The answer to the Sub Prime Crisis

You too can be your very own loan shark.

A family member turned me on to this site called Prosper.com which I think is a brilliant idea but an indication of the state of our nation. Here's the link that describes the entire process.

In a nut shell it is basically people to people lending. The site acts as the middle man and takes a cut of each transaction. It is definitely a brilliant idea and my impression that this site is on the up and up is this.

What if I have poor credit?
Prosper isn't the best place for people with bad credit. You may want to try to improve your credit score over the next few months and then apply for a loan on Prosper. If you need help with credit repair, please click here.

They are looking for qualified borrowers which is cool. What I am concerned about is that there will operations that will not be as ethical and I can see operations of this nature popping up in the near future.

Credit is dead. The housing meltdown was primarily due to cheap money based on credit. And as lending standards have tightened up, people are now looking for others sources of funds.

The banking industry should also watch this industry very, very closely. You can already get an mortgage online and if this type of lending becomes more popular, then it is going to get really hairy for the lending industry.

Can you dig it?

My blogger in crime Urban Digs has put out an open invitation to all his readers and colleagues.

What: UrbanDigs wants to invite our readers for drinks to meet anybody that wants to meet us and discuss the real estate markets, stock markets, economy, credit markets, buying, selling, renovating...and anything else you may want to talk about

NOTE: This is NOT an open bar!!! Its a casual event to meet Jeff, Christine & I, ask us whatever you want for our thoughts/opinions, and talk about the markets over drinks.

Where: EVELYN LOUNGE @ 380 COLUMBUS AVE (78th ST)

When: WEDNESDAY FEB, 20th @ 6PM (until whenever...)

RSVP: Please comment below or email us if you know you will come so we can get an idea of numbers! We hope you can make it!!

Noah is an example of the new hybrid real estate broker that not only have the expertise to execute a real estate deal but his experiences in running with the big dogs on Wall Street has given him an invaluable perspective on how the financial effects the real estate market. This is a great opporunity to soak up knowledge from one of the best. The drinks may not be for free but what you will learning will be priceless.

Sadly, yours truly will not be able to attend. But there is next time.

D'oh!

I am watching American Idol right now cringing and laughing. As over dramatic as it is, it is indicative of one of many truths about real life that you win and you lose. However, my blog is not American Idol and I was quite horrified to find a ton of real estate carnival entries caught in my bulk mail filter. When it comes to the real estate carnival I believe that everyone who has made the effort should be heard.

So I have retrieved those entries and I presented them in this extended version of the Real Estate Carnival. IF THERE ARE ANY OTHERS I HAVE MISSED! PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

Without further ado



Damon Pace takes real estate branding a step further by emulating Britney Spears without the drugs, bi polar issues and the commando crotch shots in his entry OMG! You are just like Britney Spears. posted at GeekEstate Blog.

Can you believe I missed a Zillow submission? That is so embarrassing; especially since it was Drew’s idea to invite me to this shindig. I hope that Stan Humphries is forgiving for this unintentional slight. Stan presents the facts about homeowners struggling with dealing with their own opinions of their homes and the real world with his entry Home Values: When Perception and Reality Don’t Meet posted at Zillow® Blog.



It’s the SingleGuyMoney blog who is on the quest to rid of himself of non-mortgage debt unlike other single guys who are on the quest in getting laid. This blogger sees the lighter side of the housing slump by getting a next door comparable in his entryAnother House for Sale posted at Single Guy Money.


You are not going to get one but two badass entries from Bret Wilson of Real Estate Radio USA.

Brett compares the National Association of Realtors to that cult, uhh I am not going to say their name because I don’t want my couch to be destroyed, in his entry The National Association Of Realtors Is A Cult! posted at Real Estate Radio USA.


GUNS AND ROSES RULES! Brett gives the rundown on former buyers filing lawsuits against their brokers in his rundown on Slash’s lawsuit in his entry. Welcome To The Jungle Baby! posted at Real Estate Radio USA.

I believe that sometimes you have to look reality in the eye and deny it. -Garrison Keillor.


The moment I read this quote, I realized this entry was solid gold. This quote sums up what is going on in our housing market and our economy. Larry Walker discusses how property owners are now becoming landlords and the additional headaches they have to deal with in his entry Accidental Landlords posted at Larry's Take on the Cocoa Beach Florida Real Estate Market.


Thank you all again good people

76

Welcome to Carnival 76 good people. To everyone who participated, thank you. Real estate is a subject fallen out of vogue for obvious reasons, but it is nice to know that there are people out there who are still fighting the good fight.

Brian block discuses the role that home owner’s associations play in a condominium as guardians of condominium’s property values. Although there are no alligator problems in New York City, that we know of, the role of the homeowner association is akin to a condo or coop board. Brian also discusses the pros and cons of the home owner’s association and what to look for in the resale disclosure documents. All is featured in his entry Please Don't Feed the Alligators (or the Birds)! posted at Virginia Real Estate News.


Jim Cronin of the Real Estate Tomato squeezes in his two cents about SEO which stands for Search Engine Optimization. Jim argues why SEO is bad and pushes for all real estate bloggers to focus on original content, instead of repeating key words. And I do concur with Jim. Business Blogging is a discipline which you can read more about in his entry Why Worrying About SEO Is Detrimental to Your Real Estate Blog posted at Real Estate Tomato.

Purva Brown gets down with her glass is half full take on the foreclosure crisis that is clobbering the California real estate market and saysSacramento Foreclosures - Why the Numbers Need to be Taken with a Grain of Salt posted at Sacramento Real Estate Gal.


And its another brown and this one is bringing the hammer down, Joshua Morgan Brown of City Hammer lays it on the line why he thinks Pier One is so divine. (I promise you this is the last rhyme for today.) It is an in depth analysis of why this retail operation will survive while others have fallen by the wayside. All is said in his entry Why I'm Rooting for Pier 1 to Weather the Housing Slump posted at cityhammer.com blog.

And last but not least, is the man, the myth, the legend. When he speaks, everyone stops in their tracks to listen. I give you Jonathan Miller’s entry Commitment Letter Is No Letter Of Commitment posted at Matrix.

Jonathan Miller presents the facts of why it has been so easy for homeowners to walk away from their homes when the going gets rough. Jonathan points out that the new mortgage products are geared toward monthly payments rather than the initial down payment. Therefore homeowners are not as heavily invested in their properties. Perhaps that can explain the attitudes of some of the homeowners profiles on 60 Minutes.

I want to thank everyone for pitching in and I want to thank Drew over at Zillow for putting me into the huddle.

CARNIVAL

Drew Meyers over at Zillow has invited me to do another real estate Carnival. Here's the rundown.

Carnival of Real Estate #76
By Drew Meyers, Zillow.com | February 4, 2008


The 76th edition of the Carnival of Real Estate is posted over at Searchlight Crusade. There are a wealth of great articles highlighted — head over and take a look!

The carnival will make its next appearance on Monday, February 11 at Property Grunt. Please submit your best post by Sunday, February 10, to be considered. Are you a real estate blogger and would you like to host a future edition or take a more active role in carnival administration? If so, get instructions on how to do so here. Please check the complete FAQ list if you have other questions as to how to participate.

Here's a further explanation of a Carnival.

The goal here is to bring together the best real estate bloggers from around the country (and world) to share information about what we’re all passionate about: real estate. This is intended to be a forum for everyone to participate. Like a potluck, everyone brings something and may the best dishes be recognized each week.

The Zillow Blog Team — well, actually one very tuned-in guy on the team — was pondering the existence of Blog Carnivals for everything from “street poetry” to cats, but there was not one for real estate. Obviously, we were amazed by this realization. No Carnival for real estate? This must be fixed! So, we at Zillow thought, “Why not create a Carnival of Real Estate?” And so, we did.

Here's the link to submit your blog posts.

Please send them by 2/10/08. Mea culpa if this is a bit last minute.

Will Broker for food

Last week I witnessed something that was quite sobering to the point of scary. Outside the subway stop at Grand Central I saw a well dressed Asian Woman handing out business cards while crowds of people passed her by and ignored her, as I got closer I heard her saying these words.

"Do you want to rent an apartment?"

When I heard that, I thought to myself "What the f**k?". But honest to blog I heard her say that. This broker was looking for clients on the street, literatlly. I thought it was a joke, so I went up to her myself and took a card from her. She immediately went into a sales pitch that she could find me an apartment. An I reacted just like everyone else around me which was to smile and walk away really quickly. This is standard procedure with dealing with crazy people in New York.

I was going to take a picture of her but decided against it out of respect. And no, I will not present her information on this blog. I will say that she does not work for the major or minor real estate brokers of New York City. Thank god, because if that was the case they would have had her dragged out into the street and shot. In fact, according to her card she is a member of a national franchise of real estate brokers.

I really hope that this was a joke.

Take That New England

This Mama's boy just kicked your ass.