Two weeks ago, the Obama administration announced that California is one of five states that will receive a portion of the new $1.5 Billion federal aid package to be distributed in hopes of slowing the tidal wave of home foreclosures. However, some real estate experts are saying the funds will do damn little to dam… CONTINUE
HAMP to Hamper Foreclosures?
A report on Bloomberg.com recently said that the Obama administration was considering a ban on all foreclosures unless they have been reviewed and rejected by the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP): The proposal, reviewed by lenders last week on a White House conference call, “prohibits referral to foreclosure until borrower is evaluated and found ineligible… CONTINUE
Foreclosure Crisis Over? Really?
The Mortgage Banking Association, based in Washington DC (the same people that bought their HQ building for $79 million and sold it three years later for $41 million) announced last week that the foreclosure crisis is “over.” From a press release posted on their website: “We are likely seeing the beginning of the end of… CONTINUE
Keys to the Citi
CitiMortgage has launched a pilot program that will allow distressed mortgage holders to stay in their home an additional six months in return for turning the keys over to the mortgage lending giant at the end of that period. In a press release issued last week, CitiMortgage announced that the program will initially be offered… CONTINUE
Strip Tease
…or how to get rid of the underwater second mortgage, from a recent Ezine article by David Reinholtz, founder of LoanOfficerSchool.com, a speaker and an approved education provider for NMLS: One day Suzie homeowner reviews her personal finances and comes to a stomach-churning realization: the house that she has lived in and made payments on… CONTINUE
Thanks But No Thanks
The federal regulator for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae told the mortgage finance giants “thanks, but no thanks” to generating new loan products – at least while they are under the control of the U.S. government. Too bad, when the past ones worked so well….(!?!) The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s acting director Edward DeMarco told… CONTINUE
Hotels: LOTS of Vacancies
Hotels are becoming one of the biggest bargains in the CRE industry right now, at least in northern California. This week, the Sheraton Pleasanton Hotel was purchased by a partnership of realty investment firms Sethi Enterprises and Kapoor Enterprises. According to an article in the Contra Costa Times, Sethi executive J.P. Sethi said the purchase… CONTINUE
Walk-or Swim-Away?
A recent New York Times article reported succinctly on the growing trend of homeowners who are “underwater” on their mortgages simply packing it in and walking away. Called “a situation without precedent in the modern era,” abandoned homes are becoming more prevalent as “people’s emotional attachment to their property is melting into thin air.” An… CONTINUE
CRE Walkathon Continues
The walkathon in the commercial real estate market continues. A Wall Street Journal article last week reported on the Mortgage Bankers Association’s sale of its headquarters building in Washington, DC to CoStar Group for $41.3 million – about $38 million less than what it paid for the building three years ago, and also way below… CONTINUE
A Gift That Keeps Giving
Many banks suspended their foreclosure activities in December for the holidays (can’t have Tiny Tim in the street at Christmas….let’s wait until January!). So it wasn’t unexpected to see the December foreclosure rate decline. However, according to ForeclosureRadar.com: Foreclosure activity dropped dramatically in December, especially when looked at on a daily average basis. For example… CONTINUE
About REOs: Part 8
The Purchase Agreement You may think that that CAR form Residential Purchase Agreement you know so well will be the form of purchase agreement used in the transaction. Right up until the time you get a 12-page Counter Offer from the bank. That Counter Offer overrules many of the protections in the CAR RPA form…. CONTINUE
2010 Forecast for CRE
Dr. Sam Chandan, President and Chief Economist of Real Estate Econometrics and an adjunct professor of real estate at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, recently gave a presentation on what he believes 2010 holds for the commercial real estate market. The upshot of his findings: Though the economy remains fragile, we are… CONTINUE
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