The Mortgage Meltdown Fallout Continues

Reuters reports that American Home Mortgage Investment, a REIT, could no longer fund loans and may be forced to liquidate its assets. This comes after last Friday's announcement that it would not be paying its quarterly dividend to shareholders. The company is unable to fund $300 million of loans it already committed to make on Monday. It is expected to be unable to fund another $450 to $500 million in loans today. Shares of the REIT closed at $1.04...

Foreclosures Skyrocket

According to this report on CNN, the number of foreclosures rose 58% during the first half of this year. One in every 134 households is going into foreclosure. In Nevada, it's even worse - 1 in every 40 hous...

Louisiana Update

Another conference call for the Louisiana investment just concluded and it looks like TMG, the investment group that is taking control of this project, is giving us investors a pretty good deal. As usual, there are lots of details, but I'll try to keep it simple here.Those of us that are currently on the first mortgage for the commercial properties in Louisiana have the following options:Get cashed out. Your investment will be paid off and you'll...

Summertime Slowness

Nothing much seems to happen in the summer. Here in Arizona, it's just too hot to go outside and do anything and with vacations and family visits, it seems like real estate has taken a back burner for a moment.My Louisiana investment has finally been brought current. Actually, more than current since I've already received the payment for August. That brings the mortgages up to date. The other aspect of this investment - buying out the old majority...

Subprime Mortgage Meltdown Begins To Gather Steam

The meltdown in the subprime mortgage market is gathering steam and beginning to be widely felt. Yesterday, Bear Stearns told its clients that two of its hedge funds were now worthless.Bear Stearns, the nation's fifth-largest investment bank, began disclosing in March that the two hedge funds had sustained heavy losses tied to subprime loans extended to risky borrowers. At the time, its High-Grade Structured Credit Enhanced Leveraged Fund was worth...

Rental #1 Final Numbers

As I promised a while back, now that the refinance of Rental #1 is done, I'm able to post the final numbers for the property.Purchase CostsEarnest Money Deposit$1,000Funds Due At Purchase$1,438Funds Due At Refinance $13,335Property Management Maintenance Deposit$250 Total Purchase Costs $16,023 Monthly Income Rent $750 Monthly ExpensesManagement Fee$75 PITI $486 ...

Louisiana Update

I took part in an hour long conference call this morning with the other mortgage holders on the commercial property project we've got going on in Louisiana. There is really too much to cover in a blog entry, but I will attempt to give the highlights. You shouldn't assume these are the complete details.The majority holder, I'll call him "Joe," that has been causing everyone else so much trouble, has come to us asking to be bought out. Joe is in over...

Update On All My Projects

I'm back from Vegas, poorer, but relaxed...Looks like my feeling that things might be improving at my property management company was correct. I've found out that the company is being bought by an employee and that they have ramped up the staffing and efficiency of the office. That makes me feel better.I also finally received the Release of Mortgage for my refi of Rental #1. I got that notarized and will send that back today, so my private money...