See how much Zillow values the Brady Bunch house:
11222 Dilling St
North Hollywood, CA 91602

The Denver Post three articles devoted to real estate and mortgage fraud:

• 3 men named in real estate scam

The indictment claims the men solicited investments in duplex projects in Colorado, Texas and Florida that were never built.

• Big profits oil the wheel of loan fraud

Former prosecutor Anthony Accetta cleaned up mortgage fraud 34 years ago – or at least, he tried.

Accetta said nobody in the lending industry cares about mortgage fraud, because nobody in the lending industry suffers when a loan goes bad. The mortgage industry is a financial game where all of the players are covered against losses.

• FHA program key in surge of foreclosures

A key factor in the state’s record-setting wave of foreclosures, critics say, is an FHA program that allows people to borrow more than their houses are worth with little or no money down.

Created to extend the dream of homeownership to first-time buyers, the so-called FHA gift program instead has led to rampant foreclosures. Nearly 6,000 FHA loans have wound up in foreclosure in Colorado in the past two years, and during that time the program allowed more than 25 percent of FHA buyers to use gifts as down payments.

To read more about mortgage and real estate fraud check out these two blogs:

1. Flipping Frenzy
2. Mortgage Fraud Blog

The Nintendo video game system was all the rage when I was in my teens. My friends and I would spend hours playing video games. For us, it was an upgrade over Atari. The 16 bit Nintendo system was more interactive and realistic.

Here are my top five games:

1. RBI Baseball: A true classic, when I hit college we’d have RBI Baseball tournaments in the dorms. It includes my favorite team of all time, the 1986 NY Mets.
2. Legend of Zelda: One of the most mesmerizing games ever. You could spend an entire day trying to save Princess Zelda.
3. Dr. Mario: Whether you played solo or against a friend, this game offered a never ending challenge.
4. Mike Tyson’s Punch Out: If you didn’t remember which combination of punches works, you’re toast!
5. Double Dribble: My friends and and I would play this video basketball game then head to the park to play the real thing.

Here it is, my Fantasy Football team for 2006:

• Edgerrin James (RB-ARIZONA)
• Domanick Davis (RB-HOUSTON)
• Roy Williams (WR-DETROIT)
• Santana Moss (WR-WASHINGTON)
• Jeremy Shockey (TE-NY GIANTS)
• Thomas Jones (RB-CHICAGO)
• Ben Roethlisberger (QB-PITTSBURGH)
• Marion Barber (RB-DALLAS)
• Heath Miller (TE-PITTSBURGH)
• Jason Elam (K-DENVER)
• Dallas DEFENSE
• David Carr (QB-Houston)
• Ashley Lelie (WR-Atlanta)
• Troy Williamson (WR-Minnesota)

The housing market is in a cooling off phase:

• Rocky Mountain News: July Home Sales Slump
• Denver Post: New Home Sales Keep Falling
• Denver Post: Real Estate Slump Felt Nationwide
• New York Times: New Signs of Cooling in Housing
• Real Estate Journal: Housing Slump Proves Painful For Some Owners and Builders

Luxury-home sales woes slow to arrive by John Rebchook of the Rocky Mountain News talks about how the Toll Brothers, not to be confused with Nestle’s Toll House, builders of luxury homes has seen a decline in sales.

Toll Bros. is a small player in Denver – ranked No. 33 out of the top 40 builders – but it is considered a bellwether for the direction of expensive homes because the Horsham, Pa.-based company is the only national home builder that builds luxury homes exclusively.

“The housing market is getting weaker much faster than anybody expected,” Alex Barron, senior housing analyst with JMP Securities in San Francisco, told The Associated Press. “What’s hurting Toll is just the fact that they build luxury homes. Luxury homes are very discretionary. People who want to live on the golf course, they can do so today or they can wait a year. There’s no hurry.”

Everyone has heard the line, ‘When banks compete, you win!” Well, not really when it comes to a second mortgage or home equity loan. These loans rely on credit score and equity. If you have bad credit, you better have equity. If you have no equity, you better have good credit to get a 115% or 125% loan. If you have bad credit and no equity, sayonara.

So where do you go when banks won’t compete. Enter person to person lending at www.prosper.com. Featured in Inc, Newsweek, Business Week, Entrepreneur, et. al. prosper has grown exponentially.

The premise is simple: People who need money request it, and other people bid for the privilege of lending it to them. Prosper makes sure everything is safe, fair and easy. You can borrow anywhere from $50 to $25,000. Seems like an interesting lending alternative when no else is willing.

Last Thursday night I was at a mixer. Going to mixers or networking events can be a hassle but they’re a decent way to get out and meet people. I struck up a conversation with a guy and the topic of 100% financing came up. He basically regurgitated something he read that stated 100% financing means no equity and eventually leads to foreclosure.

My response was simple, “aren’t all homes 100% financed?”

You hear about 80/20, 100%, 5% down, 10% down, etc. but if you’re purchasing a home, your property will require 100% financing. Whether you borrow against your assets or from a financial institution the financing will always be 100%. Financing a home 100% isn’t such a bad idea if you look at it from this perspective.

Real Estate Journal listed the 10 cities mostly likely to be affected by rate adjustment shock:

1. Detroit, MI
2. Flint, MI
3. Memphis, TN
4. Jackson, MS
5. McAllen, TX
6. El Paso, TX
7. Laredo, TX
8. Brownsville, TX
9. Springfield, IL
10. Birmingham, AL

For my daughters bedroom, we didn’t want Dora the Explorer, Disney Princess, My Little Pony, Care Bears, or Winnie the Pooh themes. Instead we opted for Baby Looney Tunes. I was pleased since I loved watching Looney Tunes cartoons as a kid. Here are my top five Looney Tunes characters:

1. Daffy Duck and Porky Pig (tie) Whenever the two of them were in a cartoon together, it was magic.
2. Yosemite Sam: short temper + short stature + always packing heat = a true classic
3. Elmer Fudd: “Shhhhhhhh, be vewy vewy quiet; I’m hunting wabbits, ehehehehehehe.”
4. Tazmanian Devil: Who doesn’t love Taz!