This article comments on the early use of the Natural Hazards Disclosure (NHD) statement by the listing agent when marketing property to properly inform a prospective buyer and the selling agent before the price is set and an offer is submitted to the seller. Also discussed is the liability protection afforded to the listing agent and seller by upfront delivery of the NHD.

On January 13, 2010, Governor Schwarzenegger outlined his proposal for a $10,000 California state housing tax credit as part of his California Jobs Initiative. The credit would provide $200 million worth of tax credits for the purchasers of newly-constructed or existing homes, twice the amount that was available to homebuyers under the last state housing [...]

An unsettling paradox has emerged: mortgage delinquencies are on the rise, but lenders are increasingly sluggish to send out notices of defaults (NODs) to troubled homeowners. As the mortgage meltdown spreads to higher tier properties and prime borrowers, foreclosure sales and mortgage delinquencies are becoming increasingly common, up 9.5% in California between the second and [...]

This article examines the impact of home equity borrowing on the current real estate market bust, and the indicators of an unhealthy amount of home equity borrowing as a warning system for future housing recessions. As everyone who keeps an eye on the news knows, the real estate market, still slogging its way through the [...]

This article comments on the unfounded conspiracy theory held by inflation pessimists that the Federal Reserve’s increased lending will invariably trigger massive future inflation. To provide a crutch for the ailing banks that overextended themselves during the Millennium Housing Boom by making too many high-risk real estate loans, the Federal Reserve (the Fed) infused massive [...]

During the recent millennium boom, interest-only loans gained enormous popularity across the United States, especially in California, Florida, and Nevada. Many buyers who took out these purchase-assist loans have grown accustomed to small loan payments. However, they are now opening their eyes to the reality that they have yet to pay off a penny of [...]

While foreclosures on loans made to homeowners are well underway (about 40% completed for this recession in California thus far), income property owners have only started to experience the negative cash-flow pain of the current recession. Until job loss is reversed (something not guaranteed in 2009-2010, the first stage of recovery from the recession), vacant [...]

California construction, while on the rise from February to June 2009, fell in July. The pace of single family residence (SFR) construction during July 2009 was at an annual rate of 22,000 starts; 37% below one year ago. U.S. national construction of SFRs continued on a rise that started in March. July numbers rose nearly [...]

First-time homebuyers looking to become homeowners during this “buyer’s market” are running headlong into a flood of speculators looking to make a quick buck from flipping cheap property.  First-timers, who are mostly relying on conventional and FHA-insured financing and state and federal tax credits to back their purchase offers, are being passed over for speculators [...]

First-time California homebuyers, which brokers and builders hope will revive the real estate industry by absorbing the glut of REO properties on the market, have encountered surprising difficulty purchasing low-end property valued below $200,000. Competition is the primary culprit as banks are intentionally staggering the flow of REO properties back into the market. While this [...]