Category: California

California housing market

Foreclosure Backlog Rises as Federal Aid Fails

By Mike Colpitts The foreclosure inventory of homes has grown to more than 30 times the volume of foreclosed homes that sell each month in the U.S. as federal efforts to stem the crisis fails, indicating that the flood of foreclosures will trouble the housing market for years to come, according to Lender Processing Services,… Continue reading Foreclosure Backlog Rises as Federal Aid Fails

Housing Watch Index Shows Improving Trends

By Kevin Chiu Starting today Housing Predictor debuts a new real estate index. Housing markets that make the new “Watch List” are being monitored closely for changing economic conditions in the near future as a result of at least two improving economic trends. Some of the markets on the list have already been forecast to… Continue reading Housing Watch Index Shows Improving Trends

Real Estate at Pennies on the Dollar

By Kevin Chiu California real estate investor Simon Volkov says stick it to the bank, and buy real estate at pennies on the dollar purchasing single family homes at wholesale prices. Volkov is a foreclosure and tax property note specialist, who urges investors to take advantage of the distress in the current marketplace to ring… Continue reading Real Estate at Pennies on the Dollar

Mortgage Fraud Led By California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada

By Mike Colpitts Mortgage fraud is blamed for trillions of dollars in failed loans in the U.S., especially in California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona, where incidents have been the highest and foreclosures make up the largest volume of troubled homeowners, according to federal authorities. But state and federal law enforcement agencies are encountering major problems… Continue reading Mortgage Fraud Led By California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada

California Realtor President Requests Aid in Short Sales

By Kevin Chiu Short sales were hardly ever heard of before the real estate collapse, but these days bank assisted short sales, in which lenders take less than what is owed on a mortgage are failing on at least 40% of those attempted, according to a Realtors organization. In a letter published in seven California… Continue reading California Realtor President Requests Aid in Short Sales

Mortgage Interest Rates Drop on Japan Fears

By Mike Colpitts Interest Rates on home mortgages dropped as a result of investor worries over the disaster in Japan and fears of contagion over financial markets falling across the world. Mortgage rates showed a drop across all types of loans offered to home borrowers, according to Freddie Mac. The average rate on a 30-year… Continue reading Mortgage Interest Rates Drop on Japan Fears

Half of Homeowners Qualify for New Mortgage

By Mike Colpitts Only about half of all homeowners would qualify to buy a new mortgage under current more restrictive mortgage lending guidelines. In the U.S. 54% of homeowners with a mortgage would qualify to put 20% down from the sale of their present home, according to Core Logic, which researches the mortgage industry. The… Continue reading Half of Homeowners Qualify for New Mortgage

Making Money in Real Estate

By Kevin Chiu Real estate has long been the preferred method of safe investing for reliable returns on investors’ money backed by a tangible asset. Not all real estate investing is low risk or will automatically yield high returns as many investors learned during the real estate bubble. But making money in real estate has… Continue reading Making Money in Real Estate

Tight Rental Market Squeezes Tenants

By Mike Colpitts A lack of rental housing for the first time in years in the multi-family residential market is sending the rental market into a recovery. Vacancy rates fell to the lowest level in 2010 in more than four years as a leading rental advisory firm forecasts higher rents in 2011. Witten Advisors, a… Continue reading Tight Rental Market Squeezes Tenants