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Having Trouble Financing Your Investment? Your Not Alone!
Jun 5th
Trying to find a lender to finance anything these days is more of a challenge than trying to figure out how a flux capacitor can get you to travel back in time. However, there is lender who is willing to take the leap of faith with buyers these days. They are Cincinnati based Fifth-Third Bank.
Fifth-Third Bank, like other lenders, has a large inventory of foreclosed houses on its hands as the result of borrower defaults on mortgages. These homes, called REO (real estate owned), are ones that have gone back to bank ownership because they were not sold at foreclosure auctions.
What sets Fifth Third apart from other financial institutions with significant REO inventory is the aggressive way in which the bank is making mortgages available to buyers of these REO homes.
The readily available financing is allowing Realtors to move homes more easily, especially in distressed markets such as Florida, where foreclosures are rampant.
“Other banks are not talking about mortgages,” says Mike Morgan, a real estate broker and housing consultant who heads Morgan Florida. “Here is Fifth Third saying ‘come to us for a mortgage.’”
“Other banks, when we talk to them about mortgages, we get a runaround,” Morgan says.
More Good News For Apartment Investors!
Apr 17th
The reasoning seems simple enough. “People still need a place to live,” said Richard Anderson, a senior real estate analyst at BMO Capital Markets, adding that “a bad homeowner could be a very good renter.”
Indeed, occupancy rates for apartments have remained stable, averaging in the mid-90 percent range, and rising in some cities, industry reports show. Homeownership, meanwhile, has fallen steadily nationwide. The ownership rate slipped to 67.8 percent at the end of 2007 from a peak of 69.2 percent in 2004, according to the Census Bureau.
Some would-be buyers are now waiting for home prices to bottom out, while others are finding it harder to get a mortgage after the shake-up in the subprime market.
All these factors seem favorable for landlords, but only lately have shares of apartment operators and, in particular, the real estate investment trusts that own and manage these multifamily developments, begun to reflect the trend. Many apartment REITs traded near their 52-week lows not too long ago, though they have been moving higher recently.
“People had been painting residential with a broad brush, and that’s what held back the stocks in 2007,” Mr. Anderson said. Many skittish investors seem to have eschewed all companies in the housing market, even those involved in rentals. “Now they may be looking for ways to play the residential market,” he said, “and one way to do that is to take a look at the rental business, which is once removed from the broader housing turmoil going on.”
Apartment REITs, which had average losses of around 25 percent last year, are up 15.6 percent, on average, this year through Thursday. (All property-holding equity REITs are up 3.2 percent, on average, according to the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, while the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index has lost 9.4 percent.)
So should investors be giving these REITs a closer look? More >
It’s The Best Time In 30 Years To Be Investing In Apartments!
Mar 16th
From Barron’s Edited by Robin Goldwyn Blumenthal:
The carnage in housing hasn’t spared any sector of the real-estate market. But favorable fundamentals could turn apartments into lucrative investments again. “The demographics are very supportive for apartments, with a lot of young people graduating from college,”says Sam Chandan, chief economist of real-estate research firm Reis. An estimated 82 million echo-boomers (baby boomers’ progeny) will be striking out on their own over the next seven years. While some surely will move back to the parents’ pad, many will join the ranks of the renters. So will an in-flux of immigrants and displaced home owners.
During the single-family housing boom, multifamily-market supply was very restrained: Site completions as a percentage of existing stock averaged 1% in the past five years, half the previous five year average. “It’s the best time in 30 years to be investing in apartments,” says Christopher Finlay, managing principal of Mission Residential, which does private syndications of apartments in growing middle markets like Salt Lake City-where’07 rent growth out paced the 4.4% average increase nationwide.
Shares of apartment real-estate-investment trusts fell 25% last year, more than the total REIT universe of 16% according to the FTSE Nareit index. But apartment REITs are only one of two sectors to be up year-to-date. Middle-
market apartment REITs possibly poised for turn around: Mid-America Apartment (ticker: MAA) and United Dominion (UDR), which don’t have big exposures to boom-and-bust markets.
Unhappy Home Buyer, Feeling Misled on Price, Sues Agent
Jan 22nd
By David Streitfeld – The New York Times
CARLSBAD, Calif. — Marty Ummel believes she paid too much for her house. So do millions of other people who bought at the peak of the housing boom.
What makes Ummel different is that she is suing her agent, saying it was all his fault.
Ummel claims that the agent hid the information that similar homes in the neighborhood were selling for less because he feared she would back out and he would lose his $30,000 commission. Read the rest of the story…
Rich Dad’s 2008 Predictions
Jan 21st
Below is a very interesting and informative video from Robert Kiyosaki, the Author of Rich Dad Poor Dad and his take on 2008’s real estate outlook.
For their take on Gold & Silver and other investment markets go to http://www.richdad.com/RichDad/RichContent.aspx?cpid=63
IKEA…The Next Holiday Inn?
Jan 8th
Do you need a place to crash for the night? Most people would call family, friends or perhaps even a hotel. Instead IKEA became this Schmuck (see this post for translation) from New York, slumber palace for the evening.
This publicity stunt needs be in the ranks of greatness of when Elvis Presley joined the army. Well…maybe just on the level of brilliance of Vanilla Ice vs. Todd Bridges on Celebrity Boxing.
Video #1
Video #2
Hawaiian Ocean Front Property For $39.95??
Nov 30th
In my quest to provide only the very best news and information to my readership, I came across a website that was offering Future Hawaiian Ocean Front Property for $39.95 per lot. Talk about a deal! Current Hawaiian Ocean Front Lots are going for upwards of $330.00 Per Square Foot.
Loihi Seaview Estates will be located just miles from the main island of Hawaii, Lo’ihi will have 360 degree views of the ocean. Just a short ride by boat or plane will land you on the island of Hawaii and close to all the modern conveniences.
Check Out LO’IHI SEAVIEW ESTATES for further information on this fantastic opportunity. Please just remember that patience is a virtue!
By the way, I will be taking bids on Ebay for my pancake that is shaped like Hillary Clinton next week!
It’s Time To Kvetch About The Unprofessional Real Estate Agent!
Nov 16th
Do you know your real estate agent?
I mean do you REALLY know your real estate agent that is supposed to be handling and representing your best interests during your very expensive and extremely important real estate transaction??
Your agent or Realtor is required under their Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice to have “competency, fairness and high integrity in conducting their business relations.” Unfortunately, I’d have to say that there are just too many agents out amongst us who have failed to even meet the absolute minimum standards set forth by The National Association of Realtors.
During the previous real estate boom many people made millions just by getting their real estate license. Even the neighborhood stoner guy got himself off his couch long enough just to make a few easy bucks! There was an enormous influx of new and very inexperienced agents who represented our buyers and sellers of America’s homes. It didn’t matter whose name was on the real estate sales sign because everything that hit the MLS immediately sold before the sign even went into the ground. To our dismay, these agents still exist today.
I have dealt with multiple agents that in my opinion, couldn’t get Brittney Spears or Paris Hilton any publicity at all. They have been either extremely unprofessional in their approach and actions or just plain incompetent in servicing their client.
Don’t get me wrong, not all agents are bad. In fact there are quite a few in my network that are exceptional. My hope is that the current degraded real estate market will not only cycle back towards the positive, but also will cleanse away the bad agents that has flooded our real estate brokerages so that the good agents can do their job effectively.
Maybe it’s time to get Noah on the horn and tell him to start building a new Ark. We could post an ad on Craigslist.org which could read:
LIMITED SPACE AVAILABLE ON NOAH’S NEW ARK
Competent, Qualified, Courteous and Professional Real Estate Agents Need Only Apply
Call Today Before It’s Too Late!
Schmoozing To More Than 300,000 Readers!
Oct 22nd
Check Out November’s issue of the Minnesota Monthly which is the Midwest Region’s most widely circulated lifestyle magazine for our take on the local real estate state of the state.
It’s The Little Old Lady From Pasadena…
Oct 8th
…Actually she’s from Seattle and refuses to move!
From The Associated Press:
Talk about being stubborn!
Edith Macefield, 86, has refused a $1-million offer from a developer to move out of her 108-year-old farmhouse to make way for a commercial complex. “I don’t want to move. I don’t need the money. Money doesn’t mean anything,” she said recently.
Instead, the five-story project is being built around her, ringing the death knell for her once-thriving, blue-collar neighborhood.
READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE…
This brings me back to the article I posted earlier titled “Another Province Of Petoria?” also where a couple refused to move and the developer just built around them.
I really don’t feel bad for these people. However, I absolutely feel horrible for these people’s children. Their kids must have had a heck-a-va time trying to convince their parents to let them keep the family car out an hour later!
Thanks Mom & Dad for being so understanding when I hit those mailboxes!