Archive for March, 2009Housing Perspective: January Case/Shiller Home Price IndexYou know the housing market is lousy when the only positive comment one of the nation’s leading experts on property values can come up with is: “prices can’t keep declining at this rate forever.” That assessment was courtesy of Robert Shiller, co-creator of the Case/Shiller Home Price Index, which recorded the worst price declines on [...] Fannie, Freddie to Steal Banks’ Crutches?By ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. With mortgage rates at historic lows, housing prices plummeting, and Washington throwing billions at housing-market recovery efforts, why is it still so damn hard to get a loan? And while the easy answer is that banks are flat-out broke, the real answer may lie in an [...] Cirios Top Ten at Ten – 3/31/09The Top Ten Stories YOU Need to Read This Morning 10. Amazingly, unaffordable housing continues to be in the news. 9. Good quick hits from our favorite cartoon characters. 8. REITs are in good-bad shape. 7. London bankers remind you – Do not get married unless you understand that it is forever because it will [...] Beware of Realtors Baring Gifts of a Bottom.Yahoo Finance’s coverage if the financial markets is low quality at best, dangerous at worse. Today, in running a Business Week story on the coming housing bottom, their assessment of the housing market is downright inaccurate: “In ZIP codes across the country, as once-inflated property prices bottom out housing sales are increasing dramatically” Bottoming? How [...] Cirios Top Ten at Ten – 3/30/09The Top Ten Stories YOU Need to Read This Morning 10. In the most newsworthy story of the year, if you price your house correctly, it will sell. 9. Winner = Ford, Loser = GM 8. Fannie and Freddie might be changing … for the better? 7. Time to go to Spain. 6. First reported [...] Homebuilders Hoping Size Doesn’t MatterBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. After nearly 3 years of bleeding cash, US homebuilders are on shaky ground. The market for new homes is being decimated by rampant overbuilding during the boom, and by the flood of bank-owned properties now being sold on the cheap. Prices remain in free fall. Even [...] House of the Week: How Cheap is That Condo in the Window?This week’s House of the Week takes us down to the South Land, to Santa Ana and the land of endless strip malls and condo complexes. For under $1000 per month in mortgage, tax and insurance payments (assuming 20% down), you can be the proud owner of a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo. The price: [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Housing Recovery? What Housing Recovery?By ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. This week, 2 data points led optimistic market-watchers to declare the bottom in the housing is nigh: Indeed, one widely read trader-writer proclaimed, “The oversupply of housing that so plagues the market at present will be a figment of our memory a few months hence.” The [...] Cirios Top Ten at Ten – 3/27/09The Top Ten Stories YOU Need to Read This Morning 10. Mortgage rates are low. Can they go lower? 9. Is it possible to serve life in prison in two different countries? Madoff may have a few amazing acts up his sleeve. 8. I don’t know why, but I love reading about the train wreck [...] House of the Week Results: No Way San JoseThis week’s House of the Week redefines the term “over-listed.” While the house does have a number of things going for it — large living area, good curb appeal and a nice open layout, it’s just priced too high. But, like many sellers in the area, this one is yet to come to terms with [...] Cirios Top Ten at Ten – 3/26/09The Top Ten Stories YOU Need to Read This Morning 10. In the ongoing battle of the acronyms, Commercial Real Estate, or CRE, isn’t doing nearly as well as Cirios Real Estate, or CRE. 9. So, maybe that whole attacking AIG executives wasn’t such a good idea after all. 8. Tenant number 1 has signed [...] Housing Perspective: February New Home SalesHomebuilders, beseiged by losses on rapidly depreciating land and record levels of inventory, are unloading unsold homes at firesale prices. According to the Commerce Department, sales of new homes bounced 4.7% in February to an annualized pace of 337,000 from 322,000 in January. Prices slipped 18% from a year ago. Median prices now stand just [...] Cirios Top Ten at Ten – 3/25/09The Top Ten Stories YOU Need to Read This Morning 10. Just like existing homes sales … New home sales UP, prices DOWN. 9. Last week, all of Washington was “outraged” over the AIG bonuses. Apparently, now they’re over it. 8. What? Prime mortgages in trouble? It’s almost as if we saw this coming … [...] Cirios Top Ten at Ten – 3/24/09The Top Ten Stories YOU Need to Read This Morning 10. That pesky US dollar was getting us nowhere fast anyway. 9. Buying condos on spec — still not a good idea. 8. Gambling with your pension money, courtesy of our friends in the federal government. Thanks guys! 7. 20% of Americans can’t wait to [...] Housing Perspective: February Existing Home SalesIf you bought a house in February, it’s a 50/50 bet you picked up a foreclosure. The National Association of Realtors released data this morning indicating almost half of all transactions last month involved a bank owned home. Sales jumped 5.1% from January, to an annualized rate of 4.72 million. Prices, however, continued to decline [...] Cirios Top Ten at Ten – 3/23/09The Top Ten Stories YOU Need to Read This Morning 10. Another $1 trillion thrown at the financial system — this time pension funds can play too. 9. Home sales are UP … but prices are DOWN. 8. It seems like everyone wants to get back on the oil bandwagon. 7. Could the market for [...] Cirios Wire Check – 3/20/2009A DAILY LOOK AT THE STORIES YOU SHOULD BE READING Real Estate – The government is finally getting around to closely regulating mortgage brokers. – Only about 3 years late, Moody’s is downgrading Jumbo mortgage backed securities. – In good news, Bay Area real estate has seen a surge in buying activity, particularly activity backed [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Going Green on Uncle Sam’s DimeThis post first appeared on Minyanville. It’s starting to make economic sense to go green. Last summer, with gas prices topping $4 per gallon and commodities of all kinds becoming more expensive, renewable energy advocates thought their day in sun — so to speak — had finally arrived. Investors flocked to industry leaders like First [...] Cirios Wire Check – 3/19/09A DAILY LOOK AT THE STORIES YOU SHOULD BE READING Real Estate – Mortgage rates are falling because the Federal Reserve does not like a strong dollar – Who wants to live near Jobs!? You too have the chance to overpay for a house. – $450,000 for a one-bedroom in Panama!? Has the world lost [...] House of the Week: No Way San JoseThis week, Cirios takes you on a quick jaunt down the Peninsula to San Jose. The home is located in a middle-class suburban neighborhood with good schools. Pay special attention to the note from the listing agent — who has clearly gone all out to inspect the property prior to putting it on the market. [...] Cirios Wire Check – 3/17/09HAPPY ST. PATRICK’s DAY! A DAILY LOOK AT THE STORIES YOU SHOULD BE READING Real Estate – Piedmont is the last man standing in the housing decline. The storm isn’t over yet … – In good news, housing construction surged in February. Can this momentum last? – Landlords “never fear, Obama is here” – It [...] Housing Perspective: March Homebuilder SentimentConditions in the world of building new homes remains poor to quite poor. The National Association of Homebuilders (or NAHB), the industry lobbyist group, released its monthly builder confidence index this morning, which registered a near-record low reading of 9. Sentiment was unchanged from last month, which matched analysts expectations. The builder group is hopeful [...] Cirios Wire Check – 3/13/09A DAILY LOOK AT THE STORIES YOU SHOULD BE READING Real Estate – If you can’t get a loan … ask the seller for some money. – Loan modifications remain a complete mess. – Foreclosure moratorium = foreclosures happen later rather than sooner. – A playboy mansion is for sale! Finance – Even the rich [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Foreclosure Wheel Keeps on TurningBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. Despite herculean efforts to stop the foreclosure juggernaut, Americans are still losing their homes at near-record pace. According to RealtyTrac, a firm that sells default data, foreclosure filings rose in February to nearly 300,000, up 6% from the month before. This figure is the third highest [...] |