Bottomed Out in 3rd Quarter?

A new housing outlook was just published this week by the Senior Economic Analyst for the National Association of Realtors. It indicates that 3rd quarter of 2007 represents a 5% drop in existing home sales (the largest segment of the housing market – it excludes new construction) from the previous quarter. Further, it indicates a steady, slow increase each quarter going forward all the way through 2008. 4th quarter of 2008 existing home sales are estimated to be equal to 1st quarter of 2007. This forecast, therefore, leads us to believe that housing consumer confidence will return sometime during the October to December 2007 timeframe and move forward cautiously through the next year. I’ll keep you posted as I know more.

Foreclosure Rates Examined

I heard a news clip today regarding the alarming rate of mortgage loan defaults and late payments due to our subprime lending crisis. The clip stated (I believe – I was multi-tasking at the time) that 13% of the mortgage loans in America are subprime and 15% of those are in foreclosure. If my math skills have not totally escaped me, 13% times 15% is about 1.95%. So . . . .the news hype is about 1.95% of all the loans out there being in foreclosure? I understand that the 1.95% could become a full 13% and yes, that sounds pretty scary. I do suspect, however, that 100% of the subprime loans will not reach foreclosure. The clip further stated that 97.4% of Americans make their mortgage payments on time, which sounded great to me. Nothing here gave me any cause to be alarmed. I just wanted to share. Have a great weekend.

Slow News Day?

It must have been a slow news day today. I cruised through the CNN website and snuck a peek at the politics section. The top headline under "Political Ticker" read:

Sen. Craig hires Michael Vick's attorney

Well if that isn't big news, I don't know what is. Sheesh. We are doomed.

Peace.

No Education for Illegal Aliens?

As you recall from previous postings, I am a news junkie. I caught a bit of a story this week that struck me as odd. It seems that the State Legislature in Virginia is proposing that illegal aliens not be allowed to attend State Colleges there, the rationale being that other deserving students are not able to make the acceptance cut because of a limited number of slots available.

In the world of real estate, we have offers and counter-offers. In keeping with that spirit, I have the following counter-proposal. I propose that since the State of Virginia knows who their illegal aliens are and apparently where they are, that they contact Immigration & Naturalization Services and inform them that they have illegal aliens. Further, they should request that they be rounded up and escorted back to their border of origin. It would seem that this strategy would demonstrate a State comprised of law abiding Americans that are interested in doing the right thing.

Complicating this common sense approach by introducing a bill, debating its merits, passing it in the legislature and sending it off to the Governor for his veto (yes, Virginia, your Governor is opposed to this - he has no problem with illegal aliens attending State Colleges funded by your tax dollars) is pure folly. It may raise the notoriety quotient for some State Legislators, but is that necessary? Is that what the constituency is paying for? Keep it simple:

Make the phone call - INS Agents are awaiting your tip!