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Governor Daniels in Valparaiso
2008-03-27 01:37:00
VALPARAISO Source: http://www.nwi.comDespite national and regional economic decline, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said the Hoosier state is making strong progress.Daniels attended a Valparaiso Rotary Club luncheon on Tuesday to give an update on the state's economy. The governor covered a wide variety of topics including the budget, taxes, transportation, unemployment, infrastructure, education and health care."We are in a uniquely strong position in this state because we took action," Daniels said. "If there is a recession coming, of course we're not immune -- but if it is going to happen, Indiana will enter it with the strongest possible position around ? We have a tremendous economic advantage."
More About: Governor

Housing Affordability Jumps
2008-03-27 00:46:00
Housing Affordability Jumps 27 Points in 6 Monthsfrom CARPE DIEM by Mark J. Perry "This increase of almost 27 points in the HAI in just six months, from both falling home prices and falling mortgage rates, is already starting to have a positive effect on the housing market (February sales increased) and could continue to play an important role in the recovery process for the slumping real estate market."
More About: Housing

What if - The recession doesn't happen
2008-03-26 02:55:00
Thinking the unthinkable: what if it's not that bad"This crisis is serious, for sure. But there is a pretty good chance it is not 1929 -- even if the U.S. Federal Reserve has adopted depression-era tactics to address it.""One important development this month -- drowned out by panic surrounding the Bear Stearns rescue -- was that credit rating firm Standard & Poors said the end was in sight for writedowns of the subprime mortgage assets that sparked the crisis.Putting total writedowns at some $285 billion, it said the banking sector had already written off the majority of its distressed assets and more than $150 billion was already declared. First quarter writedowns at three Wall St firms that reported last week -- Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley -- were indeed much less than analysts had feared.S&P also emphasized that some subprime mortgage writedowns are larger than any reasonable estimate of actual losses. This raises the prospect that when the mortgage...
More About: Recession

Cost of Construction at it's Low - Time to Buy
2008-03-22 13:27:00
As this graphic shows, building materials have declined over the last year. Mostly due to limited demand for housing in markets nationwide, building materials have been pushed down by lack of demand.This sure won't last for long. Roofing materials are a direct relative of oil, and we all know oil is above $100 to stay.As the market begins to heat up, helped by low low interest rates on mortgages and liberalized loan limits on Fannie Mae and FHA loans, these building costs are going to start creeping or even jumping back up. I'm in Bonita Springs Florida today, and was told just yesterday of a builder that has "increased" prices. Yep, you saw that right, increased prices in the Naples Florida market. I can't say it any other way, IT IS TIME TO BUY!Lastly, there is some talk that the next cost to get cut is labor, that the construction trades have just started to cut labor force after trying to hold on to personnel for the last 18 months. If unemployment increases in constructi...
More About: Time , Construction , Cost

Jeff and Grace Safrin on HGTV?
2008-03-21 20:01:00
WOW - We Get A Call From HGTV - Next Thing You Know The Crew is in Valparaiso, IN to Check out Our LISTING For the TV Show - Hidden PotentialThe number one real estate bloggers on Active Rain for NW Indiana got a call from HGTV, read the whole story. Great job.
More About: Grace , Jeff

Purchasing Rentals
2008-03-21 18:26:00
Update: Losing Equity? Think Rentals on original post which was reprinted on Active Rain.I have been saying for the last year, that if we all of a sudden stop letting first time buyers obtain mortgages, and make self-employed mortgages harder to get, then we'll have a build up in inventory of real estate.Also, we will have a corresponding build-up of renters. This should be showing just about now in increased occupancy rates, and then over the next 12 months as rental increases across the board.So as Derek suggests in this real world piece, Losing Equity? Think Rentals if you are worried to be losing some amount of equity in your homes, buy rentals. Now, he goes on to suggest that you only buy "cash flowing" rentals instead of the off-discussed depreciation buy that was going on when all properties were going up in value.A follow up question though to Derek: How does one finance these rentals, that part of the mortgage market has gotten a lot tighter too.

2007 Northwest Indiana Market Stats
2008-03-17 12:50:00
Chuck Dellorto has all the stats for the whole market in 2007. Guess what? It wasn't as bad as the NWI Times and Post Tribune and TV media tried to make it sound. Secrete Revealed: Northwest Indiana is ready to rebound!4 Bedroom Homes sold for average $216,000 and took about 98 days to sell. That means that if you have a 4 bedroom under $216,000 for sale in NW Indiana you should be selling quicker. Think it through. I'm thinking about building a couple specs myself in the $199,000 range with 4 bedrooms. Read the whole article, let me know if you have other market stats to post. Glad to pass the word, GOOD NEWS in NW Indiana!
More About: Market , Stats

Google City - Nanaimo
2008-03-12 13:35:00
I'm sure many of my real estate readers have used Google Maps or Google Earth at one time or another to look at a prospective neighborhood or community. Many of the big real estate sites including Realtor.com and Trulia.com use google mapping capability.Well one city Nanaimo in Canada has gone the furthest to fully integrating with Google Maps and Google Earth. From Tyler Cruz.com:Nanaimo has a population of around 79,000 as islocated on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, so it is certainly notthe first city you?d expect to be crowned the ?Google Capital of the World?.However, I?ve known about Nanaimo and it?s being labelled the Google Capital ofthe World for a while now, as it has been in the local papers and media here forsome time. I believe the front of the phone book even mentions it.Tyler goes on to explain and refer to an article in Time Magazine ?How Google Earth Ate Our City ?. When they hear the telltale sirens of a fire truck bursting out of the stationin Nanai...

New Blog Directory - RSS Hugger
2008-03-10 21:32:00
Thanks to a dozen or so friends online today (RSS Pieces for one) , I got word of a new blog directory. Yes, I know there are tons out there, but this one was a little easier at least. Post a review on your site, no reason to put a bug on your sidebar, no reason to further clutter your site.As an added bonus, the RSS Hugger resets its top 100 every month so that the same people don't dominate every month. Head over, sign up your blog and get added right away. By the way you can pay $20 if you'd prefer to not spend the 4 minutes writing a review post.
More About: Blog , Directory

Theory - Title Insurance Industry caused recession
2008-03-10 20:49:00
Now, you won't hear anyone else claiming this radical theory, but I for one think that the Title Insurance companies ... mostly held in two large companies that are actually owned by one company ... contributed widely and largely to this housing recession.If you've lost your job due to this recession, you can thank title insurers for that.Sound mean? Well, frankly I'm not all that happy with the state of the industry right now. Today: Title Insurance Draws Down Reserves This article is probably right on the money, but it got me all fired up with a sub-section discussing Affiliated Business Relationships with Home Builders, and the probably RESPA violations inherent. Well duh! Of course they were flagrant problems. I for one would love to see the entire title insurance industry totally disbanded and rebuilt inside real insurance companies. Companies that can work quickly, with innovation, and efficiently. It's crazy to pay $800 bucks for a title insurance policy and hundred...
More About: Industry , Theory , Recession

Northwest Indiana Real Estate Today
2008-03-06 23:53:00
FHA Down Payment Assistance Program survives! This means that you can still buy your new home for exactly "zero" dollars down. So much for all the hub-bub about affordable mortgages going away ... Interest Rates are 6% and you can buy for NO MONEY DOWN.Now, the weird story is that HUD tried to kill this program for some reason, the agency directed to try and help people, was trying to shut the program down. A Federal Judge struck down this regulatory mess and sent them back to their offices. Why would they try to strike down a program to help low and middle income borrowers buy a home? I'm still confused on that one. Head over to http://www.fftmortgage.com or call 219-762-7200 and talk to company President James about your options for a NO Downpayment Loan today!
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Indiana , Today , Northwest

Fed Cut Emminent
2008-03-05 05:40:00
With news like this at least ...From MarketWatch: Rapid deteriorationHousing is in its "deepest, most rapid downswing since the GreatDepression," the chief economist for the National Association of Home Builderssaid Wednesday, and the downward momentum on housing prices appears to beaccelerating.The NAHB's latest forecast calls for new-home sales to drop 22%this year, bringing sales 55% under the peak reached in late 2005. Housingstarts are predicted to tumble 31% in 2008, putting starts 60% off their high ofthree years ago. "More and more of the country is now involved in thecontraction, where six months ago it was not as widespread," said David Seiders,the NAHB's chief economist, on a conference call with reporters. "Housing is ina major contraction mode and will be another major, heavy weight on the economyin the first quarter." ...Vacant homes for sale in the U.S. now number about 2 million, Seiders said,an increase of 800,000 from 2005. There were 774 thousand new homes sold ...

Green Terrorists - Attack Home Builders
2008-03-04 04:12:00
It finally comes full circle, now domestic terrorists are so frustrated with our society they attacked a Street of Dreams. These people are terrorists, but I'm sure they started out green, or open space, or "protect our heritage", or "keep them people from next door out"We have a bunch of budding types here in Porter County like that. I'd be curious to hear where Ralph Nadar and Barack Obama stand on these terrorists? Just walk away and let them have their way?Here's the write-up from Zillow today:"Last August, I wrote a post about visiting the Street of Dreams, an open-to-the-public tour of new, multi-million dollar construction which attracts both those whocan afford such homes, and for those of us who are simply there to drool. Some sad news about this community came in this morning, as 4 of the 5 homes were damaged, three burning to the ground due to suspected ?domestic terrorism?. The damage, in total, is expected to be around $7 million. An organization named Earth Li...
More About: Home , Green , Builders , Terrorists , Attack

Warren Buffet on Housing
2008-03-04 02:19:00
Today on CNBC Warren Buffet held forth his thoughts on the government messing around with housing:LIESMAN: One of the most striking things in this poll is for the first time--we've done this for four quarters now--Americans now look for a decline in their home values. What's the significance of that from an economic point of view, Mr. Buffett?BUFFETT: Well, it has a huge effect because, you know, with 60 percent-plus of the American people being homeowners, as being a huge asset--and in many cases it's a leverage asset--it obviously is going to be on their mind big time. And I get the figures every month. We have a number of real estate brokerage operations around the country, and I get the--I get the figures from many markets on listings and sales, and I've seen something like Dade and Broward County go from 6,000 listings and 3600 sales a month to where they're now, I think, 82,000 listings and about 1500 sales a month. So unless there's some major intervention by the govern...
More About: Housing , Warren Buffet

DUI Alert Plates
2008-03-03 06:51:00
How about this idea? I'd like to see it implemented right away in Indiana.February 28, 2008, 9:47 amYellow License Plates for DUI Offenders?By FreakonomicsThe Seattle Times reports that a bill has been introduced in Washington state that would require convicted D.U.I. offenders to use fluorescent-yellow license plates for a year after their driving privileges are restored. The bill?s sponsors see the license plates as a means of informing law enforcement that the driver has a history of D.U.I.s, and a signal to other drivers to ?give a wider berth? to the potentially dangerous driver ? not to mention providing an added disincentive for would-be drunk driving. Though whether the threat of public embarrassment serves as a good enough incentive to change behavior remains to be seen.
More About: Alert

Good news in real estate - I'm not giving up
2008-03-01 02:18:00
The Bellingham Herald just ran a front page article on our healthy housing market. Thought I would pass the good news. From Mimi Osterdahl"The Bellingham Housing Market Is STRONG" or, access the article from her Blog:Live good. Be happy. Be positive!Mimi Osterdahl / The Muljat Group Real tors / Bellingham, WashingtonWe could say the same thing right here in Northwest Indiana, this week we sold two homes and closed another in our offices. The market is definitely back!
More About: News , Estate , Real Estate , Good News