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Real Estate Articles
How to Get Started on Applying For the Loan Modification Process
22 Feb 2010 at 11:41pm
Loan modification may be just what many borrowers are looking for. A lot of borrowers are behind on their mortgage payments. Some may only be behind 30 days. But 30 days can become 60 days or 90 days very rapidly.

Options For Mortgage Help For Homeowners Facing Foreclosure
19 Feb 2010 at 3:52pm
In the past couple of years, a lot of owners have found themselves in need of some mortgage help. With high rates of unemployment and stagnant wages, more people are finding making their payments harder every month.

Consider a Mortgage Modification to Stop Foreclosure of a Property
17 Feb 2010 at 9:10pm
Did you know that many financial institutions are making efforts towards mortgage modification for some owners that are experiencing troubles' Mortgage modification is a term used when a bank changes the terms of a loan in order to help the owners make their payments. The types of modifications being made are unique to each situation though.

Examples of Issues to Dispute in a Qualified Written Request
11 Feb 2010 at 10:34am
When attempting to receive information from a lender or servicing company, owners can take advantage of their legal opportunities under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act to send a Qualified Written Request (QWR). A QWR is meant to help borrowers raise disputes with their mortgage servicer and have those issues resolved in a timely manner. Homeowners, however, may not know what things to ask of the lender, or why they are requesting certain documents or records relating to the loan and its servicing.

How You Can Avoid Trouble When Getting a Foreclosure Loan
10 Feb 2010 at 2:08pm
One option for those homeowners having trouble making their mortgage payments is a foreclosure refinance. In the past two years, many of people have had their mortgage payments sky rocket due to rising interest rates.

How Homeowners Can Obtain a Loan Workout From Their Banks
10 Feb 2010 at 9:18am
A loan workout sounds like a cross between a yoga routine and a mortgage broker. In reality, a loan workout is what occurs when a borrower and a lender agree to modify the terms of a mortgage in order to prevent a foreclosure.

Consider Other Foreclosure Options If a Refinance is Unavailable
8 Feb 2010 at 11:12am
In general, foreclosure victims have very poor credit and no equity. This means that the majority of borrowers facing foreclosure and wasting valuable time attempting to apply for a foreclosure loan.

Green Shoots in the Economy - Bankruptcy Increases by 100%
5 Feb 2010 at 4:30pm
In another sign that the average American is becoming increasingly desperate as the current recession deepens, bankruptcy filings are up 100% since the year 2007, according to data recorded by the US Courts. With more economic difficulties and fewer jobs to go around, people just have decreased (or no) income to pay their debts, whether they are credit cards or home loans. The rise in bankruptcy filings is also occurring despite the banks' and lawmakers' attempts to create a modern version of the debtor's prison.

When is it Worth Giving Up on a Property?
4 Feb 2010 at 3:57pm
One of the great benefits of a loan modification used to avoid a foreclosure is that it is a agreement between the bank and the homeowners. The lenders do not want to go through an expensive process of taking the house back just to have it sell for much less than it is worth, and the homeowners wish to remain in their property if only they had a second chance after a hardship and a reasonably affordable monthly payment.

Why You Should Never Pay the Mortgage With Your Credit Cards
3 Feb 2010 at 4:32pm
One of the largest mistakes homeowners can make when they get into a financial bind is relying on credit cards or other short-term loans to see them through the difficulty. They think that they can borrow money at high rates of interest and then pay it back once their income has recovered.

How to Write a Foreclosure Hardship Letter
2 Feb 2010 at 9:09pm
One step of the loan modification or refinancing application that borrowers usually mess up is the hardship letter. Every bank that is considering giving the borrowers an option to avoid the foreclosure process will request a detailed letter documenting what first caused the decrease of monthly payments, as well as what actions have been taken to fix the problem. Many homeowners, though, include very minimal hardship letters that explain almost nothing about what transpired, what has been done to remedy the situation, and why the financial crisis was only temporary in nature.

Forensic Loan Audits - Are They Useful to Foreclosure Victims?
2 Feb 2010 at 11:43am
With all of the new plans and ideas that the housing industry and government are rolling out to help homeowners save their homes from foreclosure, it seems new terms and acronyms are being born everyday. One of the most bewildering that has come into common acceptance is a "forensic loan audit," which is being sold to numerous homeowners.

How Modifying Your Loan Affects Your Credit Score
2 Feb 2010 at 9:42am
While modifying the terms of a mortgage can be a great plan for some borrowers, few people have really questioned how a modification will be presented to the credit agencies. They are somewhat similar to refinancing a property.

Using Debt Settlement With a Loan Modification
29 Jan 2010 at 10:33am
As credit card companies continue to increase rates and gouge their customers, debt settlement or debt management is becoming increasingly popular. Debt settlement is the act of eliminating a portion of the debt.

Loan Modification - Important Information to Get You Qualified
27 Jan 2010 at 8:39am
When you are facing a possible foreclosure, the last thing you want is another disingenuous plan of action that results in little to no monetary help for your situation. Luckily, loan modification options do not fall into this category. Before you investigate too far into the steps of altering your home mortgage, you surely want to grasp as much documentation about the concept as you can.

Household Balance Sheet Repair Continues
12 Mar 2010 at 1:40am
Calafia Beach Pundit submits:

According to the Federal Reserve's calculations, the net worth of U.S. households as of last December had increased by $5.7 trillion (up 11.6%) from the low of last March. The gains came from a combination of higher equity and bond prices and reduced debt that overwhelmed declining real estate values. This reflects a healthy realignment of households' balance sheets (lower debt ratios, less reliance on real estate), as well as healthy improvement overall. However, it will take a few more years before households have recovered their peak net worth. I note that the ratio of households' tangible asset holdings to total assets is now 33.7%, which is below the average of this ratio (36.6%) since records began to be kept in 1950 (see chart below, click to enlarge). To me, this suggests that the correction in real estate prices has largely run its course. You might say that real estate is now somewhat "cheap" relative to financial assets. Think of the "tangible asset ratio" as a measure of how enthusiastic households are to own real estate instead of other sources of wealth such as stocks and bonds. Also note that the public's willingness to pay up for real estate is roughly correlated with underlying inflation, as the chart suggests. Tangible assets are a natural inflation hedge, so this makes a lot of sense. If inflation has bottomed out this past year and begins to rise in the years to come, then we could expect tangible asset prices to recover.Complete Story »

Some Thoughts on Corporate Bond Spreads, Chinese Economic Trends
12 Mar 2010 at 12:14am
David Goldman submits:

I was on The Kudlow Report last night. Here are the notes I sent to the CNBC producers for the show:

On Corporate Bond Spreads:

Complete Story »

Foreclosure Programs: Sugar Coating the Evidence of Continued Housing Troubles
11 Mar 2010 at 4:46pm
Wall Street Strategies submits:

February foreclosure data from RealtyTrac showed the third monthly decrease in overall foreclosure activity in a row. But, in the end, this data cannot be taken with much optimism as filings remained at 308,524. This represents the 12th month in a row that foreclosures have been above the 300,000 mark, and continues to be reflective of the fact that the number of struggling homeowners is hardly improving.

Total default notices were up 3% from January, indicating a slight increase of newly troubled borrowers. Meanwhile, foreclosure auction activity decreased by 1% and bank repossessions decreased by 10%. Areas like California, Florida, and Michigan remain a high proportion of the foreclosure filings, while Nevada is still squarely the worst state for foreclosures per capita.

Complete Story »

Why Housing Is Still a Drag on the Economy
11 Mar 2010 at 11:04am
Daryl Montgomery submits:

Foreclosure stats for February indicate that 308,000 U.S. households received some type of foreclosure related notice during the month. Of all U.S. residential mortgage holders, 15% have either missed some payments or are in foreclosure. Mainstream news outlets reported these depression level numbers as "good news" because the rate of foreclosure activity was only 6% higher in February than the huge level that had been reached a year earlier.

Housing is at the epicenter of the economy's problems and the situation has consistently gotten worse since the market's peak in September 2005. The decline has continued even though there are numerous federal and state programs aimed at shoring up the housing market. Government policy seems to have been highly effective at creating the housing bubble, but impotent in cleaning up the mess. President Obama stated in a speech in Mesa, Arizona in February 2009 that his administration's housing programs would help three to four million homeowners avoid foreclosure through loan modification programs. More than a year after that speech, the latest figures indicate that 116,300 home mortgages have been modified through federal programs. At that rate, it will take as long as 34.4 years to fulfill Obama's promise.

Complete Story »

Predicting the Next Economic Catastrophe and Recovery
11 Mar 2010 at 1:50am
Jon Fisher submits:

The home is the center of the economy. When the number of new homes on which construction is started (housing starts) begins to plunge, a corresponding spike in national unemployment is upon us. An inverse correlation of housing starts and unemployment is easily seen in the chart above. And the housing starts plunge precedes the stock market plunge.

Complete Story »

The Short Run Elasticity of Housing Supply
11 Mar 2010 at 1:37am
Casey B. Mulligan submits:

The elasticity of housing supply is the effect on the flow of home building (measured as a log change -- think of it as a percentage change) of the inflation-adjusted purchase price of housing (also measured as a log change).

The elasticity has long been studied in economics; one of the seminal studies was published by Professors Topel and Rosen in 1988.

Complete Story »

Reality Check for Bank Investors, Mortgage Investors and Home Buyers
10 Mar 2010 at 9:44am
Reggie Middleton submits:

Last week I posted a Bloomberg news article supporting my suspicions that investors are putting bad loans back to the banks at an increasing rate. I used JP Morgan (JPM) as a specific example - Banks Swallow Another $30 billion or So in More Losses as Their Share Prices Surge (Again).

A few commenters on syndicated sites appeared to have really underestimated the significance of this development. In the article, it is alleged that Freddie (FRE) and Fannie (FNM) are forcing banks to eat up to $30 billion in soured mortgages under the warranties and representations clauses of the sales contract. To highlight the significance of this development, let me remind all that Fannie and Freddie are benchmarks for mortgage lending in the US.

Complete Story »

E-House Holdings: Beats Earnings Estimates, Raises Guidance
10 Mar 2010 at 9:20am
Trader Mark submits:

E-House Holdings (EJ), despite stellar earnings, seemed to go into a tailspin a few months ago due to fears of a percolating real estate bubble in parts of China. While the pace of news stories on that front has only increased of late (NYT - Skyrocketing Prices May Point to Real Estate Bubble in China) the stock has rebounded with the return of speculators into the US-listed Chinese small and mid cap stocks the past few weeks. It certainly seems that, based on these corporate results, the stock was unfairly hit the past few months, once more showing the market is less about reality and more about perception of reality. Companies in far worse fundamental shape have been skyrocketing for months without a care in the world. (Click to enlarge)

Earnings reports for both E-House, and its subsidiary China Real Estate Information (CRIC) were released yesterday and were quite good. The full report for E-House is available here.

Complete Story »

MBA Application Survey for March 10, 2010 Shows Limited Affects of Quantitati...
10 Mar 2010 at 8:57am
Sold At The Top submits:

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) publishes the results of a weekly applications survey that covers roughly 50 percent of all residential mortgage originations and tracks the average interest rate for 30 year and 15 year fixed rate mortgages, 1 year ARMs as well as application volume for both purchase and refinance applications.

The purchase application index has been highlighted as a particularly important data series as it very broadly captures the demand side of residential real estate for both new and existing home purchases.

Complete Story »

Sources of Leverage in a Rational Housing Market
10 Mar 2010 at 7:57am
Casey B. Mulligan submits:

Houses are valuable because people like to live in them, or at least (as with many second homes) know that space is available for them to live in. The fundamental value-added of a house over, say a year's time frame, therefore depends on how effectively a particular structure satisfies that demand, as compared to alternative structures that existed that year.There are two fundamental, yet universally ignored, reasons why the purchase price of a house might vary more than the flow of value-added.

Complete Story »

Barney Frank on Second Lien Mortgages: Time to Shoot the Messenger?
10 Mar 2010 at 2:23am
Bruce Krasting submits:

Monday, Barney Frank came out with a letter addressed to some of the big banks putting some muscle on them. He wants them to write off their second lien mortgages. He thinks the seconds are junk. His words:

Large numbers of these second liens have no real economic value.

Complete Story »

China's Housing Bubble Spells Trouble
10 Mar 2010 at 1:59am
Rob Abbanat submits:

I am loath to rent. I just can’t stomach the idea of paying for someone else’s mortgage. When I first arrived in China back in 2006, I fully intended to buy property once I got the lay of the land. But when I started looking, I quickly realized that residential real estate was pricey, even by Boston standards.

And since then, it has only gone up. Conversely, rents are very reasonable and have increased only modestly. Renting here always seems to make more sense than buying. Anyway, after nearly four years in China, I spent the last two weeks looking for a new apartment to rent in a better part of town, which has opened my eyes to what appears to be a frighteningly large bubble. While I haven’t done any formal research, there is a tower of anecdotal evidence that suggests that the current market prices of residential real estate are unsustainably high, at least in Shanghai and other first-tier cities.

Complete Story »

Addressing Second Lien Writedowns
10 Mar 2010 at 1:42am
Rortybomb submits:

R.A. (Ryan Avent!) writes in response to my previous entry:

[Mike's thesis] places the government in a bind. If it forces banks to write down worthless second mortgages to clear the way for new modifications, then the banks suddenly look shaky again. If it doesn’t, then lots of homeowners are stuck in loans they can’t modify and may not be able to afford.

Complete Story »

Analyzing the Real Forces Behind Current Housing Supply and Demand
10 Mar 2010 at 12:57am
Jeff Miller submits:

OK, here I go with another educational concept that has no immediate and actionable investment advice. I heard a couple of uninformed comments about housing. One was that the market needed to push prices down so that it would clear. This reflects ignorance. Markets clear at the current price.

The other was about shadow supply. Let's take a closer look.

Complete Story »

Two Years Until Market-Clearing Prices Hit Housing - Dan Alpert
10 Mar 2010 at 12:49am
Edward Harrison submits:

Ann Lee and Dan Alpert joined Bloomberg’s Pimm Fox Tuesday to talk about the housing market recovery. Lee, a professor of finance at New York University, was sceptical that population growth predicts any substantial increase in housing transactions and prices simply due to the continued pressure on wages and disposable income. and Dan Alpert, managing director at Westwood Capital LLC, said we are not looking at market-clearing prices in the near-term because home ownership percentages need to drop. This process will take two to two and a half years in his view.

Short clip below.

Complete Story »

Successfully Selling Your Home WITHOUT a Realtor
11 Mar 2010 at 3:27pm
I was a realtor for 20+ years and now help run a website for FSBOs (FOR SALE BY OWNER sellers). It's easy to predict success for some FSBOs and failure for others. Would you like to know what the indicators are'

Wondering About Selling Or Buying Real Estate?
2 Mar 2010 at 7:54pm
People pondering buying or selling real estate this Spring have some decisions to make. This can be hard, especially for FSBOs working alone. This article suggests a framework for decision making in spite of disagreements among experts as to whether the economy has "turned the corner," or is about to tank even further. You CAN make a good decision in spite of the uncertainty. Find out how.

Avoiding Surprises At Your Real Estate Settlement When You're The Seller
27 Feb 2010 at 1:19pm
FSBO sellers are often intimidated by worries about the amount of settlement costs, who pays what, who's responsible for what, and the like. While laws and customs vary from place to place, all settlement agents use the same form to detail the financial transaction from the seller's and buyer's perspectives. This article goes through the entire settlement form and offers examples to help clear up these mysteries.

Feeling Timid About Buying a House?
24 Feb 2010 at 8:23am
The burst in the housing bubble caused much pain. This article discusses basics that home buyers need to know in order to buy real estate confidently in spite of the current situation with mortgages "under water," and rampant foreclosures. It can pay to formulate your own strategy and be contrary to the crowd.

Real Estate - Buying in a Buyer's Market
30 Nov 2009 at 5:21pm
Real estate markets across the world have taken a beating like we haven't seen in a very long time if ever. When Dubai is asking to delay its debt payments, you know things are tough all over. Well, it is tough if you are a homeowner or seller. For buyers, this is the market of all markets!

Real Estate - Why it is a Great Time to Buy
30 Nov 2009 at 5:21pm
Any discussion of the real estate market in the last few years has been couched in terms of doom and gloom. From massive inventories to falling prices, there hasn't been much of a bright spot. Having said that, things always turn around at some point and it is hard to imagine a better time to buy than now.

FSBO Sales - Show it and They Will Come
24 Nov 2009 at 1:54pm
The web has made selling real estate for sale by owner, better known as a "FSBO" seller, so much easier than it used to be in the old days. That being said, some FSBO sellers shoot themselves in the foot by failing to properly use images to show their home to potential sellers.

Home Sales Jump - The Good and Bad
24 Nov 2009 at 10:21am
The real estate market has been so brutal for so long that it is often hard to find anything to be particularly excited about. Well, there is finally some great news - home sales jumped over ten percent in October 2009. This news, however, comes with some good and bad twists.

Real Estate - Be a Contrarian
10 Nov 2009 at 8:12pm
The nature of a contrarian is to look at the general consensus and then act in the opposite manner. This can happen in any niche as we've just seen with Warren Buffet buying a railroad company, an investment he used to scorn! Well, you probably don't have 30 billion or so to buy your own railroad company, but a huge contrarian opportunity exists in real estate at the moment.

Real Estate - The Relationship Between Housing and Jobs
10 Nov 2009 at 8:12pm
The Great Recession is officially over based on a technical analysis by economist. For the rest of us, it feels like it is still here front and center. The biggest issue at this point is the status of the job market. This is particularly important when considering the relationship between the housing market and employment.

Real Estate Marketing Tip - YouTube It!
3 Nov 2009 at 2:51pm
The web has revolutionized the field of real estate like no other niche. Well, maybe excluding online dating, but you get the point. The web has allowed people to point and click instead of driving endless miles wasting time and money on the weekend. While most people know they should market online now, there is an additional step most fail to take.

Selling Your House in This Economy - Critical Basic Steps
3 Nov 2009 at 2:50pm
Sometimes we get to sell our residences when we want to and sometimes we have to sell because we really have no choice. A lack of choice is probably the reason for any sale in this market. Regardless of how you get to the decision, the key to selling in this market is to return to the basic, critical steps for any sale. Let's take a look.

When Your Real Estate Agent Gives Legal Advice
28 Oct 2009 at 1:36pm
Real estate agents are in the game of buying and selling homes. At their core, they are sales people and rightly so. Given this fact, you need to be very leery of any real estate agent that offers legal advice. Why' They haven't got a clue and are potentially breaking the law.

The Long View on Real Estate
28 Oct 2009 at 1:33pm
The nature of an economic crisis is such that we tend to focus on the sky falling in the short term and miss out on long term opportunities. The current status of the real estate market is one such situation.

Detroit - When a Real Estate Market Falls Off the Edge
15 Oct 2009 at 4:14pm
The last few years have seen much nervous discussion about just when the real estate market will hit bottom. Underlying such discussion is the inherent fear of just how low can values go' One needs only look to Detroit to see the nightmare scenario.

Sneeze-Proof Your Home
11 Mar 2010 at 9:50pm
Millions of allergens are possibly present in the air that we breathe. The daily sneezing attacks that you have or the intermittent respiratory problems you or any one of your family members might be experiencing could be attributed to these allergens.

Electrical Home Improvement Tasks Are Often Overlooked
11 Mar 2010 at 8:35am
When thinking about the current condition of your home, you must evaluate how well each aspect is doing on a regular basis. Is it as functional and efficient as it was when it was first installed'

Learning About Stop Foreclosure Loans
8 Mar 2010 at 3:30pm
A stop foreclosure loan is a type of loan, which a borrower in default usually avails of in order to avoid the hassles of property foreclosure by a bank or a lender. Since foreclosure is an embarrassing process that could reflect a negative financial reputation to a borrower, many people are trying to avoid it.

Easy Home Improvement Projects For Today
5 Mar 2010 at 4:03pm
There are a number of easy home improvement projects that you can do to give your much valued home a new and exciting look. Do you love your home, but find it a bit too dull'

Easy Fundraising - The Goodies, Books, and Bazaar-Like Sale Ideas
4 Mar 2010 at 10:11pm
Thinking of a sound fundraising idea is daunting and difficult at times. There are moments when you feel as if you have loads of ideas and proposals to share, but are tough to put into play. So if you're tired of devising fundraising plans that don't seem to push through, here are easy fund raising suggestions sans major tasks involved:

Great Advantages to Outdoor Saunas
2 Mar 2010 at 4:16pm
Outdoor saunas have become a popular commodity which a lot of people have opted to install in their homes. These can be installed or built near vacation cabins or near the pools. Some backyards also have this fixture to use among friends and family members.

Breathe Easy For a Healthier You
2 Mar 2010 at 3:15pm
Harmful particles in the air are entering your body at this very moment without you noticing it. You might soon catch a cold or the flu virus.

Garage Flooring - Your First Line of Defense and Protection
2 Mar 2010 at 3:13pm
Your used paint cans are stored in one corner, while your lawnmower is quietly resting in the other end. Most of the stuff that you keep in your garage has plenty of uses.

Bamboo Flooring - Modernizing the Basics
26 Feb 2010 at 9:26am
It was well proven that bamboos can produce endless products with the use of its natural parts. Nowadays, flooring manufacturing companies are making a lot of money with bamboo floors.

Understanding How the Foreclosure Process Works
24 Feb 2010 at 8:03am
The foreclosure process involves the regaining or repossessing of a bank or lender, the amount, which was owed to them by a delinquent borrower through the method of taking ownership or selling the property, which secures the loan. When a borrower fails to make payments on their loan, the bank or lender sends a default notice which will serve as a public record. This is where the process of foreclosure starts.

Is Online Fundraising in Mind? Here Are 3 Particulars Online Fundraisers Ough...
23 Feb 2010 at 3:22pm
With so many transactions being processed online, there's no doubt that it is also possible to do online fund raising. The internet has truly opened doors for.

Stop Breathing in Poison
22 Feb 2010 at 1:07pm
We all need air to live. Unfortunately, the air that we breathe is also the one that is killing us. The pollution that is in the air that we breathe causes the...

Steam Saunas Can Cause Great Benefits
22 Feb 2010 at 11:54am
Steam saunas are among the most popular ways to relax and rejuvenate the body. These are often available among relaxation...

Preventing Foreclosures by Knowing the Basic Foreclosure Procedure
19 Feb 2010 at 4:41pm
Having your home foreclosed was never a part of your intention when you borrowed money from the bank you are currently indebted with. If that is the case, you will find it helpful to know the basic steps that involve a foreclosure procedure.

Do it Yourself Home Improvement - Breathing Life to Old and Lackluster Things
19 Feb 2010 at 4:09pm
Remember that bit of wisdom that says, "We don't remember days, we remember moments'" The originator of that phrase may not be thinking of home improvements back then, but the notion that it's the little and simple things that make life pleasing and memorable reminds you of that little improvements in your house that is built and created with love.

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