Housing, Mortgages, & Money

The Masters were talking up the REITs just yesterday and pondered - Could it be time to buy REITs?   Turned out the answer was "yes".  Today shares of Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE:VNO) are up 5% and SL Green Realty (NYSE:SLG) are up 7.5%, there's only one response for that one day gain..1-2-shabadoo!

Zac Bissonnette ponders that question today on BloggingStocks.com however the issue remains that many REITs are focused on the commercial real estate sector, where problems may still be in the early stages -- even if residential real estate is close to a bottom.  Let's review the article and throw out some REITs to consider such as Russell Real Estate Securities (RRSCX), Vornado Realty Trust (VNO) and SL Green Realty (SLG).

These are anxious times for anyone looking to buy a home or refinance a mortgage. Mortgage rates have jumped a half-point in the last seven days. That's adding hundreds of dollars to a typical monthly payment. That has sent a chill through the housing market at a time when so many experts have been saying this is the time to buy.

Get ready America, this time, it involves borrowers who took out mortgages known as Alt-A loans. Like the subprime loans that began imploding in 2006, these loans offered seductively low introductory payments that enabled many borrowers to buy or refinance homes that were pricier than they could otherwise afford.

Fellow Masters, new area of coverage for our staff here at theStockMasters.com -- Housing, Mortgages, & Money, our latest weekly column.

Mortgage operations centers are parsing through thousands of loans focusing only on locked loans and purchases mitigating potential losses. If you are a mortgage applicant, get ready for delays, be patient and most of all -- good luck.