Monthly Archives: January 2011

High noon at the O.K. Corral

Posted on January 31, 2011 by grim

From the WSJ: Home Prices Sink Further Home values are falling at an accelerating rate in many cities across the U.S. The Wall Street Journal’s latest quarterly survey of housing-market conditions found that prices declined in all of the 28 … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 135 Comments

Prices lower, mortgage money cheap, but homes still unaffordable for many

Posted on January 30, 2011 by grim

From the Record: Typical home in North Jersey still out of reach for typical household. Mortgage rates are at a rock-bottom 5 percent, and home prices have tumbled as much as 20 percent — making North Jersey homes much more … Continue reading →

Posted in Employment, Housing Bubble, New Jersey Real Estate | 112 Comments

Housing chill cools previously hot markets

Posted on January 28, 2011 by grim

From the NY Times: As Inventory Rises, More Towns Make the ‘Cold’ List REMEMBER when brokers used to say the sales pace in a particular town, neighborhood or ZIP code had turned white-hot or was sizzling? Back in the day … Continue reading →

Posted in Housing Bubble, New Jersey Real Estate | 314 Comments

Calls to scrap failed HAMP program grow louder

Posted on January 27, 2011 by grim

From USA Today: Inspector general: Mortgage modification program a ‘failure’ A mortgage modification program aimed at saving homeowners from foreclosure has failed because regulators are “afraid to rein in or impose penalties on the mortgage servicers” whose record “has been … Continue reading →

Posted in Foreclosures, National Real Estate, Politics, Risky Lending | 161 Comments

Dip 2.0 – Homebuyer credit was a waste of money

Posted on January 26, 2011 by grim

From HousingWire: Housing analysts expect home price declines through 2011 Data firm Radar Logic and consultant Capital Economics said Tuesday that they expect home prices to decline further this year. Their analysis comes in the wake of Tuesday’s The S&P/Case-Shiller … Continue reading →

Posted in Employment, Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 141 Comments

November home prices disappoint, double dip likely

Posted on January 25, 2011 by grim

From CNBC: Price Drop Points to Likely Double Dip in Housing Market Single-family home prices fell for a fifth straight month in November and a double-dip in home prices could be confirmed by spring, a closely watched survey said Tuesday. … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 89 Comments

Property tax rebates coming back, but can we afford them?

Posted on January 25, 2011 by grim

From the Star Ledger: Gov. Christie says he will restore N.J. property tax rebates Gov. Chris Christie said today he will restore property tax rebates that were eliminated in the budget last year. “We’re going to reinstitute the rebate this … Continue reading →

Posted in New Jersey Real Estate, Politics, Property Taxes | 37 Comments

Never saw this one coming

Posted on January 24, 2011 by grim

Not from our area, but I couldn’t help but stop to read this article this morning. From the St. Petersburg Times: Even Habitat for Humanity sometimes has to foreclose Thousands of lenders are filing foreclosure lawsuits all over the country, … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Foreclosures, Mortgages, National Real Estate | 100 Comments

This won’t end well

Posted on January 22, 2011 by grim

From the NY Times: Banks Want Pieces of Fannie-Freddie Pie As the Obama administration prepares a report on the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, some of the nation’s largest banks are offering a few suggestions. Wells Fargo and … Continue reading →

Posted in Mortgages, National Real Estate, Politics | 80 Comments

December existing home sales jump, but still lower than last year

Posted on January 21, 2011 by grim

From Bloomberg: Sales of U.S. Existing Homes Jump More Than Estimated to Seven-Month High Sales of U.S. previously owned homes jumped more than forecast in December as buyers tried to lock in low mortgage rates before the economic recovery pushed … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, National Real Estate | 83 Comments

December not a good month for Jersey jobs

Posted on January 20, 2011 by grim

From New Jersey Newsroom: NJ unemployment sees 16,300 lost jobs in December Another 16,300 New Jerseyans lost their jobs in December In the private sector, 13,300 jobs disappeared while 3,000 government and school jobs were lost. Despite the new horror … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Employment, New Jersey Real Estate | 133 Comments

Settlement in the works for NJ robosigners

Posted on January 19, 2011 by grim

From the NY Post: NJ judge OKs talks for ‘robo-sign’ banks The nation’s six largest mortgage lenders — chastised by a New Jersey judge last month for shoddy foreclosure practices and threatened with the freezing of thousands of foreclosure actions … Continue reading →

Posted in Mortgages, New Jersey Real Estate, Politics | 153 Comments

Two and a half thousand billion? Oh bother.

Posted on January 18, 2011 by grim

From Financial Times: States Warned of $2 Trillion Pensions Shortfall US public pensions face a shortfall of $2,500 billion that will force state and local governments to sell assets and make deep cuts to services, according to the former chairman … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, National Real Estate, Politics | 117 Comments

Unemployment too generous?

Posted on January 17, 2011 by grim

From the Daily Record: Some think NJ’s unemployment program is too generous Speaking as a panelist before the state’s biggest business lobby last month, Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce must have thought his opinion that the state’s unemployment benefits were … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Politics | 136 Comments

Builder screws buyer, buyer gets $7m in court

Posted on January 16, 2011 by grim

From the Daily Record: Developer, agent ordered to pay $7 million for Florham Park, NJ, house sliding down hill Finding that a developer and his construction agent violated state consumer fraud laws, a judge Friday ordered the pair to pay … Continue reading →

Posted in New Development, New Jersey Real Estate | 54 Comments