Each Monday, The Simple Dollar opens up the reader mailbags and answers ten to twenty simple questions offered up by the readers on personal finance topics and many other things. Got a question? Ask it in the comments. You might … Read More

Reader Mark sent me a link to a talk by Jon Fisher, a professor at the University of San Francisco School of Business. Jon made the point that housing starts and unemployment are inversely correlated. Of course readers here know … Read More

PMI at 48.9% up from 44.8% in June. Still contracting (below 50) but contracting at a slower pace. From the Institute for Supply Management: July 2009 Manufacturing ISM Report On Business® Economic activity in the manufacturing sector failed to grow … Read More

From The Times: UK manufacturing ‘pulls out of nosedive’ in July British manufacturing grew for the first time in 16 months during July … According to the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (CIPS), the Purchasing Managers Index, which measures … Read More

Actually more than half off of the loan amount … From Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal: Lender takes Palo Alto’s Bordeaux Centre in auction (ht Ross) Note: the building is actually in Sunnyvale. California Bavarian Corp.’s Bordeaux Centre … Read More

I was reading this article on Duct Tape Marketing this morning and got to thinking how realtors and mortgage professionals could put this strategy to use for them. This article describes how local business owners can use the Google Local … Read More

From San Francisco Fed President Janet Yellen: Outlook for the U.S. Economy and Community Banks . A few excerpts: [T]he normal dynamics of the business cycle are turning more favorable. Some sectors are poised to rebound simply because they have … Read More

Case-Shiller released the May house price index this morning, and most news reports focused on the small increase, not seasonally adjusted (NSA), from April to May. As I noted earlier, the seasonally adjusted (SA) data showed a small price decline … Read More

The main reason for the collapse of our financial system is that people got home loans they couldn’t afford. Could a consumer financial protection agency stop that from happening again? I say it could be a big help if the … Read More

So often I hear the statement, “What can you give Realtors to get them to do business with you?” The answer is simply this…find their problem and solve it. In fact that is the answer for getting anyone to do … Read More