IBT Staff Reporter

The purchase of a vacation home or a residential investment property is influenced by many factors that are often different than the motivations for the purchase of a primary residence. Especially during a period of weak home sales and considerable uncertainty about the economy, it is important to gauge how the economic environment is affecting each segment.

With the economy still struggling through the prolonged economic recession, with consumers concerned about employment and the prospects for recovery, the multi-family sector is displaying softening, but positive fundamentals.

Fabrizio Gallo, Morgan Stanley's global head of equities, is leaving the Wall Street firm, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Overall, 21 percent of sellers indicated that what they wanted most from their agent was help pricing their home competitively.

There are many reasons that drive the decision of home buyers to make a purchase at a particular time.

Metropolitan areas in the South in general are among the fastest growing immigrant destinations.

Affordability has been a major concern as home prices in some markets more than doubled earlier in the decade. After a period in the 1990s of great affordability when mortgage costs were between 20 and 35 percent of household income for most U.S. markets

Switzerland will start negotiations with the United States over its existing double-taxation treaty at the end of April, the Swiss ambassador to the United States told Swiss television late on Friday.

Several major banks face exposure to automaker Chrysler LLC, which may need to file for bankruptcy if it doesn’t come through with a plan that will convince the U.S. government to lend it additional funds to stay afloat.

A pair professors expressed concern that it would not be proper for banks who have received government bailout funds to buy the same type of toxic assets which have caused them problems previously as part of a government public-private investment program.

The New York Times Co has threatened to shut The Boston Globe unless the newspaper's unions quickly agree to $20 million in concessions, the Globe reported on Friday, quoting union leaders.

The U.S. and Mexico are launching a new program to monitoring vehicles between borders of the two countries. They are also creating a cross-border group to develop strategies for stopping the smuggled guns and drugs, officials said Thursday.

U.S. banks that received billions of dollars of taxpayer money to bolster their capital could place bets on the same toxic assets that got them into trouble in the first place -- and with government support.

U.S. automaker General Motors Corp will move quickly into bankruptcy if necessary, chief executive Fritz Henderson said in an interview with the Financial Times newspaper published on Friday.

Feb Chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday the central bank's strategy to ease the financial crisis is working and he also acknowledged that the Fed was “extremely uncomfortable” about last year's bailouts for big financial companies.

Mexico's economy, already in recession, is being dragged even lower by a brutal drug war that is frightening off some investors and hurting the Mexican currency.

Chrysler LLC's lenders are in talks with the U.S. government to reduce the automaker's debt by swapping some of it out for equity, new debt or a lesser amount in cash, sources familiar with the talks said on Friday.

Continuing bonuses paid to employees at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are offensive since taxpayers are helping keep the mortgage-finance companies afloat, a leading Senate Republican said on Friday.

North Korea made the final preparations to launch a multistage rocket today, raising international tensions and sending worries through its nearest neighbor, Japan.

Chrysler LLC's lenders are in talks with the U.S. government to reduce the automaker's debt by swapping some of it out for equity, new debt or a lesser amount in cash, sources familiar with the talks said on Friday.

From cheering fans lining the streets to an adoring crowd packed into a sports arena, Obama-mania was in full swing in Europe on Friday.

President Obama said on the eve of a NATO summit meeting that U.S. needs to renew its partnership with Europe to boost up the NATO alliance.

Texas Instruments Inc has sued Citigroup Inc , Morgan Stanley and Bank of New York Mellon Corp , accusing the banks of misleading the chipmaker into buying $524 million of auction-rate securities that have become illiquid.

A judge extended a temporary freeze on the assets of Peter Madoff, brother of jailed swindler Bernard Madoff, on Friday, but agreed that he could have $10,000 a month in expenses.

Stocks rose on Friday, with the Dow marking its best four-week winning streak since 1933, lifted by robust results from Research in Motion and comments by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said the central bank will do everything it can to stabilize banks.

Continuing bonuses paid to employees at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are offensive since taxpayers are helping keep the mortgage-finance companies afloat, a leading Senate Republican said on Friday.

Stocks rose on Friday, with the Dow marking its best four-week winning streak since 1933, lifted by robust results from Research in Motion and comments by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said the central bank will do everything it can to stabilize banks.

President Barack Obama's pledge to boost IMF resources to help other crisis-hit economies could prove a tough sell for a Congress suffering from bailout fatigue and worried about mounting U.S. debt.

The U.S. unemployment rate soared to 8.5 percent last month, a 25-year high, as employers slashed jobs and cut workers' hours to the lowest level on record, the government said on Friday.