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O.C. firm finds home market moldy and quits
2008-04-10 02:01:00
American Mold Guard Inc. shut its doors and laid off all its staff this week, citing the “severe and unprecedented” decline in the new home market. The publicly traded San Juan Capistrano provider of mold-protection services to homebuilders employed 63 people at the end of 2007. (That’s a photo of a house with really bad mold!) The company, formed in 2002, also had been unsuccessful in raising capital to transition into other types of services, according to a company news release. The shuttering of the business comes after at least two consecutive years of red ink, with 2007 net losses totaling $5.7 million, the company reported. CEO Mark Davidson, pictured at the company’s first stock sale, issued the following statement: “We are saddened and disappointed by the sudden discontinuation of American Mold Guard’s business operations. We and our employees worked extremely hard to avoid where we are today. Unfortunately, the severe and unprecedented de...
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1-in-5 say stimulus check’s going to house costs
2008-04-09 19:57:00
A consumer poll by Costa Mesa credit tracker Experian says that many Americans will apply federal tax rebates to housing costs. (To read more, CLICK HERE) Of the 1,000 Americans polled, 6% said they’ll pay their rent or mortgage with their stimulus windfall, which runs $600 per typical taxpayer. Another 10% say they’ll apply their money to home repairs as 4% chose furniture or appliances. All told, that’s 1-in-5 directly to housing. The largest slice of those surveyed, 19%, said they’d pay off an unspecified debt and another 16% said they’d be paying utility bills. That could be fat heating bills after a cold winter. Or, perhaps, runaway cellphone bills of a teenager at home. Other responses included invest (12%); travel (7%); education (4%); car (2%); and help a friend (2%.) Also, 18% of the responses fell into the infamous “other” category; while 4% of those polled didn’t answer. So will this economic stimulus package help get the f...
More About: House , Check , Costs

Major O.C. business expansions down 10.1%
2008-04-09 09:00:00
The Los Angeles Employment Development Corp. reports that despite the implosion of the local mortgage industry, Orange County still managed to have 62 major business expansion projects last year. LAEDC defines an expansion as a new lease of commercial real estate worth at least $1 million or involving 20,000 square feet or more o commercial space. Although O.C.’s projects dropped by 10.1%, they accounted for nearly a third of the 203 expansions in the five-county SoCal region. Business expansions declined 17.5% regionwide pulled down in large part by the Riverside-San Bernardino area, which saw 30% fewer major projects. Other nuggets: Among cities, Irvine led the five-county area with 21 major projects followed by downtown L.A. at 19. And only O.C. and Riverside saw an increase in total square footage in 2007. O.C. was up by 138,000 square fee to 3.9 million square feet. Riverside added 1.6 million square feet for total of 5.3 million square feet. Accounting, law and other p...
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Fed saw ‘little indication’ of housing’s bott
2008-04-09 03:01:00
At March 18’s Fed meeting, where a three-quarters of a point rate cut was made, the minutes show the discussion included … Participants noted that the contraction in the housing sector had deepened and that considerable uncertainty surrounded the outlook for housing. Although some stabilization in housing markets was likely needed to help underpin an economic recovery in coming quarters, there was little indication that that process had yet begun. Elevated rates of foreclosures and large inventories of unsold property were likely to depress home prices for some time. Lower home prices would eventually buoy home buying, but in the meantime the prospect of continued price declines could lead potential homebuyers to defer purchases for a time, further damping housing activity and adding to downward pressure on home values. Participants noted that the trajectory of house prices was a major source of uncertainty in their economic outlook. To read more of the minutes, that in...
More About: Housing

Property tax due Thursday; collections $91 million behind
2008-04-08 23:40:00
Attention property owners: Taxes due Thursday ! Apparently, the message isn’t getting through. (Or folks have some financial problems.) O.C. Tax Collector reports that through April 5, $3.3 billion has been collected in property taxes for the current fiscal year. That’s 5.6% above a year ago. But here’s the rub: The tax roll is up 8.2% this year. Thus, the county finds itself behind the pace with 72.5% off all 2007-2008 dollars due collected as of Saturday vs. 74.5% in the same period for the 2006-07 billing cycle. If taxpayers were paying property tax bills at last year’s pace, in theory, the county would have collected at extra $91 million so far. Look at it another way: There are 28,613 more tax accounts with bills still unpaid this year, up 7.4% from ‘06-’07. How to pay the second tax installment before late charges accrue? • In person at 12 Civic Center Plaza, Suite G58 in Santa Ana. (7:30 am – 6:00 pm on Thursday. Usually, until 4:45 pm.)...
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Foreclosures seen as O.C.’s hottest-selling homes
2008-04-08 09:12:00
Inside the latest home-selling math of Steve Thomas at Re/Max Real Estate Services in Aliso Viejo is a gem of a notion about bank-owned property as a hot O.C. commodity. Thomas has a curious “market time” benchmark that calculates how many months it theoretically takes to sell all the inventory in the local MLS for-sale listings at the current pace of pending deals put in escrow. And guess what’s the “hottest” housing niche, by this measure of relative demand vs. supply? Properties listed as “foreclosures” in the MLS. As of last Thursday, there were 635 properties listed by agents as “foreclosures” (typically, bank-owned houses) in escrow vs. 1,060 for sale, or a “market time” of 1.67 months. Compare that to the countywide total for all homes of 2,285 in escrow (best in 18 months) vs. 15,474 for sale, or a “market time” of 6.77 months. Foreclosures are even hotter than the best-selling niche by price, hous...
More About: Selling , Homes

Irvine Co. joins the housing media fray
2008-04-08 03:30:00
Our ace reporter in Irvine , Brian Martinez, has discovered that land baron Irvine Co. is now publishing real estate information in the form of a magazine dubbed “Villages.” Brian notes this gem from Irvine Co. executive Dan Young, written in the mag’s inaugural edition welcome letter … “We hope you share our view that owning a home in one of our villages is a great long-term investment. … There is never a bad time to buy a quality investment - especially one that your family can enjoy now and that will appreciate in the years to come.” To read more, CLICK HERE! I wonder if Villages will include cutting-edge analysis of local market conditions, such as Redfin’s O.C. blog recently offered up … Today we’ll take a look at some housing market activity in Irvine’s Oak Creek neighborhood and see how this activity provides some insight into the Orange County housing market. First up, 86 Danbury Lane. This condo sold on January 8, 2008 for...
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March’s hottest housing blog postings
2008-04-07 21:00:00
Register’s Web hit counter tells your blogger that these were the blog tales that got the most clicks in March , my “Blue Ribbon” postings, so to speak … 1. Fed says West’s housing stuck at very low levels 2. Only 4 OC ZIPs see home sales gains in late Feb. 3. O.C. homes 7% overvalued; best bargain in 5 years 4. Foreclosure sales 23% of fresh O.C. home deals 5. Big Orange property index’s biggest fall since ‘95 (Psst: If you don’t realize it, just click on any of these headlines to get to the full story!) … and here’s the postings that drew the most reader comments in March (and you can still comment away) … 1. O.C. homes 7% overvalued; best bargain in 5 years 2. Only 4 OC ZIPs see home sales gains in late Feb. 3. Foreclosure sales 23% of fresh O.C. home deals 4. Insider Q&A gets a housing-cycle lecture 5. O.C. housing’s 6th straight month of slumber
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O.C. home demand rises for 1st time in 18 months
2008-04-07 09:00:00
Deals to buy O.C. existing homes and condos are now above year-ago levels for the first time since Sept. 22, 2005, says the math of Steve Thomas at Re/Max Real Estate Services in Aliso Viejo. As of last Thursday, there were 2,285 deals created in the past 30 days, Thomas’ definition of demand. That’s 159 better (7%) than a year ago. Thomas also calculates a “market time” benchmark showing how many months it theoretically takes to sell all the inventory in the local MLS for-sale listings at the current pace of pending deals put in escrow. By this logic, it would take 6.77 months for buyers to gobble up all homes for sale at the current pace vs. 7.5 months two weeks earlier and near the 6.57 months of a year ago. Thomas notes: “Here’s the scoop from the trenches: increased showing activity, increased open house activity, buyers are writing more offers, multiple offers in the lower ranges and significantly more first time buyer activity. And, most o...
More About: Time , Home , Months , Demand

McCain ignoring his Lincoln S&L lessons
2008-04-07 00:00:00
Then-regulator Bill Black was a cog in the Keating Five controversy that snared GOP presumptive presidential nominee John McCain in the scandalous 1989 failure of Irvine’s Lincoln S&L. In your blogger’s latest column for The Register’s print edition, Black said an item in the Arizona senator’s modest housing bailout plan — possibly allowing banks and other institutions a reprieve from mark-to-market-accounting rules that have created huge paper losses — is a recipe for disaster … “The really scary thing is when you claim you’re making things transparent and when it’s distorted in ways that aren’t easy to notice.” Black says. That’s what bugs Black about McCain’s accounting suggestion. If agreed-upon bookkeeping rules require certain investments get booked as losers at times, why change the rules when those losses do pop up? Black equates such accounting gimmickry to the distortions of mirrors, s...
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Insider Q&A hears Newport vacation-home rents run flat
2008-04-05 09:01:00
We checked in with Patrick Chamberlain, who runs Villa Rentals in Newport Beach after hearing that a Realtor study says buyer interest in vacation homes nationwide is running slow. (READ HERE!) We asked Patrick, who manages about 200 units, how interested vacationers are in renting a Newport seaside home for a vacation … Us: How’s demand for this summer shaping up? Patrick: About the same level as last year, with regard to rental volume. People still look forward to their vacations, even when the economy is tough. I made the decision early in the year to not raise rents. I have a responsibility to balance the need of my owners and renters. If rents get too high in this economy, people may decide to do something else with their vacation dollars. This would hurt my owners. At the same time, I want our renters to see that we are doing our best to give them greatest deal for their money. That’s why I think we are doing well despite the economic challenges. Us: Flat r...
More About: Home , Vacation , Insider

Home slump isn’t hurting this real estate game
2008-04-05 04:52:00
Build-a-lot is a computer game than simulates the homebuilding business. Your blogger recently wrote about it for The Register … The game, created for the Windows world by HipSoft, came out late last year. Red Marble Game s rejiggered it for Apple computers, and a demo version has become one of the most downloaded games on Apple’s Web site since it made its debut there in late February. “Interestingly, the state of the housing market has not hurt demand for the game. Actually, Build-a-lot is my best-selling game to date by a wide, wide margin,” says Red Marble’s Mark Batten. HipSoft hatched the idea for the game in mid-2006. You remember the era. Back when real estate was sizzling. The game went from idea (initially called “Estate Mania”) to the market in the same period that saw housing go from red hot to ice cold. “Even when the (housing) market is not hot, we believe almost everyone is looking to buy a house, upgrade their existing...
More About: Real Estate , Home , Real

Pricing bottom ‘getting close,’ South O.C. agent says
2008-04-04 21:01:00
South Orange County real estate blogger Vincent Bindi (pictured right) reported recently what we’ve been hearing from a number of O.C. real estate agents: signs that the local housing market is starting to pick up a tic from the moribund doldrums that hit following the late-summer credit crunch. Specifically, many agents speak of rising escrows amid falling prices, with some bidding wars erupting. Bindi, an agent with Keller-Williams Realty who regularly analyzes South County housing numbers, picked up that trend as well. He cites rising escrows and stable inventories, while projecting that prices will drop about 10% more. He writes: “I’m not ready to ring the bell declaring that the bottom of the pricing cycle has been reached, but I think we are getting close. The Months of Inventory which is a 6 to 8 month leading indicator for eventual pricing, is showing signs of strength. … The total Months of Inventory for all price ranges has dropped to 7 months, whe...
More About: Agent , South , Close , Bottom

O.C. median home price back at $500,000
2008-04-04 15:31:00
DataQuick’s latest report on O.C. home sales puts the median selling price back down at $500,000 for the 22 business days ended March 20. The median crashed up through the half-million mark during local housing’s long upswing in April 2004. This latest median is 22.5% below June ’07’s high of $645,000. Key market slices are also well below their all-time highs, the new report shows: • Single-family homes’ median is 21.3% below the April ‘07 high of $720,000 • Condos stand 21.2% below the March ‘06 peak of $470,000 • Builders are getting a median price for new homes 39.2% below the February ‘05 high of $864,000 Price s fell in 66 of 83 ZIP codes, the same as a week earlier. Full ZIP-by-ZIP results are HERE! Home buying activity remains sluggish, down almost 40% from a year ago. But, if the current sales pace holds for the full month, March has been the busiest month since August — the start of the credit crunch that made...
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Wall St. less deserving of bailout than Main St.?
2008-04-04 02:01:00
A new Zogby Interactive poll of 5,036 likely voters, conducted March 26-28, (margin of error of +/- 1.4%) found an interest gap in support for Wall Street bailouts vs. deals that would help the masses on Main Street… Most Americans have misgivings about the possibility of the federal government stepping in to help struggling investment companies and those facing foreclosure on their homes. Two in three Americans (68%) disagree with the idea of the federal government stepping in to help investment companies that are suffering because of their heavy investments in worthless mortgages — just 25% believe the government should take steps to help these companies. Most are also opposed to federal assistance for Americans who are facing foreclosure - 54% believe the government should not step in to help individual Americans who are facing foreclosure on their homes because they cannot afford to pay their mortgages while 43% believe the government should offer assistance. While ...
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Is the median price a true measure of home values?
2008-04-03 21:01:00
In a recent blog post, Zillow.com’s numbers guy, Stan Humphries, analyzed Orange County home sales by quarter for the past two years to see how well changes in the median sales price corresponds to changes in home values. Humphries’ conclusion: not well at all. After dividing O.C. home sales into four groups, or “quartiles,” from lowest price to highest, Humphries concludes that median prices are influenced by the proportion of sales in each price category, rather than changes in home values: “If homes that sold were a representative sample of all homes in Orange County, we’d expect to see that the [number of homes sold] for each quartile in a given quarter was the same (exactly 25%). If this were what we found, then taking the median sale price from among those homes would be a good measure of the median value of all homes …, and changes in the median across quarters would correspond to changes in home values alone (and not correspond to chang...
More About: Home , Price , True , Values , Median

Not all real estate is dead
2008-04-03 12:00:00
Who said real estate is dead? Home builders may be hurting, but several other real estate sectors are enjoying handy returns, based on the latest numbers from the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts. Among the top first-quarter performers in the FTSE NAREIT U.S. Real Estate Index: Self-storage: +20.23%. Residential: +11.2% (The apartment subsector rose 11.48%, manufactured homes were up 5.02%.) Shopping centers: +4.94% Regional malls +2.16%. Not all, however, was rosy in REITland in the first quarter. The Mortgage REIT Index plunged 21.35% with the home financing subsector diving 21.35% and commercial financing falling 20.5%. Among the first-quarter, hard-luck equity REITs: Specialty: -7.71% Lodging/resorts: - 6.79% Free-standing retail: -6.42% However, REITs, which lagged the other markets in 2007, appeared to be gaining strength overall as the quarter went on. Among equity REITs, only lodging/resorts — down 2.04% — were in the red in March. ...
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Three O.C. firms on U.S. top 50 apartment owners/managers list
2008-04-03 02:01:00
Orange County is holding its own among the top 50 U.S. apartment owners and apartment management companies, with three local firms making the National Multi Housing Council’s 2008 lists. WNC & Associates Inc. in Irvine was No. 20 among apartment owners, with 48,881 units. The company moved up from its No. 21 ranking in 2007 when it had 44,644 units. The Irvine Apartment Communities in Irvine ranked No. 26 among apartment owners with 39,765 units. It also improved its standing from No. 32 in 2007 when it owned 32,716 units. Among apartment managers, Irvine Apartment Communities was No. 27 this year with 39,765 units, up from No. 33 last year and 32,218 units. Western National Property Management in Irvine maintained its No. 47 ranking on the apartment managers list this year, the same as 2007. The number of units under management, however, increased from 26,596 in 2007 to 27,279 this year. Apartment Investment and Management Company (AIMCO) in Denver remains the larges...
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Half of ‘07 low-end O.C. homebuyers are upside down
2008-04-02 21:00:00
Zillow.com reports that about half of the Orange County homeowners who bought homes last year at the bottom three-fifths of the price spectrum owe more for their mortgage than their home is now worth. At the top end of the pricing spectrum, 17% of last year’s homebuyers are upside down. The real estate Web site’s report on fourth quarter trends in O.C. and across the nation shows that the higher a home’s value, the larger a buyer’s down payment and the less likely that they’re upside down on their mortgage. The Web site divided local properties into five groups, based on home values. The median equity was -3.9% for the lowest fifth of homeowners, those owning homes valued at less than $480,000, Zillow reported. For the lower-middle fifth (with homes valued at $480,000 to $603,999) their median equity was 1.8%; for the middle fifth ($604,000 to $665,999), it was 2.3%; for the upper middle ($666,000 to $1.2 million) it was 10%; and for the upper fifth, wi...
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Bernanke sees housing stabilization in ‘09
2008-04-02 16:33:00
In Congressional testimony today, Fed boss Ben Bernanke ’s prepared text says … Overall, the near-term economic outlook has weakened relative to the projections released by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) at the end of January. It now appears likely that real gross domestic product (GDP) will not grow much, if at all, over the first half of 2008 and could even contract slightly. We expect economic activity to strengthen in the second half of the year, in part as the result of stimulative monetary and fiscal policies; and growth is expected to proceed at or a little above its sustainable pace in 2009, bolstered by a stabilization of housing activity, albeit at low levels, and gradually improving financial conditions. However, in light of the recent turbulence in financial markets, the uncertainty attending this forecast is quite high and the risks remain to the downside. To read full text, CLICK HERE! For story on what O.C.’s Loretta Sanchez asked Fed chai...
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Are O.C. homes priced low to draw higher bids?
2008-04-02 12:01:00
Redfin brokerage CEO Glenn Kelman followed up on our recent chat (READ HERE) with some more thoughts about what his shop sees in the O.C. market … • Our deals over the past two months have been closing at 96.2% of list, a full 2% higher than where the buyer the started. Agents on both sides of the deal have plenty of work to do to bring the parties together. As listing agents price properties more aggressively, there’s less room to negotiate. • One of our best agents, Erin Eckert, noticed new teaser pricing: low-priced listings attracting 8 or even, in one case, 13 offers. Some buyers bid on these properties assuming they can still ask for a further discount, but the listing agent priced the property to create an auction; the final price is often actually a premium to list price. Maybe this means we’ve found, for now, a bottom. Or maybe not. • Buyer activity has certainly increased. Since our last update, Orange County traffic on our site is up 110%, faster ...
More About: Homes , Higher , Draw

Multi-family O.C. permits jump in February
2008-04-02 02:01:00
A construction industry group reports that multi-family building permits issued in Orange County jumped in February to the highest number since August, almost all of them issued by the city of Irvine. Local governments issued permits for 784 new multi-family units, consisting of apartments and multi-story condos, according to the Construction Industry Research Board. About 762 of those permits were issued in Irvine alone. That pushed February’s total housing units authorized in Orange County to 906 — the highest number for a February in four years, the research board reported. Permits were issued for just 122 single-family homes and side-by-side condos in February, the smallest number in at least 21 years, research board data show. The estimated value of non-residential construction permits was $130 million in February, or just under half of the non-residential permits issued in February 2006, the research board reported. The value of permits for commercial construction ...
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O.C.’s high-end home values holding up better
2008-04-01 21:00:00
Zillow.com reports this week that the median price of an Orange County home fell 12.1% in the fall of 2007 vs. the same quarter of 2006. But pricier home values held up better in Zillow’s fourth quarter figures for O.C. than did the low end. While this trend is not new for O.C., local data run contrary to what Zillow’s figures show for the nation as a whole, with the low end of the U.S. housing market holding up better than the high end. Zillow pegged its median “Zestimate,” or its estimate of local home values, at $583,026 in the fourth quarter of 2007 ($606,980 for a single-family home and $403,667 for a condo). The median “Zestimate” (which Zillow calls its “Zindex”) fell just 7.4% for homes in the top 20% of the price spectrum, consisting of homes valued at $1.2 million and up. That compares to a 17.1% price drop in the “low middle” band of homes (homes valued at $480,000 to $603,999) and a 15.1% drop in the bottom 20% ...
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U.S. vacation-home sales plummeted most in ‘07
2008-04-01 09:01:00
The National Association of Realtors recently released nationwide sales data showing: Vacation -home sales dropped 30.6 percent to 740,000 in 2007 from a record 1.07 million in 2006. Investment-home sales fell 18.1 percent to 1.35 million last year from 1.65 million in 2006. Primary residence sales declined 10.0 percent to 4.34 million in 2007 from 4.82 million in 2006. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said in a statement that the findings suggest different cycles for each of the sectors over the past two years. “Investment-home sales declined sharply in 2006 as speculators disappeared, leaving the market to serious buyers, with the pattern continuing in 2007,” he said. “Vacation-home sales rose to a new record in 2006 because there was a pent-up demand from buyers who couldn’t find a property as a result of tight supplies in preceding years.” The overall sales decline in 2007 resulted from a combination of factors. “Certainly, second homes are discretionary purcha...
More About: Sales , Home

Rent control battle looms in June election
2008-04-01 01:01:00
It’s been a while since rent control was in the public eye, but a major battle is looming in June over two California ballot measures. The primary focus of the two initiatives — Prop. 98 and Prop. 99 — is to remedy the state’s eminent domain law to prevent government from taking private property for private uses. But Prop. 98, spearheaded by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the mobile home park industry, adds another provision that would phase out rent control in California apartments and mobile homes as they are vacated. Rent control proponents, led by a coalition of renters, seniors, mobile home associations and environmental groups, countered with Prop. 99, which they say would provide eminent domain protection without stripping renters of their rights. Come back Wednesday for the full story in Marketplace. Meanwhile, we’d like to hear from you. What do you think about rent control? Property owners should be a...
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Phoenix, Vegas housing suffer like O.C.
2008-03-31 21:33:00
DataQuick’s stats for our “local” housing competitors in the Southwest — Phoenix and Vegas — struggling like us with sickly housing markets. Our desert pals to the east suffered in February huge sales drops on par with O.C.’s skittish buyers. Here’s median selling prices and closed sales totals for February and how they compare to a year and and the pricing peak … 2/08 Price Vs. ‘07 Vs. peak Sales Vs. ‘07 Phoenix $218,193 -13.9% -17.4% 5,413 -39.5% Vegas $250,000 -16.7% -19.9% 2,591 -29.0% O.C. $520,000 -16.1% -19.4% 1,471 -39.9% DQ’s thoughts on the desert … • On Phoenix: “Sales fell to the lowest level in 15 years. The median’s nearly 14 percent drop from a year earlier marked the 13th consecutive month in which the price measure has fallen on a year-over-year basis.” • On Vegas: “Price continued its months-long descent in February, falling a record 16.7 percent from...
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O.C. fixed-rate home buys near 6-year high
2008-03-31 09:05:00
Looking back at DataQuick’s latest monthly report, I discovered a hint of a little mortgage sanity returning. Just see how the admittedly small group of buyers in O.C. are financing their deals. In the first two months of this year, slightly more than 70% of the buyers who financed deals used fixed-rate mortgages. The accompanying chart (click on it to see a bigger version) show that this is the highest level of fixed-rate use since May 2002. You can bet skittishness about variable payments and low fixed-rate deals helped push adjustable-loan use to a nearly six-year low. For perspective, DataQuick says that 55% of all O.C. purchases since 1988 have been made with fixed-rate loans as the first mortgage.
More About: Home , High , Year , Rate , Fixed

77% of market pros bearish on real estate
2008-03-31 00:00:00
Russell Investments quarterly survey of money managers finds just 8% bullish on real estate investment trusts vs. 10% in the previous quarter while 77% of the money pros polled were bearish on commercial property-owning REITs. That’s equal with three months earlier. To be fair, this stock-heavy group aren’t huge fans of REITs. Bullishness for REITs peaked at 19% in the second quarter of 2005. As for the overall stock market, 42% of money managers polled believe markets to be undervalued vs. 34% in the fourth quarter of 2007 and double where it was in the second quarter of 2007. Says Erik Ristuben of Russell: “Despite being beaten, battered and bowed, investment managers remain unbroken … Managers are resilient in their belief that government action will revive the economy, that U.S. equities have room to grow, and that equity performance will reclaim positive territory in 2008.”
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Market , Real , Bearish

Insider Q&A’s faux presidential housing debate
2008-03-29 08:02:00
The housing crisis now has the political spotlight. In the past business week, the three remaining presidential candidates – GOP presumptive nominee John McCain and Democratic contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama — each gave major speeches outlining their thoughts on an economic mess created, in good part, by the real estate meltdown. We thought it would be cool if this trio put their fix-it plans for housing and the economy into the debate format. That’s unlikely to happen. So, as a public service, Insider Q&A set out to create a faux debate by parsing the prepared texts of the past week’s economic speeches into responses to key housing questions. Our self-imposed limit was 100-word responses, which you know is a tall order for any politician’s rhetoric. So be kind. And open-minded. We tried our best to be fair to all. Here’s how we envision the great economic debate, circa late March 2008 … Senators, welcome to our blog. Rules are simple. We ask ...
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Tell us, “What candidate will fix housing?’
2008-03-29 08:00:00
Each of the three remaining presidential candidates recently gave a major policy speech on the current economic mess created, in good part, by the real estate meltdown. (If you want to read the prepared text of any of the speeches, click on the names of GOP presumptive nominee John McCain and/or Democratic contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.) If you can, leave other policy issues aside for this exercise and consider what candidate might best get shoppers buying again, troubled borrowers back on budget and meanwhile deftly lead improvements in how mortgages and prices are approved, repackaged and sold. Best president for O.C. real estate? Clinton McCain Obama View Results
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