Collapse…and innovation

I heard yesterday that Hank Paulson, US Treasurer, was suggesting it might be necessary for the Fegeral government to “rescue” Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (I put quotes on the rescue because I did not read his remarks…only heard a report…and you can bet about $5 Trillion they were very carefully worded). Today I notice the stock prices have collapsed.

I’ve been thinking how this change in real estate finance is also an opportunity to reorganize the incentives in real estate finance. It also has me wondering how strong is the relationship between ecosystem services provided by real estate and real estate value…kind of an advancement of the concept of ‘location, location, location’. Are the neighborhoods that are most distressed by foreclosure also poor providers of valuable ecosytem services?

It also has me thinking about how innovation works….since we’re talking real estate, here is an article on innovation in homebuilding:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/07/wrapping-up-with-the-cellophane-house.php

And here is a New York Times Article that I think really thoughtfully deals with how innovation works in American society:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/technology/08stream.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin