foreclosure: Want to destroy the economy and dreams of home ownership? - 03/05/08 01:47 PM
It's pretty easy... House of Representatives Democrat John Conyers of Michigan knows how to do it. He has outlined a simple plan. Allow bankruptcy judges to set aside mortgage balances in favor of "good faith attempt" to pay off mortgages... and the borrower gets to keep the house. While the plan
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foreclosure: Hey Mortgage people... What do you think? - 02/23/08 09:32 PM
Did you see the post yesterday on Hot Topic? Unintended consequences of regulating mortgage brokers Unintended consequences seem to be one of the themes I keep coming back to. Government, doing things that are designed to sound good for the news crews and the uninitiated, doesn't often accomplish the desired effect. The
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foreclosure: I've heard voices... - 02/23/08 11:06 AM
And they were smart voices. Wandering around in the Rain, there have been scores of bloggers pointing out that the federal government trying to "fix" the foreclosure crisis. Now, Inman News is saying the same thing. (the link will only be good until it goes behind the curtain) Most families facing
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foreclosure: I am NOT a believer... - 02/03/08 10:28 PM
Now let's see if my comment ever gets published. During my daily blog run, I came across this little gem. House price: $3,500. Mortgage: $228,000The house price is from 1977... Just to be real here, I ran a Constant Dollar Calculator on that $3,500 from 1977. I wasn't buying that point
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foreclosure: Let's link to seemingly unrelated stories - 01/18/08 01:07 PM
While glancing through today's REALTOR(R) Magazine Daily News Brief, there were two stories that jumped out at me. One was a call to action, and the other looked like the groundwork for a call to action later... The first was: Withholding Mortgage Help Could Hurt Everybody. Among other things, it said: The Center
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foreclosure: Aftershock... or not so much - 01/17/08 03:36 PM
A friend of mine forwarded a Moody's study that was called "Aftershock - A study of the post Mortgage Meltdown." I went through it, and most of it is pretty dark... but then I started to notice something. The maps didn't look that bad. Ok, they didn't look that bad for
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foreclosure: Idiot move of the week, Cleveland suing banks - 01/12/08 12:26 PM
Here's your card... According to the Columbus Dispatch, the city of Cleveland is suing 21 banks that loaned money in their inner city areas, saying: ...subprime lending in inner-city neighborhoods has created a public nuisance that hurt property values and city tax collections.The story goes on to say: The lawsuit, filed Thursday in
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foreclosure: Lane's 2008 Prognostications... - 12/29/07 10:11 PM
Earlier I ran across a post on the official A/R blog wondering about our predictions for the next year. Well, I had already been in a prognosticating mood, since I was actually grading some of my predictions from earlier this year. I also ran across a post by Jim Crawford looking
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foreclosure: Sometimes doing the right thing hurts - 12/21/07 01:12 PM
I started by explaining in Everybody put your heads down on your desk... how we got to this ugly spot in the road where we see the paths of: Government intervention in loansorA rush of foreclosuresIn this installment, I'm going to outline the case for why it is the wrong thing for
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foreclosure: Everybody put your heads down on your desk... - 12/20/07 02:41 PM
Do you remember those words from grade school? The big kid from the back of the class shot a spitball at the teacher, and so everyone got the same punishment. There were 29 kids in the class that didn’t do anything, but they still got the same treatment. What’s worse is
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foreclosure: Thoughts on the Foreclosure Bailout - 12/08/07 01:31 PM
Everyone has weighed in with their opinions about the proposed government bailout of some of the 1.2 million people facing foreclosure... I guess I'll toss out my nickel (side thought... if everyone that has offered an opinion actually gave up the nickel, WE could bail out the people facing foreclosure...) I don't
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foreclosure: So, he's hit the "But that's the way I want it to be" Stage - 11/18/07 11:40 PM
Many of you might know that I have a three (and a half) year old son. He has graced a variety of my posts, and is one of the primary inspirations for me being in real estate... but I digress... Often. So, while it isn't the first time, I wanted to
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foreclosure: Where does this guy get his data? - 10/12/07 12:44 PM
I just can't help myself... I just ran across this little release from the NAR. Basically, the CEO of Countrywide says that the subprime mortgage mess could widen the home ownership gap between whites and minorities. However, in the same daily brief, the NAR sent out this piece as well. it states
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foreclosure: Imputed income - 10/01/07 11:08 PM
Familiar? Let me give you a quick idea of what it is. Keep in mind that I am not a tax professional, or a lawyer... just a real estate agent. I guess the easiest way to say it is that it is phantom income. For our current purposes, let's look at
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foreclosure: What are we doing here? Looking at the housing landscape... - 09/21/07 01:15 PM
This morning, the NAR kindly sent me this little update through the Real Estate Insights eNewsletter. It explains, quite well, the steps that we will need to move through before the market stabilizes, both locally and nationally. And then, this afternoon, in my REALTOR(R) Magazine Daily Online, I got this story.
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foreclosure: Q is for Quit Claim - 09/07/07 01:08 PM
Let me preface this by stating I am NOT a lawyer, I don't play one on TV, and I don't dispense legal advice. If you need specific legal advice, you need to talk to a lawyer, not a real estate agent. A Quit Claim Deed is kind of an anomaly in
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foreclosure: M is for Maintenance - 09/05/07 10:02 PM
Here is a loaded term for a car guy. Maintenance. We do it for our rides, and just about nothing can stand in the way. I've known guys that bordered on religious about changing their own oil. I've seen them pull into a rest area along the interstate, slide under the
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foreclosure: F is for Foreclosure - 08/31/07 09:20 AM
This entry will have two distinct parts. Part I If you are a seller, or thinking about selling because you are in financial trouble, STOP. Examine what you are doing and why. Examine all of your options. Talk to a credit counselor, like CCCS in Atlanta (no experience with them personally, but Clark
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foreclosure: Want to sell your house to an investor? - 08/21/07 11:31 AM
I get the occasional call from people that have a house they wish to sell quickly. Often, the home is in less than optimal condition (sometimes heinous is a word that creeps into my mind). They range from estate sales to pre-foreclosures to rentals that the owner doesn't wish to handle
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foreclosure: Real Estate Investing 301, Part II - 08/17/07 09:25 AM
Real Estate Investing 301Part II Link to Part I Advanced strategies Strategies for selling hundreds of properties For most buyers, holding the properties isn’t the option that they are looking for. Turning the properties is the goal. Generally, there are a few different strategies that sellers use to dispose of
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foreclosure: Real Estate Investing 301, Part I - 08/17/07 09:16 AM
Real Estate Investing 301 Advanced strategies In Real Estate Investing 101, Part I we covered buying a house to resell for a short term profit, while minimizing risk and making it happen fast. We delved further into flipping in Real Estate Investing 201. In Real Estate Investing 101, Part
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foreclosure: Market update for Gwinnett County, July 2007 - 08/10/07 04:33 PM
Gwinnett County sales comparison for residential real estate. 7/07 It time for me to make my prognostications for the coming market, while recapping that which has happened. Please keep in mind that even on the 10th of August, the numbers for July WILL change. I will come back and
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foreclosure: OK, I said this a month ago!! - 08/08/07 09:13 PM
I just got today's REALTOR Magazine Online Daily Update. This was one of the stories that was featured. It is about how foreclosures are up. They make up 10% of the listings in CA, as opposed to 1.7% last year. But, at the same time, distressed properties aren't listed at much
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foreclosure: Real Estate Investing 201 - 08/03/07 10:05 AM
Digging a little deeper into Flipping In Real Estate Investing 101, Part I, we covered buying a house to resell for a short term profit. In this lesson, we’re going to delve a little deeper into flipping, run a scenario, and examine ways to maximize profit, while minimizing risk and making
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foreclosure: Hello, Media... Are You Listening? Real Estate is LOCAL. - 07/25/07 03:12 PM
How many times do we have to hear that the housing market is doing one thing... and that must mean that the whole market is doing the same thing? When the price of a barrel of oil goes up, it is a singular commodity moving. While there are different grades of
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foreclosure: What is going to happen to interest rates? - 07/23/07 01:26 PM
OK, the water is chest deep now. I started wading in here, and I just don't know when to stop. So, what do I see happening with interest rates? Overall, I see them going down. But, I think they'll go up first. Was that vague enough that I can claim victory
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foreclosure: Are we on the edge of a calamitous housing bubble? - 07/23/07 01:05 PM
Boy, am I going to wade into it this time... I was wandering through the FOXNews Real Estate section, and came across this feature story. Reading this, one would think we were seriously in trouble. "... from San Francisco to San Diego — is predicted to decline 50% in the next five
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foreclosure: Market update for Gwinnett County, June 2007 - 07/10/07 07:58 PM
Gwinnett County sales comparison for residential real estate. 6/07 Here is a look at the residential real estate market for Gwinnett County for the last two years as well as looking at overall trends that will affect investors and “move-up” buyers in the next few months. Looking at the
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foreclosure: Back from New Orleans - 06/26/07 09:24 AM
The family just got back from a visit to New Orleans. We stayed in a rental condo just outside of the French Quarter, near Decatur and Frenchmen streets. It was a great place to stay. We spent the majority of our time in the French Quarter. We did have to run
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foreclosure: How did it get this far? - 06/21/07 02:46 PM
I had a new experience today. Not that I am new to real estate, but I just hadn't had the occasion to hang out for one of these. I attended an eviction. The clean-out crew, locksmith and Sheriff's Deputy we all scheduled to arrive at 1:00. I got there a few
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