Financial Crisis | Land, Luxury, Leisure...

Rise of the Super-Rich Hits a Sobering Wall

John McAfee is auctioning off this property in New Mexico to pay bills. His worth has fallen to about $4 million from a peak of about $100 million.

By DAVID LEONHARDT and GERALDINE FABRIKANT New York Times The rich have been getting richer for so long that the trend has come to seem almost permanent. They began to pull away from everyone else in the 1970s. By 2006, income was more concentrated at the top than it had been since the late 1920s. The recent [...]

U.S. Homeowners Cut Asking Prices $27.8 Billion, Led by Nevada

By Dan Levy Bloomberg Aug. 14 (Bloomberg) — U.S. homeowners cut their asking prices by $27.8 billion with some of the biggest reductions in Nevada and Florida, states hardest hit by the property slump, Trulia Inc. said. Owners slashed prices by 15 percent in Nevada and by 13 percent in Florida and Arizona in the [...]

Latin America’s Pending Fire Sale – Private equity groups are licking their lips at the prospect of acquiring Latin American assets at fire-sale prices.

BY JOHN PRICE Latin Business Chronicle Experienced Latin American investors understand that today’s financial crisis will present discounted buying opportunities to those with the authority and boldness to quickly negotiate an acquisition and the cash to pay for it. Six years of rapid growth in the region invited a lot of new players into the [...]

Lending for ultra-luxury Western resorts: dumb, dumb, dumb

As resorts for the wealthy such as Yellowstone Club, Tamarack, and Promontory tumble into insolvency, you have to wonder what the lenders such as Credit Suisse and Lehman Bros. were thinking. Here’s another tale of toxic assets, poor diligence, and no backup plans. By Jonathan Weber If you want a stark example of the kind [...]

Mexico Mortgage Financing – Helping a Slower Mexico Real Estate Market

Mexico Mortgage Financing – Helping a Slower Mexico Real Estate Market http://www.mexicorealestateinvestment.org/ Since its introduction in the early part of 2005, the cross-border Mexico mortgage market — mortgage financing for foreigners purchasing vacation and retirement homes in Mexico — has been compared by many realtors and developers to riding a roller coaster. But now, a [...]

Mexican Peso Sinks to Record Low as Financial Crisis Spreads

By Michael J. Moore Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) — Mexico’s peso plunged to a record low as the global financial crisis deepened, prompting investors to pull money out of higher-yielding, emerging- market assets. The peso dropped 4.7 percent to 11.8050 per dollar at 5 p.m. New York time. The decline is the biggest since October 1997, [...]