10.20.2009

The top 2 real estate stories for the day: 1) Building permits are down across the U.S. and actor Nicholas Cage has sold his California home once listed at 29.9M, now currently priced at 9.9M (not about the actor but the price reduction.....yikes).

So......are you buying the line that unemployment will be the last segment of our economy to recover when things actually turn? By the way, while the broader media would like you to think it's better, it's only better by being 'less worse'. Jobs are still being lost, foreclosure numbers are still rising and in fact were the worst they've EVER been during the previous quarter. So what will it take for foreclosures to slow? It's more than a bit obvious in Today's New World Of Real Estate....


For those of you who'd like to see the foreclosure numbers you can find the entire piece linked HERE. If you expand the map on this page you can see each quarter's results for any state in the U.S. during 2009.

Believe it or not, this isn't a story about how real estate is going to hell in a hand basket. I thnk it's about as far down at this moment as it's going to get. This a challenging time and we're all watching for the proverbial light to appear down the tunnel. A light, a glimmer, a pinpoint of something not dark.....no matter....we'll know it when it gets here. When it gets here is going to be 2010...unless the inflation bogey man gets here first with higher interest rates. At that point you'll see me on a beach in south Florida selling bottled water. If it comes to that, it won't be so bad.....quick closing, few call backs and a great tan.