Archives for June, 2010

Bleak Forecast for Gulf Coast Properties

Following over a month of monitoring and researching the impact of the Gulf Coast oil leak, Housing Predictor has released a forecast for the values of homes “along the immediate path of the Gulf Coast,” reported NuWire Investor this week. The analysts predict that homes will decline at least 30% in value, and that thousands and thousands of homes could Read full article »

HAMP Now Available to Veterans

The VA has developed new guidelines for VA-guaranteed home loans that allow servicers to “restructure distressed loans” to meet HAMP requirements if all other loss mitigation efforts have failed. Previously, veterans with VA loans could not be considered for HAMP, and the VA still wants servicers to exhaust other options first. However, ultimately, the retention of the home by the Read full article »

America Speaks – Less Than 1/4 Want Government Mortgage Help

One of my favorite sources of up-to-date public opinion information is Rasmussen Reports by pollster Scott Rasmussen, and an article in today's edition really caught my attention. According to Rasmussen's polling, only 23% of the public believes that if a person can't pay their mortgage, it is better for the government to assist in making payments. You'd think, based on the way Read full article »

Moody’s Reports that HAMP Modifications Succeed About Half the Time

The US Treasury reported recently that it's loan modification program (HAMP) has “extremely low conversion rates” from trial to permanent in their most recent report on the program, according to Moody’s Investor Service. While that number still equates to the conversion of nearly 300,000 permanent loans, it also indicates the cancellation of 277,640 trial modifications and 3,744 permanent modifications. Interestingly, it Read full article »

California Foreclosures Impact, Displace Tenants in Large Volume

Tenants Together, a statewide organization for renters’ rights in California, recently estimated that over 200,000 tenants were displaced by foreclosure last year in California alone. Tenants were mostly displaced by single-family home foreclosures, reported the group, but multi-family building foreclosures are also on the rise according to the group. Since most loan-modification programs target owner-occupied properties, it seems likely that this Read full article »

Page 5 of 5:« First« 2 3 4 5

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.

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.