Real Estate Trends by Stefan Swanepoel

The recent Earth Day gave the green revolution another shot up the arm.  When Earth Day started in 1970 a large number of people (20 million people one country) had already committed to celebrate it. Since then that number has exploded to 500 million (175 countries); about 7% of the world's popul...

Housing, like any other "toxic" assets, needs to go through a cleansing process. That means down, before up. And this is going to require liquidating the debt as we cannot continue carrying all that excessive baggage forever. The empty promises, artificially inflated numbers and ongoing uncontrol...

"It is impossible to predict the future." That's a statement I have made hundreds of times, both from the stage as well as in print.   Yet considering the most likely scenarios and then preparing for them lessens the shock when some variation of any prediction does materialize. Being caught off g...

For a long time most international markets have felt far away, and many Americans didn't care nor were they very interested in foreign cities. Although the Web has brought us closer together as a people we still remain apart. Few products or services illustrate this better than the buying or sell...

After literally hundreds and hundreds of requests to make the annual Swanepoel TRENDS Report available in an audio format this has finally happened with the new edition of the Report. Just released this week is the first ever CD set of the 160-page 2009 Trends Report published last month. The ent...

Rarely has pending legislation suggested changes to the financial services arena as controversial as the recent Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB Act).  The proposed rule would declare real estate brokerage, real estate management, and employee relocation to be activities that are "financial in nature"...

Whether you own a small real estate office or a franchise with multiple offices, real estate brokers have much in common with other small business owners during these difficult economic conditions.  This economy affects all businesses and it doesn't really matter if you are the local hair salon o...

After more than 3 months of writing and many more months of research the Swanepoel TRENDS Report (2009 edition 161-pages) will be arriving from the printers next week. Out of the housing bubble of 2006, the subprime ashes of 2007 and the mortgage meltdown of 2008 we are going to see a whole new r...

When the Baby Boomers were younger (1960-90), families with children made up more than 50% of all households.  By the time we got to 2000 this figure had declined to 33% and by 2025 it is estimated to be around 25%.  As a result the suburban boom in housing prices that we experienced will in all ...

Imagine answering the doorbell some Saturday morning only to be met by a process server who is prepared to deliver a blow that has the potential to wipe out your life savings and create havoc and stress for months or even years to come.  You open the registered envelope and find yourself faced wi...