Archives: February 2009

Manhattan buyers walking away from deposits of more than $1 million

Posted by: Prashant Gopal on February 27

You'd think that a home buyer who put down a deposit of $1 million would be pretty much locked into a purchase, even in the toughest circumstances. But, as The...

California Home Sales Jump 100%

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on February 26

Existing, single-family home sales increased 100.8 percent in January to a seasonally adjusted rate of 624,940, according to the California Association of Realtors. The statewide median price of an existing...

In California, Prices on Foreclosed Homes May Be Firming

Posted by: Peter Coy on February 26

BusinessWeek's Mara Der Hovanesian reports today on what passes for good news in the housing market. She's attending JPMorgan Chase's annual investor conference in New York. Charlie Scharf, head of...

Economic Woes Top Online Search Terms

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on February 25

Web tracking firm comScore, Inc. released an analysis of changes in Americans’ searching behavior resulting from the economic downturn, based on December 2008 data. Searches for several terms related...

TMZ.com's take on Northern Trust

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on February 24

You know the economy is front and center in the national psyche when TMZ.com, the celebrity gossip site best known for breaking the news of Mel Gibson's drunk driving arrest...

Home Prices Post Record Decline

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on February 24

The latest S&P/Case-Shiller home price index data came out today and the numbers are grim. Data through December 2008 show that prices of existing single family homes across the United...

How Much Our Government Has Lost on TARP

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on February 23

Wow. You think your personal portfolio has taken a hit, check out how much the government has lost so far on the Troubled Asset Recovery Program (TARP). According to an...

Tax Tips for Rental Property

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on February 20

Uggh. Taxes. For those of you doing your taxes this weekend or at least putting the paperwork together here's some tips from the vacation rental Web site www.HomeAway.com. It's...

When the recovery in home building comes, it could be massive

Posted by: Prashant Gopal on February 19

With home building grinding to a halt, some analysts are beginning to discuss the size of the potential recovery. Analysts at Wheaton-Ill.-based First Trust Advisors are predicting that the rate...

Do you qualify for a mortgage bailout?

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on February 18

President Obama and Tresury Secretary Geithner are spending $75 billion to help homeowners stay in their homes. Is there something in there for you? The quickest answer can be...

Mortgage Advice from an Ex-Con

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on February 18

Michael Sichenzia served four years in a New York State penitentiary for mortgage fraud. Today the founder of Deerfield Beach, Florida’s Dynamic Consulting Enterprises has positioned himself as an...

Home Builder Shows Really Small Homes

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on February 17

In this brutal housing market, new home builders are thinking small, small, small. For decades the average size of a U.S. Home had been rising, from 1,700 square feet...

Trump Steps Down from Casino Empire

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on February 13

Leave it to Donald Trump to wait until 6PM on a Friday afternoon to announce he's stepping down from the wobbly casino company that bears his name. Trump Entertainment...

Women Initiate Most Home Purchases

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on February 13

Online real estate agency ZipRealty.com says when it comes to real estate purchases, women wear the pants. In a recent survey, ZipRealty agents report that women initiate the home...

Foreclosure filings drop, Florida is an unlikely Winner

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on February 12

Foreclosure activity dropped 10% from December to January although it's still up 18% from January 2008. New numbers from RealtyTrac show that foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale...

Homewners No Longer in Denial about Home Prices

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on February 12

A new survey from Web site Zillow.com says more than half (57%) of home owners now say that their home lost value in the past year. This is much...

Boston's Hancock Tower, New England's tallest building, is facing foreclosure

Posted by: Prashant Gopal on February 10

It looks like the next wave of foreclosures could come in the commercial real estate market. The big news today is that the iconic 60-story John Hancock Tower is...

CEO to wife: "Take my mansion, please."

Posted by: Prashant Gopal on February 09

Gawker has an interesting piece about corporate titans, such as Lehman Brothers' former CEO Dick Fuld, who have been hiding mansions from creditors by putting them in their wives' names....

35 Homes for $280,000

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on February 09

I can't vouch for the seller, condition of the homes, if this is a good deal or if its a scam. But it certainly is a sign of the times....

WaMu the Movie?

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on February 06

A reader named Bryan informed me of this Web site, apparently someone is making a movie of the downfall of Washington Mutual and collecting the stories of former employees...

Home Prices Fall Even in Wealthy Zip Codes

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on February 05

New numbers provided us by online real estate agent ZipRealty.com shows that the housing slump is begining to pinch prices even in the nation's wealthiest zip codes. In Atherton,...

Landlord offers 10 rent-free months to keep one Manhattan office tenant

Posted by: Prashant Gopal on February 04

New York landlords appear to be going to great lengths to keep office tenants now that the economic crisis is in full swing. Vornado Realty Trust, a New York-based...

Wells Fargo Vegas Blowout Update

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on February 03

In an update to the blog item from 1PM asking how long it would take Wells Fargo to cancel their corporate party in Las Vegas for mortgage brokers, the answer...

Las Vegas Blowout at Wells Fargo

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on February 03

I just saw this Associated Press article about Wells Fargo--beneficiary of $25 billion in federal bailout funds--throwing a corporate junket in Las Vegas for its mortgage brokers. I'm posting this...

19 Million Vacant Homes, Or Are They?

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on February 03

New data out today out today from the U.S. Census bureau suggests one out of every seven homes in the U.S. is vacant. Before you go thinking that a population...

Foreclosure solutions: Salmon on Glaeser on Ellickson

Posted by: Peter Coy on February 03

Recommended reading for today: Felix Salmon's blog post on Ed Glaeser's review in The New Republic of Robert Ellickson's book, The Household: Informal Order around the Hearth. Lots of good...

A New Way To Run Home Auctions

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on February 02

Real estate auctions are all the rage these days as banks and developers need to unload property fast. But William Stevenson, a former executive at the Beverly Hills-based real estate...