Property/Assets/Rights

SF Bay Area House Sales Plunge in June (Month-over-Month AND Year-over-Year)

"What’s most alarming about this is that 'June' existing sales are actually from 'contracts and price decisions' made in April and May when rates were at HISTORIC LOWS. This tells me the market — underpinned for 18 months by investors and 'distressed supply' — was already exhausted before the historic rate 'surge'. Historic, artificially low rates for so long filled so much pent-up demand, pulled so much demand forward, and caused institutional investors to buy so much blindly that years of housing market activity was shoved through the eye of a needle." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSF Bay Area House Sales Plunge in June (Month-over-Month AND Year-over-Year)

Housing’s Mini-Bubble Has Popped.

"Mortgage rates are up. Mortgage applications are down. New home permits are down. New home construction is down. Not a little down. 'Falling off the burning trestle' down. Bernanke did it. Let us not forget this after he retires next February. Bernanke did it. When the bad news on housing is on the evening news, recall once again: Bernanke did it. With QE3 pouring $40 billion of newly counterfeited money a month into Fannie/Freddie, and mortgage rates rising from 3.35% to 4.6% in two months, let us sing the chorus: Bernanke did it." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHousing’s Mini-Bubble Has Popped.

Now Available for You to Buy: America’s Most Expensive Home, $190 Million

"The Greenwich, CT house has 12 bedrooms and comes with 50 acre of grounds. The house is currently owned by timber industrialist John Rudey, reports the UK's MailOnline. The estate once belonged to Harriet Lauder Greenway, whose father went into business with steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. The three story property was built in 1896 and still has speaking tubes from pre-electricity days and sleeping porches used to cool off before the invention of air conditioning as well as an elaborate solarium. There is 15,000 feet of living space." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNow Available for You to Buy: America’s Most Expensive Home, $190 Million

Gold Diverging From Fine Wine as Bullion Investors Lose Faith

"The Liv-ex Fine Wine 100 Index (LIVX100) tripled in the past 10 years and gold advanced fourfold. The wine gauge rose 5.9 percent this year as bullion slid 17 percent. The Wine Investment Fund, which manages about $50 million of assets, expects the Liv-ex gauge to rise by about another 7.6 percent by the end of December. Demand for gold, wine and other alternative assets gained in the past several years as equities retreated and bond yields tumbled to record lows as central banks printed money on an unprecedented scale. Gold held through exchange-traded products exceeded all but two of the world’s central-bank reserves." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGold Diverging From Fine Wine as Bullion Investors Lose Faith

Wine producers go hi-tech to protect against fraud

"Making sure a glass of wine is everything it promises on the label was once a relatively simple process: hold against the light, tilt and observe the shade, swirl a little and give it a good sniff. But with the ever-increasing global consumption of wine now attracting the attention of fraudsters, wine drinkers are soon just as likely to be advised to whip out their smartphones. A quick scan can give the consumer a direct link to the supplier’s website to verify the label, trace the wine’s journey from vineyard to glass and provide information about the winery. New technology and international cooperation are now enabling producers to outsmart the fraudsters." Continue reading →

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Realty Mogul Review: Fractional Investment Property Ownership, Hard Money Lending

"Realty Mogul is a new 'crowdfunding' start-up that lets you invest in residential investment property for as little as $5,000. You either take a partial ownership position in a property, or you become a lender to (experienced) house flippers. The new thing here is that you can do it completely online with a few mouse clicks (no mortgage brokers, real estate agents, or tenants) and again that low minimum $5,000 investment. Taking an equity ownership position means that you own a little slice of a single-family home or multi-unit complex while a professional does the buying, fixing up, renting out, and eventual selling." Continue reading →

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Price Inflation Watch: Average NYC Rent Passes $3,000

"The average rent in NYC last quarter was $3,017 a month, according to Reis Inc. According to Reuters, the average New York rent was more than 50 percent higher than second-place San Francisco, where rent grew 1.1 percent from the first quarter to $1,998.82. Oklahoma City was the cheapest market, at an average of $571.03 a month, up 0.6 percent. The national average is $1,062. With few apartments up for grabs in NYC, brokers are urging prospective tenants to carry financial paperwork with them to showings and to make a decision quickly, reports WSJ." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPrice Inflation Watch: Average NYC Rent Passes $3,000

Dear New Yorkers: Here’s Why Your Rent Is So Ridiculously High

"While the average rent for available apartments in New York City is now over $3,000, the U.S. Census Bureau says renters in New York City were only paying a median of $1,125 in 2011. What gives? The answer is, there are lots of cheap apartments in New York. You just can't get one of them, because they're rent controlled, and tenants with great rent controlled deals cling to their apartments until they die. In Manhattan below 96th Street, 35% of rent regulated apartments are occupied by a tenant who has lived there for more than 20 years. Less than 3% of market-rate tenants have been around that long." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDear New Yorkers: Here’s Why Your Rent Is So Ridiculously High

Mortgage Rates at Two Year High

"The average rate for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 4.51% in the week ending July 11 - reaching the highest rate since July 2011,Freddie Mac said today in its weekly report. A year ago, the 30-year rate averaged 3.56%. This is only the beginning. It is not the time to have a floating rate mortgage. If you haven't locked in your mortgage rate with a long-term fixed rate mortgage, do so now." Continue reading →

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Libertarian group joins fight against garage restrictions in Dearborn

"At a Planning Commission meeting Monday night in Dearborn, a leader with a libertarian group started by former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul raised questions about the city’s plan to tweak an ordinance that regulates the use of garages. In recent years, a growing number of residents — especially those in the Arab-American community — have transformed their garages into living spaces where they hang out, cook, smoke water pipes, and eat. Some have even installed sliding glass doors. City officials are concerned such activity is causing safety hazards, pointing to a fire in November that was started by a heater kept in a garage." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLibertarian group joins fight against garage restrictions in Dearborn