“But Vangelakos, who paid $430,000 for the home, closed in November 2008 and insisted on taking possession. He, his wife Cathleen, and their three children use the condo as a vacation home when he can get away from his job as a Weehawken, N.J., firefighter…. The signs are everywhere that the building is almost abandoned.  [...]

The idea of just sending the keys to your house or condo back to the lender would have been unthinkable just a year or so ago; now underwater owners are doing just that all over the country.  This is especially true once they lose any hope for lender assistance in making their payments and realize [...]

Large malls now have a vacancy rate not seen in 18 years.  However, rental rates, while down, have yet to fall significantly.  No doubt that will change as the retail situation continues to deteriorate.  “Many experts believe commercial real estate will be the next bubble to burst. ‘Losses from commercial real estate will be quite [...]

NY Times gets the award for today’s best headline: “Dubai Forced to Check Out of W Hotel.”  The article covers the news that the state investment company Dubai World has lost its first large asset, the W Hotel in New York.  The buyer at foreclosure was a mezzanine lender with a 2 million dollar loan [...]

The large mortgage company Taylor Bean filed chapter 11 in the US Bankruptcy Court in Florida.  It has stated that essentially all options are open as far as how to proceed, including a sale of its assets.  The company is in talks with the FDIC.  “Closely held Taylor Bean does business across the U.S. through [...]

As the economy continues to falter overall, there are some bright spots.  As reported earlier, Ford earnings increased and the company saw its first profit in some time.  Now comes a report on gains for home sales.  The question of course is whether this is part of a general and continuing trend upward or whether [...]

A short article in The Economist entitled: “Can’t Pay Won’t Pay” states that “HOUSE prices in America have fallen so far that as many as one in five households have mortgage debt greater than the value of their homes.”  Moreover, some of the defaults on mortgage loans is what the author calls “strategic” meaning that [...]

According to a new study, which has been presented as a chart, prepared by Credit Suisse, the foreclosure tidal wave is not yet spent.  In fact, the next wave of foreclosures will last until 2012, according to this study.  “These are the ultimate in “exploding mortgages.” The number of these recasts is relatively small right [...]

“General Growth Properties Inc., which filed the biggest real-estate bankruptcy in U.S. history, won court approval [over the objections of some of its other lenders] of a $400 million loan from a group led by Farallon Capital Management LLC and the right to use cash on hand to fund its operations.
The company received approval to [...]

When her million dollar villa did not sell, one owner resorted to having a raffle.  The tickets to own this Austrian villa went for $128 per ticket and in total, the owner “raised” 1.28 million, well over the value of the property (which was not selling in the first place).  It seems like a great  [...]