Cuba has just approved 99 year leases for foreign property investors (article via propertywire) I'm pretty sure Cuba is still on the U.S. no-travel list, but it looks like the rest of the world is going to beat a path to this Caribbean island to pick up unspoiled, oceanfront land on the cheap "Th
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08/31/2010
FHA RELAXES LENDING GUIDELINES Not that long ago 45% DTI (debt-to-income) was the recommended maximum with 50% being a drop-dead point. Because FHA does not impose a hard ceiling for debt ratios, this is now rapidly changing. Now new investors are aggressively entering the market place and compe
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08/23/2010
I just caught this 5-minute news clip from an interview with the Philadelphia Federal Reserve President, Charles Plosser, who argues that the government should no longer be involved in home loan market. Philly Fed Pres.: Dont Need Gov't Involved in Home Mortgages The essential statement is that F
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08/18/2010
U.S. productivity fell for the first time in a year during the second quarter of 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last week. Productivity for non-farm businesses decreased at an annual rate of 0.9 percent during the second quarter, with hours rising 3.6 percent, while output rose onl
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08/17/2010
A repost of information from DSNews.com, by Carrie Bay on 8/16/2010 at http://www.dsnews.com/articles/print-view/fed-issues-new-mortgage-disclosure-and-compensation-rules-2010-08-16 The U.S. Federal Reserve on Monday published a long list of new rules intended to protect consumers from what the c
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08/17/2010
It is that time of the year again, where the news commentators are likely to spend the next five months telling us about the decline in home sales. We're down %% over last month, woe is me, maybe we are in for a double-dip in housing prices. The above chart shows what has happened in the San Di
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08/17/2010
For my many investor clients, here is a nice description of one of the key terms you need to know and understand.Net operating Income (NOI) is an important number in real estate investing because it is used in two very important real estate ratios, The Capitalization Rate (CAP Rate) and the Debt
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08/15/2010
We are currently suffering the hang-over from the economy-altering drug of the extended first-time homebuyer tax credit. This simple chart shows average sales activity over the past fifteen years and charts each of the last four years directly. The navy blue line shows the average rate of sales
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08/15/2010
Dear friends and clients. The following is an _excellent_ (and a few other superlatives) post about interest rates for your loan. It describes and provides clues as to why the rates we talk about for your home loan might seem out of line with those great mortgage rates you might see posted som
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08/12/2010
The following comes directly from HUD.GOV at http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD/topics/avoiding_foreclosure Avoiding Foreclosure Whether you're in foreclosure now or worried about it in the future, we have information that can help. Get Help Now! Talk to a foreclosure avoidance couns
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08/11/2010
