ZT Property

While housing prices in the US and elsewhere have steadily fallen since 2007, real estate in China is three times expensive now than it was three years ago. Although buyers are plentiful and new properties are being constructed around the clock, financial analysts believe the the housing bubble in China is soon to pop. The main reason that real estate experts believe that the housing boom in China is doomed is because there are not enough high wage earners available to purchase the multi-million dollar properties. While there are plenty of rich business men and foreign buyers coming to China, the average person makes little more than a few thousand dollars a year. With a huge backlog of penthouses, estates and other high prices real estate available, investors will have to stop building until some of the existing properties are purchased.

Standard & Poor recently re-evaluated China’s housing marked and downgraded its financial outlook from stable down to a negative rating. Developers are prepared to see a 10% price reduction on properties in China, but this may only be the beginning of a downward trend. While millions of Chinese residents continue to live in cramped quarters, only the chosen few are able to live in relative comfort. China’s housing market may not become as unstable as the real estate industry in the US overnight, but while other markets are already on the road to recovery, China may start to fail when others start to flourish again. Speculators expect to see a major change in the Chinese housing market within approximately one year.

Rob Van Winkle might be best known for his cheesy 90s rap songs, but the former music star has a new passion – real estate. It is now known if ‘Vanilla Ice’ is a license real estate agent, but he believes that he has what it takes to instruct novices to success in the property market. In all actuality, Van Winkle has actually made more money by selling multi-million dollar properties than he has by selling records. Not only was he able to score a TV show on a popular home and garden channel, he has also been able to survive drug abuse and a tumultuous temper, all things to the real estate industry.

Van Winkle might be an unlikely candidate for a real estate mogul, however, he has two things to his advantage. First, Van Winkle made the bulk of his fortune in the early 1990s when real estate prices were low. Secondly, Rob had genius financial advisers. Instead of spending his money on lavish parties and a huge wardrobe, he saved and planned for the future.

Many years have passed since Van Winkle first got into the real estate business, and the fact that he still is holding onto properties is a good sign for his future students. His online portal will features hints, tips and even full fledged classes for anyone that wants to make money by buying and selling real estate. He may not be Donald Trump, but there are certainly a few things that Van Winkle can teach to real estate newbies.

Prosecutors in Atlanta, Georgia, say that Phillip Hill and Les Rector almost single handedly destroyed the lives of thousands of homeowners in suburban Atlanta and surrounding areas. In an elaborate scheme, the duo presented themselves as real estate developers and then went on to obtain mortgages in the names of the investors without their consent. After Hill and Rector failed to make payments on the $110 million worth of property purchased, homeowners in the area began to feel the effects. The value of their homes plummeted, and they found it would be impossible to sell their property at a fair price.

While Phillip Hill has been sentenced to 28 years in prison, Rector’s future is still uncertain. Rector agreed to testify against Hill in return for a lighter sentence, however, the deal has been rescinded. In the meantime, homeowners in several Atlanta neighborhoods have still not fully recovered. Homes that were once valued at over $500,000 are being sold at auction for barely $200,000. Officials in the area believe that Rector and Hill were able to make approximately $22 million from the scam. The investors whose names they used to obtain loans have been tarnished, with many of them filing for bankruptcy. In addition to losing their investments, most have terrible credit ratings.

Real estate scams like the one pulled off by Hill and Rector happened all over the country, but few effected such large communities. Most local home shoppers avoid the areas that Hill and Rector purchased in simply because they don’t know what the future holds.

It seems that the only people buying property are independently wealth investors that think that they will be able to turn a profit once the real estate market rebounds. Property analysts have speculated time and time again when the state of the real estate market will improve, only to be proven wrong. Even still, there is a backlog of property from coast to coast that is slowly being picked off by self proclaimed real estate ‘flippers.’ For a period of time, buying foreclosed properties, making a few minor repairs and then selling it for a profit was a viable option. Unfortunately, the general public has become more educated about this process, and they would rather continue to rent or stay in their own homes than to buy someone else’s project.

Another problem that house ‘flippers’ are facing is financing. On both sides of the coin, they can run into problems. Either they run out of money while renovating a property, or they are unable to find a willing buyer that is able to get financing. For every success stories, there are dozens of house flippers that are forced to rent out their real estate in the hopes that they will be able to turn a profit in the future. Real estate experts hope that consumers will buy foreclosed properties to live in themselves so that they will be able to get a real return on their investments rather than to hold onto false hope and fall into debt when they are unable to make a sale.

Slowly but surely property prices in the US have been leveling out and even increasing in some markets. In the New York area, real estate prices suddenly fell to the lowest levels they have been since 2004, well before the housing bubble burst. Part of the reason that property values are decreasing is the large amount of people falling behind on their mortgages. In select areas of the New York metro area foreclosure rates increased by as much as 20%. While this is good news for real estate investors and first time buyers, those that already own property in the New York area are losing equity in their homes.

Real estate experts believe that the property market will finally bottom out sometime in 2012. Throughout the entire US property prices are falling as well. With the average home being valued at approximately $170,000 and thousands of homeowners walking away from their houses because their mortgages are underwater, it could be another five or more years before the real estate market is able to fully recover. The Obama administration previously instructed lenders to assist homeowners that were having trouble keeping up with their payments, but it was recently found that interest rates were only reduced temporarily.

In addition, banks have made it much more difficult for buyers to qualify for loans. Typically, applicants will need to put down 20% of the value of their homes before they will even be considered. Real estate agents in New York are optimistic about the housing crisis, however, the statistics show a different story.

It is a fact that real estate agents are struggling to make sales. Moderately priced homes are sitting on the market for years before they are sold. In Sea Girt, New Jersey, a colossal luxury home has sold for $3.6 million after being on the market for three years. The real estate agent that facilitated the sale stands to make a health sized commission. The only problem is that the home sold for less than 70% of the original asking price and it took an extremely long time for the Jersey shore house to be sold to its new owner.

If real estate agents are making fewer sales, it is only logical that they would become drawn to high priced properties. Only a handful of professional real estate agents are experienced in the sale of million dollar estates. Unlike moderately priced properties, these super sized homes come with their own unique drawbacks and features. Real estate agents have to understand their targeted buyers, and they have to talk the sellers into taking huge losses.

As more New Jersey real estate agents begin selling high priced homes, they have to be willing to wait for months, and sometimes years, until they are able to get a payday. For some professionals, time is a dangerous foe. More real estate agents are taking up secondary jobs in order to pay their monthly bills while using their occasional commissions checks to fill in the gaps. Like other areas in the US, even luxury homes in New Jersey are beginning to diminish in value.