unemployment

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The Economic and other Forces Impacting Your Real Estate Business

by Peter Giardini | February 11, 2010

It seems that everywhere you look now days the news stories, regardless of their source, provide nothing but conflicting points of view regarding the economy and where it is heading. Prices are up, sales are down. We’re at the bottom… no it’s going to double-dip. Credit is available… no it’s not! As a real estate investor, I am [...]

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So Much For Real, Real Estate Recovery: Enormous Drop In Homes Sales

by Charles Feldman | January 27, 2010

It looks like the Obama White House really does have its job cut out for it: Most economists agree that any meaningful economic recovery must be built upon the foundation of a substantial recovery in the real estate market–the place from where the worst recession since the Great Depression got its start. But new figures [...]

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New Home Sales fall 3.6% for September, First Decline Since March

by Joshua Dorkin | October 28, 2009

The White House keeps telling us that we’re in a recovery, yet anyone watching the economy, housing, foreclosures, unemployment, the stock market, commercial real estate, and dozens of other factors will tell you that they have some rose colored glasses glued on. Of course, if they didn’t, what they would tell us is that things [...]

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Foreclosures Jump 5 Percent From Summer; Government Effort To Curtail Foreclosures Sinks Like Lead Duplex

by Charles Feldman | October 15, 2009

In my previous posting with the VERY long headline the other day, I challenged any and all to contradict me when I —and a Congressional oversight committee—concluded that the Obama administration’s attempt, thus far, to gain meaningful mortgage modifications has totally flopped.

In even less time than I thought would be the case, I have been proven sadly right: A new RealtyTrac report just out says that foreclosures are up a full 5 percent from summer to this fall…..meaning almost 940 thousand properties were impacted….

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Where is the real estate market going?

by Ryan Moeller | October 6, 2009

Has the real estate market bottomed? No, nope, not a chance. We are through 1 of 3 storms and have a crippled economy and really high unemployment. The good news is that we are through the worst. With terrible times come tremendous opportunities. After the last up cycle where everything went way higher then it should have, this had to happen. It is inevitable. If you are like me, you see the next 3-5 years as the opportunity of a lifetime. Here is why.

Real Estate Investing

High Unemployment & Rising Foreclosure Rates: Yet Homes Sales are Increasing…

by Peter Giardini | September 2, 2009

As real estate investors everyone of us have to be thinking… “how in the heck do I profitably navigate in a market as defined in the title of this article?”

And that is the million dollar question, which I will respond to in just a minute, but first lets look at a few of the facts:

A Look at the Current Housing Picture

Let’s start with the economy. Depending on who you are listening to, we are either at the bottom, still moving downward or possibly even worse. If you invest in California, Michigan or Ohio you don’t need to be told the state of your economy… it stinks! The message here is that if people aren’t working, they will not be buying real estate or making good renters.

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Real Estate

Surfs up! Here comes another foreclosure wave!

by Winston Westbrook | August 17, 2009

real-estate-opportunity We’ve all heard the saying that opportunity only knocks once.

Do you feel like you missed the boat?

Many investors that were not prepared for this current historic market of record low prices and interest rates feel that their boat has set sail and they did not get a chance to participate.

American author Louis L’Amour said it best. He said, “Some say opportunity knocks only once. That is not true. Opportunity knocks all the time, but you have to be ready for it. If the chance comes, you must have the equipment to take advantage of it.”

Well, I have good news for you my friends. Another wave of foreclosures is coming and you have some time to prepare for it. The historic market you think you missed is coming back and better than ever.

So Winston, where is this second wave of foreclosures coming from?

The 2nd wave of foreclosures is coming due to the following 4 reasons:

Real Estate

When Will We Get Real About How To Fix The Foreclosure Problem? Another Record Set!!

by Charles Feldman | August 16, 2009

: Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I wrote several months back that unless the courts are given the power to alter the terms of a mortgage–the way bankruptcy judges can alter just about everything else–the road to a real estate recovery would be long, bumpy and increasingly painful.

And, here’s the proof.

RealtyTrac reports that home foreclosures have set yet another record for the month of July—-As Reuters reports, this, even though there are reportedly federal and state programs out there that are supposed to bring relief to the home market.

Why do I say “reportedly?” Because, frankly, they really aren’t working all that well. Relatively few people have managed to get mortgage modifications and, when they do, it is almost always a modification of just the interest—which means, in the long run, they may end up actually being even more in debt to the bank.

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The Great Obama Real Estate Bubble Fix Has Burst

by Charles Feldman | July 9, 2009

Four million homeowners saved from foreclosure just this week! Major banks agree to modify mortgages in record numbers. Jobless rate peaks below 10 percent as White House predicted. Okay, which of the above statements is not true? Image via Wikipedia The heck with it…don’t have time to wait while you think about it…mainly because, you [...]

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Unemployment Now A Driver Of Foreclosures

by Rob K. Blake | March 8, 2009

Our current foreclosure crisis over the last three years was mainly driven by subprime adjustable rate mortgages with skyrocketing rate hikes at adjustment. As a driver of foreclosures, this really wasn’t such a a bad one since, at least, there was an end in sight. Once the subprime borrowers were cleaned out, the foreclosure crisis [...]

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 [...]

Real Estate

San Francisco Fed President – Economic Outlook Risky

by Joshua Dorkin | September 10, 2007

In an effort to analyze the current state of the economy, San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President, Janet Yellen, shared with us her take on things:1 She said that declining home prices could hurt consumer spending, and that risks to economic growth would be “significant” if housing prices fall in the context of rising unemployment. [...]