Sidney Jimenez, CDPE, Short Sale Expert, 954-665-9449,

A 9 1/2 foot wide house in the historic Greenwich Village section of New York City is on the market for $2.7 Million.

The house was built in 1873 with, reportedly, 990 square feet. Get this, an architect named Christopher Dubs bought the place in 1994 for $240,000 and spent another $200,000 for renovations. They must have been really nice floors in there since he sold it in 2000 for $1.6 Million.

The home has a bit of history to it as it was called home by such notables as anthropologist Margaret Mead, author Ann McGovern and poet Edna St. Vincent Millay.

FRONT INTERIOR BACK CIRCA 1932

Let me see if I understand the equation the world wants us to believe. Everyone is having a great time with the fact that housing numbers seem to be on the upswing. But there are so many conflicting numbers and experiences I wanted to see if it made any sense to anyone, because I certainly do not buy it.

--Home price have gone up 7% in July, but Foreclosures are up 7.2% in the same period.

--Unemployment is at 9.5% and rising.

--Most agents on ActiveRain report longer waiting times for Approvals.

--Most agents on ActiveRain report less cooperative Lenders asking for more money.

--Many agents on ActiveRain report multiple offers and brisk business as there are less properties on the market.

How can this all be? Well, there are now reports coming from California and Florida that Lenders are actually holding back, stalling or postponing Foreclosures in order to artificially control the flow of properties that come onto the market. They are seemingly trying to control the supply in order to raise the demand.

Is that fair? What of the homeowners stuck in mortgages they cannot pay and trying to rid themselves of a burden they can no longer shoulder? The Lenders, again, put their GREED in full display to the detriment of the country.

What say you?

Bank of America is again in the center of the latest controversy as it relates to real estate and their dealings with everyone around them while their only goal seems to be very simple, “Get Paid.”

New York Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, uncovered a very disturbing cover-up within BofA as it relates to their acquisition of Merrill Lynch, this past January. Those findings were shared with the SEC who launched their own investigation and charged BofA for their latest misconduct. As I have noted my beliefs before, BofA, seems to just want to make money and is not really interested in who it needs to step on in order to reach that goal. I’ve also mentioned how they have stepped on the homeowners who took their mortgages, the investors they tricked into buying those mortgages and whom they now charge to service them. But this latest case should absolutely convince even the hardened believer that this mess was brought upon the homeowners themselves and the Lenders are innocent victims, of the unscrupulous actions taken by BofA and that their motives are purely about the bottom line.

The SEC charges that BofA LIED to their stockholders about the payments of Billions of dollars in bonuses to Merrill Lynch executives at a time they were about to close their acquisition and in receipt of Federal Bailout Money. The stockholders were told by BofA that there were no bonuses being paid while at the same time they had already agreed to let Merrill Lynch pay out those bonuses. This was at a time when both institutions were being crippled with loses in the BILLIONS, because of the Toxic Mortgages given out. It became so bad that BofA had to go back to Congress and request a second infusion of bailout money, which they received. What was the total of the bonus money paid to the Merrill Lynch executives? The total payout in bonuses was $5.8 Billion dollars. Keep in mind that the total amount BofA paid for Merrill Lynch was $50 Billion…so a total of 12% of the acquisition cost went towards those bonuses.

The SEC and BofA settled this case with a fine of just $33 million and BofA did not have to disclose their guilt in this case. However, the story doesn’t end there. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo states that his investigation is not over and he will pursue any actions as they pertain to New York.

Go get em Andrew!

The "Cash for Clunkers" program has ended and for all it's bad press, it seems to have been a HUGE success. But now comes the sobering part for the car dealers, the hangover.

I spoke with a car dealer this weekend, my brother-in-law was thinking of cashing in his clunker, and I was told they sold 775 cars under this program for the month of August...and according to that salesman they have never sold that many cars in any month, ever. So I asked what's next? "Well, I supposed we won't sell any cars for a month or two since many people that wanted a car already bought one." he said with a sigh, "we'll need the rest. Eventually we'll go back to our 200 car-a-month sales, hopefully we can survive until then."

Well, folks...The Cash for Clunkers:Home Edition ($8,000 Tax Credit) is about to end this November. Will we hit the hangover stage? Do you think sales will trickle? Or, are you convinced we hit bottom and the good times are here to stay?

There have been several posts of why Short Sales die before approval. There is a reason, and I think the main reason, they don’t make it out of the Lenders grasp not yet mentioned, and here it is.

ALL WE NEED IS FOR YOU TO FAX THE PACKAGE…ABOUT 7 TIMES.

PLEASE DON’T EXPECT US TO PICK UP THE PHONE UNTIL WE’VE HAD A GOOD 4 MONTHS TO LOOK THIS OVER.

ARE YOU SURE YOU FAXED THE PACKAGE?

TIME IS NOT AN ISSUE…WE WILL USE ALL OF IT, EVEN IF YOU CAN'T.

HOW CAN YOU EXPECT US TO GIVE YOU A DECISION IF YOU KEEP BUGGING US EVERY TWO WEEKS?

YOU ARE EXPECTED TO WORK FOR FREE AND COMPLAIN AS WE DRAG YOUR CLIENTS THROUGH THE COALS.