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Commentary

Home Ownership Below 50%: Is it Possible?

by Peter Giardini | November 18, 2009
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Is it even conceivable that home ownership in the US could drop from its current 67% – 68% range to 50% or even lower?
That is the gist of a conversation I had with a real estate agent last January.   Based on his reading of the tea leaves, he couldn’t foresee a scenario where home ownership [...]

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Commentary

High End Real Estate: Will The Second Shoe Drop?

by Florence Foote | November 17, 2009
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The lower end of the market was hit first — and hardest — by the real estate crash; understandably so. People who are just squeezing by are naturally quick to default after a job loss, have little resources to draw upon as a cushion, and are presumably less likely to care about the negative credit [...]

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Commentary

The $8,000 Tax Credit Question: Are We Setting Ourselves Up For An Even Bigger Problem?

by Charles Feldman | November 14, 2009
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This is where is gets interesting…like it hasn’t been already, right?
Now that the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit has been extended to loans that close by the end of June, 2010….and there has been an addition of a $6,500 credit for so-called “move-up buyers”-we wait to see what impact it will have on the [...]

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Commentary

How Can Real Estate Investors Profit from the Home Buyers Tax Credit Extension?

by Peter Giardini | November 13, 2009
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After having written my last several articles on current happenings in our market, I came away with the impression that I had become as bad as the regular media only focusing on the negative and never looking for the positive.  Overall, this negative crap just doesn’t work for me… but regrettably I acknowledge that it [...]

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Commentary

Grow Your Real Estate Network; Get Involved Locally

by Justin Pierce | November 8, 2009
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I cringe to even think of writing this post, peppered with politics, but we just had an election for a Governor here in Virginia and it raises a few points that I think investors (well any businessman or woman) should keep in mind. Don’t worry, we’re not talking party politics, but local political involvement.
Put [...]

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Commentary

The Health Care Bill and Real Estate Investors / Professionals

by Tom Koziol | November 6, 2009

At first blush, these two seem like polar opposites. After all, what does the proposed health care bill being ballyhooed have to do with real estate investing?
I will readily admit I haven’t read the 1900 plus page bill but I have a friend who did. I won’t tell you about the number and size of [...]

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Commentary

U.S. Commercial Real Estate At Death’s Door; Next Shoe Ready To Drop

by Charles Feldman | November 3, 2009
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If there really is an economic recovery underway–no matter how weak–one sure thing that would kill it is a devastating collapse of the commercial real estate market.
And, I’m afraid, that is exactly what appears to be shaping up in the not very distant future.
A survey by the Real Estate Roundtable (which sounds like something out [...]

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Commentary

Real Estate Fiasco Seems To Foreclose On Critical Thinking

by Charles Feldman | October 28, 2009
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Think.
That is one word I grant you. But, sadly, something fewer and fewer people seem to be doing when it comes to critical analysis of the near term prospects for the real estate market in the U.S. (And, yes, I know the real estate “market” is a patchwork of many markets dotted across the foreclosed [...]

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Commentary

A Quiz You Can’t Fail: How Will You Make Money in Real Estate

by Tom Koziol | October 23, 2009

As everyone knows, the real estate market is in the tank – at least that is the overall perception. On the other hand, we all have heard that there are people who are still making money in real estate. At least they say they are.

If it is true that people are making money, here is a quiz that should be a no brainer. By the way, this quiz won’t be graded. Not by me at least. You may decide to give yourself a grade just for grins.

The Setting

Lets say you live in a housing market that has been described by a national real estate forecast service as the country’s “weakest housing market.” It is projected to have the biggest decline in value in the next 12 months among all housing markets in the nation with a 12 percent median price dip for both new and existing single-family homes.

In making its determination, the forecast service looked at 260 metro areas using more than 50 variables, including housing supply, population trends, unemployment and inflation. And, speaking of unemployment, your area has just seen a full one percent spike upward.

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Commentary

Deja-Vu… All Over Again! This time in the Commercial Real Estate Market

by Peter Giardini | October 21, 2009

I was surprised by some of the comments regarding Dr. Doom AKA Nouriel Roubini and his predictions that we are not yet out of the economic woods, and we are most likely going to experience continued turmoil in our economy in general and real estate specifically.

To the point – it seems that everyone is now paying attention to the coming challenges with the commercial mortgage market.  And who can blame anyone for thinking that the commercial market is on the edge, and will likely go right over the side in the coming 2 – 3 years.

Using Old Valuations Can Lead to Disaster!

Making this situation worse is the fact that most lenders are valuing the underlying properties collateralizing their mortgages at their original values (just like what is happening with residential properties), further forestalling the pending crisis in bank defaults.  If banks revalued their portfolios to the real (current) values of their underlying collateral… it is possible the entire system would collapse. I found an interesting dialogon public radio amongst various experts regarding the pending (actually it has already started) commercial collapse that demonstrates that some people may have their head in the sand. 

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Commentary

Are You RICH or Are You POOR?

by J. Lamar Ferren | October 17, 2009

Are you RICH or are you POOR?

richbroke

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. ~ Proverbs 23:7

It’s a question that many people don’t think about that could truly shed some light on why people are  where they are in life. The answer isn’t as simple as it seems.

 Knowing if your RICH or POOR upfront is a direct reflection of your success in life.

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Commentary

Dolphins And Real Estate

by Tom Koziol | October 16, 2009

Let me pass along a story that has extreme relevance to our current real estate picture. It involves dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico and their feeding by well meaning – although some would say misguided – people called tourists.

This story was relayed to me by a friend who used to vacation in Mexico and enjoyed boating in the Gulf. He said that a few years ago dolphins would swim up beside the boat and almost leap in to get their free meal. It seems feeding the dolphins became the thing to do.

The last time he went out he noticed not a single dolphin would swim up to the boat. Being the curious type, he wondered what had changed.

When he pulled back onto shore, he asked the locals why the dolphins wouldn’t approach his boat. The answer totally stunned him. He was told the government had outlawed feeding dolphins and included a $10,000 fine for anyone caught feeding the dolphin.

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Commentary

Foreclosure Mitigation Deemed A Flop: Congressional Panel Tells It Like It Is; Administration Plan Fizzles; Foreclosures Rise; More Expected; Don’t Expect Much More Government Help; Forget About The Banks Bailing YOU Out; Don’t Bother Rationalization; Treasury Strategy Derided As Not Long Term Solution; Did I Leave Anything Out???; No, I Didn’t!!

by Charles Feldman | October 14, 2009

Let’s stop beating around the bush….or, in this case, the Obama. The dismal results are in and there is NO question that the efforts, such as they are, of the Obama administration to effectively deal with the nation’s growing foreclosure problem amount to a failure.

Says who? Well, me, for one. But don’t take my word for it, just read the most recent report from the Congressional Oversight Panel which is charged with overseeing the administration’s efforts to cope with the foreclosure emergency.

Called “An Assessment of Foreclosure Mitigation Efforts after Six Months“–the panel report laments the “limited scope and scale of the Making Home Affordable” program……

And, it goes on to raise serious questions about whether any of the programs now in place will actually lead to permanent mortgage modifications for most or even many disperate homeowners.

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Commentary

Do You Know Your Economic ABCs? Or Better, Your UVWs?

by Peter Giardini | October 13, 2009

Have you been paying attention to all of the talk about what type of recession we are in?  Well, actually if you listen to some people, we are in full blown depression!

But for those of us who realize that while times are tough… more then likely we are in a recession… not a nice one… but a recession non-the-less.

The talk of late is whether we are starting to climb out of this current recession.  All of the politicians and bureaucrats want us to believe that we are on our way back up and that this recession was a typical V shaped event. 

Are You Buying It?

Hey… why not?  The stock market is up.  Home sales are up.  Even home prices in some areas are on the increase.  But is this real?  Or an illusion driven by Government incentives and wishful thinking?

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Commentary

Redirected Dollars: Not a Bad Way to Start Investing

by Tom Koziol | October 9, 2009

I had a brainstorm the other day. Hopefully, it will catch on like wild fire and people all over this country will enjoy the prospective windfall benefit.

It all started when one of our clients said how tough it was for her to come up with her auto insurance premium every month. Nevada requires car owners to have a certain level of coverage. The state doesn’t give a darn how hard it is to come up with the premium. My idea solves this particular dilemma.

Just for the record, in Nevada, the minimum required coverage is 15/30/10. The minimum required coverage may be different in your jurisdiction. Regardless, the requirement is still there which means it has to paid for one way or another. Almost like a forced mortgage one could say.

Before you ask what does this have to do with real estate, indulge me and keep reading. It has a lot to do with putting your mitts on investable dollars.

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