Bob's Blog

U.S. banks are now holding $41.5 billion of their assets in real property thanks to the foreclosure crisis. This number is up from $11.7 billion in the first quarter of 2008 at the start of the crisis. While one-to-four unit property is declining as a part of the REO mix, land and development pro...

With the Dow Jones dipping under the 10,000 mark this month more investor money is moving to the sidelines. Will the money remain in savings accounts and CDs indefinitely, or can private investors be coaxed into the real estate market? A lot depends on the case real estate investors make to allay...

A Marcus and Millichap Research Brief indicates that since it will take several years for those with negative equity mortgages to get back to parity, the scene is set for many of these homeowners to default on their mortgages, even when they can afford to pay. The anticipated increase in foreclos...

A U.S. Census report indicates that homeownership has fallen to its lowest mark in 10 years, 67.2% of all households. Unemployment and the housing crisis are blamed for the reversals in home ownership. A report by analysts at the New York Federal Reserve Bank feel the decline in homeownership is ...

HR5074, FHA Reform Act, has passed the House of Representatives. The aim of the bill is to allow the FHA to raise annual mortgage insurance premiums and to stabilize its finances. FHA will also have the ability to remove Lenders from its list of approved FHA institutions on a national basis if re...

ZipRealty’s monthly evaluation of 26 housing markets found that prices are being slashed dramatically in many case against sagging home sales since the end of the Homebuyer Tax Credit program. The study found that 43% of Sellers slashed their prices in May. The median for sale price dropped $2500...

Generally when flipping property we do not need anything but transactional funds in order to close on the property and get paid. Up front costs are minimal. Do more than one or two a year and income will be taxed as ordinary income. The time will come for almost every investor when it makes sense...

People follow winners and those people willing to “fake it until they make it.” Remember, you make lasting impressions about people in just a matter of seconds. While we may argue that those impressions are just superficial, they count a tremendous amount toward determining your success. It is of...

A report from Moody’s reveals that lenders are now past the hump as far as recognizing residential real estate non-performers and charge-offs. Moody’s estimates that 60% of the charge-offs and 65% of the non-performing home loans are either in some stage of notification or have been removed from ...

While aggregate real estate data gives an encouraging picture of home values, the CNBC real estate reporter, Diana Olick, has discovered that the luxury home end of the market is still showing significant home value declines. The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing out of Dallas provides statisti...