Debra Borchardt's blog

Today’s New York Times has an article on the high cost of rent in places outside of the usual culprits Manhattan and Southern California link text. They cite a small suburban town in Kansas; an area where traditionally people working low paying jobs should be able to live comfortably.

You have to expect that if you work a service job, your choices of apartments will be in a certain level of comfort. If the rent is cheaper, possibly crime is higher. Amenities will be slim to none. But it’s generally accepted that if you move to a smaller town in the Midwest or south, you should be able to find a decent place to live.

Caterpillar Inc. announced their earnings today, October 20 and they were "lackluster". The stock price fell 12%. The Dow Industrial Index took a hit as well since Caterpillar is one of the 30 Dow stocks. Caterpillar said it wasn’t their fault; it was the weak housing economy. Huh?

I thought Caterpillar made heavy machinery not houses? If you look closely that’s what they do – make heavy machinery. They also make truck engines and mining equipment. Their quarter also took a hit due to an $80 million legal settlement over a licensing agreement. But it really wasn’t that much of a hit. Their revenues are up 13% and their profits are up as well.

All real estate is not created equally. Real estate mutual funds do invest in property but usually by buying Real Estate Investment Trusts or REIT’s. These are financial instruments that invest in real estate properties usually in specific sectors. Most are in the commercial side of the market, such as office buildings, strip malls or apartment units. While prices have been dropping for single family homes, commercial property has been rising.

Five regional real estate listing services agreed to treat listings from discount brokers equally said the Federal Trade Commission yesterday. It seems the regulators are finally addressing complaints about the real estate industry that has been fighting hard to retain their commission structure and business model.

The Center for Housing Policy (CHP) released a report in October linking housing costs and transportation costs. The two go hand in hand, yet most data separates them. Their report comes to some logical conclusions. The kind where you think, “duh, you move farther from your job, you end up spending more money to get to it. Did you really need a study to tell me that?”

Well, yes because no one has looked at the two together and studied it. As housing costs ride, homeowners are forced to move greater distances from their jobs. As a result, they spend more on commuting to the job. The study basically says it’s a tradeoff. You can have a home closer to your job, but it will cost you more. Want a bigger home or apartment, your transportation costs will wipe out what savings you had on your residence.

Home Depot is finally making attempts to compete with Lowe’s. The shopping experience between these two stores is night and day. Home Depot is known for their bright orange construction colors, volume and do-it-yourself work ethic. Lowe’s is a pleasant blue colored store with an emphasis on helping the customer.

For years Home Depot tried to stay the course. They hadn’t made any real changes to their store layouts. Insisting on knowing which business model worked best. They didn’t seem concerned about Lowe’s as a serious competitor. They focused on being a source for contractors. But this strategy did not work as well and Lowe’s continued to steal their customers.

For the uninitiated, ZBA stands for Zoning Board of Appeals. This is a quasi-judicial group of persons appointed to enforce the zoning restrictions that a town imposes on its citizens. In some municipalities, this board doesn’t even exist. You want to build a deck? Sure go ahead. 20 foot high structure right next to the neighbor’s driveway? Why not?

Westchester County in New York is home to many a powerful ZBA. Small quaint towns with scenic drives lined by 100 year old stone walls struggle mightily to protect that character. The same character that has made it a very desirable place to live.

The real estate market seems to have cooled off in most parts of the country, but cooling off has another definition in the New York Market. Affordability will become the latest headache for New Yorkers.

New York single family housing continued to appreciate in the first quarter of 2006. The new median price according to the Rosen Consulting Group is $528,700. That translates roughly into a monthly mortgage payment of $2,601. Compare this to Arizona where the median price of a home was $264,900 or even Houston that comes in at $160,000.

It is said that the average homeowner sells every seven years. My neighbor is selling his home after thirty years. Marvin lost his wife of fifty years due to a long bout with cancer. There are many reasons we sell our homes. After a spouse dies, it’s usually grown children that press the issue. It’s too hard to maintain. It’s too expensive. It’s too much house for one person.

But perhaps, it’s that empty chair. The silence.

That's the temperature of the real estate market not just the heat outside! The Houston housing market is still strong even though the portions of the U.S. are seeing weakness.

It’s time to take a hard look at a couple of home related stocks, Williams Sonoma (WSM) and Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY). The housing market is showing signs of a slowdown. While some argue that the softening is really a return to normal levels, it still feels like someone put the brakes on the housing market. It’s logical to assume then that if the housing market is slowing, then home furnishing stocks can be expected to slow as well.

An online foreclosure data service reported yesterday that 115, 292 properties nationwide entered some stage of foreclosure last month. RealtyTrac of Irvine California said this was a rise of 24% from July and a nearly 53% increase from a year earlier.

Cement. It seems like such a simple product. It’s been around for centuries. Romans created many of their most famous structures using lime for its adhesive properties.

The New York Times published an article on Friday September 6 about the Warhol house in Montauk that doesn’t seem to have any buyers. The price has been lowered by $10 million, yet it still hasn’t interested anyone enough to buy it.