Posts Tagged ‘foreclosure’SPECIAL EDITION: Cirios Trends — A Decade in FluxIn this SPECIAL EDITION, check out: The State of the Markets: A Decade in Flux 10 years that were anything but boring.. Home Prices: A Much Needed Breather After a historic rise, an equally historic fall. Getting Back on Track: Are We There Yet? Many believe the bottom in housing has come and gone. Are [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Trial Modifications Are CriminalThis post first appeared on Minyanville. The Obama administration is busy touting the burgeoning success of its mortgage modification program. Unfortunately, it’s a farce: Out of one side of his mouth, the President touts a dedication to the besieged middle class, while from the other, lauds a loan modification program which steals money from struggling [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Just How Hot Is the Housing Market?This post first appeared on Minyanville. It seems that with each passing month, the data gods deliver more and more evidence that the woe begotten US housing market may finally be emerging from its years-long doldrums. Existing home sales: Up. New home sales: Up. Pending home sales: Up. Home prices: Down, but at a slower [...] Vultures Descend on Mortgage MarketThis post first appeared on Minyanville. In early 2006, when subprime powerhouse New Century went bust, vulture investors began to salivate at the opportunities a collapsing mortgage market would offer up like manna from the trading gods. They started raising money. And lots of it. Billions were poured into so-called “mortgage opportunity funds,” which planned [...] Mortgage Rates Still Not Allowed to Return to NormalBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. Despite Herculean efforts, the Federal Reserve is losing its battle to keep mortgage rates at all-time lows. As fear that we’re headed for imminent collapse slowly wanes, investors’ appetite for risk is coming back. This renewed confidence has helped buoy stocks, and the major equity indices [...] Doing Your Real Estate Homework: RealtyTracWe have all heard the old saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” This also applies to real estate. Just like a house that looks great from the outside could be a money pit, don’t assume that just because a neighborhood isn’t littered with For Sale signs, foreclosure activity is low. RealtyTrac.com is one [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Beware The False Bottom in HousingBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. Residential real estate is about to get very weird. In the coming months, housing-market data is likely to show price stabilization in many of the country’s hardest hit areas. Pundits, government officials and real-estate professionals will loudly proclaim the worst of our real estate woes are [...] Banks Rev Up Foreclosure MachineBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. For almost 2 years, we’ve been told government-backed loan modification efforts and foreclosure moratoriums would help ease the pain of the ongoing housing crisis. It’s not working. Despite recent calls to the contrary — this morning’s came courtesy of real-estate mogul Sam Zell — residential home prices are still in free [...] 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 [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: How to Play the Housing ReboundBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. There isn’t an economic forecaster or media pundit alive who isn’t angling to be the first to (correctly) call the bottom in housing. Many have tried; they all have failed. But what happens when one’s right? At some point in the future, broad home price indicators [...] Housing Perspective: January New Home SalesBy RYAN TAYLOR New homes sales reached record lows in January as transactions fell 10.2% from a month ago to seasonally adjusted annual rate of 309,000. This annual rate is the lowest in the history of the reading which the government started in 1963. The median sales price for new homes also fell by 9.9% [...] Obama’s Mortgage Solution: What’s In It For Me?By AUSTIN NELSON There is considerable controversy as to the wisdom of the new measures introduced by the Obama Administration to stabilize the housing market: Will they work? What does it even mean for something like this to work? While there are strong arguments on both sides, let’s look specifically at who Obama’s plan will [...] Housing Perspective: February Home Builder SentimentBy RYAN TAYLOR The National Association of Home Builders, or NAHB, released its confidence numbers for February this morning and the reading unexpectedly rose to 9, up from 8 in January. 8 is the lowest level the index has ever reached. This surprise increase is not exactly a reason to start popping champagne and celebrating [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Capitulation Now!This post first appeared on Minyanville. Finally, housing is starting to act like a market searching for a bottom. Well, sort of. In former boom states like California, Arizona and Florida, distressed sales are driving the local real-estate markets. After a near-complete evaporation of buying activity last year, buyers have been brought off the sidelines [...] The Value of an REO, Part 2By RYAN TAYLOR In this two part series, Cirios’ Valuation Guru Ryan Taylor offers an insider’s look into the nuances of investing in foreclosed homes. Please click here for Part 1. As potential buyers embark on their search for a new home or a prospective investment, they are very likely to see at least one [...] The Value of an REOBy RYAN TAYLOR In this two part series, Cirios’ Valuation Guru Ryan Taylor offers an insider’s look into the nuances of investing in foreclosed homes. Please click here for Part 2. From Beverly Hills to Detroit, the term REO is quickly becoming part of our country’s vocabulary. REO, or Real Estate Owned, refers to a [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: The Other Side of the Rock-Bottom MortgageBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. It’s wishful thinking that artificially low interest rates alone are enough to rehabilitate the housing market. The mortgage industry has undergone a swift and ruthless downsizing over the past 18 months. While a necessary part of the corrective process, the market is ill-equipped to handle the onslaught of [...] Housing Perspective: November Housing StartsBy AUSTIN NELSON Housing starts in the U.S. fell to their lowest levels since the government started keeping statistics on the subject in 1959. The drop is staggering — almost 20% since October — and is another stark indication of the current state of the U.S. housing industry, not to mention the economy as whole. [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Chinese Investors Smell Blood in CaliforniaBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. Speculators have been flocking to California for centuries. Gold, computers, absurd dot.com start-ups, real estate - if it’s an asset, it’s probably boomed and busted in the Golden State. The bursting of the latest bubble — real estate — is still in progress, as foreclosures push up [...] Crisis in Prime Mortgages on HorizonBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. The private sector is actively engaging the mortgage crisis with the first broad-based, systemic attempt to prevent foreclosure. Both Bank of America (BAC) and JPMorgan (JPM) are attempting to help hundreds of thousands of troubled homeowners with massive loan modification efforts. Regulators and bank executives are operating [...] JPMorgan Tackles Troubled MortgagesThis post first appeared on Minyanville. The mortgage bailout parade marches on. Just days after rival Bank of America (BAC) announced plans to modify hundreds of thousands of mortgages, JPMorgan (JPM) released details of a homeowner rescue plan of its own on Friday afternoon. Following its takeover of both Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual, JPMorgan’s inventory of [...] Housing Perspective: September New Home Sales DataNew Home Sales rose unexpectedly in September, but prices continue to fall. According to Bloomberg: Purchases increased 2.7 percent to an annual rate of 464,000 Median sale price decreased to a four-year low The median price declined 9.1 percent from a year earlier to $218,400 The supply of homes fell to 10.4 months from 11.4 [...] Banks Beware: Here Come the LawsuitsThis post first appeared on Minyanville. Despite the Armageddon-esque financial turmoil of recent weeks, one thing about America hasn’t changed: If you really want someone to do something, sue them. They lined up in droves: Cities, counties and states sued the pants off Countrywide for its shady lending practices. California, Illinois and Florida all alleged [...] Keeping It Real Estate: Don’t Ban Foreclosures!This post first appeared on Minyanville. Banning foreclosures is starting to gain momentum in Washington: This isn’t good. Barak Obama, the current frontrunner in the race for the White House, recently floated a plan for a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures by certain banks, along with other initiatives to revive the economy. While Obama’s heart may be [...] |