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Archive for the ‘Real Estate’ Category
August 10, 2011 The U.S. Debt Downgrade and Real Estate
One of the hottest and most contentious topics last week was Standard & Poor’s decision to downgrade the credit rating of the United States from its perfect AAA rating to a not-so-perfect AA rating. That decision came, as we all know, after seemingly endless bickering on Capitol Hill that brought the debt ceiling vote to [...]
July 7, 2011 Bank of America Gives Away Houses
Here’s an original idea for a bank in the Age of Foreclosures: If you’ve got a bunch of properties on your books that are in foreclosure, give ‘em away. It may sound like an odd solution – especially for a bank – but that’s what Bank of America is planning to do with as many [...]
June 29, 2011 The Number of Strategic Defaulters is Growing in the Real Estate Market
If you haven’t heard the term “strategic defaulter” yet, you will. It’s a growing segment of homeowners who, faced with a home value drastically lower than what they paid, are simply walking away from their mortgages. But what’s so strategic about that? Nothing inherently. But these homeowners are not just walking away: they’re buying other [...]
June 16, 2011 In the Wake of Midwest Devastation, Some Good News for Homeowners from Freddie Mac
The recent devastating tornadoes that tore through the Midwest left a path of devastation and destruction. Homes were leveled, lives lost, and entire cities were razed. In the midst of the sorrow and loss, however, there is good news, at least for some. Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage backer, has announced that homeowners affected by [...]
June 8, 2011 Homeowners Foreclose on a Bank
It might sound like a story from Bizarro World, but it’s true: A Naples, Florida couple initiated foreclosure proceedings on Bank of America last week. As reported on Yahoo! News yesterday, retired police officer Warren Nyerges and his wife, Maureen Collier, purchased their home in 2009 for $165,000, which they paid for in cash. In [...]
February 22, 2011 Obama Proposes Pulling the Plug on Fannie and Freddie
The Obama administration has proposed the eventual dissolution of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the Treasury Department’s long-awaited report regarding mortgage finance reform. The report, presented to Congress on February 11, calls for a shift of mortgage credit from government to private markets. Fannie, Freddie, and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) currently support more [...]
February 15, 2011 Nearly 16 Million Homeowners Are Underwater
A sign that the volatile real estate market is still far from recovered, Zillow Inc, a Seattle-based real estate information company, reports that the number of homes worth less than their outstanding mortgages jumped in the fourth quarter 2010 as prices fell and lenders seized fewer properties from delinquent borrowers. Approximately 15.7 million homeowners had [...]
January 11, 2011 Foreclosures Across the Country Still High in 2010, but Down from 2009
According to the Q3 2010 U.S. Foreclosure Sales Report, foreclosure homes accounted for 25 percent of all U.S. residential sales in the third quarter of 2010. Nevada has far and away the most troubled real estate market – foreclosure sales accounted for nearly 54 percent of all sales in the third quarter of 2010. While [...]
December 9, 2010 When Those Who Can Buy Won’t
According to an article on Boston.com, more and more couples and individuals who are financially able to buy a home are choosing not to. The battered real estate economy is still sputtering, foreclosures are an everyday occurrence, and many homeowners are still underwater, so it’s hardly surprising that first-time homebuyers are scarce. Owning a home [...]
May 6, 2010 Appraisers Seeking Resources to Determine the Value of Green Buildings
Real estate appraisers are struggling to determine the value of green building construction because the market is still in its infancy; there is lack of comparable property data and other market information. The current real estate market poses difficulties for any new construction appraisal, and the nascent green building construction market is exceedingly more difficult [...]