Gas prices and your commute

It’s times like these, I really wish the freeway had a
separate bike route.  Not only are we famished for real estate work, but now our tanks are running low and we’re parched for fuel!

With gas prices costing an arm and two legs, how far are you willing to drive for work?

Real Estate Stock on the Rise

For most real estate professionals out there, business is slow (non-existent for others).  The industry is our restaurant.  For the sake of this mental imagery, let’s call it our Italian restaurant.  The buyers, sellers and investors are our patrons.  We are the chefs, sous-chefs, and maitre’d’s of our establishments.  Customers used to pour in through the doors.  We would even give them pagers to wait in line, having them wait 45-60 minutes for the next seating. 

Well, times have changed, but don’t tell that to the piece of yeast-filled dough growing in the kitchen.  Where does this all tie-in?  You’ll see in a second.  The dough, a simple and yet integral ingredient to many of our pasta dishes.  Without it, we would have soupy messes.  The dough in this illustation are our builders!  Yes, even in this woeful market, there are builder stocks on the rise!*   

Have you considered employment in this “rising” segment?
(*Not to be considered a stock tip, but if you happen to secure a position, earn a lot of dough and want to “do the right thing,” we will humbly respect your decision to break bread and will offer you a free large drink at our “Italian restaurant.”)

Where’s the BEEF?!

Remember that commercial back in the 80’s with the little old lady hollaring, “Where’s the beef?!” I have a feeling she’s not the only one these days asking that question.  So where is the beef?  Better yet, where’s the bacon?  The cheddar? The remaining REAL ESTATE JOBS that bring home the money and help you put filet mignon on the table (tofu steak if you’re a vegetarian).  The answer might involve the good olfactory bulbs working in high gear with the solution being right… under… our noses.  That’s right!  We are inundated with news of increased FORECLOSURES happening in most of our major metropolitan areas. Read more

No-money-down loans for 2008?

You would think that while we are STILL in the middle (and hopefully, tail-end) of this real estate debacle, all exotic and zero-money down loans would be relics of the past.  Isn’t that the initial thought?  Lenders have tightened up their guidelines and many of today’s loans are plain vanilla, original cake donut, full doc only loans.  But wait!  Bust out the sprinkles on that donut because there’s a new form of NO-MONEY DOWN LOANS that you should be aware of.  Do these loans really help us stimulate employment and real estate value?  Or are we just shooting ourselves in the foot, arm and gut with this new, simple carbohydrated, but delectable offering? 

Take me to the donut..err, No Money Down Loans!

Mortgage Employment Declines For 13th Straight Month

Mortgage Employment Declines For 13th Straight Month
Graph: In Thousands, Mortgage Employment since Jan. 2002 Although the rate of job losses in the mortgage industry has leveled since it began dropping precipitously last fall, industry employment has declined for more than 13 consecutive months.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported 360,100 full-time mortgage positions in the month of March, down from 364,700 in February and 465,800 one year ago.  Employment reporting at the Bureau generally lags one month for the mortgage industry.  The mortgage industry has lost 144,600 jobs since employment peaked at 504,700 in October 2006.  The BLS breaks down mortgage employment into two categories.Under “real estate credit,” the BLS reported 249,100 million jobs, compared to 251,400 a month earlier.For the “mortgage and nonmortgage loan brokers” sector, there were reportedly 111,000 positions, compared to 112,700 one month ago.

The national unemployment rate remained at 5.0% for April.

Representing the fourth consecutive monthly loss, the number of non-farm payroll jobs declined another 20,000 for the month as the number of unemployed people stood at 7.6 million.

Click here for Original Article

Solving the Real Estate Credit Crunch

“How do we solve our real estate credit crunch?”  The $500 billion dollar question can be answered in almost as many ways, depending on whose asked the question and from what angle he/she speaks from.  Interestingly, when a presumptive GOP candidate was asked a similar question recently in Santa Ana, CA, his/her response was ostensibly shocking to white collar crime expert and former colleague, Bill Black.
 
Obama, Clinton, McCain or Paul.  One candidate makes it clear that in order to solve this real estate mess, the suggestion is to deregulate. 

Forget about the politics and who I’m voting for in November.  I want to know if this “Deregulation” is really the answer to our Real Estate mess?  Like I said, it’s the $500 Billion dollar question with just as much riding on the answer.  All insight, opinions and speculation are welcome!

See the original article here.