The real estate market slows downs with interest rates going up because of homeowners not being able to make mortgage payments.   "The number of people asking for appointments to talk about foreclosure is definitely up," said Susan Ulaga, the nonprofit service's senior vice president of counseling. Rising rates "are really putting a crunch" on homeowners with adjustable-rate loans. A quarter of the nation’s mortgage have rates scheduled to reset higher payments for millions of homeowners. 

A sizeable down payment saves one thousands of money every year.  This also gives a cushion for the new homeowner. 

Borrowing more than 80% of the home's value pays private mortgage insurance, which protects the lender if the loan would be in a default.  It's the money that doesn't go toward your principal or interest and isn't tax-deductible   That tends to cost 0.5% to 1% of the loan value, up to $3,500 per year on a $350,000 home, or $5,000 on a $500,000 home.    Lenders are making it a lot easier to buy a house without the traditional 20% down payment, but you're going to pay a lot for that option.

If you're committed to holding an open house, here's how to do it right.
Here’s how to hold a better open house

Promote heavily.  Make sure your open house is listed on the MLS and on other Internet sites such as Realtor.com, Expo or Craigslist.com.  Post lots of pictures, send out flyers, put up lots of signs and advertise in your local paper.

A house that goes too long without selling begins to appear "stale" and can actually damage your future chances of a sale. 

There are helpful indicators of houses that are not selling immediately. In a dry market, a sales period of six months to one year isn't unusual. In a hot seller's market, a house that hasn't sold within one month indicates a problem. In either case, there are several steps you can take before putting up the white flag.

Open houses do not practically bring in housing sales. Many agents admit that even in the internet this type of marketing is of less value

Internet listings and other web based real estate information quickly makes open houses more of an option and not a prerequisite for selling a home.  In 1995, just 2% of home buyers used the Internet to look for a home, according to the National Association of Realtors. Last year, 77% of home buyers shopped online.  Indeed, only 2% to 4% of Johnson's listings sell from open houses.

MUMBAI  -  Following protests by India’s tiny Jewish community and pressure from Israel a restaurant has agreed to change its name from “Hitler’s Cross”. 

The said restaurant used posters of the Fuehrer and Nazi swastikas for publicity, initially refused to change its name, but relented Thursday and covered its signboards with white cloth.  The restaurant's name and its marketing gimmick had enraged India's Jewish population, which had said it would fight any attempts at "rehabilitating Hitler."

The market for buying and selling houses has been changing. 

"When the market starts to change from a seller's market to a buyer's market, it always has a little halt in the process of moving forward." Realty USA Sales Associate Natasha Rajtar said.  

Experts anticipate a wave of foreclosures by Americans with millions of adjustable-rate mortgages. 

This fall the adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) will be reset, and many homeowners will see their monthly mortgage payments go up by as much as 20%.  This is the highest ever financed mortgage according to the Mortgage Bankers Association where ARMs are 36% financed in 2005.