It hit with the ferocity of an Old Testament plague, wiping out large populations of homeowners in the U.S. Five million of the country’s 76 million mortgage holders have lost their homes to foreclosure or lender-ordered short sales since 2006, and an estimated 14 million more owe more on their homes than their properties are […]

Now in addition to the bulk quantities of toilet paper and soft drinks, Costco Wholesale Corp.    is now offering mortgages. CNNMoney reports that after a year of testing, the Issaquah-based retailer (NASDAQ: COST) is offering a full-service mortgage program from First Choice Bank, a New Jersey-based community bank, and 10 other lenders. Costco is […]

Linea Laird oversees the state Department of Transportation’s $3.1 billion Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement project. She took over last fall after Ron Paananen, the longtime project director, left for a private-sector job. Laird already was intricately involved in the project, including overseeing procurement and development of the $1.9 billion deep-bore tunnel — a critical and […]

Seattle is one of nine cities where housing markets hit new lows in February, according to a report on house prices by the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller    Home Price Indices. Atlanta had the biggest annual skid in house prices in the country, down a whopping 17.3 percent from February last year. It’s the fifth month […]