the decline. The truth is that the…
Written by Steve Cook on October 22, 2012
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As we know, all real estate is local. That’s especially true when it comes to home prices. A variety of local factors impact supply and demand, and they can cause prices to rise in one housing market when, not very far away, another market may…
Written by Steve Cook on September 27, 2012
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Right now, for homeowners who are looking to refinance and homebuyers taking out a purchase mortgage, there’s a lot of good news when it comes to closing costs. Closing costs have fallen this year almost as much as they rose last year, though they can…
Negative equity—owing more on your mortgage than your house is worth—has been a devastating multi-headed hydra over the past six years. Negative equity makes homeowners vulnerable to foreclosure should they hit hard times. It has sapped the primary source of retirement wealth for working families, and it…
Written by Steve Cook on July 31, 2012
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It’s been nearly a decade since inventories of homes for sale were so low. Typically, inventories are seasonal, rising in the spring when the home-buying season begins and declining through the fall months as real estate markets quiet down over the holidays. This has not been true…
The national foreclosure nightmare is moving north, away from the four states that traditionally have accounted for most defaults and toward markets that heretofore have avoided the brunt of foreclosures and the economic and social problems they cause. Here are some foreclosure factoids based on…
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