Tag archives for Motivation

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 »

Strategic Defaults are on the Way Up as Social Stigma Associated with Foreclosure Erodes

Strategic defaults, which occur when homeowners make a decision to stop paying their mortgages rather than finding themselves unable to do so, are on the rise, according to two independent studies by researchers at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. Both studies indicate that in an increasing number of foreclosure scenarios, the problem is not that the homeowner cannot Read full article »

Suspending Foreclosures – A Government Idea To Increase Foreclosures

Congressman Barnie Frank (Democrat from Massachusetts) is urging lenders to suspend foreclosures.  Granted, he's currently focusing this request on lenders who have received federal money from the TARP program, but if that happens, he'll certainly pressure all major lenders to do the same thing.  So the question is:  Is it a wise idea? I'm going to weigh in on this right Read full article »

Why I Won’t Participate In Product Launches With The “Gurus”

Have you noticed that there is a "Guru's Club" consisting of several real estate "gurus" who all promote each other's products and services?  Not only that - they all send the exact same emails to you at nearly the exact same time. The net result is that you get duplicate copies of the same CRAP from multiple gurus.  They make very Read full article »

Extreme Negative Emotion About The Housing Market – What Does It Mean

I read an article today on MarketWatch from an economist who makes a reasonable case that our housing market is nearing it's bottom point.  However, the article itself isn't really what this is about:  I'd like to point out the response to the article. For a moment, take a step back and disregard whether you agree with the idea that our Read full article »

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.