I'm Living With My Kids?!

From my partner Kirk Nace:
“As I’ve been sharing since early 2007 we will see family consolidation.  Kids moving back in with parents, parents moving in with kids, friends and neighbors combining households, others renting out rooms and/or taking on roommates.  Look around the world at the average square feet per person in residential dwellings, and then look at how wildly far we have been here in the US.  As times continue to tighten for many, many years to come you will see more people in the huge homes that we have in this country.  See what CNBC has to say:"

Click HERE to see what CNBC has to say about this topic.  

How will this impact real estate prices?  ~ Leslie

The Politicians LIED??

From my partner Kirk Nace:

“Government misrepresents new home sales by OVER 5% month before presidential election . . . despite what we were told by our elected officials prior to the recent presidential election, new home sales are not in fact improving.  Take a close look at this article from CNBC:

Click HERE to review CNBC article.  

Are YOU okay with this?  Are you okay with being lied to?  What are you doing to change that?  ~ Leslie

Mortgage Interest Deduction: Deja Vu

We've had this conversation before.  We've shared about the Mortgage Interest Deduction before.  (See previous posts from 2008 and 2010.)  And here we are again.  From my partner, Kirk Nace:  "Remember 2008 when I first started saying that we would eventually see the mortgage interest deduction (MID) go away?  Then in 2010 we had a heated debate on one of these calls because “realtors” don’t want to accept that fewer than ¼ of all taxpayers benefit from it?  Look what CNBC is talking about today . . ."

Click HERE to review the full article that CNBC shared in November of 2012.  This WILL be a continued topic.  Stay tuned here for our continued input, although unpopular!

For those of you who want to wait until spring (again) to sell...

Have you seen some of the headlines lately? "Foreclosures Fall to Lowest Level in Nearly 3 years."

Do you know why foreclosure filings are at a new low?

Do you think it's because foreclosures have gone away OR perhaps because lenders are now required to follow the rules and are no longer cutting corners (at least not as much as before)?

Would that mean that lenders are slowing down, making sure the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed before foreclosing?

Once the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed on the backlog of foreclosures, do you think the lenders will want to wait and hold on to the properties OR quickly dump them on the market to cut their losses?

So now that you've given it some thought...does waiting to compete with more and more supply and selling for less money really sound like a good financial decision?

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire CNBC article.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/45682960

IF only headlins were true...

"Foreclosures Fall to Lowest Level in Nearly 3 years." This must mean that things are all better...right? Sure...IF you only read the headline and not the entire article.

After reading this and realizing that most people will in fact only read the headline, I asked our real estate expert Kirk Nace for his take on this and this is what he had to say. "We are seeing foreclosure activity initiated on approximately 250,000 properties per month. That's a 3 million properties per year pace. Now that NAR is admitting that their sales numbers have been off you will see that there are only about 3 million sales per year. What does that mean? Banks are foreclosing on approximately 60,000 properties per month. What is happening to the rest? Is the backlog just growing and growing and growing? What does that mean for future supply? And for prices?"

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire CNBC article.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/45680619

1 + 1 = 5?

For years NAR has claimed that the number of home sales have been above 4 million, while our real estate expert Kirk Nace has claimed that's just not possible. Guess what??? NAR has said this week that they've done some double counting and sales were weaker than they thought.

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire CNBC article.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/45659547

Are we there yet???

It is a question that is on everyone's mind. "Are we at a bottom yet?" The answer that I've heard for years now from most Realtors, Brokers and the Media is..."Not yet, but next year will be better."

So with next year just a few weeks away we asked Kirk Nace for his take..."The AVERAGE loan in foreclosure (not yet foreclosed on) has been delinquent 631 days!!! Set aside all the nonsense NAR, your politicians and others tell you and simply consider how long it will take to get caught up at this pace! As I have shared for several years now, the bottom of the housing market nationally will NOT occur before the 2nd half of 2016 at the absolute earliest!!!"

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire CNBC article.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/45507581/

Yep, it's going to be better by the weekend...right?

New filings mean more supply hitting the market approximately 30-36 months from now.

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire CNBC article.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/44885244

Only 858 days for banks to foreclose...

By now I'm sure you've heard stories of people living in their homes for free, without making a mortgage payment to their lender, for months if not years.

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire AARP article.
http://www.aarp.org/money/credit-loans-debt/info-09-2011/foreclosed-and-paying-no-mortgage.1.html

New mortgage foreclosure notices jump to highest level in 4+ years...

3.5 million homes that should be foreclosed on and aren't even in the pipeline yet (that's another entire year of supply). Yep, sounds like a bottom to the housing market is here...NOT!

For sometime now, Kirk Nace has been sharing that the US Housing market will not hit a bottom before 4Q 2015. Looks like he has been wrong, as it won't occur until at least the second half of 2016.


Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire CNBC article.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/44529477

Half of US homes effectively under water!!!

We contacted national analyst and consultant Kirk Nace for his take on this new report, "This is, has been and will continue to be an ongoing downward spiral for as long as politicians continue to tack on band aid after band aid. As I have shared with clients for many years, the key to a true bottom remains the government completely getting totally out of the housing market. No more backstops, no more artificially low interest rates, no more low and no money down programs. Simply stop, prices will correct another 20-25% overnight and create a true bottom. The alternative that our elected officials seem hell bent on creating is to cause even more pain spread over an even longer period of time. There will be more pain to come, dragging it out over an indefinite period of time only prolongs the length of time before healing can begin." Said Nace in his typical non apologetic manner.


Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire CNBC article.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/45209336

Foreclosure rain delay ending...

We asked Kirk Nace, real estate consultant and owner of the best crystal ball in the business, his thoughts on this article..."here they come, get ready because there will be more distressed properties over the next 5 years than over the past 5 years! But if you've been paying attention to what we've been sharing you have known this and you have positioned yourself to profit accordingly." Nace said.

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire CNBC article.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/45240073

No Rise Until 2020???? Are you serious??

Yep, probably. If you read this entire article, “No Rise in Home Prices Until 2020: Bankers” it sounds like a big F*** YOU to all the sellers who’ve been patiently waiting for the “market to get better”. If I had a penny for every time I heard that, I’d have a lot of pennies! I even hear it from other real estate agents – I hear them TELL folks things all the time. Such as “it’s a great time to buy and it’s a great time to sell”, all in the same breath. And of course, this is because their mindset is solely on themselves and how they’re going to feed their family – i.e. the commission they will make from telling you what to do because their livelihood depends upon it.

But take a closer look at that article, and you’ll realize we (RORG) have been sharing this for years. Actually, my partner Kirk Nace has been sharing this for years, which is why we are now partners. His analysis is the most accurate and in depth from anything I’ve seen. And now I get to share it with you – what it means, where the opportunities are, how you can maximize on the potential, and how you can use that analysis to your benefit. If you go back through this site, Smashed Feet, you will find news articles and Nace's analysis, sharing this EXACT concept. The problem is - very few have been willing to accept the reality.

The law of supply and demand is much like the law of gravity – it exists even if you choose to ignore it. So is this article a surprise?? There’s more supply than demand – simple. What does more supply and less demand do to prices?

Do you need to maximize your equity preservation in your property? We can and will purchase it, at whatever number you want. We can and will show you how that might not be the best choice. We can and will show you the options you have. We can and will find the maximum dollars available for your property in 10-20 days. We can and will bring you several offers, typically above the listing price, in that 10-20 days.

You always have a choice. You can contact the agents (about 97% of them) that will tell you what you want to hear; heck, I’ll even refer you TO those agents. (You’re welcome for the referrals, agents!) … OR you can contact us if you want different results.

So why haven’t you called us yet? Maybe the market needs to beat you up a little more … The choice is yours.

Get in touch at www.lesliebriskman.com ...

Something to think about...

A look into the future...

Wow, the worst for the commercial real estate market still lies ahead. For years we have heard Kirk Nace tell us that commercial real estate will follow the same cycle as residential and will trail by 24 to 36 months. Here is yet another confirmation that for those of us who listen we do in fact have a real estate crystal ball.

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire Orange County Register article.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/guru-312324-real-commercial.html

Banks still at it...

By now I'm sure you've heard about the mess the banks have gotten themselves into with their questionable foreclosure practices... Well they are still at it...

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire New York Post article.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/house_of_cards_hNdx5fNGt6oOl1U9mTW0HN

Say goodbye to the "good ol' days"

When we asked Kirk Nace for his thought on this breaking news of the S&P downgrade he replied "What does this tell us about the oh so common phrase 'backed by the full faith and strength of the US government?' It's long overdue and not nearly a strong enough reduction, but I am sure the Obama administration has placed all kinds of pressure on ratings agencies to provide favorable ratings. There will be much more to come, the events of the past week with our financial markets here in the US, the challenges facing Europe, China, Japan and Brazil, are simply the tip top of the iceberg. The exciting news is this creates infinite new opportunities and possibilities for those who are looking."

A look back to 2001...

How is it that our politicians knew that Fannie, Freddie and the US Housing Market posed systemic risks in 2001 and yet did nothing to prevent the recent collapses?

Click the link below to watch the short video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=cMnSp4qEXNM&NR=1

What do the numbers really mean?

Here is an easy to understand article on how unemployment numbers really work and what you should know.

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire CNBC article.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/44033486

A crystal ball into the United States' financial future?

We recently shared with you our top consultant, Kirk Nace's thoughts on our debt challenges here in the US. Mr Walker, the former comptroller of the US who now runs the Peter G Peterson Foundation, was one of the people with whom Mr Nace shared his thoughts. Take a couple of minutes and hear what Mr Walker had to say this morning on CNBC.

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire CNBC article.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/43984077