Monthly Archives: March 2013

Greedy Banksters can’t stop picking on Helpless Victims

Posted on March 29, 2013 by grim

From HousingWire, a pawn of the real-estate-industrial-complex: Borrower spends on lingerie … should they get a loan mod? During the course of foreclosures when parties are discussing or attempting loss mitigation, borrowers submit financial records for lenders and servicers to … Continue reading →

Posted in Mortgages, Risky Lending, Unrest | 108 Comments

Economists up forecasts for 2013 price growth

Posted on March 28, 2013 by grim

From the WSJ: Home Prices Seen Making Stronger Gains in 2013 Many housing analysts underestimated the severity of the home price crash when the downturn began seven years ago. Now, many are racing to keep up with the current rebound. … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Housing Recovery, National Real Estate | 143 Comments

Shiller: “Definitely we’re seeing more evidence of a rebirth of the housing market”

Posted on March 27, 2013 by grim

From Reuters: Location crucial for the U.S. housing recovery By one measure, the U.S. housing market turned a significant corner early this year: Prices are on the rise everywhere. For the first time since the bottom fell out of residential … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Housing Recovery, National Real Estate | 107 Comments

Housing ATM open for business?

Posted on March 26, 2013 by grim

From Bloomberg: Home Value Highest Since ’07 as U.S. Houses Make Cash More American homeowners will be able to use their properties as cash machines again after real estate equity jumped last year by the most in 65 years. Property … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Housing Recovery, Risky Lending | 135 Comments

Meet your new neighbors

Posted on March 25, 2013 by grim

From the WSJ: Investors Pile Into Housing, This Time as Landlords U.S. housing recoveries almost always have been ignited by rising demand from families and individuals looking for a place to live. This recovery is different. Investors—including some big Wall … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Housing Recovery, National Real Estate | 58 Comments

Freeze up – and I’m not talking about the weather

Posted on March 23, 2013 by grim

From the Street: Manhattan Housing Inventory Vanishes In the tiny island of Manhattan, supply of homes has always been limited and homeownership has been the privilege of a lucky few. But the supply-demand dynamic in the city is now so … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Housing Recovery, National Real Estate | 87 Comments

Temporary blip or finally some real inventory?

Posted on March 22, 2013 by grim

From CNBC: Finally, More Homes for Sale For the first time in over six months, the supply of homes for sale is beginning to rise. While inventories are still down nearly 20 percent from a year ago, they did rise … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Housing Recovery, National Real Estate | 128 Comments

Best spring market since 2007?

Posted on March 21, 2013 by grim

From HousingWire: Freddie Mac predicts healthiest housing spring since 2007 Continued low mortgage rates, increased house prices and improving consumer confidence are all factors contributing to increased home sales heading into the spring homebuying season, according to Freddie Mac’s March … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Housing Recovery, National Real Estate | 126 Comments

NJ adds 59,100 jobs in 2012, still a long way to go

Posted on March 19, 2013 by grim

From the APP: NJ’s 2012 job growth was strongest in a dozen years, despite Sandy New Jersey’s job market withstood the shock of superstorm Sandy in 2012 to post its strongest annual growth since the waning days of high-tech bubble … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Housing Recovery, New Jersey Real Estate | 179 Comments

Home equity up, mortgage debt down

Posted on March 18, 2013 by grim

From the LA Times: Many underwater homeowners are coming up for air Home equity is back, and it’s growing fast. According to the latest data from the Federal Reserve, Americans’ net equity in their houses jumped nearly $500 billion during … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Housing Recovery, National Real Estate | 101 Comments

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Wreck

Posted on March 16, 2013 by grim

From the NYT: Home Buyers Seek Manhattan Wrecks For people scrambling to make their way in the real estate market, there are many routes, and one of the most adventurous involves buying what brokers often describe as wrecks (fixer-upper is … Continue reading →

Posted in National Real Estate | 73 Comments

Can the early Spring trend be sustained? Or will low inventory kill it?

Posted on March 15, 2013 by grim

From Realtor.com: Spring Home Buying Season Starts Early According to realtor.com®’s February Trend Data Realtor.com’s February 2013 national housing data indicates that listing inventories increased 1.15 percent month-over-month; median age of inventory was at 98 days, a 9.26 percent decrease … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Housing Recovery, National Real Estate | 91 Comments

Foreclosures improve nationally, local markets not so rosy

Posted on March 14, 2013 by grim

From MarketWatch: The number of U.S. properties with foreclosure filings fell 25% in February from a year earlier as U.S. bank reposessions dropped to a 65-month low, according to market researcher RealtyTrac. There were 154,281 U.S. properties with default notices, … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Foreclosures, National Real Estate | 57 Comments

I think she just called you lazy … and boring.

Posted on March 13, 2013 by grim

From HousingWire: Millennials prefer a ‘fixer-upper’ to a cookie cutter home The Millennials, recently deemed the next generation of homebuyers, have earned a new nickname for themselves: the Fix-It Generation. According to a national survey released by Better Homes and … Continue reading →

Posted in Demographics, Economics, National Real Estate | 166 Comments

Thank the Rich

Posted on March 12, 2013 by grim

From NJ Spotlight: Christie’s Luck: Income Tax Surge Bails Out Budget Three months ago, Gov. Chris Christie’s budget was in deep trouble. His revenue forecasts for FY2012 and FY2013 had come up a total of $750 million short. Standard & … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, New Jersey Real Estate, Politics, Property Taxes | 131 Comments