The real estate blog.

Dave Ramsey, the personal finance guru, publishes a little Q&A article each Tuesday over at BizNetDaily. I like to read what he has to say about home mortgages. His angle on personal finance is that Americans should stop being brazen consumers and live within their means. Good advice. Sometimes I think he’s either out of touch with reality when it comes to real estate, or perhaps he doesn’t have enough space in his column to be more thorough.

A section of today’s column is a prime example:

Dear Dave,

My wife and I are looking to buy our first home, but we don’t know a lot about the home-buying process. What are points? When is it a good idea to pay them?

Gary

Dear Gary,

Points are just pre-paid interest. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount. For instance, if you’re borrowing $130,000, one point would equal $1,300.
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A paper spotlighting how outsourcing benefits domestic real estate growth. _____________________________________
It is an undisputed fact that market economies, in Capitalism, are moved by the supply and demand for goods and services. Specifically as it relates to the Real Estate sector, the basis for the real estate market is the demand by households, businesses, governments and institutions for space and shelter to conduct activities. And moreover, since according to the National Association of Realtors the aggregate size of residential real estate markets in the United States measured by sales volume accounted for almost USD 57 billions in 2005 alone, the impact of households’ demand for residential real estate products is huge.
When people acquire income they tend to invest
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By: Brigitte Yuille
Bankrate.com

That bill has been sitting at the bottom of your paperwork pile for a while, and despite your best effort, ignoring it hasn’t made it go away.

Now you’ve acquired somebody who wants to be your new best friend, a debt collector.

You can’t wait any longer to face it. In fact, many credit experts say too often consumers dodge the opportunity to resolve their money issues with the debt collector when they should.

Click here to read the entire story.

Consider this a public service announcement.

It has been exceptionally cold so far this winter in the Kingman area. It has caused some problems for housing that you should be aware of. Many are experiencing broken water pipes throughout the area. Sometimes it’s the landscaping sprinkler system, I’ve been told of a sprinkler system that popped that spouted water up onto a roof of a home that caused a large series of icicles formed at the roof’s edge. Wish I had a photo of that.

I currently have a buyer client that is purchasing a vacant home in Kingman. Last month we offered a contract and it was accepted. We then had 20 days to do the inspections which we did (we asked for some repairs and the sellers agreed). Last week, before closing as the sellers were finishing replacing sliding glass doors, they found a the carpet in the hallway wet (and I mean wet).
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Get your free copy of the 2007 Manatee/Sarasota Golf guide here.

Casey Serin is facing a lot of pressure these days. With $2.2 million in mortgage debt and another $144,000 in credit card debt, the 24-year old California man is seeing his American dream turn into a nightmare. Mortgage lenders are preparing to foreclose on five different properties in four different States. He’s behind on his credit card payments and he doesn’t have a job.

It wasn’t always this way for Serin. In fact, this is his first big setback in life. Serin isn’t giving up though. He hopes to get through this situation without losing his homes or declaring bankruptcy and most surprisingly he wants to continue investing in real estate.

I’ve spoken with Casey over the phone over the past couple weeks asking questions about his situation and his plans for the future. Over the next week, I’ll be sharing what was discussed in a series of posts.
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While most of the mainstream media ran a story titled Record Drop for Home Prices, the good news was the Fed held rates firm. This is especially good news for homeowners with Option ARMs and adjustable home equity loans.

Even in the negative headline story, there was some good news:

One bright spot for the housing sector in the report was a decline in the number of homes on the market, which fell 2.4 percent to 3.75 million in September, giving the market a 7.3 month supply of homes at the current sales pace, which was unchanged from both August and July. But there are still more homes for sale in 2006 than there were last year.

Thomas Stevens, a realtor in Vienna, Va., and the president of the trade group, viewed that number as encouraging.

“The
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Casey Serin, the Iamfacingforeclosure.com guy has really hit the big time with press coverage for his website, but is still short on funds to pay his six mortgages.

Today he made the cover of the USA Today Money section. Last Thursday he was on NPR’s Morning Edition.

I’ve made a few posts about him, the mistakes he made as an investor and possible steps to improve his situation.

A few weeks ago, I contacted Casey to see if I could write an article about him and possibly learn more about how he got into this desperate situation. Casey agreed and I’ve taped an interview over the weekend and hope to have a story posted this week.

He and I have also talked “off the record” and I think his story is real and not some elaborate hoax like some have suggested.
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The Fed meets to discuss interest rates Tuesday and Wednesday. The 10 year bond jumped up 4 basis points (bps) as of this writing. Mortgage rates are loosely tied to the 10 year bond.

In the past two meetings, the Fed has held rates steady after 18 previous increases. The Fed has a great fear of inflation and by raising rates, they hope to contain it.

This meeting will be very interesting, because some of previous economic factors have changed- oil has dropped, the stock market is soaring and inflation had edged higher.

If the Fed raises rates Wednesday, homeowners with Option ARMs and HELOCs will see their payments rise in the coming months, possibly leading some of the overextended to receive notices of default in the weeks before Christmas. People who are savers will see their yields increase if rates increase.
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Housing is the hot topic of the day. The run up in prices and low loan rates have helped the American economy recover quickly from the 2001 recession and the after-effects of the 9-11 attacks.

Now that housing isn’t setting records every month, there are some people in the mainstream media and the blogosphere who are preaching a huge reversal in housing. They cite the costs of renting vs. buying, rising interest rates and tightening lending standards as key reasons for an impending housing crash.

This thinking has led many potential homebuyers to hold off on purchasing, waiting to see how the housing picture develops.

While the costs of renting in some areas of the country are certainly lower than buying, that statement is not true across the country. Interest rates stopped rising and have been declining up until very recently. Lending standards are not tightening.
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