Archive for July, 2007
Burj Dubai Becomes World’s Tallest Building
If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Burj Dubai has officially become the world’s tallest building after passing the Taipei 101 at 1,680 feet. What once was a small trading town, Dubai is now the center of the universe for new and exotic construction.
Burj Dubai, a [...]
21Jul2007 | Tom Royce | 2 comments | Continued
Construction and Mortgage Employment Down In California For June, 2007
The loss of 5,700 finance jobs across California and layoffs in the building industry created the lowest job gain report in recent history. While this is not a surprise it signifies that the real estate slowdown is starting to affect the rest of the economy.
Hiring in California was hit by a bad case of [...]
21Jul2007 | Tom Royce | 1 comment | Continued
90 Percent of Appraisers Pressured To Restate, Adjust, or Change Values in 2006
90 percent of appraisers felt pressure in 2006 to restate, adjust, or change the values of their appraisals in 2006 according to the National Appraisal Survey for 2007.
Think about that. Look at this chart and wonder it shows what had happened.
The mess we are in with housing is partially that the checks and balances [...]
21Jul2007 | Tom Royce | 5 comments | Continued
Another Perspective: Chechnya Real Estate Booming
Here is another perspective on real estate and how it is always local. Chechnya has been in the news over the past decade as terror attacks and civil war have plagued the country. We see and hear about the horror on the news but forget that their are still people there.
Now that the worst of [...]
Top 10 Rental Markets With Fastest Rising Rates, 2nd Quarter 2007
As home sales slow down, people are still needing a place to live. This pressure on the rental market is creating a rapid increase in price across the country. Add to that the inabilty of renters to get subprime and alt-a financing is increasing the pressure on the rental market.
So moving forward we should [...]
McClatchy Newspaper Group Profits Drop on Real Estate Advertising Slowdown
The McClatchy Co, a major publisher of newspapers across the country saw a severe drop in real estate advertising during the second quarter. So much so that it impacted it earnings drastically. With the news that Realogy is cutting their newspaper advertising spending even further coming out after these results, the impact on newspapers will [...]
20Jul2007 | Tom Royce | 5 comments | Continued
National Association of Realtors Asking FHA to Lower Lending Standards
Yesterday, leaders of the National Association of Realtors were in front of the Senate Banking Committee asking them to change the criteria for Federal Housing Administration loans. Instead of maintaining the basic standards for new borrowers, the NAR is asking them to lower them.
To me this seems like an act of desperation and foolish to [...]
Housing Start Stats For May, 2007
The housing starts stats have come out and they are not dropping anywhere near the level they should be. I have heard all of the stories about how once the pipeline is started they can not stop, but the glut of inventory is not helping.
This reminds me of the airlines after 9/11. With the airlines [...]
Pulte Homes Estimated 2nd Quarter Charges - 740 to 770 Million
Pulte Homes is taking an airline worthy quantity of charges for the second quarter, an estimated 740 million to 770 million dollars worth of impairment and land related charges. These types of charges to the balance sheet scream that they are preparing to conduct fire sales of their present inventory to get it off the books. [...]
18Jul2007 | Tom Royce | 0 comments | Continued
CB Richard Ellis Thinks International Real Estate Will Continue To Rise
CB Richard Ellis has an interesting white paper out on why they expect international commercial real estate to continue to increase in value. The one part that really caught my attention is the rise in petro dollars. While the average consumer see’ the price in a gallon of gasoline, the huge windfalls are being captured [...]
18Jul2007 | Tom Royce | 2 comments | Continued
I saw this earlier today and thought the exact same thing, Tom. The politicians have been pushing homeownership for ...
I just found your blog and it's filled with great information. One of my goals this year is to update ...
Thanks for the kind words. I promise you the first year we did not have this level of readership. It ...
The limit on jumbo's is either 417,000 OR it is 115% of the median house price, not to exceed 150% ...
I like your blog and I have read many of your articles. I agree that it is amazing the ...
Yes, there are some deals out there. While there are some deals out there, I'm an agent looking for ...
With mortgage rates poised to drop to 4.5 percent all we need now is some tax incentives to help home ...
I think the overall interest in refinancing was definately high recently. However the problem is that although the rates dropped, ...
I have had great success using craigslist. Renters need to be careful and make sure they check out their landlord ...
This is the start of where the market can begin to level out.
Home owners will start to be able to ...
