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Real estate needs more regulation

By Marcie Geffner, Wednesday, December 3, 2008.

Among all the mistakes that have led to the current real estate wreck, it now seems clear that lax government regulation should be at the top of the list. Ivory-tower economists may tout the undeniable theoretical benefits of unfettered markets, but those benefits clearly depend on the health of the entire system. When regulation backs off to the point of systemic failure, free-market enthusiasts have gone too far.

Here are seven areas in which inadequate government control or oversight contributed to the current real estate crash: more...

Housing hints for President-Elect Obama

By Marcie Geffner, Wednesday, November 12, 2008.

Dear President-elect Obama,

Strong housing markets and financially stable homeowners are crucial to the well-being of the U.S. economy. With that in mind, I hope you'll support policies that will strengthen the nation's housing markets and polish off the tarnish that clings to homeownership today.

Here are nine suggestions: more...

Unemployment could knock out housing

By Marcie Geffner, Tuesday, October 28, 2008.

First, subprime mortgages exploded and home prices crashed. Then, the financial markets fell apart. Will unemployment be the proverbial next shoe to drop on the already weakened U.S. housing markets? If so, the implications for real estate will be profound indeed.

Historically, employment and home sales have been inextricably linked: People who had good jobs with steady paychecks bought homes while people whose income wasn't reliable weren't given home loans. more...

The state of foreclosure prevention

By Marcie Geffner, Thursday, October 9, 2008.

Homeowners who can't afford their mortgage payments may not find much in the way of rescue or relief in the U.S. government's $700 billion bailout of the financial markets. more...

Housing bill falls short of hype

By Marcie Geffner, Monday, September 22, 2008.

To hear national real estate trade groups tell it, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 enacted eight weeks ago was the most important federal housing bill in the last 30 years. The National Association of Realtors, Mortgage Bankers Association and National Association of Home Builders were downright over-the-top in their praise of the bill's contents, the lofty results it was supposed to achieve and the branches of government that brought it about. more...

McCain keeps hands off housing

By Marcie Geffner, Friday, August 29, 2008.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain

Real estate professionals who turn to John McCain's Web site for information about his housing policy may be disappointed to discover there's not much there to examine. But the omission of specific plans and programs may be less of an oversight on the candidate's part and more of a statement in and of itself as to his views. more...

Obama's housing plan is long on rhetoric

By Marcie Geffner, Monday, August 25, 2008.

As Democratic delegates and power brokers prepare in Denver, Colo., for the political party's presidential convention that begins tonight, real estate and mortgage professionals and homeowners may be curious about likely nominee Barak Obama's housing proposals.

The candidate's three-page housing policy statement doesn't say how many houses Obama owns (one), but offers plenty of speculation about ... more...

Housing bill no panacea

By Marcie Geffner, Monday, August 11, 2008.

The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, signed by President Bush July 30, contains a hodge-podge of new programs, protections and perks for homeowners, home buyers and housing-related companies. But considerable doubt remains as to whether the law will do much to change the current dynamics of the nation's housing markets, which are still mired in misfired mortgages and depressed home sales. The bill may turn out to be not so much too little, too late, but rather misdirected, riddled with loopholes and subject to unintended consequences. more...

Housing still unaffordable

By Marcie Geffner, Monday, July 28, 2008.

Affordability troubles remain despite home price declines.

Home prices have tumbled from their heights, but their fall still hasn't made much of a dent in the nation's housing affordability woes. In fact, "even with widespread price declines, affordability for would-be homeowners has not improved significantly."

That's one conclusion of "The State of the Nation's Housing 2008," a report published earlier this year by Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. more...

The bad business of 'Friends of Angelo'

By Marcie Geffner, Monday, July 14, 2008.

Quick quiz: Which mortgage company chieftain took home $140 million in compensation last year while the company he founded lost $704 million?

If you said Angelo R. Mozilo, CEO of Countrywide Financial Corp., take a bow. And add a couple of gold stars if you knew Mozilo's pay was comprised of more than $120 million from exercised stock options and more than $22 million in other compensation, according to a Reuters' report based on the mortgage company's year-end filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. more...

Is your blog a lawsuit magnet?

By Marcie Geffner, Monday, June 30, 2008.

Blogging is long overdue for a few good lawsuits.

While free speech and fair use are legitimate and important legal concepts, what goes on in the blogosphere is all too often well beyond what's permissible. Bloggers may be guilty of libel, defamation, copyright infringement, invasion of privacy and a number of other crimes. Whether individual cases have merit is a matter for the courts to decide, but the risks of liability present a clear warning for real estate bloggers who operate in ignorance or disregard of the laws that govern free speech and fair use. more...

Rediscovering the American Dream

By Marcie Geffner, Monday, June 23, 2008.

Home ownership has enjoyed a well-deserved reputation as a crucial component of the so-called "American Dream." But for many people, home ownership is now perceived more as a nightmare than an essential element of the (admittedly somewhat mythical) "good life" that could be attained in the United States. Whether that negative perception is based on valid fears or little more than irrational overreactions to today's market correction, it's nonetheless a paradigm shift that should be of concern to anyone whose livelihood depends on real estate. more...

After VOWs, what next?

By Marcie Geffner, Tuesday, June 3, 2008.

The U.S. Justice Department and National Association of Realtors have at last settled their long-running dispute over the competitiveness of virtual office Web sites. The settlement is good news for real estate, but VOW innovations may yet play out in surprising ways that neither the DOJ or NAR could have anticipated, and the settlement itself still leaves plenty of intriguing questions to ponder. more...

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Real estate should rethink affordable housing

By Marcie Geffner, Monday, May 19, 2008.

Experts may disagree on whether the Chinese characters for "crisis" can or cannot be equated to the words "danger" and "opportunity." But regardless of ancient-language etymology, the concepts of danger and opportunity are appropriate to today's housing crisis.

There's no doubt that the crisis has caused a lot of pain. Lenders and investors have lost their shirts. Realtors and mortgage brokers have lost their livelihoods. And home buyers, many of them first-timers or minorities, have lost their homes. more...

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Judges should have say in mortgage modifications

By Marcie Geffner, Wednesday, April 30, 2008.

The Mortgage Bankers Association recently fought off federal legislation that would have allowed bankruptcy judges to modify residential mortgages. The MBA's victory was a huge success for lenders, but an unfortunate loss for homeowners who have declared bankruptcy.

Lenders had good reason to dislike the proposal, which would have shifted some of the power over mortgages from lenders' loss-mitigation departments to bankruptcy judges, who might have imposed modifications that the lenders wouldn't have liked. more...

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