Those of you who watched this week’s Democratic Party debate will note that the current foreclosure mess was an oft repeated theme. The candidates are trumpeting what they’ll do if they win in November, but two bills are already before Congress that will impact lenders and consumers.

The somewhat awkwardly named Emergency Home Ownership and Mortgage Equity Protection Act of 2007 and the Foreclosure Protection Act of 2008 are both being debated. Both are focused properties with nontraditional (neg am, interest only, etc) mortgages or subprime mortgages. Mortgage balances and monthly payments would be reduced based on how much a home’s value has decreased.

Continue reading Foreclosure relief :: we risk making a bad problem worse

Absorption Rate is defined as: An estimate of the rate at which a particular classification of space - such as new office space, new housing, new condominium units and the like - will be sold or occupied during a specific time frame.

This is an important number for Buyers because it gives you a general ideal of the market conditions in a given area. Equally important for Sellers as it is a good indication, (when used in conjunction with our pricing grid) of what to expect in terms of “Days on Market”. Higher rates are an indicator of better market conditions.

1/1/2007 through 1/31/2007

Continue reading Colorado Springs Real Estate, Absorption Rates For January 2008

Mortgage payments are on the rise.  Prices have collapsed.  “I’m outta here.”

Over on Money.com there’s an interesting piece on when is it ok to walk away from your mortgage, which reports on the deluge of homeowners who are upside down on their mortgages and are simply sending their housekeys back to the banks and walking away. “Jingle mail” they’re calling it. 

Well the idea was enough to push me into a state of moral indignation, thinking about the great American blame game and the general lack of accountability in our society.

But, having though about it a bit, I’m not sure so sure…

Continue reading Moral minefield of foreclosure and bankruptcy

Media stories on real estate fraud often focus on the markets that flew highest, like Las Vegas and Florida.  But there was a story on today’s All Things Considered tells of a scam of Akron, Ohio. 

Towns like Akron, as it turns out, were a fertile feeding ground for illicit activity during the boom.  Even during the headiest days property values were appreciating too slowly to make a fortune quickly, so unfortunately there were some operators who combined greed and easy credit into a formula to bilk novice investors and, sometimes, the banks that financed the deals. 

Continue reading Real estate fraud, midwestern style

Roof. Heating/ventilation/air conditioning (HVAC). Plumbing. Foundation. These are the four big ticket items when you’re evaluating a the structural integrity of a potential purchase.

Most of us investors are part timers. And lots of us are somewhat handy and know something about houses (we live in houses ourselves, don’t we?) So those first three items are things we can generally get our collective heads around. We see roof jobs every day. We change the filters on our own AC system. Most of us have replaced a faucet or two in your time. So problems, both big and small, might not phase us when it comes to the roof, the AC system, or pipes.

Continue reading Not all foundation problems are created equal

Well go check out Positive Real Estate News, a site dedicated to accentuating the positive and eliminating the negative, as Baloo the Bear says in Jungle Book.  So if the bubble bloggers have you down and you’re tired of the histrionic media hype then give this site a try. 

You can expect a pretty heavy Realtor spin on things, but that’s ok in my book; if you want a balanced worldview then it helps to hear both sides of the coin.  I’m a guy who gets his news from the Wall Street Journal (on the right) and the New York Times (on the left), so I believe that it’s important to be open to different points of view.

Continue reading Ready for a little good news for a change…?

As investors we’re not out there spinning the roulette wheel; we’re looking at the underlying fundamentals and taking measured risks. That said, investors do need to take a view of the future in order to make decisions in real time – and BusinessWeek’s recent cover story gives the housing market a timely and even-handed overview.

You’ll see some of the boilerplate that you’ve read before, but pay attention to a reference to an influential paper written by Harvard economist Gregory Mankiw which back in 1989 predicted a precipitous decline in housing prices. The premise was that a shrinking body of first-time buyers along with a glut of downsizing baby boomers will collectively pull lots of demand out of the market, leading to an excess of supply and a sticky plunge in prices.

Continue reading A 25% drop for housing prices?

Ok, you’ve priced your home correctly, de-cluttered, deep cleaned and staged it. Now you are ready for the showings to start but where are the buyers going to come from?

Today, buyers come from a wide range of places both online and off. The National Association of Realtors studies where home buyers actually come from. This study is published in their annual “Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers”.

Here are some statistics from the 2006 study. These numbers show the Information sources used in the home search by home buyers.

Source% UsedRealtor85%Internet80%Yard Sign63%Print Advertising55%Open House47%Home Magazine34%Home Builder26%Television11%Relocation Company5%

Continue reading Sellers Game Plan-Part 3

Being a good investor is all about having a vision for where you want to be, taking a view on the market, and running the numbers. When these three elements don’t line up then smart investors stay on the sidelines.  But when they do line up then it’s time to act.

Continue reading Five things that Real Estate Investors should consider when evaluating an investment opportunity

According to Time magazine, only 53 thousand votes separated Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in yesterday’s primary; that out of over 14 million ballots cast. That’s a margin of less than half a percent.

So we’re in for a long slog before we figure out which candidate will end up winning the prize, but the media is already starting to wonder aloud about whether the candidates might end up on the same ticket.

Continue reading Clinton and Obama on the same Democratic ticket?