By Steve Originally Published December 2013 At this time every year, reports start coming out about the many new laws taking effect next year. Here in California, nearly 1,000 new laws will start up in 2014 many of which will directly affect property owners and real estate professionals. Here are highlights of some of the […]

By Steve UNDERSTANDING ADVANCED HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVES (Originally Published October 2013) WHAT IS AN ADVANCED HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVE? An Advanced Health Care Directive (AHCD), also called a “Living Will”, is a document in which you can specify now who you want to make health care decisions for you in the future in the event that […]

By [email protected] (Jeremy B. White) The state of California unlawfully redirected $369 million in homeowner relief secured by Attorney General Kamala Harris, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in Sacramento Superior Court. California Gov. Jerry Brown speaks during a general session at the California Democrats State Convention on Saturday, March 8, 2014, in Los Angeles. […]

By Steve UNDERSTANDING POWERS OF ATTORNEY (Originally Published October 2013) WHAT IS A POWER OF ATTORNEY? Some times in life, we want to give another person the legal authority to make decisions for us when we cannot make the decision ourselves. The document that is used to do this is called a “Power of Attorney”… […]

By Steve (Originally published Sept. 2013) UNDERSTANDING WILLS AND TRUSTS WHAT IS A WILL? Most of us have heard the term “Will” or “Last Will and Testament” but many don’t know what that exactly means. A Will is simply a document in which you designate who will get your real and personal property upon your […]

By Steve (Originally published Sept. 2013) What is Estate Planning? Every one of us has an “Estate” of some kind… a home, maybe some investments, money in the bank, insurance, a business, etc. Estate Planning is simply the process of creating certain documents that will enable you to preserve your Estate and pass it on […]

Bloomberg News, which was inadvertently drawn into the case as Litvak was often making misrepresentations in Bloomberg group chats, has a look at two reasons those in charge of compliance at Jefferies failed in their duty. …read more

The number of mortgages that could be made if credit conditions and requirements were at traditional, pre-crisis levels could top 1.2 million. …read more

A bill to broaden the ability of credit unions to apply for Federal Home Loan Bank membership, passed the House Financial Services Committee 55-0 and now goes to the House floor where it will likely gain wide support. …read more

A bill to broaden the ability of credit unions to apply for Federal Home Loan Bank membership, passed the House Financial Services Committee 55-0 and now goes to the House floor where it will likely gain wide support. …read more

“Although the State of California faced a budget deficit, that was then. Now, due in part to the Governor’s successful efforts, the State projects a multi-billion-dollar surplus,” a joint press release states. …read more

“Although the State of California faced a budget deficit, that was then. Now, due in part to the Governor’s successful efforts, the State projects a multi-billion-dollar surplus,” a joint press release states. …read more

Fed author outlines three factors that are broadly consistent with the sustainability of the recovery of real house prices. And this condition appears to have been met, considering evidence from several key measures. …read more

By drhousingbubble Baby boomers with their infinite housing lust have largely forgotten about one thing on all those blurry tacos Tuesdays. What about the kids? Many boomers in high priced California cities find themselves house rich but cash poor. The notion that somehow your home valued at $700,000 or $1 million is throwing off cash […]

A warning from JPMorgan Chase & Co. on first quarter revenues for big investment banks and a big investment in Nationstar Mortgage by Kyle Bass’ billion dollar hedge fund made big impacts on several in the HW 30 index. …read more

Moody’s said it is concerned the sale of the fleet business would “weaken the company’s franchise strength and result in a business with a more concentrated revenue base.” …read more

A note from Nomura Group warns that the economy has hit a soft patch in the first quarter of 2014, but that shouldn’t lessen the Federal Reserve’s commitment to tapering it’s monthly bond and Treasurys purchases. …read more

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is probing “zombie” foreclosures, a phenomenon first revealed by Reuters last year, article claims. …read more

Hayman Capital bought up 4.76 million shares, or 5.3%, of the financial firm’s stock in the first quarter of 2014 on belief in strength of nonbank servicers. …read more

Hayman Capital bought up 4.76 million shares, or 5.3%, of the financial firm’s stock in the first quarter of 2014 on belief in strength of nonbank servicers. …read more

In less than two years the REO-to-rental concept on a large scale has grown from what many real estate professionals and mortgage servicing industry experts believed would be at best a flash-in-the-pan fad or worse a crash-and-burn exercise in futility, to become a growing new asset class. …read more

By [email protected] (Hudson Sangree) Median home prices in the Sacramento region rose in February amid a tight supply of homes for sale. …read more

By Mandelman The government’s plan to increase the number of homeowners unable to make their mortgage payments in order to boost the number of foreclosures is about to start working more effectively, as tens of thousands of HAMP modifications that lowered rates to teaser levels in 2009 and 2010, are about to experience payment shock […]

In a strong bipartisan vote on Thursday, the Senate passed a bill to ease big flood insurance premium increases faced by hundreds of thousands of homeowners and allow below-market rates to be passed on to people buying homes with taxpayer-subsidized policies. …read more

By [email protected] (Mark Glover) Year-over-year foreclosure activity – default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions – in California continued a prolonged trend with another robust double-digit decline in February, according to Irvine-based RealtyTrac. RealtyTrac’s monthly foreclosure market report said foreclosure filings were reported on 13,053 California properties last month, down by about 27.5 percent from […]