PART II OF II

(Listen to Part 1)

I’ve been on a 6 month hiatus from podcasting after 150+ interviews over the previous 2 years – had a bunch of other things going and I needed to take a little break.  I’ve been itching to return and was talking to my friend Barry the other day and he wanted to do another one (his 3rd) and here it is.

It’s “R”-rated (for Ritholtz) so wear your earphones if around sensitive-types as he covers the state of housing, a possible recession and his exciting conference next Tuesday.

This podcast was too big so I cut it into 2 parts.  The first part was presented yesterday.

Enjoy!

PART I OF II

I’ve been on a 6 month hiatus from podcasting after 150+ interviews over the previous 2 years – had a bunch of other things going and I needed to take a little break.  I’ve been itching to return and was talking to my friend Barry the other day and he wanted to do another one (his 3rd) and here it is.

It’s “R”-rated (for Ritholtz) so wear your earphones if around sensitive-types as he covers the state of housing, a possible recession and his exciting conference next Tuesday.

This podcast was too big so I cut it into 2 parts.  The next will be up tomorrow.

Enjoy!

I had the pleasure of speaking with Guy Kawasaki, former Chief (Software) Evangelist at Apple Computer in the early days of Macintosh – who has become a prolific author in addition to being a technology entrepreneur.  While I claim to avoid the self-help book genre, I realize I’ve read nearly all of his books.  Guy released his 10th book today: Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions.  Here are some reviews.

His first book, The Macintosh Way, is now a free download and was always one of my faves – because it came out as we were building our company, Miller Samuel, entirely by using Macs.  He later ran ACIUS, developer of 4th Dimension, the database application we ran for about 15 years to manage our data.

This was a pure treat for me as I got to talk about the early days of Apple, reminisced about Guy’s one word email technique (I shared my 15 second voicemail rule), his other ventures such as Alltop.com and Garage.com, the state of marketing today and how to make yourself enchanting.

Fun!

I sat down with my good friend Barry Ritholtz, CEO/Director of Equity Research of Fusion IQ, Author of Bailout Nation and the engine behind The Big Picture Blog.

Barry is the only person I know who is described as providing “trenchant economic commentary” -(Norris/NYT) in fact, I’ve never even used “trenchant” in a sentence before now.  Barry makes his 3rd visit to The Housing Helix podcast and he does not disappoint his fans for the depth of his insight.

This is an R-rated (“R” for “Ritholtz”) podcast – children, young adults, rating agencies and commercial bankers beware.

Here’s a quick and dirty recap of the Manhattan Market Overview released today that we prepare for Prudential Douglas Elliman.  Audio quality is so-so because I used my iphone mic and then tried to clean it up with filters.

You get the idea.

I sit down with my friend John Mehigan, an associate broker at Gumley Haft Kleier who, when he is not selling real estate, is in the cast of HGTV’s number one show Selling New York (new season on HGTV premieres at 9pm EST).  We talk about his perspective on the Irish economy/Mahattan housing market and what I dubbed the “Irish Carpenter Syndrome” a few years ago as the Celtic Tiger was at full strength.

When he’s not selling on “the island” he’s selling an island in his first episode on January 13th on HGTV at 9pm.  It promises to be fun (like the conversation on this podcast).

I got to interview my namesake, Jonathan Miller who is the longtime author of the seminal publication Emerging Trends in Real Estate, the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) annual commercial real estate industry forecast and speaks extensively on suburban and urban issues.

Our real estate lives have intersected for years.  For example, I would get complimented for a presentation at the Waldorf Hotel (although he gave the speech) while he would get inquiries about the NYC co-op condo market (which I track).

He is the co-founder of Miller Ryan LLC, a firm that provides strategic marketing communications counsel to the financial services and real estate industries.  He also writes over at GlobeSt.com on his Trend Czar blog.

I have made it a point to attend Mark Zandi‘s economic forecast presentations over the years and had the opportunity to meet and speak with him at the Counselors of Real Estate meeting in Philadelphia a few months ago.  He graciously accepted my invitation to have a conversation with me (via Skype).  In 2009 Time magazine called him The Recession’s Hot Wonk.  He’s got a more optimistic outlook than consensus at the moment, but he describes his optimism in its proper context during our conversation.

Mark is also an author, including Financial Shock: Global Panic and Government Bailouts–How We Got Here and What Must Be Done to Fix It and his new book Paying the Price: The New Economic Mess We Have Created and How to Get Out of It.

I get to have another conversation with Rick Sharga of RealtyTrac – this time via skype.  I’ve long admired his ability to articulate the state of the US foreclosure market.  We touch on foreclosure mapping, robo-signing, and a sense of where we seem to be headed foreclosure-wise.

For years I’ve watched Gary Shilling‘s media interviews on the economy and read his columns in Forbes.  I ran into him recently when we were both on Bloomberg Surveillance with Tom Keene and Ken Prewitt and invited him to sit down with me and have a conversation about housing.  He runs his epomonyous economic consulting firm and published a widely read newsletter called INSIGHTS.

Gary’s latest book was just released called “The Age of Deleveraging” which resides on my iPad (via Kindle app). We have an engaging discussion even though we don’t touch on his other passion, bee keeping.

In a first for this podcast series, I have included a press call on a new product release.  While I participate in media calls fairly regularly for my Matrix blog, I have never recorded one.

I spoke with Steve Berkowitz, CEO of Move, Inc., a publicly traded company, that counts Realtor.com and Move.com as two of their assets, on the launch of MortgageMatch.com today.  It’s a new web site designed to help home buyers and those looking to refinance, find and prequalify for a mortgage in as little as 10 minutes.  Sue Stewart, SVP who is overseeing MortgageMatch.com, provided the details of the services the site provides.

I’ve often said that the terms of the transaction (including financing) are as critical as pricing in today’s tight credit environment.  They say they are focused on improving transparency in the real estate transaction and are also helping consumers and realtors to be more efficient by better defining expectations.

Press Release [pdf]

I got to catch up with Bob Dorsey, Chief Data and Analytics Officer of FNC which he is a co-founder.  Bob is a principal force behind their US residential housing price index that combines public record data and data collected from appraisal reports submitted to lenders.

The index takes a different approach than the primary indices already in use, namely Case Shiller, FHFA and NAR Existing Home Sales.  It’s an intriguing approach to refine the accuracy of measuring housing markets.

Via Skype, I have a great conversation with Alan Mark, founder and president of The Mark Company.  Based in San Francisco, his firm is well-known for its work with new development, conversion and project turnarounds throughout the Western US.  His firm specializes in design consulting, market research, sales and marketing.

Originally from the New York region, he has made a name for his firm in new development marketing arena and explains how he adapted his firm to the post-credit crunch world.

I finally got to meet and have a conversation with Florence Quinn, Founder and President of Quinn & Co., a leading public relations firm specializing in food, wine + spirits, real estate and travel.  Her practice continues to grow, providing services for both national and international clients.

Florence built a highly respected and successful practice with a wide array of expertise from her team who seems to be everywhere these days. She has always been on my radar – many thanks to Lara Berdine for getting us together.

I interview the always intense Adam Leitman Bailey, the eponymous founder of the real estate law practice that specializes in real estate.

He’s involved in two high profile cases at the moment, representing the developer of the proposed mosque and cultural center near Ground Zero in a lawsuit and the recent decision in favor of his clients in the case against the sponsor of a luxury condominium building on the Upper East Side who must return a $510,000 buyer’s deposit.  Adam also touches on a another case involving new development known as Sykes v. RFD Third Avenue Associates LLC.

We talk Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act of 1968, how it was interpreted in the Related Co case and what it means to the new development market going forward.

Adam has written a guide for first-time home buyers through the purchase process: Finding the Uncommon Deal: A Top New York Lawyer Explains How to Buy a Home for the Lowest Possible Price, that is scheduled for release by John Wiley & Sons in April 2011.

I sit down with Doug Heddings, founder of The Heddings Property Group and blogger at True Gotham.  He’s a long time top producing real estate broker who made the move to start his own company, with his own take on the real estate brokerage model…and its working.

I do my best to keep kitchen appliance references (note appliances over my shoulder) to a minimum while we talk about brokerage models, the challenges of social media and making that entrepreneurial leap.

Last week I wrote a post on Matrix called [Shortsighted] Appraisal Institute Decides To Leave Appraisal Foundation where I expressed my frustration at the rift between The Appraisal Foundation and one of its sponsoring organizations, The Appraisal Institute.  I thought high drama was the purview of real estate brokers and economists.  The situation seemed to have morphed into a he-said, she-said type debate. I am concerned that in a time of unprecedented housing market turmoil we are left with no leadership as an industry and no ability to participate in the debate to shape our future.

To my surprise David C. Wilkes, Esq., CRE, FRICS, Chairman of The Appraisal Foundation commented:

Well balanced views and comments on the matter, Jonathan. I’m seeing quite a lot of misinformation and misstatements of the facts (in some cases amazingly far from the truth) among the online discussions and emails out there. I am happy to speak directly to any appraiser groups that may have concerns or questions and clear up any confusion.

Not able to let a podcast guest opportunity to pass me by, I reached out to David to have a conversation.  He agreed and I very much appreciated his candor and clarity.  Among his many accomplishments, David is

In this podcast David provides insights on The Appraisal Foundation, how it works, what this rift is about and how this situation could be resolved.

I will be extending an offer to the Appraisal Institute to present their views on this issue as well.

Source: Las Vegas Sun

A few months ago I met Mark Stark, CEO of Prudential Americana Group in Las Vegas, NV so I thought I’d ask him to have a conversation about the challenges of his market. Mark is very candid about his market and we had a compelling conversation.

I met Ilyce Glink a few years ago when she moderated a panel I was on during an Inman conference and she impressed me.  She is a high energy, prolific writer and provider of personal finance, real estate and consumer advice through countless medium.  Her efforts include her recent book Buy, Close, Move In!, her publishing company Think Glink, LLC, her web site ThinkGlink.com, her weekly radio show on WSB in Atlanta, her blog, or should I say, blogs, nationally syndicated column and, well, you get the picture.

She sets me straight on eBooks, typos and provides insight on how she gets it all done.  It’s a great conversation.

I have a great discussion with Jon Gollinger, Founder and CEO, Accelerated Marketing Partners who sets me straight on the concept of accelerated marketing as a process (hint: it’s not all about auctions).

In early 2009, he and I were part of a New York Times page one story on his marketing prowess.

Jon pulls no punches when it comes to understanding the consumer – they are the ones who set market price.  I have long admired his skill in creating a market environment that attracts real participation, best exemplified in his company slogan:

“You bid it, you win it.”

I spoke via Skype with Ian Huckabee, who is a web marketing strategist/technologist, self proclaimed Chief Weejee at Weejee Media and developer of DwellWell.  He has a unique background with audio and marketing stints at Sony and a successful home builder.

Our mutual friend Andrea Powell, when she is not a vampire, suggested we would get along famously (no pun intended).

Ian’s got great insights into social media and I really enjoyed the conversation.

I’ve known Jeff Appel for many years as one of the leading mortgage consultants and experts in the New York City metro area.  Jeff is a Vice President at Bank of America Home Loans and co-host along with Cathy Hobbs of Metro Residential that airs 11am Sundays on WPIX Channel 11 in the NYC metro area.

Last week Jeff invited me to speak on a panel he was moderating and I thought he provided some invaluable insights on the state of the mortgage environment for residential housing so I asked him to join me on The Housing Helix.

I really enjoyed speaking with Orest Tomaselli, CEO, National Condo Advisors, LLC about project approvals, reserve funds, Fannie Mae, FHA and shadow inventory.  National Condo Advisors, LLC, is comprised of real estate finance and legal professionals and provides expert consultation to builders, developers, homeowners’ associations, institutional investors, lenders, and real estate firms.

His other firm National Condo Inspections, LLC provides services such as reserve studies, phase I environmental site assessments, noise studies, and flood zone solutions.

He’s going to be busy for a number of years.

A while back, Erica Ferencik cold-called me to pitch her self-published novel as blog-worthy for Matrix called Cracks in the Foundation, a humorous story of real estate broker who has listed an outhouse for sale.  She is an active real estate broker in the Boston area (including the town I grew up in, the ‘ham).  She was a stand-up comedienne for 12 years as she describes, “in a prior life.”  She has ghost-written several novels, writes articles for magazines and websites, is a prizewinning screenwriter and has performed several radio pieces for WGBH (Boston NPR affiliate) for “Morning Stories.”

I thought it would be fun to have a conversation with her, and of course, it was.

I “peel the apple” with Ana Maria Sencovici of The Apple, Peeled and end up having a great conversation about helping the real estate broker move from salesperson to trusted advisor.  She and her business partner Marie Espinal launched their blog and newsletter at the beginning of the year.  Their focus is to provide content that their clients, who are real estate agents, can use to help them stay connected with the issues of today to be more effective.

Ana Maria is passionate about their mission (and I am paraphrasing) to elevate the level of discourse in the world of Manhattan real estate covering markets trends, real estate topics and developments with a transparent and objective lens.

I concur to the “core”.

I have a great conversation with Nicholas Retsinas, Director, Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. He and his staff just released The State of the Nation’s Housing 2010, a must read overview of the challenges facing the US housing market.

Here are other resources published by JCHS.

[click to open report]

I talk “dirt” with Jane Gladstein, President of Gladstein Development Group about the process of development.   Hint: it’s not all about bricks and mortar.

Jane is a 30 year veteran who has developed such notable projects as 255 Hudson, The Sycamore, Soho 25 and the award winning 505 Greenwich.

I have a conversation with Mark Willis, a Resident Research Fellow at the Furman Center for Real Estate & Urban Policy at New York University.

He is the co-author of Improving U.S. Housing Finance through Reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: Assessing the Options along with Ingrid Gould Ellen and John Napier Tye.  This white paper was completed as part of the What Works Collaborative, a foundation-supported partnership that conducts timely research and analysis to help federal, state and local housing policy-makers frame and implement evidence-based housing and urban policy agendas.

The paper is essential reading as we go through a period of financial reform.  The report is described as a timely assessment of alternative proposals for the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, ranging from nationalization to dissolution.  The paper explains the role Fannie and Freddie have played, explores the goals a healthy secondary market for both single- and multifamily housing should serve, and develops a framework to help understand and evaluate the various proposals for reform.

Last January I moderated a distressed property panel at the Inman Real Estate conference in New York.  One of the panelists was Travis Waller, a sharp real estate agent from New Jersey who spoke with great clarity on his specialty, distressed real estate.  In this podcast we have a great conversation via Skype on what life will be like after the end of the federal tax credit for first time and existing home buyers, how banks are coming to grips with property disposition, differences between short sale and foreclosure transactions, marketing distressed property, to name a few.

It’s great insight from someone who deals with distressed property first hand.  Follow Travis on Twitter.

I sat down with Dottie Herman, President and CEO of Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate to talk about her journey from certified financial planner to one of the most successful real estate brokers in the United States.  Dottie leads an organization of 3,800 real estate professionals and 675 employees in more than 60 offices.  Its a candid and insightful conversation, and of course, fun and energetic.

We spoke right after our live weekly radio show “Eye on Real Estate” on WOR710 that Dottie hosts on Saturdays from 10am to noon along with her team of experts (including moi).

I have a candid conversation with Chris Meyers, COO of Houlihan Lawrence, the largest real estate brokerage firm in Westchester County, New York.  A family business, Houlihan Lawrence has 1,200 agents and 24 offices to service Westchester, Putnam and Duchess Counties.

We talk about many things including the housing market of the past 18 months, finding good agents and the introduction of social media to the real estate brokerage business.

I have a great conversation with Leah Caro, President and Principal Broker of Bronxville-Ley Real Estate and President of Westchester Putnam Association of Realtors. I met Leah when I was the keynote speaker at the last two annual Westchester Real Estate, Inc. awards luncheons.  She is a candid and knowledgeable real estate broker who is very active within her profession, currently serving as the Chair of the Professional Standards Committee for the New York State Association of Realtors, and is a Director in both the State and National REALTOR Associations among others.

Today I speak with Chris Williams, President and Chief Technology Officer of AIMSdashboard,

“Williams is a 15-year veteran of the IT industry, having served stints with Cisco Systems and PolyServe, a software startup acquired by HP. At one time he was co-owner of Carolina Appraisers, a real estate appraisal firm based in Raleigh.”

AIMS stands for “appraisal independence management system,” and “dashboard” is a software term meaning a control panel housing two or more applications.

His venture was enabled by introduction of the May 1, 2009 agreement between Fannie Mae and NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo known as the Home Valuation Code of Conduct.

AIMSdashboard is intended to help financial institutions take back control of the mortgage process through a software solution. Chris was very quick to point out that his company is a software company, NOT an appraisal management company.

Think lender pressure on appraisers is a distant memory?  Think again.  Here is some commentary on a new report that indicates appraisal fraud is up 50% over the past year.  It is laid out in Kenneth Harney’s excellent column in the Washington Post.

“Despite 2009 restrictions, mortgage and appraisal fraud spiked”

I also provide commentary on a recent episode with a bank client we now refuse to work with who pressured our firm to raise the appraised value of a property or they would not pay us for services already rendered.

In fact, they didn’t really understand what they were saying.

Last month I spoke to and interviewed Tony Pistilli, a certified real estate appraiser on the Minnesota Department of Commerce Real Estate Appraiser Advisory Board.  He’s got a possible solution to the current appraiser – appraisal management company conflict.  Its all about conforming to RESPA and preventing banks from shifting the burden to appraisers to pay for bank compliance.

Its the first logical solution I’ve heard.  The banks are essentially making the appraiser pay for their RESPA compliance by taking it out of the appraiser’s fee, often 50% of the stated appraisal fee.  The consumer is being mislead by the appraisal fee stated by the lender at time of mortgage application.

• - Appraisers and borrowers are paying for services the banks receive, not the bank.
• - Banks should pay for the services received from the AMC’s who manage the appraisal process.
• - Appraiser’s fees should be market driven.
• - Banks should be held accountable for the quality of the appraisal.

He’s been spreading the word through all the channels/usual suspects in the blogosphere.  Here’s my original post, including his article:

[HVCC and AMCs Violate RESPA?] Here’s a possible solution

His views seemed to have been picked up by the Appraisal Institute, the largest appraisal trade organization in the US, in their letter to HUD looking for clarification on RESPA and the disclosure of fees paid by consumers.  Here’s the FAQ on the new RESPA rule.

Last month I was a panelist at an Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) conference covering lending trends.  I was matched up with 2 lenders and attorney Steven Einig.  I appreciated his take on the escalating foreclosure situation and his ability to articulate it.

I really enjoyed my conversation with Candace Taylor, writer for The Real Deal Magazine, one of the best resources for residential real estate news in NYC.  She covers real estate all day long and we speak about many issues including square footage discrepancies and getting people mad.

The Wealth Report 2010 was released today by Knight Frank.  It is a much anticipated annual survey targeted at the high end consumer with great detail on global residential property trends. I have had an ongoing exchange of ideas and have followed their research for quite a while.  I was invited to provide commentary on the New York City market which is included in the report.  In this podcast I interview Editor Andrew Shirley and Liam Bailey, Head of Residential Research.  The interviews were conducted via Skype to their London offices so the quality is a bit lacking.  Nevertheless the quality of their conversation is terrific.

Download The Wealth Report 2010.

After moderating a foreclosure panel at the recent Inman Real Estate Connect conference in New York, I thought it would be great to have a conversation with one of the panelists, Phil Tesoriero principal of  Gelip Inc. Consulting.  A former New York City Firefighter, his experience includes rehabbing REO’s and distressed properties as an investor and contractor, working as a sales agent specializing in the sale of HUD and REO properties and owner of a real estate brokerage firm, Phil now helps real estate professionals with the sale and management of distressed real estate.

You can find out more about Phil’s services at TheBigForeclosureSecret.com (Hint: its all about short sales) and his new product ForeclosureGuard.net.

In this podcast I check in with Dave Perry, Director of Sales and Leasing for The Clarett Group, a real estate development company. I’ve known Dave for for a number of years and was always impressed me with his understanding of pricing.

I recently had the good fortune of getting to know the founder and owner of LINK Boston, Debra Taylor Blair.  Her firm built and operates the MLS system in Boston.  She also provides invaluable information to the public and the real estate community through her Conversation Series.

She and I are kindred spirits in the world of data and look forward to a better understanding of the Boston market.

Coming soon:  Matrix coverage of the Boston market.

I speak with Nancy Chemtob, a partner with Chemtob Moss Forman & Talbert, LLP a New York City law firm specializing in divorce, family and matrimonial law.  My firm has done a lot of work with Nancy and her partners over the years and admire her approach and candor.  Plus she’s fun to talk with.

The biggest asset in a divorce action is most often the real estate.  The housing market crunch of the past 18 months has played havoc with the divorce process.  What’s most interesting is the fact that divorce attorneys are often at the leading edge of a changing real estate market as their clients deal with the reality of market conditions within their strategy.

Note: I’ve got a new equipment set-up (again) and I am still wrangling with it so my audio track is a bit too loud.  But Nancy makes her presence heard.

I had a great discussion with Steve Wagner, an attorney who specializes in representing co-ops/condos, litigation and technology, among other areas.  I have worked with his firm Wagner Davis, P.C. over the years on some crazy cases.

Steve has a wealth of knowledge, but don’t get him started on grandfathering in co-ops.  Listen to find out why.

I have a great conversation with Ryan Slack, Founder and CEO of Green Pearl Events aka Green Pearl that specializes in real estate events for industry professionals across the US.  Ryan was a co-founder of Property Shark before he started Green Pearl Events.  He is all about delivering reliable information to his customers.

We cover a lot of ground including his background and some insights on social media I had never heard before.

Here’s a schedule of upcoming events hosted by Green Pearl Events.

Barry Ritholtz of Fusion IQ, the The Big Picture blog and author of the must-read Bailout Nation had previously sat down with me last June so I was long overdue in inviting him back.

He is a terrific speaker and is always guilty of providing nothing less than clear cut commentary on the economic world around us. Plus he likes it when I call him irreverent.

This time we talk strategic non-foreclosure, existing home sales, interest rates, going to zero and the dumbest smart people in the room.

After moderating 3 foreclosure related panel discussions at the Inman Real Estate Connect conference in New York yesterday, I sat down with Rick Sharga of RealtyTrac (who was one of my panelists) to discuss their foreclosure business and the trends they are observing. I interviewed Rick last fall and always find him to be an endless source of insight and clarity on the distressed asset market.  RealtyTrac released their most recent report yesterday so the timing was perfect.

Hint: 2010-2011 = Peak Foreclosure

In this podcast I get to speak with Ben Jones, founder of The Housing Bubble Blog.  With a background in business, economics, and accounting, he’s been a prolific blogger/analyst of the housing bubble and crash since late 2004 and is considered the go to reference source for bubble conversation.  His site continues to draw a rabid readership who come there to lurk, exchange ideas, vent, call out spin and identify those in the real estate industrial complex.

In 2009, Mr. Jones was recognized by Inman News as one of the 50 most-influential people online in real estate. He also owns a property preservation, management, and investment company in Northern Arizona.

I get to speak about more than masonry (sorry Teri) with Teri Rogers, who writes for the New York Times real estate section and is co-founder and the content engine behind BrickUnderground:

“an online resource that enables New York City homeowners to leverage their collective intelligence—exchanging ideas, asking questions, and getting answers about the art and science of home-owning in New York City.”

She broke the story on the Twittering doorman and provides practical everyday information and forums for vertical dwellers.  Check it out.

In this podcast, I have a conversation with Lakshman Achuthan, the co-founder and managing director of the Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI), an independent organization focused on business cycle analysis and forecasting.  ECRI maintains business cycle chronologies for 20 countries around the world other than the U.S.

Lakshman is the managing editor of ECRI’s forecasting publications and regularly participates in a wide range of public economic discussions.  ECRI’s U.S. Weekly Leading Index is widely followed.

He is a member of Time magazine’s board of economists and the New York City Economic Advisory Panel (where I met him) and serves as trustee on a number of non-profit boards.  He is the co-author of Beating the Business Cycle: How to Predict and Profit from Turning Points in the Economy published by Doubleday.

In this podcast, I got to catch up with Jerry Feeney, a terrific real estate attorney who specializes in representing buyers and sellers in residential real estate transactions as well as institutional lenders in the New York City metro area.  He brings a wide range of experience to the table, including a stint with the SEC, working for law firms specializing in litigation and real estate, before establishing his own firm.

A most importantly, he succinctly answers a legal terminology question that keeps me up at night.

Hugh Kelly joined me today for the podcast.  I’ve known Hugh for quite a while and greatly admire his insights.

Hugh is an Associate Clinical Professor of Real Estate in New York University’s Masters Degree Program in Real Estate Investment and Development. He heads his own consulting practice, Hugh F. Kelly Real Estate Economics, which serves national and international real estate investment and services firms, governmental organizations, law firms, and not-for-profit agencies. Prior to establishing this consultancy, he was chief economist for Landauer Associates, where he worked for 22 years until early 2001.

Hugh also serves as the President of the Board of Brooklyn Catholic Charities’ affordable housing development corporation, which has built and manages 3,000 units of low-income family, seniors, and special needs housing. He is a member of the Counselors of Real Estate, the National Association of Business Economists, and the American Philosophical Association. He has spoken to virtually every major real estate organization in the United States, as well as to audiences in Canada, the U.K., France, the Netherland, and Germany.

We served together on the New York City Council Finance Committee Economic Advisory Board and our firms have worked together on several consulting projects.

Hugh provides perspective on affordable housing, his recent Ground Zero consulting, MBA programs and their relationship to the credit crunch among others.  He’ll join me again in the near future to expand the discussion on affordable housing.

I get to have a conversation with Neal Elkin, President of Real Estate Analytics, LLC whose Moody’s/REAL CPPI Reports tracks the commercial real estate space.  I’ve followed Neil’s efforts with Moody’s Investor Service since its inception.

On a side note, I find the correlation of their metrics with the residential market fascinating.

I had been looking forward to my conversation with Ardell for a while.  She is an associate broker with Sound Realty in Seattle Washington and blogs at Rain City Guide and on her eponymous site ARDELL’s Seattle Real Estate Blog.

She and I have known each other for years, having attended and participated in various real estate forums and connected online.  She is always a thoughtful, candid and deliberate speaker.

One of the masters of social media, Ardell has created brand awareness well outside the Seattle Housing market.

For this conversation we Skype, and thanks to the Internet (a series of tubes), the sound level varies a bit – but stick with it because she has great insight on buyer agency, calling a bottom, social media and Redfin.

If you’d rather not, Ardell has created a transcript of the conversation.

I sit down with Bob Knakal, the founding partner and Chairman of Massey Knakal Realty Services, who sell more commercial properties in New York City than any other firm.  In 2009, Real Estate Forum magazine named Mr. Knakal one of the top 10 investment sales brokers in the United States.

He’s also a prolific commentator on the commercial real estate economy.  Check out his blog StreetWise which is an initiative of his firm and GlobeSt.com as well as his weekly commentary in the New York Observer’s Commercial Observer. His recent State Shouldn’t Make a Whole New Ball Game of Mitchell-Lama is mandatory reading (no, not because of the Yankees World Series analogy).

I have long admired his market insights and his hair. We have a great conversation.

Jonathan Butler is the publisher of the essential Brownstoner.com which is a blog et al about Brooklyn.  He started out as an anonymous blogger looking to write about his Brooklyn brownstone in Clinton Hill – then removed his mask – and his blog morphed into Brownstoner Media LLC.  Some of his efforts include Brooklyn Flea, his Brooklyn flea market in both Fort Greene and under the Brooklyn Bridge, a services directory, a renovation guide, renovation blogs, and recently, a URL shortener/twitter aggregator.

The interview is done via cell phone in the middle of a construction site, which is, I suppose, the story of Jonathan’s entrepreneurial business life.

I had a “fantastic” conversation with Dr. Bill Rayburn who is the co-founder, Chairman & CEO of FNC, Inc. Their value proposition has been on collateral side of mortgage origination. He’s a fascinating industry leader who pulls no punches.

I speak with my friend and colleague Michael McPartland of the Citi Private Bank. He’s the managing director of residential real estate at their Citi Global Wealth Management group.

The discussion focuses on “lending” versus “originating.”

I get to catch up with a long time colleague and real estate veteran John Heithaus, Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing and REALTOR® Alliances at SentriLock.

He has twenty-nine years of experience in corporate relocation management and residential real estate. His career includes executive positions with Merrill Lynch Realty, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage and Relocation, Monster.com and Prudential Real Estate & Relocation.

John’s entrepreneurial ventures include co-founding very successful startups and emerging businesses: Virtual Relocation.com (acquired by Monster.com); Certified Closing Network (acquired by First American Corporation), TAOW Productions, and Superstar Factory Productions.

John is one of the most forward thinking, creative and energetic people in real estate, and he plays a pretty mean guitar.

In this podcast, I have a conversation with my good friend Joseph Ferrara, an attorney with over 25 years experience in real estate, intellectual property and entertainment law. He is consultant to the real estate industry on marketing, social media and branding.  Joe is an endless source of new ideas and likes to shake the tree. He runs the Sellsius Real Estate Marketing Blog, which focuses on real estate marketing, social media, new technology, trends, tips and how-tos. He runs The Clozing, a real estate news aggregator and is starting up New York Real Estate Advocates, a real estate brokerage concept for attorneys.

It is always great to speak with Joe.

In this podcast, I have a conversation with Justin Fox, economics and business columnist for Time Magazine and author of the book The Myth of the Rational Market: A History of Risk, Reward, and Delusion on Wall Street.

As publisher Harper Collins says about the book:
“Chronicling the rise and fall of the efficient market theory and the century-long making of the modern financial industry, Justin Fox’s The Myth of the Rational Market is as much an intellectual whodunit as a cultural history of the perils and possibilities of risk.”

Here’s his interview on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

I first became acquainted with Justin by stumbling on his blog The Curious Capitalist which takes complex economic issues and translates them into everyday speak.

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[Audio Quality Alert] What began as a 30-minute interview was cut to 18 minutes because of a random recurring podcast issue I have been trying to resolve: audio distortion. About 18 minutes into the interview I had to cut it short. My sincere apologies to Justin. But I got an idea and I set out this past weekend to solve the mystery. I am happy to report: problem solved going forward – I explain how at the end of the podcast – so much for myth of the rational podcast.

I have a great conversation with Kelly Roark, Vice President of Interactive Sales & Development at Scripps Network Digital.  We touched on the following chart which trends ratings against new home sales.

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Kelly was a great sport to come back for a second interview after one of the audio tracks in the first podcast didn’t cooperate.

In this podcast, I have a conversation with Larry Sicular, Principal of Lawrence Sicular & Associates and Editor & Publisher of The Stamford Review, a real estate and public policy journal.

Larry has taken a different route in bringing real estate and other key topics into the fold. His journal is contrarian to current convention by presenting high quality long form articles which also provide possible solutions to the issues discussed.

I had a fascinating conversation with Dustin Luther, founder of 4realz Speaking and Consulting and Rain City Guide Blog.

Dustin is one of the first people I “met” outside of New York as a result of my own blogging efforts that I began in 2005. He has a wealth of knowledge and insights on social media strategies that he applies to a medium that continues to change and evolve.

I really enjoyed my interview with Rick Sharga, Senior Vice President of RealtyTrac who was very gracious in accommodating me despite a packed schedule during his New York stay.  

Rick is the foremost expert on the state of the US foreclosure market. I have been a long time reader of their blog ForeclosurePulse.

He was able to keep on topic despite the din of jackhammers outside our building and a few digital squelches. I hope you enjoy the conversation.

I was fortunate to have Jason Bram, Senior Economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York join me for the podcast.  We covered a lot of ground including regional employment, securities industry employment versus all other employment, the rent versus ownership ratio and confidence versus sentiment.

Jason referenced a few charts during the discussion including the forward looking Index of Coincident Economic Indicators.

Note: The views expressed here are those of the interviewee only and not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or the Federal Reserve System.

I sat down with Rob Hahn, managing principal of 7DS Associates, the strategy, marketing, and technology consulting firm.  I first knew Rob as many people do, as Notorious Rob, the blogger who writes about marketing, technology, and real estate.

Using his extensive background in law, social media, brokerage, data, technology (and gaming), he’s got an interesting take on everything, including the real estate brokerage model.  Smart, inventive and funny work notoriously well together helping firms gain insight to see their way out of the economic paper bag of the next several years.

Update: Here’s an article Rob just wrote for Inman News: A real estate client in name only which covers some of the issues we discussed.

In this podcast I have an engaging conversation with Dawn Doherty, Vice President of Strategic Development for StreetEasy, the real estate search engine that covers New York City, Northern New Jersey and The Hamptons of both sales and rental properties.

If you listen closely, you can actually hear the jackhammers on the street below and our brief foray into electrical engineering.  Fun!

I had a good conversation with my friend and colleague Dan Green, a loan officer with Waterstone Mortgage in Cincinnati who provides a very lucid font line depiction of the state of mortgage financing, despite his characterization of me as being Bobby Flay-like.  

He runs a very well-written blog called The Mortgage Reports and a service called Bring the Blog. I have always found him to be in front of the technology curve.  

Back in early 2008, Dan created one of the best videos on how the tightening of underwriting guidelines left many people stranded.  I think it is required viewing.

In this podcast I speak with Joseph Palumbo, SRA, Director of Valuation and Appraisal Management, Weichert Relocation Resources. He manages a nationwide vendor network and an in-house staff of certified review appraisers.

We talk relocation industry, USPAP, HVCC, today’s appraiser and finding $5 in both your pockets.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Stuart Elliott, the Editor-In-Chief of The Real Deal Magazine.  Together with Publisher Amir Korangy, The Real Deal pushes out a lot of content on the residential and commercial real estate markets in New York City and South Florida, making their publication a must-read.

“The trend is your friend…until it ends.”

In this podcast I speak with Dr. Kevin Gillen, a vice president at Econsult and Research Fellow with the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Urban Research.  Kevin produces the seminal housing market report for Philadelphia.

He is releasing his Philadelphia regional report shortly and will introduce a new housing market report on the Jersey Shore in the coming months.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Holden Lewis, a long-time reporter for Bankrate.com.  He’s a prolific blogger of all things mortgage related at Mortgage Matters. You can follow him on Twitter.

I’ve been following Holden’s work for years. He’s also interviewed me in the past so it’s nice to switch things around a bit.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Sami Inkinen, Founder and COO of Trulia.com. He was nice enough to drop in while he was in New York. We talk about how Trulia began, why it works and touch on some of their products such as the groundbreaking Trulia Voices.

As an added bonus, we talk about the merits of swimming with sharks…literally. [Update] Of course its “shark week” on the Discovery Channel.

I couldn’t make Real Estate Connect San Francisco 2009 this year for the first time in a while, but if you do, take a minute to visit with some Trulians.

It was great to speak with Dr. Sam Chandan, President and Chief Economist of Real Estate Econometrics and an adjunct professor of real estate at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.