Hamilton's Property

If you aren’t afraid of innovation and bright ideas, I’d like to show you what houses in our future could look like.

In a few words – they would be pre-fabricated, modular, constructed in a matter of days, fireproof and built to withstand hurricanes and earthquakes.

This picture will give you a taste:

Here’s how the creator of this vision, Jaque Fresco, describes homes of the future:

“They’d look like houses immersed in lovely gardens, with streams and waterfalls, and flowers, and all of the things that we picture that we can’t have”.

Every once in a while there comes a moment when we get to see a bit of our future. And when that happens, everyone has a different reaction. Some say it’s

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New reports released by the inspector general of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) revealed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are largely responsible for last year’s mortgage and foreclosure crisis. One report in particular implied that better risk controls at Fannie Mae could have helped avoid potential foreclosure abuse that forced banks to slow down and revamp their mortgage-handling processes.

Regulators Struggle to Develop Risk Controls

According to the reports, regulators don’t have enough examiners for either mortgage finance giant, making it difficult at times to develop risk controls for the companies.

In the report conducted on Fannie Mae, the inspector general concluded that it missed deadlines set by its regulator, the FHFA, to implement an operational risk-management program. This 

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We have recently been recruiting for a new Marketing Manager. It is always difficult to replace such a key role in an organisation; we were sorry to see her depart, but equally we much appreciated what she had done for us as she headed for a new and larger career opportunity.

The recruitment process for her replacement is well under way now with applications for this role compiled and the interview rounds started. We very much hope to make an appointment shortly.

I just thought that it would be useful for me to provide some feedback on this recruitment process in terms of effectiveness of recruitment marketing which might be of interest to others thinking about how to approach recruitment in this digital era.

This role of Marketing Manager for our company is a very nearly pure digital marketing role (we do some offline media) and as such given the importance of the capabilities we seek in digital marketing and social media, I decided that more than any other role within the company the candidates must be living in the online space.

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The Reserve Bank’s lowering of its interest rate forecasts has improved the outlook for home loan affordability through late 2011 and into 2012 as house prices remain stable in most cities and incomes edge higher.

The Roost Home Loan Affordability report for August shows a slight deterioration in August from July because the national median house price nudged higher, but affordability is near its best levels since early 2004 because of record low interest rates.

Massey University’s home affordability report, also released today, shows cautious buyers and low rates of new construction have left the housing market subdued.

Massey’s report says home affordability improved slightly during the last quarter, but was slowing.

Professor Bob Hargreaves from the university’s school of economics and finance said a growth and wages and low mortgage interest rates had offset a slight increase in the media house price.

Last week the Reserve Bank forecast short term interest rates would rise around 1.5 percentage points over the next year, which is lower than its previous forecast for a rise of about 2 percentage points.

The bank said slower global growth, a delayed Christchurch rebuild and the dampening effect of a high New Zealand dollar were factors lowering the interest rate outlook.

Economists also pushed back their forecasts for an Official Cash Rate hike to around March 2012 from December, and some suggested those borrowers thinking of fixing should think again about floating.

Rhonda Maxwell, spokeswoman for mortgage broking group Roost Home Loans, said the change in the interest rate outlook improved the outlook for home loan affordability too,.

“It changes the equation for home buyers over the next year or two and may prompt potential home buyers to re-do their calculations,” Maxwell said.

“Banks remain keen to lend and often offer deals through mortgage brokers that can further improve those equations,” she said.

Affordability improved in central Auckland, North Shore, Central Wellington, Hutt Valley and West Auckland in August because of a fall in median house prices, the Roost Home Loan Affordability report shows.

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Headlines around the world scream in panic about the housing crisis in America. But did you know the Chinese symbol for crisis also means opportunity?

Consider comparing the economy to a game of tug-of-war. When there are winners, there are also losers on the other end.  And if you’ve played tug-of-war, you know you can be on the winning or losing side of the game just as soon as the momentum swings in the other direction.

Tug-of-war can be a fun game played at camp that leaves half the players in the mud. But when it comes to your money, it’s no fun to be on the losing side. Wouldn’t it be better if you could jump over to the winning side at all times? It can be done, if you understand the market forces.

Let’s take real estate as an example. Right now millions of people are on the losing side of real estate. Those wh

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