An interesting article in today’s New York Times outlined the rising popularity of social networking sites designed for residential buildings — and the article makes a good case for building-exclusive online communities. Since March, more than 335 buildings have signed up for the Brooklyn-based LifeAt.com service for the $6,000 start fee, according to the Times. Since, as of now, LifeAt doesn’t charge an annual fee, that isn’t a bad investment for a building to make, considering the potential payoff with owners. Who could benefit from a social networking site? A number of residential buildings: Small Buildings. Condos with just a…

This summer, a New York Times article about parking introduced non-New Yorkers to a shocking concept: the $225,000 parking space. Think that sounds high? Some New Yorkers don’t — there’s a waiting list for those spaces in Manhattan. If that price tag blows your mind, considering we’re in the midst of  a national housing decline in which homes are losing value, the concept of the auto condo — essentially a purchasing living space for several high-end cars — likely won’t make much more sense. But some developers are revving up to build them all the same. Luxury on Main, opening late…

A good friend of mine is currently renovating a condo in an up-and-coming (actually, a somewhat-already-here) neighborhood. The neighborhood has turned out to be a real find, so much so that a relative who works in real estate is thinking about buying down the street. Now, this family member is a classy lady. I don’t see her being interested in a fixer-upper, but rather a home that is ultra-modern, something hip. New construction condo, I asked? The friend lowered her eyes, sheepishly. "No," she said, somewhat nervously. "She’s actually thinking about buying a foreclosed property. It’s for the investment. I…

Yesterday, we discussed the housing slump’s effect on real estate agents — which, in many areas of the country, isn’t looking pretty. And yet, as the housing slump drags on, the National Association of Realtors remains overwhelmingly positive. Just this week, the NAR said that mortgage conditions are improving and that while sales are down from their 2005 peak, 2007 will mark the fifth-highest year on record for pre-owned home sales. That’s indicative of NAR’s other recent forecasts. In July, the NAR said it expected home prices to increase throughout all of 2008; yet it at the same time decreased…

The housing slump has hurt U.S. construction companies, banks and a number of related industries, from home renovation material retailers like Home Depot to power tool companies. And let’s not forget real estate agents. How are they faring as the market crumbles? Not well, according to a number of recent reports. For the first time in a decade, the National Association of Realtors expects membership to decline this year, the Associated Press reported this week. Last year, the NAR had almost twice its 1997 membership. Realtor income has also dropped — falling on a national level from $49,300 in 2004…

This week’s news that property moguls landed three of the four top spots on Forbes Asia’s annual list of the 40 richest people in China highlights an interesting trend — China’s real estate tycoons. That includes 26-year-old Yang Huiyan, who was named the richest person in China this week, with shares of the development company her father founded, Country Garden, valued at about $16 billion. As the U.S. sinks further into housing despair, China’s residential sector is booming. Real estate investment development grew 29 percent in the first eight months of 2007 to 1.4 trillion yuan, or $186.5 billion, the…

Sinking home sales, lower home prices — we’re all feeling the effects of the housing decline. And many of us are paying for it, thanks to higher loan resets. But reports indicate that the decline will soon hit homeowners in a new, costly way: Via property taxes. It seems wrong that property taxes could possibly be rising, when home values and selling prices are dropping across the nation. (Housing prices in the top 20 U.S. cities fell 3.9 percent in July from 2006, according to a recently-released Case-Shiller index.) However, because many counties assess properties every other year (some take…

… at least, not according to today’s report on the economy. Data released by the Labor Department today showed that wages and jobs were both up in September. That’s good news for the U.S., considering the recent dour housing news — the National Association of Realtors announced this week that its index of signed purchase agreements fell to lowest level on record, and residential building hit its lowest spending level since 2003 — had sparked fears we were tumbling into a recession. And, as it turns out, last month wasn’t as bad as we thought. In August, figures indicated the…

As the mortgage default and, accordingly, the foreclosure rate rises, one party has emerged to take the fall — the at-risk homeowner. Some are homeowners who used their home’s value to fund other purchases. Others are new homeowners who bought using a loan that, given booming home prices, assumed their property would appreciate significantly before being refinanced or sold. Many are people who took out a subprime mortgages, loans typically made to people with weak credit histories that will rise in a few years. And rise they did. More than $350 billion adjustable rate mortgages will reset to higher rates…