Feb
19
MORTGAGE MARKET MELTDOWN UPDATE
February 18, 2008 The Place We Never Suspected the Credit Crisis to Spread Posted by Erin Brereton on July 15, 2007 When homeowner-related credit issues began, they involved subprime borrowers–people with less than perfect credit–prompting criticism when the government stepped in with its Hope Now program to help those homeowners avoid foreclosure. Some asked, why should we help homebuyers who over extended themselves? Isn’t that their problem? Well, according to a recent New York Times article, it’s now everybody’s problem. Decreased home prices and stricter lending standards have pushed some […]
Feb
19
INTERESTING MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE DATA
Interesting Data by David Bodamer February 5th, 2008 I’ve been at the MBA’s Commercial Real Estate Finance/Multifamily Housing Convention and Expo in Orlando. I intend to gather my thoughts and put a long post up in a day or so rounding up what I’ve seen and heard. For now, I thought I’d share a couple of charts that I found astounding, in terms of illustrating how small a piece of the residential market subprime loans represent. It’s amazing because that small piece has caused larger problems. It’s also amazing because […]
Feb
19
MORTGAGE BANKER’S ASSOCIATION OPTIMISTIC
MORTGAGE BANKER’S CONFERENCE’S OPENING SESSION PLACES POSITIVE SPIN ON CREDIT TURMOIL Published: February 05, 2008 By Keat Foong, Executive Editor Orlando, Fla.–While uncertainty swirls over the credit crisis in the financial markets, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Commercial Real Estate Finance/Multifamily Housing Convention & Expo opened on a note of good spirits, evident in the general session address by Kieran Quinn, MBA chairman. Quinn said the “golden ageâ€? of real estate finance, characterized by abundant capital and the lowest interest and cap rates in the memory of many players, came […]
Dec
31
PETS IN RENTAL HOUSING
PETS IN RENTAL HOUSING A March 2007 survey of apartment renters by www.Apartments.com found that 84.4% of the renters surveyed owned a pet. Some major apartment property owners such as Forest City and Lincoln Property Co. are taking note of this and acknowledgeing that pet owners love their pets and, in many cases, have trouble finding apartments that will accept pets. Some of these apartment owners are adopting the attitude that they want to be pet friendly in order to attract more tenants. One apartment owner has even gone so […]