Posts Tagged ‘mortgage’Cirios Trends: Getting to the Bottom of the Housing Market – November 2009In this month’s issue, check out: The State of the Markets – 11/3/2009 Opportunity abounds as banks pare back on risk. Editorial: Regulators Delay Bursting of Commercial Real Estate Bubble Reality forestalled as lenders kick the can down the road, again. Zip Code Spotlight: 94040 – Mountain View Deciphering the Google Effect. First Time Homebuyer [...] The State of the Markets – 11/3/2009This post first appeared in the November edition of Cirios Trends: Getting to the Bottom of the Housing Market Of the myriad debates ongoing at a time when economics and politics are seemingly two heads of the same freakish snake, the role government should play in directing economic actions dominates an already ideologically charged arena. [...] Cirios Trends: Getting to the Bottom of the Housing Market – September 2009In this month’s issue, check out: The State of the Markets – 9/1/2009 Housing inventory set to rise. The culprit? Seasonality. Ciriosly Green: Why Energy Efficiency Matters Your home has hidden value just waiting to be unlocked. Zip Code Spotlight: El Cerrito – 94530 Is Berkeley’s neighbor to the north heating up? Feature: The Future [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Just How Bad Are the New Appraisal Rules?This post first appeared on Minyanville. Appraisers just can’t get it right. During the housing boom, mortgage brokers, real-estate agents, and even borrowers sought out appraisals supporting the highest possible home price. Appraisers, fearful of losing business, inflated their valuation findings, which exacerbated the run-up in home prices. Now, after nearly 4 years of home-price [...] Housing Perspective: May Existing Home SalesHome sales in May rose from April, the second straightly monthly increase. According to the National Association of Realtors, or NAR, purchases crept up 2.4% from the prior month, which was less than 3.0% analysis were expecting. Prices continued their decline, falling 17% from a year ago, dragged down by distressed sales. As readers of [...] Homebuilders Add New Wing to Housing CrisisThis post first appeared on Minyanville. It appears even the embattled homebuilding industry is getting rosy-eyed, finding enough “green shoots” of economic recovery to stick their shovels back into the ground. In May, US builders broke ground on 17.2% more projects than in April, far exceeding analysts’ expectations. Work on new apartment buildings leaped, while [...] Companies Compete for Government Cash, Not CustomersThis post first appeared on Minyanville. It’s the government, stupid. As Washington expands its role in managing the day-to-day operations of American business, companies are increasingly turning their strategic focus to tapping federal cash and lending programs. And despite the strings often attached to government money, many are finding that Uncle Sam is the only [...] 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 [...] Homebuyers Crash Into Appraisal RoadblockBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. Mortgage guidelines have become increasingly strict — not to mention regimented — as the private secondary-mortgage market has all but disappeared in the past 24 months. But according to the Wall Street Journal, appraisals are increasingly becoming one of the biggest hurdles for new purchase and [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: The Fed Loses the Mortgage-Rate Battle?This post first appeared on Minyanville. Despite the best efforts of the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department, the free market is winning the battle over mortgage rates. Tens of trillions of dollars in support for the financial system can’t change the stark reality: Giving out home loans remains risky business. Borrowers looking to take [...] Sayonara, SECBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. The horses, pigs, cows, goats, sheep, llamas, ostriches, dromedaries and rhinos have all left the barn, yet the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) still thinks it should be minding the door. In light of its woeful inability to perform even the simplest of tasks — [...] R.I.P. Free CreditBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. Remember the good old days? Back when you and the credit crunch were young, and only those “subprime” people over on the other side of town — you know, the ones living wildly beyond their means, dependent on credit for the very necessities of life — [...] 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 [...] The Five Questions You MUST Ask Your RealtorBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. As a growing number of economists, pundits and real-estate professionals assure us the housing market’s worst days are over, prospective home buyers need a trusted advocate to make sure they don’t end up on the wrong side of someone else’s trade. More often than not, that [...] Government to Banks: We Recommend Throwing Good Money After BadBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. Every month, it seems, Washington dreams up new and fantastic ways to funnel taxpayer money towards a growing list of undeserving recipients. Now, in the latest attempt to coerce banks into modifying delinquent mortgages en masse, the Treasury Department plans to offer cash incentives to lenders [...] 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 [...] 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: 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 [...] Foreclosure By DesignBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. Many months ago, long before bureaucrats dreamed up their massive, ill-conceived loan-modification programs, the free market found a solution to the mortgage mess. Specialists in handling distressed debt amassed tens of billions of dollars to buy up bad loans at steep discounts. The offending institutions who [...] 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 [...] The Mortgage Rescue Plan: Will It Work?By ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. The answer? An emphatic no. This is simply the latest example of legal plunder perpetrated by the federal government against law-abiding, tax-paying citizens. The Obama administration’s scheme to help troubled borrowers centers on subsidizing interest payments, which would help borrowers make ends meet without angering those [...] By the Numbers: Low-Low-Low Mortgage RatesThis post first appeared in the February 2009 edition of Cirios Trends. Record low mortgage rates are all over the news these days, as we’re once again flooded with advertisements telling us its a great time to buy a house. Keeping interest rates low represents the frontline in the government’s assault on the housing market’s [...] Fed Jumps on Loan Modification BandwagonBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” – and you certainly can’t fault lawmakers for a lack of persistence in trying to stem the epidemic foreclosures plaguing America’s housing market. Sadly, they insist on trying the same failed strategies over and over again. For [...] Freddie Blows Through Another $35 BillionBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. $100 billion just isn’t what it used to be. Over the weekend, Freddie Mac (FRE) requested a second draw on its Treasury Department credit facility, saying $30-35 billion would suffice to keep its net worth above zero, thank you very much. After taking $14 billion in [...] |