Very interesting.

The Big Picture » Blog Archive » Your Own Private Hydrogen Power Station.

Imagine 15 Empire State Buildings, all of them sitting empty. That real estate broker’s nightmare comes to more than 43 million sq. ft., which is how much commercial space stood vacant in Silicon Valley as of the end of the third quarter, according to CB Richard Ellis Group (CBG)

Read the entire article HERE

There are 920 football fields of available office space in Manhattan. More than 180 major buildings totaling $12.5 billion in value — from Columbus Tower at 1775 Broadway to the office tower 400 Madison Avenue — are in trouble, meaning in many cases they face foreclosure or bankruptcy, or have had problems making mortgage payments. Rents for commercial office space fell faster over the past two years than in any such period in the last half century.

via In New York Commercial Real Estate, News Is Bad or Worse – NYTimes.com.

Well, fecal coli in drywall can’t be good.  They will be YEARS dealing with this crap. (no pun intended)

Chinese Drywall Has Left Tens of Thousands of Homeowners Out of Options.

According to Treasury Department figures, nearly 700,000 trial modifications under Making Home Affordable were underway by the end of November. But with fewer than 32,000 converted to permanent modifications, it means a net drop of permanent loan modifications since the Obama plan began.

Servicers, White House Point Fingers as Foreclosure Plan Fails « The Washington Independent.

HUD has issued a mortgagee letter to lenders and underwriters explaining that effective immediately, borrowers in default on their mortgage at the time of a short sale or pre-foreclosure sale will not be eligible for a new Federal Housing Administration (FHA) -insured mortgage for three years.

Distressed Short Sellers Locked our of FHA Loans

Read the entire article here

“But while the 2010 outlook appears inviting, there’s one key catch. “You need to have a stable job,” says Mark Zandi, the chief economist of Moody’s Economy.com.”

Ya think?

Read the entire article here:

10 Things to Know About Real Estate in 2010 – Yahoo! News.

What I find interesting is that even where home sales have increased the most  prices are DOWN significantly:

“Biggest sales gain: Sales in Boise more than doubled from a year ago. But the metro’s median home price declined versus a year ago by almost 19 percent to $137,990.”

The housing market in Fresno is still fraught with foreclosures, posting the nation’s 15th-highest rate in the third quarter, according to RealtyTrac.com.

That means the market there is saturated with available homes, right? Not quite.

read the entire article here

Havent done this for awhile but couldn’t resist.  Got these via email about an hour ago:

This means there is a shower:

This is the shower door

NO explanation needed – this is a room

This is a _________________ (fill in the blank if you know)