Curious Cat Investing, Economics and Personal Finance Center

Tag: real estate

Fund manager keen on Malaysia by Mark Mobius
"Mobius said that over the past 25 years, he had been telling people that equities was the way to go and emerging markets were the places to be. Supply of stocks is growing in Asia and is actually soaking up the flow of hot money from offshore to this region. ... 'I am bullish on property everywhere. I put one third of my own money in equities, a third in property and a third in cash.'"

Nightmare Mortgages
"To get the deals done, banks have turned increasingly to unregulated mortgage brokers, who now account for 80% of all mortgage originations, double what it was 10 years ago, according to the National Association of Mortgage Brokers. In 2004 banks began offering fatter sales commissions on option ARMs to encourage brokers to push them ... The problem, of course, is that many brokers care more about commissions than customers. They use aggressive sales tactics, harping on the minimum payment on an option ARM and neglecting to mention the future implications. Some even imply verbally that temporary teaser rates of 1% to 2% are permanent, even though the fine print says otherwise."

Foreclosures Spread in USA, Idaho Home seizuers Soar 822%
"The number of homes seized by lenders at least doubled in 19 states and more than tripled in seven of them ... New defaults are declining and appear to have bottomed in states where the crisis began, falling 43 percent in California, 37 percent in Florida and 27 percent in Nevada in the second quarter from a year earlier ... Home seizures soared 822 percent in Idaho in the second quarter, and the state had the seventh-highest foreclosure rate, according to RealtyTrac. Boiseâ€™s median house price was $140,100 in the quarter, down 34 percent from the peak $212,800 in 2007."