Frankly Speaking

I had the pleasure of sharing lunch with Congressman Ken Calvert from the 44 th District a week ago.   And, I have to tell you, if it is your hope to once again have a robust economy. One in which the housing industry plays a prominent role, we need more leaders who think like the Honorable Mr. Calvert. Over the course of lunch our conversation ranged across many topics. But, as you can imagine real estate was the main course of this meal. We started out the meal oddly enough, by his asking me what the residential market was like currently here in the Inland Empire. My response was that our average days on market appears to be rising. And, despite the fact that money is on sale (we are seeing historically low 30 year fixed rates) buyer activity is still tepid. He in turn advised me that the commercial market is very similar. And, that a high percentage of sales are coming from investors who have pulled out of the stock market and are positioning themselves in the “historically” m...

Today, I read an article in the newspaper that said Congress had passed a bill asking the banks to rent out their foreclosed homes while they waited to market the homes for sale. The idea is that this will stabilize neighborhoods impacted by a high number of foreclosures. And, in doing so preventing further erosion in values. On the surface this seems like a reasonable request. One well founded in reason. And, this is one possible solution to a concern certain to impact neighborhoods across the country. However the real solution is not in a temporary fix like this. Instead, the solution  is to see that these loans become performing loans once again. Now before I go any further, I must say that the ideas, I am about to discuss are not my own. In fact, they come from Bruce Norris (of whom I spoke last week). As I said in my last article, I have a tremendous respect for  Bruce. His understanding of our market borders on genius. And, having followed his projections for the past f...