Filed under: Economy , Investing The percentage of Americans owning homes that are underwater is falling, according to Zillow’s third-quarter Real Estate Market Reports, which focus on 156 metropolitan areas. The other good news is that home values were relatively flat between the second and third quarters, so the price declines may be over for most homeowners. Zillow found that 21% of homeowners with single-family homes were underwater on their mortgages at the end of the third quarter, down from 23% in the previous quarter. Two factors play into the drop. One is that many underwater homeowners have already lost their homes to foreclosure. The second is that home values have stabilized in some areas of country and have even started going back up in other areas. Continue reading Fewer home mortgages are underwater as values stabilize Fewer home mortgages are underwater as values stabilize originally appeared on DailyFinance on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Fewer home mortgages are underwater as values stabilize

Filed under: Company News , Technology , Green After announcing some impressive plans to develop electric cars earlier this year, Chrysler has provided few details lately, and now we know why: the company has disbanded its crash program to produce vehicles running on electrons. Chrysler has also backed off a bold January 2009 pledge to manufacture 500,000 conventional and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles by 2013. Reuters reported the sad news late Friday in an interview with Fiat CEO Serigo Marchionne . Fiat, reportedly aghast at the horrific condition of its newly acquired U.S. subsidiary, decided to pull the plug on the speculative but exciting effort to add some green to Detroit’s also-ran brand. The move is another step in Marchionne’s efforts to shake up personnel and organizational structure at Chrysler. Marchionne declared U.S. car sales “a disaster” in September, according to the Daily News in New York. Continue reading Fiat pulls the plug on Chrysler’s electric car program Fiat pulls the plug on Chrysler’s electric car program originally appeared on DailyFinance on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Fiat pulls the plug on Chrysler’s electric car program