Entries from Searchlight Crusade tagged with 'economics'

Why the Current State of New Developer Housing

I've seen many new home developments with vaulted ceilings, mini-vineyards, huge houses on little tiny lots...Why can't some developer built some homes for us regular people? A normal sized home with plenty of closet space and a decent (not...

Low Asking Price on Unfinanceable Properties

At any given time, I will usually have at least one set of clients who really need to consider a condo or townhome who nonetheless have their hearts set on a single family residence. I agree to include single...

The Future of Real Estate Agency is Expert Consultants, Not Controlling Market Access

Expertise and attitude, not control of an informational chokepoint, is the way that things are going. Let's analyze this from both sides of the problem. The current owner looking to sell really needs a marketer. For better or worse, most...

Manufactured, Modular, and Site-Built Homes: How Lending Practices Drive the Sales Market

Many people are unaware how profoundly lending policies influence the market for residential property and the various kinds of housing and methods of construction. So I am going to go over the various gradations in available loans for various types...

Segmented Real Estate Markets And Taking Advantage of Them

Market segmentation is what happens when certain things are much more in demand than others. For instance in the hot market brought on by the tax credit of 2009, the central area of San Diego was in high demand,...

Economics of Housing in High Density Areas

Here are the facts of the situation, whether you're talking about San Diego or Manhattan, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, or any of the other densely packed, high cost areas where all the employment and career opportunities are. Fact 1:...

Why the Real Estate Buyers Agent's Commission is Paid by the Seller

I have to admit I'm uncomfortable with it and don't like it. As a buyer's agent, here I am getting paid by someone who not only is not my client, but whose interests are aligned, in most issues, opposite to...

Why Renting Really Is For Suckers (And What To Do About It)

(This article was originally written in August 2006. The market and loan rate figures have changed, but the basic information is the same, as is the conclusion) Okay, you might expect a Real Estate Agent to have a post with...

Confusing Past Performance and the Present Situation with Future Planning

The most common mistake in real estate (and every other aspect of financial planning, for that matter) is to assume the situation now is going to continue indefinitely. In the stock market, people chase last year's returns. They "wait for...

The Economics of Housing Development

The genesis of this article is Something's Gotta Give, a report (.pdf format) from the Center For Housing Policy. Furthermore, there is an article in the Washington Times from UPI that connects the dots on the tactical level. The...

Real Estate Numbers: Calculators and Spreadsheets Are Your Friend But They Have Limits

On a fairly regular basis I get email asking what I think of this or that loan calculator on the web, this or that predictive model for real estate prices or loan rates, etcetera. Loan calculators are pretty simple when...

Gravity Is Not a Major Determinant Of Housing Prices

A while ago now, I saw a rather clever video someone did called, "That Last Dip's a Doozy!" Someone took housing prices 1890 to present and graphed them to a roller coaster ride. Just before the end, he turned the...

Buy Now vs. Wait: Some Practical Hypotheticals

The original appeared in April 2006, but has been updated for changes I am hoping to buy in the (city) area and am reviewing the possibilities. While I fear that the local market may be peaking, I intend to live...

How to Tell A Good Real Estate Market Article From A Bad One

Don Henley has a fun song off his second solo album called "Driving With Your Eyes Closed". I can't find a video performance, but here are the lyrics. It's got a chorus that ends with the line, "You're gonna hit...

The Perfect Time To Buy Real Estate

There is no such thing as the perfect time to buy. The perfect time to buy would mean that you have all kinds of leverage, and can make sellers give you pretty much the deal you want, but prices are...

The Mortgage Loan Market Controls the Real Estate Market

One of the things I keep telling folks about the real estate market, whatever area you live in, is that it is controlled by the loan market. If you want to understand where real estate in general is headed, look...

The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of Lender Fear

Most people, particularly first time buyers, want 100% financing or as close as they can get. Actually, most first time buyers don't have a down payment and couldn't put a significant down payment (5% or more) if they had...

What Drives Loan Rates?

Supply and Demand. Now that I've given the short answer, it's time to explain the macro factors behind interest rate variations. But I'm going to keep referring to those first three words. It is a tradeoff between the supply of...

Fixing The Real Estate Mess - Proposing Some Small Changes That Would Make A Huge Difference Over Time

Yesterday, I published the first half of this article, describing the issues currently preventing a return to a more normal real estate market, and the facts that any proposed solution needs to be built upon. At a quick recap, the...

Fixing The Real Estate Mess - Describing the Situation

Lots of folks have offered lots of different proposals for fixing the real estate markets and the mess we were in (and continue to be in to a less obvious degree). All of the ones I have seen have...