High-end real estate offices are demonstrating resilience to this Lesser Depression, as evidenced by the new firms opening in posh California neighborhoods such as Beverly Hills. The sale of high-tier properties earns brokers and agents a sustainable living with only a few annual sales. These home sales are more easily closed than low-tier property sales [...]

California governor Jerry Brown has proposed the consolidation of the Department of Real Estate (DRE) into a bureau within the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA), as outlined in his January 2012 budget proposal. In order to cut administrative costs and encourage efficiency, the DRE and other licensing departments would be absorbed into the DCA. The [...]

This article discusses the need for a written employment agreement to assure payment of any fee anticipated for finding a match and negotiating a real estate related transaction, and reviews the fee assurance offered by provisions in various types of listing and purchase agreements.

California is about to discover it has an oversupply of classic subdivision housing, according to a report released by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) analyzing demographic and construction trends in California’s metropolitan regions. Generation Y (Gen Y) individuals are gearing up to form households this decade, and developers anticipate a diminished demand for large single [...]

For every two homes available for sale, there is another in lender shadow inventory, according to a report by CoreLogic. Nationally in October 2011, 1.6 million residential units were shadow inventory comprising property delinquent 90 days or more, in foreclosure or real estate owned (REO) and thus were not yet listed with a multiple listing [...]

The Federal Reserve Board of Governors (the Fed) is checking up on mortgage lender compliance with regulations controlling foreclosure misconduct the Fed identified at ten banks (including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase and Citibank) during the Fed’s November 2010 foreclosure review. In addition to requirements issued in April 2011, each of the [...]

This article discusses the purported moral implications of a homeowner’s decision to strategically default and why no such implications exist for a strategically defaulting business.

California’s governor has proposed a 0.5% increase in state sales tax in reaction to “partisan gridlock” that affected 2011’s budget process. first tuesday take: Should this increase occur, it will have no effect on the price of first tuesday continuing education and licensing courses. We include tax as part of the total price of our [...]

Real estate speculators are to blame for the intensity of the 2004-2006 housing bubble and subsequent financial crisis, as found in a study by the Federal Reserve of New York (New York Fed). Between 2000 and 2006, the share of purchase-assist financing going to people who owned more than one home — mostly real estate [...]

This article discusses the complicated process of taking title to a home with a mortgage, and suggests homeowners create a revocable living trust to ensure the beneficiary of their estate is not subject to a mortgage’s due-on clause.