Archive for December, 2010

Diana Olick and I go back to my news days at WZZM-13, so I was delighted to discover her CNBC Realty Check blog, which I hope you’ll check out for national, analytical interpretation of the real estate market and the forces that drive it. Diana and I met one year when I was home for Christmas in Bangor, Maine and saw her reports for the CBS affiliate. Her talent, even then, was quite obvious. I asked her to consider a position I had open at the ABC affiliate here in Grand Rapids, WZZM-TV 13. She accepted the position. Shortly after her arrival here, Diana and I spent nearly two weeks with the Good Morning American Team (Charles Gibson and Joan Lunden) in Australia. We produced stories about West Michigan people who had moved to Australia. We had a great time traveling with the Good morning America Team.
Diana quickly move on to bigger markets and then on to CBS in New York. She is a perfect fit for CNBC and their Real Estate segment. Read more about her blog, or better yet, check it out first hand – Realty Check. (more…)

Here’s an incisive report from CNBC’s Realty specialist and former Grand Rapids reporter Diana Olick:

The effects of the so-called “Robo-signing” scandal showed up in drastic numbers in a new report today from RealtyTrac. The number of properties receiving some kind of foreclosure filing fell 21 percent month to month and 14 percent year over year. It was the biggest monthly drop in the history of the survey. And while bank repossessions, a component of those filings, fell 28 percent month to month, the number still managed to push 2010 totals over 2009 with one month to spare. A new record number of borrowers lost their homes to banks this year, more than 980,000 so far. Read more at Realty Check with Diana Olick.

This in-depth report by Standard & Poor details the impact of foreclosures on the housing price index.  The bottom line is that for the latter part of 2010, millions of foreclosures and weak demand means home prices are down on the national scene. That’s good news for first-time buyers and anyone who wants to trade up for less, but it means you need an experienced home marketing team to take full advantage of opportunities. The report outlines that home prices in 18 of the 20 cities studied in the report declined. About 2 million homes are in foreclosure and another 2.4 million borrowers have missed at least 90 days of payments. Here’s an excerpt. Contact Cheryl to see what this means for you!