Atlanta Real Estate Investor Blog » Industry

LandAmerica Update

admin — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 22:51:50 +0000

Fidelity National Title Insurance walked away from the planned acquisition of LandAmerica, which then declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Fidelity will still acquire Lawyers Title and United Capital Title.

We’d love to be your real estate closing attorneys in Atlanta Georgia. Want to know more? Contact us and we’ll be happy to discuss how Harlan and Associates can be of service to you!

Dead end, originally uploaded by tattooedfolk.

Audio: Do you know how much your house is worth?

admin — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 02:55:10 +0000

On NPR’s Talk of The Nation: With home values in a steep decline, many homeowners have been forced to sell their houses for less than they paid for them. Still, experts insist that owning a home in a failing economy can be a good thing. Dean Foust and Robert Shiller explain why.

Robert Shilleris a Professor of Economics at Yale. He also co-created the Case/Shiller Home Price Index. It’s a very good listen on today’s housing market.

We’d love to be your closing attorneys in Atlanta Georgia. Want to know more? Contact us and we’ll be happy to discuss how Harlan and Associates can be of service to you!

what?? i can’t hear you!, originally uploaded by wackocatho.

Housing starts take steep fall

admin — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:15:15 +0000

New home construction dropped dramatically in September, according to the latest report by the U.S. Commerce Department.

Total housing starts, a forward-looking indicator of the housing market, fell 6.3 percent last month. That’s 31 percent below the pace of construction in September 2007 and the lowest reading of the index in 17 years.

Economists had predicted a drop of only 1.7 percent.

Single-family housing starts took the greatest hit, falling 12 percent from last month and almost 42 percent from last year.

In the South, total housing starts rose by 0.5 percent, though they were still 32.5 percent below last year’s numbers. Single-family starts, however, dropped 6.3 percent in September and were 42.3 percent lower than September 2007.

As bad as housing starts were in September, the numbers for issued building permits were even worse. Total applications for building permits fell 8.3 percent in September to a 27-year low.

With home prices continuing to fall, the numbers of foreclosures increasing, and a credit market that’s in shambles, homebuilders are doing everything they can to reign in construction to weather what they feel will almost certainly be a deeper downturn in the real estate market.

We’d love to be your real estate closing attorneys in Atlanta Georgia. Want to know more? Contact us and we’ll be happy to discuss how Harlan and Associates can be of service to you!

Down, originally uploaded by Jesse Wagstaff.

Where are home prices heading?

admin — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:26:59 +0000

Unfortunately a number of economists are saying that the housing implosion is nowhere near over, and that prices are expected to continue falling in at least 75 percent of the 100 to cities in the United Sates.

There’s an interesting in-depth article over at the New York Times, which is certainly worth reading.

We’d love to be your real estate closing attorneys in Atlanta Georgia. Want to know more? Contact us and we’ll be happy to discuss how Harlan and Associates can be of service to you!

Will This One Make Explore?, originally uploaded by jazzmanzem.

Record plunge in July home prices

admin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:45:42 +0000

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index, released today, showed home prices dropping by a record amount in July, although the pace of monthly declines seems to be slowing.

The 20-city index fell 0.9 percent in July and is down 16.3 percent from last year. That’s the largest drop in the index since it began in 2000.

The 10-city fared no better, with prices dropping 1.1 percent from June and 17.5 percent since July 2007, which is the biggest decline in the 21-year history of the index.

Overall, home prices have fallen nearly 20 percent nationwide since peaking in 2006.

While the picture remains bleak for future home prices, there is some good news in the latest report: the prices are dropping less and less across the country each month, though there is still no evidence of a bottom.

The usual suspects remained on top of the index: According to the report, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Miami experienced the greatest price declines at 29.9, 29.3 and 28.2 percent respectively.

Home prices continued to tread water in Atlanta with the change in home prices actually showing a small appreciation of 0.4 percent from June to July. Still, prices were down 8.2 percent from last year.

We’d love to be your closing attorneys in Atlanta. Want to know more? Contact us and we’ll be happy to discuss how Harlan and Associates can be of service to you!

Polar Bear Plunge 2007: Plunge Zone, originally uploaded by Earl – What I Saw 2.0.

WaMu shut down by OTS, sold to JPMorgan Chase

admin — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 01:48:39 +0000

WaMu has been shut down by the Office of Thrift Supervision, with the FDIC being named as receiver. The long-troubled lender’s banking operations have sold to JPMorgan Chase.

The press release from the FDIC is here.

Washington Mutual banking customers should see no disruption in services.

Woo-Hoo, indeed.

We’d love to be your Real Estate Lawyers in Atlanta. Want to know more?Contact us and we’ll be happy to discuss how Harlan and Associates can be of service to you!

Ferme – Not Open Shut Closed, originally uploaded by idg.

Another 17-year low for housing starts

admin — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:29:41 +0000

Construction of new homes fell to another 17-year low last month according to the U.S. Commerce Department’s latest report on new home construction.

It’s yet another sign that the country is still in the throes of a housing downturn that has had significant effects across the economy, leading to the bailouts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the bankruptcy of investment bank Lehman Brothers, and, most recently, the takeover of insurance giant AIG.

Nationwide, new construction slumped a total of 6.2 percent from last month, a far larger drop than the 1.6 percent that economists expected. That’s 33.1 percent below last year, and the lowest reading since January 1991.

Single-family housing starts alone dropped 1.9 percent from July and were 34.9 percent below August 2007.

In the south, the construction of new single-family homes dropped 7.4 percent from last month and was a dismal 42.1 percent below last year’s level.

We’d love to be your closing attorneys in Atlanta. Want to know more?Contact us and we’ll be happy to discuss how Harlan and Associates can be of service to you!

17, originally uploaded by ____federico____.

Govenrment bailout for Fannie and Freddie

admin — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 23:26:12 +0000

Today, officials of the Federal government announced that both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, pivotal players in the secondary mortgage market, are being placed under the direct control of the government.

The plan, announced by Tresury Secretary Henry Paulson, places the two GSEs into “conservatorship” – with oversight by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Between the two, Fannie and Freddie back $5 trillion in home loans, but both companies have come under increasing financial pressure as the real estate industry has imploded over the past year.

We’d love to be your Closing Attorneys in Georgia. Want to know more? Contact us and we’ll be happy to discuss how Harlan and Associates can be of service to you!

Bailing, originally uploaded by amirjina.

Georgia foreclosures 6th in nation

admin — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:00:08 +0000

The number of foreclosures across the country continued to soar last month, according to the latest report from RealtyTrac.

Total foreclosure filings in July, including delinquency notices, auction sale notices, and bank repossessions, were up 8 percent from last month – and 55% from last year.

That equals a rate of one out of every 464 houses being in some stage of foreclosure last month, with more than 680,000 properties repossessed by mortgage lenders since August 2007.

Nevada led the nation with one out of every 106 homes in foreclosure and a 15 percent monthly increase in foreclosure activity.

After falling to eighth in the nation last month, Georgia jumped back up to the sixth-highest state with the most foreclosures. One out of every 385 homes received a foreclosure notice in July – an increase of 15.46 percent from June and 18.91 percent above July 2007.

We’d love to be your Atlanta closing attorneys. Want to know more? Contact us and we’ll be happy to discuss how Harlan and Associates can be of service to you!

number 6 six, originally uploaded by meek rgt.

Surprise! Pending home sales are up

admin — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:27:18 +0000

The number of signed contracts to buy a home unexpectedly rose last month to the highest level seen in eight months.

According to the National Association of Realtors’ Pending Home Sales Index released today, the number of contracts signed in June was up 5.3 percent from a downwardly-revised figure in May.

The jump in the Index came as a surprise. Economists had widely expected that home sales contract signings would decline by 1 percent.

Still, the number of pending home sales was 12.7 percent below last year’s levels.

In the south, pending sales jumped 9.3 percent from last month, but nevertheless were 16.6 percent below June 2007.

While an individual monthly increase does not signal that the end of the troubles in real estate has been reached, it is yet another encouraging sign that a bottom may be forming. Month-to-month price decreases as measured by Case/Shiller seem to be lessening, new home sales aren’t showing the precipitous monthly drops as they have in the past, and there is brand-new legislation from the federal government intended to shore up the ailing industry.

Still, it is unlikely that any bottom in the market will be followed by an immediate turnaround. The real question is: where does real estate go from here? Is the market going to follow the bottom before there is a gradual turnaround? Or are we poised on the brink of more severe and significant drops?

We’d love to be your Atlanta closing attorneys. Want to know more? Contact us and we’ll be happy to discuss how Harlan and Associates can be of service to you!

Life’s up and downs, originally uploaded by CATeyes.