The credit markets are seizing up and the uncertainty recently drove up short-term interest rates for municipalities and some rock solid institutions such as New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art to 20%. And now even so-called prime borrowers, the ones who were properly vetted, are being sucked into defaults on their mortgages. Yet it’s still a relatively small number of institutions and individuals getting hurt by this not-yet-a-recession. So what’s the worst that could happen?

Full Story: Available at Time.com

Property sharks looking to take advantage of local housing slumps are doing their best to time the market, searching for the precise moment when prices bottom out before taking a bite.

They’d be smart to look for markets where job growth is strong, foreclosures are relatively low and inventory is high. With these factors in place, buyers can still dictate terms of sale and negotiate prices, but aren’t as exposed to the economic and lending risk problems that have sunk many markets around the country.

* Full Story: Available on Forbes

Despite the housing slump, most middle income workers still don’t earn enough to buy a median-priced home in their hometowns, according to the Center for Housing Policy.

The center, an arm of the affordable housing advocacy group of the National Housing Conference (NHC), compared housing costs in 201 metro areas with the median wages in those areas for 60 major vocations, such as police, firemen and teachers.

* Full Story: Available on CNN Money