New rule impacts property managers -- chicagotribune.com“Managers currently handle millions of dollars of other people’s money and assets without any controls,” he said. “This helps explain why there have been scandals and embezzlements over the past years. Licensing will help regulate the industry and keep those who committed past problems out.”
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Why Chinese Drywall May Make You Sick - WSJ.comThe odors, respiratory complaints and corrosion blamed on drywall from China used in American homes may have been caused by the failure to remove sulfur and other contaminants from synthetic gypsum, some Chinese experts in building materials say.
Flipping Sides - WSJ.comAndrew “Drew” Gissinger III, formerly an executive managing director of Countrywide Financial Corp., has formed a firm in San Diego to act as a broker for banks selling foreclosed homes.
Glitch Inflated Home-Sales Data - WSJ.comThe California Association of Realtors expects to make sharp downward revisions in its recent monthly reports of soaring home sales in the San Diego area, Robert Kleinhenz, deputy chief economist of the trade group, said in an interview.
McMansions Out of Favor, For Now - WSJ.comBut don’t write the obituary for McMansions just yet. Although mass-produced behemoths more than 3,000-square-feet in size have only been common (and commonly criticized), since the late ’90s, home sizes have never been influenced by need alone.
Study: Default on mortgage a moral matter - Jacksonville Business Journal“As defaults become more common, the social stigma attached with defaulting will likely be reduced, especially if there continues to be few repercussions for people who walk away from their loans,” concluded Sapienza. “This has an adverse effect on homeowners who do pay their mortgages, and the after-effects of more defaults and more price collapse could be economic catastrophe.”
Homeowners struggling - Las Vegas SunWe believe the best way to make that assessment would be for Geithner to take an in-depth look at Nevada, California, Arizona and Florida, which are among the states hit hardest by foreclosures. All four are feeling the aftershocks that began with rampant speculation in real estate — including the flipping of properties for quick profit — followed by a housing bubble that burst.
Two Banks Re-enter the Jumbo Mortgage Business - NYTimes.comThe two New York-based banks are signaling new interest in a market hobbled since 2007, when record-breaking defaults on home loans caused investors to flee securities backed by mortgages.
How Bad Is the Recession? Check New Home Sales - NYTimes.comThere have been bad housing markets before, but never in post-World War II history has the market for new homes suffered as badly as it has in this decline. That plunge raises questions about whether some homes built during the boom will ever be sold.
The Blog Watch - Sacramento BeeThe Bee has a done a couple of heartbreaking stories in past months on pets left behind in foreclosure situations. But the problem continues. Sacramento-based Coldwell Banker real estate agent Donald Stitt has been seeing plenty of it and recently wrote into Home Front with what he’s encountered personally.
Book Review: Foreclosure Nation--The Business Review (Albany)“We are a nation in debt denial,” she writes. Later, she adds, “Together, we spent $800 billion more than we earned last year. Our household debt has grown to $14 trillion, doubling over the past six years alone.”
Arizona investigating mortgage firms for fraud - Phoenix Business JournalValley homeowners are getting solicitations from all sorts of mortgage and refinancing firms. Some of the solicitations come in the form of letters, e-mails and automated telephone calls that can lead homeowners to believe they are from their lenders or from government agencies related to the federal “Making Home Affordable” program. Sometimes mortgage firms will create logos that look like government agencies or use the non-copyrighted federal fair housing and other logos.
