Category Archives: Real estate

The Grey Lady Voices Some Skepticism About IPO of Single Family Rental Player Silver Lake

This site refrains from talking about individual stocks, since we don’t give investment advice. However, a potential sea-change is underway, as a large portion of the inventory of foreclosed homes is being converted to rentals. Private equity firms are pursuing this opportunity eagerly, as the combination of low financing costs and tight rental markets in the US means that, at least on paper, investor believe they can earn attractive income, with potential for appreciation, either by eventually selling the houses to individuals or by taking the company public.

Given all the excitement over this conversion (it was voted the best opportunity over the next 12 months at a real estate conference I attended in the fall), it was interesting to detect a fair bit in the way of reservations in an article in the New York Times on the first IPO in this space, Silver Lake.

Econ4 Video on the Housing and Foreclosure Crisis (With Your Humble Blogger in a Supporting Role)

Econ4, which is a group of reform minded economists (that may sound like an oxymoron but it isn’t) is presenting a series of videos on major topics where it believes our policies are seriously out of whack. Their latest release is on housing and foreclosures. Your humble blogger is a participant.

Abigail Field: HousingWire Propaganda Part II – The Irresponsible Borrower Myth, Harry & Louise Style

By Abigail Field, a lawyer and writer. Cross posted from Reality Check

Showalter pushes the ‘it’s not the mod terms, it’s the bad borrower’ idea with far more than just a “Living Large” headline. He invents two couples, pitched as archetypes of good and evil, probably hoping to copy the policy-killing success of Harry and Louise. But this invocation of the irresponsible borrower myth is particularly egregious–both borrowers are trying to be responsible in the face of insolvency.

Abigail Field: HousingWire Propaganda Not to Be Believed, Part I – Reanalyzing the Data

By Abigail Field, an attorney and writer. Cross posted from Reality Check

Friday HousingWire ran a six-and-a-half page big bank/mortgage servicer propaganda piece called “Living Large“, by Tom Showalter. The article, subtitled “A person’s lifestyle plays into whether they will pay their mortgage after a loan modification”, purports to explain why people default on loan modifications. Instead, it spins a bank-exonerating morality play not justified by the data supposedly being interpreted.

Escalating Delinquency Rates Make Student Loans Look Like the New Subprime

ow that student loans are undeniably in bubble territory, the officialdom is starting to wake up and take notice.

Yes, Virginia, the IRS Does Not Treat the Connected Like the Rest of Us (REMIC Edition)

We’ve written at some length about the failure of the IRS to go after what look like slam-dunk violations of the rules governing the tax treatment of mortgage-backed securities. Apparently the noise has been made about the failure to pursue REMIC violations, the latest by two law professors in a journal article, has roused the IRS from its official somnolence.

Mortgage Settlement Monitor “Progress” Report Gooses Numbers to Hide Lack of Real Relief to Homeowners

Today, the settlement monitor Joseph Smith released another PR piece, um, progress report.

Quelle Surprise! HUD and Obama Whoppers About Mortgage Settlement, FHA Finances, Housing Market Remedies Coming Home to Roost

We took a very dim view of some of the Administration’s less-than-credible claims about its much-touted backdoor bank bailout, which was more popularly known as the mortgage settlement. And a rash of news reports tonight have caught the Administration out in its deceptions. From a March post, Memo to Shaun Donovan: Your Nose is Getting So Long You Need to Get a Hacksaw:

Michael Olenick: Schadenfreude Alert – Banks Paying Extortionate Fees for Foreclosure Reviews

By Michael Olenick, a regular contributor on Naked Capitalism. You can follow him on Twitter at @michael_olenick

Every time it appears that the OCC foreclosure reviews have hit bottom they sink further into the morass.

Michael Olenick: How Fannie Enriches Private Equity Investors at Taxpayer and Homeowner Expense

By Michael Olenick, creator of NASTIACO, a crowd sourced foreclosure document review system (still in alpha). You can follow him on Twitter at @michael_olenick or read his blog, Seeing Through Data

There’s a strong argument that the competing goals of HERA, minimizing loss while promoting affordable housing, are impossible. But doing the opposite, increasing losses while discouraging affordable housing, is even harder, yet Fannie has done that.

Latest Obama Headfake: Threat to Replace Favorite Housing Scapegoat, FHFA’s Ed DeMarco

The October surprises are now coming fast and furious as Obama’s lead is slipping in most polls and on Intrade. So empty gestures to boost turnout in his heretofore spurned Democratic party base are the order of the day.

I’m a day behind on this item, but nevertheless thought it was so cynical as to merit special notice.

Some Smart Money is Already Exiting the Single Family Rental Landgrab

Reuters describes how one of the funds that was first to get on the “buy single family homes out of foreclosure and rent them” bandwagon has decided to exit.

Marcy Wheeler: Eric Holder Rewards the Teams that Gave Torturers and Mortgage Fraudsters Immunity

By Marcy Wheeler. Cross posted from emptywheel

As TPM’s Ryan Reilly noted yesterday, among the awards Attorney General Eric Holder gave out at yesterday’s Attorney General’s Award Ceremony was a Distinguished Service Award to John Durham’s investigative team that chose not to prosecute Jose Rodriguez or the torturers who killed their victims.

Michael Olenick: Mortgage Industrial Complex Continues Its Push Against Rule of Law

By Michael Olenick, creator of NASTIACO, a crowd sourced foreclosure document review system (still in alpha). You can follow him on Twitter at @michael_olenick or read his blog, Seeing Through Data

The meaning of the word “chutzpah” varies by context. In criminal court, it might refer to murdering one’s parents then asking for leniency because the perpetrator is an orphan. In family court, it might be invoked when abandoning a child, then pleading the child has been alienated from the parent who left.

We now have a property court usage: perpetrating a massive, well documented fraud then complaining that court bottlenecks – which exist solely because of fraud perpetrated by bank lawyers – cause expensive delays.

Home Appraisers: A Market Failure?

There’s an interesting sign of homebuyer champing at the bit to lever up again with all the “housing has bottomed” talk in a New York Times article last week, “Scrutiny for Home Appraisers as the Market Struggles.” The headline signals the new complaint about appraisers: they aren’t rubber stamping deals entered into by willing buyers and sellers! They are therefore holding back the housing market!

While this frustration among housing enthusiasts is a squeaky wheel in the housing market that probably does warrant comment by the Grey Lady, there are more serious market failures in appraisal land that also deserve attention.