Why Don’t Lenders Do More Short-Sales?
The concept of short-sales is all the rage now. Guru after guru is offering learning materials and boot camps and all manner of expensive fluff because this is the latest buzz.
Real investors have been doing short-sales with lenders for as long as there have been lenders and borrowers. It isn’t new and the lender is [...]
Sometimes Even Hedge Funds Get It Wrong
Seems that more than a few hedge funds were betting against the sub-prime mortgage backed securities. I guess they forgot the options available to the underwriters…
http://www.realestatejournal.com/indinvestor/20070608-kelly.html
http://www.realestatejournal.com/indinvestor/20070613-kelly.html
Why Do Some People Loathe Real Estate Investors?
Okay, besides that whole comparison to used car salesmen and such. I’m not really talking about the image, I’m talking about the reality.
Yesterday, I was talking to someone in a casual setting in a public place. They asked what I did for a living and I told them. I didn’t mention investing at all in [...]
Interest Rate Cuts are (still) Off the Table and Increases by the Federal Reserve are VERY Unlikely Before the End of 2007
The stock and bond markets are turning bearish, real estate has not started to recover. Inflation is still straining against the restraints the Fed has placed on it. But, the economy is growing and the unemployment rate is amazingly stable.
The experts who were proclaiming the imminent lowering of rates by the Federal Reserve are now [...]
When I Was Young, I Was A Democrat…
My first college roommate probably wouldn’t recognize me today. I am not the person I was then. At that time I was a very left wing liberal democrat. My first opportunity to vote in a Presidential election was in 1980 and I voted for Carter. Yes, the man I now consider to safely be one [...]
Don’t You Wish People Really Understood the Statistics They Cite?
How do you measure the credibility of a site? By the quality and accuracy of its content of course! But, isn’t interpretation of that content important too?
I don’t think it is a secret to anyone that I’m dubious of much of the “chicken little” type of reporting about the current housing correction. I showed in [...]
National Home Prices Have Suffered Their First Real Decrease Since 1991
The Standard and Poor’s Case-Shiller Index is the gold standard on home prices. The methodology is very sound and you can read it by clicking here if you like. One of the reasons it is the gold standard is the way they track the individual and composite numbers. The latest index show a 1.4% decline [...]
Some Say They are Going Up, Some Say They are Going Down. But, What is likely to happen to interest rates?
The Options Market at the Chicago Board of Trade is predicting an increase in the funds rate by the Federal Reserve. They see a 41% chance the rate will increase 0.25% to 5.5% in December of this year. Interestingly, as late as a month ago they were predicting a possible decrease in the rate!
But, inflation [...]
