October 2010

Let’s face it. Sellers and bankers don’t really like short sales. But we’re talking about the lesser of two evils here. A short sale is better than a foreclosure, right?

Great crop prices in 2008 put cash in the pockets of farmers who are now buying cropland left and right, often at prices institutional investors cannot afford to pay.

It’s never good when a check bounces. But if it’s an earnest money check, the consequences are especially complicated.

Most of us have not lived through long periods of deflation, which can devastate consumers, investors and lenders alike. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke uses history to show why U.S. monetary policy must focus on preventing deflation.

After half a century of banks keeping almost no excess reserves, the Fed is now holding record-breaking amounts of reserves. Meanwhile, businesses and consumers are being turned down for loans in droves. What’s the deal?