In Part 1, we started the countdown towards May 1, the Day After. In Part 2, we offer ten suggestions for REALTORS to stay in business when the dust settles.

FHA is about to change the rules for backing future loans. Will REALTORS be ready when the government-backed subsidies get harder to come by?

Some questions Matthew Ferrara thinks REALTORS should be asking of FHA – before it’s too late.

The real estate and mortgage industries are paying the price for Fannie Mae’s free-lunch fraud. Looks like the people who couldn’t afford “affordable housing” most weren’t just consumers, but its most vocal advocates.

Bizarre, Cool, Finally and Funny: Observations from the NAR Annual Conference, 2009
Each year, as thousands of REALTORS descend upon some unsuspecting city in American, we bring you observations from the event, complete with raised eyebrows of all kinds. This year’s Annual Convention of the National Association of REALTORS in San Diego is no exception: the [...]

Contrary to popular belief, money does not grow on trees. Likewise, the billions of dollars being fire-hosed from Washington into the housing industry don’t just run off the printing press for free. Tax credits for first time buyers some mean more taxes from others. The most likely amongst the others? Current homeowners, of course.

So the government has launched another wildly popular subsidy program with its Cash for Clunkers program, offering consumers up to $4500 for trading in their classic cars for purchasing a new one. In fact, the program is so popular that more than 250,000 trades have already been made and the original $1 billion earmarked by [...]

Yesterday, President Obama announced he was prepared to break the law. After blaming the senior debt bondholders of Chrysler for pushing the company into Chapter 11, he sanctioned a plan to abrogate their covenants and force them to take pennies on their loaned dollar. No matter that their bonds were secured by the company’s assets. [...]

Everyone knows about the 90/10 rule: 90% of the business is done by about 10% of REALTORS. Translated to a consumer experience, this means that most buyers and sellers have about a 1-in-10 chance of getting the “best performing” agent to sell their home or represent them in a purchase. Even a generous assessment of [...]

Like a three ring circus, the housing bill distracts the American taxpayer with shiny baubles. Behind the scenes however, the bill will likely destroy the housing industry and the careers of millions of REALTORS. Yet the moths continue to fly toward the fire, praising the insidious federal policy of giving away down-payments to buyers, forcing [...]

Warren Buffet likes to say, “When others are greedy, I’m fearful; when others are fearful, then I’m greedy.” As a rule for when to invest in the stock markets, the Sage of Omaha is cautioning the average investor against the psychology of the markets. Mass markets – like stocks, bonds and even housing – are [...]

I think I’ll apply for the job as Federal Treasurer next month. Apparently, all you need is an abacus and a few simple thoughts and you can at least blow a trillion or so taxpayer dollars. If you’ve actually studied economics, – well, hey, maybe consumers can just fix this mess by making one small [...]

Fantasy Island – (US) – The Federal Reserve today unveiled yet another plan to distort the housing industry and stave off a rebound in the marketplace by using Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to encourage banks to offer mortgages as low as 4.5% – nearly a full point lower than what ‘unencouraged’ banks have currently priced [...]

Only in the United States Congress can a plan to destroy the housing industry and credit markets be called a “rescue” plan. It’s almost as farcical as calling  “card check” bill that effectively kills secret voting for unions a “secret ballot bill.” Far more troubling, however, is the fact that the elements of the plan [...]

Real estate professionals should be upset today. A terrible blow for the integrity of the real estate industry – for housing as a foundation of personal equity and wealth, for the rule of law in mortgage lending, for simply doing good for ordinary Americans – has just been dealt by the government. A so-called “great [...]