OK. So the economy is better. The housing market is in full recovery, if not possibly even in a bubble again. So, what gives with over 50% of all residential mortgages being held by Fannie and Freddie? (As a reference point, that’s up from 7% in 1981). As expected (and always), it comes down to risk. Why does it matter to borrowers? According to Laurie Goodman, the director of the Housing Finance Policy Center, because a lack of private backers could “lock borrowers who need larger loans or have less than pristine credit out of lending.”

The housing data is already shockingly strong (on top of the good news covered here the last few days, we just discovered that the housing supply shrunk from 5.1 months to 4.8 months). Now, on top of that, we have strong job data, with the four-week moving average on initial claims for state jobless benefits hitting the lowest level since December — 1973. With these data and Europe slightly weakening, it’s entirely possible that the Fed will raise rates in December.

Following on several days, and to a lesser extent months, of really good news, the big boys are making noise that may be immediately appealing to many borrowers, but may not be so hot for the market as a whole. Freddie Mac has hinted that more low-down-payment products could be on the way. Of course, low down-payments help many people into homes. But on the other hand, they enable people to buy more home, drive up prices, and may lead to another bubble.

Of course, it’s sensible that when making big medical or health decisions, you should take into account how much longer you’re likely to live. If the answer is either decades, or a few years, then you might reasonably make different decisions (e.g., if you’re going to live decades longer, then making lifestyle decisions to make those years happier is a reasonable choice). But for better or worse, 33% of seniors in a recent study underestimated how long they might live. Think twice, and kick those bad habits.

Economists were predicting that September would be the sixth straight month to have more than 1 million housing starts — a sign of sustained recovery in the market. However, the numbers even surpassed expectations  The economists polled by Reuters had been expecting 1.15 million units for September, and the actual number came in at 1.206 — about 5% higher than expected. And not only are the actual starts up, but builder confidence is at a 10 year high.

Bethany McClean, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, recently wrote an opinion piece for The Washington Post  Her contention is, that while “everyone” in Washington thinks the taxpayer-backed mortgage giants need to go the way of the dinosaurs, the fact is we need them now (and possibly more than ever). It’s a fairly long piece, and does a decent job of covering the current issues (both perceived and actual), as well as why she thinks the institutions are still important. Worth the read.

It may be hard to believe, but we’re only two weeks away from the unofficial kick-off of the holiday season, treasured by kids in every neighborhood! Of course, some of you are on top of this. Your yards have become graveyards, your windows are filled with cobwebs, and there’s at least a skeleton or two in your closets. But for those of you who haven’t quite given up on summer yet, and are running late on your holiday decoration, the Huffington Post brings you these 39 Halloween Decorations Made from Things Laying Around Your House.

Everyone knows that solar power hasn’t become mainstream. Still, with all the talk of renewable energy and global warming, it’s a little shocking how _really_ not mainstream it’s been: as recently as 2006, there were only 30,000 homes with solar panels. But solar may finally be “crossing the chasm” from a technology perspective. In the next few months, we’ll surpass 1,000,000 homes with solar power. Are you one of them? If not, you may want to look into the tax advantages, too.

There are things we think about every day, and some of them are pretty weird. But then there’s a whole other class of things that, weird or not, we almost never think about. Like, how do people in other countries buy houses? It turns out, one way they don’t buy them is with a phenomenally low, 30-year fixed rate mortgage. In fact, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage is considered a U.S. anomaly, with most of the developed world having shorter term, variable rate mortgages as their only option (not to mention, most of them can’t deduct interest, either).