Foreclosures Hit Rich and Famous

Foreclosures Hit Rich and Famous
April 9, 2010, Wall Street Journal

The rich and famous now have something in common with hundreds of thousands of middle and lower-class Americans: The bank is about to take their homes. Houses with loans of $5 million or more will likely see a sharp rise in foreclosures this year, according to a RealtyTrac study for The Wall Street Journal. Just this week, a Tudor mansion in Bel-Air belonging to film star Nicolas Cage was in foreclosure auction and reverted to the lender.


Agents Are Hungry for Training
April 8, 2010, Inman News

Realtors are an interesting group of people. If you want them to attend a meeting or an event, you either have to provide continuing education credits, free food or both. Food is probably the best way to get a group of Realtors together, even for an educational event. There is a huge need for training in our industry: one-on-one training and group sessions on technology and social media. The gap between the Internet-savvy Realtors and the not-so-Internet-savvy Realtors seems to be getting wider.


Tax Breaks for People in Foreclosures, Short Sales
April 8, 2010, Los Angeles Times

Thousands of Californians whose homes were foreclosed on or sold at a loss will likely get tax relief under a measure approved Thursday by the state Legislature. The bill would waive state taxes on mortgage debt that has been forgiven in a foreclosure or short sale. It is expected to affect about 34,000 taxpayers. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to sign the measure, which would also provide about $60 million in tax credits to green-energy companies, so people can take advantage of it by the April 15 deadline for tax returns.


The Menace of Strategic Default
Spring 2010, City Journal

We envision a reform of the bankruptcy code that, in areas where house prices have dropped precipitously, would require lenders to give homeowners the option of resetting their mortgages to the current value of their houses. In exchange, the lenders would get 50 percent of the houses’ future appreciation. To keep homeowners honest — that is, to prevent them from doing minimal upkeep in the knowledge that they stood to gain less from a home-price increase — the capital gain would be measured based on an average of houses selling in the area, rather than on the change in the value of the actual house.