Foreclosures/REOsHousing Collapse Blamed on Borrowers, not BanksThis article first appeared on Minyanville. The darkest days of the housing market’s downward spiral may be behind us, but the battle over who should shoulder the blame is rambling on. In Friday’s Wall Street Journal, Nick Tamiraos cited a paper published by the Federal Reserve Banks of Boston and Atlanta that aims to dispel [...] San Francisco Pushes for Foreclosure Moratorium The Occupy movement may have faded out of national headlines, but here in San Francisco, activists are making strides to impact policy. Yesterday, after being prodded by members of Occupy Bernal, the Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to pass a resolution for a moratorium on foreclosures within the city and county of San Francisco. Occupy [...] 5 Reasons Why the Housing Market Will Not Crash (Again)This post first appeared on Minyanville. Three years of wrong predictions notwithstanding, perma-bears are emerging from a winter’s hibernation with tall tales of another impending collapse in home prices. They could not be more wrong. For pundits, academics, bloggers and others who get their market “color” from crunching numbers and poring over 50-page long analyst [...] Riding the Waves at the Beacon Socketsite posted an interesting example of why the Beacon continues to be a dicey building to buy (or own) in. Here is the chronology of unit 802 in 250 King St.: Apr. 2006: Bought new for $906,666 with a 105% LTV loan Nov. 2009: Bought at foreclosure auction for $527,077, cash May 2010: Bought on the open [...] Occupy Bernal Seeks Statewide Ban on Foreclosures Occupy Bernal, along with San Francisco Supervisor John Avalos, is taking on banks and federal regulators in their appeal for a statewide ban on foreclosures. Occupy Bernal made national headlines last month by holding a mock auction at Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf’s Russian Hill home. Now, the group is pushing for California to put a [...] State of the Markets – February 2012For being the year the world is supposed to end, 2012 has a lot of potential. After all, this is the year the housing market is supposed to hit bottom. Again. It’s also the year banks are finally supposed to unleash their bloated inventory of distressed properties onto the market. We’ve had the story before, [...] State of the Markets – January 201212 Housing Themes for 2012 As 2012 rumbles out of the gate, the US housing market correction enters its sixth year. By all accounts, it’s been the worst real estate slump in generations. But even this far into the cycle, housing bears continue to troll through data releases looking for ominous warnings that vindicate their [...] Foreclosure Relief Programs Under FireThis post first appeared on Minyanville. It wasn’t so long ago that foreclosure relief programs had near-unanimous support in the political community. There were elections afoot after all, and something had to be done about the millions of homeowners facing the loss of their home. But as data continue to show that loan modification and [...] Cirios Trends – March 2011In this month’s Cirios Trends March 2011 Edition: State of the Markets: March 9, 2011 Will expensive oil torpedo real estate? Feature: A Primer on San Francisco Public Schools Making sense of the city’s wacky Lottery system. Redwood City: Best. Climate. Ever. (Also, a nice place to live) Diverse town offers insight into the future [...] The State of the Markets: March 9, 2011This post first appeared in: Cirios Trends – March 2011 Thus far, 2011 has been nothing if not newsworthy. Economic data, financial news and even foreclosure scandals have been supplanted as headline fodder by the historic events taking place in North Africa and the Middle East. It is an exciting, if not somewhat terrifying time [...] 10 Reasons to Be Bullish on HousingThis piece first appeared on Minyanville. Almost five full years into the housing downturn, it’s still cool to be bearish on real estate. But cool isn’t always right: Despite headwinds such as looming shadow inventory, a lackluster job market, and geopolitical instability, there are plenty of reasons why rose-colored glasses may be the real estate [...] Cirios Trends — Special Edition: 2010 Real Estate RoundupIn this month’s Cirios Trends — Special Edition: 2010 Real Estate Roundup, check out: State of the Markets: Year in Review Despite headwinds, opportunities abound. Foreclosure-Gate: What the Hell Is (Was) Going On? Shoddy paperwork ensnares country’s biggest lenders. Around the Bay: Big Bites from 2010 News that made the front page. Bay Area home [...] Foreclosure-Gate: What the Hell Is (Was) Going On?This post first appeared in: Cirios Trends – Special Edition: 2010 Real Estate Roundup A 2010 housing market recap would be incomplete without a rundown of what has become known as “Foreclosure-Gate,” a foray into the procedural minutiae of distressed mortgage servicing. In September of this year – in the midst of the crucial mid-term [...] Cirios Trends – September 2010In this month’s Cirios Trends: Finding Real Estate Opportunities, check out: The State of the Markets – September 15, 2010 Housing is dead. Or is it? Feature: What To Do with Fannie and Freddie? Mortgage giants are propping up the housing market, but at what cost? Around the Bay: Local News Bites Goings on that [...] The State of the Markets – 9/15/2010This post first appeared in the September edition of: Cirios Trends: In Search of Real Estate Opportunities In a financial landscape marred with uncertainty, there is one constant, one thing that “everyone” knows: Housing is in trouble. And while the bears certainly have ammunition to support their pessimistic case, history tells us that when everyone [...] Cirios Trends – August 2010In this month’s Cirios Trends Special Edition: Finding Real Estate Opportunities, check out: The State of the Markets – August 4, 2010 Demographics drive property values. Feature: The Storied History of Hunters Point Abandoned Naval Shipyard poised for dramatic development. Around the Bay: Local News Bites Goings on that move markets. Zip Code Spotlight – [...] The State of the Markets – 8/4/10This post first appeared in the June edition of: Cirios Trends: In Search of Real Estate Opportunities Humans, as a species, are lousy fortunetellers. A few intrepid visionaries aside, most people simply cannot grasp what the world will look like in 20, 10 or even five years. And for good reason. Trying to envision the [...] Feature: The Storied History of Hunters PointThis post first appeared in the June edition of: Cirios Trends: In Search of Real Estate Opportunities Over the past several years, precious few shovels have broken ground in San Francisco. The credit crisis and economic slump have caused developers and investors to pull back, as builders have focused on surviving, rather than thriving. But [...] Zip Code Spotlight – Bay View/Hunters Point (94124)This post first appeared in the June edition of: Cirios Trends: In Search of Real Estate Opportunities This month’s zip code spotlight falls on 94124, the Bay View/Hunters Point area of Southeast San Francisco. This area is well known as the most dangerous part of the city, but as we discuss elsewhere in this issue, [...] Cirios Trends Special Edition: Mid-Year Review – Will Housing Slide Again?In this month’s Cirios Trends Special Edition: Mid-Year Review – Will Housing Slide Again?, check out: The State of the Markets – Will Housing Slide Again? Prices are falling, should you care? Why Are Home Prices Falling Again? The answer may surprise you. Is Housing Policy Working? Running the numbers on foreclosure prevention. Picking Winners [...] Cirios Trends — June 2010In this month’s Cirios Trends: Finding Real Estate Opportunities, check out: The State of the Markets: June 8, 2010 Something isn’t adding up in the market for bank owned homes. Feature: How Much Should I Pay? Tips for buyers not interested in overpaying. Around the Bay: Local News Bites Goings on that move markets. Zip [...] The State of the Markets — June 8, 2010This post first appeared in the June edition of: Cirios Trends: Finding Real Estate Opportunities. There is no ambiguity about the goal of current US government policy when it comes to housing: Prevent home price depreciation at all cost. As such, this month’s State of the Markets was going to discuss shadow inventory, diving into [...] Zip Code Spotlight – East Palo Alto – 94303This post first appeared in the June edition of: Cirios Trends: Finding Real Estate Opportunities. This month’s spotlight falls on East Palo Alto, CA, perhaps one of the Bay Area’s most interesting pockets of real estate and an excellent illustration of the effect of housing boom and bust on marginal areas. Surrounded by islands of [...] Talking Charts – Who’s Back on Track?This post first appeared in the June edition of: Cirios Trends: Finding Real Estate Opportunities. If there is a theme we at Cirios harp on more than any other, it’s that just because a particular city or neighborhood is considered “more desirable” than another, that does not mean by extension it’s also a better place [...] |