In June 2006, Florida real estate broker Michael Morgan unveiled a Web site targeting alleged costly construction mistakes by Lennar Homes. In it, Morgan alluded to allegations of “shoddy workmanship, slipshod carpentry and faulty wiring” and invited consumers to submit their complaints.
Morgan bought PPC ads and whenever someone was searching for Lennar […]

A report published by the Toronto-based Altus Clayton Research Group says it will be another 15 years before the senior “over 75″ demographic bubble will have a major impact on homes and housing construction. The report examines the implications of the aging population for the seniors’ housing market as the 21st century marches on.
For purposes […]

According to now-former employees, Countrywide went through another round of layoffs at the (soon to be former?) Full Spectrum Group this morning which is the big subprime retail arm of the mortgage giant. It affected employees hired within the last 3 months and didn’t have tenure in the group. This affected several of […]

Fremont General, who pulled the plug on their subprime mortgage unit back in March under scrutiny from the FDIC, said today that a deal worth $80 million in cash to the beleaguered S&L is off as their billionaire investor has backed out. Neither party specified the reasoning behind the last-minute cancellation of the deal; […]

Harry Stinson, the Toronto real- estate developer who was in competition with Donald Trump to build the city’s highest residential building, placed four of his businesses in bankruptcy and, according to the receiver running the operations, violated a court order by doing so.
“It’s going to create more chaos,” Joseph Latham, lawyer for the receiver, Ira […]

It’s not easy being green — for a city, that is. It’s tough enough to simply keep up with the endless trash, traffic and pollution generated by urban life. To actually get the better of it with good public transportation, smart recycling programs and the kind of well-kept streets, parks and playgrounds that make cities […]

Attention: For Sale By Owners! Why People Are Afraid To Buy From You!
Many homeowners believe to maximize their home sale they should sell it themselves. At first glance, they feel selling a home is simple. Why should they pay a broker fee for something they could do themselves?
However, close to half of the FSBO’s […]

You can’t always predict what will capture buyers’ fancy (or what will turn them off). But most buyers respond to certain things, such as a clean, clutter-free home in good repair. Homes that owners keep in tip-top shape for showings garner higher offers than homes that aren’t ready for showtime. You might have already suggested […]

In my podcast interview with mortgage fraud expert Rachel Dollar we discussed whether incidences of fraud had peaked in 2005 and 2006, which have been deemed the worst vintages of mortgage loans and known for their dubious underwriting quality, or whether we were set to see a spike of fraud cases as home owners became […]

A bunch of big news out of Wall Street today with the high (low?) lights being the following:

Consumer sentiment falls to 2-year low after peaking in July (a massive reversal of sentiment)
Lennar (a large OC-based home builder) sees its revenue fall 44% and miss even the most pessimistic analyst estimates
Housing rises to an 18-year high […]