The following is an index of articles published on the first tuesday Online Journal during the last 12 months.

These are my latest 1000 posts in the category "Journal Articles" (and subcategories):
- Recent Case Decisions 2012
- Put away your putbacks, Frannie
- Frannie participates in California cramdown program
- Reeling from California’s lack of jobs
- Back to school: Why college towns aren’t just for students
- Shortsales may jar the market awake
- Reports suggest FHFA killed cramdowns without cause
- Qualified residential mortgages and the 20% down payment: no fear
- Agents: what’s your rank?
- Energy audits – good for the buyer, better for the seller?
- Agent snapshot: not your best side
- BofA offers cramdowns with a twisted arm
- BofA “streamlined” shortsale process an anticlimax
- California community redevelopment agencies’ demise leaves void
- The Construction Industry Research Board has left the building
- Test scores boost housing prices, reduce foreclosures
- Bankers, their crystal balls, future mortgage volume
- Critics demand fewer HARP 2.0 restrictions
- Reduced shortsale response time for Frannie loans
- Defaults and foreclosures in a steady decline, for now
- The state of real estate pricing
- Mortgage interest tax deduction broken?
- Cover for your homeowner: an anti-deficiency primer
- To property managers: a new client on the block
- Make solar power feed-in tariffs work for you
- Escrow, beyond the basics
- Make real estate apps work for you, and you will do well
- Tech jobs fuel office market
- MGIC suffers another loss, twice-told tales
- Tenants retain rights on FHA foreclosures, and more
- Californians’ appetites no evidence of wealth
- Real(i)ty check: MLS access for non-CAR members
- CAR reported home sales conflict with other data
- March 2012 home sales volume level with last year
- Real(i)ty Check: Agent fees and fee sharing practices
- FHFA’s oscillating resistance to cramdowns
- FHFA finally gives cramdowns merit
- California prepares for Gen Y to move out… hopefully soon
- Lessons on the Fed: Ben Bernanke’s classroom
- Cohabitation increases in Lesser Depression; days in suburbia are numbered
- first tuesday case in point: The judicially created doctrine of unconscionability
- Get creative with vacant retail space
- “The housing recovery is upon us!” – not so fast
- The Residential Environmental Hazards Disclosure Booklet for Buyers
- The MID truth test
- California limits property tax deduction to…well, taxes
- Buyers get personal with a letter to the seller
- Homebuyer purchasing power pushes the recovery
- FHA lowers fees on streamline refis: will it help California?
- HAMP’s extended reach again falls short of homeowner relief
- Is Gen Y stagnant, or simply watching and waiting?
- The decline in the labor force participation rate has a bright side?
- HARP strikes back, but will lenders conform?
- Tax avoidance for discounted shortpays set to expire – are Californians in trouble?
- Condo owner to abide by HOA’s suggestion of location for improvements
- Boomers postpone retirement, agents be ready
- Multi-family rentals spark real estate investment
- Recovery underway: employment rises in 2011
- No agent left behind: improving real estate education standards
- Understaffed banks say “Oops!” to foreclosures
- Betting on single family residences? Good luck
- Seniors drive home purchases
- Escrow, the time for performance
- February home sales volume on the rise
- Increased MIPs don’t decrease FHA’s attractions
- Borrowers must stay savvy among increased loan options
- Clarifying foggy financial agreements
- Juiced-up incomes inflate housing prices
- For a California business recovery, think small
- Loosen the noose on urban density
- REO rentals: a syndicator’s guide
- Time to move in… to California’s vacant SFRs
- Foreclosures push California vacancies
- Cash buyers drive down prices
- March 2012 Forms
- USDA to help its rural homeowners refinance
- Real estate: Did you get the memo?
- Syndicators, schemes and scams: the business of REO rentals
- RESPA riddles for mortgage loan brokers
- Extend and pretend data for home loan mods
- Commercial brokerage Grubb & Ellis files for bankruptcy
- A change of plans: Say goodbye to tax deductions
- Student debt limits home sales, they say
- Is $18 billion enough for California homeowners?
- Smaller mortgage lenders wary over privatization of Frannie
- Proposed uniform mortgage billing statement will help borrowers
- Severing ties with listing aggregators
- Higher gains for specialty REITs investors
- HUD increases Project Rebuild’s budget
- Freddie Mac bets against homeowners
- Home sales start 2012 with a sharp fall
- HUD acts to house lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people
- FARM Letter: Shortsale and foreclosure sale discounts: common tax reporting mistakes
- FARM Letter: Expenses to consider before buying a new home
- FARM Letter: The new Borrower Outreach Program
- FARM Letter: Applying for a mortgage? Prepare for the third degree!
- DRE licensing fall continues in fourth quarter
- Rentals: the future of real estate in California?
- Bankruptcy: returning the risk to lenders
- Fees on a shortsale, clarified
- Multi-generational housing is a temporary fix for economic woes
- Cramdowns shot down: another missed opportunity
- Lower home price appreciation in socioeconomic enclaves
- Single households on the rise
- Revised HUD-1 form to shed light on “appraisal charges”
- Are MGIC’s days to default numbered?
- Fed officials didn’t see it coming
- Why shouldn’t we hate Wall Street?
- Sticky prices, tricky situation
- Down payment insurance: a nice idea in Wonderland
- Here’s to 2012: a first tuesday realty forecast
- Frannie forbears, unemployed homeowners defer
- Defaults and foreclosures drop, for now
- Home sales on the rise in December
- California AG: “Happy holidays Frannie, you got a lawsuit”
- Anti-flipping waiver reincarnated
- Social mobility drives home sales volume
- Down payment gifts prevent skin in the game
- Inflation Dashboard: A useful tool
- The Top 30 Brokers in CA by Number Employed: 2011
- Market Charts: Real Estate Brokers and Agents
- European investors look to California real estate
- China’s California syndrome
- High-tier real estate’s foothold in California
- Rumors of DRE enlightenment by consolidation
- The homeowner debt debate
- Real(i)ty Check: Real estate’s top influences of 2012
- New credit score info magnifies lender’s scrutiny
- Suburban demographics refute city growth
- Migratory lockdown: underwater homeowners confined
- Why real estate won’t save us this time
- The due-on time bomb
- Inking the handshake: the significance of a written employment agreement
- Fair lending now
- Taming animal spirits in client buy-sell behavior
- NAR pads the numbers
- California’s seductive conditions for mortgage fraud
- For Gen Y, bigger is not better
- Shadow inventory lurks within lender balance sheets
- The Fed’s latest: the Borrower Outreach Program
- The morality of strategic default: businesses vs. homeowners
- BofA: the wayward return of the leaseback
- Recent Case Decisions 2011
- Sales tax increase proposal
- Blame speculators for the intensity of the boom and bust
- November 2011 home sales volume
- Better lender bureau will accept your mortgage grievance
- Federal Housing Administration bailout just around the corner?
- The FICO farce
- Appraisal management to the rescue?
- Retirees: don’t sweat the mortgage debt
- Inheriting debt: taking title subject to a mortgage
- Cramdowns get Fed endorsement
- OWS occupies foreclosures
- CalHFA halts foreclosures on calls triggered by due-on clauses
- Frannie’s REOs lying around with nowhere to go
- New guidelines for the real estate tax deduction
- Negative equity gains and losses
- Why Boomers will still retire after the boom
- The homeownership confidence shift
- December 2011 LWs
- Blueprints for future construction
- Know your limitations, don’t be SOL
- An FHA recipe for disaster
- Americans imprisoned in their homes
- Homebuyer tax credit lost to sellers amidst falling home values
- Economic Forecast Conference predicts slow, steady growth
- PMI Group seized by AZ Department of Insurance, files for bankruptcy
- Home rentals: College students trade dorms for McMansions
- Historic mortgage rates herald momentous change
- Hotels are happening
- October 2011 Home sales volume
- Wealth from other nations: foreign investments in California real estate
- Undue restriction: the shortsale leaseback prohibition
- Factors in construction forecasting
- Damage control: restoring public trust in real estate professionals
- HARP 2.0: bringing band-aids to a war zone
- DRE licensing is restrained in the third quarter
- Surprise: Frannie says “no thank you” to cramdowns
- Cogitating cramdowns: a tale of suspense
- A new age for fair housing
- The solar industry is growing. Are you keeping up?
- Foreign investors have money, want real estate
- Homebuyer optimism uninformed about future pricing
- HOME to dump 401(k) wealth into negative equities
- As time passes, stale claims crumble away
- Failure to submit all offers: a reportable offense
- 3Q 2011 defaults and foreclosures
- Secession of Californian proportions, catalyst for change
- A scarlet letter for (underemployed) real estate licensees
- So, who’s got a plan?
- A green addendum for every green appraisal
- September 2011 home sales volume, trending up
- Common short payoff income tax reporting mistakes
- Unions Occupy Wall Street — where are the Realtors?
- A win-win: intrafamily loans encouraged
- Poverty hits home with suburban poor
- The Fed’s retro “twist” seeks modern dancing partners
- The 20% quagmire
- Opportunity knocks downtown
- Age and education in the golden state
- The distribution of California’s human resources
- The Votes Are In: Agents don’t give legal or tax advice?
- 10 ways to beat the real estate crisis
- Homebuyers face investors by default
- Some pocket cash for your shortsale?
- The rise of “zombie economics”
- You’re sure you’re a shortsale specialist?
- Self-employed homebuyers: prepare for a bumpy ride
- It’s payback time (not for homeowners)
- How to facilitate a shortsale transaction
- Real(i)ty check: Can non-trade union brokers access or post on the MLS?
- Potential future increases for PMI and guarantee fees
- Mixed reviews for the bump in property assessments
- The divided states of California
- August 2011 Home sales volume
- For 2011: CA FTB tax rate schedules, deductions, exemptions & credits
- First-time homeowners stuck and agents derailed
- Nonresidential indicators point to “go”
- Anyway, commercial loan delinquencies have declined
- Boomers bust open doors to real estate investment era
- Real estate licensees and the unauthorized practice of law
- Raising the bar of real estate advice
- The Votes Are In: Eliminate the mortgage interest deduction
- Boomers will always be homeowners
- Aging generation, budding market
- Debating for the underwater and underemployed
- Rentiers and debtors: why can’t they get along?
- REOs for rent
- The Fed points the finger
- July 2011 home sales volume
- Loan modifications walk the plank, California homeowners don’t have to follow
- USA/GSE “credit downgrade” – big words with little meaning for housing
- Solar energy simplified, a SAVE for everyone
- The burden of structural pest control
- Kickbacks: the end of an opulent era
- Real estate recovery and SBA 504 loans
- Homeownership: a piggy bank investment
- Californians are optimistic about the coming year
- Homebuyer tax credits – good intentions, bad results
- The property tax blues
- Give me homeownership or give me death!
- July Article of the Month: The license disclosure myth
- Jobs are scarce whether or not you can sell your home
- Dear travelers, California businesses want you!
- Budging from sticky pricing (or not)
- 2Q 2011 defaults and foreclosures
- The Fed’s plan of attack
- Relief for unemployed homeowners . . . big deal
- The post-recession rise of ARMs
- Just think positive and be happy?
- June 2011 Home sales volume
- Payday cometh . . . for BofA’s investors
- The President tweets his housing mistakes
- Like myths, this old dream will never die
- The Fed’s monetary policy, straight from the horse’s mouth
- Lenders are reducing principal?
- The fate of suburbia
- From city to suburbia then back
- Too big to fail or too rich to fail?
- Strict lending is good for you and the economy
- Strategic default smarts
- The rocky roads: recession and financial crisis
- The license disclosure myth
- Welcome to the Hotel California
- Freddie Mac will subsidize your REO purchase
- Lenders fight dirty for commercial MBBs
- Online access to a listed property’s crime history
- What the rentiers got from working stiffs
- A Dodd-Frank report card
- Golden state population trends
- It’s all happening in the city, eventually
- American pockets short trillions
- May 2011 Home sales volume
- One long, grueling summer for California’s recovery
- U.S. homeownership: an international perspective
- Subsidizing the American dream
- Closing the real estate information gap
- Suspect behavior: why and how the Fed creates a recession
- Babies and mortgages, mingle with discretion
- Extreme makeover: a simpler good-faith estimate
- Wobbling housing market reflects wobbling economy
- A bounty of loan deals, a dearth of willing buyers
- More bad news for HAMP
- May Article of the Month: first tuesday Forms-on-CD Version 4.3 – your professional toolbox
- Presenting the Mortgage Fraud Strike Force – at whose service?
- Short sale or foreclosure? The naked truth for underwater homeowners
- Another prod at novice real estate investors
- Fed downsizing big mortgages too soon
- Permanent loan modification refusals coming to a location near you!
- April 2011 Home Sales Volume
- Gen Y continues to shy away from homeownership
- California DRE commissioner resigns
- Financially illiterate homebuyers in distress – agents to the rescue!
- Jobless Californians, high vacancies
- Higher FHA-insured loan costs push homebuyers to prowl the market
- Where the buyers are
- Fannie and Freddie show some skin
- Test Post
- first tuesday Forms-on-CD Version 4.3 – your professional toolbox
- How much medicine can the sick housing market stomach?
- 1Q 2011 default and foreclosure data
- Bargaining for justice: deconstructing the arbitration provision
- Income Property Analysis for investor review
- Mortgage servicers to regulate…themselves?
- March 2011 Home Sales Volume
- Government mortgage modification programs provide no remedy
- Home values continue to decline, outlook grim
- Americans dream for a home on unstable ground
- Retribution deferred: lenders prove too powerful to be prosecuted
- What happens in Vegas does not stay in Vegas
- Whose skin is in the game?
- The Good Faith Estimate needs further revision
- Home financing, mortgage-backed bonds, and the Fed
- February Home Sales Volume
- Some dread the demise of Fannie and Freddie
- Million-dollar home sales misrepresent housing market
- Though FHA ‘Short-Refi’ applications increase, program still a failure
- January 2011 sees new record number of cash buyers
- Conflicting media reports about 4Q 2010 home price trends
- Fire sprinkler systems mandatory for new home construction in California
- No taxes owed on funds from government programs
- If you build it downtown, they will come
- The due-on-sale clause: barricading homeowners since ‘82
- Bargaining for justice: arbitration and the loss of judicial review
- The home mortgage tax deduction: inducing debt and stifling mobility
- The ARMs threat: monitoring a sustainable recovery
- Mortgage market reform from the executive branch
- Secured credit lines: insurance, or trap?
- March 2011 Forms
- Home prices drop, catching trade union off guard
- NY guarantees legal aid to homeowners in foreclosure
- January Home Sales Volume
- Homeownership rates herald a sustainable future
- The FHA — a flipper’s best friend
- The generations have spoken, who will listen?
- New tactics for competitive landlording
- Frannie’s future is at stake
- HAMP loan modifications remain scarce
- Record numbers of ‘cash-in’ refinances in 4Q 2010
- You can’t hide the skeletons in your closet from Fannie and Freddie
- The Fed flexes its ARM muscles
- Interstate real estate brokerage
- The negative equity plague: California’s home insolvency crisis
- A property’s energy demands: an evolving factor in marketing
- Lenders vs. owners and the real estate interest of each: 2000-2011 and beyond
- 2010’s defaults and foreclosures
- December 2010 Home Sales Volume
- The inconsistent cramdown policy
- Observations to note during an agent’s home inspection
- Online mortgage lending gains momentum
- Cohabitation trend spreads to commercial real estate
- Increased vacancy continues to ravage California neighborhoods
- BofA looks to settle with Fannie and Freddie
- Homebuyers will see stricter lending policies in 2011
- Carryback arrangements facilitate a sale, Part II
- Population growth in California is weaker than expected
- The right of rescission is on the chopping block
- Carryback arrangements facilitate a sale, Part I
- Immigration’s impact on the housing market
- Housing counselors help
- California lawyers won’t help with loan modifications
- Lenders must disclose how credit scores affect your interest rate
- Wells Fargo to modify risky “pick-a-pay” ARMs originated by Wachovia
- Rentals, rentals, rentals
- November 2010 Home Sales Volume
- Lenders desperate to lend look beyond FICO
- 2011 FHA loan limits
- New Fed predictions for bleak 2011 economic growth
- Homebuyers shop around for everything but their mortgage
- The mortgage interest tax deduction imbroglio — the squabble continues
- Lenders limit access to the FHA loan
- Counties accuse secretive MERS of circumventing recording fees
- The rabbit and the greyhound: DRE disciplinary action and broker supervision
- Increasing renter populations drag neighborhoods down
- FDIC reports high volumes of delinquent construction loans
- Break the law, keep your license: real estate-related fraud and the DRE
- October Home Sales Volume
- Fannie’s gift for the holidays: stricter lending guidelines
- Children devastated by foreclosure crisis
- Lenders delay submission of binding GFE by delaying mortgage preapproval
- The jumbo loan returns — sort of
- Lenders unwilling to reduce principal balances under California’s ‘Keep Your Home’ program
- “Walking away” from the Great Recession
- Economic Forecast Conference points to a long period of recovery for California’s real estate market
- Entrepreneurs may “start-up” the recovery
- Generation Y is still chasing their dream of homeownership
- California pulls ahead of Florida in the race to recovery
- The demographics forging California’s real estate market: a study of forthcoming trends and opportunities – Part II
- Retirement dreams delayed for homeowners over 55
- Freddie reports fewer losses — still unstable
- Building green: a bright light in a dark recession
- Energy mortgages: monthly savings take you from red to green
- Holmes v. Summer: dilatory disclosures and the damage done
- Mortgage modification showdown: Interest rate reductions v. Principal cramdowns
- 3Q 2010 default and foreclosure data
- September Home Sales Volume
- Lenders prefer foreclosures, not short sales
- Is homeownership a luxury or a necessity?
- The Fed wants BofA to continue buy-backs of misrepresented mortgage-backed bonds
- Social networking has proven valuable to agents
- New pocket listing search engine and the diminished role of listing agents
- The foreclosure process needs to change, not halt
- The foreclosure machine grinds again
- How to make money as an endorsed, registered, law-abiding RESPA mortgage loan broker
- The Fed purchases Treasuries, fends off deflation
- Low household formations translate to high vacancy rates
- BofA postpones organic economic recovery by halting foreclosures
- BofA’s new way to delay the economic recovery
- The abuses of lower interest rates
- Real Estate Myths
- The demographics forging California’s real estate market: a study of forthcoming trends and opportunities – Part I
- 2Q California foreclosure data
- Another prediction that California metro area price peaks won’t return until 2025
- The truth is in the numbers: government sponsored entities acquire fewer risky loans
- Deflation’s push on the real estate recovery
- Fannie and Freddie are reluctant to sell, eager to earn
- NODs and NOTS continue to stunt California real estate recovery
- August 2010 Home Sales Volume
- Refinancing is not always prudent
- Licensing for listing negative equity properties for short sale
- Let the market crash? Not so fast, please!
- FHA ‘Short-Refi Program’ debt relief for underwater homeowners
- Workers take 401(k) hardship withdrawals to avoid foreclosure
- NODS and NOTS decrease in July, showing no sign of the coming foreclosure wave
- California Assembly rejects “no surprises” loan modification bill
- The era of the financially illiterate homebuyer
- The LTV tipping point: when negative equity owners are most likely to strategically default
- The Fed adopts RESPA regulations aimed to protect home buyers
- Homeownership will not soon turn a profit
- Who suffered the most in this California foreclosure crisis?
- Bank failures continue amidst increased earnings and growing insolvency
- Weakened homebuilding industry not part of California recovery
- Lenders complete more loan modifications independent of HAMP
- The good faith estimate is designed for shopping around
- California home sales data for July
- The private owner auction niche and licensees: Part II
- Current Market Charts
- The private owner auction niche and licensees: Part I
- Short sales could be shorter
- Freddie and Fannie need more help, before disappearing
- Really, a decrease in underwater homes?
- New government agency targets consumer protection
- Condos at bargain-basement prices (without the basement, of course)
- Residential tenants, foreclosure and possession
- Fannie Mae, our government and strategic defaults
- Total assessed values, and taxes, drop in many counties
- Pricing strategies builders use to entice buyers
- Office vacancies deliver rock-bottom leasing rates
- Loan modification scammers prey on underwater homeowners
- Energy-efficiency in the home: Not just for hippies
- Speculations on speculator suppression
- 2Q 2010 default and foreclosure data
- California home sales data for June 2010
- Commercial property landlords finding new ways to rent space
- Expectant parents may not qualify for a home loan
- Tips for developing a successful FARMing campaign
- Mirth & Matter
- FARM Letter Templates
- Fannie and Freddie want their money back from bankers
- Owners add cash instead of cashing-out
- 10% off HUD foreclosed homes for non-users
- Sharp increase in cancelled NODs for June
- The wealthy are defaulting on their mansions
- Alterations to Fannie Mae’s appraisal selection standards
- Fannie and Freddie can’t keep up the PACE
- College debt makes graduates hesitant to become homeowners
- Endorsement requirements for RESPA mortgage brokers
- Plunging pending home sales
- Low ball offers slow housing sales
- The Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement (NHD): included in marketing packages to create transparency and attract buyers
- HAMP is losing participants
- Homeowners: Give away your property or wait for foreclosure?
- Lenders to veterans: sorry, but we’re making it harder
- The true costs of a default-insured mortgage
- Pop-up retailers help fill vacant retail space
- Consumers say they prefer renting to buying
- Falling mortgage rates and housing demand
- Foreclosure prevention specialists: experts at preying on wounded homeowners
- Housing shortage or housing surplus?
- FHA Reform Act Passed in House of Representatives
- Decrease in NODs and NOTS may not be a lasting trend
- 2Q 2010 California Home Sale Data
- Evolving commercial real estate firms
- 20-Year FRMs offer attractive alternative to some jumbo borrowers
- Commercial property equity lenders creatively avoid due-on clauses
- The contagious default strategy: stay and play
- Senior housing occupancy rates dip nationwide
- Loans for commercial RE are scarce, but available [Updated 7-5-2010]
- Renting vs. buying: the GRM
- The FICO score delusion
- first tuesday: good at anticipating public policy
- Cal-HAMP: how $700 million of federal aid is proposed to be allocated in California
- Agency duties: the flipper’s quandary
- Rent skimming by buyers within the first year
- Looking through the window towards recovery: a real estate paradigm shift – Part II
- The plight of California to be solved by… cities?
- Proposed bill takes aim at restricting prepayment penalties and other borrower-costly lending practices
- DRE continuing education changes: now proposed to be effective January 1, 2011
- A lender’s second credit report at closing will be a problem for imprudent spenders
- Freddie and Fannie to streamline loan and appraisal data collection processes [Press Version]
- Freddie and Fannie to implement new complaint process
- Defaults continue to rise on ARMs and FRMs alike
- Trends in California April 2010 sales data
- Shop, shop, shop until you drop
- The era of reform: new regulations for bankers creating mortgage-backed securities
- Faced with paradoxical dual goals, Fannie and Freddie are poised to devour more taxpayer dollars
- Commercial property lenders are more inclined to restructure loans than foreclose
- Continued rise in foreclosure cancellations
- Looking through the window towards recovery: a real estate paradigm shift – Part I
- Private mortgage insurers come back to California as FHA raises eligibility requirements
- 1Q 2010 California Foreclosure Data
- Federal housing tax credits = success?
- Penalty period after default on Fannie Mae loan shortened
- The internet — an untapped goldmine
- Cleaning up after the ruptured housing bubble
- Interest rates up in the land of (more) stable housing
- Federal flood insurance program resuscitated, for now
- Mortgage bankers are liable for violation of fair lending laws by loan originators
- Consumer inflation changes independently of housing prices (and always has)
- Mortgage rate spike has homebuyers in a frenzy
- When it comes to fees: charge only one and disclose it to your client
- Federal housing policy – got any ideas?
- Surge in loan modification defaults
- Revenge of the borrower: the public begins to act on its outrage
- Increases in NODs and NOTs prime the market for speculators
- UPDATE: Tax surprise for short sales and foreclosures averted
- New HAMP revisions: mortgage-relief plan version 2.0
- California’s homebuyer tax credit: an erroneous diversion of state funds
- Yet another federal program experiences difficulty stabilizing SFR housing
- A lesson on the housing bubble, securitization and subprime lending (updated 4/26/2010)
- Increase in NODs and NOTS becomes a buildup of REOs
- Market trends in February sales data for California and Southern California
- Lenders attempt to lock homeowners into paying on underwater homes
- Falling housing prices also cause prime borrowers to strategically default
- The underwater homeowner, his future and his agent: a balance sheet reality check – Part II (updated 04-20-10)
- Flipping: contracting to assign or double escrow the resale transaction
- Homebuyer guidance to avoid a denial of credit
- Sink or swim? Whether to strategically default on a home loan
- Paying down a mortgage: not always the best thing to do
- Getting rid of housing subsidies: the mortgage interest deduction
- Where have all the REOs gone?
- Failure of §1031 “qualified” intermediary to fund defers profit tax
- Underwater blindness: the FHA underestimates its risk of loss
- Jumbo mortgage rates are now more attractive
- Prices will fall as the supply of housing soars above demand
- HARP refinancing is extended, but useless to most Californians
- Expired flood insurance program extended to March 28, 2010
- California tax surprise for short sales and foreclosures
- Licensed RESPA mortgage loan broker/agent registration and endorsement: no education required
- The underwater homeowner, his future and his agent: a balance sheet reality check – Part I
- Norris projects further declines before protracted recovery
- Foreclosures: all downhill from here?
- Loan modification scams continue under a new name: loan audits
- The danger of an ARMs build-up
- California January home sale volume falls from December and one year ago
- Hotel market has yet to hit rock bottom
- Discount window interest rate raised by 0.25%
- Bad commercial real estate loans forecast future bank failures
- The David of the housing market unable to compete with Goliath
- A fundamental pricing technique made new: rent trends as a housing price predictor
- Spurned homeowners should demand the cramdown
- Homeowners buy-down mortgages with cash-in refinancing
- January 2010 California Notice of Default (NOD) activity
- 4Q 2009 California Foreclosure Data
- The fate of our Fannie and Freddie
- New procedures for the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP)
- DRE licenses revoked in 2009 hit a record
- The “frugal aesthetic” pulls down sales of million-dollar homes
- December 2009 and January 2010 Email Newsletters available for download!
- Why won’t lenders renegotiate?
- H.R. 4173 and the failed homeownership cramdown amendment
- Due diligence investigations into a trust deed note
- The shrinking California inventory: not quite a weathervane
- The year of the investor
- New steps regarding new licensing requirements for mortgage brokers
- Reduced FHA standards will encourage speculator interference in the market
- HUD’s new GFE
- Lenders take steps to avoid HUD’s updated GFE
- Lenders’ first offer is rarely final for homebuyers with less than perfect credit
- IRS releases Form 5405 for homebuyer tax credit
- The governor’s $10,000 housing tax credit
- Come tour the foreclosure freak show – a speculator’s paradise
- Cramdowns, cramdowns, cramdowns!
- December 2009 California foreclosure activity
- Federal government: give up the comedy routine and get to work
- The delinquent release of the risk-based pricing notice
- Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System Consumer Access to be available January 25, 2010
- What’s good enough for the goose…
- The post-Bubble bump: Speculation or resuscitation?
- Fannie Mae reveals owner-occupant preferential program
- Homebuyer beware: the real estate game lacks fair play
- “To default, or not to default: that is the question.”
- More leniency for homeowners seeking a modification by fudging their income
- Higher interest rates likely by March
- The Golden State: a positive glimmer in a slowing national recovery
- Frustrations high for homeowners seeking to reduce assessed property value
- The standardized short sale: brought to you by President Obama
- Tooting their own horn: the Fed
- Commercial real estate’s crisis is unique, but no less severe
- International buyers to play a major role in CA’s present and future
- Homebuyer tax credit part 2: return of the subsidy
- Homeowners, abandoned by government and lenders alike, must wield their walkaway
- The false hope of trial modifications
- Analysts see unemployment peaking this month
- Wells Fargo: ‘leading the way’ in cramdowns?
- Wait for revised IRS Form 5405 to claim extended housing tax credit
- The House rejects “cramdown” measure: more foreclosures on the way
- Flippers abound in the sea of short sales
- Don’t be caught unprepared: new licensing requirements for mortgage brokers
- The vice of misplaced morality
- Safety disclosures: crime and the prospective buyer
- Divining housing prices: which crystal ball to use?
- Now first tuesday books and forms are available on Kindle
- Mortgage delinquencies plague both prime and subprime borrowers
- The lender of last resort: understanding the function and methods of the Federal Reserve
- FHA’s lack of reserves could burden future homebuyers and refinancers
- The flat line recovery: a side-effect of sticky housing prices
- Report: the decline in homeownership among the young
- DRE’s failure to oversee its licensees and protect consumers
- Some perspective on the recent increase in home sales volume
- Loan modification program for distressed landlords, investors and owners of second homes
- New HUD loan cost disclosure form not to be used in California
- Study affirms foreclosure counseling programs get modifications
- Endemic fraud in applications for tax credit and loan modification programs
- Elevated mortgage limit for Fannie and Freddie is extended
- California 2009 Tax Rates
- 2009 is the year for first-time buyers
- Fannie Mae announces a sale lease-back program for a deed-in-lieu
- October 2009 California Home Sales and Defaults
- Once out of hibernation, the Bear Flag Republic will flex its fierce economic muscles
- Defaults increase in high-end ZIP codes
- The hated HVCC to make an exit?
- Divining the future: the letters game
- Upward trend in inland empire house prices not expected to last
- Home equity to remain tight through 2010
- How many trial modifications become permanent?
- Despite reassuring reports, sustainable recovery remains illusory
- The Fed to the rescue – inflationary fears assuaged
- If M.C. Escher were a lender: defaults would rise while foreclosures fall
- California homeowners: exercising your right to default
- The speculative price (dis)advantage: negative equity and the Great Liquidation
- Homeownership and the economy, a dangerous two-way street
- Calculating owner-occupied housing in CPI: a high-stakes and contentious quandary
- The effect of home equity borrowing on the real estate market bust
- Dodging the Fee: Home Loan Assumptions and Prepayment Avoidance
- Congressional Oversight Panel advises further government action to stem defaults
- New legislation regulating mortgages
- The continuing hunt for the bottom of California commercial property
- Modifications with principal reductions trickle in
- Clients complain about non-disclosing brokers and their agents
- Property managers to withhold on disbursements to nonresident property owners
- California takes steps to protect current and future homeowners
- Survey results are cause for optimism, but not too much
- Southern California home sales data for August
- A reverse mortgage boom?
- What the trade union expects for 2010
- August 2009 California Home Sales and Defaults
- Rules for FHA-insured purchase loans for condos to be tightened once again?
- Resetting ARMs cast a shadow over the future
- California’s mad housing prices: for a family or for investment?
- Will California see a high-end housing crash next year?
- Four signs your bank might fail . . . .
- Financially savvy homeowners turn to mortgage defaulting as a strategy
- A Minsky Moment: How things got so good, then went so bad
- Market Charts: Demographics of Homeownership
- Unregulated high-risk lending practices: abetting the corruptive competitive advantage
- Letter to the Editor: California’s vanishing population
- Negative Equity and Foreclosure
- Fear mongers’ inflation prediction unjustifiable
- Regulation Z Revisited: A Timeline
- Preventing the next real estate bubble
- Lines of credit become a heavily used source of funds during a credit crisis
- California’s real estate paradigm shift
- Home equity lines shrivel in tandem with decreasing values
- Mortgage workouts take a toll on credit scores
- August and September 2009 Email Newsletters available for download!
- Interest-only loans a source of present and future woe
- Increasing trouble for owners of income property
- High down payments do not always equal lower interest rates
- Impending trouble for FHA-insured loans?
- Modifications rise, but lenders have a long way to go
- TALF extended
- Seven-day and Three-day waiting period added to the Truth in Lending Act
- Increase in prime, fixed-rate loan foreclosures
- Increased home construction supported by government subsidies
- Market Charts Table of Contents
- Extended housing credit : future first-timers are the primary beneficiaries
- Reducing foreclosures—seemingly a good thing for everyone
- Price Persistence and Market Illiquidity
- Beware the drastic measures brought on by desperate times
- A realty Black Hole: belief in ever rising prices causes implosion
- Can the timing and strength of future economic recovery be divined from the past?
- Riverside Town Hall Discussion of the Foreclosure Prevention Act (ABX2 7)
- Letter to the Editor: hostile business ethics in the Golden State
- Future sales and occupancy rates rest on job losses and part-time workers
- Mortgage delinquencies to rise
- Guidance for home equity line freezes
- July 2009 California Home Sales and Defaults
- 2Q 2009 California Foreclosure Data
- Once again, speculators are a plague on the market
- Subprime mortgages: myth and reality
- Federal loan modification plan lags (and lacks)
- The down economy spreads mortgage-default malaise
- Short sales up nationally, but what does that mean for California?
- Information for sellers lucky enough to close a short sale
- Extra hurdles for condo purchase-assist loans
- Distressed commercial property sale hints at future trends
- Debt-forgiveness: a ladder out of the negative equity pit
- Lenders’ Kafkaesque treatment of loan modification applications
- Foreclosure-related fraud
- LTV increased from 105% to 125%
- Speculators thwart first-time buyers
- Shaming lenders is a shift in the game
- The construction industry is a hurdle blocking recovery
- July 2009 Email Newsletter available for download!
- The principal residence profit exclusion
- The Home Valuation Code of Conduct
- Finders: a nonlicensee referral service
- Eventual housing recovery will come from Generation X
- REITs recover from losses by entering the stock market
- California’s 90-day foreclosure moratorium is a step backward
- Low expectations for refinancing through HARP program
- No secondary mortgage market for families with “Trailing spouse” income
- Pending legislation might affect mortgage loans, but not carryback financing
- REITs may be an opportunity for investors
- Market Charts: The Real Estate Market
- New Email Newsletter Archive available!
- For real estate, government again is adept at offering too little, too late – they don’t get it
- April home sales numbers going nowhere
- The FHA housing tax credit advance? You’re better off waiting.
- An ABC fee by any other name
- Lender, escrow and referral fees
- Phoenix rising from the ashes
- Fixed-rate borrowers are majority contributors to foreclosures
- The FHA-insured home loan
- Capitalize on the positive indicators while they’re here
- National resale home prices return to 2002 levels
- FHA-insured home loans grow in popularity
- Signs of improvement in Southern California sales, but recovery remains distant
- Speculators take advantage of low home prices, with uncertain results
- Fed arrives to pull commercial real estate loans out of the fire
- Home-trading websites let sellers play agent in an exchange
- Luxury home sales volume falls when prices rise
- Builders bait their hooks; but will renters bite?
- Bad economy is worse in Riverside, San Bernardino
- Sunny on San Diego with a threat of rain
- Crystal ball shows more of the same
- Home builders have a reason to be worried
- The foreclosure floodgates have been lifted
- Homeownership losses equals rental-property investment gains
- Cities enforce “failure to maintain” law, fine deed-holding banks
- Is anybody home? California vacancy rates skyrocket
- Home Prices and the ‘Boom’bastic Generation X Gap
- A housing crisis and the government walk into a bar…
- Broken before you buy ‘em: Whole development demolished before finish
- Credit after the NOD: the lender’s motivation to re-lend
- Senate defeats bankruptcy cram-down provision
- Census Bureau reports lower percentage of homeownership
- A helping hand for negative equities
- Pest control and marketing
- Loan applications initiate the loan process
- R.I.P. – “easy money” TV real estate infomercials
- Mayoral candidate mails in his keys and walks
- Lower development costs anticipated in Riverside County – but will it help?
- Weakened banks still have some weight to throw around
- Reverse mortgages may be a gilded ticket in the golden years
- Roommates rescue recession-pinched homeowners
- Chief financial officer of Freddie Mac dead
- Home sales volume continues to rise in Southern California
- Defaults rise on commercial real estate in San Francisco
- Builders cheer up as home sales show signs of improvement
- Foreclosures jump in Inland Empire
- Your home, your prison
- Tightened mortgage underwriting standards and appraisal policies discourage buyers and refinancers
- Hotels face foreclosure in recession
- Federal programs aim to enhance energy efficiency in real estate
- Unsatisfying results from federal “Dollar Homes” program
- Mortgage modifications not ideal for foreclosure prevention
- Federal government offers tax breaks for energy efficient home modifications
- Fewer homes on market in parts of Inland Empire
- Short sales become more appealing to lenders as foreclosures remain high
- “Shadow inventory” could further depress home prices
- San Diego rental market appears more recession-resistant
- Baby boomers are upside-down
- 24 charged in RICO mortgage fraud scheme
- More changes from the Department of Real Estate
- The REO goldmine
- We’re still the Golden State
- Making sellers understand, maintenance is key!
- The I.E. braces itself for second wave of foreclosures
- “What number do you need to get your deal done?” led to real estate price inflation
- A response from the DRE and the California State Bar on loan modifications
- The lending parameters for a real estate broker: licensed and exempt activities
- Is social psychology the best predictor of future economic woes?
- New accounting rules give banks room to breathe
- Case-Shiller Index: San Diego a microcosm of the national downward trend in home sale prices
- Lenders vs. owners in 2000-2010: the real estate interest of each
- Square Foot Price Analysis for La Jolla, 92037
- Are BPOs artificially cutting home values?
- Working with your builder to turn lookers into buyers
- Dozens arrested in mortgage fraud sting
- The long road out of the recession
- CA jobless rate hits 1983 level
- B of A to start offering jumbos, on conditions
- DataQuick reports
- DataQuick spotlight on the Bay Area
- The Federal Reserve purchases mortgage and treasury bonds to lower mortgage interest rates
- The recession’s impact on the classroom
- Loan servicers scramble to enact the federal foreclosure prevention plan
- Sizeable bonuses for Fannie and Freddie executives
- A potential safety net for buyers making a risky investment
- Mixed reports indicate a lingering housing slump
- Housing starts exceed expectations
- Commercial building sales stagnate
- California mortgage frauders get the boot
- FHA increases equity requirement for cash-out refinancing
- Builders compete with homes in foreclosure for sales
- Fannie and Freddie throw more mortgage refi life-preservers
- The demand is there, but when will low-income housing arrive?
- Mortgage loan workouts increased in 2008, but so did foreclosures
- A threat to borrowers who want to lower their mortgage payments
- Private mortgate insurance harder to get
- California new home credit application procedures
- Good credit aside, jumbo mortgage seekers can’t find fixed rate loans
- Property reassessments might save owners on taxes—but beware of scams
- “The Affordability of Homeownership to Middle-Income Americans”
- Why the home purchase grant subsidy may not raise home prices
- The bite on nonresidential loans to follow
- Real estate owners in West Los Angeles discover the dollar buys more
- HR1: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
- Home buyers’ grant subsidy for 2009
- The moral hazard behind mortgage modification
- Loan Modification Negotiations are the Domain of Real Estate Licensees
- Real estate prospectors need patience, and deep pockets
- Southern California home prices are raising affordability–if you have a job
- “Home values in L.A., Orange counties higher than reported, Zillow.com says”, from Los Angeles Times
- The February 2009 first tuesday Newsletter
- The Federal Reserve: lender of the last resort
- Retirement funds as an LLC investment
- Cramdown: distressed homeowners’ shot at salvation or disguised menace?
- Fannie Mae lifts ban on investor SFR loans
- Citigroup and JPMorgan stall inevitable foreclosures – but will it help?
- 2009 FHA Loan Limits
- First time homebuyers eligible for federal loan for downpayment
- The mortgage market’s eventual upturn: just guesses
- Leaseholds held by bankrupt Circuit City are up for sale
- Mortgage modifications are ineffective without a cramdown
- Reverse offers can encourage interested buyers to close a deal
- DRE to close offices first, third Fridays of each month
- Real estate owners in West Los Angeles discover the dollar buys more
- “It’s Official: 2008 Housing Production in California was the Lowest on Record, CBIA Announces”
- “California—Corporate, Personal Income Taxes: Refund Delay FAQs Issued”
- Banks avoid broker originated loans
- The Taxation of Short Sale Discounts and Foreclosures
- The Return of Square Foot Pricing
- Reassessment and Tax Reduction Assistance Down on the Farm
- Managing Ongoing Agency Conflicts
- “Rate of Defaults is Rising Among FHA-Backed Loans”
- “Condo developers in S.F. hurting for buyers”
- DataQuick Press Release: “Temporary Drop in California Foreclosure Activity”
- The DRE’s Exam Study Survey
- The DRE to charge higher licensing fees
- “Fannie and Freddie give borrowers more time”
- NEW: The Department of Real Estate’s new phone number!
- “Don’t expect recovery before 2012 – with 8% inflation”
- “Citi backs foreclosure prevention plan”
- “How about a stimulus for Financial Advice?”
- “Solar energy’s darker side stirs concerns”
- Confidentiality of information: by agency or by agreement
- The EP bonding requirement is void until re-legislated
- Late housing payments
- Affiliated business arrangements
- Mortgages, negative equities, and foreclosures
- Market Volatility Factor: Loans
- How much ethics training does a real estate licensee need?
- FDIC Loss Sharing Proposal
- NAHB housing market index falls
- CA Housing: A bait and switch scam
- Federal Tax Inflation Adjustments
- Empty houses subject to squatting scams
- Market Volatility Factor: Rents
- November 2008: Letters to the Editor
- Market Volatility Factor: Real Estate Price Speculation
- Market Volatility Factor: Interest Rates
- Market Volatility Factor: Jobs
- The unfair advantage lenders take: a call for change
- The Economic Restructuring of Real Estate
- The Involuntary Landlords: a guideline for foreclosing lenders
- Obtaining and renewing a corporation license
- Cal-FAIR Insurance
- Housing prices under government control
- California 2008 Tax Rates
- Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008
- October 2008: Ten Things Brokers and Agents Should Consider
- HR3221: The Unfortunate Housing Act of 2008
- Price fixing and kickbacks for the sake of earnings
- The reduction of investment risks
- Attornment clauses in nonresidential leases
- Trust deed investment for groups
- The unfortunate Housing Act of 2008 – for sellers and brokers
- 91-day T-bill rate added!
- Interest imputed on §1031 monies delivered to facilitators
- Two or more depreciation schedules for §1031 replacement properties
- Mediation: best, faster dispute resolution
- FHA Loan Limits
- Land sales contracts and lease-option sales
- The economics of building permits for new single family residences
- Dangerous on-site and off-site activities
- Vacation homes
- Brokering Cal-32 high-cost loans
- Cal-32 high cost loans
- May 2008 Tax Review
- Regulation Z, Part I
- The movement towards home offices
- Syndicating the equity purchase
- May 2008 DRE Digest
- Short payoffs on loans in foreclosure
- Tobacco Smoke: A New Nuisance for Landlords
- April 2008 Supreme Court Watch
- Conflicts of interest in brokerage
- Carry back sellers, secured or unsecured?
- April 2008 Legislative Watch
- AB 763: Tenant notifications of proposed conversions
- Funds in a failed escrow
- Licensees’ most common enforcement violations
- The elimination of contingencies
- Types of tenancies
- “For Sale” sign regulations
- Intra-family transfers avoid reassessment
- Carryback sellers and all-inclusive trust deeds
- ARMs in foreclosure: a current crisis
- Speculators, Price Movement, and Inventory: what brokers should do to survive the fall
- New laws for California motorists
- The safety clause
- Adjustable rent provisions
- Cancellation, release and waiver
- The FHA-insured home loan
- A fee due on withdrawal or termination
- Reinstatement and redemption periods during foreclosure
- Recovery of residential turnover costs
- Assigning your purchase rights
- A fee due on withdrawal or termination
- Changing terms on a month-to-month tenancy
- Tenant-in-common (TIC) Syndication
- Automatic and declared homesteads
- The breaching buyer’s liabilities during periods of declining prices
- June 2004
- Form Matters: Notice of ‘Supplemental’ Property Tax Bill
- Proof of service
- Late charges and grace periods
- The masked transfer: buyer vs. broker
- The home inspection report
- September 2007 Events
- California Employment
- Due-on-sale regulations
- The unconscionable advantage some investors create
- Form 419 – Balloon payment notices
- The scam behind “nonprofit” downpayment assistance charities
- Disclosures on seller carrybacks
- Home loan interest deductions
- Gaining possession after foreclosure
- Delinquent rent and the 3-day notice
- California housing outlook
- Required disclosures on seller carrybacks
- Grant deed vs quitclaim deed
- Form 426 – Modification of the note
- Declaratory relief prevents more costly litigation
- Accepting partial rent
- Beneficiary’s profits on foreclosure
- The buyer’s deposit and liquidated damages
- Specific performance loan commitments and attorney fees
- June 2007 Events
- Requests for Notice of Default and Notice of Delinquency
- The economics of income property
- May 2007 Events
- Surrender cancels the lease agreement
- Carryback foreclosure and resale costs
- Judicial foreclosure
- Cinco de Mayo
- A carryback note becomes worthless
- Save the planet!
- Forcing co-owners out
- Landlord’s entry during “For Sale” period
- Trustee’s sale procedures, c’td
- April 2007 Events
- Equity sharing co-ownership
- Leasehold improvements
- March 2007 Events
- Clearing a lien-clouded title
- Trustee’s sale procedures
- February 2007 Events
- Have you heard?
- An owner’s residence in foreclosure
- Management of exposure to liability
- Notices to vacate
- Short payoff on recourse and nonrecourse loans
- January 2007 Events
- Encroachments – crossing the line
- Anti-deficiency: past, present, and future