Real Estate News

For Landlords, the Numbers Are Starting to Look Better
By M.P. McQueen
The Wall Street Journal
February 19, 2010

Home prices are falling, rents are tumbling, and apartment vacancies are rising. So why are thousands of small investors becoming landlords?

Because real-estate prices have fallen much faster than rents, the math of buying a rental has actually improved substantially in most parts of the country. Money invested in an apartment complex today typically generates annual returns of 7% to 8% right off the bat, up from less than 6% at the peak of the housing bubble in 2006.

This just came into the Note Servicing Center office from NoteWorthy Newsletter at www.noteworthyusa.com

Your government is at it again. Just when we thought seller financing would finally be recognized as an alternative to clogged-up credit markets, it again comes under attack. This time it's HUD's interpretation of the 2008 SAFE Mortgage Licensing Act that requires our immediate attention AND ACTION.

Included below is the verbiage of an e-mail I received earlier today from a member of the national REIA. BE SURE TO READ THE PROPOSED RULES. Then, make your views known by commenting on the www.regulations.gov website.

I just heard today the the FHA was changing some rules. One in particular was that you can buy, fix up and then sell without having to wait 90 days. Has anyone else heard this? This was meant for Arizona I think but not sure. From what I heard it was meant to get more investors buying properties and then reselling the to help boost the real estate market. I think I heard that you could not mark up the property too high to allow the 90 day rule to be oked. Let me know if this is true please or at least let me know where to go to find out for sure.

J Doss
Flagstaff AZ

MCLEAN, Va.—When Charles E. Haldeman Jr. became Freddie Mac's chief executive officer in August, the ailing housing-finance giant had already consumed $51 billion of government money to stay afloat. It's likely to need even more.

Freddie's federal overseers nevertheless have instructed Mr. Haldeman to focus on something that isn't likely to make the bleak balance sheet look any better: carrying out the Obama administration plan to allow defaulted borrowers to hang onto their homes.

Former Fannie CEO Daniel Mudd testifying in 2008, says the U.S. is running Fannie and Freddie 'not as a business.'

The Mess We're In
Two Manhattan professionals, who call the super to change a lightbulb, embark on the renovation of a wrecked Harlem brownstone.
By Julia Angwin
The Wall Street Journal
February 5, 2010

When my husband Vijay and I told family and friends of our plans to gut renovate a ramshackle brownstone in Upper Manhattan, they were understandably shocked.

We are not exactly renovation types.

For most of our adult lives we have lived like graduate students, dragging our Ikea furniture from one rental to the next. We have cheered at bay windows and groaned at broken dishwashers. But in the end, the building handyman has always solved our problems. Embarrassingly, we even call him to change the light bulbs in our apartment!

6 ways to ensure a remodeling project pays off
CNN Money
By Josh Garskof
February 5, 2010

Just a few years ago you could count on getting the bulk of your money back for almost any home-improvement project you took on. Today merely replacing a toilet seat can feel like throwing caution, and cash, to the wind. According to a study from Remodeling magazine, the average return on value for an upgrade declined from 87% in 2005 to 64% in 2009. But these six new rules will help you maximize your return on your remodeling investment.

Rule No. 1: Repairs get the biggest returns

The commercial real estate dilemma
By David Ellis
CNN Money
February 4, 2010

Luckily for banks, the commercial real estate time bomb just keeps on ticking.

Industry observers have issued dire warnings for more than a year, suggesting that lenders are on a collision course with potentially billions of dollars worth of commercial real estate losses.

But for all the gloomy talk, the fallout has remained relatively well contained.

Banks have already recognized about $50 billion in losses, or about 60% of the estimated cumulative losses, according to real estate research firm Foresight Analytics.

The London Real Estate Bubble Is Back—and It's Scary
By Brett Arends
The Wall Street Journal
February 5, 2010

The one-bedroom co-op apartment is only a short walk from Hyde Park, and it boasts high ceilings and a purely decorative balcony.

Yours for a mere $1.5 million. It seems quite a high price, especially for a property whose ground lease will eventually expire, leaving you with nothing.

If you're looking for something bigger, you can get a duplex with two bedrooms in the center of town ... for $3.3 million. And if you're willing to slum it a bit and cross the River Thames to the unfashionable South Bank, you can get a modern three-bedroom apartment with a genuine balcony, and views of the river, for $4 million.

Battling Back, Home Builders Cut Prices, Work Faster
By James R. Hagerty and Dawn Wotapka
The Wall Street Journal
February 3, 2010

Home builders have lost half their share of the U.S. housing market in the past two years, largely because of competition from cheap foreclosed houses. In 2009 only 7.6% of the homes sold were newly constructed, down from the average of about 16% over the previous two decades.

But home builders are fighting back, cutting prices, promising to complete homes faster, and warning about the risks of buying foreclosed property.

Home-Ownership Level Falls to 67.3%
By Sara Murray And Jeff Bater
The Wall Street Journal
February 3, 2010

The percentage of Americans who owned their homes fell at the end of 2009 to the lowest point in nearly a decade, a reflection of continuing troubles in the housing market even as the sector showed signs of stabilizing.

In one upbeat sign, an index of pending sales of previously owned homes increased 1.0% to 96.6 in December, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday, suggesting the housing market is steadying after sharp swings caused by the uncertain fate of a government tax credit.