May 14th, 2008
Commercial/multi-family business going strong
It’s hard to find anything positive to say about the residential real estate market. That’s not the case, though, with the commercial and multi-family side of the real estate industry.
It’s hard to find anything positive to say about the residential real estate market. That’s not the case, though, with the commercial and multi-family side of the real estate industry.
Why has our country become so cold-hearted? Isn’t it a fair tradeoff to help some who are undeserving if we can prevent hard-working families — at least some of them — to avoid losing their homes?
California senators yesterday voted to channel more funding toward the investigation and prosecution of real estate fraud in their state.
Throughout the subprime lending crisis and as foreclosures across the country soar, few mortgage companies have taken heat like Countrywide. Arguably once the most powerful lender in the country, Countrywide has become a favorite of critics, teetered on the verge of bankruptcy and was eventually acquired by Bank of America.
The U.S. Treasury Department is in the midst of asking — some would say demanding — that mortgage lenders adopt a new set of uniform, but voluntary, rules that would make it easier for them to modify mortgage loans that homeowners can no longer afford.
Take a look at this story in the Wall Street Journal’s online edition. Written by June Fletcher, it says that, according to economists gathered at the spring construction forecast held by the National Association of Home Builders, the housing market won’t show signs of improvement until early next spring, at the earliest.
A new study by Washington, D.C.-based First Focus, a children’s advocacy group, puts some frightening numbers to the foreclosure and subprime mortgage-lending crises. According to the study, which you can read about here, an estimated 2 million U.S. children will be directly impacted as their families lose their homes to foreclosure.
How common are housing foreclosures becoming? According to RealtyTrac, an online publisher of foreclosure data, one in every 194 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing during the first quarter of the year.
Surprisingly enough, in this severe housing downturn, several governments across the country are proposing increases in homeowners’ property tax rates.
The thing is, isn’t Obama right? Aren’t many U.S. citizens bitter about the way the economy has performed? There is no better example of this bitterness than in the housing and mortgage industries. When I talk to homeowners trying to sell their properties, they’re bitter that they’ve had to reduce their asking price two, three times and they’re still not getting any offers. Homeowners who aren’t selling are bitter that the house they purchased two years ago has now lost value.
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