Archives: November 2008

Lessons from Japan's Banking Crisis

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on November 28

I just read an analysis from bond rating agency Standard & Poor's about how Japan dealt with its banking crisis in the early 1990s. From 1994 to 2003, 180...

Plymouth vs. Jamestown, Battle of the Colonies

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on November 27

Okay we fell for this. The real estate information site Cyberhomes shot us a comparison of the two earliest U.S. settlements, Jamestown, Virginia and Plymouth, Mass. Cyberhomes looked at which...

The link between residents' enthusiasm for their cities and economic growth

Posted by: Prashant Gopal on November 27

A new Gallup study suggests that cities with loyal, passionate citizens are more likely to be economically vibrant. The three-year study, funded by the John S. and James L. Knight...

Hovnanian Debt Offer Rejected

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on November 26

Hovnanian, the big New Jersey-based homebuilder, got a big no thanks from its bond holders this week. The company had tried to reduce its massive $1.6 billion debt load by...

Latest Case-Shiller Numbers Show Steep Slide

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on November 25

The S&P/Case-Sheller index came out today and the news is not very good. In the national index, prices were down 16% from the third quarter 2007 to the same period...

Housing industry wants a big government bailout

Posted by: Prashant Gopal on November 24

Bailouts are in fashion. The financial industry got one. The automakers have their hands out. Now the National Association of Home Builders and the National Association of Realtors are pushing...

Chain of Blame Book Review

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on November 24

If you looking for a book to read this Thanksgiving weekend to help you make sense of this whole mess we are in, I recommend Chain of Blame by Paul...

Should You Stop Making Your Mortgage Payments?

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on November 21

A debate has sprung up in the San Francisco Chronicle and on other blogs about whether it’s right for homeowners to deliberately stop making payments in order to qualify for...

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae planning a foreclosure holiday

Posted by: Prashant Gopal on November 20

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are putting a temporary halt to foreclosure sales and evictions of occupied single-family homes during the holiday season. It’s not just that the government-controlled mortgage...

If the home builders are nervous, what does that mean for the rest of us?

Posted by: Prashant Gopal on November 19

The builders are about as pessimistic as they've ever been. Yesterday, we learned that the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, which tracks builder sentiment, fell to...

Paulson and Bair's Dueling Foreclosure Strategies

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on November 18

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and FDIC Chairwoman Shelia Bair battled it out on Capitol Hill today over competing plans for the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Plan funds. House...

Squatters "Hold Houses Ransom"

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on November 18

Many weird stories have popped up at a result of the real estate bust, but none stranger than this recent item from California's Riverside Press-Enterprise. A character named King Solomon...

Robert Shiller (and me) on housing

Posted by: Dean Foust on November 14

A shameless plug here that I participated in a 30-minute segment on the "state of the housing market" on NPR's Talk of the Nation show yesterday, along with noted Yale...

Searching for the Bottom at the Home Builders' Show

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on November 14

I visited the Building Industry Association of Southern California’s annual trade show in Long Beach, Calif. yesterday. This is the big show for Southern California homebuilders, where suppliers of...

Why it's so hard to sell a house: REOs and short sales

Posted by: Peter Coy on November 13

If you are trying to sell a house, this chart might make it hard for you to sleep tonight. It shows what you're up against. The figures come from...

What will soak up excess housing? Time

Posted by: Peter Coy on November 13

Bill Conerly at Seeking Alpha has a good post today about how to deal with the excess housing supply. In a nutshell, he says helping people move from renting to...

CalPERS Real Estate Investments Take A Beating

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on November 13

The $189 billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the largest and most closely watched pension fund in the country, has revealed a huge hit to its real estate portfolio. Its...

Look closely at California's foreclosure rate drop and you'll see a new state law clouding the picture.

Posted by: Prashant Gopal on November 13

You might be surprised to learn that the California foreclosure rate actually decreased by 18% in October compared to September, according to RealtyTrac’s new report. But the news isn’t necessarily...

Modifying mortgages is just a band-aid

Posted by: Dean Foust on November 11

The flurry of announcements by the government and major banks that they are engaging in a massive campaign to modify mortgages that are in or are hurtling toward default and...

Buying Foreclosed Homes--Stories from the Trenches

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on November 10

There was a great story in the Los Angeles Times yesterday about the reporter's struggles to buy a home in foreclosure. I was particularly fascinated by what appears to be...

Business Week's Most Powerful Property Web Site

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on November 07

I'm not normally one to toot my own horn, but in this case...toot, toot, toot. My colleages and I were named the world's most powerful property people by Global edge,...

ZipRealty will post customer-satisfaction scores for its agents

Posted by: Prashant Gopal on November 05

ZipRealty, the national real estate brokerage that gives rebates to buyers and commission discounts to sellers, will begin posting customer satisfaction ratings for its agents on its Web site starting...

Washington Debates Loan Modification Proposals

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on November 04

Is the grand plan by FDIC Chairman Shelia Barr in trouble? Bair has been promoting a plan to use $50 billion of the Treasury’s $700 billion bailout funds to guarantee...

Where the Candidates Stand on Housing

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on November 04

It's Election Day. For those still undecided, haven't voted, or otherwise concerened here's where the two presidential candidates stand on housing issues. Barack Obama wants the Federal Reserve to...

Realtor.com's Pricey New Look

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on November 03

Realtor.com, the first real estate search site and official online arm of the National Association of Realtors, got a new look last week. The company says the redesign makes...