Commentary

Rental Outlook 2012: The Good Times Roll on

by Steve Cook | December 28, 2011

The stars are aligned to make 2012 an extraordinary year for rental income. The decline in homeownership is translating into rising rents and the multifamily apartment sector, though booming today, was late catching the wave. If it weren’t for the new investor-driven single family rentals in many markets, rents would be zooming even higher than [...]

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Commentary

Government Intervention — and We Landlords are The Targets!

by Peter Giardini | August 25, 2011

I love reading the various articles here on the BiggerPockets Blog, and when I am moved by a topic I always try to add constructive comments. In May of last year Florence Foote wrote a great article regarding Rent Controls and their negative impact on both the quantity and quality of rental units where ever [...]

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Commentary

How Not to Turn Into a Turn Key Real Estate Economist

by Joe Salcedo | June 14, 2011

“Confront the brutal facts, but never lose hope that in the end you will prevail” – Jim Stockdale C.S Lewis warned us of the perils of other people’s opinion quietly creeping into our system. How the things we say and believe seldom come from our own original thought analysis. I remembered this stern warning as [...]

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Commentary

Changing the Real Estate Investing Industry One Person at a Time

by Joshua Dorkin | April 22, 2011

Nobody said it would be easy, and it hasn’t been. I remember having conversations with some of my friends in the early days of BiggerPockets, and there was a lot of doubt about creating an online company to serve the real estate investing niche. There were already several established players in the REI online space, [...]

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Real Estate Investing

Think You’ve Seen This Movie Before? Beware The Plot Twist

by Jeff Brown | April 19, 2011

There are movies. There are remakes of original movies. There are movie sequels. History shows us that our national economy, if viewed as a series of movies, has added a hybrid — it’s part remake, part sequel. But mostly it has plot twists. Many of you have had an entirely different experience as it relates [...]

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Commentary

Bank of America Halts the Sale of Foreclosures in All 50 States

by Joshua Dorkin | October 8, 2010

In another sign of the mass chaos that has crippled the US housing market, the AP is reporting that as of today, BofA has halted all foreclosure sales throughout the United States. While this is great news for many people who are set to lose their homes, some even potentially wrongfully, it is not good [...]

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Commentary

My Annual Rant About Do-It-Yourselfers

by Jeff Brown | June 15, 2010

At 58 I’ve yet to decide if those insisting on always doing things themselves are deluded, arrogant beyond understanding, or so much brighter than I am, I’m doomed to forever walk in their shadow. The unrelenting confidence oozing from the pores of Do-It-Yourselfers irritate thinking folk, even if only on principle. How many times do [...]

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Commentary

Wall Street “Plunge” Latest AfterShock Of Great Recession Earthquake

by Charles Feldman | May 6, 2010

The massive financial earthquake brought about by the subprime mortgage debacle is still producing large aftershocks around the globe and today was one of the biggest. For sure, at first glance, it would appear as if the trigger for today’s dramatic–though temporary–drop of the Dow for a brief period of 998.5 points (its biggest ever [...]

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Commentary

Our World Has Rolled Over

by Tom Koziol | September 11, 2009

I realize I am not the only guy on this planet who reads the “news” as presented both in the newspapers and on the Internet. Even if I didn’t read the news, I’d get a good dose of what people are calling reality. That dose comes from the mix of clients our insurance agency serves. Lucky me…

Here are two sentences taken from two separate news stories:

“The coffers of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. have been so depleted by the epidemic of collapsing financial institutions that analysts warn it could sink into the red by the end of this year.” – AP
“Pending U.S. home sales rose more than expected in July to the highest level in more than two years as first-time buyers rushed to take advantage of a tax credit that expires this fall.” – AP

Is it me or are these two sentences sending conflicting messages. If it is me, I apologize upfront. However, I don’t think it is me.

Failure Ahead

According to published reports, so far this year, 81 banks have failed. Last year only 25 went down the toilet while in 2007, if you’re counting, only three went south. These same sources project hundreds of more banks are expected to fall. The primary reason given is due to souring loans for commercial real estate.

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Commentary

Home Prices “Turn Corner;” While Light At End Of Real Estate Tunnel Blinds Us!

by Charles Feldman | September 4, 2009

What’s that ahead? Is it….a corner? Is it…..THE corner? Are we about to turn it?
God, I hate cliches. But such is the case with a freshly minted Reuters dispatch headlined : “U.S. home prices turning the corner, up in 2010.”

I’m not sure if this differs from earlier reports that we were seeing the light at the end of the tunnel?

Actually, I sort of wonder whether the corner we are about to turn is right before we enter the tunnel, at whose end there is said to now be a light, or directly after we leave the tunnel, in which case ,wouldn’t that light at the end of it make it damn hard to see the freaking corner we are supposed to be turning?

Ok…this might be an academic question…but someone needed to raise it and it might as well be me.

Now, back to that corner we are turning.

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Commentary

Is It A “U” or “V” Shaped Housing Recovery? Or, Is It Some Other Letter?

by Charles Feldman | August 19, 2009

This is the sort of crap (sorry, I meant to say something far more tame, but the only word that came to mind was crap! Will gladly take submissions for other words, though) that makes people get really upset (I had thought of a different word for “upset” but, in this case, was able to come up with the tamer word “upset” rather than pissed….ooops, sorry, didn’t mean to say that! Upset, is what I mean to say!) when they listen or read so-called experts riff on the economy.

In a Reuters story called “U.S. housing starts keep recovery hopes alive,” (which doesn’t really say anything, but makes a nifty headline to make fun of) one of these experts, a dude named Kurt Kari, is quoted as saying, “The economy is recovering, this is the turning of the corner. We will have positive growth this quarter, but not a lot of strength. It very much looks like a U-shaped recovery rather than V-shaped.”

What the hell does that mean? A U-shaped recovery rather than V-shaped? Why not a W-shaped recovery, which would combine the best of U and V?

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Commentary

Novel Notions To Kick the Real Estate Market Into High Gear

by Charles Feldman | August 5, 2009

Okay. I have waited long enough. I have sat back and watched as all those so-called “experts” came up with all sorts of schemes to save banks, car companies, brokerage houses, their own asses, space ships (maybe not space ships…but, hell, why not?) and democracy. It is about time I stepped in with my own schemes (I mean plans) to fix what is wrong with the entire housing/real estate market. I know this is bold of me, but someone has to do the dirty work and I figure it might as well be me!

Of course, I am not above stealing (I mean adopting) the programs of others for my own purposes. Does this make me a bad person? I think not! It may make me a politician, but not a bad person.

Cash for Stinkers

First, then—-we have cash for clunkers…why not cash for stinkers? All those homes on the verge of foreclosure

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Commentary

My Wish For You In 2009

by Tom Koziol | January 9, 2009

This 2009 wish isn’t original. I received it in an email from a friend but it seemed so appropo for us real estate investor types I felt the need to pass it on. Heck, it may even be called a real estate investor’s prayer. May peace break into your house and may thieves come to [...]

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