Archive for April, 2007

Michigan Tax Revenue Is Flatlining Just Like The Real Estate Market

If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Michigan has been seeing a tough time of it lately. The slowdown in the automotive industry and the free fall of housing prices in metropolitan Detroit is now taking it’s toll on state tax revenue. Of course you can […]

27Apr2007 | Tom Royce | 1 comment | Continued

Top 10 Most Livable Cities in the United States For 2007

Places Rated Almanac has come out with their 25th anniversary edition and list of the top 10 most livable cities in the United States. Pittsburgh led the way followed by San Francisco and Seattle.
What makes this study so interesting is that out of the 378 metropolitan areas that were considered and 9 categories, Pittsburgh did […]

26Apr2007 | Tom Royce | 9 comments | Continued

Florida Sweating Under Heavy Property Tax Load As Legislature Debates

The state of Florida experienced a huge run up of property values and property taxes over the past few years. Of course, most of this new tax money has been squandered by governmental agencies who looked to buy votes with the new found largess.
Now as the market has softened and the convoluted property tax […]

26Apr2007 | Tom Royce | 2 comments | Continued

Tax Liens, The United Nations, Diplomatic Immunity, and the City of New York

This story is a bit esoteric but at the same time interesting from a real estate and policy wonk point of view. According to how New York City is interpreting the tax law, United Nations missions in the city do not have to pay property taxes on the parts of their mission buildings that are […]

26Apr2007 | Tom Royce | 0 comments | Continued

Redfin Enters the Boston Market (and gets a new logo)

High-tech real estate brokerage Redfin is bringing its low cost model to the Boston market the company announced yesterday. The company has become famous to buyers, and notorious to real estate agents, over it’s low cost model and rebated commission structure.
While I do not follow the company closely, I do like it’s macro execution. […]

26Apr2007 | Tom Royce | 0 comments | Continued

Money Sent To Mexico Down As Contruction Employment Slows

The economy of Mexico is starting to be affected by the housing slowdown. The huge underground economy of migrant workers in the contruction industry has been seriously impacted by the slowdown. These are the workers that are day laborers, never show up on any employment rolls or government reports, but at the same time build […]

25Apr2007 | Tom Royce | 2 comments | Continued

Are We Witnessing the Death of Newspaper Classified Advertising For Real Estate?

Not yet, but the time will be coming soon.
Almost every real estate agent I talk to hates to put a classified advertisement in the newspaper. They only do it because the seller expects the ad to be there and are afraid to tell the seller that it is a waste of money.
But the downturn […]

25Apr2007 | Tom Royce | 7 comments | Continued

Top 10 Foreclosure Markets For First Quarter, 2007

The top 10 markets where a foreclosure most likely to occur are mostly in California, garnering 5 of the 10 markets in the first quarter of 2007.
The other interesting thing that I noticed is that the 2 largest gambling cities Las Vegas and Atlantic City come in 8th and 9th on the list of […]

24Apr2007 | Tom Royce | 2 comments | Continued

U2’s The Edge Moving To Malibu Mansion

Dave Howell Evans, know to his fans as “The Edge” in the megaband U2 has purchased a 120 acre property in Malibu, California. There is not a great deal of information on the purchase yet, but the purchase will go the musicians properties in Ireland and France.
You have to admit, the top end of […]

24Apr2007 | Tom Royce | 0 comments | Continued

Existing Home Sales Drop 8.4 Percent Nationally in March 2007

Housing sales took a tumble in March due to the change in mortgage requirements, bad weather, and the continually slowing market. Sales were down 8.4 percent, making it unlikely that a rebound in the housing market will occur on a national level this spring as many experts were predicting.
What may happen though is that […]

24Apr2007 | Tom Royce | 2 comments | Continued