Northwest Indiana Real Estate - Construction - Development

NWI Bloggers - Meet up

noreply@blogger.com (briefs) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:38:00 +0000

NW Indiana Bloggers Meeting

I know many of you have already put this meeting on your schedules for tomorrow:

6 p.m. at On Site Computers in Crown Point
Northwest Indiana Bloggers

First time, that I know of at least, that bloggers from multiple niches are getting together to discuss ways to work together. The owners of 219.com will also be there to propose that we write on their site too, to increase traffic and conversations about our Region.

If you can make it, it would be great to meet in person.

Is it time to phase out Fannie Mae?

noreply@blogger.com (briefs) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:59:00 +0000

My first gut reaction is NO!

But, I have to balance my 20 years in the home building and real estate industries with my highly cognizant political philosophy of smaller government and free enterprise.

While reading The Foundry today I was struck by the message, namely that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may have outlived their life expectancies. Would a free market entity be able to borrow at lower than market rates? NO Has this benefit to housing outlived its usefulness?

I know, I know, we want to increase liquidity of the mortgage securitization markets, that's been the mantra for years. But did liquidity and securitization obscure the true cost of big government keeping it's fingers in home ownership?

Update: Great post on Calculated Risk on FNMA and who's fault it is. I may disagree a bit with the author, who tends to level a lot of blame, but agree actually with the original article he calls out by Paul Krugman. Read up and let me know where you land?

The Left's Crony Capitalism Exposed: Fannie Mae and ties to liberal big government

IndyMac seized by FDIC

noreply@blogger.com (briefs) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 14:40:00 +0000

As much as I abhor negative news being kicked around the blogs, I find myself having to comment on the IndyMac news yesterday. First the press release from the FDIC

" ... Based on preliminary analysis, the estimated cost of the resolution to the Deposit Insurance Fund is between $4 and $8 billion. IndyMac Bank, F.S.B. is the fifth FDIC-insured failure of the year."

So, the cost of the recovery of the bank to the government fund will be quite expensive, but will work, and that is the reason for the FDIC fund in the first place. It is my strong opinion that this is a delayed reaction to 2007 problems, that IndyMac was working to rectify and eventually ran out of options. I have reported here and on multiple other sites that I believe the market has already turned around .... this may mark the low water mark for news.

Watch for rates to slide a bit next week, a great chance to buy if you're still waiting around trying to time the market.

Big News for NW Indiana - Airport and Rail come to terms

noreply@blogger.com (briefs) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:04:00 +0000

Source Fox Business News
And orginally posted at Northwest Indiana Commercial Real Estate

Canadian National Railway said today a four-party preliminary memorandum of understanding on the rail line relocation required for the expansion of Gary/Chicago International Airport (GCIA) should resolve a key concern that had been raised in opposition to CN's proposed acquisition of the principal lines of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Company (EJ&E).

Note: This means that now finally Gary Airport can expand both runways and operations to become a key part of the South Shore Extension, a hub system for intermodal transport, and transportation connection to the Illiana when it gets built. This is a blow to Democrats in Porter and LaPorte county who want to make us all stay rural and stop growth.

GCIA, EJ&E, CSX Corporation, and Norfolk Southern Corporation (NS: 48.18, -0.61, -1.25%) signed the PMOU, which was announced earlier today. CN, while not a signatory to the PMOU, is committed to honor its terms upon regulatory approval of its EJ&E acquisition by the Surface Transportation Board (STB) and its assumption of control of the EJ&E lines.
"CN welcomes this agreement and salutes key stakeholders for working cooperatively to resolve engineering issues related to GCIA's expansion," said E. Hunter Harrison, CN president and chief executive officer. "The end result will also ensure a fluid, effective rail network in Northwest Indiana. This is important to CN and to the region's economy.
"CN is particularly pleased that this agreement should mean the STB need not invest additional time and resources in examining concerns that had been raised by GCIA and others about the potential impact of our proposed purchase of the EJ&E on the GCIA's operations and expansion plans. We hope that resolving these issues, including concerns that the STB's Section of Environmental Analysis had indicated it would review as part of its environmental assessment, will help to expedite the STB's overall review of our transaction," Harrison said.
The joint agreement as it affects CN's EJ&E transaction calls for:
- Relocating the EJ&E line;
- Building a bridge over the existing NS Gary Branch to assure EJ&E continued access to primary customers, and
- Constructing a grade separation at Industrial Highway prior to relocating EJ&E operations.
"The joint agreement will give Northwest Indiana the rail and air transportation systems needed to support the region's economic vitality and to better serve the businesses that can bring good-paying jobs to the area," Harrison said.
"CN has a strong commitment to Northwest Indiana," Harrison said. "In addition, today's progress supports CN's planned investment in Kirk Yard, as part of its EJ&E acquisition. Our transaction could bring millions of dollars of private investment and employment growth potential to Gary, so Kirk Yard can once again thrive as a railcar-sorting hub."
Each year, CN spends roughly $20 million in Indiana and pays taxes of nearly $2.4 million. CN has roughly 250 employees who live in the state with a payroll of nearly $16 million.
CN plans to acquire the principal lines of the EJ&E for US$300 million and to spend an additional US$100 million to upgrade the EJ&E and construct new connections to improve the efficiency of its operations. The transaction would significantly reduce rail congestion in the urban core of Chicago and add much needed capacity to the U.S. rail network. CN is prepared to invest up to US$40-million in various mitigation measures.

Tom Peters sees opportunity for home builders

noreply@blogger.com (briefs) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:24:00 +0000

"I spoke yesterday to PCBC2008, the Pacific Coast Builders Conference (residential contractors), on the meaning of excellence in tough times. My title: EXCELLENCE. THE BASICS. NOW MORE THAN EVER. I shared the platform with, among others, Carly Fiorina, Malcolm Gladwell, and Gary Hamel. While I deny owning rose-colored glasses, I do believe that nasty times provide exceptional opportunities for those who grasp the nettle vigorously. Thus, among other things, I said, and meant:

"It doesn't get any better than this—U.S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, and John C. Fremont were born for moments like this. There is no such thing as a good-great leader who has not confronted, been battered by, and stumbled through-overcome a catastrophe. The Upside for the gutsy and creative is as high as the downside is low for those who attempt to hide in the closet until the fur stops flying."

[For the slides, you can use this link: Pacific Coast Builders Conference.]

It's perceptions stupid

noreply@blogger.com (briefs) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:43:00 +0000

I've been trumpeting this a lot lately, even during a lunch this week with REALTORs, title companies and mortgage brokers. The perception of a terrible real estate market are creating a reality ... and we are the biggest losers of the bunch. Our own perceptions and the way we relate to them are hurting our chances of selling homes, even in a flat market.

Are your market perceptions costing you sales?

The market is down. Housing is off. Nobody’s buying. I might as well flip burgers.

Sure, the housing market is much different today than it was four years ago. But, how much of the down turn is due to real market conditions, and how much can be attributed to the perceptions of the marketplace? Even more important, who’s perceptions are having the greatest impact on our sales – our customer’s or our own?

How does Wikinomics apply to Real Estate

noreply@blogger.com (briefs) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 22:44:00 +0000

Have you read the book Wikinomics? I read last year and probably should go back and read it again.

“Wikinomics” of Real Estate writer Wayne Long suggests the same, and makes a few initial applications:

OK, so how does this affect my Real Estate business?The most obvious is that I blog and thru those blogs clients find me, become comfortable with me, and ultimately do business with me.Our business can also be found on various social networks from Facebook to LinkedIn -– so customers find us that way as well.

How do you feel that real estate has changed due to the interconnections the web has allowed?

Blogging Tips for Indiana Realtors

noreply@blogger.com (briefs) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 15:44:00 +0000

Top 10 Ways to Use Blogging in Real Estate: #1 Use Blogging as a Farming/Niche Tool

I normally would try to summarize the post, but frankly you should read it and digest the details. This is a well written post on the serious reasons why the best real estate professionals are blogging and beginning to pull away from the average real estate professionals.

New authors requested - Experts on real estate

noreply@blogger.com (briefs) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 17:28:00 +0000

I've sent invitations out this morning to numerous people that I feel can help us build better content here on Northwest Indiana Real Estate.

If you got an invite, please set up you access and start posting. I think you'll find our readers to be engaged and ready to converse. If you didn't and would like to post here, and have something to offer our readers, please leave a comment below.

As the market begins its inevitable rebound, we who want to see housing regain it's natural spot as the most important part of household wealth, need to work together to help home buyers gain home ownership.

HUD attacking affordable housing again - Why?

noreply@blogger.com (briefs) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 16:54:00 +0000

For those that have followed the saga, Down Payment Assistance on FHA loans is under attack again from HUD. The new Secretary is suggesting a revisit even though they have lost attacks on this program in the past year.

From Jim Morgan in Indianapolis (Home Builder Sales and Marketing Director): HT thanks Jim.

The following statement was made on June 9, 2008 by Scott Syphax, President and CEO of Nehemiah Corporation of America, in response to HUD’s resubmission of a rule banning private downpayment assistance.

“It is astonishing that HUD has the temerity to resubmit its rule banning private down payment assistance, given that two district courts have thrown out the rule, downpayment assistance has received extremely strong bipartisan support in Congress and has been championed by a number of significant and influential consumer and policy groups including the US Conference of Mayors, National Urban League and Congressional Hispanic Caucus. It is clear that the priorities of Commissioner Montgomery do not lie with low to middle income families to whom he is sworn to serve.

At this time, it is critical that the consumer groups, policy makers, government and elected officials, real estate industry and those who serve first time homebuyers in this country stand up and fight this rule that will do serious damage to a particularly vulnerable group with little political capital at this crucial time.

Programs like Nehemiah’s are putting people in homes, generating wealth and strengthening communities. The government can not and should not be in the business of restricting access to homeownership. Montgomery’s proposed rule would shut down an enormously successful program and slam the door on hundreds of thousands of families and their opportunity for homeownership in this environment. Nehemiah and other supporters of downpayment assistance have fought and will continue to fight on behalf of those who are capable and deserving of becoming homeowners. We will not watch Commissioner Montgomery or HUD sever the only lifeline available to the low to moderate income families.”

Stay up-to-date on the latest information surrounding the downpayment assistance industry by visiting our Regulatory Updates section https://www.getdownpayment.com/updates/

Update: for the record I would prefer working with The Preferred Program since they are based right here in Valparaiso, Indiana and cost less to home builders than Nehemiah does.

Make Money on your real estate blog?

noreply@blogger.com (briefs) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 03:36:00 +0000

From: This Man makes $30,000 per month on his blog, do you?

http://www.johnchow.com/win-a-market-leverage-bag-of-stuff/

We are having John Chow of JohnChow.com on Bizz Buzz Live, this Saturday, June 14 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. You can dial in via Internet at www.BizzBuzzLive.com. Dial in early as there is a limit to bandwidth. John Chow makes over $30,000 per month on his blog. He is going to describe how he does that so that Active Rainers can start making money directly on your blogs rather than hoping for the indirect sale (real estate clients). Please tune in tomorrow at 11 a.m. central at www.BizzBuzzLive.com.

Also, you are welcome to re-copy this post for your blogs. It could be the most valuable two hours you spend this Father's Day weekend.

Note from editor: Most realtors won't want to add monetization to their sites, feeling that their clients won't like the ads. I happen to disagree and feel that clients would enjoy the ads as a way to find service providers.

Some good news from Indianapolis Real Estate

noreply@blogger.com (briefs) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:56:00 +0000

Well the headline from the Indianapolis Star gave the bad news first of course: May home sales drop 28% in area. But the truth is that home sales have been off more than 20% year over year for a while now ... this isn't really the data important to buyers or sellers.

Here is important news though, buried in the small print:

"One bright spot was average recorded sales prices, which grew 4.7 percent in the area last month, to $160,599."

"At the current sales pace, it would take 8.5 months to sell all the homes on the market in May. That’s an improvement from 9.8 months of inventory on the market in April."

So ... inventories have decreased and prices have increased for the first time ... sounds like buy now or forever hold your peace.

As expected - Home sales increasing

noreply@blogger.com (briefs) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:42:00 +0000

Pending home sales moved higher in April
from MSNBC.com: Real estate
An industry group says pending homes sales unexpectedly increased in April to the highest reading since October, but are still off more than 13 percent from a year ago.

I love how the press can take good news about the beginning of the housing rebound and make it sound negative. Pending increases is good news! Inventories will now decrease next month and allow prices to stabilize even in tough markets.

Update: "bargain hunters have entered the market ..."

Pending Home Sales Increase
from Calculated Risk by CalculatedRisk
From the WSJ: Home Gauge Climbs Amid Bargains The National Association of Realtors' index for pending sales of previously owned homes rose 6.3% to 88.2 from March, the industry group said Monday....Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said pending sales contracts picked up in areas where housing prices have dropped significantly.

Olympics would be huge for NW Indiana

noreply@blogger.com (briefs) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:37:00 +0000

As we watch this summer's Olympics keep in mind that Chicago has now made the finals for the selection in 2016 for the Olympics. This would be gigantic for NW Indiana!

Indiana Counties Could Benefit From Chicago Olympics
from Headlines - Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick
The head of the Lake County Convention and Visitors Bureau thinks Northwest Indiana has "never imagined" the kind of positive economic impact that would take place if Chicago lands the 2016 Olympics. Bureau Chief Executive Officer Speros Batistatos says he will continue to discuss the possible need to construct event venues. He says the Indiana counties near Chicago are "ready to take advantage" of the city's successes.

Let's just say, Northwest Indiana endorses Chicago!

Libertarian VP Candidate on small business

noreply@blogger.com (briefs) — Tue, 27 May 2008 14:26:00 +0000

The Libertarian Party chose its ticket for the November elections: Bob Barr and Wayne Root. Although I will be supporting John McCain in the election, I was happy to see the following quote from VP candidate Root at the convention:

Root, a colorful media personality with a dynamic and enthusiastic speaking
style, brings several large voting blocs to the Barr/Root Libertarian ticket. As
a small businessman, I will aim my campaign at 27 million American small
business owners and millions of independent contractors such as real estate
brokers, stockbrokers, insurance brokers and mortgage brokers. They are the
economic engine of the U.S. economy. Small business now creates a majority of
non-government jobs. I believe small businessmen and women across America will
appreciate the fact that someone who understands their unique issues and
concerns will be part of a Presidential ticket for the first time in modern
political history."

From The Aftermath: Wayne Root on the Barr/Root ticket for President 2008 from Libertarian Republican by Eric Dondero

Will small businesses and independant contractors like REALTORs have a guy watching out for their interests? Will the Libertarian Party finally make inroads as a viable third party option?

What exactly is the state of home building?

noreply@blogger.com (briefs) — Mon, 26 May 2008 04:27:00 +0000

I was asked straight up Friday - "what exactly is happening in home building?"

Here's what I know right now. 2007 was horrible because costs went up, margins plummeted and the mortgage industry self destructed. For our own company last year this meant that multiple buyers were told at the last minute that they couldn't buy a house because the mortgage company was gone!

Multiply this across hundreds of builders in NW Indiana, and you have quite a bit of inventory sitting through the winter that should have been sold and lived in last year.

Now, what's happening today? The market is actually stabilizing. Mortgage Companies, like our favorite First Financial Trust Mortgage Company, are continuing to rebuild and retool for an era that will feature a lot more FHA loans than the last ten years.

You can still buy a house, with no money down as long as you have decent credit. If you don't have decent credit, there are reputable consultants that can help you rebuild your credit. It may take a couple hundred dollars and some time, but you can get into a home in the next year.

This means that inventories are actually leveling off, and I project they will start to reduce over the summer. Good news for everyone, but if you have postponed buying a home, you better get moving because once we correct the inventory imbalance, prices will start back up. Right now, I'd say home builders will need to increase prices about 8% to make up for legitimate increases in costs over the next year.

Nationwide Home Building begins to pick up

noreply@blogger.com (briefs) — Sun, 18 May 2008 03:12:00 +0000

US Housing starts boom in April
from ActiveRain Blogs by Simon Conway (Picket Fence Realty)

US Housing starts posted the biggest increase in more than two years in April.
According to the Associated Press, the Commerce Department reported Friday that
housing construction rose by 8.2 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted
annual rate of 1.03 million units. Most of the growth came from a big jump
in apartment construction (apartment building is defined as two or more units),
which rose by 36 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 340,000
units.
Applications for building permits, considered a good sign of future
activity, also recorded an increase in April, rising by 4.9 percent to 978,000
units. It was the first gain in permits in five months.
By region of the U.S., construction posted the largest gain in the Midwest, an increase of 24.4 percent when compared to March. Construction rose 18.5 percent in the West and was up 3.6 percent in the South. However, construction fell by 12.7 percent in
the Northeast.
Now the interesting thing for me is why haven't we seen any of
this? Oh yes - sorry - it's good news!
Note: Simon, you're so right, why do we only hear the negative from the media?

Market Update on Indianapolis

noreply@blogger.com (briefs) — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:21:00 +0000

Looks like time to buy to me:

From Bankrate.com "Foreclosures are up, and sale prices are down. Indianapolis is No. 18 in RealtyTrac’s list of the metro areas with the largest numbers of foreclosures, with filings last year representing 2 percent of households. It’s an undervalued market, according to Local Market Monitor, whose data shows housing prices 22 percent below equilibrium. The NAR says condo prices are affordable, too, at $116,700 in fourth quarter 2007."

Change in foreclosures was up 7.9% but that's a little misleading since the foreclosures only increased 1,000 from 2006 to 2007. Here's the truth, a couple major builders beat up the market in 2004 and 2005 and the market had already tanked. 2006 and 2007 were level off years. Look for better than expected gains in second half of 2008 on property values.

This is the bottom of the cycle in Indianapolis: BUY

Google Maps adds Real Estate Layer

noreply@blogger.com (briefs) — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:17:00 +0000

More searching capability, more reasons that a real estate professional better stay current on technology or they really aren't all that much help.

Ionut Alex Chitu / Google Operating System:Google Maps Adds Real Estate Search — As a Google employee recently said, “Google Maps is evolving from a driving directions and business search tool, to a comprehensive representation of all the world's information, on a map.” That's why Google Maps started to integrate different layers … (read entire article at link)

Sick of bad spin on news

noreply@blogger.com (briefs) — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:04:00 +0000

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the housing market isn't nearly as bad as some people seem to want it to be.

This one got me: Home Builder Toll CEO on Traffic: "Worst we've ever seen"
from Calculated Risk by CalculatedRisk

Let's be honest, Toll Brothers builds high end homes. The market is already rebounding on the lower price levels for normal people in middle income families. It may take another 6 months for higher end homes to rebound.

LinkedIn Question raises attention on rents

noreply@blogger.com (briefs) — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:51:00 +0000

I have been saying for months that the cutback by major mortgage companies on lending to "sub prime" borrowers should cause rents to increase pretty substantially. I know that there are investor buyers operating under this same assumption.

A LinkedIn question though suggests just the opposite: Do you anticipate seeing rents dramatically DECREASE due to the glut of vacant housing?
from LinkedIn Answers: Personal Real Estate
One of the most often overlooked stats - the Price/Rent ratio - is still pretty close to its all time high (see link to graph). And typically what this means is that either prices need to decrease further OR rental rates need to increase substantially, to be closer to equilibrium. Which do you think will happen? Graph: http://tinyurl.com/5am9fb

What do you think? I still stand by my thought that at least here in NW Indiana we will see rents begin to creep up and make the purchase of multi-family a great buy.

National Association of Realtors

noreply@blogger.com (briefs) — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:01:00 +0000

Released data today suggesting that the mortgage market is still holding home sales back, with drops year over year still very signifigant.

They also projected a 2.4% drop in real estate prices nationally.

Remember that this is a national statistic, and that Northwest Indiana has not seen price reductions, merely a reduction in volume of sales.

Controversy: Did teachers cause the bubble?

noreply@blogger.com (briefs) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:10:00 +0000

I read the Foundry every day, and find the strongly conservative view to be educational and even challenging. In most cases I grab those articles or quotes and post to my Porter County Politics site or Hoosiers for McCain site ... sometimes even my International Affairs site ... this would be the first time that the strongly conserevative writings hit home in something related to Northwest Indiana Real Estate.

From the Foundry:

"CATO’s Timothy Lee makes a great connection between the absence of school choice in our current education system and the recent housing bubble burst. First he quotes economist Robert Frank in Sunday’s Washington Post:

In a well-intentioned but ultimately misguided move to help more families enter the housing market, borrowing restrictions were relaxed during the intervening decades. Down payment requirements fell steadily, and in recent years, many houses were bought with no money down.…The result was a painful dilemma for any family determined not to borrow beyond its means. No one would fault a middle-income family for aspiring to send its children to schools of at least average quality. (How could a family aspire to less?) But if a family stood by while others exploited more liberal credit terms, it would consign its children to below-average schools. Even financially conservative families might have reluctantly concluded that their best option was to borrow up.

Lee then identifies the real culprit for the middle-income family squeeze on education and housing:

The most important thing to note, though, is that the scarcity of good schools Frank identifies is not an inherent fact about the universe, but a consequence of the public school monopoly. In a competitive education market, a shortage of good schools in a given area would spur people to either start new schools or expand the best of the existing ones. But the public school system has few mechanisms for doing either of those things (charter schools are a very limited mechanism for starting innovative public schools). Which means that the supply of good public schools is artificially limited, leading parents to bid up their price. The way to alleviate the shortage of good schools is not to re-regulate the mortgage market, but to reform the education system so that it’s easier to start and expand high-quality schools. Few things would do that as effectively as a robust program of school choice.

The ultimate nightmare for middle-income families would be to make the decision to go for the expensive home in the right neighborhood to get you into the right school … only to then have the local school board redraw the boundaries to nullify your choice. Unfortunately, stories like that happen all the time."

So, deep breath, do you feel that teachers unions' strong opinions against school choice have created the housing bubble? Or even made that bubble worse?

Real Estate News that I saw today

noreply@blogger.com (briefs) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 01:21:00 +0000

30-Year Rates Rise Back Above 6%
from washingtonpost.com - Real Estate by Post
Rates on 30-year mortgages topped 6 percent for the first time in six weeks as financial markets grew more worried about rising inflation pressures.

"So, you just discovered a rockin’ new real estate blog and want to know more about the author. What about adding the author to your contact manager? If you are a MyBlogLog member, you are in luck! MyBlogLog recently added a new feature that allows you to easily add your favorite bloggers contact information to your address book via vCard and hCard. " Go to New Feature from MyBlogLog Builds Your Contact Manager for the rest of this article.

HELOC activity may affect FICO score
from Bankrate.com: Today's new stories
Maxing out a home equity line of credit may impact your FICO score, says Dr. Don Taylor.

Sorry for the Feed based quotes today, Ive been following so many great writers on my RSS Feed Subscriptions and want to alert people to the ones that I've shared. If you would subscribe to this site, I would be grateful. Northwest Indiana Real Estate RSS Free Subscription.

More good news in real estate Part 5

noreply@blogger.com (briefs) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 03:04:00 +0000

I can't wait to go on Active Rain each week when I write my more good news post. There's always a terrific agent out there, like Theresa Boardman, singing the praises of the market.

Keep the stories coming.

clipped from www.stpaulrealestateblog.com

It feels like 2005

The last several weeks have been very busy. I am seeing a lot more
activity in the real estate market when it comes to buying houses than I
did last year. It does remind me of the spring of 2005 when there was no
time to eat or sleep, everyone wanted to buy a house.