Monthly Archives: October 2006

Happy Halloween!

   From Fox News:  Housing Vampires Walk Streets After Halloween The more serious threats to the economy and life as we know it, though, will come from the undead who will still roam the streets well after this year’s Halloween … Continue reading

Posted in General | 43 Comments

Is a lower asking price really so painful?

From Rismedia: Home Sale Slowdown Forces Painful Price Reductions As a real estate broker, Joanne English Rollieson knows how to price houses. But the cooling real estate market forced her to cut $30,000 off the $525,000 asking price for her … Continue reading

Posted in Housing Bubble, New Jersey Real Estate | 175 Comments

Major Price Reductions at “Crisco”

From Baristanet: Crisco Price Chop! First, they changed the name. Now they’ve changed the price. The homes at Christopher Court were advertised this week for $1.395 million, down from the original “priced from $1,625,990 to $1,825,990”. and New Price For … Continue reading

Posted in New Development, New Jersey Real Estate | 45 Comments

Just what is normal?

From the Delaware County Times: Housing market declines By SOLOMON D. LEACH Delaware County’s home sales dropped 10 percent in the third quarter, but showed a smaller drop-off than neighboring counties as the housing market continued to slow down, according … Continue reading

Posted in Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 38 Comments

Oakland Downtown

From the Record: Oakland studies a new look for downtown By MATTHEW VAN DUSEN Mayor John Szabo hopes the journey to a better downtown, where people leave their condos to stroll into boutiques and sip coffee at outdoor cafes, officially … Continue reading

Posted in New Development, New Jersey Real Estate | 8 Comments

National foreclosures up 17% in Q3

From RealtyTrac: National Foreclosures Increase 17 Percent in Third Quarter According to RealtyTrac(TM) U.S. Foreclosure Market Report RealtyTrac, the nation’s leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its Q3 2006 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report showing that 318,355 properties entered … Continue reading

Posted in Risky Lending | 28 Comments

Kara financing falls through

From the Asbury Park Press: Kara gets OK to sell nine homes, but financing falls through BY DAVID P. WILLIS AND MICHAEL L. DIAMOND A bankruptcy court judge today gave permission to Kara Homes to move forward with the sale … Continue reading

Posted in Housing Bubble, New Jersey Real Estate | 29 Comments

“Housing bubble? What housing bubble?”

From the New York Times: Bursting Bubble Blues By PAUL KRUGMAN Here are the five stages of housing grief: 1. Housing bubble? What housing bubble? “A national severe price distortion [in housing] seems most unlikely in the United States.” (Alan … Continue reading

Posted in Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 87 Comments

Closing Tax Loopholes

From RealtyTimes: Congressional Committee Proposes Crackdown on Homeowner Tax Writeoffs by Kenneth R. Harney Have you been writing off your mortgage interest and real estate taxes correctly on your federal income tax filings? Or maybe not? Whatever your answer, an … Continue reading

Posted in National Real Estate, Politics | 4 Comments

Employee Pricing… For Homes?

From the Allentown Morning Call: Builders give buyers a break By Beth W. Orenstein To move cars at the end of the 2005 model year, Ford, General Motors and Chrysler offered some buyers the same discounts they offer their employees. … Continue reading

Posted in Housing Bubble, National Real Estate, New Development | 24 Comments

80% of ARM holders concerned

From the AP via Yahoo Business: Survey: Rising Rates Worry Homeowners By Eileen Alt Powell Homeowners with adjustable-rate mortgages worry about rising interest rates, but many believe they will be able to refinance their loans if necessary, according to a … Continue reading

Posted in Housing Bubble, Risky Lending | 24 Comments

The “experts” knew

From the Delaware State News: Area housing market slows By Jenny Maher If you look in the real estate section these days, you’ll probably notice two words rarely seen in the past few years – “price reduced.” It’s something homebuyers … Continue reading

Posted in Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 27 Comments

Every little thing gonna be all right

From the New Brunswick Home News Tribune: Amboy bank to cover loan losses By JASON METHOD

Posted in Housing Bubble, Risky Lending | 50 Comments

Weekend Open Discussion

This is the time and place to post observations about your local areas, comments on news stories or the New Jersey housing bubble, open house reports, etc. If you have any questions you wanted to ask earlier in the week … Continue reading

Posted in General | 395 Comments

Caveat Venditor

From the Record: Seller beware: It’s a buyer’s market By KATHLEEN LYNN As a real estate broker, Joanne English Rollieson knows how to price houses. But a rapidly cooling real estate market recently forced her to cut $30,000 off the … Continue reading

Posted in Housing Bubble, New Jersey Real Estate | 21 Comments