Archive for March, 2009

Case Shiller January 200 Report Shows Declines in Housing Speeding Up

The rise in foreclosures and short sales has increased home sales. But in doing so, the quality of homes being sold and the lower prices are driving the Case Shiller Index down at a rapid pace. Scary rapid pace if you read the newspapers.
But in doing my analysis this morning, the number that is getting [...]

31Mar2009 | Tom Royce | 3 comments | Continued

Top 10 Cities For Relocations in the United States

Are you looking for where people are moving to as they leave the high tax states? Well, as the economy melts and some state governments are raising their taxes on businesses and top earners, they are fleeing to more receptive states.
Look at the states, North Carolina, Texas, Arizona, Georgia, and Colorado all are low tax [...]

31Mar2009 | Tom Royce | 8 comments | Continued

Florida Real Estate Community Tries To Make $8,000 Tax Credit Part of Down Payment

While this is an interesting idea, it is also one that is full of landmines.
A group of Florida real estate and lending professionals are trying to make the $8,000 tax credit from the Federal Government and turn it into part of the down payment for first time home buyers.
Here is my question, what [...]

30Mar2009 | Tom Royce | 4 comments | Continued

Risky Loans And Ponzi Schemes

If you have had enough of the banks making bad loans, and then watching the Federal government determining that to get out of the financial trouble we need to borrow trillions, this Dilbert cartoon is for you.

I am not sure if I want to laugh or cry.

29Mar2009 | Tom Royce | 1 comment | Continued

The National Association of Realtors Are Not Leasing Agents

If you have responded to a Craigslist rental advertisement and the are told that the NAR is going to handle the transaction, it is a SCAM.
Yep, some enterprising con artists are asking potential renters to send a deposit to a Western Union office and then a representative from the National Association of Realtors will [...]

28Mar2009 | Tom Royce | 8 comments | Continued

FDIC Will Focus PPIP on Real Estate

Sometimes I think the technology industry is in a competition with the government on who can use the most confusing acronyms. The FDIC, that is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, is going to focus the newest bailout program called the PPIP, or the Public-Private Investment Program, on commercial and residential real estate.
(I need to [...]

28Mar2009 | Tom Royce | 4 comments | Continued

The Dominatrix and the Politician Mortgage Fraud Ring

Sometimes reality is more bizarre than fiction. A mortgage fraud ring of high priced, East end Long Island homes was busted by the Suffolk County DA yesterday. The fraud was concocted at Arena Studios, a fetish and bondage bar in Manhattan, and brought in scammers from former politicians to world famous dominatrix’s.
The fraud was [...]

26Mar2009 | Tom Royce | 4 comments | Continued

February U.S. Home Sales Climb 4.7% in February, 2009

Home sales rose in February 4.7 percent to a 337,000 homes per year pace. The good news pretty much stops there though.
Housing prices dropped 18.1 percent as the homes that are selling are doing so at a deep discount, very often foreclosures and short sales. The numbers were also the 2nd worst since records [...]

26Mar2009 | Tom Royce | 1 comment | Continued

HOPE for Homeowners Saves 1 Home – 1 Home???

Wow! That is the word for this epic failure. The 300 billion dollar Hope For Homeowners program the government touted as being the savior for 400,000 families has their results in.
They saved 1 homeowner out of the 752 applications,
1 homeowner saved.
Now what does that tell you?

That the government is clueless on helping [...]

26Mar2009 | Tom Royce | 3 comments | Continued

Real Estate Agents Have To Be Psychologists, Mediators, And Marriage Counselors.

The headline of this post says it all. As real estate agents, your role in selling a home has progressed from just showing homes to desperate buyers as it was in 2005 to full blown counselors. The pressure on buyers to get a good deal and sellers to hold on to equity while selling their [...]

25Mar2009 | Tom Royce | 9 comments | Continued