|
REPORTS GALORE
OF DECLINING HOME VALUES
 The
U.S. Census Bureau, CoreLogic, Standard & Poor’s and other
organizations issued third-quarter reports of declining home prices
and predictions of further depreciation in the average price of U.S.
homes.
The Census reported last month that the average home price fell last
year to $185,200, a 5.8% decline from the previous year. The
municipality with the highest average home value was San Jose,
Calif., at $638,300. Four other California cities placed in the top
ten in this category, while New York, Washington, Boston, Seattle
and Baltimore rounded out this exclusive list. McAllen, Texas, had
the lowest of all U.S. municipalities with an average home value of
$76,100.
A CoreLogic report issued last week said that home prices in the
United States have dropped for two consecutive months. According to
analysts at Standard & Poor’s, this trend will continue. The company
recently issued a report predicting a decline in home values of 7%
to 10% through the end of next year.
“We’re continuing to see price declines across the board with all
but seven states seeing a decrease in home prices,” Mark Fleming,
CoreLogic’s chief economist told Carrie Bay, a reporter for DSNews.
“This continued and widespread decline will put further pressure on
negative equity and stall the housing recovery.”
FARMLAND PRICES INCREASE 10% IN
MIDWEST
 With
real estate prices falling in most sectors, the increase in the
price of farmland, at least in the Midwest, is turning out to be a
notable exception. The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago reported last
week that farmland prices in the Midwest rose 10% in the third
quarter of this year compared to what it was in the third quarter of
last year.
An increase in farm prices and the lower price of credit were
reported be the reasons for the dramatic jump in land prices in the
Fed’s Seventh District, which covers Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and
Wisconsin. This region is a leading producer in corn, soybeans, pork
and dairy products.
“We had strong credit [and] strong land-value growth a couple of
years ago, and then things changed pretty dramatically with lower
corn and soybean prices,” Federal Reserve economist David Oppedahl
told Christine Stebbins, a reporter for Reuters News. “Now there was
a surge in those, so we have a much more favorable situation again
this fall.”
MBA REPORTS
SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN
COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE ORIGINATIONS
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported
earlier this month that third-quarter commercial and multifamily
mortgage-loan originations increased 32% from what they were in the
third quarter of last year and 15% above what they were in this
year’s second quarter. Originations for health-care real estate
properties increased by 84% over what they were in the previous
quarter.
“Today’s low interest rates make for a very
attractive borrowing environment,” said Jamie Woodwell, vice
president of commercial real estate research of the MBA. “However,
relatively low levels of loan maturities and a slow, albeit rising,
sales market continued to dampen overall commercial mortgage
demand.”
MANHATTAN
DOMINATES TOP U.S. COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE DEALS
 Google
has reportedly shown interest in purchasing the exclusive building
at 111 Eighth Avenue in New York from Taconic Investment Partners.
The Internet search-engine company is considering paying almost $2
billion for the 200,000-plus square-foot building where it leases
space for its second-largest engineering center.
If the sale goes through for anywhere near that
price, it would mean that the top six priciest commercial real
estate transactions involved property in Manhattan. Currently the
top five commercial transactions in U.S. commercial real estate
history are: (1) Stuyvesant Town, the 110-building, 14-story
apartment complex at $5.3 billion; (2) the GM Building at $2.8
billion; (3) Rockefeller Center at $1.85 billion; (4) 665 Fifth
Avenue at $1.8 billion; and (5) Worldwide Plaza at $1.74 billion.
PROMINENT
FORECLOSURE LAWYER
FIGHTING HIS OWN FORECLOSURE
Peter Ticktin, an attorney in South Florida who has
made national attention for his strategic defense against home
foreclosures, is also battling to keep his own house from being
foreclosed upon. An article in the South Florida Sun Sentinel said
he and his wife have not made a mortgage payment on their
3,920-square-foot home in a fashionable neighborhood in Orlando
since December of 2006.
“It’s embarrassing that I’m in foreclosure,” Ticktin
told reporter Diane Lade. “But I now understand my clients better
than some lawyers who never had a problem in their lives.”
 ASK MARTITIA
QUESTION: A client tells his appraiser that he wants the
appraiser’s final value sent to him via text message or instant
message. Does such communication constitute an appraisal report that
must comply with USPAP?
MARTITIA: Yes. Text messages
and instant messages by an appraiser concerning his or her opinion
of final value to a client are indeed appraisals and subject to
Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice. For that
matter, oral appraisal reports must meet USPAP guidelines.
Martitia Mortimer, Elliott’s executive vice president, answers
appraisal questions on a regular basis in Elliott Real Estate
News.
QUOTES
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life
by what we give.” – Winston Churchill
“You cannot spend your way out of recession or borrow your way
out of debt.” – Daniel Hannan
“Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness
begins in his conduct.”
– Thomas Jefferson
“Life is like playing a violin solo in public and playing the
instrument as one goes on.”
– Samuel Butler
“Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.”
– Auguste Rodin
“We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is
overwhelming.” – Wernher von Braun
“You may delay, but time will not.” – Benjamin Franklin
 |
| |
| Newsletter Editor:
kevin@elliottco.com
|
| |
|
3316-A
Battleground Avenue
Greensboro, NC 27410 |
Toll
Free 800-854-5889
Fax 336-854-7734 |
| |
|
|
To unsubscribe from our mailing list, please
click here. |
|
