Blakeslee Real Estate

Featured Article

• Top 7 Foreclosure Stories of Past Year

  Thursday Jun 19 | via Realty Trac 

  The euphoria that surrounded six years of escalating home prices, record levels of home sales and rock-bottom interest rates crashed and burned in 2007, forcing many foreclosure investors to ratchet down their ...

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  Related Topix: Financial Services, Housing, Foreclosures, Home, Mortgage

Local Headlines

• Rendell signs bills to protect homebuyers

  Wednesday Jul 9 | via Pocono Record 

  READING — Gov. Ed Rendell today signed five bills to protect homebuyers, strengthen oversight of the mortgage industry and end key lending practices that leave homeowners vulnerable to foreclosure.

  Comment?

  Related Topix: Monroe County, PA, Housing, Reading, PA, Reading Metro, Sales

• High gas prices blamed for drop in home sales

  Saturday Jul 5 | via Pocono Record 

  Existing home sales in Monroe County are down 34 percent this year, and one local real estate agent thinks he knows why.

  Comment?

  Related Topix: Scotrun, PA, Foreclosures, Railroad, PA, Home, Home Selling, Monroe County, PA, Real Estate

• Gas prices fuel home defaults: Monroe foreclosures head for new record

  Saturday Jul 5 | via Pocono Record 

  STROUDSBURG — The number of Monroe County home mortgage defaults continues to escalate, with a record 768 foreclosure cases filed the first half of this year with the Monroe County Prothonotary's Office.

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  Related Topix: Stroudsburg, PA, Home, Mortgage, Monroe County, PA, Mortgage, Personal Finance, Foreclosures

• You Could Win a House

  May 15, 2008 | via PAHomepage.com 

  Some people are taking desperate measures to sell their homes in this tough real estate market.

  Comment?

  Related Topix: Monroe County, PA, Tannersville, PA, Real Estate, Home Listing, Home

• How to buy a home and avoid foreclosure

  May 10, 2008 | via Pocono Record 

  Joan Fitzgerald has been in the real estate business for 24 years, but one thing she realizes: it's an ongoing learning process — for the agents as well as the clients.

  Comment?

  Related Topix: Real Estate, East Stroudsburg, PA, Monroe County, PA, Home Buying, Home, Stroudsburg, PA, Canadensis, PA

Regional Headlines

• State Capitol Roundup for July 18

  8 hrs ago | via Tony Phyrillas 

  I thought the Legislature was on its 2-month summer vacation, but it appears some lawmakers are still in Harrisburg.

  Comment?

  Related Topix: Harrisburg (Pennsylvania State University System), Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Government, Home, Mortgage

• Wachovia's Brokerage Inspected by State Regulators in Auction-Rate Probe

  Thursday | via Bloomberg 

  Wachovia Corp. 's securities division was inspected by a team of regulators from more than five states who delivered subpoenas today as part of a probe into the company's sales of auction-rate bonds.

  Comment?

  Related Topix: Marketing, Advertising, Boston University, Pennsylvania

• Don Spatz,

  Wednesday Jul 16 | via Reading Eagle/Reading Times 

  I've taken shots at the Pennsylvania Department of Banking for hiding behind a legal gag and refusing to say what really happened in the Wesley Snyder case.

  Comment?

  Related Topix: Pennsylvania, Federal Prisons, Home, Mortgage, Mortgage, Personal Finance

• Consumer Prices Jump by the Most Since 2005 on Surge in Fuel, Food Costs

  Wednesday Jul 16 | via Bloomberg 

  Prices paid by U.S. consumers jumped in June by the most since 2005 on spiraling costs for fuel and food, intensifying the pressure on households struggling with falling home prices and the credit crunch.

  Comment?

  Related Topix: Housing, Ben Bernanke, Pennsylvania

• Economic Outlook: Midwestern banks to see tough round of quarterly results

  Sunday Jul 13 | via MarketWatch 

  A wave of gloomy results from the second quarter are expected to be the highlight of reports that Midwestern regional banks will issue in the coming days, analysts say.

  Comment?

  Related Topix: Housing, Banking, Financial Services, Citigroup, US Bancorp, Marshall University, Pennsylvania

National Headlines

• Faith, trust in God is good for community

  8 min ago | via The Leaf Chronicle 

  I'm responding to the article dated June 29, 2008, "Local industry a big deal to Little." First of all, I would like to say in the rise of the real estate market there was one good thing I found when moving to ...

  Comment?

  Related Topix: Real Estate, Clarksville, TN, Opinion

• Letter: Council decisions

  3 hrs ago | via Atwater Signal 

  Editor: After reading Stuart Rawling's letter of July 11, I would also like to add some of my additional concerns regarding the City Council and its decisions.

  Comment?

  Related Topix: Mortgage, Home

• Welcoming foreclosure

  4 min ago | via Dispatch.com 

  Ralph Stover has good credit and a steady job. But he took out a risky interest-only first mortgage and a second mortgage to buy a new 1,900-square-foot condominium in 2003 with no money down.

  Comment?

  Related Topix: Foreclosures, Mortgage, Personal Finance, Home, Mortgage

• Freddie Mac readies its stock plan

  10 min ago | via The Herald 

  Freddie Mac, the troubled mortgage-finance giant, on Friday took a major step with the Securities and Exchange Commission toward selling billions of dollars of stock.

  Comment?

  Related Topix: Home, Mortgage, Mortgage, Personal Finance, Corporate / Securities Law, Law, Securities and Exchange Commission

• Seven Days, Seven Projects for a Kitchen that Sells

  29 min ago | via Tideland News 

  In today's market, selling a home involves much more than posting a "for-sale" sign in the yard.

  Comment?

  Related Topix: Home Selling, Home, Construction