Monthly Archives: April 2013

First round of Sandy aid approved

Posted on April 30, 2013 by grim

From the Star Ledger: Feds approve New Jersey’s plan to spend $1.8 billion in Sandy aid Marking six months since Hurricane Sandy’s landfall on the Jersey Shore, officials announced today that the federal government has signed off on more than … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, New Jersey Real Estate, Politics, Shore Real Estate | 121 Comments

The other foreclosure crisis

Posted on April 29, 2013 by grim

From the WSJ: Warning: Property Foreclosures Ahead Many small firms that own commercial property are facing big trouble. The problem is simple: Banks typically re-evaluate commercial mortgages every five to 10 years. At that point, they can renew the loans, … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Foreclosures | 96 Comments

Taibbi – Foreclosure review a sham

Posted on April 27, 2013 by grim

From the Rolling Stone: While Wronged Homeowners Got $300 Apiece in Foreclosure Settlement, Consultants Who Helped Protect Banks Got $2 Billion The obscene greed-and-arrogance stories emanating from Wall Street are piling up so fast, it’s getting hard to keep up. … Continue reading →

Posted in Foreclosures, Politics, Risky Lending | 34 Comments

CNBC Channels JJ – The Rich Got Cash

Posted on April 26, 2013 by grim

From CNBC: Stocks Widen Gap Between Rich and the Rest: Study At the early stages of the recovery, the wealthy rebounded while the rest floundered. One study found that in 2010, 93 percent of the economic gains in the United … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Housing Recovery, National Real Estate | 61 Comments

The New American Household?

Posted on April 25, 2013 by grim

From the FT: Immigrants boost US housing recovery Home ownership in the US fell to a 17-year low of 65.3 per cent in the third quarter of last year, but among immigrant households – accounting for existing families and new … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Housing Recovery, National Real Estate | 119 Comments

What’s Normal?

Posted on April 24, 2013 by grim

From the WSJ: Housing Sector 56% Back to Normal If the housing recovery were a home, the foundation, framing, roof, windows and siding would all be in place. Now the industry has to complete the second half of its return … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Housing Recovery, National Real Estate | 88 Comments

Housing Investor Claims Investors Aren’t Driving Housing

Posted on April 23, 2013 by grim

Bullshit? From Bloomberg: Investors Aren’t Driving the Housing Recovery, Chang Says The U.S. housing recovery is being driven more by buyers seeking a place to live than by investors, said Oliver Chang, a former Morgan Stanley analyst and proponent of … Continue reading →

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

March Existing Home Sales

Posted on April 22, 2013 by grim

From Bloomberg: Sales of U.S. Existing Homes Probably Climbed for Third Month Sales of previously owned U.S. homes probably rose in March for a third month to reach the highest level since late 2009, further evidence of an improving real-estate … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Housing Recovery, National Real Estate | 54 Comments

Good deals in Newark?

Posted on April 20, 2013 by grim

From the Star Ledger: Newark sells off dozens of foreclosed properties in city auction The sing-songy voice of the auctioneer echoed across the Terrace Ballroom at Newark Symphony Hall as hopeful property owners clutched their catalogs and filed in and … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Foreclosures | 35 Comments

NJ adds 8,100 jobs, Unemployment falls to 9%

Posted on April 18, 2013 by grim

From the Record: New Jersey added 8,100 jobs in March New Jersey added 8,100 jobs in March, and the jobless rate declined to 9 percent, the monthly jobs report released today shows. The state added 10,400 private jobs, and lost … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, New Jersey Real Estate | 132 Comments

April Beige Book

Posted on April 17, 2013 by grim

From the Fed: Beige Book – April 17, 2013 Second District–New York Construction and Real Estate Residential real estate markets in the District have shown increasingly widespread signs of improvement in recent weeks. New York City apartment rents, which had … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Housing Recovery, New Jersey Real Estate | 71 Comments

Regrets, I’ve had a few. But then again, too few to mention.

Posted on April 17, 2013 by grim

From US News: Spring Housing Market: Eager Buyers, Patient Sellers More than half of Americans have at least one regret when it comes to buying or renting a home, according to real estate information site Trulia, which surveyed more than … Continue reading →

Posted in National Real Estate | 86 Comments

What’s behind NJ’s foreclosure backlog?

Posted on April 16, 2013 by grim

From Fortune: Behind the foreclosure surge in New York, New Jersey Just as most of us believe we’ve seen the worst of the housing market’s collapse, two unlikely states are only now getting hit with a wave of foreclosures: New … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Foreclosures, Housing Recovery, New Jersey Real Estate | 63 Comments

Shiller’s take on home price dynamics

Posted on April 15, 2013 by grim

From the NYT: Why Home Prices Change (or Don’t) WHAT prices will today’s home buyers get if they sell a decade from now? Most people live in their home for many years. They don’t need to view it as an … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Housing Bubble, Housing Recovery, National Real Estate | 108 Comments

Zandi goes all in

Posted on April 13, 2013 by grim

From the Washington Post: To boost housing market, policymakers need to get credit to the creditworthy

Posted in National Real Estate, Politics, Risky Lending | 55 Comments