It's somewhat disheartening and depressing to post this, but it's the sad and honest truth. There's seriously something wrong with our financial markets today and at the root we have the collapse of Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae - The largest corporations on the face of the Earth!!! - There is a storm brewing and THIS folks may be the calm before the storm. It seriously makes me think twice about my future, my career, and much more!
Read this article and if you can grasp the concept of what just happened this week and if you can understand the complexities of the issue at hand regarding Fannie and Freddie you'll probably be just as worried as I am...and rightfully so.
The saga is just unfolding, but as this article suggest along with many more articles, commentary, analysis, and research I've dug up indicates, this very well may be the tipping point that sends the United State of America into another Great Depression....only this time it could be much worse and last much longer!
I hope and pray I am wrong and there some "plan C" lurking out there in the financial waters, but at this point it doesn't look promising!
The economy will never recover if housing doesn’t find its footing first. But when will that happen? Cramer (of MadMoney) said he expects a bottom by the third quarter of 2009.
This is somewhat entertaining, but also very informative and I happen to agree with Cramer on a few major talking ponits! Although housing as an industry may bottom, specific neighborhoods and communities may rebound or show signs of recover sooner. In any case, you've gotta sit down and watch this video when you get 10 minutes!
Following up with another post I made a few days ago reagarding Reply! Real Estate / Reply! Inc. regarding how bad their leads are, now come to find out they are even bigger slim-balls then I previously thought. They ended up charging my credit card for the bad leads that they orginally promised they wouldn't charged me for if they were no good, and if I had cancelled my account within 48 ours or before the end of July.
Now, frusrated, and furious, I see two charges totaling $138.85 for three leads that were garbage! They specifically stated that if they were not good leads I could either recieve replacement leads or cancel my account and not be charged anything further than a $2.90 prorated account fee.
So basically Reply! Real Estate / Reply! Inc. sole money from me - They charged me unauthorized and it makes me made! PLEASE DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH REPLY! REAL ESTATE. It is not worth the hassle. I hope they go out of business and we as Realtors can see to it that they do by simply not buying their product full of hype and lies!
You can bet on it that I will be sending a letter to the Arizona Association of Realtors, the Scottsdale Association of Realtors, NAR and the Arizona Dept. of Real Estate regarding this lead generation company!
Well, I just bought the Downtown Tempe, Tempe Town Lake, and Centerpoint Condominium Community Pages on Localism.com, but I hesitated in purchasing a couple other communities because the names were misspelled! Perhaps by another Realtor who isn't as familiar or focused with Downtown Tempe. For instance, there was "Bridgeview at Hayden Ferry" and "Hayden Ferry High Rise Condominiums" which are both WRONG!!! They should actually be appropriately named "Bridgeview at Hayde Ferry Lakeside" or just simply "Hayden Ferry Lakeside" to cover both Bridgeview and Edgewater Condominium Towers. Also there was "Brownstones of Tempe" which should be appropriately named "The Brownstones at Hyde Park".
To my amazement The Lofts at Orchidhouse doesn't even exist in the community list. Thus, I wrote this post! :0)
We'll, here's a little followup article regarding the two Centerpoint Condominium posts I made recently. Looks like they'll at least stablize the project for now until the additional funding comes in. I do not expect there will be a problem in getting additional funding from another entity, but it could be a while. Even in the worst case senario where Mortgages LTD disapears or is disolved completely and all their assets sold off in a fire sale and Avenue Communities does not get fiancing to finish the two Centerpoint Towers, another entity would come in take over the project at a much lower basis and the either the prices of the units would drop significantly or they would be luxury rentals temporary (good for potential homebuyers and/or retners) and life will go on! I don't think it will come to that. Avenue Communities will most likely finish at least the high-rise towers and selling the remaining units and/or rent them out temporarily until the real estate market comes back.
Mortgages Ltd. to offer Tempe development more funding
Bankrupt real-estate lender Mortgages Ltd. is working on a plan to provide more financing to the developer of the Centerpoint condominium towers in downtown Tempe.
About $4.5 million in initial financing would allow Avenue Communities LLC to protect the partially complete high-rises from rain, wind and other external elements, according to Carolyn Johnsen, Mortgages Ltd.'s attorney.
Such a move would protect the value of the asset for both the developer and investors who gave Mortgages Ltd. the money to lend to the project.
Centerpoint is one of several Valley real-estate developments financed by Mortgages Ltd. Construction on some projects that have stopped since the Phoenix-based firm was forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June.
Work on the two Centerpoint towers never fully stopped, but slowed, according to developer Ken Losch.
Avenue Communities received about $120 million of a $150 million loan commitment made by Mortgages Ltd.
Losch, who declined through a spokesman to comment for this story, has said he needs $75 million to finish both towers.
Avenue Commmunities, the developers of the massive Centerpoint mixed-use project in downtown Tempe are not going to wait any longer for additional financing while its primary lender on the $200 million project while they work their way through Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Ken Losch, principal of Avenue Communities LLC, said about $24 million in liens have been filed on the project by unpaid subcontractors. Ken said he has numerous lenders who want to help finish Centerpoint, contingent on Avenue Communities working out a settlement with Mortgages Ltd. That likely will require the beleaguered Phoenix commercial real estate lender to subordinate its two existing loans totaling nearly $132 million.
We'll see what happens here. I just had a conversation about this project yesterday with Steve Betts and we both agreed we want to see this project move forward and be completed so they can start selling again and/or temporarily start renting the units. It's a beautiful structure with amazing views and it need to move forward for the sake of Downtown Tempe!
Well, I guess the saying "you live, you learn" can be applied to anything, but over the last couple months I've given a couple lead generating companies a chance and have learned my lesson. I've tried them in the past and had no success, but thought I'd give them a another chance and play the numbers game. All it takes is 1 lead to pan out and result in a closing and you have a return on your investment. However, my advice based on my experiences the past couple months with ReplyRealEstate.com and RECR.com was not good. There are probably more out there like them that I'm not mentioning, but, these are the two I worked with recently and had no luck! Nothing! Absolutely NOTHING!
They must all get their leads from the same place, because they look strikingly simiar in format. Almost all the leads were from areas outside the teritories I signed up for even though the salesperson on the phone was claiming she had a lead imediately available to send my way the was qualified and looking to purchase property in my definied niche area (Downtown Tempe). The truth is many of them you can't even get a hold of - these "leads" rarely answer their phones or respond to e-mail.
Also, the leads these companies send you are typically from people with fair to poor credit which is basically a dead lead in todays market. They're also looking for ridiculous if not impossible deals such as a 4 bed/3 bath in Scottsdale for $120,000 or a 3 bedroom / 2 bath condo in South Tempe or Chandler for $100,000 or less. These leads are unrealistic. You can't get a foreclosure or a short sale for that price! Plus, if I happened to find those types of properties for that cheap I would buy them myself!
So, lesson learned... stick with personal referrals, old-fashion netowkring, and netoworking through your websites, blogs, and social netoworks.
My advice, avoide ReplyRealEstate.com and RECR.com!
I would be interested to hear if anyone else has had similar experiences!
The communication towers that have topped "A Mountain" for more than 60 years soon will be moved to Tempe's tallest building.
Hayden Butte, also known as "A Mountain," looms over Sun Devil Stadium. For decades it had on its summit communication dishes and towers used by Tempe fire, police, city services and the Salt River Project. Phoenix has similar equipment atop South Mountain.
In 2005 when Avenue Communities principal Ken Losch was seeking permission from the Tempe City Council to build four high rise condominium buildings just off Mill Avenue in downtown Tempe, it was pointed out by city officials that the proposed structures would block communication signals from the equipment on the butte.
Losch got permission to go forward with his Centerpoint Condominiums project, but it was stipulated that he would allow the communication equipment to be moved to the top of the tallest of his buildings.
More and more people are taking what is perhaps the ultimate step in cutting gas prices...
They're moving!
A national trend of high gas prices playing a major role in where people choose to live. Factors like distance from work, access to public transportation, and proximity to shopping are gaining ground on square footage and whether or not the home has a yard and pushing people into more densely packed urban areas!
This is just the beginning of a major trend, one that I spotted some years ago and a big reason why I decided to focus on urban real estate instead of the suburban stuff which many real estate professionals were drawn to like flies on you know what! Gas prices aren't going anywhere but up so its good to start seeing more of these articles being printed in the media. Public awareness is key! I believe we're on the bring of major cultural shift in the way people live, where they live and how they transport themselves from place to place in America - Almost a total redefinition of the "American Dream". The current one has major flaws which are obvious when gas prices push through $4/gallon and everyone is panicking! Urban living is the next big thing, no doubt! Once the real estate industry as a whole gets back on track look for urban living, downtown redevelopment, infill development, mixed-use, TOD, TND, high-rise, and mid-rise condominium and loft developments to lead the way!
I must say it's kind both eerie, but vindicating at the same time to see these types of articles in the media now! I've been discussing this issue with people for a long time now (my good friend Nate Bettini, well, he's talking about this a lot longer). The suburbs will be your slums of the future! A whirlwind of several factors including generational and demographic preferences and lifestyle changes, environmental concerns, energy prices, and inflation and more are now converging to put urban living in the limelight as the new (preferred) way of life in America! These outer lying suburbs and exurbs are death-traps in my opinion right now and will continue to get worse! They'll be a few diamonds in the ruff, but most will not survive! All those vacant homes, half-built homes, empty lots, and abandon foreclosures and short-sales are going to be picked up by investors who will then rent them out or be bought by low-income people, naive first time home buyers and immigrants. Crime rates will undoubtedly go up due in part by the infrastructure, segregated zoning layout, and car dominated culture of suburbia. Places that are really nice today, may not looks so nice in 30 years! The the past 60 years have been characterized by the movement of wealthy and upper middle class people moving to master-planned communities in the suburban fringes, the NEXT 60 years will be a reversal! High-Rise urban luxury and downtown city living on Main street!
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