Archive for March, 2009

Despite news that new home sales rose in February, home builders are generally suffering along with the rest of the U.S. public and homeowners in the current climate. There are, however, encouraging signs that new home technologies and green designs are not being dismissed by homebuilders and, in fact, that such initiatives and new home [...]

As someone who has spent more time with drywall than I actually have desired (yet not nearly so much as a professional), I can say that I’m not overly fond of the stuff. It’s a great invention, mind you, and certainly more effective and easy to use than plaster and lathe. But hanging it is [...]

According to the National Association of Realtors, existing home sales jumped 5.1% nationwide in February, 2009, though prices were down 15.5% from the same month last year. Sales prices were unprecedented, falling to the same lows last seen in 1997, and economists are predicting that, nationwide, prices will probably fall well into 2009. Nicolas Retsinas, [...]

Loan modification programs - all of which, until now, have focused on those who are delinquent - have been talked about ad nauseam on discussion boards and in the comments sections of blogs all across the real estate “blogosphere.” Many have become so fed up that they’re ready to dismiss the entire country as one [...]

For those who didn’t hear of the news yesterday that the Federal Reserve plans on pumping $1.2 trillion in the U.S. economy, let me assure you that this is BIG news. It was no surprise that the Federal Open Market Committee kept the federal funds rate at .25%, and economists expect that rate to stay [...]

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, didn’t heed warnings by the Bush administration in 2003 when they said that something was amiss at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He proved short-sighted again in 2005 when John McCain and others put forth a bill for stricter lending practices from [...]

Oddly, and quite unexpectedly, housing starts jumped in February, 2009, showing a 22.2% increase over January. Though the increase was welcome news in some corners, housing construction remains 47.3% off the mark from last year and most of the February gain came from the construction of apartments, which tend to be more volatile than construction [...]

A report put forth by the Mortgage Asset Research Institute showed that mortgage fraud jumped 26% in 2008. While Rhode Island, Florida, Illinois and Georgia ranked first through fourth among the 50 states, Maryland came in at 5th on the list, a black mark against our state that, generally speaking, has weathered the real estate [...]

In a sign of the times more poignant than most, Vito Simone, a Baltimore real estate agent and president of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors (GBBR), has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection and has listed debt totaling $3.9 Million.
The filing includes mention of debt owed to 66 creditors from various companies, including Baltimore [...]

Because it affects a much larger percentage of the population, talk surrounding the real estate market in Maryland tends to focus on the residential side rather than commercial. For investors, however, the state of that portion of the market is just as important. Baltimore commercial real estate in particular is generally strong - among the [...]