Home

Federal actions lead to housing hesitation Premium Content

By Inman News, Monday, September 22, 2008.

Massive federal moves that are intended to stop the bleeding in the financial markets are impacting consumer confidence in the housing market, some real estate professionals report.

A Bush administration plan to buy hundreds of billions worth of mortgage-related assets will be tossed around by Congress this week ...

   more...

Housing bill falls short of hype Premium Content

By Marcie Geffner, Monday, September 22, 2008.

To hear national real estate trade groups tell it, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 enacted eight weeks ago was the most important federal housing bill in the last 30 years. The National Association of Realtors, Mortgage Bankers Association and National Association of Home Builders were downright over-the-top in their praise of the bill's contents, the lofty results it was supposed to achieve and the branches of government that brought it about.  more...

Couple feels guilty buying FSBO

By Barry Stone, Monday, September 22, 2008.

DEAR BARRY: Our Realtor has been showing us listings for several weeks. But last week, we found a for-sale-by-owner property and made an offer to the owner without calling our agent. Since our Realtor spent so much time trying to find a house for us, are we obligated to involve him in this purchase? --Rob

DEAR ROB: This type of situation is a sore spot with many real estate professionals. Your Realtor devoted many hours to your search for a home and now will receive nothing for those efforts.  more...

Sep

22
2008

The bailout

By Matt Carter, Monday, September 22, 2008.

"You save the banking system, now what are you going to do with all this distressed property?"

--Dennis Hedlund, president and founder, iEmergent, "$700 billion question: fate of bad loans," Inman News.

There is only one thing necessary to understanding what is happening and it is this: no one at U.S. Banks, no one at the Federal Reserve and no one in politics can accept the reality that real estate assets in this country remain oversupplied, overpriced and overleveraged."  more...

10 Reasons You Must Be At Connect This January

By Joel Burslem, Monday, September 22, 2008.

Connect has gone Global and the conference program is now online. If you haven't been to the events web site recently (it's under the events tab on Inman.com) - go check it out. Here's just some of what you'll get out of coming to Connect this January:

1. Find out what's going to happen in 2009.

2. Learn how the top companies are cutting costs, getting lean and staying profitable.

3. Hear how US brokers and agents are tapping global real estate markets.  more...

$700 billion question: fate of bad loans Premium Content

By Matt Carter, Monday, September 22, 2008.

The Bush administration's plan to allow the Treasury Department to buy up to $700 billion in troubled mortgage-related assets could help thaw the credit crunch, by helping big financial firms move bad loans off their books.

But critics of the plan want the government to provide more protections for taxpayers and help for individuals struggling with their mortgage payments -- goals that may be inherently contradictory.  more...

Obeo partners with Xpressdocs

By Inman News, Monday, September 22, 2008.

Obeo, which provides virtual home tours for real estate agents and home builders, has partnered with Xpressdocs to launch a new marketing and print center for Obeo customers.  more...

Fannie-Freddie rescue averted collapse

By Inman News, Monday, September 22, 2008.

New data shows that if the U.S. government had not rescued Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the secondary mortgage market would have collapsed, leaving the housing market in worse shape with a virtual halt on mortgage lending.

In the last year, Fannie and Freddie Mac provided $1.1 trillion in new mortgage credit, while private mortgage-backed securities issuance fell from $900 billion to nothing, according to the Federal Reserve's Flow of Funds data.  more...

Monsters in the Making

By Joel Burslem, Monday, September 22, 2008. 

photo by server pics

Blogger The Notorious R.O.B. writing on the beginnings of a 'web-centric' model for real estate.  more...

First effort to clean up S&L mess misfired

By Inman News, Monday, September 22, 2008.

Over the weekend, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson sent a financial bailout proposal to the U.S. Congress that gives the Treasury Department broad authority to buy mortgage-related assets.

To calm the markets, step one is announcing a plan and proposing legislation to isolate and liquidate bad mortgages. But execution is the next challenge for the Bush administration, and it is no easy task if the record of our last real estate cleanup -- the savings and loan crisis in the 1980s -- is closely observed.  more...