Bankruptcy Blog - Economy
At Oliveros & O’Brien we are at the leading edge of bankruptcy law and practice. Michael O'Brien is one of only three attorneys in the State of Oregon who is Board Certified as a Consumer Bankruptcy Specialist by the American Board of Certification. He is a frequent speaker at seminars for other attorneys on bankruptcy issues.
We also believe in giving our website visitors and our clients the opportunity to get current, accurate, and practical information about bankruptcy and financial matters. So every week on Monday morning we publish a blog. Their titles and short summaries are listed below, with the most recent one on top. Click on the “More...“ after each one to read the whole blog. Also, if you want to see all of our blogs in a certain catagory, just click on the appropriate one in the column to the right.
Short Sale Basics
June 21, 2010 by Oliveros & O'Brien, P.C.
A “short sale” is a sale of your home at a price not high enough to pay the mortgage lender(s) in full. One or more of your mortgage lenders agrees to take less than their balance, to avoid being paid even less if the home is foreclosed. The number of short sales has skyrocketed because of shrinking home values and job losses leading to mortgage defaults. But a short sale can be much more difficult to pull off than you might think, and the benefits to you as a homeowner are sometimes inaccurate or exaggerated. In certain circumstances bankruptcy can be a better alternative. Or a bankruptcy can be done together with a short sale to improve your chances of it working and getting the result you want.
Home Values Continue to Slide in Portland, Oregon
June 14, 2010 by Oliveros & O'Brien, P.C.
Although home prices have started to increase in the majority of U.S. metropolitan areas, not in Portland. According to the National Association of Realtors quarterly report of Metropolitan Area Existing-Home Prices released a few weeks ago, the price of homes sold in the Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton metropolitan statistical area during 1st quarter of 2010 was 4.5% lower than during the 1st quarter of 2009. Out of the 152 metropolitan areas, Portland was one of only four in the entire country in which home prices were successively lower in each of the last four quarters.
Commercial Real Estate—The Next Wave of Foreclosures?
May 31, 2010 by Oliveros & O'Brien, P.C.
There has been lots of noise in the news over the last year or so that the next bad economic shoe to drop will be in commercial real estate—the shopping centers, strip malls, office buildings, factories, apartment buildings, and hotels/motels of the nation. What’s this about? Why are economists so worried about it and why does it matter to you?
Chapter 7s Outpacing Chapter 13s
March 12, 2010 by Oliveros & O'Brien, P.C.
The number of people filing bankruptcy has been skyrocketing throughout this long recession—no surprise there. And a higher proportion of them are filing Chapter 7s instead of Chapter 13s. How come? And what does this mean for you?
Household Debt Drops for first time in 50 years
December 23, 2008 by Michael O'Brien
For the first time since 1952, the amount of debt carried by the average American household has dropped.
In: Economy
1 Million Bankruptcies in Past 12 Months
August 28, 2008 by Oliveros & O'Brien, P.C.
Nearly 1 million individuals and businesses filed bankruptcy in the 12 months ending June 30, 2008.
In: Economy
Bankruptcy Filings Jump 40% in 2007
January 9, 2008 by Todd N. Wilkinson
Newly released data from the American Bankruptcy Institute show bankruptcy filings increased 40% in 2007.
In: Economy