My Brooklyn Report

The Office of Thrift Supervision issued a report on Fraud and Insider Abuse that revealed mortgage fraud investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigations was up 400% in 2009 from the year before. The FBI’s Mortgage Fraud Task Force estimates that 63% of investigations of  mortgage fraud perpetrated against financial institutions involved $1 million plus in [...]

As the first installment in our 7 part series on Short Sales in Brooklyn Real Estate, we’re going to identify key factors a homeowner considers to determine if a short sale is best for addressing a mortgage default. In preparing for this series, I thought the best way to bring the narrative to life is [...]

Just as we were going to publish the first installment of our 7 part series on Short Sales in Brooklyn Real Estate, our editor wanted to make sure our readers were not only receiving great information about short sales, but also knew where these opportunities were. I thought the suggestion made a lot of sense [...]

We may be heading right back where we came from. The Federal Housing Administration announced ground breaking changes for insuring home mortgages originated by banks and mortgage brokers. Proposed changes could find lenders reviving the bad old days of mortgage lending in Black and Hispanic communities. Could we see a return to redlining by lenders in [...]

Back in December 2009, I shared with you the 4 things going right in Brooklyn’s real estate recovery.  What a difference a few months make, as recent political and economic events may cancel out any momentum for a lasting, sustainable recovery. If you’re buying, selling or renting, each party will be affected by these 4 [...]

The new real estate business in Brooklyn is Short Sales. Well, it’s not that new.  Since 2008, short sales have grown as the primary technique available to real estate agents in selling a property for a homeowner in financial distress. With record mortgage defaults leading to foreclosure filings by lenders, real estate values throughout New [...]

Desperate times call for desperate measures. With 25% of American homeowners with mortgages underwater, many are considering an option that in the past would have been financial suicide. But as home values continue their decline in New York City, families are seriously thinking about implementing a strategy thought exclusive to the rich and powerful.

Over the last 10 years, there have been a number of companies offering information about real estate sales via the Internet. Once considered proprietary data by Multiple Listing Services, property sales information is made available by a number of public web sites. And as with any information discovered on the Internet, real estate sales data made [...]