Monthly Archives: December 2007

“The plan won’t help much here, and the problem is going to get worse.”

Posted on December 17, 2007 by grim
Posted in Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 169 Comments

From the Wall Street Journal: Mortgage-Relief Plan Divides Neighbors Protection Is Spotty In Southern California; The Oropezas Pack Up By JONATHAN KARP December 17, 2007 A mortgage-relief plan being pushed by the government is supposed to help debt-laden homeowners across … Continue reading →

Too little, too late.

Posted on December 17, 2007 by grim
Posted in General | 10 Comments

From the Journal News: The road to ruin The tales of woe keep coming. A Peekskill woman overspends fixing up a condominium; she puts it on the market just as real estate sales slow. Now she can’t sell or repay … Continue reading →

Weekend Open Discussion Part II

Posted on December 15, 2007 by grim
Posted in General | 198 Comments

Now Open, Part II! Prior weekend thread closed due to comment overflow.

Weekend Open Discussion

Posted on December 14, 2007 by grim
Posted in General | 362 Comments

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

“We’re only halfway through the housing shock”

Posted on December 14, 2007 by grim
Posted in Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 4 Comments

From Bloomberg: Housing Crash Deepens in 2008 as U.S. Realtors See Record Drop For U.S. homeowners, builders, bankers and realtors, the crash of 2007 will only get worse in 2008. Everyone from mortgage-finance company Fannie Mae to Lehman Brothers Holdings … Continue reading →

30Y Fixed @ 21.99% !!!

Posted on December 13, 2007 by grim
Posted in General, National Real Estate, Risky Lending | 268 Comments

From the Wall Street Journal: Of Victims and Mortgages December 13, 2007; Page A22 There are bad ideas to address the mortgage meltdown, and then there are ideas so awful that they even have Democrats rebelling against their powerful House … Continue reading →

Mortgage industry facing dramatic changes

Posted on December 13, 2007 by grim
Posted in Housing Bubble, National Real Estate, Risky Lending | 1 Comment

From Inman News: Senate Democrats propose new restrictions on mortgage lenders Senate Democrats have rolled out a bill that, like legislation passed by the House last month, is aimed at preventing mortgage brokers from steering borrowers into higher-cost loans in … Continue reading →

Nixon home torn down

Posted on December 13, 2007 by grim
Posted in National Real Estate, New Jersey Real Estate | Comments Off

From the Record: Nixon Saddle River estate torn down The former home of Richard M. Nixon, once the hub of his post-presidential life but mold-riddled and dilapidated in recent years, was leveled by demolition workers Wednesday. The eight-bedroom, wood-frame house … Continue reading →

Greenspan on Housing, Credit, and Bubbles

Posted on December 12, 2007 by grim
Posted in Economics, Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 345 Comments

From the Wall Street Journal: The Roots of the Mortgage Crisis By ALAN GREENSPAN December 12, 2007; Page A19 On Aug. 9, 2007, and the days immediately following, financial markets in much of the world seized up. Virtually overnight the … Continue reading →

Mortgage industry fallout not over

Posted on December 12, 2007 by grim
Posted in Housing Bubble, National Real Estate, Risky Lending | 1 Comment

From BusinessWeek: Mortgage Mess Gets Messier Sometimes bad news comes in threes. While the Federal Reserve cut interest rates Dec. 11 to ease the financial and housing crises, the market was confronted with yet more evidence of the damage these … Continue reading →

RE Agent Commissions Fall

Posted on December 12, 2007 by grim
Posted in Economics, National Real Estate | 2 Comments

From the Record: Agent commissions to total $56B Real estate agents will collect a total of more than $56 billion in commissions this year, according to estimates from the Web site ForSaleByOwner.com. That’s down from $65 billion last year and … Continue reading →

“The reality is, markets have gotten worse in a way they couldn’t have expected”

Posted on December 11, 2007 by grim
Posted in Economics, National Real Estate | 283 Comments

From Bloomberg: Fed May Cut Interest Rates, Leave Door Open for Further Action The Federal Reserve will probably cut interest rates today and lay the ground for more to prevent the economy from sliding into recession. The Federal Open Market … Continue reading →

The end of the Asbury rebirth?

Posted on December 11, 2007 by grim
Posted in Housing Bubble, New Development, New Jersey Real Estate | 25 Comments

From the APP: A blip in beachfront boom The Hoboken developer building the 224-unit Esperanza high-rise on the city’s beachfront says it is temporarily closing down the construction site and sales office. Dean Geibel, president of Metro Homes, said the … Continue reading →

Changes at the GSEs

Posted on December 11, 2007 by grim
Posted in Economics, National Real Estate, Risky Lending | 2 Comments

Freddie, Fed Try to Limit Damage Mortgage Investor to Trim Purchases of Late Loans; Regulator Targets Practices By JAMES R. HAGERTY and DAMIAN PALETTA December 11, 2007; Page A3 Regulators and government-backed mortgage investors are struggling to contain damage from … Continue reading →

“Does it come to an end with a bang or whimper?”

Posted on December 10, 2007 by grim
Posted in Economics, Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 137 Comments

From the Wall Street Journal: U.S. Mortgage Crisis Rivals S&L Meltdown Toll of Economic Shocks May Linger for Years; A Global Credit Crunch By GREG IP , MARK WHITEHOUSE and AARON LUCCHETTI December 10, 2007; Page A1 The home has … Continue reading →