In case you have not noticed the California Department of Real Estate (DRE) is becoming more aggressive in disciplining brokers. There are several reasons for this. The first is that there is much documentation of gross misconduct by licensees in the past ten years. During that time many new licenses came into the business and… CONTINUE
The New News May Be Bad News for Brokers
New laws that have come into effect include such things as the DRE’s new mandate for “consumer protection” (read: get the brokers) and notice to buyers regarding water conserving plumbing fixtures (has the crap really hit the fan yet?). More to follow in the next few days.
Who’s on First, What About Second(s)?
Last year the Legislature passed Senate Bill 931 adding Section 580e to the California Code of Civil Procedure. This new Section established that the beneficiary on a loan secured by a first deed of trust on 1 to 4 unit residential property could not pursue a deficiency judgment after a short sale which they had… CONTINUE
CO Detector Disclosure – What Is And Is Not Required
Last month I wrote about the new law requiring the installation of carbon monoxide (CO) detectors and its impact on the TDS as of 1/1/11. This month I want to clarify what the new law does and does not require. To begin I will repeat the opening paragraph of last month’s article. Effective July 1,… CONTINUE
Dodd-Frank. Protection? Or Problem?
Senator Dodd and Congressman Frank, the people who were key players in allowing the financial collapse, have brought us legislation to “fix the problem”. The Dodd-Frank Act is 2,314 pages of disjointed and wide spread enabling legislation that will impact all areas of the financial structure. To see the briefest summary I have been able… CONTINUE
Latinos Account for Half of CA Foreclosures
The Center for Responsible Lending, a nonprofit research center and borrower advocacy group, reports that Latinos account for almost half of the foreclosures in California. The CRL says that Latino borrowers make up 48.2 percent of the over 700,000 California homes currently in the foreclosure process, based on their analysis of data from ForeclosureRadar and… CONTINUE
Crimes Rates Unaffected by Foreclosures
A new University of Texas-Virginia Tech study says that while foreclosures may “destabilize and disorganize” communities, they do not directly affect the neighborhood crime rate. Researchers said that instead of affecting crime, foreclosures are — like crime — symptomatic of a community’s lack of political clout, poverty and segregation. The study used data on foreclosures… CONTINUE
Housing Market Leaders in 2014
Bloomberg Businessweek has listed the top 10 markets that will lead the housing market recovery by early 2014 from data provided by Fiserv Case-Shiller Indexes and Moody’s Economy.com. The housing forecast is based on factors that include income growth, unemployment rates, demographic trends, construction costs and foreclosure rates. There were 384 markets surveyed, and the… CONTINUE
A Condo or a Car?
CNNMoney.com reports that several condo markets in the U.S. are seeing units priced “lower than a Toyota Corolla”, at or even below $25,000 in nice neighborhoods. Median home prices have fallen about 23 percent during the housing market collapse, but condo prices have suffered even more. According to NAR, nationwide condo prices have fallen about… CONTINUE
Foreclosures: There’s an App for That
In early July, ForeclosureRadar, the online service that provides market information on foreclosures in California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state, released an iPhone app to make all its information available to subscribers in a mobile format. Now Foreclosure Radar has released another technology tool: an alert service that sends an email or text to… CONTINUE
Treasury Says Housing Revamp Coming in 2011
Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin told the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) conference in New York recently that Treasury will not propose housing finance reform measures until 2011, and will probably do so in conjunction with the agency’s enforcement of the new financial reform law just passed by the Senate and due to… CONTINUE
Housing Market Double Dip a Reality?
According to Capital Economics, a Toronto-based independent macroeconomic research firm, a double dip in the U.S. housing market is beginning to show itself. In addition, the Double Dip Begins report found that for every home currently on the market, there are two more waiting to be sold. In an article at HousingWire.com, the report author… CONTINUE
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