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government

Commentary

Real Estate Fiasco Seems To Foreclose On Critical Thinking

by Charles Feldman | October 28, 2009
Thumbnail image for Real Estate Fiasco Seems To Foreclose On Critical Thinking

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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Real Estate News

The U.S. Run Housing Market: The Nation’s New Landlord

by Charles Feldman | September 16, 2009

Worried about government run health insurance? Maybe you should be more concerned about the government run housing market!

government owned mortgages real estateFor those of you who have lost track of where all our taxpayer dollars have gone as we bailout banks, brokerage houses, car companies, insurance companies…etc—-this sobering statistic courtesy of the New York Times may be a needed splash of chilled water on the face: “The government is financing 9 out of 10 new mortgages in the United States.”

That bears repeating……”The government (as in U.S.) is financing 9 out of 10 new mortgages in the United States.”

According to the Times account, ” Fannie (Mae) and Freddie (Mac) now buy or guarantee almost two-thirds of all new mortgages. The Federal Housing Administration guarantees another 25 percent.”

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Commentary

Government America vs. “Real” America

by Brendan O'Brien | September 14, 2009

Researching the Washington, DC real estate market, I came upon some facts that shocked me.  I started looking at federal government employment, knowing that the government is the biggest employer in the Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). 

In fact, the federal government is the biggest employer in the country, with about 1.8 million civilian employees. While times get tougher for those of us who don’t work for the government, life for those in government continues to be pretty peachy.  In fact, things have gotten a lot better over the last ten years.

The growing discrepancy between the government economy and the “real” economy is causing many problems, but one is a growing disconnect between the government mindset and the private industry mindset. 

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Real Estate Market

Big Institutions Mean (Mostly) Stable Rental Markets

by Brendan O'Brien | September 8, 2009

02c General Hospital - Entrance (E)Many landlords are attracted to markets with a large institutional presence because they offer stability. Hospitals, universities and government agencies rarely make major cuts in employment, and they very rarely close. That means your prospective tenants are not likely to leave.

This also used to be the case for military bases. Years ago, career soldiers could build very comfortable nest eggs by buying a home in every base where they were stationed, and keeping it when they were transferred. They would always be able to find other soldiers to rent their homes. That’s changed to some extent because of the number of base closings over the last couple of decades. However, the largest bases will remain active for many years.

Are these markets really stable?

Big institutions almost never make up more than half of the employment in any market, meaning those markets are still subject to other private industry employment losses and gains.

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Economy

Real Estate Crisis Worsens and Takes the Rest of the Economy Down with it!

by Charles Feldman | March 12, 2008

If someone were to have said, say a year ago, that there would be a crisis in the subprime mortgage market that would lead to world-wide economic chaos, that person would no doubt have been laughed at.
Sadly, though, that is exactly what has happened and the evidence just this week is overwhelming.
But, before the depressing [...]

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