At night, I write. By day, I’m a real estate appraiser. I live in California and have been a first-hand witness to the bursting of the real estate bubble. Home values have declined 50% in some areas, while other more insulated cities have only been hit marginally. The area I live has been hit bigtime! Home values still continue to depreciate!
The title of real estate appraiser also attains many assumptions by people out there. Some also believe I have the ability to sell a house or that I’m a loan modification expert. I am not a real estate broker. My niche role is an appraiser – I value property, specializing in Commercial Real Estate transactions. My job is heavily affected by the actions of lenders, banks, servicers and investors and now, commercial real estate is getting hit. Shopping malls are going bankrupt, stores are closing, large national chain stores are downsizing.
Within this downward real estate spiral, there has been a boom in the loan modification industry, giving a chance to people who bought during the peak to modify an existing loan to today’s more modest financial picture. I’ll touch base on loan modifications in another post, but it’s safe to say, the sharks have arrived. Be careful when approached by a 3rd party company to work on a loan modification. They’ll take your money and run!
Filed under: everyday
