Weekly News Digest October 16

To keep our readers informed on current events, HMB Cribs will be providing a weekly news digest chronicling noteworthy stories from the past week. Don’t expect the usual boring news report though. Our stories are about things that may affect your life directly both on and off the job.

On the agenda this week:

-What Do Drug Dealers and Housing Markets Have in Common?

-Why are Robots Foreclosing on Homeowners?

-How a CNN report can ruin a Real Estate Agent’s Bottom Line.

What do Housing Markets and Drug Dealers Have in Common?

Give up? Neither pay enough taxes. According to a recent report released by National League of Cities, after an initial lag, assessed home values are dropping lower to coincide with market values. This means less property tax are being assessed and collected. Cities’ budgets are expected to be in deficit in the upcoming years. While it may be inappropriate to compare the average homeowner to Tony Montana, you may be seeing a break in your next property tax bill and your city may be the victim.

Click here to read the article.

Why are robots foreclosing on homeowners?

That’s what a friend of mine asked me after (briefly) reading a news report that said Maryland legislators are asking for a moratorium on foreclosures in the state. I read the HousingWire.com article and explained to my attention-span-challenged friend that he was referring to robo-signers not robot-signers. Robo-signers are employees hired to process the huge amounts of foreclosures currently on lenders’ books. It turns out that many of these signed and sworn affidavits were not actually reviewed by the robo-signers and merely signed and filed. Needless to say lawyers are having a collective field day fighting the foreclosures. Maybe the lenders should hire robots to defend them when they get sued by every foreclosed on homeowner. It might be cheaper.

How a CNN article can ruin a real estate agent’s bottom line.

Recently CNN Money did a follow up to ranking of housing markets in the US. In 2006 they claimed that Naples, Florida was the most overvalued housing market in America with 84% of home prices considered to be above fair market value. Four years later, after city officials spent copious time and money trying to dispute the “overvalued” portrayal, the median home price is down almost $234,000 while the median home price across the country only dropped $65,000. I hear that real estate agents aren’t happy with their reduced commissions.

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