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The Gulf oil spill effects are likely to be much farther reaching then any of us can foresee at present, but many real estate professionals can see immediate effects. A portion of the money set aside for claims and victims of the Gulf Coast oil spill will now go to realtors that have been affected by the mess.

The new administrator of the Gulf Coast Claims facility, Kenneth Feinberg had no intention of sharing some of the $20 billion with realtors along the affected coast, but members of the state Realtor associations from the affected states convinced Feinberg that many real estate professionals may not have a legal claim, but they certainly have a moral claim on some type of compensation.

"I think it's the right thing to do under the circumstances," Feinberg said, according to an article by The Washington Independent.

"He realized there may not be a legal justification, but I think he has come to realize there is a legitimate need and cause for what happened. He sees that loss of income is a result of the oil spill, and he's trying to do the right thing within the guidelines that he's given," The president of the Alabama Association of Realtors, Keith Kelley said. Kelley also helped during the negotiations.

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Posted in Headlines, Blogging, Real Estate Investing, Real Estate Market Conditions, Real Estate Industry, National News, Downtown Denver Lofts and Condos

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The problem with free money is that when it's given away, people come to expect it, and often become indignant about it, as if it's owed to them, and they keep coming back for more. Such is the case with our big idea of bailouts; now Freddie needs more cash, imagine that! Remember, we are a free market economy; capitalist, if you fail, you fail. The claims are that we cant let them fail, the economy will collapse, no it wont! It may need a little time to adjust, but we won't have to wait too long for another company to come in and pick up the slack, and they will! That's they way it works! At least that's the way it is supposed to work.

No one knows why a Republican, George Bush, thought it was a good idea to give away free money to help fix a capitalist economy, it sounds a bit counterintuitive. Now the current administration, Democrats, loves the idea and, of course, gives away free money at the behest of some sorrowful story, please Mr. President, I need more money, or the poor little children will go hungry. They are hitting the gas peddle on something that a rouge Republication President started, giving away free money, it never should have happened in a Capitalist society. You cant use software upgrades to fix a persons broken arm. Much like the software example, you cant use a socialist societys solutions to fix a free market economy's problem.

Freddie is asking for another, are you sitting down, $1.8 Billion, thats billion with a B, bringing their outstanding balance to a mind boggling $64.1 Billion. When, in American history, have we let a failure of this magnitude continue? Funded by our own Government! By the way, we are paying for this failure. Bailouts have happened before, but the idea is that they fix the problem, but here they are again. Tell me, is it a failure of a corporation or is it a failure of a Government? I wonder if Freddie and Fannie understand that what their doing just isn't working, but I guess it has, they keep getting free money. Not a bad deal if you dont want to run a business properly.

Read the full article from CNNMoney

Posted in Blogging, Real Estate Investing, Real Estate Market Conditions, Real Estate Industry, Real Estate Industry Trends, Gen X-Y, National News

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We all understand that reality is subjective. Some would argue that reality is reality and there is no way around it, but not everyone sees things the same, so reality must be subjective. Even if we all fall in the same hole many will argue the reasons the hole existed and why we all fell in the hole in the first place, and if this really is a hole at all, or is it just a large depression in the Earth? The reality of the economy and the housing market is pretty clear to some economist and forecasters, and many agree that a hole is a hole and we are all in it.  Many are asking "will the real estate collapse cause a depression?"

Simon Maierhofer and CFO.com reports that a change in the rules allows banks and financial institutions to report earnings without reporting their losses, which will, of course, change the actual outlook of the institutions and the economy as a whole. This reporting change can allow the banks to mask the real reality of the situation, the situation being the economy.

Mr. Maierhofer says banks are gambling with our economy the same way people gamble in Vegas, their using the old double down or all or nothing bet. This may buy the banks some time, and possibly the rest of us as well, but he believes the reality is that we are all about to fall into that large depression in the Earth.

Read the full article from Yahoo Finance

Posted in Real Estate Investing, Real Estate Market Conditions, Real Estate Industry, Real Estate Industry Trends, National News

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A build up of more than 180,000 homebuyers nation wide will have a chance to take advantage of the governments tax credit and close on their homes. The Senate has revised a bill to allow homebuyers, currently under contract, an extra three months to close their deals and claim the federal homebuyers tax credit.

Due to the tremendous backlog of loan applications lenders have had to tell prospective home buyers that their loans will not close by the deadline of June 30. Because of this, the National Association of Realtors are in support of the amendment and hope to help homebuyers close on the purchase of their homes.

The extension does not allow new contracts to be considered, but instead allows current contracts to close and take full advantage of the tax credit. NAR President Vicki Cox said in a statement, "Since these applications were already in the pipeline and figured into the program's cost, the extension of the closing deadline should not incur any further government costs."

Backdating claims to show homebuyers were under contract by April 30, to take advantage of the tax credit, is a concern of government officials, and would expose the government to additional fraudulent claims.

Read the full article from Inman News

Posted in Colorado Association Of Realtors, Real Estate Industry, Real Estate Industry Trends, National News

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Not that were looking, but there is another side to all the hype over the iPhone. As great as we all think it is, there are those that have something else to say about its greatness. Although maybe not enough of a deterrent to buy the wonder phone, the information should at least be considered.

One thing a great many people are upset over is the AT&T contract. Everyone is waiting for the iPhone to be available through other carriers, which would hopefully open other possibilities for customers, developers, services, and possibly the iPhone itself. The one thing we all love about the iPhone is that its pushing other phone makers to push the bounds of technology and constantly come up with new features to add to phones. Apple has pushed the competition and created a technology race, which we all benefit from.

One thing that has really come a long way is the built-in camera cell phones have as standard equipment. The iPhone has a notable 5 Mega Pixel camera with a 5x zoom, a flash, and a video camera, but the competition has left the iPhone behind with 8 and even 12 Mega Pixel cameras. The Droid by Motorola has an 8 mega pixel camera and the Samsung M8910 Pixon12 boast an impressive 12 mega pixel camera.

There are other negatives, which are arguably not all that negative, but again, they at least need to be considered when researching your future purchase. Read and decide for your self if the cons out weigh the pros.

Read full article from Yahoo Finance

Posted in Traditional Marketing, Blogging, Web 2.0 Marketing, National News