Real Estate Appraisers Under Investigation
August 18, 2008
It had to come sooner or later, but now real estate appraisers are under investigation. Why you may ask. Quite simply, real estate appraisers are supposed to determine a homes value without any outside pressures that would skew the numbers to “make a deal happen”. But, all too often, some unscrupulous real estate agents or mortgage loan officers pressure the real estate appraiser to make sure that the home is sufficiently valued to ensure that the deal happens. Some persons are calling for a complete reform of the industry and methodology utilized currently to police and monitor the situation.
Government Investigates Real Estate Incentives
August 17, 2008
With the real estate slow down nationally, many persons that had homes to sell began offering various incentives to prospective purchasers to get their homes sold. Now, the government is investigating those real estate incentives. Some incentives under scrutiny include “free” cars, tuition assistance, and even cold hard cash. The FBI is checking as to whether those contributions and incentives artificially created an increased value in the value of the home which would in turn result in an inflated mortgage on the property.
Commercial Real Estate Slowing Down
August 11, 2008
Some initial reports are in that indicate that commercial real estate is slowing down. This can primarily be tied to 2 contributing factors: tightening credit, and an overall economic slowdown resulting in less demand for commercial spaces. As a result, many commercial real estate developers are pulling back on their current developments, and are either putting them on hold - or phasing them out altogether. One interesting twist to this, is that some very wealthy real estate investors are seeing this as an opportunity to tap into their credit, despite the market conditions, to expand and make some purchases that they feel will pay off in the long run. They view it as a temporary slow down - and the the economy, real estate market, and the US Dollar will all bounce back.
Vacancies in Homes Hit All Time High
August 3, 2008
The numbers are out: vacancies in homes have hit an all time high. According to the report, 18.6 million homes currently are vacant and unoccupied in the US. The report cites the primary cause as the still occurring national real estate housing and real estate downward trend. This figure represents an increase of 6.9%. It also provides some detail regarding the housing rental market as well - and shows that the slowing real estate markets are having an effect across the board beyond just homes sales.
LA Times has published its last Sunday Real Estate Section
July 29, 2008
Well, its official: The Los Angeles Times has published its last Sunday real estate section of its newspaper. This real estate section has been a part of the newspaper since 1901. Reasons for the removal are cited as staff & space reductions. From an outside perspective, it would appear that the newspaper recognizes that it needs to cut costs to remain profitable, and that real estate is being taken overwhelmingly to the internet rather than by traditional print media. It will be interesting to see if this trend is followed by the other major newspapers in the other metropolitan areas. I have a feeling that this won’t be the last newspaper that cuts its real estate section from the news.
President Bush No Longer Opposes Housing Bill
July 23, 2008
In a dramatic change of position, President bush no longer opposes the Housing Bill currently under discussion in Congress. This is a big change especially relative to the majority of Republicans view that the bill helps bail out irresponsible home owners and unethical lenders. The current legislation proposes a $3.9 billion of funds to help those areas that have been hardest hit by foreclosed homes and real estate. If approved, the money would be utilized to help those persons acquire new loans with better terms that would allow them to get out from under their current higher fee loans.
Best Places to Invest in Real Estate
July 21, 2008
Interesting article that details the best places to invest in real estate in the world. The top 10 globally were as follows: Hong Kong, Sydney Australia, Munich Germany, Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai, Paris, Washington D.C., London, New York New York. As you can see, Asia dominated the mid and lower end of the list - while 2 of the top 3 spots were held by the United States.
Senate Approves Home Mortgage Rescue Plan
July 14, 2008
The Senate approved a home mortgage rescue plan for those homeowners that are attempting to stay out of foreclosure. The belief and motivation behind such a plan is that if those homeowners did end up defaulting on their home mortgages, that it would further exacerbate the already soft national real estate market. It is hoped that such aid will help cause a faster turn around for the real estate industry by providing Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans that would be more affordable to those home owners in need. The amount approved is a whopping $300 billion, which would assist potentially as many as 400,000 home owners.
Syms Clothing earns more from Real Estate than Clothing
July 11, 2008
Real estate remains a good investment, particularly for Syms clothing. The CEO of the store recently announced to its shareholders, that Syms Clothing earns more from real estate than from clothing. The company had approximately $2 million in income from its real estate ventures, and yet only saw a little over $800,000 in profits from clothing sales. Despite that admission, the CEO insists that Syms is not a real estate investment trust (REIT).
Australia may be entering softening real estate market
July 11, 2008
Over the past several decades, Australia has looked very favorable on real estate investments, and particularly the operating entities for those investments known as real estate investment trusts. But it appears that the softening real estate market in the United States, is starting to spread. Australia may be entering a softening real estate market. Several of those Australian real estate investment trusts are now cutting earnings, and their share prices are plummeting. Some long standing and reputable groups have cut as much as 25% off of their earnings forecasts for the year. Hopefully its a momentary pause for what has traditionally been a safehold for many real estate investors.
Real Estate Quote of the Week
"I often hear remarks from agents like, “the bank sold that house really cheap - 30% below market value”. I don’t agree with that kind of statement. If various banks are the only sellers selling in an area and they are selling all of their houses at a perceived “below market” sales price - perhaps that IS the market for that product in that area. A good price fixes any of the various bad conditions. There is no good reason to take (or keep) a listing that isn’t going to sell."
Russell Shaw - in AgentGenius from Phoenix AZPolls
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