Archive for April, 2009

Macklowe Loses 1330 Avenue of the Americas to Foreclosure

If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!It is not just the homeowners that are facing foreclosures. Harry Macklowe, renowned real estate investor and maverick, has lost a Manhattan skyscraper for 100,000 dollars. The investor was a big buyer at the top of the market and [...]

23Apr2009 | Tom Royce | 1 comment | Continued

Everything is Broken in Real Estate?

Well maybe not everything, but this presentation by Seth Godin that Boing Boing found does tell the madness of our modern society.
I would love you to tell me some of the crazy situations that you run into when trying to close a home sale. Things in real estate that are pure madness because of “we [...]

22Apr2009 | Tom Royce | 3 comments | Continued

BlackRock Still Profitable Even With Poor Commercial Market

This is pretty good news. BlackRock seems to be the poster child for excesses in the commercial real estate world. Yet, in the midst of all this turmoil last quarter they still earned 110 million in profit.
So while we are all fretting about this and that, BlackRock is still making money even when they made [...]

22Apr2009 | Tom Royce | 1 comment | Continued

David Kellermann, CFO of Freddie Mac, Found Dead at Home

David Kellermann, the chief financial officer of Freddie Mac was found dead in his home Wednesday morning according to reports. The 41 year old was reported to have committed suicide. Kellermann was a 16 year employee at Freddie Mac and had been named CFO of the company this past September.
My thoughts go out to [...]

22Apr2009 | Tom Royce | 10 comments | Continued

Senator Feinstein Offers Help To FDIC Who Then Awards Above Market Contract To Husband

Folks, whatever your political leanings, you need to watch what is happening in Washington DC these days. The government is getting more and more into the business of the business of America. And this includes real estate.
Senator Feinstein of California has arranged 25 billion dollars to go to the FDIC, which then awarded a [...]

21Apr2009 | Tom Royce | 4 comments | Continued

Is There Hope For Housing Sales in the Numbers?

Let’s face it, the housing market has been buried in bad news for the past 3 years. Heck, some people say I am the most optimistic person they know, and real estate has gotten me down.
But things look like they are turning around. Anecdotal evidence has shown that home sales are rebounding. Reports coming [...]

20Apr2009 | Tom Royce | 5 comments | Continued

Big Boi and Mary J. Blige Help Spread The Word On Foreclosure Help

This is a great use of celebrity power. Big Boi and Mary J. Blige are riding a bus trying to convince homeowners facing foreclosure to get help. So many homeowners go meekly into the night never talking to their lenders and trying to work things out.
Anything that gets homeowners facing foreclosure to seek help [...]

19Apr2009 | Tom Royce | 0 comments | Continued

Commercial Real Estate Has a Rough Week

Real estate news this week was mostly about the difficulty in the commercial markets. It seems that the losses are coming fast and furious as investors and owners are writing down assets rapidly.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Jamie Dimon was less than optimistic:

During a conference call with investors following the bank’s first-quarter earnings [...]

18Apr2009 | Tom Royce | 4 comments | Continued

Federal Reserve Initiates 9.9 Billion Dollar Loan Modification Plan

The Federal Reserve has finally issued a plan that is not just targeted at saving the banks but pushing the support down to the homeowners affected by the foreclosure crisis.
Under the plan, 9.9 billion will be issued to 6 banks for loan modifications. The banks will then use this money to help borrowers get [...]

17Apr2009 | Tom Royce | 5 comments | Continued

Home Builder Confidence Posts Biggest Gain In Five Years

This is great news, the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) has come out and it was up the most in 5 years. Now the numbers were about as low as they could go, but any upswing is great news for those of us in real estate.
Home builders have had [...]

16Apr2009 | Tom Royce | 8 comments | Continued