From a New York Times article on how low interest rates are slamming savers … People who rely on income from such investments for support, however, are being forced to consider new options. Eileen Lurie, 75, is taking out a reverse mortgage to help offset the decline in returns…

From Eric Pryne at the Seattle Times: Commercial real-estate market suffered in 2009; more of the same forecast for 2010 In 2007, developers excavated a deep hole in downtown Seattle at Second Avenue and Pine Street for the foundation of a 23-story luxury hotel and condo tower. They filled the…

Here is the monthly Fannie Mae hockey stick graph … Click on graph for larger image in new window. Fannie Mae reported today that the rate of serious delinquencies – at least 90 days behind – for conventional loans in its single-family guarantee business increased to 4.98% in October, up…

Last Thursday, Treasury issued an Update on Status of Support for Housing Programs . One of the key points was to increase the cap on Treasury’s funding commitment “to accommodate any cumulative reduction in net worth over the next three years”. Here were the reasons given: Treasury will also amend…

Since it has been a while … Click on graph for larger image in new window. The first graph shows the S&P 500 since 1990. The dashed line is the closing price today. The S&P 500 was first at this level in April 1998; over 11 1/2 years ago. The…

In an effort to talk about the power of goal-setting along with some methods of setting and achieving goals, I’m going to discuss my four resolutions for 2010 this week. I’m overweight. One of the biggest reasons for this is hypothyroidism, something I’ve had literally since I was born…

From Bloomberg: Fannie, Freddie Changes Clear Way for ‘Large-Scale’ Buyouts The U.S. government’s expanded capital backstops and portfolio limits for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac increase “the prospect of large-scale” purchases by the companies of delinquent mortgages out of the securities they guarantee, according to Credit Suisse Group analysts. ……

New FHA guidelines have been announced to prevent short-seller sellers from buying replacement properties with an FHA mortgage. These new FHA loan requirements apply in cases where “a previously owned property was sold for less than what was owed (short sale)” or “there is principal write down of indebtedness…

Here are a couple of stories with very different views … From Bloomberg: Morgan Stanley Sees 5.5% Note as U.S. Faces Deficits (ht Bob_in_MA) Yields on benchmark 10-year notes will climb about 40 percent to 5.5 percent, the biggest annual increase since 1999, according to David Greenlaw, chief fixed-income economist…

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 also enjoy the archive of earlier reader mailbags .…