RECENT BLOG POSTS
Reuters reports that Deutche Bank projects that about half of all U.S. mortgages will exceed the value of the collateral - homes - securing those loans by 2011. Half. That is a shocking projection that has some pretty terrible implications for our economy. First, if you think that there are a l...
08/06/2009
All of this is completely predictable. There are so many reasons why attempts to prevent foreclosure won't work, are bad public policy and are frankly immoral. First, why would any lender continue to loan money at low interest rates if they know that they would either (a) have to forfeit a porti...
06/01/2009
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I have been writing for some time that if the government DOES NOTHING then home sales will rebound on their own and that we are poised for a housing recovering beginning in June of 2009. Well, I was wrong. I was off by several months. Existing home sales rose by the SECOND BIGGEST MONTHLY GAIN...
01/26/2009
It has been a few weeks since my last blog posting. During that time, Christmas, and then inevitably New Year's has come and gone. While the stock market seems to have stabilized, business media types continue to latch on to all manner of bad news. It does strike me as completely ironic that I...
01/08/2009
One of the things that I get to do from time to time is to teach classes to real estate agents. It is an opportunity for me to provide the insight of one who does not actually negotiate or broker real estate sales to those who do (it's that old saw - those who can't - teach). This class is my fa...
11/17/2008
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Newsflash! The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development has released its new rules concerning the Good Faith Estimate - 341 PAGES! Good Gravy! I have begun to read the rule. It is part of what I do for a living. Do we really need 341 pages of self serving justification to exp...
11/13/2008
"No State shall . . . pass any . . . ex post facto law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts . . ." Constitution of the United States, Article I, Section 10. Mortgage loans are contracts between a borrower and a lender in which the borrower uses the proceeds of a loan and in exchange for ...
11/05/2008
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I have written in the past about real estate closings and the practice of law as defined in Georgia. The nutshell version is that in the state of Georgia, the practice of law includes real estate closings. Why? Because the Georgia Supreme Court says so. I have also lectured at continuing educ...
10/29/2008
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Last week I wrote about the August pending contracts resale numbers. They were up year over year and month over month, with standing inventory going down to 10.1 months. Well, NAR published the September numbers this morning. Go to http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=auh3iRzkjrU...
10/24/2008
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Regardless of your political inclinations, this election is stirring very strong emotions for or against the candidates. I am no exception to this phenomenon. It has been tough in our market. We have been challenged to find ways to earn an income. Whatever, happens, those challenges will conti...
10/21/2008