(Poll of real estate investors near the bottom of this post...) The economy of the United States is at its best when most free. The government is at its best (economically) when it guarantees transparency and accuracy and is otherwise uninvolved. Unfortunately, neither of these are the case at present. The U.S. economy has been hamstrung by insanely foolish regulation for many years Read full article »
Archives for September, 2008
The Economy Of The United States Is Stronger Than Congress’ Desire To Thwart It
category: Real Estate News
tags: Accuracy, Anonymous Poll, Bailout Plan, Citizens, Congress, Congressman, Congressmen, Constituent, Desire, Economy Of The United States, Genesis, Great Depression, Mean Time, Politicians, Poll Id, Public Outcry, Real Estate Investors, Statistics, Transparency, Vocal Opponents, Vocal Supporters
Forensic Loan Audits: A Serious Tool For Loan Modifications
What do you do if you're trying to negotiate a loan modification with your lender and they won't respond even after you've provided everything they've asked for? For most people, the answer is "I lose my home". But there's a resource growing in popularity called a "Forensic Loan Audit" which is designed to find abuses of the lending system by Read full article »
category: Real Estate News
A New RTC: 3 Focal Points For Real Estate Investors
All of the discussion about a new Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) is extremely speculatory in nature since there is currently no legislation to support this notion. However, something in the model of a new RTC seems likely to happen since it's a model with which the government is familiar and comfortable. The key to watch for is the government's guidelines for Read full article »
category: Real Estate News
tags: Amount Of Money, Appraisers, Bailout, Basis One, Digit Range, Distressed Properties, Exchange Value, Grasp, Lenders, Money Lenders, Mortgage Brokers, New Resolution, Notion, Probability, Property Valuation, Property Valuations, Real Estate Investors, Resolution Trust Corporation, Rtc, Safeguards, Value Exchange
Resolution Trust Corporation – A Real Estate Investing Opportunity
Months ago, I pointed out how eerily similar today's mortgage crisis is to the Savings & Loan Crisis of the 1980's. And it's become even more true today. The news this morning is that the government is now publicly giving serious consideration to establishing an entity similar to the Resolution Trust Corporation that was formed in 1989 as a government-owned asset Read full article »
category: Real Estate News
The Politics of Real Estate
Few industries are as profoundly impacted by the political machinations in Washington as the real estate industry. Whether it's old legislation like Jimmy Carter's Community Reinvestment Act or Barack Obama's massive mortgage bailouts, the U.S. political machine has a huge impact (usually bad) on the business of real estate.
Ideally, we could ignore politics. But here at the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter, we insist on seeing the world with clarity - including the reality of Washington's aggressive involvement in every facet of our business, from mortgage lending to real estate sales license; from loan modification regulations to appraisal requirements... every piece of our business is profoundly impacted by politics. So rather than stick our heads in the sand and ignore reality, readers of the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter choose to be informed and prepared.
Mortgage Industry News
Few things change more rapidly than the mortgage market, and with the increasing dominance of GSE's Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the mortgage business, it's more important than ever to keep up. Here are a few recent mortgage news updates:
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Mortgage News
- HAMP Success Tally Slowly Growing
- Western States Working Through Foreclosure Backlog Quicker than Eastern
- Biggest Down Payments in the Country Found in New Jersey
- President Bypasses Congress, Appoints Director of the Consumer Protection Bureau
- Federal Reserve Recommends Expanding GSEs to Turn Housing Market Around
- Mortgage Rates Likely to Remain Low for a While Longer
- Top Former FDIC, Wells Fargo Execs Say Fannie and Freddie Must Go
- FHA Continues to Extend Anti-Flipping Waiver
- More Homeowners Using Delaying Tactics to Slow Down Foreclosures
- Now that It’s Passed: The True Cost of the Payroll Tax Cut
About Bryan Ellis
Bryan Ellis is an Atlanta-based real estate analyst and publisher of the widely read newsletter "The Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter". With over 200,000 subscribers - including real estate investors, agents, brokers, appraisers and other real estate professionals - the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter is among America's largest sources of unbiased coverage of politics and public policy for the real estate industry.
Bryan Ellis serves as editor in chief for the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter and is assisted by an extraordinary staff of writers, researchers and editors who are each real estate experts in their own right and who assure that the news we report is well researched, factual, and highly relevant to today's real estate industry.
Bryan is very happily married and has two wonderful daughters. He makes his home in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. You can contact the team at the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter here.