The last Congress created the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (www.fcic.gov) to answer that question and yesterday they gave the official answer in a 545 page report. So who’s to blame? Read the rest of this article »

Morgan Stanley made a business decision to walk away from  5 office buildings in San Francisco they bought at the height of the market in 2007. It’s estimated their value dropped by almost 50%. They were not in foreclosure and were making the payments. It’s called a ‘strategic default‘ – a purely business decision. If Morgan Stanley can walk away, why not you?

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President Obama just concluded his speech in Mesa, Arizona, and announced another leg in the stool of attempting to curtail the housing crisis. Here are the salient points of the plan.

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Two weeks ago Don attended the Tenant in Common Association (TICA) 3 day conference in Las Vegas. This conference was focused on the TIC industry, which is generally comprised of investors who do IRS tax deferred 1031 exchanges into large, institutional grade commercial properties. General forum sessions consisted of economists attempting to read the “tea leaves” of our economy, credit crunch issues, volatility in the financial markets, and the like. Read the rest of this article »

I got back from a 3 day conference (Tenant in Common Association) in Las Vegas this week and everything seemed to revolve around the 900 pound gorilla in the room – Wall Street’s meltdown. Read the rest of this article »

We’ve gone from a 3 page bill to a 110 page bill (defeated) to the Senate’s 451 page bill (passed). Hmmm…

If you thought our political process was all about helping “Wall Street” or “Main Street” or the “homeowner”, think again! The first and overarching priority is to keep your job. Read the rest of this article »

Driving around town today, I was listening on XM radio to the live House hearing on the proposed $700 billion bailout bill before Congress. Panel members were given 5 minutes to quiz either Treasury Secretary Paulson or Fed Chairman Bernanke. But each panel member used the bulk of the time to express their opinions, and when they finally got around to asking Paulson or Bernanke a question, there was no time left to answer the question! Read the rest of this article »

The $700 billion bailout – what are the ramifications for:

• A potential home buyer or investor – either waiting for the market “bottom”, or simply wanting to buy a home.
• A homeowner who’s “underwater” and struggling to make the mortgage payments.
• A homeowner who’s stopped making payments and is on the cusp of going into foreclosure.
• A homeowner already in foreclosure.

Leslie and I have been talking all weekend, trying to anticipate what might happen in each of these scenarios, and to see if Congress, Wall Street and the Administration might create unintended consequences. Read the rest of this article »

Leslie and I are trying to get a handle on the dizzying flow of news coming out of Washington and Wall Street this weekend.  As the late Senator Everett Dirksen famously once said, “A Billion Here, A Billion There, Pretty Soon You’re Talking Real Money”. Read the rest of this article »

…the big jump in home sales compared to a year ago for southland counties. I’ve told many people that when the general media starts to shift focus from all the negative real estate news we’ve seen over the past year and starts talking about “Is this a good time to buy?” type news, that maybe the market will be on the upswing. So what’s going on? Read the rest of this article »