Archive for February, 2009

Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities Drop 95 Percent in 2008

If you are wondering why commercial real estate that was going so strong in 2007 and early 2008 crawled to a snails pace, just look at the commercial mortgage backed security market.
Or try to find it. Or try to find any commercial lending.
Unless you are married to a banker and have pictures, finding [...]

12Feb2009 | Tom Royce | 3 comments | Continued

$15,000 Home Buyers Tax Credit Smoke And Mirrors

Face it real estate agents and home buyers, that $15,000 tax credit that the Senate floated by you last week is nothing but hot air. They have already agreed in principle to bring it back down to the $7,500 tax for first time home buyers in the compromise committee.
Yep, you the home buyers and sellers [...]

11Feb2009 | Tom Royce | 10 comments | Continued

Top 10 Most Expensive Cities To Own a Luxury Home in 2009

Living well does cost you. If you want a 2,000 square foot home in Monte Carlo in the right part of town, expect it to cost you nearly 9 million dollars. That is what it takes to live in the most expensive city on the Earth.
But the world is racing past the United States [...]

11Feb2009 | Tom Royce | 7 comments | Continued

Financial Criminals Will Pay. Just Ask Senator Shelby – BusinessWeek

This answer by Senator Richard Shelby in an interview with Maria Bartiromo last week scares the heck out of me.

Efforts to restore liquidity to the credit market by bailing out banks haven’t worked. Where does that leave us?It hasn’t worked at all. And I’m not sure that the Fed, led by Chairman Bernanke, knows [...]

10Feb2009 | Tom Royce | 2 comments | Continued

Canadian Real Estate Sales Drops 17 Percent in 2008

The Canadian real estate market is following the footsteps of it’s cousins to the south with steep declines in sales and property values. Sales dropped 17.1 percent in 2008 and the Canadian Real Estate Association is predicting a further drop of 16.9 percent in 2009.
Now this does make sense. Canadian real estate bubbled up [...]

10Feb2009 | Tom Royce | 3 comments | Continued

Why (and When) People Start Hating McMansions

An interesting study out of Ohio State University finally explains what causes the visceral reaction to McMansions by people.
It is when the homes are out of proportion to the neighborhood that they are in. If you live in a subdivision of 5,000 square foot homes 3 stories high, people are not bothered by the [...]

9Feb2009 | Tom Royce | 5 comments | Continued

Is It True Realogy Might Not Survive 2009

This would be the biggest domino to fall in 2009 if Realogy, owner of the Coldwell Banker, ERA, and Sotheby’s franchises were to fail or enter bankruptcy.
I am sure that there would be bankruptcy protection, but with the ability for real estate agents to market more effectively through the internet and new tools, would [...]

9Feb2009 | Tom Royce | 20 comments | Continued

$15000 For Homebuyers From Federal Government Coming Soon?

If you are looking to buy a home, or selling a home for that matter, there is a great deal of talk this week over a $15,000 homebuyers tax credit.
Senator Johnny Isakson, who was a real estate broker in Georgia before he left for government, added a $15,000 tax credit amendment to the 800–900 [...]

8Feb2009 | Tom Royce | 6 comments | Continued

Fannie Mae Loosens Lending Standards

Isn’t the loosening of standards what caused the trouble we are in originally?
Fannie Mae has announced they are loosening the standards to try to allow more homeowners to refinance. While I personally think that this is a little nuts right now, it probably comes from from the two different points of view.
I think that housing [...]

7Feb2009 | Tom Royce | 5 comments | Continued

Ohio Real Estate Agent Attacked At Model Home

I post these attack stories not to be sensational but instead to remind real estate agents to be careful out there. With the recent rise in foreclosures and declining values, disturbed people may have you higher on the list of people whom they blame for their ills.
This story comes from Liberty Township, Ohio. The [...]

6Feb2009 | Tom Royce | 0 comments | Continued