Does Panhandling Pay Better than Selling Real Estate?

"I figured out the hours I put into [selling that home] I made about 25 cents an hour so I could have just picked up change on the street and done just as well."

Says local realtor Faith McGown after selling a home for a personal record low $30,000.00.
Realtors the Latest Casualties of the Real Estate Market [KARE]

08/08/08 at 10:05 AM Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Filed Under: Random

Is Your Neighbor in the Slammer?

Rotten Neighbor is entertaining enough, what with toxic hipster couples and all.  But the banker in us has always found it far too subjective for any real use.

For instance: We dig it when a certain young man in the neighborhood walks down the middle of the street rapping unintelligbly at top volume, arms uplifted and triumphant, headhone wires dangling just so.  And when I pause in mid burger flip to appreciate his subtle stylings, and he stares back hard all "what?" the look I give him is one of kinship and genuine appreciation, as if to say "I hear you my man, rap on."

But I can also see how this behavior might irritate the local rotarians and other sensitive types.

Besides, unless you are a renter, entering your rotten neighbors is a self defeating excercise. Sort of a fatal flaw, no?

Anyway, this little widget (that our man Dave over at Doodledee dug up) renders a Yahoo map (searchable by city) that allows you to see which of your neighbors are currently living in custody under the gentle ministrations of the Hennepin County Sherrif.

Hard data. That we like, almost as much as amatuer a capella rap-synching.

P.S. We'd build a clone of this for Hennepin County Foreclosures, but it might crash Yahoo Pipes (that, and we haven't the first clue how.) Anyone?

07/24/08 at 03:02 PM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Filed Under: Random

Everything You Need to Know About the IndyMac-FDIC Takeover

Just utter brilliance from Tanta at Calculated Risk on the FDIC takeover of Indymac Bank and the ensuing shenanigans (police calls, fisticuffs, etc.) reported by the LA Times:

Mr. Bash is quite upset that the price of nearly doubling his deposit insurance coverage at no monetary cost to him is several days worth of red tape. Defeating the purpose of deposit insurance limits should, we all know, be smooth and flawless. For heaven's sake, this is 2008. Can't someone just type in some numbers and hit the "enter" key? It's one thing to read in the WSJ that your bank's lending activities may be jeopardizing its safety and soundness--to the point of Congress asking some nasty questions about it in public--and to remain calm enough to believe that the teller can fix your problem by adding your mother's name to an account. It is another thing entirely to get cruddy customer service from the damned FDIC.

And if that is not the funniest thing you've read this week, you probably have more of a life than we do, (or aren't enough of a sociopath.)
Moral Hazard Meets Hazardous Manners [CR]

07/16/08 at 09:11 AM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Filed Under: Credit Crunch, Random

How Many Tickets Would You Buy?

If an organization was raffling off a $1.4 Million dollar home near Lake Minnetonka for charity, how many tickets would you buy?

Unfortunately, we won't get to see this play out:

The state Gambling Control Board has blocked an Inver Grove Heights organization from raffling off a home near Lake Minnetonka worth $1.4 million.
   
The proposal from CLIMB Theatre would have sold $20 raffle tickets for a chance to win the house. The group that puts on plays and teaches classes at schools had wanted to raise $200,000 for itself and $700,000 for more than 400 other nonprofits.

What we'd like to know is who, when, and why, did someone donate a Million-dollar-plus home to a theater troupe specializing in childrens "education?"

The obvious upside here?  Fewer kids will have to suffer through these (excruciatingly politically correct) plays:

CLIMB produces original plays and classes for K-12th grades on topics like:

Bullying Prevention, Respect, Acceptance of Differences, Global Climate Change, Self-Control, Doing Your Best, Methamphetamine Prevention, Responsibility, Harassment Prevention, Cyberbullying Prevention, Friendship.

Gambling Board Shuts Down Home Raffle [WCCO]

04/25/08 at 12:33 PM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Filed Under: Random

Garrison Keillor is a Below Average Neighbor

Strib, PiPress, WCCO, Metroblogging, MNSpeak all weigh in on neighborly jerkitude from Keillor:

Keillor and his wife, Jenny Lind Nilsson, filed suit to block...construction of the three-stall garage and studio behind the home of neighbor Lori Anderson.

Keillor Clash With Neighbors Sent to Mediator [Strib]

01/16/08 at 09:35 AM Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Filed Under: Random, Real Estate Law, Twin Cities

One Man's Subprime Story

Todd Carpenter over at Lenderama is running a contest for the funniest post from the RE.net this year.  All we can say is: Game Over:

I've had a long time to think about it, and it's finally time to face up to the ugly truth: I'm a victim. A victim of a pernicious system that entices innocent borrowers with 5000 square foot homes and free money and Igloo coolers, only to bury their dreams under a bunch of APR-ARM-XYZ shyster bullshit gobbledygook.

Iowahawk via Paul Kedrosky [infectiousgreed]

12/17/07 at 01:33 PM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Filed Under: Random, Sub-Prime

Reason Number 73 that Being a Landlord Might Involve More Than You Bargained For

From local blogger Derrik Dyka, at Flipping Rich:

Luckily, in some ways, the door was chained from the inside, which really told us someone was in there.  I recalled the police who upon arrival kicked in the door. There was a body.

Who Wants to be a Landlord? [Flippingrich]

12/13/07 at 03:11 PM Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)
Filed Under: Random

How High Did the Booming Real Estate Market Get?

Very high, apparently:

"Most of the marijuana grow operations uncovered are in single family homes, some in upscale neighborhoods. Some growers are purchasing a home to use it for the sole purpose of growing marijuana, often paying someone to live in the homes to tend to the plants. Stanek says many operations are also linked to mortgage and real estate fraud."

Big Money, Violence Behind Minneapolis Marijuana [Fox9]

12/12/07 at 01:19 PM Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Filed Under: Fraud, Minneapolis, Random, Twin Cities

Cast a Vote to Change the Life of One Saint Paul Family

So it happens that HGTV is running a contest, called Change the World, Start a home:

Change the World. Start at Home is a new community revitalization and environmental cause effort launched by HGTV in partnership with Rebuilding Together, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Natural Resources Defense Council. The campaign focuses on revitalizing communities across the country and helping consumers make smart choices for the environment within their homes and daily lives

It also happens that Saint Paul is in the running, (the winners are chosen by an online vote-off) with three properties up for renovation, if chosen.

One of the homes is owned by Kris Nelson, who originally purchased the classic Swede Hollow Victorian with her husband Tom as a restoration project.  Those plans fell apart when her husband died of a heart attack at 35, leaving her with two young children to care for and no means to continue the project, which has fallen into disrepair.

Anyway, just go read this story, then head over to the HGTV Website and vote.  Right now.

Saint Paul Couple's Dream Home May Come to Fruition [PiPress]
Change the World, Start a Home [HGTV]

12/12/07 at 12:18 PM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Filed Under: Community Outreach, Random, St. Paul

What to Do with Displaced Mortgage Brokers

Theresa Boardman, of the always excellent St. Paul Real Estate Blog, muses on the fate and future employment prospects of the growing list of unemployed mortgage brokers in the Twin Cities. (2600 0f 4000 mortgage brokers did not renew their licenses this year):

[W]here will the 2600 local lenders who decided not to renew their licenses go? 

I have an idea.  Perhaps the over worked REO* departments at some of the local banks will add staff.  That would help the economy by providing jobs and by making it possible for the banks to actually sell the properties that they own instead of leaving them abandoned and vacant becasue there isn't anyone at the bank who is actually available to return a phone call or make a decision.

On the one hand, this is a pretty good idea - put all these people to work in the loss mitigation and REO departments - they obviously need the manpower.  Supply meets demand and all that.

On the other, we can assume that a goodly portion of these these 2600 + brokers were the amateurs that flooded the market to make a quick buck, and also were inflating appraisals, dotting the "i's in liar loans, and involved in the other sketchy behaviors that got us into this mess in the first place.

Though the idea of having those that made the mess help clean it up appeals to our sense of irony and poetic justice (in a "make the war criminals dig their own grave" sort of way) we're not sure that this is who we want running Loss Mit/REO depts.  Especially if the standard is "actually available to return a phone call or make a decision" since these are THE specific skill sets that the crap brokers universally lack.   

To the Realtors out there: Do you really want those half-assed brokers (who would never give a straight answer, never return a phone call, and screw up your deals) on the sell side, where you HAVE to deal with them?  Didn't think so.

11/29/07 at 02:42 PM Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)
Filed Under: Random