Archive for June, 2009

Top 10 Cities For Beating the Recession

Are you looking for a city that will protect you from the ill effects of a recession? Well check out these cities. According to Forbes they stand the best chance of weathering the recession.
Austin, Texas heads the list. A hot spot for successful Californians fleeing the high cost, high tax state, Austin is benefiting [...]

16Jun2009 | Tom Royce | 6 comments | Continued

New Construction Seen At Bottom, Opportunities Arising For Builders

Economists are seeing light at the end of the tunnel for the new housing industry. Builders are finding pockets of opportunity in communities and new construction has been picking up.
That is great news for the construction industry that got massively overbuilt and created a glut of inventory as speculators and unqualified homeowners flooded the marketplace. [...]

15Jun2009 | Tom Royce | 2 comments | Continued

Canada’s Real Estate Market Recovering

Here is some good news across our northern border, Canadian real estate sales are improving. So good in fact that experts are predicting year over year increases should start showing up in May and Junes numbers.
While things are not that rosy in the United States activity and some velocity has returned to our markets. Let [...]

15Jun2009 | Tom Royce | 5 comments | Continued

Population Shrinking In Your City – Bulldoze It Is One Answer Obama Is Looking At

Hey, if your city is losing population the new answer the Obama administration is looking at is to bulldoze it till it is the right size. Who cares if you are living in a house in the bulldoze zone. It just means that it is time for you to move.

You have to read this [...]

12Jun2009 | Tom Royce | 7 comments | Continued

Washington Programs That Are Destroying The Real Estate Market

In another sign that all business is being run through Washington with make believe money, New York City is accessing 200 million dollars to reinvigorate building projects in the city. The new tool is Recovery Zone Facility Bonds.
To put this in perspective, the commercial lending markets have determined that there is too much inventory available [...]

12Jun2009 | Tom Royce | 2 comments | Continued

Real Estate Agent Sells Homes and Romance To Alex Rodriguez and Kate Hudson

One expects their real estate agent to be a great salesman. If the New York real estate market ever goes south for Adam Modlin in New York City, he can add matchmaker to the stars as a new profession. That is what Adam did recently in by playing cupid for Alex Rodriguez and Kate Hudson, both of [...]

11Jun2009 | Tom Royce | 1 comment | Continued

2,000,000 Visitors – Thanks!

Just a little housekeeping and a thank you. We crossed the 2,000,000 unique visitors mark today. Last year at this time we crossed the 1 million visitor mark. So even with my horrible math skills I know that we had a million unique visitors this year.

All I can say is wow and thank you [...]

10Jun2009 | Tom Royce | 5 comments | Continued

Foreclosed Home Boarded Up With Man Still Inside!

The indignity of being foreclosed upon is hard enough, the City of Minneapolis magnified the problem by boarding the man up in his house.
Ted Poetsch lived in this house his whole life. He made a few mistakes and lost his home, an issue that has affected millions of other households. But for the city [...]

9Jun2009 | Tom Royce | 9 comments | Continued

How Washington’s Housing Rescue Plan is Hurting Housing Sales

Remember the classic Ronald Reagan line, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” Well, those in the real estate business are probably going to be saying it often around the water cooler in the coming months.
The housing rally we have seen this past [...]

8Jun2009 | Tom Royce | 7 comments | Continued

Countrywide’s Mozilo Charged With Securities Fraud and Insider Trading by S.E.C.

The Security and Exchange Commission has charged Angelo Mozilo, former head of Countrywide Mortgage, with securities fraud and insider trading. The charges were not accompanied by criminal charges through the Justice Department, but they still carry some weight.
Citing e-mail messages in which Mr. Mozilo referred to Countrywide loan products as “toxic” and “poison,” S.E.C. officials [...]

5Jun2009 | Tom Royce | 5 comments | Continued