More tax dollars to bail out the housing mess.
ITEM: The Hill newspaper for April 1 reported: "It is unclear how many homeowners would be rescued from foreclosure through a plan proposed by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) that is gathering steam in Washington." The Capitol Hill publication continued: "Frank himself now says it is 'irrelevant' how many people...

Foreclosed dreams.
The foreclosure crisis facing three million Americans and swamping the entire economy right now is the direct result of foolish free market policies. The solution to the crisis cannot be left to that same flawed market. ...

From www.cp-dr.com.
Our blog on www.cp-dr.com has been full of stories about the effect of global climate change on cities, sustainability and the housing foreclosure mess. We also have offered regular updates from the American Planning Association convention in Las Vegas. Here are some of the blog entries we have posted...

Zaio Inks Photo Deal.
ENTERTAINMENT CLOSE-UP-20 April 2008-Zaio Inks Photo Deal(C)2008 - CloseUpMedia - newsdesk@closeupmedia.com Zaio, the US subsidiary of Zaio Corp., a real estate database and technology provider, announced it has signed a five year agreement to supply property photos to a firm that provides access to foreclosure related information...

My favorite tech tool: from iPhones to fingerprint scanners, appraisers share their favorite gadgets and online services.
Valuation magazine asked a panel of tech-savvy members, "Other than the Internet, what is your favorite tech tool?" They weighed in with a variety of tools including Internet-related applications, listings services, foreclosure tracking services, maps, screen-capture technology and remote-access capabilities. Despite the directive of "other than the...

Subprime survival: everything you need to know for life after the bubble.
The party's over. After six years of easy credit and spiraling values, the increasingly frenzied credit and real estate action abruptly shifted course in the summer of 2007 as the subprime loan market started to self-destruct. Former Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan's warning about "irrational exuberance" during the dot-com...

Bernanke's bind: the Fed chairman is in the impossible position of trying to raise the price of real estate while lowering the costs of food and fuel.
YOU MAY BE ABLE to go up the down escalator or you may be able to go down the up escalator, but until now nobody has been able to do both at the same time, which is what the U.S. is attempting. The United States is struggling...

A culture of debt.
'Another day older and deeper in debt." In the old country song, that's what you got after you loaded "16 tons of number nine coal." That was back in the day when a hard-working man could still die singing, "I owe my soul to the company store." ...

News quiz #3.
This quiz is based on major news events that recently made headlines in issues 11 through 15 of Current Events. Put your "knows" for news to the test by answering the questions below. People in the News Identify each person below by writing the letter of the...

Appraisers predict "more of the same" for 2008.
Market conditions for both residential and commercial appraisers will remain about the same in 2008 as they were in 2007, based on a recent survey of Appraisal Institute members. The survey, conducted in January 2008 by the Appraisal Institute's Research Department, polled both residential and commercial appraiser members on...