July 3rd, 2008
There are different ways to handle the foreclosure problem that has spread across the nation. Fairfax County, Va., has found its own.
Writer Amy Gardner with the Washington Post wrote earlier this week that the county will buy foreclosed homes and make them available to middle-income families. This will help alleviate two problems at once: providing affordable housing in a part of Virginia that has little, and reducing the number of vacant foreclosed homes on the market.
You can read the story here.
I have to say, this is an innovative way to addressing these serious issues. It may not be a longterm solution — the number of foreclosed properties can’t keep going up forever, so Fairfax County officials will have to come up with some other way to provide affordable housing — but at least it’s a creative attempt to deal with a problem.
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By Dan -- 0 comments
July 2nd, 2008
We’ve all seen the pictures and video: murky flood waters swallowing up scores of homes in the Midwest.
But there’s a side to the severe floods throughout the Midwest that we haven’t heard much about: Where are all those people who’ve lost homes going to live?
This story, for the Medill News Service and written by Shannon Bond, highlights the struggles that Iowans are having finding housing in the wake of that state’s devastating flooding. According to the story, nearly 65,000 individuals and households have registered with FEMA for disaster assistance.
Many flood victims are living with family or friends. Some are still living at emergency shelters. But these are all temporary measures.
Finding housing for these people is a priority. But it will certainly not be an easy job.
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By Dan -- 0 comments
July 1st, 2008
All those homeowners struggling to pay their bills have some good company: Mark Twain.
Well, sort of.
The Associated Press in a June 28 story by writer Stephanie Reitz reported that several historic homes are struggling to stay open because of the economy. Corporations and individuals are providing less financial support while the costs of keeping the historic sites open to the public are rising.
According to the story, the home of writer Edith Wharton in Lenox, Mass., is facing foreclosure. Mark Twain’s home is unable to repay a $4.9 million loan from an earlier expansion project.
Again, this is more evidence of the amazingly widespread impact of the housing market’s struggles. The worst news? Many housing experts predict that things are going to get worse before they get better.
Better visit that Twain home fast.
Tags: Edith Wharton, foreclosure, historic homes, Mark TwainShare This
By Dan -- 1 comment
June 30th, 2008
He’s a better actor than he is a governor, and that’s not saying much. But how good of an economic forecaster is Arnold Schwarzenneger? In about a year, we’ll know.
Reporter Greg Robb, writing for MarketWatch, quotes the California governor as saying that his state will shake off its housing problems by 2009. You can read the story here.
No one has a crystal ball. But if I had to guess, I’d say that Arnold’s prediction is worth as much as a crate of old VHS copies of Kindergarten Cop. California has been one of the — if not the — states hit hardest by the country’s housing slump. Home prices there have plummeted, and sales times for existing homes have grown. Foreclosures are up.
Most real estate experts — not ones who have starred as Danny DeVito’s twin in an alleged comedy — are predicting that the country’s housing slump won’t truly ease until sometime in 2010. To predict that California will come out of its real estate slowdown before the rest of the country doesn’t seem wise to me.
Then again, starring in Terminator 3 at the age of 55 wasn’t so smart, either.
Tags: governor of California, housing-prices, Schwarzenneger, TerminatorShare This
By Dan -- 0 comments
June 29th, 2008
It’s not easy being a real estate agent these days. Housing prices are down. Sales are taking longer. Those commission checks aren’t coming as quickly, and when they do, they’re a lot skinnier.
Now you can add one more problem to this list: Housing “For Sale” signs are being stolen.
The Jackson Citizen Patriot newspaper on June 28 ran a Voice of the People letter from an area broker who complained of folks stealing those “For Sale” signs from the front lawns of homes on the market. You can read the letter here.
So, if you’re having a bad day at your job, remember that it can always be worse: You could be a real estate agent.
(By the way, if you see anyone running down the street with a “For Sale” sign tucked under his arm, call the cops.)
Tags: for sale signs, stealing real estate signs, tough times for realtorsShare This
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June 28th, 2008
The National Association of Realtors last week released their latest home-sales data. For once, there was some good news. But, of course, the report contained a lot of bad news, too. You can read it all here.
First, the good news: The sales of existing homes — which include single-family homes, townhouses, condominiums and co-ops — rose 2 percent in May, probably because buyers are finally responding to some of the lower prices now available.
This news isn’t entirely good. Home sales are still down 15.9 percent from the same time one year earlier.
And in even worse news for sellers, the national median housing price stood at $208,600 in May, down 6.3 percent a year ago, when that price was $222,700.
If you’re looking for evidence that the housing slump is nearing its end, you won’t find it in the Realtors’ report.
Tags: home sales data, median-housing-price, National-Association-of-RealtorsShare This
By Dan -- 0 comments
June 26th, 2008
Add one more prominent name to the list of people who don’t accept blame for the nation’s residential real estate slump: Alan Greenspan.
Yes the former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve earlier this week went on record — do a Google search and you’ll see the news stories — denying that the low interest rates during his time in office had anything to do with the eventual popping of the U.S. housing bubble.
Is Greenspan right? Partially. But I also remember dire warnings thoughout Greenspan’s tenure that the housing bubble was going to pop, and pop hard. At the time, a whole host of financial experts, including many employed by the National Association of Realtors, denied such a thing. Turns out, of course, that the bubble proponents were right.
Now, I’m not sure what Greenspan could have done to prevent the housing bubble from popping. Housing prices rose too quickly, too fast. The sizzling market of 2001 through 2006 was too unrealistic to last.
I do know, though, that Greenspan became a kind of rock star of the financial world during his time in office. It’s too bad, though, that he didn’t find the time to do more to at least lessen the blow from the inevitable real estate slump.
Tags: Alan Greenspan, housing bubble, housing slumpShare This
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June 25th, 2008
Who doesn’t log onto Zillow.com or Cyberhomes.com occasionally? These sites, which try to tell you how much a particular home is worth, are great time-wasters.
And for those preparing to sell their homes, the sites can provide a rough estimate of what price tag they should should attach to their properties.
Just be careful, though. A new report from the Associated Press says that sites such as Zillow.com often come up with value estimates that are way off.
The sites rely on computer-generated automated models to estimate the value of homes. Problem is, these models don’t account for the condition of homes and any improvements their owners might have made.
So the message here is to be careful. Just because Zillow is telling you your home is worth $350,000, that doesn’t mean it’s actually worth $310,000.
Tags: CyberHomes.com, home values, Zillow.comShare This
By Dan -- 0 comments
June 24th, 2008
As housing foreclosures across the country continue to rise, a small, but growing, number of homeowners are turning to their employers for help.
And, though this may be surprising depending on where you work, some employers are stepping up to help their workers avoid losing their homes.
Repoter Sarah Needleman wrote about this for the Wall Street Journal. You can read her interesting story here. In it, she writes about a woman who nearly lost her single-family home in Miami to foreclosure. But her employer loaned the woman $5,000 interest free, allowing her to catch up on her mortgage payments.
Fannie Mae, which, of course, is in the mortgage-loan business, earlier this year set up a confidential e-mail hotline for any of its employees who are struggling to make their mortgage payments. Other companies have begun running free onsite seminars designed to help their employees better manage their money.
This is all good news. Companies should take care of their employees. After all, without their employees, where would these companies be?
Tags: , Fannie-Mae, foreclosure, mortgage-crisisShare This
By Dan -- 0 comments
June 23rd, 2008
Sometimes a real estate project makes so much sense, it makes you forget all the mortgage-fraud cases, foreclosure-rescue schemes and shady mortgage brokers. So it is with the efforts of an Oakland affordable-housing developer to provide 20 residential units at one of its apartment buildings to teens who have aged out of the foster-care system.
When teens turn 18, they age out of the foster-care system, whether they’ve found new families to live with or not. Often, these teens have nowhere to go.
Affordable Housing Associates today announced that it has made available for these teens 20 apartment units in its Madison & 14th Street Apartments in Oakland. And not only is Affordable Housing Associates providing shelter, the group, through a partnership with First Place for Youth, will provide teens who have aged out of the foster-care system with counseling, job-hunting assistance, economic counseling and physical and mental health workshops.
Unfortunately, this will only help a small percentage of the teens who do age out of the foster-care system in the Oakland area. More than 600 Bay area teens are discharged from the foster-care system each year once they hit 18.
Perhaps more agencies with step up to help these often forgotten members of society.
For more information about Affordable Housing Associates, click here.
Tags: affordable-housing, foster care system, OaklandShare This
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