The Real Estate consulting company, Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, sees some positive signs in the housing market. They site their optimism on housing starts posting monthly increases and single family permits posting a positive gain in April. One thing of note is the comment about housing affordability being the highest it has been in years. This is a fancy way of saying homes are cheaper than they’ve been in a long long time, and as investors we like cheap houses. While March housing data showed that the sales environment for […]
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Chief Economist Speaks on Real Estate Market
May 16, 2008 in RESIDENTIAL R.E.
Some interesting thoughts came out of a meeting where the National Association of Realtors’ Chief Economist, Lawrence Yun spoke. He was on-point talking about very relevant topics facing the real estate market, namely, pricing, sales numbers, lending industry and the overall economic picture. Home Sales, Prices Seen Rising in Late ’08 First, the good news: home sales have stabilized over the last seven months and should increase slightly in the second half of 2008, NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun told a crowd of REALTORS® at NAR’s Midyear Legislative Meetings & […]
WHEN THE BANK FREEZES YOUR LINE OF CREDIT
May 15, 2008 in COMMERCIAL R.E., RESIDENTIAL R.E.
When the Bank Freezes Your Line of Credit By JUNE FLETCHER May 15, 2008 FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Across the U.S., sellers with good credit who have never been late on a mortgage payment are getting their home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) frozen or downgraded. Major lenders like Bank of America, Citibank, Countrywide Financial Corp., Washington Mutual Bank and USAA have announced that they’re cutting back HELOCs in areas where home prices have taken a hit. But judging by a recent post about HELOCs on WSJ.com’s Developments blog […]
YES! YOU CAN USE YOUR RETIREMENT FUNDS TO BUY REAL ESTATE
May 15, 2008 in COMMERCIAL R.E., RESIDENTIAL R.E., Step 07: Fund Your Deals
Yes! You Can Use Your Retirement Funds to Buy Real Estate by J. J. Childers Many people are surprised to learn that a retirement plan such as an IRA or 401(k) has the flexibility to own real estate. If you’re one of those people, don’t feel bad. You’re certainly not alone! Currently, more than 90 percent of all retirement plans hold nothing but “traditionalâ€? assets such as stocks, bonds and mutual funds. That makes sense when you consider that the people who set up retirement plans are usually the same […]