Monthly Archives: March 2007

Mortgages becoming harder to get

Posted on March 31, 2007 by grim
Posted in National Real Estate, Risky Lending | 7 Comments

From the NY Times: The Battle for a Mortgage AS homeowners across the country have dealt with the declining values of their houses and their ballooning mortgage payments, most New Yorkers seem to believe that the market here doesn’t play … Continue reading →

Relic of the last bubble

Posted on March 30, 2007 by grim
Posted in New Development, New Jersey Real Estate | Comments Off

From the Daily Record: MORRIS’ UGLY SIDE The Rev. Donald Bragg, of Parsippany Presbyterian Church, said he spent a lot of time attending board of adjustment meetings last year to see whether something finally would be done about the four-story … Continue reading →

Creative Financing 101

Posted on March 30, 2007 by grim
Posted in National Real Estate | 8 Comments

From the AP: Pot-Growing Takes Root in the Suburbs In Coldwater Creek, a middle-class housing development outside Atlanta, the neighbors mind their own business and respect each other’s privacy — ideal conditions, it turns out, for growing marijuana in the … Continue reading →

Lehigh becoming unaffordable for many

Posted on March 30, 2007 by grim
Posted in National Real Estate | 4 Comments

From the Express Times: Homes out of reach for many Teachers, police officers, nurses and others who earn Lehigh and Northampton counties’ median salaries can’t afford the Lehigh Valley’s median-priced homes, according to a study released this week. The study, … Continue reading →

Subprime moves into the courtroom

Posted on March 30, 2007 by grim
Posted in Risky Lending | 2 Comments

From the Financial Times: Credit Suisse sues subprime lenders Credit Suisse has filed lawsuits against at least three US subprime mortgage lenders, marking an escalation of efforts by Wall Street banks to use legal action to purge themselves of bad … Continue reading →

Subprime bailouts come to NJ

Posted on March 29, 2007 by grim
Posted in Risky Lending | 299 Comments

From the Daily Record: N.J. senator wants to aid subprime borrowers A New Jersey state senator wants to create a program to help homeowners refinances mortgages they can’t afford, mirroring a similar plan in Ohio. Sen. Ronald Rice, D-Newark, said … Continue reading →

A new sheriff in town

Posted on March 29, 2007 by grim
Posted in Risky Lending | 7 Comments

From the Ithaca Journal: Schumer: ‘Liar loans’ could cost many in Upstate their homes More than 50,000 Upstate New York families are in danger of losing their homes because unscrupulous lenders sold them “liar loans” offering low mortgage payments that … Continue reading →

Can NJ afford a housing slump?

Posted on March 29, 2007 by grim
Posted in Economics, New Jersey Real Estate | 4 Comments

From Bloomberg: Housing Slump Erodes Budget Gains From Florida to California Florida’s tax receipts are falling for the first time since 1975 as a slump in construction and home sales dims the economy of the Sunshine State. “We’ve been on … Continue reading →

Site performance problems

Posted on March 28, 2007 by grim
Posted in General | 23 Comments

I can only imagine that many of you are frustrated by the site performance issues we’ve been experiencing. For others it’s probably a welcome vacation. Either way, the performance issues are out of my control. These issues are affecting a … Continue reading →

Close to financial ruin

Posted on March 28, 2007 by grim
Posted in New Jersey Real Estate, Risky Lending | 76 Comments

From the NY Times: Behind Foreclosures, Ruined Credit and Hopes After Franklin Abazie fell behind on his mortgage last year, he tucked one of his foreclosure notices, still in its ripped envelope, into the visor of his car — a … Continue reading →

Record foreclosures in NYC neighborhoods

Posted on March 28, 2007 by grim
Posted in Risky Lending | 1 Comment

From the NY Daily News: Set up for a fall In some areas of South Jamaica and Bedford-Stuyvesant, as many as 10 homes per block faced foreclosure last year. The reason: subprime mortgages offered by unscrupulous real estate brokers and … Continue reading →

Lobbyist: Don’t take the punchbowl away

Posted on March 28, 2007 by grim
Posted in Risky Lending | 2 Comments

From the Record: Lobbyist: Don’t get too tough on subprime woes E. Robert Levy, the mortgage industry’s top lobbyist in New Jersey, has been talking lately about the need to simplify disclosures given to consumers on the terms and conditions … Continue reading →

Home prices fall in January

Posted on March 27, 2007 by grim
Posted in Economics, National Real Estate | 44 Comments

From Standard and Poor’s: The New Year Begins With Negative Returns According To The S&P/Case-Shiller® Home Price Indices (PDF) January data released today by Standard & Poor’s for its S&P/Case-Shiller® Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices … Continue reading →

“Buyers just said, ‘No, we’ve had enough.’”

Posted on March 27, 2007 by grim
Posted in New Jersey Real Estate | 130 Comments

From USA Today: Bergen County, N.J.: High-priced insanity levels off Home prices in Bergen County, N.J., across the Hudson River from Manhattan, are still falling — or coming back to earth, as would-be buyers might say. And that means the … Continue reading →

Can we afford open space?

Posted on March 27, 2007 by grim
Posted in New Development, New Jersey Real Estate | Comments Off

From the Courier Post Online: Sales taxes sought to support open space With the fund for securing open space, farmland and historic sites in the state running dry, two South Jersey lawmakers joined environmentalists Monday to garner support for renewing … Continue reading →