Zell Says No Credit Crunch - Instead a Confidence Crunch

Recently Sam Zell was interviewed at Wharton Business School about the recent volatility in the real estate markets. As you may know, Zell sold his Equity Office Products group to Blackstone near the peak of the market. He goes on to talk about that there is still credit available even though we are all calling […]

15-3-1 - If the Financial Guru’s Can’t Predict Well, Is It Our Fault?

Heads up, this is going to be a bit of a rant.
I was reading through Ben Bernanke’s comments on the state of the economy and real estate from yesterday (transcript here) and I came across a nugget of information. Essentially, of the loans outstanding,

15% of subprime loans are 90 days or more late
3% […]

Strange Buyer Problems - At Least You Are Not Martha Stewart

Every real estate agent has the clients that just blow them away, and not for the right reasons. Wierd eccentric behavior that confounds all expectations and the willingness at the drop of a hat to sue are the bane of most agents existance.
Well, there is an inmate in the South Carolina penal system who […]

Is Malibu a Microcosm Of the National Market?

While in many ways Malibu, California is an outlier. Home prices are through the roof, celebrities run around buying and selling homes, and the market is dependent on many factors that the rest of America never sees. But with all these differences Malibu may be showing us why housing prices are not dropping.
In Malibu […]

Housing Starts Slow - Hooray For Common Sense!

One of the biggest drivers in a slow housing market is too much inventory. Tighter inventory forces buyers to make decisions and keeps pressure on pricing. Too much inventory and buyers are afraid of making the wrong decision and pricing becomes much harder to hold. Economic common sense, right.
Except in the  housing industry which it […]