Articles for February 20th, 2009
George and Laura Are Back!
I have to congratulate Channel 8 News — those cameramen have been hanging out over at Meaders Lane and Daria Drive ever since Monday 24/7. No wonder they got all the pics of the moving vans coming in and a cute wave from Laura Bush as she was driven into the Darias. I imagine she’ll spend the weekend unpacking — ugh. The Bushes are going to pay for the gate on Daria Drive, and as I posted laast night, the first gate design is being re-vamped and will hopefully come in at a lower cost.
Where Was The PMI: The Answer I’ve Been Seeking
I finally found out why private mortgage insurance didn’t help with the mass of defaulting loans, thanks to this comprehensive article from Housingwire.com, which is kind of bullish on the HASP. GSE (government sponsored enterprises, like the Fannies and Freddie) charters prohibit financing for more than 80% of property value. If the loan to value ratio is higher than that, the loan must have third party credit support.
“Historically, this credit support has been in the form of PMI, but in the bubble-building years, borrowers found piggy-back second mortgages less costly (because they were securitized and off-loaded into CDOs and yield-hungry funds). As much as the GSEs have tightened their credit standards, PMI underwriting is even tougher, and their insurance premiums have gone up to reflect the realities of mortgage risk.”
Fort Worth Star Telegram To Lighten Real Estate
Just got off the phone with classified advertising sales: effective March 6, the Startlegram is eliminating it’s Friday real estate advertising section, but will still retain the Saturday and Sunday real estate sections. A source there said “the need is no longer there.”
Real Estate Deal Book: $4.44 Per Square Foot For This Building
Buy this building for $4.44 per square foot? Not sure it’s for sale, but what a deal. To get the final market value in line, DCAD has valued the land along Stemmons at $30.00 per square foot. Just the dirt –with me so far?
But this 124,800 square foot building is valued at only $4.44 per square foot. Wow. What a bargain.
Bush Gate Taking Longer
I went to TREC “Young Guns” tonight at The Tower Club and learned so much. Like when I heard that the Bushes are looking at a re-design of the gate they ordered for Daria Drive — seems the first design priced out too high, and since they are footing the bill for the gate (which is so nice of them!) they wanted to go back for something a little less simpler. Tell you what, I’ll bet they are just shocked by how high building prices are.
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