The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported today a decline in June of existing home sales by 2.6 percent, a ton more than the 1 percent drop expected.

After better numbers in May, this is a clear signal the housing market still has a long way to go before hitting bottom. This bad news is being reflected in the stock market as many sellers decide to pull some money off the table cashing in on the drop in oil rally of recent days.

The Washington Post reported the HUD Secretary, Steve Preston is worried the mortgage bill could sink the FHA mortgage program. The bill as passed by the House allows subprime and other borrowers to convert their exploding mortgages into FHA mortgages.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) Chief Economist, Lawrence Yun, was recently listed by USA Today as one of the experts to listen to when it comes to the housing market. After his most recent ridiculous statements after the largest slide in home prices since the Great Depression, I beg to differ.

When it comes to house selling tips, the best advice I can give is on how to find a good real estate agent. Most house selling tips come from self-serving listing agents. Mine do not.

I wrote an extensive article on how NOT to choose an agent a year or so ago. I thought I’d revisit the topic from a positive perspective rather than the negative…and just hit the big points!

The idea of “staging” a home to make it look alluring to buyers has become a necessity. The goal of home staging is to create an increased demand for your home selling it faster and for more.

Home staging is a must if you are to sell your home in this current tough market.

I see a commercial on TV for E-Agent.com.  Maybe you have seen them too…they have a big red circle with a lower case “e” in it.  It seems they are pretty new so don’t let them get any bigger!

Here is what they say on their commercial.

(TV marketing at it’s finest…)

1. Identify great deals

I found a Real Estate agent turned mortgage book author who wrote a book titled, “Theft By Mortgage”. Boy was I shocked to learn his mortgage book warns about yield spread premium!