1.Wealthy Chinese home buyers boost suburban L.A. housing markets
“The overflow from China’s economic high tide is transforming the housing markets of suburban Los Angeles”
2.Carrington ups ante on Wells Fargo by lowering FICO standard
“Carrington Mortgage Services lowered its minimum FICO score to 550 and expanded its guidelines on a number of FHA, VA and USDA loan programs in order to better focus on underserved borrowers, typically those in the sub-640 FICO score range.”
3.Monday Morning Cup of Coffee: Foreclosures down 500K from last year
“Monday Morning Cup of Coffee takes a look at news crossing HousingWire’s weekend desk, with more coverage to come on bigger issues.”
4.Warren Buffett Reveals His Secrets for Investing in Real Estate
“There is no lack of information available about the institutional investment strategies of the world’s billionaires — how they move money in their capacity as the heads of large public companies and investment funds — but how often do you get the chance to look inside the personal investments of those billionaires? And how often does a billionaire offer you insights that you can use in your investing?”
5.Do you have what it takes to be a real estate rainmaker, or will you remain a buyer’s agent? 4 clues
“In real estate, nothing happens until you generate a lead. Whether you want to be a top-producing salesperson or the head of a successful agent team, successful “rainmakers” differ from lower-producing agents in a variety of ways”
6.Life After Fannie and Freddie
“The Senate Banking Committee has released a draft of a new plan to replace government-sponsored entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The new Federal Mortgage Insurance Corporation (FMIC) would guarantee conforming loans and provide regulation for turning government-guaranteed loans into mortgage-backed securities. “
7. Seven bold commercial real estate predictions
“Conjuring the future of commercial real estate begins by conjuring our future. How will we work, live, shop or do business? Perhaps no other investment sector is so closely tied to people’s most fundamental needs and behaviors; its evolution, to a large extent, follows ours. “