Thursday, February 14, 2008

Minneapolis condominium votes to ban smoking

If you're not a smoker, smoke stinks and is offensive.

This apparently why 77% of members of a Minneapolis high-rise condominium voted to ban smoking by new owners. Current owners who smoke won't be affected by the ban, which is getting national attention.




Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Home sellers see prices 20% below their purchase prices

Bloomberg reports on potential home buyers who are finding that their homes are worth as much as 20% less than they paid for them three years ago.

The boards of condominium and townhouse home owners associations undoubtedly will have foreclosures in their communities. This will drive down values of homes in those HOAs until those homes are sold.

Meanwhile, the HOAs will need to make sure that the banks that foreclose on homes keep them up and maintained.

Consult your attorneys now.





Housing and recessions

The housing industry's depression may play a role in creating a national or even world wide recession, and this might be a good time to review the history of housing depressions and general recessions. John H. Makin's essay is an interesting read.

Economists debate 'housing bubble'

The housing market clearly is correcting the housing bubble of the last 10 years, but over at Marginal Revolution, economists are debating whether there was a bubble.

Many economists are looking for housing prices to drop another 15% to 20% and probably more for condominiums and townhouses.