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A record 183,000 U.S. homeowners avoided foreclosure in April through mortgage loan workouts, bringing the total to 1.6 million at-risk borrowers who have had mortgage terms or payment plans modified in less than a year.
I have several offers in various stages that I hope to complete before July.
What I have noticed is that unless your agent/broker is experienced, full time and is knowledgeable of the area in question, it will be extremely tough to market and sell properties thoughout this weaker real estate market. What can we do to help them? Read the rest of this entry »
Just because there is a huge inventory of homes on the market does not mean that as investors we can’t make a dollar! (Or a few thousand) As the housing market slumps, apartment complexes and duplexes typically swing into high gear. Read the rest of this entry »
The Associated Press just published an article detailing US home prices have dropped at the sharpest rate in 20 years. The news media is “doom and gloom” oriented. Read the rest of this entry »
Please take time today (and this week) to remember what made America the great country that it is - Our volunteer fighting force that gives us the ability to kick the asses of anyone that stands in the way of the freedoms listed in our Constitution. Read the rest of this entry »
Ok, I know this post has absolutely NOTHING to do with Real Estate Investing. But, you gotta show support for your favorite team!
Fellow Investors -
I ran across another blog today that discussed Alan Greenspan’s comments about the apparent housing crash and sub-prime mortgage fiasco. I want you to pay special attention to the first comment on this guy’s blog. Supposedly, there is a person who claims they are in a middle income bracket and is waiting for home prices to continue to fall so individuals like him can finally get into a home. Investors have been helping thousands of people like him get into homes through creative financing, lease purchase options and other neat ways of helping them out. Interesting read, but it has very strong language. (Reader discretion is advised!)
The underwriters at banks are now being especially stringent when following institution guidelines. Read the rest of this entry »
If you are a real estate investor and your strategy is high-end homes, you may want to pay closer attention to the “Housing Bailout Bill” that just got passed through the Senate today. This bill is the government’s knee-jerk reaction to the so-called housing-crisis that is on-going here in US. In essence, the government is wanting to allow entities like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase more distressed homes at lower interest rates. This will have a two-fold effect.
1 – Government involvement will skew supply curves and distort real home price values.
2 – Government involvement will cause the majority of loans serviced by private banks to somewhat move to entities like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
But, there is some peculiar in there…
The conforming loan limit is being lowered from $729,000, initially, to $625,000 to $550,000. So, for all of you “rich” investors out there, you will not be able to use GSE’s (Government Supported Entities) to finance high-end homes.
In states like California, where the median home price is well over $500,000, this could prove to be a big problem. Yet again the government screws up more than they “fix”.
Housing starts rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.032 million, far more than the 954,000 estimated for March or the 939,000 that economists had been anticipating for April. Read the rest of this entry »
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