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By Dennis Norman, on June 17th, 2011 Weekly I produce a short (roughly 5 minute) video update on the St. Louis Real Estate Market that is published on various web sites. I do a quick recap of the news in the St Louis real estate market for the week, then an overview of the St Louis housing market itself. The update includes [...]
By Dennis Norman, on June 14th, 2011 The headline today on a CNBC article was “US Housing Crisis is Now Worse than Great Depression” and there are many similar articles in other publications as well…in fact, if you Google “Housing Crisis Worse Than Great Depression” there are over 100 exact matches just in the past month. The writer’s all seem to be [...]
By David Schott, on June 13th, 2011
The Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) was established as a result of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) of 2008. It’s purpose is to allow state and local governments to purchase and redevelop abandoned or foreclosed properties in areas in the greatest need of help.
The NSP program is designed to help low, [...]
By Dennis Norman, on June 10th, 2011 The results of a survey conducted in eight countries for Genworth Financial was released today and contains some interesting findings. The survey was conducted on existing home-owners as well as people that said they were potential first-time home-buyers in eight countries; U.S., U.K., Ireland, Italy, Australia, Mexico, Canada and India.
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By Dennis Norman, on June 10th, 2011 Weekly I produce a short (roughly 5 minute) video update on the St. Louis Real Estate Market that is published on various web sites. I do a quick recap of the news in the St Louis real estate market for the week, then an overview of the St Louis housing market itself. The update includes [...]
By Dennis Norman, on June 9th, 2011 Robert Shiller
I’m doing this article as I attend a presentation by Robert Shiller, Yale Economics Professor and Co-Founder of the S&P/Case Shiller Home Price Indices at the S&P Housing Summit 2011, as he discussed “Unusual Factors Influencing the Outlook for the U.S. Housing Market. So it may be a little choppy, but here [...]
By Dennis Norman, on June 8th, 2011 The “State of the Nation’s Housing“ Report for 2011 by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University does not paint a very pretty picture of the housing market, nor does it give us a whole lot to look forward to with regard to the near-term future of the U.S. housing market.
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By Dennis Norman, on June 3rd, 2011 Weekly I produce a short (roughly 5 minute) video update on the St. Louis Real Estate Market that is published on various web sites. I do a quick recap of the news in the St Louis real estate market for the week, then an overview of the St Louis housing market itself. The update includes [...]
By Dennis Norman, on June 3rd, 2011 There is a lot of talk in the media today about the poor housing market and how an increase in employment would help bring the housing market back. However, the question is, will a recovery in the job market bring the housing market back, or will a recovery in the housing market bring the job [...]
By Gerry Loesch, on May 27th, 2011 Where do you begin?
Moisture can come from several sources. However, the most frequent sources of moisture inside the home are the plumbing, roofing, basement seepage and condensation. No matter where the source is it must be found and eliminated.
Moisture damage in some cases may take some time to become obvious. It is easy [...]
By Dennis Norman, on May 24th, 2011 The newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), one of the newest agencies under the Federal Government, created “to make markets for consumer financial products and services work for Americans”. Hmm, sounds good, but as usual, I was skeptical. However, thus far, I’m pretty impressed with the CFPB’s approach to changing mortgage disclosure statements in [...]
By Dennis Norman, on May 23rd, 2011 According to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive® on behalf of Trulia and RealtyTrac, 45 percent of American adults say the government is not doing enough to prevent foreclosures. Only 17 percent think the government is doing too much and 16 percent say just the right amount is being done.
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By Dennis Norman, on May 20th, 2011 UGH…
According to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive® on behalf of Trulia and RealtyTrac, 54 percent of American adults believe that recovery in the housing market will not happen until 2014 or later. In a previous survey, six months ago, 42 percent of American adults said they thought the market would turn around by [...]
By Dennis Norman, on May 11th, 2011 Spring storms in April caused 8 areas of the U.S. to be declared a National Disaster area, and another 9 more so far in May. As a result of tornadoes, severe storms and flooding on April 19th, five counties in Missouri, Butler County, Mississippi County, New Madrid County, Saint Louis County, and Taney County, were [...]
By Dennis Norman, on May 9th, 2011 Do you want to know which real estate markets are predicted to be the best and worst in 2011? Do you think St. Louis could be one of the top markets this year….or maybe one of the worst? Watch to find out…The Five Best and Five Worst U.S. Housing Markets in 2011
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By Shelly Clark, on May 9th, 2011 It seems like a simple question, but do you really know the answer? Where is your yard? What do you really own? Do you own everything inside your fence or everything outside of your neighbor’s fence? Do you own up to where you’ve always mowed, or, do you own up to where the tree line [...]
By Dennis Norman, on May 6th, 2011 Weekly I produce a short (roughly 5 minute) video update on the St. Louis Real Estate Market that is published on various web sites. I do a quick recap of the news in the St Louis real estate market for the week, then an overview of the St Louis housing market itself. The update includes [...]
By Dennis Norman, on May 4th, 2011 Well, the City of Bellefontaine Neighbors, in north St. Louis County, is back at it again. As some readers may recall, in February of last year I wrote about the appellant court declaring that an ordinance passed by the City of Bellefontaine Neighbors requiring property owners to apply for an inspection before advertising their home [...]
By Gerry Loesch, on May 2nd, 2011 Basement seepage, in most cases relates to poor management of surface and roof water. Water causing basement seepage can come from three basic sources. First surface water can be directed to, rather than away from the foundation. Second water collected in gutters and downspouts is not routed away from the foundation. Although rare, the third [...]
By Dennis Norman, on April 29th, 2011 Weekly I produce a short (roughly 5 minute) video update on the St. Louis Real Estate Market that is published on various web sites. I do a quick recap of the news in the St Louis real estate market for the week, then an overview of the St Louis housing market itself. The update includes [...]
By Dennis Norman, on April 28th, 2011 A report released this morning by Trulia shows that when it comes to the question “should I rent or buy” the answer is to buy in 80 percent of the 50 largest U.S. cities. Trulia’s “Rent vs. Buy Index” compares the cost of buying and renting a two-bedroom apartment, condominium or townhouse and for the [...]
By Dennis Norman, on April 27th, 2011 Within days of former State Representative Jake Zimmerman stepping into his new role as the first elected Assessor for St. Louis County, he has jumped into action. In an effort to reach out and provide help to property owners whose property was affected by last weeks devastating tornado, Zimmerman plans to use authority given to [...]
By Dennis Norman, on April 22nd, 2011 Weekly I produce a short (roughly 5 minute) video update on the St. Louis Real Estate Market that is published on various web sites. I do a quick recap of the news in the St Louis real estate market for the week, then an overview of the St Louis housing market itself. The update includes [...]
By News Desk, on April 19th, 2011 Lee Bentley Farkas, the former chairman of a private mortgage lending company, Taylor, Bean & Whitaker (TBW), was convicted today for his role in a more than $2.9 billion fraud scheme that contributed to the failures of Colonial Bank, one of the 25 largest banks in the United States in 2009, and TBW, one of [...]
By Dennis Norman, on April 18th, 2011 The Mortgage Fraud Index from MortgageDaily.com has fallen 69 percent over the past year to the lowest level since early 2008. For the fourth quarter of 2010 the Mortgage Fraud Index was 814, which is down from 2634 the year before and is the lowest level the index has been at since the first quarter [...]
By Dennis Norman, on April 18th, 2011 Weekly I produce a short (roughly 5 minute) video update on the St. Louis Real Estate Market that is published on various web sites. I do a quick recap of the news in the St Louis real estate market for the week, then an overview of the St Louis housing market itself. The update includes [...]
By Dennis Norman, on April 17th, 2011 Over the past year or so there have been dozens, if not hundreds, of stories questioning the manner in which lenders were handling the servicing of their loans, particularly those of underwater borrowers, as well as the foreclosure practices of many including “robo-signing” of foreclosure affidavits. Next came the lawsuits and now, this week, the [...]
By Dennis Norman, on April 11th, 2011 Forty three years ago today, President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1968 which included Title VIII, the Fair Housing Act which, as described on HUD’s website, “prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of dwellings, and in other housing-related transactions, based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, [...]
By Gerry Loesch, on April 8th, 2011 For those of you who do not know me, I have been in the home inspection profession for the past 35 years. I have served as National President of ASHI® and have also served on the Examination Board for Professional Home Inspectors. I offer the following comments and opinions on HB 553:
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By Dennis Norman, on April 7th, 2011 Yesterday, four fair housing organizations released their findings of a year-long undercover investigation of 80 loan modification companies, which reveal an industry rife with corrupt practices. The National Fair Housing Alliance, the Connecticut Fair Housing Center, Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia, Inc., and the Miami Valley Fair Housing Center issued a report entitled, “Have [...]
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