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Economy

Real Estate

If Your Tenant Can’t Pay the Rent, What Then?

by Brendan O'Brien | January 29, 2009

Last week, I wrote about a call we get all too often from tenants – telling us they can’t pay the rent, and asking for some sort of break.
As always in landlording, it makes sense to have some guiding rules in place to handle these calls. You never want to try to think of [...]

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Economy

“I Can’t Pay The Rent” – A Landlords Take on What to Do

by Brendan O'Brien | January 25, 2009

I am in a very fortunate position right now.  All of my 13 units are rented, and all the tenants are paying on time.  It’s great!  And it’s not going to last.
I know that because even in good economic times, I’ve had a couple of tenants every year who found that at some point, they [...]

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Commentary

Lay offs . . . where? I still can’t find a parking spot!

by Joshua Dorkin | January 4, 2009

I have a couple friends who were laid off before the holidays. Companies across the map (well, namely in my home state of sunny Michigan) sent their hardworking employees off with a 6-week package wrapped in Santa paper. Nice timing, Corporate America.
They were just some of hundreds who were cast out of auto-related companies: [...]

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Commentary

It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over

by Tom Koziol | December 19, 2008

If you saw the Dec 14, 2008, 60 Minutes broadcast featuring a segment titled, “A Second Mortgage Disaster On The Horizon?” you’d probably be scratching your head asking yourself when this meltdown will end.
The segment had Scott Pelley interviewing Whitney Tilson an investment fund manager who is supposedly the new guru on the mortgage [...]

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Commentary

“The State of the Economy: Pain Management or Redemptive Suffering?”

by Matt Pitcher | December 18, 2008

I am not Catholic, and I beg for forgiveness from those who think I may be blaspheming by using the term ‘redemptive suffering’ in a non-religious context.
Whew. Now that we have that out of the way …
Watching the news media, you’d think the world is about to end.
Markets are in turmoil. Economies are contracting. Capitalism [...]

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Blogs

Tales From The Pacific

by Richard Warren | December 15, 2008

I just returned from a 2-1/2 week cruise vacation from California to Hawaii. While I would like to say it’s good to be back, the truth is I wish I were still on the ship. I am a veteran of cruising as this was my ninth such vacation but this was different in that I [...]

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Commentary

Can Hank Paulson Use TARP Funds To Bail Out Auto-Makers?

by Rob K. Blake | December 13, 2008

So just in case you’ve been living in a cave this week, Congress is struggling to figure out how to bailout the big three automakers. The House passed a bill which died in the Senate late Thursday night. The reports of the bill’s demise reached the White House where it was rumored the [...]

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Economy

Well, it’s official – it’s a Recession!! What does it mean for Mortgage Rates?

by Steve Heideman | December 8, 2008

The week’s most talked-about story hit the wires Friday.
According to the government, the U.S. economy shed 533,000 jobs last month and the national Unemployment Rate rose to 6.7%.  This was the largest number of jobs lost in any one month since the recession of 1974.
In a normal market, job losses of this magnitude would have caused [...]

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Commentary

The Latest Dynamic Duo Disaster In The Making

by Rob K. Blake | December 6, 2008

I call the Bernanke – Paulson twosome the Dynamic Duo because what they devise to solve our financial crisis is no more ridiculous than the far-fetched ways Batman and Robin used to escape sure death in the campy TV show. Unlike the TV show, I’ve stopped rooting for this financially bungling Dynamic Duo to [...]

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Commentary

Bailout Mania! How to Spend Ourselves to Prosperity to Save the Economy (with Fred Thompson)

by Joshua Dorkin | December 5, 2008

I want to thank Rob Blake for sharing a great video from former Presidential Candidate, Fred Thompson; a video about “holiday cheer” about the economy.
Spending Our Way to Success! Ooops . . . What Are We Really Doing?
In the video below, Thompson provides a frighteningly accurate look at the current mentality of spending in Washington. [...]

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Commentary

Massive New Bailout For Real Estate—Or Is It Really For Banks?

by Charles Feldman | November 26, 2008

It is actually getting hard keeping track of just how much money the government’s various bailout initiatives add up to. An Associated Press report says “total bailout commitments, loans and pledges of backing neared a staggering $7 trillion.”
Of course, much of this is “money” that may never get spent, or will be returned to [...]

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Commentary

The Financial Crisis in Pictures

by Steve Heideman | November 25, 2008

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/business_finance/The_Financial_Crisis_in_Pictures’;Slideshare.net the social media website that allows anyone to post powerpoint presentations and share them had an interesting contest. They had a contest open to everyone to see who could come up with the best presentation on the current financial crisis in 30 slides or less. Here are the 3 winning presentations. I [...]

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Economy

Mortgage Rates, The Economy and You

by Steve Heideman | November 17, 2008

In Frank Sinatra’s famous tune “That’s Life”, he penned the lyrics: “That’s life, that’s what all the people say. You’re riding high in April, Shot down in May” I am going to change them to “You’re riding high at 4:36pm on Tuesday, Shot down at 3pm Thursday” Lame intro–I know–but my point is made. The [...]

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Commentary

Better Investment Than Real Estate – At Least For Now

by Rob K. Blake | November 16, 2008

Last week I made the case against real estate as an investment class. My recent change of heart is due to the ridiculous amount of market tinkering the Fed, the Treasury, and the central bankers around the world are doing to “support the real estate market”. All the bad loans, the foreclosures, and [...]

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Blogs

A New Buzzword: Deleveraging

by Richard Warren | November 3, 2008

It wasn’t that long ago that people were touting the extraordinary power of leverage. Use as little as possible to control as much as possible. Leverage was used in business and especially in real estate. You were considered an amateur if you put down 20% to buy a property, 5% and even 0% down became [...]

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