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FBI Creates Nevada Mortgage Task Force
2008-03-15 13:03:00
The FBI has been sleeping through the mortgage fraud crisis hoping the elephant in the room would just go away. The banks lose a few million, homeowners end up with reduced property values, and we do not have to get our budgets blown out. However, the elephant has started tearing things up just a little too much and now the ...
More About: Nevada , Mortgage Fraud , Force , Mortgage , Task

The Girl Who Destroyed The New York Housing Market
2008-03-14 20:42:00
I wish I had caught this sooner. Fortunately Dean Foust was on top of things. While I think Dean was wildly overeacting when he stated that this one little 6 year old caused the national housing meltdown, I think all are convinced that she had a major play in the recent downturn for New York City. Post from: The Real Estate ...
More About: Market , Girl

Could Fannie Mae Go Belly Up?
2008-03-14 20:33:00
That is the question that is being asked over at Smart Money. They have gone through the balance sheet of the public private mortgage guarantor are concerned. Creative accounting and overly positive projections paint a picture that could be far from reality. This would not be as worrisome but the past history of Fannie Mae ...
More About: Mortgage Fraud , Mortgage , Belly

Foreclosures Dip 4 Percent in February, 2008
2008-03-14 15:39:00
Foreclosures for the month of February , 2008 dipped 4 percent from January’s number but still were up a whopping 60 percent over February, 2007. The number while heartening also show that the foreclosure crisis is still going on. The top states with the highest foreclosures follow the trend of where the housing bubble tracked as ...
More About: Foreclosures , Foreclosure , February 2008

Bear Stearns Needs Help From JP Morgan and The NY Fed
2008-03-14 15:30:00
In a surprise move, Bear Stearns Cos. has had to get a bailout out from rival JP Morgan and the New York Federal Reserve. Rumors of financial distress have been circulating the past week with executives trying to reassure the public. Tough times in the financial sector are another part of the real estate slowdown. If ...
More About: Real Estate

When Property Values Go Down Chicago Just Bumps Up Transfer Taxes
2008-03-13 14:29:00
Why is it when we have revenue issues in our household we just work on cutting back spending, yet when government has revenue issues they just find new ways to raise our taxes? That is all I can think of after reading an article in the Chicago Tribune how the Chicagoland governments are all pleased ...
More About: Taxes , Real Estate , Property , Transfer

Where Are The Beach Front Bargains? Few And Far Between
2008-03-13 14:17:00
As housing prices drop folks are coming out of the woodwork looking for bargains. If you are looking in fringe subdivisions far outside of major metropolitan areas they are all over the place. But if you are looking to get a bargain on prime beachfront property that will be very hard to do. Lets face it, ...
More About: Beach , Front

Europe?s Top 10 Real Estate Locations For Investment
2008-03-12 15:50:00
Forget London and Rome, the top real estate investment locations in Europe have moved further east as the most famous cities have become terribly overpriced and are seeing a drop in their investment value. Instead investors are flocking to cities such as Moscow and Istanbul to grow their capital. Europe’s Top 10 Real Estate Locations ...
More About: Real Estate , Investment

Why Real Estate Bloggers Are Twittering?
2008-03-12 15:30:00
Because it is fun. And when things break they break first on Twitter. Here is a great primer on Twitter: Follow me at http://twitter.com/tomroyce. Post from: The Real Estate Bloggers Why Real Estate Bloggers Are Twittering?

Why Homeowner Association Exclusive Contracts Can Backfire
2008-03-11 14:35:00
Engadget has an interesting article on why homeowner associations that sign exclusive contracts for services can have it backfire. The example they are using is the contracts homeowners associations have signed to make cable companies exclusive providers to get better rates. The problem is that with if foreclosures happen or homes go empty, the rest ...
More About: Exclusive , Real Estate , Housing , Association , Contracts

Blackstone - They?re staring into the jaws of hell
2008-03-11 14:28:00
“They see the handwriting on the wall,” said Martin S. Fridson, a leading expert on junk bonds, said of buyout firms. “They’re staring into the jaws of hell.” via the New York Times. Wow, the hyperbole. But it is true, tighter credit has made mincemeat out of the big buyout firms that are so dependent on ...
More About: Blackstone , Hell , Staring , Jaws

Michigan?s Goverment Attempts To Completely Destroy Real Estate Values in S
2008-03-10 15:31:00
God help you if you live in Michigan . When unemployment became onerous and the government was hit with declining tax revenues they decided to try to bolster the manufacturing sector. The passed a new tax law that gave special benefits to those creating new jobs. As is typical with all governments, instead of lowering spending ...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Real , Values

Why The United States Real Estate Downturn Will Be Much Different Than Japa
2008-03-10 15:18:00
There is a great deal of discussion going on in the real estate world that the real estate downturn in the United States is going to mimic the 10 year downturn that Japan went through in the 1990’s. The fear of rampant deflation or at best stagflation is often the fear raised by those who ...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Real

Countrywide Being Investigated - Is This Bank Of America?s Out?
2008-03-09 17:54:00
The business practices of Countrywide Financial are being investigated by the FBI according to Bloomberg. While it is hard to keep track of everything, the charges of security fraud are hard to get out of if Mozilo selling a huge chunk of his stock right before the share price tanked does raise a red flag. ...
More About: America , Mortgage Fraud , Mortgage , Bank of America , Bank

Chicago?s Cook County Asks For Mortgage Task Force
2008-03-08 15:43:00
Mortgage fraud has become so rampant in the Chicago Metroland that the Cook County Recorder of Deeds has asked for a multi jurisdictional task force to attack the problem. The illegal recording of deeds and forgery to get illegal mortgages on homes is so rampant that the office can not stay ahead of the problem. Moore ...
More About: Real Estate , Force , Mortgage

Tennessee Will Require Fingerprints From Convicts and Real Estate Agents
2008-03-07 15:46:00
The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance announced yesterday that all real estate agents will have to have their fingerprints taken and background checks done before they can sit for the real estate exam. I wonder if they will require fingerprints for attorneys also? Individuals will be fingerprinted by Cogent System and the company will electronically ...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Agents , Real

Solar Power Cells Made By Your Inkjet Printer?
2008-03-06 21:36:00
Has anyone noticed that there has been a surge in alternative power ideas coming to fruition now that energy costs are skyrocketing? The newest one that I have come across are solar power film cells that can be printed off of an inkjet printer. Like electricity, consumers will gravitate to the least expensive solution. When one ...
More About: Power , Solar Power , Solar , Housing , Printer

Is New York State Going To Impose a 1 YEAR Mortgage Moratorium?
2008-03-06 15:52:00
The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money. Alexis de Tocqueville We are getting closer and closer to the end of the republic and into a world of quasi socialism as the politicians pandering increases. The most recent example is the New York ...
More About: Foreclosure , Mortgage , State

The Billion Dollar Home - Mukesh Ambani?s New Home in Mumbai (Bombay)
2008-03-06 15:19:00
We have all heard about the 100 plus million dollar homes that are popping up for the super rich, but the new home of Mukesh Ambani is expected to cost nearly 1 billion dollars. Being built in Mumbai , what we call Bombay , the building will be placed in a residential section of the city. The ...
More About: Real Estate , Dollar , Home

When The House Came Tumbling Down or Incompetents Get Too Close
2008-03-05 20:51:00
This reminds me of the past week. Fortunately things do get better. Hattip to Barry Schwartz (aka RustyBrick) via Twitter Post from: The Real Estate Bloggers When The House Came Tumbling Down or Incompetents Get Too Close
More About: The House

Internet Explorer 8 Coming To A Computer Near You
2008-03-05 18:41:00
Microsoft has announced the Internet Explorer 8 Readiness Toolkit has been released. Some of the new features include: ActivitiesWebSlicesFavorites BarAutomatic Crash RecoveryImproved Phishing Filter With real estate sales being so online dependent I would expect those forward thinking real estate agents and brokers to start working on innovations that will capitalize on these tools. Post from: The Real Estate Bloggers Internet ...
More About: Internet Explorer , Computer , Internet Explorer 8

The Age Gap Between Buyers and Real Estate Agents
2008-03-05 16:56:00
The Wall Street Journal Development Blog has an interesting post on the age gap that is occurring between buyers and agents. The average age of real estate agents in the United States is 51 while the average buyer was 39. Mostly this is a non issue and I was glossing over the post until I ...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Agents , Real , Buyers

Obama Rezko Real Estate Deal Could Play Large Part in the Election
2008-03-05 16:34:00
A year and a half ago I did a post at on Barak Obama ’s real estate deal with Tony Rezko that is playing a major role in the Democratic Primaries. The post has even attracted comments by operatives of the Obama campaign trying to explain that the land deal was a good business deal. Of course this ...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Play , Election

Bernanke?s Talk To Bankers Raises Some Interesting Points on Mortgage Prob
2008-03-05 16:23:00
Ben Bernanke addressed the Independent Community Bankers Conference in Orlando yesterday and addressed ideas he has on fixing the mortgage mess. Instead of trying to work problem borrowers on the interest side of the loan, Bernanke is looking to have a straight principal reduction of troubled loans. This makes sense in a convoluted way. The homes are worth less as ...
More About: Interesting , Real Estate , Mortgage , Talk , Points

Selling Your Soul For Your Client or How To Try To Move A Property Next To
2008-03-04 21:04:00
I am always in favor of real estate agents go the full measure to sell their clients homes. But there is a line between full measure and down right sleazy. A real estate agent selling the home across the street from Tiger Woods on Jupiter Island has been reportedly contacting the tabloids as potential buyers. The ...
More About: Selling , Property , Soul , Move , Client

For Real Estate Bloggers and Professionals - Building Your Own Brand
2008-03-04 16:36:00
This is the lesson that folks like Brian Brady, Dustin Luther, Teresa Boardman, and Greg Swann have figured out. Building Your Own Brand. The internet has given the first movers a great chance to differentiate yourself from your competition. To understand this a bit better, watch this video (especially the ending) by Gary Vaynerchuck, who has gone from selling ...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Bloggers , Real

The Top 10 Counties in America to get ahead in 2008
2008-03-02 13:00:00
Looking to get ahead, head to where the government is the strongest. That is the result of a recent study from Forbes on the Top 10 Places to Get Ahead . 6 of the top 10 counties that offered the best overall increase in median income. With  the ramp up of government spending it is no great surprise that 6 of the top 10 regions are just outside of Washington DC. The Top 10 Counties in America to get ahead Stafford County, Va. Forsyth County, Ga. Calvert County, Md. Loudoun County, Va. Charles County, Md. Prince William County, Va. Anne Arundel County, Md. Delaware County, Ohio Sussex County, N.J. Williamson County, Tenn. via Forbes Post from: The Real Estate Bloggers The Top 10 Counties in America to get ahead in 2008

Inman News Getting a New Look
2008-03-02 12:47:00
I think that the crew at Inman has done an outstanding job revamping their site. They have gone from something that looks very dated to the cutting edge. Congratulations! Post from: The Real Estate Bloggers Inman News Getting a New Look

Personal: Sick Son So Posting Will Be Light
2008-03-01 19:00:00
One of my boys has been fighting the flu so this week was stressed to begin with. Then yesterday it turned into pneumonia with constant vomiting so now he has been admitted to Scottish Rite Hospital in Atlanta. They have been wonderful, replenishing him with fluids and medicine and all those wonderful things so hopefully he ...
More About: Personal , Real Estate , Light , Sick

Why Connecticut Wants Your Money Any Way They Can Get It?
2008-02-29 19:33:00
“If the Realtors are so concerned, why don’t they lower their 6 percent [commissions]?” James Finley, Connecticut Conference of Municipalities chief lobbyist. This folks is what you are fighting when I bitch about government greed. The example of Connecticut fighting Realtors over a short term transfer tax that the cities and municipalities want to maintain. Connecticut ...
More About: Money , Real Estate