Tag archives for Point In Time

Majority of Homeowners Opting Out of Loss Mitigation Entirely

While the news is full of climbing short sale rates and the “success” of the myriad federal programs in place to help homeowners deal with the housing crisis, a new report from the State Foreclosure Prevention Working Group (SFPWG), a group that compiles and analyzes information from state attorneys general and bank supervisors around the country, indicates that fully 60 Read full article »

Bulk Residential REO Ready to Go

A recent panel of residential and commercial experts discussing a variety of market-related activities concluded that bulk REO investing is hovering on the verge of something big. The panel, which agreed that members would have expected large-scale REO liquidation prior to this point in time, believed that when loan modifications are exhausted, the current level of active bulk REO investors Read full article »

Congressional Budget Office Declares Fannie, Freddie “Government Entities”

Despite the fact that taxpayers have already contributed more than $145 billion to bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner refuses to follow the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) recommendation that these two entities be considered part of the federal government. At this point in time, taxpayers own about 80 percent of the GSEs, and the Read full article »

Real Estate Note Investing – What to Do When the Banks are Hurting

It's disconcerting after decades of relatively painless borrowing and relatively "easy" money to realize that not only are banks hurting, but they are not even interested in loaning the majority of the population money. In fact, many real estate investors are starting to consider getting out of the business, selling off their properties and resigning themselves to other business ventures. However, Read full article »

The Grand Shift In Real Estate Buyer Mentality

Ask the average "man on the street" about the real estate market, and you probably won't hear very much excitement. Right now, real estate is a big “if” for many people. The perception of real estate among retail buyers has been permanently changed during the past few decades, causing typical retail home buyers to view themselves as "investors" in real estate 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.