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Salt Lake Real Estate Blog


Salt Lake Real Estate Blog
Specializing in real estate and financing in the Salt Lake City housing market. Written by a licensed mortgage broker and experienced real estate investor.
Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Articles

Unindicted Co-conspirator in River Bottoms Scam
2008-01-04 02:07:00
A source close to the River Bottoms mortgage fraud case contacted me today with some very interesting information about people involved in this case. In the next two posts, I'll provide the details.The biggest bombshell has to be the existence of an unindicted co-conspirator who was previously unknown. Let me explain. Jumbo loans, those above $417,000, often have two appraisals performed so the lender feels justified in loaning such a high amount of money. The homes involved in the mortgage fraud scam were all over a million dollars. Lenders take the lower of the two appraisals and that is the one attached to the loan package.One appraiser, Steve Cloward, has been indicted and pleaded not guilty and wasn't attached to the fraudulent loan. For their trouble, the to the charges today. No other appraiser was indicted. Why? Because their appraisal always came in higher than Cloward'sunindicted appraiser was paid $4000 per appraisal by Brad Kitchen. Appraiser Cloward was pai...
More About: Scam
Riverbottoms Schemers Plead Not Guilty
2008-01-03 21:16:00
The six people accused in the Provo Riverbottoms mortgage fraud case appeared in court earlier today for their arraignment. Bradley Grant Kitchen, David Bolick, Steve Wells Cloward, Ron K. Clarke, Jeffery David Garrett, and Rebecca Ann Hadlock were arraigned before a federal magistrate judge on Thursday. A 12-day trial was scheduled, beginning March 10.KSL.com reports Brad Kitchen was warned not to threaten witnesses in the case who include KUTV sportscaster Dave Fox. Yet another case of Mr. Kitchen acting like a bad, bad man.Federal prosecutors say the amount of losses in this case are around $18 million dollars. Homeowners in the Riverbottoms area will suffer because of this fraud for a long time to come.
More About: Guilty
Avoiding Foreclosure is the Best CYA Strategy
2008-01-01 02:41:00
As foreclosures become more of a hot topic, my mind returns to the concept of personal responsibility. I'm not talking about fraud here, but the concepts of ethics, morality and consequences. Despite the fraud, 75% of those facing foreclosure have some other reason for being in the situation they're facing.MSN reported on one man who lost his house because of a divorce.Everything changed in December 2005. After just two-and-a-half years of marriage, "she came to me and said she wanted a divorce. It kind of threw me for a loop," says Kerry, now 33. Kerry's grief soon was compounded by financial trouble. The couple had bought the house together for well under market value, but in order to fix it up, they had refinanced to withdraw some of the equity. Kerry's credit was much stronger, he says, so the couple refinanced for $145,000 in his name alone. "I didn't even think twice about it. We'd given our word to each other that we were together for the rest or our lives." S...
More About: Strategy , Foreclosure
Which Came First - Fraud or Frenzy?
2008-01-01 01:00:00
I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about real estate and the current marketplace. We hear a lot of blame going on - greedy mortgage brokers, greedy real estate agents, greedy speculators, greedy fraudsters, greedy Wall Street, greedy refinancers. Nobody thinks anybody should be bailed out or helped, even at the cost of nationwide recession or worse.Today I saw a quote of great interest -The cold, hard truth is that foreclosures are serving only to hasten the painful process of shifting housing prices back to a level the market can sustain. Prices must and will fall. Everywhere. Probably 25% to 30% from their peak.The author, Christopher Thornberg, is a professor at UCLA and a founding partner of Beacon Economics. His quote, though painful to hear, sounds right. If excess speculation was the only cause of the boom, it would be right. However, I'm afraid he's wrong. Economists and the big lenders are missing the levels of fraud that have existed in the marketplace. I...
More About: Fraud , Frenzy
2007 Real Estate Recap
2007-12-31 15:47:00
As I sit here on New Year's Eve, I thought now would be a good time to take a look at some of the predictions I made at the beginning of the year.Some of them I got right, but some of these predictions were very wrong. Even though we were told an epic housing crash was on its way, many of us didn't want to listen. Was it the message we didn't like, how it was delivered, or the messenger? I'm not sure.In January, 2007, I addressed six key topics for the year. Let's see how I did.Salt Lake Real Estate - While 4th quarter numbers won't be in for another three weeks, national reports show Salt Lake appreciated 14.1% for the year. This was a bit higher than I predicted 10-12%, but goes to show even the experts underestimated this market. I think we'll continue to see price gains for 2008, but they will be in the low to mid single digit rates. Homes will take longer to sell and demand for homes in good neighborhoods for less than $200k will remain strong.Utah Real Estate - I...
More About: Recap
Safe Real Estate Investments for 2008
2007-12-29 18:40:00
The outlook for real estate in the United States isn't looking good. Barring some sort of divine intervention, adjustable mortgages will continue to reset, foreclosures will continue to rise and real estate activity will continue to slow down. Despite these challenges, there will be buyers sitting on the sidelines waiting for the right opportunity to buy.Jumping into a real estate transaction is often the biggest purchase any single person will ever make. In the current environment, it's a very scary prospect: buy too soon and you may suffer losses, buy too late and you may pay too much.I've found a way to guarantee your next real estate purchase doesn't lose money regardless of when you buy and I'm willing to share it with you here.First of all, this advice primarily intended for real estate investors, but some of the concepts will work if you're looking to purchase a home to live in. Step one - Find a property that will cash flow positive based on the mortgage payments an...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Real , Investments , Safe
How Was Your Holiday?
2007-12-27 03:58:00
If you read the headlines this year, you might think the housing Grinch stole Christmas this year. Did he?Black Friday sales came out stronger than expected and November retail sales far exceeded expectations, yet today's business stories pointed out weakness in the retail sector this holiday.I enjoyed the holidays this year and for the sake of market research and helping out an old friend I joined the ranks of retail workers, part-time, for the first time in over a decade.What did I see this year? Business as usual for the most part. Shoppers were looking for deals, but when supply ran low, they bought what was available. The spirit of Christmas trumps the economy I suppose. People of limited means waited till the last minute, but shopped nonetheless.Maybe it was different here in Utah because we haven't seen the sharp downturns other markets have. The national retailer I worked for didn't have any fire sales and when I went shopping I didn't see huge discounts. Was it d...
More About: Holiday
President Bush Gives White Elephant Gift to Struggling Homeowners
2007-12-27 03:24:00
President Bush gave struggling homeowners a gift on the 20th when he signed the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act into law. The act will remove tax liability from homeowners that complete short sales or foreclosures. Under current law, forgiven debt is treated as income and taxed accordingly. This is true unless the debtor can show they are financially insolvent.Replacing the revenue earned from these types of taxes is an exclusion on 2nd homes that fall into the current primary residence exemption.I see the new law as a mixed bag of sorts. It's a lot like white elephant gift swapping during the holiday time where good gifts are mixed with gag gifts and someone ends up with the short end of the stick. Struggling homeowners are encouraged to get rid of their homes by any means, people with two homes suddenly earn a tax burden if they sell, while real estate investors now have additional incentive to complete short sales.While I think Congress has done a good job getting the l...
More About: President , President Bush , White , Gift
Nobody's Immune From Foreclosures
2007-12-21 02:36:00
The Salt Lake Tribune reported today that Utah's foreclosure rate for November increased over last year by 7.2%. Foreclosure filings in Utah rose 7.2 percent in November, compared with the same month one year ago, reversing a trend of declining foreclosures in the state, a new report shows.The data for this story came from RealtyTrac, a primary source for this sort of information. RealtyTrac's press release led with the title "Foreclosure Activity Decreases by 10% in November."Sadly, the fact is foreclosure activity in the United States increased 68% year over year. Only seven states in the country saw a decrease. Utah moved up to #17 per capita in the foreclosure statistics.It's been said over and over that Utah's strong economy will keep home values up and stave off foreclosures. As developments on Wall Street about the mechanics behind home loans continue to be exposed, it's becoming clear no state is immune. When all the real estate fraud is taken into account, it's...
More About: Foreclosures
Jobs in Utah See First Signs of Slowdown
2007-12-20 02:09:00
November saw a slowdown in job growth for Utah where a trend is now developing. Job growth in the state has slowed since August of this year, when the subprime mortgage mess blew up on Wall Street and banks and lenders started hoarding cash.Utah's homebuilders are slowing down, but commercial builders, including government projects, are increasing their payrolls.Builders along the Wasatch Front took out 382 permits for the construction of new homes in November, down from 1,048 in November 2006 and the lowest total since 1990.Construction industry employment is up 8.7 percent over last year, with commercial construction more than compensating for a downturn in residential construction, Knold said.Financial activities employment - a category that includes mortgage and title company personnel, and real estate brokerage employees - is up 5.2 percent over last year. Utah's job growth rate and unemployment rate are in the tops of the country now, but it's clear the effects of the cred...
More About: Jobs , Signs
Fed Lender Crackdown Misses the Mark
2007-12-19 02:54:00
It was announced today the Federal Reserve Board will change a number of rules when it comes to policies and procedures made by lending institutions.After reading through the proposed changes, I find myself disappointed, for the Fed has missed the target. Most of the new rules should be directed at mortgage brokers and lender compliance officers. The remainder of changes are already law, or will require significant restructuring of the broker system.Let's take a look at the key changes and see how they figure into my assessment.Prohibit giving people unaffordable loans. - Since the subprime meltdown began, both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have changed their debt to income ratio requirements to factor in the higher payment. FHA already had this policy in effect. What this means is if the introductory rate is 4%, the borrower must qualify at the rate of the first reset. During the housing boom, except for FHA, borrowers could qualify at the intro rate as an affordability tool. T...
More About: Mark , Crackdown , The Mark
2.0 Realtors Need to Get With the Program
2007-12-16 06:53:00
Disclaimer: My intended audience for this article is Realtors /real estate agents who blog. Please don't be offended if you read this and are not in this group.It's been a year and a half since I started blogging about real estate and the promise of Web 2 .0 revealed itself to agents across the nation. It was also about the same time symptoms of the housing downturn presented themselves and Bubble bloggers gained large audiences.For a while real estate professionals, myself included, denied things would be as bad as the housing bears made them out to be. The test of time has spoken and the bears have been proven correct. Due to a number of circumstances, faith in the U.S. credit markets have been shaken and lenders are very cautious about originating new loans and the risks associated with such lending.Last year there were a number of real estate bloggers that took the promise of Web 2.0 and the bubble bloggers to task. As the realities of the marketplace have revealed themsel...
More About: Program
K. C. Tebbs - Some Serious Allegations
2007-12-16 05:58:00
More details emerged today about the K. C. Tebbs real estate related ponzi scheme. As you may recall, it was reported that Tebbs is being sued by jilted investors for failing to deliver on high promised returns.Tebbs is not yet facing criminal charges, but details revealed today by KSL show Tebbs falsified real estate documents to help pull off his schemes. Over 100 people have lost money for real estate investments through Tebbs.Like dozens of others, Merkley's cash was supposed to buy residential lots in booming areas of the Salt Lake Valley. He thought his investment was safe when he got deeds of trust for the properties. But when Merkley tried to verify the deeds, his heart sank. We found out why when we took two of his deeds to the Salt Lake County recorder, where they track property ownership. All it took was a quick computer check. Salt Lake County recorder Gary Ott told us the deeds were, "...way fake. There's a multitude of things that are wrong here, but there'...
More About: Some
Wayne Reed Ogden - Encore!
2007-12-15 04:26:00
It's been a busy week for the courts system as another real estate fraud indictment was handed out, this time to Wayne Reed Ogden. Unlike some of the other fraudsters profiled on this site who were first timers, Ogden has a history of this sort of thing.In the 90's Ogden made headlines for bilking investors out of $7 million dollars in a real estate investment scheme. He was convicted of the crime in 1998 and paroled in 2000. Most of his victims were friends and neighbors of the former Eagle Scout.In 2002, Ogden solicited investment funds to buy a property in Colorado called Kiowa. The property was purchased as planned, but Ogden continued to solicit investors. The Deseret News reports -By October 2002, Ogden allegedly had convinced enough investors with promises of returns of 12 percent up to 100 percent on their investments. According to the indictment, Ogden had failed to disclose that quit claim deeds issued to investors as security for their money were pledged to multipl...
FHA Reform Bill Stumbles Forward
2007-12-15 03:41:00
The FHA reform bill that passed the House of Representatives in September has been approved by the Senate. However, the Senate's version of this legislation differs significantly from House Resolution 1852.Key components of the FHA reform bill allow homeowners in subprime loans to refinance through the FHA. Lower down payments and risk based mortgage insurance are also part of the plan. The legislation will also make it easier to become an FHA lender. Perhaps the most important part of the bill is an increase of loan limits to match the conforming limit at $417,000 for higher priced parts of the country. This is where the challenge lays. The next step is for the Senate and the House to present a version for President Bush to sign into law, but the loan limit differ significantly. The House version calls for limits to go as high as $729,750 in high cost areas and the President has already indicated he would veto such a law.Of all the "foreclosure help" out there, I believe thi...
More About: Reform , Bill , Forward
Brad Kitchen is a Bad, Bad Man
2007-12-14 01:35:00
Brad Kitchen , accused ringleader of the Provo Riverbottoms fraud scam, is no stranger to the Utah County jail. As I did further research on Kitchen, I found his trouble with the law is no infrequent affair.Kitchen was arrested (bottom photo) and charged for his complicity with the mortgage scam on February 28th of this year. He was charged with Communications Fraud, Conspiracy and Theft. Kitchen left the jail in slightly over 24 hours.Prior to that, Kitchen was arrested (middle photo) in 2003 for Assault and was out of jail in 52 minutes according to the Sheriff's records.Other records show Brad Kitchen was convicted of Unlawful Sexual Conduct with a minor in December of 2002. Those charges were filed on May 1st, 2002. Kitchen entered a plea in abeyance later that month for a Zoning Violation.In 2000, Brad Kitchen (top photo) was arrested for Domestic Violence and Emergency Phone Abuse. He spent a little over an hour in jail during that incident. How Kitchen ended up being th...
More About: Brad
Utah Mortgage Fraud - Riverbottoms Part 2
2007-12-13 04:23:00
Additional details about the Provo Riverbottoms scandal has come to light. Yesterday's Daily Herald provided some additional details that help this case make a little more sense.One of the challenges of this case is ringleader Bradley Kitchen has been described as being a home flipper. Over the past few years "flipping" has taken on a meaning different than the one Utah has made illegal. Brad Kitchen wasn't buying homes, fixing them and selling them for a profit. He was involved with the illegal kind of flipping which means putting a home under contract and selling it to someone else for a substantially higher price during a simultaneous closing. The simple test for a three way deal like that is to ask if the deal would close should the final buyer back out. If the middle buyer requires the final buyer to close in order to complete their part of the transaction, the deal is against Utah law.To pull off a scheme like Kitchen and Dr. David Bolick are accused of, you need to ha...
More About: Fraud , Mortgage Fraud , Mortgage , Part
Fed Decision Recap
2007-12-13 02:52:00
I had a hard decision deciding what image to use for this post representing the volatility on Wall Street...a roller coaster or a bouncing ball. Either one is accurate and Tuesday's activity on Wall Street provided an excellent example.While a Fed rate cut was widely anticipated, the fact that it wasn't as big as Wall Street hoped sent markets shooting off in all directions. The Fed cut the overnight lending rate .25% as expected, but Wall Street seemed to be hoping for a half point decrease. Like a spoiled child that didn't get what they wanted for Christmas, the stock markets sold off quickly after the announcement, sending the Dow plummeting nearly 300 points. Other indexes shed similar percentage losses.Meanwhile, the gains that piled onto bonds late last week and early this week made a sudden change of direction with the benchmark 10 year bond yield dropping 19 basis points. This recent change will likely leave mortgage rates flat for the week when numbers are reported ...
More About: Decision , Recap
Riverbottoms Fraud Scheme Reaches Next Level
2007-12-12 07:25:00
The mortgage fraud scheme that ensnared local sportscaster Dave Fox has reached the top level. A federal indictment implicating Bradley Kitchen and five others was unsealed today.Accused of recruiting straw buyers to profit from falsely inflated home values in the Provo Riverbottoms neighborhood, this case has gained notoriety not only for the prominence of the individuals involved but the losses involved in the case. Tax values were so skewed, the agency involved with assessments has had to revalue the entire neighborhood.So far, Dave Fox, a TV sportscaster and Clark Blaisdell have been the most prominent. Today's indictment reached new levels as a well published medical doctor, David Bolick was indicted as a ringleader. Four other people, Steve Cloward, Ron Clarke, Jeffery Garrett and Rebecca Hadlock were also named. One other straw buyer, Mark Atkin, has pleaded guilty to communications fraud like Blaisdell and Fox.KSL reported late Tuesday that Dr. Bolick had responded an...
More About: Fraud
Today's Fed Meeting Pointless
2007-12-11 15:40:00
Normally on Fed meeting day, a big deal is made as to whether the Fed will cut, hold or raise its key overnight lending rate that affects interest for credit cards, auto loans and certain types of short term mortgage rates.Today, I don't really care.It's already a foregone conclusion the Fed will cut rates, the question is how much: .25% or .5%. Either way it doesn't matter too much.The way the mortgage market is turning out, only the borrowers with the best credit are going to get the best rates. For "prime" borrowers with average credit scores, rates have jumped. The Fed can't help them.Subprime rates are fairly static, so a Fed rate cut doesn't help those kinds of borrowers either. The only rates that may be substantially affected by the Fed are FHA loans...ARMs in particular. And who wants an ARM these days?What about the dollar? Won't the Fed lowering rates affect the value of the dollar? Yes, but our economic partners in Europe and Canada have seen fit to lower t...
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Reality Check for Utah Real Estate
2007-12-07 15:40:00
A lot has taken place in the last 24 hours on the real estate front. The biggest news is the five year interest rate freeze for certain types of homeowners that will forestall hundreds of thousands of foreclosures. I'm not going to talk about that here.Instead, let's go local and really see what's happening with Utah real estate. As far as foreclosures go, Utah is doing better than most of the country. We do have to remember that prior to this recent housing boom, Utah has tended to lead the nation in three categories; mortgage fraud, personal bankruptcy and foreclosure. This is not a good record for us as a state, and I suspect should our economy turn sour, we'll remain at the top of the foreclosure list. For now, we're doing well.Only 0.66 percent of Utah home loans were in the foreclosure process at the end of the third quarter, down slightly from 0.68 percent in the same three months in 2006. Utah's foreclosure rate has been falling in recent years after hitting 1....
More About: Reality , Estate , Real Estate , Check
Lease Options Abound
2007-12-05 15:56:00
A few weeks ago I wrote about the rising popularity of lease options as a way to rent/buy a home. Even builders are offering this method of financing to move their homes.Like any method of financing, every type of creative purchasing has advantages and disadvantages based on the market and the individual purchaser. A wrap around contract isn't always the best way to handle subject to financing. Likewise, a lease option isn't always the best way to purchase real estate.Considering the local market conditions, lease options are looking pretty good in my estimation. The biggest concern any home buyer should have right now is whether their home will lose value. With the latest housing boom clearly coming to an end, that's a serious concern. A lease option alleviates that worry because the buyer isn't committed to buying the home and has an opportunity to gauge the market before they pull the trigger on the purchase. Say the market starts to heat up again, the buyer can exerci...
More About: Options , Lease
A Multi-faceted Solution is Required for the Real Estate Problem
2007-12-04 04:03:00
One can hardly visit a news site or open a newspaper without hearing some discussion of the problems in housing. In many instances, some magic bullet solution is proposed to solve all the problems that exist. Unfortunately, the real estate problem was caused by many factors and one solution, one action, one piece of legislation isn't going to fix it. It certainly won't be fixed overnight.The latest magic bullet solution comes from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson who is proposing a freeze in rates for those home owners with adjustable rate mortgages.If you've got a 7% adjustable mortgage that's about to skyrocket past 10%, getting a break may get a lot easier. One solution to the foreclosure problem gaining traction would freeze rates at lower levels.The Hope Now Alliance, a coalition of lenders, servicers, investors and community groups, put together by the Treasury Department, is working on a version of a freeze that could be annouced this week.Lenders quietly began offerin...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Multi , Problem , Real
Is Salt Lake Real Estate Going To Bust?
2007-12-01 02:19:00
I've seen comments on this blog time and time again suggesting Salt Lake is merely behind the times when it comes to following the national downward trend housing is currently facing.In the back of my mind, and I've said this over and over again, I can't see a major downturn without major job losses. It would seem that an economy built on housing, as ours has been over the past five to seven years has been, would suffer a downturn when housing declined. So far that hasn't been the case.Residential construction jobs have been replaced with commercial construction jobs. Many of the jobs lost within mortgage lenders have been moved from wholesale to retail with poor employees left to consider a new career. Unemployment has only risen slightly in the country and in Utah. New numbers come out next Friday that will influence the Fed's rate decision when it next meets December 11th.With that said, Salt Lake real estate still leads the nation in appreciation and our healthy economy is ...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Bust , Real
Lending Rates Just Got a Whole Lot Worse
2007-11-30 01:58:00
I had a bit of an "Oh crap" moment this afternoon when I got an email from one of our lending partners.The subject line said - LOCK YOUR AGENCY LOANS TODAY- Changes Coming!The body of the email said -We've learned that we will have increased delivery fees that will impact our pricing effective as early as tomorrow morning. Please lock your floating pipeline on our website now! I have attached the FNMA announcement. All loans with FICO's less than 680 and LTV's greater than 70% will have significant price adjustments.Curious, I read the attached announcement from Fannie Mae. I'm not going to reprint the entire three pages, but the key facts are these -Fannie is very concerned with dropping house prices and the traditional 20% "buffer" lenders use has now been bumped up to 30%.In 2007, there have been unprecedented changes in the market, including declines in national home prices that are expected to continue through the end of 2008. Delinquency rates are rising across the ...
More About: Rates , Lending
This Blog Changes Direction
2007-11-29 02:13:00
One of the things I try to do on this blog is to listen to my readers and try to provide information or insight that can't be found elsewhere.A comment I took to heart a while ago concerned keeping this site about Utah real estate, Salt Lake in particular. After all, that is the name of this blog. To help accomplish that goal, I established a more generic blog Easy Mortgages to try and provide a larger scale view on the lending industry.Building an audience takes time and after three months of posting over there, I don't feel I can justify writing for that site anymore. The readership at this site developed in the past 14 months is of a higher quality and higher quantity than any other blog I've created since then, save one.With that being said, I am going to focus specifically on this blog and that will mean some national stories and perspective will have to be included. There is no national housing market, but there are national lending standards and national laws that do/w...
More About: Blog , Dire , Direction , Rect
Real Estate Investing Scam Yields Lawsuit
2007-11-28 01:43:00
Another real estate scam hit the news today. This time mortgage fraud wasn't involved, but real estate was still the center of the scam. Promising yearly returns of 18%, Kenneth K.C. Tebbs involved dozens of people for millions of dollars in a scheme he claimed was tied to legitimate real estate investments. The "investment" was backed by title to real estate, but when investors checked up, they found nothing.KSL reported -They thought their money would be used to purchase residential lots in booming communities in Salt Lake and Utah counties, and company notes indicate their money was secured by deeds of trust. We asked Gomez if he has his name on a lot. "No," he answered. "It was never secured." He doesn't know where the money went.This investment opportunity, presented by companies MNK Investments and/or Twin Peaks Financial Services, is a typical Utah based scam, based on the principles of a Ponzi scheme. The investors involved are out hundreds of thousands of dollars....
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Real Estate Investing , Lawsuit , Investing
Holiday Shoppers Offer Hope for the Economy
2007-11-25 18:18:00
After months of financial reports that should scare anybody without a sizable nest egg into holding on to their money this holiday season, Black Friday entered like a lion.Crowds were lined up in front of every major chain in America at earlier hours than every before. Many malls opened at 12:01 a.m. Black Friday morning.Unlike last year when sales disappointed, American consumers were ready to buy.The nation's retailers had a robust start to the holiday shopping season, according to results announced Saturday by a national research group that tracks sales at retail outlets across the country.According to Shopper Trak RCT Corp., which tracks sales at more than 50,000 retail outlets, total sales rose 8.3 percent to about $10.3 billion on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, compared with $9.5 billion on the same day a year ago. ShopperTrak had expected an increase of no more than 4 percent to 5 percent."This is a really strong number. ... You can't have a good season unless it starts...
More About: Economy , Holiday , Hope , Offer
3rd Quarter Real Estate Sales Offer Interesting Revelation
2007-11-22 18:51:00
By now you've probably noticed you can't escape discussion of a slowing or even crashing housing market in the United States. Rising foreclosures and tighter lending standards for mortgages are some of the reasons for this.Housing bears and bubble bloggers argue there is no way out except for a lot of pain and severe house price drops. I submit the solution isn't so one sided and the third quarter numbers released yesterday attest to that.The National Association of Real tors report showed - The median single-family house price in the United States fell to $220,800, which was down 2 percent from a year ago. Condo prices showed some resiliency: At $226,900, they rose 2 percent compared with 12 months ago.Yes, housing prices for single family homes went down on a national level and I suspect they will continue to do so for much of the coming year as excess inventory in Florida, California and Nevada continue to work through the markets. Did you notice condo prices increased? Peo...
More About: Interesting , Estate , Real Estate , Sales
What's Your Price?
2007-11-16 01:04:00
No matter what your moral or religious beliefs, I think everyone has a price for which they will commit a crime. For some people that price is intangible. It may be their life, or the life of their friends or relatives. For others, it may very well be a sum of money.Over the years, I've seen people lose their careers, sometimes their freedom for various small sums of money. Sometimes it was a case of direct theft. Sometimes it was a matter of bending the rules. In one instance, it was a case of murder.The loan brokers at Champion Mortgage did it for the money. Based on the fines the Division of Real Estate levied on them, I can't see the few extra thousands of dollars they made being worth it at all.The Salt Lake Tribune reported this morning -The state revoked the licenses of five loan officers at Champion: Phillip Rowson of Riverton, Leo Kanell II of Salt Lake City, Eric C. Larsen of Sandy, Shawn Roach of Draper and Carlos Lira of Riverton.Rowson has been ordered to pay a...
More About: Price
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