Nov
5
BANK OF AMERICA TO STOP USING LOAN BROKERS
The Bank of America announced on October 29th that it will stop using loan brokers to originate home loans starting the first of 2008. It is expected that some other large banks may follow suit in coming months. B of A stated that this move will allow it to expand its retail lending channels including its own banking centers and loan officers. Mortgage brokers have historically been involved in about 25% or the loans that the B of A originates. Some other large banks including Washington Mutual and Wells Fargo […]
Oct
29
SHORT SALES IN TODAYS MARKET
SHORT SALES IN TODAYS MARKET With more and more people in trouble with their mortgages, property values down and foreclosures through the roof, short sales are becoming a growing trend. Loss mitigation personnel at the banks are inundated with at up to TEN times the volume of requests they have been accustom to. The process (already long and tedious) has slowed to a crawl. More importantly than even this information is the fact that all of the BAD people have come out of the woodwork as well. Scammers taking […]
Oct
22
DOWNTOWN VS. SUBURBAN RENT GROWTH
The following article published by Torto Wheaton Research, a subsidiary of CBRE (CB Richard Ellis) compares rent growth, vacancies and returns for office developments in downtown and suburban Chicago and draws some interesting conclusions October 12, 2007 DOWNTOWN VS. SUBURBAN RENT GROWTH – THE CASE IN CHICAGO  by Umair Shams, Economist ushams@tortowheatonresearch.com   In trying to obtain the highest returns, real estate investment funds often have to consider whether to narrow their search to downtown or suburban areas. It might seem that because of higher occupancy rates and relatively […]
Oct
17
WHEN DO YOU KNOW YOU HAVE ARRIVED?
WHEN DO YOU KNOW YOU HAVE ARRIVED? I recently picked up another book on real estate investing and have finished the first 100 pages. Nothing new has been forthcoming from those pages . However, many things have refreshed my memory and have been returned to an area of my consciousness where they resided some time ago. At that time (some years ago and some more recently) I was pleased that they were at a heightened consciousness. This was so because they served to motivate and enthuse me to greater […]