America's Coolest College Towns

Article/Slide show from Travel + Leisure.

America's Coolest College Towns http://bit.ly/102Sz6

- Oxford, MS (University of Mississippi)
- Olympia, WA (Evergreen State College)
- Charlottesville, VA (University of Virginia)
- Austin, TX (University of Texas)
- Burlington, VT (University of Vermont)
- Boulder, CO (University of Colorado)
- Berkeley, CA (University of California)
- Ann Arbor, MI (University of Michigan)
- Madison, WI (University of Wisconsin)
- Chapel Hill, NC (University of North Carolina)

I have been posting about benefit of investing college towns. This article point out college towns' attractiveness as tourist destinations. As college enrollment in US is expected to grow over next 10 years, college towns are proven to be good place to invest as well as visits!

Why College Towns Are Looking Smart?

WSJ - How to Earn Money Off Campus As Rest of Housing Market Cools
http://www.realestatejournal.com/buysell/tactics/20070321-kim.html

WSJ - Seven Tips for Managing College-Town Rentals
http://www.realestatejournal.com/buysell/tactics/20070321-kim2.html

WSJ - The Pros and Cons Of Living Off Campus
http://www.realestatejournal.com/buysell/tactics/20070321-mattioli2.html

WSJ - Recommended Reading: Investing In College Town Real Estate
http://www.realestatejournal.com/buysell/tactics/20070321-mattioli.html

Business 2.0 - Own Where Kids Are
http://money.cnn.com/2006/10/24/magazines/business2/newrules_colleges.biz2/index.htm

Kiplinger - Attraction of College Town
http://www.kiplinger.com/magazine/archives/2007/05/collegetowns.html

Forbes - Exploiting College Boom
http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2006/1211/186.html

Happy Investing!!!!

A Talking Head Dreams of a Perfect City

Very interesting article from WSJ, written by David Byrne, formerly headed Talking Heads.

Commemorating publishing of his new book Bicycle Diaries, David talks about his criteria for Perfect City.

I like his comments about Size of the City --- NYC Vs. SF. I agree that SF is "provincial" but not "small village".....

A city can't be too small. Size guarantees anonymity—if you make an embarrassing mistake in a large city, and it's not on the cover of the Post, you can probably try again. The generous attitude towards failure that big cities afford is invaluable—it's how things get created. In a small town everyone knows about your failures, so you are more careful about what you might attempt. Every time I visit San Francisco I ask out loud "Why don't I live here? Why do I choose to live in a place that is harder, tougher and, well, not as beautiful?" The locals often reply, "You don't want to live here. It looks like a city, but it's really a small village. Everyone knows what you're doing" Oh, OK. If you say so. It's still beautiful.

Happy investing!!!

World's Most Photographed Cities and Landmarks

Very interesting finding by mining 35 million photos, uploaded in flicker.com.

New Report Reveals World's Most Photographed Cities and Landmarks by Travel + Leisure
http://bit.ly/gcfUy

Top 10 Cities Most Photographed Cities:

1. New York City
2. London
3. San Francisco
4. Paris
5. Los Angeles
6. Chicago
7. Washington, D.C.
8. Seattle
9. Rome
10. Amsterdam

Top 7 Most Photographed Landmarks:

1. Eiffel Tower
2. Trafalgar Square
3. Tate Modern
4. Big Ben
5. Notre Dame
6. London Eye
7. Empire State Building

I was surprised that Golden Gate Bridge is not listed in Landmark ranking!

Happy Investing!!!!

Can We still Count on First Time Home Buyer?

As I posted previously, nowadays, First Time Home Buyers represent 50%+ transactions of residential real estate in US. In regular market, move-up-buyers represents 60-70% of transactions, this shows US residential real estate relies too much on First Time Home Buyers.

There are 3 things that drive First Time Home Buyers:

1. Rapidly declined value of US real estate market.
2. $8000 tax credit
3. FHA loan with 3.5% down payment.

Firstly, $8000 tax credit expires on November 30th 2009. I am pretty sure that Government will extend the this credit in order to continuously incentivize real estate market. But it is not yet determined yet.

Secondly, as for FHA loan, here is the summary of the problems:

- The share of FHA mortgage among residential real estate has gone up from 5% in 2005 to 23% in 2009.

- You can get FHA loan with 600 credit score (conforming loan requirement is around 700) and with 3.5% down payment.

- FHA has to have 2% of total mortgage outstanding amount as cash reserve but there is not enough cash to continue lending.

- Delinquency rate of FHA loan has gone up to 7%, much higher than prime loan.

- Therefore FHA either 1) tighten the lending guideline and reduce the lending amount or 2) need cash infusion from US government.

It is totally true that FHA is driving US residential real estate market. However, government has intentionally created source of bad debt for future.

I think most important thing for US residential real estate market is to revive the transactions amount move up buyers. "Moving Up" buyers are bread and butter of residential real estate. Move up buyers often create double transactions. Without reviving "Move Up" business, US real estate may face second dip......

Happy Investing!!!!

Would you default on your mortgage, even if you could afford to make the monthly payments?

26% of says YES, found research by Northwestern University.

I like the finding about:

When negative equity rose to $50,000, 7 percent of those who consider strategic defaults to be immoral said they'd walk away. At $100,000 negative equity, 22 percent would do so. At negative $200,000, 37 percent of those with moral objections would nonetheless default, and at $300,000, 38 percent said they would.

As negative equity is rising rapidly and, in many metro it has exceeded 50% of all home owners, it looks like we will see more and more foreclosed or short sale houses!

Happy Investing!!!!

Is Austin Least Stressful City in US?

Forbes.com think so.....

The most stressful cities are:

1	Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI
2	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA
3	New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA
4	Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH
4	Providence-New Bedford-Fall River, RI-MA
6	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA
7	Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI
8	Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH
9	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
10	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

11	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
12	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA
13	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD
14	Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, OR-WA
15	Sacramento--Arden-Arcade--Roseville, CA
16	San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA
17	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI
17	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL
19	Cincinnati-Middletown, OH-KY-IN
20	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL
20	Las Vegas-Paradise, NV
22	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA
23	St. Louis, MO-IL
23	Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI
25	Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ
25	Baltimore-Towson, MD
25	Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, NC-SC
28	Orlando-Kissimmee, FL
29	Pittsburgh, PA
30	Indianapolis-Carmel, IN
31	Columbus, OH
32	Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX
32	Jacksonville, FL
34	Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC
35	Denver-Aurora, CO /1
36	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
36	Kansas City, MO-KS
38	Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN
39	San Antonio, TX
40	Austin-Round Rock, TX

Happy investing!!!

Elle Macpherson Can’t Counter London Gloom as Americans Flee

Long time not posting.... I got swine flu in early August, rested for a while and was extremely busy with all those short sales negotiations with lender.

Here is very interesting news from Bloomberg regarding American expat fleeing from London.

Elle Macpherson Can’t Counter London Gloom as Americans Flee
http://bit.ly/16OAI3

The number of U.S. citizens in Britain fell 3.8 percent to 126,000 in the 12 months through September, according to the Office for National Statistics. The American School in England, based outside London in Thorpe, Surrey, expects enrollment to fall 4 percent this year, the first drop since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, said Karen House, interim admissions director.

Reasons are:

- Due to tax reform, those who are making more than GBP150,000 are liable for 50% income tax.

- Corporations have cut down expat benefit drastically.

- Financial industry continues to reduce jobs.

- Foreigners who have lived in the country for more than seven years must pay 30,000 pounds annually or give up the special status that shields overseas income from British taxes.

London is one of my favorite cities. I have many friends and clients there and visiting London a few times a year since 1997.

As I wrote about London's real estate price decline in foreign currency, it is said that 50%+ of real estate transaction in Central London are by foreigners.

Also, London is ranked No.2 city for Billionaire --- there are so many wealthy foreigners living in London.

London's economy has been booming for 10+ years and has been very friendly to talented and/or wealthy foreign individuals. However, it seem that, current economic slow down are changing attitudes toward wealthy foreign individuals in London.

This means property price in London continues to go down????

Happy Investing!!!!