(Rob Carson sent this in. He's snowed in at home today.)

The Federal Reserve’s dramatic cuts to lending rates have so far done little to help South Sound consumers, mortgage brokers in the Tacoma area said Thursday.

Home loan costs did not drop significantly with the Fed’s most recent cut on Tuesday, they say, and loans are still only available to those with excellent credit, lots of equity and proof of employment.

“Our phones are definitely ringing,” said Kevin Tinsley, president of All Tech Mortgage in Lakewood, “but we’re not able to help as many people as we could in previous booms.”

Tinsley said his business is up about 50 percent over a month ago, with much of the interest coming from people who took out loans 10 or 12 years ago and are interested in refinancing.

However, he said, those who want to refinance find the guidelines have changed since they took out their loans.

“There are a few more hoops people have to jump through,” he said. “We’re having to run people’s credit before we can even quote them a rate.”

Tinsley said his clients tend to be in upper income levels but, even so, only about 40 percent of them qualify for the lowest rates.

Jack Hansmann, loan officer at Capital Resources in Tacoma, said the Fed’s rate cuts may have made matters even worse.

“They’re doing the exact opposite of what they should do,” Hansmann said.

Lowering rates makes lenders even less willing to loan, he said.

“When rates get too low, there’s no money in it,” he said. “There’s just risk.”

Darcy Hansen, a loan officer at Financial Services Northwest, Inc. in Tacoma, estimated that the number of people calling her office has doubled since last week.

“Lots of people are calling in,” she said. “There’s a lot of interest out there.”

However, rates available to consumers are directly tied to the fed rates, Hansen pointed out, and they remain basically unchanged since last week.
Even so, there is significant interest among consumers, Hansen said.

“Everyone is under the impression they will come down further.”

The Seattle Times reports that Quadrant Homes has stopped building and selling at The Ridge in Gig Harbor.

The 120-lot development off Borgen Boulevard was to hold 1,500-3,100 square-foot homes for $259,000-$342,900, according to the story.

Peter Orser, Quadrant president, told the paper that the decision was "a suspension, not an abandonment" and that the stoppage would be temporary. But he acknowledged that the move was significant and attributed it to the contracting economy.

Have you bought a home in The Ridge? Or had you started the process of buying there? We want to hear from you. E-mail kathleen.cooper@thenewstribune.com with your name and a daytime phone number.

Median home prices in Pierce County dropped again in November, according to figures released Tuesday by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

The median price for a single-family home or condo in November was $230,000. That price is about $32,950 below the median for the same time last year - an almost 13 percent drop.

Month-to-month, however, it's a 4.5 percent decline from $241,000 in October.

The median price is the midpoint of all sales. Half of homes went for more and half for less.

Other county data for November from the Northwest MLS:

• Homes listed for sale dropped from 1,505 a year ago to 1,368.

• Closed sales were cut almost in half compared to a year ago, from 784 to 463.

Look for more details on the data in tomorrow's News Tribune.

The developer of the billion-dollar Point Ruston project, on the site of the former Asarco copper smelter, has started marketing view homes at “Stack Hill,” site of the smelter’s old emissions stack.

The Ruston Town Council approved the final plat for Stack Hill on Oct. 20, freeing developer Mike Cohen to start writing purchase and sale agreements.

Stack Hill reclaims the property where the 562-foot Asarco smelter stack once stood. The structure was demolished in 1993 and the land has since been remediated under EPA supervision. The EPA released Stack Hill for construction in 2007.

Cohen’s plans for Stack Hill include 36 single-family homes. Twelve of the home sites already have been reserved, Cohen says. All 36 homes will be both Built Green and Energy Star certified through the Master Builders Association of Pierce County.

The first model home opened in September and has drawn an average of 20 to 30 visitors per day during open house weekends, Cohen said. A permanent sales office will
be located in a second model home, which is expected to be complete and fully furnished in November.

To learn more about homes at Stack Hill, visit www.PointRuston.com or contact Julie McBride at (360) 456-6307,

Some Countrywide/Bank of American borrowers may be eligible for cheaper loans beginning December as a result of the Homeownership Retention Program, the state Attorney General's Office announced this week.

The program applies to borrowers of certain loans that originated between Jan. 1, 2004, and Dec. 31, 2007, who are behind on payments or likely to fall behind. It also includes money for borrowers who lost their homes and those who face foreclosure.

"My office is taking every possible step to help our state's residents survive a series of devastating blows to our economy," Attorney General Rob McKenna said in his "Ask the AG" column. "By working together, we'll weather this financial tempest as we look forward to better days ahead."

Those who qualify will receive a letter from the Attorney General's office and Bank of America in December. More information is available at my.countrywide.com/media/FinancialAssistance1.html.

Countrywide won't start foreclosures on homeowners who likely qualify for loan modifications. Those who face foreclosure are encouraged to call Countrywide at 1-800-669-6607.

Updates one the program are available at www.atg.wa.gov/countrywide.aspx.

Anyone who is not a Countrywide customer but who is still concerned about if they are able to make their mortgage payments should visit www.atg.wa.gov/foreclosure.aspx for information, McKenna wrote. Counseling is available at www.homeownership.wa.gov or 1-877-894-HOME.

Zillow.com said it is laying off 40 workers, about 25 percent of its staff, to weather the "economic storm."

The Seattle-based Web site provides consumers with estimates of their home's value based on market trends and sales.

"This was an incredibly painful decision for me and the leadership team, but, in the end, we concluded that we had no choice but to securely batten down the hatches as we sail into a major economic storm," said Zillow chief executive Rich Barton on the company's blog.

The staff reductions are effective Tuesday. Laid off workers will receive severance packages.

The housing industry has seen sales and prices fall steeply as mortgage money becomes increasingly hard to find. Some major banks and financial houses collapsed under the weight of subprime mortgage loans in recent weeks sending financial markets into a panic and prompting Congress to enact a $700 billion bailout bill.

A recent Webware column by Rafe Needleman names one of our favorite Web sites, Seattle-based Zillow, among 11 Web 2.0 start-ups "in serious danger of falling off a cliff."

Zillow's the site that gives approximations of your home's value based on sales and market data of nearby and like properties.

Here's what he says:

"The real estate site's revenue model is advertising. Real estate and bank advertising. Unless the real estate site starts charging for foreclosure listings, I don't see it doing too well in a hunkered-down economy in which people are trying to hold on to their homes for dear life, not upgrade."

At Zillow, as you might guess, they disagree.

Here's part of their reply from Zillow director of community relations David Gibbons:

"We actually do have a revenue-generating relationship with the supplier of our foreclosure listings, thanks, You're right that it's one of the opportunities to make lemonade right now. Zillow traffic is actually up 40 percent from last year. We're fortunate to enjoy a very strong brand in a fragmented real estate market."

Gibbons says on-line ad growth is out-stripping traffic growth.

"I won't deny that these are tough times and there's no free lunch in the real estate media industry right now. We've been very frank about the fact that this market delays IPO plans for Zillow. But there are opportunities in every market and many home buyers and owners are more interested in the value of their homes today than ever."

Judy Mayfield, head of sales at The Esplanade condominium project in Tacoma, called Monday to say that she thought last Friday’s News Tribune story about poor condo sales inaccurately portrayed the situation at The Esplanade.

The story correctly noted that no sales have closed so far at the 162-unit development, but it did not mention that Mayfield has lined up 21 buyers whose sales are, for one reason or another, in a pending status.

“We have had tremendous interest and very positive responses,” Mayfield said. “The story had a tone to it that this has been a big failure here, and that is just not the case.”

Mayfield had a legitimate beef with the caption on a photograph that accompanied the story. The caption said “. . . no buyers have stepped forward for any of the 162 units.”

The way Mayfield sees it, 21 buyers have “stepped forward.” It’s just that, so far, none of them has actually closed a deal. Mayfield says she’s expecting at least one closure this Friday.

The upside of all this housing gloom is that homes that previously seemed unreachably expensive are now more reasonably priced - at least for those with cash and good credit.

We're planning a story or stories about the relative bargains that are now available on the market.

Real estate folks, e-mail me, John Gillie, at john.gillie@thenewstribune.com, with your nominations for the best bargain houses or condos available now.

Include your reasons for nominating the home. For example, it's priced substantially below what the neighbors paid for their homes, it's 60 percent of last year's asking price, it comes with a free cruise on the Amazon or the owner is willing to finance with zero down.

We're looking for a variety of properties at several price points and in several areas of the South Sound.

Our selections will be made somewhat arbitrarily with an eye toward providing our readers a broad idea of what's available on the market. If your nomination isn't picked, it's nothing personal. It may be that we just had too many nominations for 4-bedroom homes in Proctor.

The sharpest national home price drop ever meant a strong tumble in Puget Sound home prices, according to a new index released today.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices for July showed a 8.2 percent drop in home prices from last year, and a 1 percent stumble from the previous month. The 20-city index fell a record 16.3 percent in July from the previous year, the largest drop since the index began in 2000.
"There are signs of a slow down in the rate of decline across metro areas, but no evidence of a bottom," said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Standard & Poor's Index Committee.
No prices in any of the cities saw a year-over-year increase, the fourth month in a row of decline. The hardest hit areas still are in the Southwest and Southeast. Las Vegas saw the biggest year-over-year fall, a drop of 29.9 percent with Phoenix close behind with a 29.3 percent drop.
"While some cities did show some marginal improvement over last month's data, there is still very little evidence of any particular region experiencing an absolute turnaround," Blitzer said.
The median home price in Pierce County for August, the most recent available from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, was $250,975, down about $34,000 from last year.

A new study by Coldwell Banker Real Estate rates Tacoma's residential real estate prices 129th in the country among 316 cities.

The study is unique in that it ranks cities not by the median prices of homes, but by the price of a typical 2,200-square-foot, 4-bedroom, 2.5-bath home.

The study shows that geographic location places a huge role in what homes cost.

In Tacoma, according to the Coldwell Banker study, such a home would cost $338,750, but in the nation's most expensive market, the San Diego suburb of La Jolla, Calif., the same home would cost $1.84 million.

The same-sized dwelling in the country's least expensive market, Sioux City, Iowa, the cost would be just $133,459.

Most of the cities at the bottom end of the list are in the Midwest or Texas. That typical home in Houston, for instance, would cost $158,625, and maybe less now that Hurricane Ike has raked over the Texas Gulf coast city.

Not all the inexpensive cities are in the corn fields of the Midwest. The Coldwell Banker "average" home in Colorado Springs on the edge of the Rockies would cost $198,500.

If you're looking to move to the sunnier climate of California, beware. Even with recent steep drops in home prices, eight of the most expensive cities in the country are in the Golden State.

Not only does broad geographic location play a big role in home prices, but so does the city's reputation. The Coldwell Banker house that costs $338,750 in Tacoma would cost $814,483 in Bellevue, just 40 miles distant.

Foreclosure filings in Pierce County for August rose 17 percent from the previous month, a 60 percent jump from last year.

Statistics provider RealtyTrac release foreclosure listings this week, showing a slower pace than previous months. Foreclosure filings nationwide rose 27 percent compared to last August, but the climb was smaller than June and July.

Washington rose five spots to No. 21 for foreclosure filings this month. Nevada, California and Arizona rated the highest, with the three states combined accounting for more than half of the nation's foreclosures.

In Pierce County, 687 received at least one foreclosure notice in August, that is one out of every 450 homes.

All but four Washington counties saw a rise from last year. King County saw a 60 percent climb from last year. Thurston County is up 52 percent.

The tricky thing with these statistics, however, are that they not a solid representation of foreclosures. RealtyTrac follows default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions.