Category Archives: Best Of The Storm

The best recent articles on the real estate economy, the real estate process, banking and finance, public policy, and everything you need to know about buying and selling real estate.

O Deflation, Where is Thy Sting?

And the difference all stems from how you measure inflation. These details matter. Now, let’s go back to that highlighted portion from the BLS web site.

“Because the asset price method can lead to inappropriate results for goods that are purchased largely for investment reasons [emphasis mine], the CPI implemented the rental equivalence approach to measuring price change for owner-occupied housing.” Continue reading

Posted in Best Of The Storm, Fresh Perspectives, Home Economics | Tagged Deflation, Home Prices, Inflation, Unemployment | Leave a comment

October Bay Area Home Sales Sink, Housing Double-Dip Official

Bay Area real estate is officially double-dipping as October’s median home price dropped from 2009. Continue reading

Posted in Best Of The Storm, Home Economics, Real Estate Data | Tagged double dip, Home Prices, Median Home Prices | Leave a comment

The Coming Crisis of HOA Assessments

HOA delinquencies have caused many associations to under-fund their reserves. Are assessments coming to make up for the losses? What other choice does an HOA have? Continue reading

Posted in Best Of The Storm, Fresh Perspectives, Home Economics | Tagged Condo Financing, Foreclosures, HOAs | Leave a comment

Southern California Home Sales and Prices Declined in October

“In addition to a lousy economy, the housing market still has a couple of nasty bottlenecks it has to contend with. First, sales of newly-built homes are at a low, mostly because builders can’t build at a low enough price to compete with the inventory of resale homes, many of which are short sales or foreclosures,” said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president. Continue reading

Posted in Best Of The Storm, Real Estate Data | Tagged Existing Home Sales, Home Prices, Median Home Prices | Leave a comment

How Bad Will Foreclosure-Gate Get?

Just how bad is “Foreclosure-Gate” going to get? This is the million-dollar question and the answer is as frightening as its implications: Nobody knows. Continue reading

Posted in Best Of The Storm, Foreclosures, Fresh Perspectives | Tagged Foreclosure-Gate, Foreclosures | 1 Comment