Someone once said to be careful of what you wish for as you may just get it. The voices clamoring for court help with foreclosures are getting their day in the sun in New York at least according to an article that appeared in the June 19th New York Times.

If you read the article, pay attention to the “voluntary” part and how it is phrased. I think the ground work has just been put in place to make it a mandatory program, at least in New York. I also think this program has the potential to change how trust deeds are foreclosed against. If I am right, the entire foreclosure arena as we know it will change dramatically.

By change dramatically, I mean it will spread throughout the United States and be mandatory in all 50 states. It will also be mandatory that every foreclosure pass through the local courthouse on its way to a settlement of one kind or another. It could mean short sales may be a thing of the past.

Before I go off the deep end and list a string of predictions, I’ll stop and ask anyone who reads the article to add their 0.02¢ to this thread. I believe New York has let a train out of the station that can’t be stopped. But that is how I think. You may have a different idea.

By the way, when you see the word voluntary attached to an attribution of a government official, think income tax. The government says it is voluntary. Until you don’t file that is…

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Tags: foreclosure, New York Real Estate, real estate, Real Estate Law, short sale, trust deed

Thanksgiving is a time of year where people will traditionally pause and reflect and give thanks for their good fortune. For me this is relatively easy because I have so much to be thankful for. Many people are not as fortunate, some a victim of circumstance and others suffering the consequences of poor choices that they have made in their life. However there are many that have been blessed with good fortune yet do not seem to realize or appreciate it.

There seems to be an insatiable appetite for news about celebrities behaving badly and getting into trouble. The media is all too happy to feed this hunger. There are so many stories about spoiled brats whose main claim to fame is an accident of birth, their parents were rich and famous. Where is Paris partying this weekend? Is Lindsay back in rehab? Have any pop stars shaved their head, molested children or put their own children in danger? This is the most important news of the day? It’s absolutely sickening.

To me some of the most disappointing figures in the public eye have been professional athletes. For generations children and adults alike have looked up to these athletes as role models. There have always been some athletes that exhibited an unsavory side, but lately there seems to be an over abundance of prima donnas who seem to think that their superior skills on the playing field give them carte blanche off of it.

Baseball home run king Barry Bonds, long ago convicted in the court of public opinion, has been indicted on perjury charges. Baseball is in the midst of a steroid scandal involving an unknown number of stars that used the drugs to enhance their performance. Roger Goodell, the new commissioner of the NFL, is implementing a new personal conduct policy in response to several scandals that rocked the sport. Adam “Pacman” Jones was involved in many off-field incidents, which culminated in his guilty plea to charges stemming from a shooting incident at a Las Vegas strip club that left a man paralyzed. Tank Johnson, formerly of the Chicago Bears, was suspended for a weapons related incident. At times it seemed that so many members of the Cincinnati Bengals had been arrested that they would have a hard time fielding a team at all. Track star Marion Jones pled guilty to perjury charges, which effectively ended her career. Former heavy weight boxing champion, Mike Tyson, is in trouble again after being arrested on drug charges. After making more than $300 million in his career, Tyson is practically bankrupt. Let’s not forget OJ Simpson, he’s in trouble again. Although it may look like a rerun, he is facing a trial in Las Vegas on kidnapping, robbery and weapons charges. It never seems to end.

To be fair, there are many professional athletes who do outstanding things for the community. Many stars have charitable foundations and participate in many worthwhile endeavors. Hurricane Katrina brought out the best in many of them including basketball stars LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Dwayne Wade of the Miami Heat. Baseball Hall of Famer, Roberto Clemente, was killed in a New years Eve plane crash back in 1972 while delivering aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. Would we have heard of his humanitarian efforts if he hadn’t been killed? It just seems that all of the negative news prevails and that the media has a penchant for reporting all of these stories that the public can’t get enough of

What has all of this got to do with real estate? I’m glad you asked! Last week I traveled to New York for a wedding. Before moving to Las Vegas I had lived in the region my entire life and I have maintained an interest in the area, especially in matters concerning real estate. While in NY, I heard about a real estate company called Omni New York, LLC ( www.onyllc.com ), that specializes in the acquisition and rehabilitation of inner-city apartment buildings. Being a rehabber I was naturally curious about what they did but the more I heard the more interested I was in their story.

New York City has an extreme shortage of rental housing, much of it rent controlled, and as such many building owners are not very motivated to keep the buildings in good condition. Many buildings that provide housing for low-income tenants are funded by the Federal Government through the Section 8 program and are required to maintain the buildings to a certain standard. However many of the building owners will take the subsidies without performing the necessary maintenance which cause the properties to deteriorate and ultimately results in the loss of Government assistance.

This is where Omni comes in, they will purchase these distressed properties with the intent of rehabbing them. The primary aim of the company is not to buy buildings and get the tenants out so they can repair them and make a fast profit. What they do is bring the units up to acceptable standards while allowing the tenants to remain in place. This helps to provide much needed housing for low-income citizens of New York City.

While this is a very worthwhile objective, what captured my attention was one of the primary individuals in the project. The company was co-founded by former baseball all-star Mo Vaughn. As one of the top sluggers of his era, Vaughn earned millions during his career. It would have been very easy for him to sit back and enjoy his time in retirement, instead he chose to involve himself in a project that gives back to one of the communities he played in.

Had Mo Vaughn been arrested for being involved in drugs or beating his wife or abusing children it would have been all over the news. Yet here he is doing something of great importance and nobody notices or even seems to care. How many other athletes, movie stars or other celebrities make contributions that go unnoticed? The answer is an awful lot, maybe it’s time we took notice of their efforts instead of gloating every time one of them gets into trouble.

Mo Vaughn understands the meaning of giving thanks for what he has and giving back to the community that helped him earn it. Do we? This Thanksgiving season let’s remember to give thanks for what we have and give back where we can.

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. – Winston Churchill (speaking of the Royal Air Force after the Battle of Britain)

Tags: Mo Vaughn, new york, New York Real Estate, Omni New York, rehabber, Rehabbing

There is a land where the normal physics of real estate does not hold sway; a place so special, those who reside there are seemingly inoculated from the everyday concerns of mere mortals.

The housing bubble may burst; the credit may crunch; the mortgage industry may go so far south that Bolivia would be akin to the North Pole. And yet, on this special island, those charmed through luck, perseverance or family fortune can go about their lives all but oblivious to the calamity of the outside world.

That island is, of course, Manhattan. (Come on now folks, you didn’t think I was talking about Cuba, did you?? Only Michael Moore would think that!)

In a bit of understatement worthy of the Pentagon reporting Iraqi war casualties, senior brokers say Manhattan is “holding its own,” says The Real Deal, which tracks such things.

In fact, says the Real Deal article, Manhattan is “proving its exceptional nature once again.”

Duhh. Well, yeah! What else would it do? Manhattan is , as the Sunday New York Times proclaimed in its Sunday magazine section, “where the haves live!” Everyone else presumably lives in Newark or places even further from Oz.

Take just one example: According to the Times, “in the area from 56th to 59th between Madison and Park, average household income increased almost 700 (that’s seven HUNDRED) percent between 1980 and 2000.” Think that might keep real estate prices high?

Even Harlem is “special.” According to Realty Times, “Harlem is still rife with investment opportunities,” and quotes one commercial real estate agent as saying that Harlem’s “profitability has not suffered significantly…”

It is not only possible, but likely, one could spy an 18 year old emerge from a gleaming 5 million dollar one bedroom condo in the former Meat Packing district—now the “in place” to live and play in Manhattan for the under 40 crowd–affording his new abode courtesy of either wealthy parents or foreign money or both. After all, there are not many 18 year olds who can afford 5 million dollar condos on their own dime.

For real estate developers, this is great. No shortage of cash and credit bloated customers in line for Manhattan properties. Of course, this does tend to drive up costs for those who actually live on Earth as opposed to floating above it. No matter,though. What matters is, Manhattan , at the moment, is like no other place in the United States–on this charmed isle, apples fall upward once detached from trees; water flows uphill to the surprise of no one and the expectation of everyone; and the mortgage/housing/credit “crisis” is nothing more than a burp for which a bit of Alka Seltzer will set all right.

As for Brooklyn—–don’t get me started.

Tags: harlem, harlem real estate, manhattan, manhattan real estate, new york city, New York Real Estate, nyc, real estate