Articles of Interest 7.27.07
Just after the Dow Jones endured a substantial loss yesterday, USA Todays weekend edition provides some prospective on things and highlights some real estate realities (subprime and adjustable-rate mortgages, overdosing on home equity borrowing, buying a foreclosed home, first-time homebuyers finally win and home trade-ups) and, more importantly, how to deal with them.
Market Watch
Wall Street suffered one of its worst losses of 2007 Thursday, leading a global stock market plunge as investors succumbed to months of worry about the mortgage and corporate lending markets. The Dow Jones industrials closed down more than 310 points after earlier skidding nearly 450.
Stocks Plunge on Lending Worries
Yahoo! Finance
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070726/wall_street.html
<http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070726/wall_street.html> ?
There's no doubt: It's bad out there. Median home prices are flat nationwide and typically down 4% to 6% in the hardest hit markets, like the upper Midwest and parts of Florida, according to the National Association of Realtors. At the same time, the number of houses on the market has exploded, and the time they stay for sale has grown. A good dose of perspective can ward off panic and avoid costly mistakes. To help you negotiate the rocky real estate world, we've detailed five real estate realities and how to deal with them.
Good News In a Bad Housing Market
USA Weekend
http://usaweekend.com/07_issues/070729/070729housing.html
<http://usaweekend.com/07_issues/070729/070729housing.html>
The East Bay housing market, fraught with foreclosures and anemic sales, may have a few more challenging years ahead, a real estate executive reported. "If sellers don't have to sell, they think, 'Maybe I'll just wait it out.' And all that leaves are the distressed sellers," said Scott Kucirek, general manager of Prudential California Realty, who also said it would take a few years before the housing market showed real price appreciation.
Challenges Remain for Housing Market
Contra Costa Times
http://www.contracostatimes.com/business/ci_6477992
<http://www.contracostatimes.com/business/ci_6477992>
In the search for the quintessentially fair real estate deal, a tug-of-war between full-commission real estate agents and FSBOs has broken out. Betwixt and between these extremes, an entire industry has sprung up which professes to let the client have it both ways. These are the companies, Web sites and individuals who offer something for less -- though not for nothing -- and promise that less will add up to more in the end, whether it be more savings or more efficiency.
The Changing Face of Real Estate Deals
San Francisco Chronicle
http://sfgate.com/columnists/lloyd/
<http://sfgate.com/columnists/lloyd/>
Wells Fargo is shutting down its subprime mortgage loan unit, the bank's mortgage division said Thursday, according to news reports. San Francisco-based Wells Fargo said the collapsing subprime market is not worth the risk, according to the Associated Press.
Wells Fargo to Close Subprime Lending Unit Sacramento Business Journal http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2007/07/23/daily45.html?f=
et76&ana=e_du
<http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2007/07/23/daily45.html?f
=et76&ana=e_du>
Industry installers say the state solar program's cumbersome requirements, from extensive paperwork to energy audits and detailed project reviews that must be completed before a rebate payment is approved, have slowed the pace of residential installations.
State Solar Plan Getting Heat
East Bay Business Times
See attached pdf below
A logjam that threatened a multimillion-dollar development in downtown San Jose has been cleared with the developer and the city agreeing to a "financial haircut." Developer Mike Kriozere, principal at Urban West Associates, agreed to lop a floor off each of his two 25-story residential towers as long as the city lowers its price on the land, currently a parking lot on Market Street near the Fairmont Hotel.
Downtown San Jose Condo Towers to Lose a Floor San Jose Mercury News
http://www.mercurynews.com/businessheadlines/ci_6476969
<http://www.mercurynews.com/businessheadlines/ci_6476969>
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