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Posted
Jun 10 2009, 04:00 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Housing inventory came down a bit in May, but not enough to put a real foundation on faltering home prices. ZipRealty reported “the supply of homes available for sale in 28 major metropolitan areas at the end of May was down 3.9% from a month earlier.”
ZipRealty figures do not include many houses in foreclosure because banks have not put all of them on the market.
The slight improvement in home inventory is misleading. There is no evidence that home prices have stopped falling. Government figures show that even homeowners who renegotiate mortgage payments to lower amount end up defaulting in record numbers. Unemployment is likely to hit 10% by Labor Day and many economists expect it to stay at that level into next year. Rising joblessness almost certainly means more abandonment of homes.
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Posted
Mar 10 2008, 11:03 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
We're all for you making some extra income, so we're directing you to an innovative tool on the Internet. ParkatmyHouse.com could help you earn some cash from that underused part of your real estate known as the driveway. This British-based Web site has recently expanded its service to the good old USA. ParkatmyHouse.com connects people who need a place to park with those whose driveways or garages sit empty.
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Posted
Jul 20 2008, 10:47 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Do you want to purchase a Cape Cod with an asphalt front yard and an abundance of broken beer bottles and cigarette butts all about? Please, please buy this house and become the new neighbor of "Brainy Smurf," the blogger at Pants in a Can. You can't be any worse than the people who have the house up for sale. You'd think the very existence of these people would be enough to drive property values down (although, due to other factors, Brainy's property taxes have gone up).
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Posted
Dec 15 2008, 05:05 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
What's the best route as you near retirement: Use extra money to pay off the mortgage or pad your investments? That question deserves a new look in light of the economic events of 2008, argues Mr. GoTo, a baby boomer and blogger who comes down on the side of paying off the house. The No. 1 reason: A guaranteed rate of return of 6% (or whatever your mortgage rate is) tax-free. "Compare that to what we have experienced in the markets recently," Mr. GoTo says.
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Posted
Aug 12 2009, 10:16 AM
by
Jim Jubak
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 Psst! Want to make some money from the collapse in commercial real estate? Here’s a fund manager who knows how.
The commercial real estate sector is in chaos. And the market is still collapsing, with delinquencies on commercial mortgages still climbing (see this post).
You'd think there would be money to be made out of that situation if you can pick the winners and avoid the soon-to-go-bust. And you'd be right.
Bing: The commercial real estate market
I don't have any faith in my own ability to sort through the haystack of commercial real estate stocks, trusts, partnerships, and what not. I know I don't have the experience or the contacts in real estate to separate the sinking ships that will indeed go to the bottom from the sinking ships that will ultimately survive the storm.
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Posted
May 05 2008, 06:15 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Google rules the search world in all but one important country. China not only has the largest population in the world, it has the largest number of people online totaling 221 million users. It passed the US last month for total number of internet citizens. At some point China could have 500 million people on the worldwide web, more than double the US.
Google's share of the search market in China is only 25%. Local search engine Baidu has 60%.
Baidu is a very small company when put along side Google. Revenue at the Chinese company many hit $200 million this year. Operating income might be $60 million. Google's revenue will be well over $20 billion this year. Operating income should be almost $10 billion. Still, Google can't make progress in China.
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Posted
Nov 28 2007, 03:08 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Debt-free is a term that's bandied about in personal-finance blogs; it usually means free from consumer debt like credit card and medical bills. Freemoneyfinance really is debt-free. He paid off a house in five years, sold it and bought his next home with cash, and hasn't had a mortgage payment in 10 years. In a guest post at Get Rich Slowly , he describes in detail how he did it . Some people would disagree with his approach, saying he'd be better off if he had invested the extra money . But to each his own, we say. This self-described debt-hater writes with relish about making his mortgage disappear: "The thrill of making such great progress simply built and built into a snowball of enthusiasm." By the way, he didn't neglect retirement savings, saves even more now and has more money to donate. "You often hear the words 'debt freedom' talked about, but can’t really grasp what they mean unless you are free from debt," he writes. "I can honestly say that there is a great financial peace
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Posted
Aug 04 2009, 10:41 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 The next shoe to drop in the real estate downturn? Commercial properties, which are seeing rising defaults on loans that were bundled together into commercial mortgage-backed securites, The Economist notes.
The housing market may be on the path to recovery at this point. But commercial property sales are way down because no one wants to sell at a loss. "Those owners are implicitly assuming that a rebound is imminent, yet the downturn may be prolonged," writes the magazine. That's going to hurt banks, which are slow to write down property loans. The issue really won't be forced until the loans come due to be refinanced.
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Posted
Apr 16 2009, 02:00 PM
by
Andrew Horowitz
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 It appears we are on an unstoppable journey toward higher foreclosures and delinquency levels than we have seen in decades. The change over the last few months has been startling, and the East Coast states are holding many of the top positions, with Rhode Island leading the list during the past few months.
We have seen the 90+ day delinquency rate for properties go from a weighted average of 0.09% in May of 2007 to 0.25% in May 2008. Now it's edging toward 1%. But the problem is really with the worst areas, seen below.
Commercial Real Estate Delinquencies as of 4/2009
- Rhode Island 3.58%
- Montana 2.65%
- Florida 2.48%
- Indiana 2.45%
- South Carolina 2.38%
- Arizona 2.32%
- Michigan 2.10%
- Nevada 2.04%
- Tennessee 2.02%
- Hawaii 1.78%
Foreclosure rates are also moving higher as such states as Michigan, Nevada and Georgia all approach 1% this month. It is getting so bad that
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Posted
Mar 06 2009, 01:50 PM
by
Matt Koppenheffer
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
The housing market is a mess, and I have a feeling that we'll be seeing criminal fallout from shady deals coming to light for a long time. For investigators it will be like playing real estate Whac-A-Mole -- if all the moles popped up at the same time. One area that seems like it will be ripe with ne'er-do-wells is the real estate appraisal industry. Though I imagine most appraisers stuck with the conventions of the industry (even though I'm not sure I agree with those conventions), many mortgage fraud schemes wouldn't have gotten off the ground in the first place without an appraiser that would play along. Why do I bring this up? Even with all the other shenanigans going on out there -- Citigroup, Bank of America, John Thain, Bernie Madoff -- the story of this convicted appraiser jumped out at me. Read More...
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