"[I]t should come as no surprise that many real estate deals involving multimillion-dollar apartments and complicated co-op board applications are also now being done electronically.
In the current market, with fewer apartments being sold and buyers waiting to scrape the bottom of the market, many brokers say that the immediacy of e-mail communication often helps them keep deals alive."
Can a negotiation be conducted entirely via e-mail? How much and what kind of information can be shared online? Are there times when agents and clients should put their BlackBerrys away and pick up the telephone? Are exclamation points and smiley faces unprofessional?
The Home Affordable Refinance Program gives up to 4 to 5 million homeowners with loans owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac an opportunity to re-finance into more affordable monthly payments. The Home Affordable Modification Program commits $75 billion to keep up to 3 to 4 million Americans in their homes by preventing avoidable foreclosures.
"Cheer up. Even in these hard economic times, Democrats across the nation are working on plans that will turn some of you into instant millionaires.There's only one catch. You're not actually going to be bringing in a million-dollar income. But the tax man is going to treat you just as though you did."
"In 2004, then Gov. Jim McGreevey became the first Democrat to get through a millionaires' tax whose reach extended to nonmillionaires. The McGreevey
"millionaires' tax" kicked in at $500,000. He justified it, moreover, by saying that any money collected would go toward funding property tax relief for the state's beleaguered homeowners.
"Five years later, we can see how that's turning out. Not only is Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine targeting property tax relief for many Garden State citizens, he wants to impose a "temporary" surcharge on the existing McGreevey millionaires' tax. "
"And why not? So long as Democrats are willing to rewrite the tax code, almost anyone can wake up one day to find himself a millionaire."
Read the full column, How Democrats Make Millionaires.
"A massive new mortgage reform bill has Washington real estate and banking groups buzzing, both critically and in favor.
The bill was introduced last week by House financial services committee chairman Barney Frank -- who's arguably the most influential legislator on housing issues on Capitol Hill.
Supporters say the 151-page bill would have gone a long way to preventing mortgage lending excesses during the housing boom, especially no-documentation, negative amortization and zero downpayment deals, had it been federal law before the boom started in 2002 or 2003."
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