Monthly Archives: April 2007

South Jersey pending sales fall in March

Posted on April 30, 2007 by grim

From Prudential Fox & Roach (no link): Unseasonably Cold Weather Leads to Dip in Southern New Jersey Real Estate Market According to The Prudential Fox & Roach, REALTORS® HomExpert Pending Home Sales Index©, the number of sales under contract was … Continue reading →

Posted in South Jersey Real Estate | 18 Comments

The “spring bounce-back” has stalled

Posted on April 30, 2007 by grim

From the Record: Weathering the housing slump We’ve come a long way since the giddy heights of 2005, when the real estate market peaked. Homeowners have seen their once-spiraling house values plummet back to earth. Sellers dreaming of cashing in … Continue reading →

Posted in Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 130 Comments

Is the economy really doing “just fine”?

Posted on April 30, 2007 by grim

From Bloomberg: Housing? What Housing? I Don’t See Any Housing: Caroline Baum Excluding housing, the U.S. economy is doing just fine. That’s the latest rationalization of a select group of operators who think that the Bush administration’s 4.6 percentage point … Continue reading →

Posted in Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 5 Comments

Little banks and billion dollar brokers

Posted on April 30, 2007 by grim

From the Philly Inquirer: Mortgage loans are going global If you get a home mortgage from Abington Community Bank in Jenkintown, chances are the money will come from deposits kept there by other residents of Philadelphia’s northern suburbs. The 140-year-old … Continue reading →

Posted in Risky Lending | Comments Off on Little banks and billion dollar brokers

Bet the house.. Lost the house..

Posted on April 30, 2007 by grim

From Newsday: Their homes hang in the balance Thomas and Joy Geist have lived in the same house in East Meadow for more than 50 years. Their home is the focal point of their family, the place where children and … Continue reading →

Posted in Risky Lending | 2 Comments

Weekend Open Discussion

Posted on April 29, 2007 by grim

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 →

Posted in General | 363 Comments

Welcome back prepayment penalties

Posted on April 29, 2007 by grim

Very interesting story out of the Asbury Park Press this morning: Prepayment of home loan can be costly As most of your know, loan pre-payment penalties are not allowed in New Jersey. These penalties, as the name implies, require that … Continue reading →

Posted in New Jersey Real Estate, Risky Lending | 1 Comment

Equity Protection?

Posted on April 29, 2007 by grim

From the NY Times: A New Law May Hurt More Than It Helps NEW YORK STATE’S Home Equity Theft Prevention Act, which took effect on Feb. 1, is meant to protect homeowners who have defaulted on their mortgages from predators … Continue reading →

Posted in National Real Estate | 1 Comment

Rags to riches and back

Posted on April 29, 2007 by grim

From the Staten Island Advance: Dream House to debt nightmare Helen Rice-Lyles was staying at a homeless shelter in Queens when she got a call from a broker who told her he could help her buy a house on Staten … Continue reading →

Posted in Housing Bubble, National Real Estate, Risky Lending | 2 Comments

“Underwater epidemic”

Posted on April 28, 2007 by grim

From BusinessWeek: Why This Slump Is Different First comes the reminder notice that a borrower is late on the mortgage payment. Then the phone calls start. Later a brochure arrives, maybe even a DVD, explaining the homeowner’s options. Around month … Continue reading →

Posted in Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 4 Comments

The sting of reassessment

Posted on April 28, 2007 by grim

From the Wall Street Journal: Homeowners Wage a Tax Rebellion Rising Property-Value Assessments Drive Up Appeals as House Prices Decline By JEFF D. OPDYKE April 28, 2007; Page B1 Falling home prices and rising property-tax assessments are fueling a grass-roots … Continue reading →

Posted in New Development, Property Taxes | 10 Comments

Are consumers less likely to spend?

Posted on April 27, 2007 by grim

From Bloomberg: Consumer Spending May Take a Hit as U.S. Home Prices Decline Carol Francis says her customers are less likely to make big furniture purchases these days than they were at the height of the housing boom two years … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, National Real Estate | 8 Comments

New Jersey losing to competition

Posted on April 27, 2007 by grim

From the Morris Daily Record: Economic forum: N.J. must become more business-friendly New Jersey must become more business-friendly and create more jobs, especially in its northern region, to avoid losing out to more affordable states and to global competition. That … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics | 4 Comments

Regulators demand foreclosure leniency

Posted on April 27, 2007 by grim

From Reuters: U.S. regulators have way to deal with subprime mess U.S. regulators who failed to restrain excessive lending in the subprime mortgage market may be able help defaulting borrowers from losing their homes by persuading banks to avoid rushing … Continue reading →

Posted in National Real Estate, Risky Lending | 2 Comments

The piggy bank is tapped out

Posted on April 26, 2007 by grim

From the Wall Street Journal: Home Equity Stalls As Housing Market Cools and Rates Rise, Owners Grow Wary Of Tapping Lines of Credit; How Banks Are Courting Borrowers By RUTH SIMON April 26, 2007; Page D1 After years of piling … Continue reading →

Posted in National Real Estate, Risky Lending | 182 Comments