Archive for March, 2007

Chicken or Egg… Economy or Real Estate Caused Downturn.

If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Chicago Tribune columnist Bill Barnhart has an interesting article today on what came first, the real estate problems with foreclosures or economic troubles?
I tend to think that the answer is neither. The problem occured because the mortgage brokers [...]

27Mar2007 | Tom Royce | 3 comments | Continued

Star Trek Apartment For Sale in England For $200K

I love science fiction but never got too into Star Trek. I guess William Shatner acting prowess was not my forte… But if you are a Trekkie and love all things Star Trek, check out this apartment.

It is for sale in the small town of Hinckley in Leicestshire and will be auctioned off on [...]

26Mar2007 | Tom Royce | 2 comments | Continued

Nationwide Home Sales Drop In February, 2007

The Commerce Department has reported that home sales dropped again in February. The report claimed that the sales fell 3.9 percent for the month and showed a surplus of inventory on the market that would take over 8 months to sell.
In previous posts I have had folks question these numbers because of the standard [...]

26Mar2007 | Tom Royce | 1 comment | Continued

Johnny Carson’s Malibu Home Sells For 38 Million

The former home of late night host Johnny Carson has sold for a reported 38 million dollars. The buyer is a self reported fan of the Tonight Show host. Carson’s Malibu compound included a 7 thousand square foot main house and a twenty seven hundred square foot guest house.

Johnny Carson’s Malibu home of more [...]

26Mar2007 | Tom Royce | 1 comment | Continued

Flatley Sells Properties to Wilder Cos. and O’Connor Capital Partners

Earlier this week we discussed that Thomas Flatley was thinking about selling his retail portfolio of 10 properties in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Not a man to take a long time to make a decision, word from the Boston Business Journal is that an agreement to sell has been reached with Wilder Cos. And O’Connor [...]

25Mar2007 | Tom Royce | 0 comments | Continued

Mortgage Pre-Screening - What Is It? What is a Trigger List?

Now that the real estate slowdown has occurred and the mortgage companies are unable to use 100 percent loans for the most part, there is some angst in the mortgage world. To generate more volume mortgage companies are using mortgage prescreening tricks to try to get new customers. And it is hurting more and more people. [...]

25Mar2007 | Tom Royce | 0 comments | Continued

Freddie Mac Down $480 Million in 4th Quarter, 2006

Freddie Mac showed disappointing earnings as it tries to rebound from the scandals and mismanagement that plagued it over the past few years. But the question I have is this, if Freddie Mac is such an instrumental part of the mortgage business world, and it can not turn a profit in the most positive climate [...]

24Mar2007 | Tom Royce | 1 comment | Continued

KB Home Takes Substantial Hit - But Remains Profitable

With the slow down in housing starts and new home sales, you would think that bankruptcy for the biggest builders in the country would be right around the corner. However, believe it or not, KB Homes is still a profitable company with a reduction in sales by 19 percent.
One thing that the large builders [...]

23Mar2007 | Tom Royce | 0 comments | Continued

Ground Rents Being Phased Out In Baltimore

Baltimore’s history of ground rents is coming to an end. The archiac holdover from the English Monachy’s system of funding their Lord’s that has remained in Baltimore since the colonial days is coming to an end.
The main reason is that the system is so far outside of most American’s understanding of real estate and [...]

23Mar2007 | Tom Royce | 2 comments | Continued

Japanese Billionaire Kawamoto renting 8 Luxury Homes to Low Income Families for 150 Dollars a Month

Real Estate tycoon Genshiro Kawamoto has decided to rent out 8 of his luxury waterfront homes on the Hawaii Island of Oahu for 150 dollars a month to low income families. The homes have been bought up over the past couple of years and are now sitting empty. Kawamoto is planning on putting a museum in [...]

22Mar2007 | Tom Royce | 19 comments | Continued