| 'Shadow' real estate inventory may take 4 years to clear and Real estate executive roundup |
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It may take more than four years to clear the "shadow inventory" of distressed homes lurking on the sidelines in the U.S., a factor that's likely to undermine real estate prices as the backlog clears, analysts at Standard & Poor's Ratings Services say.At 49 months, the estimated time needed to clear shadow inventory at the end of the fourth quarter of 2010 was up 11 percent from the previous quarter and 40 percent from a year ago. With the lone exception of Miami, the months' supply of shadow inventory grew in almost all of the nation's 20 largest metro markets.But much of the increase in the estimated months needed to clear shadow inventory is due to the fact that it's taking longer for lenders to liquidate distressed homes -- not because the number of distressed properties is growing, analysts said. [Read the full article] People from all walks of life willingly share their information on Facebook and other social media sites. The Department of Motor Vehicles in some states sells your Social Security number and other identifying data to anyone who is willing to pay for it. Is there anything you can do to protect yourself?There's an old saying that "the horse is already out of the barn." When it comes to protecting your privacy online, this may indeed be the case. Perhaps it's unrealistic to think that monitoring your personal information is worth the trouble.On the other hand, having your identity stolen -- or worse yet, the personal identifying information about your clients -- can cost you much more than the inconvenience of having to delete your information from public databases.In previous columns, I have written about data being posted on sites such as ZabaSearch.com and Intellius.com. [Read the full article] Refinancing continues to be a hot topic. Many homeowners who are planning to stay in their homes for the long term are trying to find ways to lock in record-low interest rates.Some borrowers are running into qualification issues for the first time in their lives. They are discovering they do not have enough income to refinance the home they have occupied for the past several years -- even though the new loan comes with a lower interest rate than their current loan.Loan representatives are reporting that their biggest challenge in the past 15 months has been explaining to existing customers that they "can't even qualify for a mortgage under 5 percent."Others are upset because they are facing prepayment penalties on existing mortgages even though they have a flawless payment history and a terrific credit score.A different wrinkle surfaced recently when a reader brought up an issue that we have not explored for years. [Read the full article] 
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