Housing
by Peter Giardini
| October 6, 2009
A couple of weeks ago I posted an article that included a chart that showed that there are still a boat load (over a million) Adjustable Rate Mortgages that will reset between now and 2011. You can re-read that article here.
Many experts believe the Fed Rate will hold steady through most of 2010 and therefore, the number of mortgage resets may not see huge jumps. Many of these mortgages are tied to properties that are upside down, meaning the property value is less than the mortgage, and that will be the primary reason for increased defaults — or it will at least make these properties prime candidates for short sales.
Real estate investors can attest to how hard it has been to get lenders to let go of their inventory, and if you specialize in short sales, you know that at times, waiting for a short sale response from a lender is a lot like watching grass grow.
Read the full article →
Real Estate News
by Peter Giardini
| September 29, 2009
For many real estate investors, these past several months have brought a welcome sigh of relief as homeowners have come into the market in truly satisfying numbers. In many parts of the country the steady downward slide in prices has tapered off and we have been seeing what may be the bottom in terms of further price declines… or NOT!
Are Some Hyping Up the Real Estate Market Too Soon?
The numbers throughout the Summer have been promoted with great fanfare… the Schiller-Case Index and National Board of Realtors proclaiming that prices may have bottomed out and the worst is over. Great news if you can believe it!
While I am delighted that prices have stabilized and even increased in some markets and that home sales over these past several months have been solid and even matching sales volumes from 2005…I have been troubled and what I haven’t been able to put my finger on is this…
With all of the homes going into foreclosure, when will this inventory start to pull this “current” housing recovery down? This Bloomberg article is not good news… and suggests that we have a long way to go before all of the current and projected foreclosed inventory can be absorbed.
So the million dollar question is this… How long can lenders continue to hold their REO inventory?
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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, 2009Let’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.