What's this mean for investors???  Take a read and post your comments.

Required Skimming: Massive Commercial Real Estate Foreclosures Coming

By Tiernan Ray

Not to be high-handed about things, but the Congressional Oversight Panelwatching the TARP investment has drafted a document it might be good to be acquainted with: “Commercial Real Estate Losses and the Risk to Financial Stability.” (link: http://cop.senate.gov/reports/library/report-021110-cop.cfm )

The report, released yesterday, is about 200 pages, but the two-page executive summary (link: http://cop.senate.gov/documents/cop-021110-report-executivesummary.pdf ) lays out the essentials: About $1.4 trillion of commercial real estate loans are coming due between now and 2014, and half of them are under water.

That could put a $200 billion to $300 billion burden on small banks who lent money for local shopping malls and such. And there’s no easy way to predict how many foreclosures there will be.

Commercial Real Estate | Real Estate | Investing | Economy | Business | Foreclosures

Hi everyone,

What do you all think about this crazy market and now the flu. Things can't get any better.

Now people in Central Texas are talking about moving back north since Mexico is next door to Texas and now there is one death in Texas.

People are looking to get out and don't know what to do. Prices are dropping in the real estate realm.

A commercial property that is appraise at 900k. I have it under contract for 200k. Can't get better then that.

Please give your inputs in how is it going in your local city or state.

Business | Financial | Real Estate | local | Economy

I found this article over at Bloomberg.com to have some pretty good information summarizing recent political steps regarding the economy, the bailouts and the auto industry.

President-elect Obama made a statement about his plans to forge a huge infrastructural investment strategy to help curb the economic crisis starting sometime next year.  Other than that the program is going to be a sizable, there are not enough details to determine what effects this will have on both the short term and long term time scales.  What one can rely on is that there are going to be plenty of entrepreneurial opportunities for companies to help with the process.  This correlates with my own experience talking with investors and entrepreneurs who survived the S&L crisis.

Economy | Financial | Current Events | Real Estate

Although this article from CNN seems to want to talk about retirement, what it really underscores is the philosophy the modern American adopts towards investing.  And what is the generalized American investment strategy?  It goes like this; don't take risks, save, and keep equity in your house.

The problem I see here is that this strategy is only being compared to its antithesis of taking risks, not saving and destroying the equity in your home.  Yes, compared to that strategy, it is far superior.

Real Estate | Financial | Economy | Investing

It is now policy for the federal government to bail out large corporations.  While the bailout of Chrysler in 1979 seemed egregious from a position of federal policy, the $4.2 billion (calculated for inflation) spent to save it seems like pennies compared to what the government is planning on spending this time around. 

Adding up the $1.4 trillion expected to assist the FDIC, the $2.4 trillion used by companies to pay bills and other short term commitments, and the $3.18 trillion to bailout the financial institutions, the total bailout comes just shy of $7 trillion.  Now we have to add another $300 billion because of the bailout of Citigroup which brings the total to about $7.3 trillion.

Never has Congressman Everett Dirkson’s words been so accurate when he said, “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.”

$7.3 trillion.  That’s $7,300,000,000,000.  That’s $24,000 for every man, woman and child in the United States.  That’s 50% of our GDP.  That’s 12 times the cost of the Iraq war.   And, surprisingly, it’s probably about $6 trillion shy of what the total bill is going to be if this bailout strategy is used for the totality of the economic losses suffered.

This strategy of curbing an economic decline through inflation and taxation by making the entirety of the public pay for the mistakes of the few is not limited to our borders.  Japan, China, Russia, Germany, UK, France and others are all engaged in bailouts of their own.  And while I can talk at great length about the legality or constitutionality of such a bailout being preposterous, the overarching point is that the government is going to do this, whether we (or I) like it or not.

An interesting ramification of this policy is that businesses now have a reason to become giant conglomerations more than ever before.  If Google, Microsoft and Yahoo merged to form an information-age mega-giant, and a sudden economic downturn jeopardized their success, precedence has now been set forth that the American people will pick up the tab.

Hopefully you can all see that a company in which their profits where private and their debts were public is going to be rocked by malfeasance and corruption.  No doubt, this is exactly what happened to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and is exactly the catalyst for this whole debacle.

It also sends the message that it is in the public’s best interest not to buy products and services from industry leaders.  Helping the big companies become bigger gets them one step closer to having the ability to purge your earnings through taxation upon making incredible financial blunders. 

While the concept of the federal government bailing out a company isn’t exactly new, the scale of which it is occurring marks a decided change in the purpose and relationship of the federal government to the public sector.  The total implications of such a change cannot be accurately forecasted or ever reversed.

-beasley

Investing | Economy | Real Estate

The broker at All Prudential Group can also be contacted, but please mention my name, Stephen Borge send you.

Real Estate

WASHINGTON - Hundreds of thousands of American families will have a greater opportunity to find housing or keep the homes they have because of $50 million in housing counseling and counseling training grants announced today by U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston.

Housing counseling grants will assist families in becoming first-time homeowners and remaining homeowners after their purchase. HUD-approved counseling agencies not only provide homeownership counseling, but also offer financial literacy training to renters and homeless individuals and families.

"These critical counseling grants not only help to put people into homes, but they help to keep them there as well," said Preston. "Housing counseling organizations will continue to help families make more informed choices before they purchase a home and counsel families facing foreclosure. Now, more than ever, it is critical that Americans better understand how to manage their money, navigate the homebuying process, and securing their financial future."

Real Estate

The sounds of Lawrence Olivier's panic stricken voice from the Marathon Man seems to resonate appropriately; "Is it safe?"  Americans are calling their banks, their financial advisors and their friends worried whether or not their money will be gone tomorrow.  It is a geniune concern.

Financial | Economy | Real Estate