Questionable Lending Pratices “Coming Home To Roost”
The Waco Tribune reports from Texas. “Thomas is a Central Texan who knows the heartbreak of foreclosure, something more Americans are facing as easy credit during the housing boom ‘comes home to roost,’ as one industry expert put it.”
“Thomas, who did not want his last name used because of his embarrassment over his predicament, has lost five houses this year to foreclosure. His losses and those of others in McLennan County are piling up.”
“Thomas hoped to retire more comfortably on the money he made from these homes, all in Waco, which he bought as investment properties. Instead, ‘I’ve lost $100,000 or more, and my credit rating is totally and completely shot.’”
“Thomas bought the homes intending to fix them and sell them for tidy profits. He said he hired appraisers to help him gauge their values. In hindsight, he said, those values were not true. His properties languished on the market, ‘and all of a sudden, I ran out of money.’ All five homes found new buyers on the steps of the McLennan County Courthouse.”
“Some say foreclosures are beginning to surge locally. ‘Yes, sir, they’re just beginning to hit,’ said (realtor) Mark Bowles. ‘I’ve processed 12 foreclosures in the last three days.’”
“‘It would be hard to say foreclosures are an economic-driven problem in Texas,’ said Jim Gaines, a research economist at the Texas A&M. So what’s going on here? Gaines said blame lies at the doorstep of questionable lending practices during the housing boom.”
“Since 2001, those wanting to buy homes enjoyed low interest rates and qualifying terms that were almost laughable. ‘If you could walk, chew gum and breathe,’ Gaines said, ‘you could qualify for a mortgage.’”
“These practices ‘are coming home to roost,’ Gaines said, as homebuyers who probably should not have received loans in the first place are bailing on their payments.”
“‘I’m starting to see an increase (in foreclosures) on the upper end, involving middle-class properties in Waco, Woodway and Hewitt,’ said Sean McCann, a local real estate agent who specializes in foreclosures. ‘And word on the street is there is going to be more.’”
The Denver Post from Colorado. “In Montbello and Green Valley Ranch, existing-home values are falling as foreclosures spread. Burned-down houses sit abandoned for a year or more.”
“For-sale signs carry notes of desperation. One offers a week-long Caribbean cruise to the buyer of a foreclosed house. ‘Zero down? Poor credit? First-time buyer? Call for a free two-minute pre-approval,’ another urges.”
“From August to October, the median sale price on existing homes in Green Valley Ranch was $185,450, down from $201,000 during the same months a year ago. In Montbello, median sale prices dropped from $175,385 to $164,950.”
“In Montbello, Bernadette Ukolowicz waited seven months for one lucky knock at her door. Three times she lowered it. Then she took the sign down. When most house sales in your neighborhood are foreclosure-related, it’s hard to compete.”
“In seven months, six people looked at her three-bedroom house. Nobody has since September. For-sale signs abound on her street. Three houses on her block have been foreclosed in eight months.”
“‘The house next door, it’s been vacant six months, maybe longer. People across the street, they’re trying to sell. Three homes down, it’s vacant,’ Ukolowicz said. ‘Anyone trying to sell their home right now in the area is up against all the vacant homes. Why should I buy this house for $175,000 when the bank will sell that one for $130,000?’”
“Foreclosure prevention consultant Dottie Melton negotiates ’short sales’ - sales that avoid foreclosures by getting lenders to buy houses for less than borrowers owe. In Montbello, she calculates that 70 percent of pending house sales and 68 percent of all sales in the past six months were either short sales or foreclosures.”
“‘Where’s the homeowners in this? They’re not there,’ she said. ‘You have a home on the market, and you’re going to compete with 70 percent of the sales?’”
“Melton sees a spreading belt of foreclosures, however, that is now reaching middle-class neighborhoods in Arapahoe and Jefferson counties where homes were overvalued and buyers borrowed 100 percent of the purchase price. ‘It’s on its way. It’s in my backyard,’ she said.”
“Green Valley Ranch, to the east, is still under construction. Its current developer envisions a community stretching from Denver into Aurora that ultimately could hold 20,000 homes. Yet these neighborhoods share troubling foreclosure rates and stagnant house prices that trap many homeowners who try to sell.”
“In October alone, 65 more homes were foreclosed in the neighborhoods. Seventy percent of the foreclosed loans were approved in 2004, 2005 or this year. Nearly half refinanced previous home loans. Half of those homes already appear vacant. At one, a real estate flier offers a seven- day Caribbean cruise to anyone who buys it.”
“One of the new foreclosure notices came to Anthony Neely and his wife, Thelma, who thought they were making all the right moves when they bought a two-story home in Green Valley Ranch in 2003. They put $24,000 toward the $277,000 purchase price of their home, thinking they had a cushion to sell if they ever got in a bind or needed to move.”
“But their home isn’t selling in a deflated market. Come December, the couple could lose every penny they’ve invested in it. ‘We paid a high price, and we got a bad loan,’ said a dejected Neely. ‘We saved a long time to get that down payment.’”
“Neely lost his job and…making matters worse, the couple’s adjustable-rate mortgage has started escalating. Payments have risen from $1,100 a month to more than $2,000, Neely said.”
“The home had only six showings in four months on the market, including a lowball offer of $210,000. ‘Even the bank is not going to take that,’ he said. ‘We are between a rock and a hard place.’”
The Summit Daily News from Colorado:
‘Depending on who you talk to, a proposed loft-style development in Silverthorne could either be the key to creating the feel of a vibrant town center along the Blue River or simply an oversized building out of place with its surroundings. Developers from the proposed the 92,917-square-foot, four-story Blue River Lofts, a 1.28 acre plot of land nestled against the Blue River.’
‘Commissioner Richardson is concerned the Blue River Lofts won’t solve the critical mass problem because locals will be priced out of the housing, leaving only potential second-home owners to purchase the condos. Miller said he hopes to sell the condos to people who want to live in Silverthorne full-time.’
‘He’s looking at pricing the condos, which he described ‘higher end,’ at about $375 to $425 per square foot, putting a 694-square-foot studio at about $277,600 or a 1,582-square-foot two-bedroom condo at $632,800. ‘We want to make them I wouldn’t say affordable, but I would say priced with a lot of value,’ Miller said.’
“$375 to $425 per square foot”
For a condo!
In Colorado (nation leading foreclosures)!
LMAO
I hope that guy doesn’t budget using those sales prices.
The developer is Florida based with other projects in Las Vegas. That should tell you everything you need to know.
‘We want to make them I wouldn’t say affordable, ”
That’s quite a sales pitch!
posted ” Questionable Lending Pratices “Coming Home To Roost”
So there is a God in heaven!
It is expensive up there. My Breckenridge Condo is about $400/ft now…and I expeect prices to drop some. it won’t drop to what I paid…I paid $5000 for my partnership portion in 1987.
Wow folks! This one hit home. I’ve have read this blog since relocating. Yes, I am one of those unfortunate souls that bought a home in good ole Green Valley Ranch and moved away 2 years ago. “Green Acres” is not the place you want to be, farm living isn’t what it use to be. All jokes aside, I had my home on the market there for 8 months and believe me, I took very good care of it. Now I am in the Maryland/DC area with a great job but the Green Valley here equates to a valley that is so green and deep, as in $500,000 worth just to even begin to equate to what I still have in Colorado and can’t sell. Bottom line is the extreme makeover we see is based on extreme capitalism (greed) and it has come home to roost. Where are all the golden eagles now. Well look around they are now crows and chickens (realtors and unscrupulous bankers) who continue to kackle “It is a great time to buy”. Capitolism 101 learn from Katrina “Don’t stay stuck on stupid”
I had an uncle and aunt that lived in Montbello when I was younger. We used to visit them a lot. I remember the area as being solidly middle class and quite nice. The last time I was in the area it was run down and nasty. There really are a lot of abandoned or empty homes there, and many that need some serious maintenance.
Another mullet trying to grab some of that “rich buyer” pie. You know, some of these losers might actually be able to stay in business if they built housing for normal people and weren’t trying to retire on one building.
And as for Waco, anyone who thought they could make enough money to retire flipping houses in Waco . . . . obviously, someone left the gates open to Dumbass Ranch.
“obviously, someone left the gates open to Dumbass Ranch.”
Funny
They really know how to grow ‘em in Waco. I remember on January 1, 2000 reading the biz section of the Dallas Morning Snooze. The top story was about a couple of guys in Waco who were just fed up with seeing “everyone” making huge bucks in the stock market and were moving all of their retirement money AND borrowing more money into tech stocks. Gee, they missed the absolute top by 2 months. I’ll bet you today they’re both Walmart greeters.
So, only smart people live in NYC? Ahem: Libs are by default smart, but fiscal conservatives and those who love America’s legacy of freedom are dumb? The style police and Hollywierdos love you guys.
Bill, did you forget to take your meds?
I think she is implying that if you are going to flip houses (for profit) you don’t start out doing so in east jerkwater texas. Just a guess though.
Correct. And if you’re 65 and that hasn’t been your trade all your life, even dumber.
Yeah. And the same theme repeats. If one house is good then 5 houses must be really, really good.
Exactly.
(Don’t mind Bill’s idiosyncratic misinterpretations; your meaning was clear to everyone else.)
Keep the caustic kettle boiling, sweetheart, I love your comments.
Damn, I was going to sign up for the Style Police Academy. Sounds like fun!
but fiscal conservatives and those who love America’s legacy of freedom are dumb?
There is only one person in the US Congress who fits both descriptions, and I think Ron Paul is pretty smart.
Who were you thinking of?
Phil Gramm tried getting the Balanced Budget Amendment passed in the 1980’s, and EVERYONE hated him for it
Phil Gramm! LOL. He’s lucky nobody shot his slimy ass.
Phil Gramm was a retard and buffoon. Dr. Ron Paul is a genius and a saint. Please genuflect toward Texas whenever his name is mentioned.
blah blah stop your damn whining
Phil Gramm’s wife Wendy was on Enron’s Board.
Not exactly the pilar of integrity.
(1) Lost $100,000 this year on 5 houses? Do the math. This guy was setting up to landlord barrio dives. (Yes, they have them in Waco.)
(2) Ron Paul is my rep. In person he does a convincing imitation of a flake.
“So, only smart people live in NYC?”
Well, at least they don’t have to live near dumb asses like you. Ha Ha on the election results….loser.
GOP is not a fiscally conservative party by any means, and Dems are better in this regard - under Carter and Clinton deficits declined nearly all years, but exploded parabolically under Reagan, Bush I & II. I really don’t understand where this myth of fiscally conservative Republicans was born, I think it’s mostly because GOP promises tax deferrals, stupidly mislabeled in this country as “tax cuts”.
McLennan County is not in East Texas, it is south of Dallas along I-35 and represented in Congress Chet Edwards, a Democrat.
Have to agree with max even though I’m Repubilcan. The Cato Institute and my other favorite libertarian think tanks all admit Bush is “worse” than Clinton in this regard. The only constituencies that get noticed are the ones demanding more govt spending.
Why do the reporters never ask people like Thomas where he got the idea that he could buy fixer-uppers and flip for a profit? I’m willing to guess he saw it on TV.
Also, how come they don’t call up the NAR for a comment on these foreclosure stories? I’m sure the Nellys could use some of that ‘it’s a good time to buy and sell’ medicine right now.
Did you see the real estate section in today’s AZ republic? Big article quoting Lereah’s various statements at the NAR meeting in New Orleans, but, of course, no hint of a challenge to his obviously self-serving positions.
Don’t you mean “The Estates at Dumbass Ranch”?
“Owners lose their homes to ‘rescuers’
Foreclosure scams grab titles, equity”
http://tinyurl.com/ybl9p5
The couple, in their early 40s, signed on in April 2005, only to find out soon afterward that they had signed over their home to Platinum, which then sold it. Unable to keep paying “rent” to the company, they are now threatened with eviction.
“It’s a nightmare and we’re reliving it every day,” says Martha Balderas, who along with her husband has joined a growing number of homeowners to bring to state or federal authorities their complaints of fraud and deception by companies that engage in lending to financially distressed borrowers to avoid foreclosure.
I’m wondering if Texas is going to be as bad as last time. I know of at least 3 couples that have moved out that way. It will be interesting to see how it all falls out.
Worse. Texas is like Denver and Colorado. Lower than average appreciation other than in the inner cities, uneducated greedy population easily manipulated by get rich quick mentality, first time access to home equity, predatory lenders and scam artists everywhere and the influx of poorly capitalized “investors” from other states. A real toxic soup. Hide the women and children.
And on top of it all, Texas has a very stringent foreclosure process compared to most other states. Look at Casey Serin — his TX property has already been foreclosed and sold on the courthouse steps, while the ones in CA are still limping along.
The couple that put 24k down from savings on the house that loss their job qualify for a short sale IMO ,not the speculator/flipper who was gambling with the zero down liar loans .
Yea, that was kind of brutal. He made the mistake of getting an adjustable had he went to a fixed he would have stood a chance. I was looking at the numbers and time frame and didn’t really understand the need for an adjustable, frankly.
Wow………with all these foreclosures and the wave that is coming there will be some really big hits taken by financial institutions. Amazing………..
I wish were we getting the same kind of news here in Southern Cal.
That’s the crux of the whole endless “Tex v. California” argument we’ve had over and over. California is desireable. People WANT to live there. I want to live there but can’t really afford it. It’s criminally overpriced but comparing California to Texas is like comparing a Honda to a Yugo. When it comes time to determine which one holds resale value, there is no contest.
There are some really nice people in Texas, but unless you’re Ted Nugent, why in the world would you ever voluntarily want to live in Waco? Hot, flat, loads of rednecks, etc… Baylor only recently allowed dancing for heaven’s sake.
Part of the WANT is cost of living and quality of life. If you WANT a bunch of shallow, pretentious, plastic people, then California is great. Unless you can afford a place by the coast, what is so desirable about California? Is it the masses of illegal immigrants? Is it the 500,000 gang members? Is it that wonderful LA smog and traffic? Sacramento is definitely not better than Austin. Why is the RE there so much more expensive?
You keep acting as if Texas is the worst place on earth, but what kept you from moving to one of the other 49 states?
Sounds like you’ve been stuck in Richardson too long, Jer.
Try some Prozac.
We will soon enough. That’s what the “everyone wants to live here” folks don’t recognize during the last downturn Phoenix and Dallas were completely in the toilet when CA. was just starting to slide downward. Phoenix and Dallas IMO are just getting started so SoCal has a ways to go still. I just read in the L.A. Times this morning that folks are still overbidding by at least 100k in Northern Cal. You’d have to be a real idiot to still be doing that.
They have to be the fraudulent kickback kinda bids.
No they are not. That would actually make sense on some levels. Here’s the link.
http://tinyurl.com/ylbf3l
It’s really kind of sad.
Hmmm. A prime example of my habit of underestimating the stupidty of others. Would have bet heavily that no one is over bidding.
Why won’t California just fall into the ocean, already?
Luthor tried to do just that by planting an ‘A’ bomb in the San Andreas Fault. Thank the Lord for Superman! hehehehehehehehe
What’s the deal with the ’steps of the courthouse”? This seems so 17th century. Don’t they do online auctions to get a better return?
Maybe it has something to do with transparency. If you try to get info on a HUD or VA default, you’ll see what I mean.
What information are you having trouble finding on a Hud/VA default? There’s no difference between them and a regular default unless your locale does something different with them or you’re looking for something other than standard info.
All real estate is local ™.
Banks want bidders with a cashiers check, not stupid TV get rich quick guys in thier undies on the internet.
Transparency reinforces Democracy.
Its similar to the tradition we used to have of public trials.
Lets bring back the stocks (wooden Puritan public kind) for FBs, and tarring and feathering for sleazy mortage brokers and NAR liars. That’s my kind of retro. Oh, and the gallows for fat women who wear tight polyester pants.
“In Montbello, Bernadette Ukolowicz waited seven months for one lucky knock at her door. Three times she lowered it. Then she took the sign down. When most house sales in your neighborhood are foreclosure-related, it’s hard to compete.”
And there we have it. The folks in this neighborhood are essentially locked into riding this pig all the way down to the bottom (where ever that is). No more chances to get out without a massive price cut. Coming soon to a neighborhood near you.
“locked into riding this pig all the way down”
Interesting way to look at it.
With the higher highs and activity of this boom as compared to the last crash (89′), this effect will be more pronounced. Todays sellers will be surrounded and inundated with negative RE information on a scale exponentially larger than in the 90’s.
I believe this increase in exposure will separate the wheat from the chaff (forclosures of holders on) accellerating the rate at which we drop to the bottom.
This increase in exposure to negative RE information may reduce the number of dead cat bounces and people catching the knife.
“and all of a sudden, I ran out of money.”
Ben. A revised title for your book: YIKES! How America ran out of money all of a sudden.
Time for helicopter drops. The cargo cult on Wall Street is certain they are on the way.
“But it would be hard to say foreclosures are an economic-driven problem in Texas,” said Gaines. “We’re not losing jobs, we’re adding them. Our economy has been doing very well, much better than the national numbers.”
Quick question, why would a bank agree to a short sale? How is the loss booked? If the bank thinks that the values will plummet further in the future, this might make some sense, but it seems we could be in for massive revisions to bank book values.
Banks do not want REO (Real Estate Owned) on the balance sheet. Better to recover what you can, and charge off the remainder than to have capital tied up in NPL’s and REO.
Market — while I agree with you, I think it is too early for that. For sure, their year-end dates matter. More importantly, almost all of these institutions are run by people who were not involved at a high level in the S&L crisis. Not an original idea, of course, but they will sit on foreclosed properties a long time, in this early stage of the bust, hoping to sell at what they think are “market” prices. I think it will be at least another 12 months before the REO holders really start to read the writing on the wall and cut these babies loose for what they are really worth at the time.
In that case, a fella might make a few bucks with puts on these pups or maybe the ^BKX?
My BKX puts have held up better than some of the others recently.
It cost much money to foreclose, own, access, sell and adminster ROA (real estate owned).
These are common problems (and many more) that banks and whoever bought these MBS.
Banks additionally suffer regulators designating many of thier loans as to risky. This effectively turns performing loans into a liability on a banks balance sheet. This will force lenders to drastically reduce the number of RE loans made, further depressing the overall market in a vicious self feeding circle. This is effectively how the regulators purged the banks in the 90’s, destroying many and scrubing the balance sheets of those that ran the gauntlet.
The interesting thing to come is the trillions in MBS that have been sold. Many of these securities are not holders of any individual loans at all, rather a computer generated slice of some much greater pool of loans. When the loans involved in these pools start going bag the financial industry as a whole (globally) will own them collectively. I am betting on a new governmental regulatory institution that buys these loans from these investors in MBS and then funnels them through the existing bureaucracy. I am sorry to say that this may be the most efficient way to get this egg throught the snake.
So only smart people live in NYC?
HUH?
NYC is the rat race capital of the world — or at least the US.
Busy, busy, busy. I suppose enough laps on that hamster wheel, enough high priced junk, enough style no one is impressed with, and enough sushi energizing the corporate climb killing wall would make one think it MUST take intelligence to live that way.
New Yorkers HAVE to be better than the masses living in (yuck) Des Moines or Austin (God forbid).
Uh… in case you glitteratti hadn’t noticed, you live in the bullseye
of the Islamofasicts’ firing range.
What’s that? Oh, right…. it couldn’t possibly ever, ever, ever, happen again.
Eat sushi. Spend money. Be happy.
I don’t fully understand your post but remember the person making that comment was “Bill in Phoenix” not “Bill in Midtown”. Don’t worry, New York is loaded with half-retarded dipshits. That should make you feel better. I love this place but I hate dealing with the vermin.
Im also in NYC and we have tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of world class dipshits and asshats. Born and raised in the city, I’m but getting close to heading for the exit doors. We have imported vermin, some from the US much from the rest of the world.
Hey numbnuts, that post was put out there by “Bill in Phoenix”. Those of us living in New York City understand how much human refuse is living in this city. A major unfocused attack on this city would kill a lot more derelicts from other nations than it would Americans.
One last thing, remove the tinfoil hat and get yourself some help. I’m guessing you could put an ambitious young psycho-therapist on the map.
I love some of the scathing personal insults that get exchanged in here. Very amusing.
Yea, you gotta love it.
Great wits………..love the moxy.
But, please leave don’t drag the tin-foil hat people into this.
Silverthorne?
Wow. I remember when Silverthorne was just a stop light on the way to Breckenridge.
The highways all the way up and down the mountain (from Denver) through the Eisenhower Tunnel are now as crowded as an LA freeway a good deal of the time… literally crawling, bumper to bumper traffic.
Ah… the good life!
“Thomas hoped to retire more comfortably on the money he made from these homes, all in Waco, which he bought as investment properties. Instead, ‘I’ve lost $100,000 or more, and my credit rating is totally and completely shot.’”
You would have to have a heart of stone not to laugh at this guy.
“Thomas hoped to retire more comfortably on the money he made from these homes, all in Waco, which he bought as investment properties. Instead, ‘I’ve lost $100,000 or more, and my credit rating is totally and completely shot.’”
You would have to have a heart of stone not to laugh at this guy.
Laugh at this guy? Are you kidding. Are you a total f’in assh*le?
It’s more than a little disturbing to see you take delight in this. When I read this, I can’t help but feel for these people. Most are hard working men and women that wanted to get ahead. So he got caught up in the tidal wave of propoganda machine. He made a financial mistake that he’ll pay for the rest of his life and you think that’s funny. That says more about you than it does him.
I thought it was hilarious myself. Good one Sammy!:-)
If this guy was such a hard working man, then why do the easy flip route? if all he wanted to do was get ahead..fine, just do one house at a time and sell before buying a new house. No, this guy knew he was getting in on a ponzi scheme which is why he bought so many houses as fast as he could before it collapsed. He was greedy, he gambled..he lost, screw him. By the way, since you thought he was such an honest hard working guy that just wanted to get ahead…go to Casey’s blog..he can be your new hero.
That says more about you than it does him.
Yes, it says that Sammy isn’t stupid and greedy like Thomas, and is probably a lot funnier at parties.
“Thomas, who did not want his last name used because of his embarrassment over his predicament, has lost five houses this year to foreclosure. His losses and those of others in McLennan County are piling up. Thomas hoped to retire more comfortably on the money he made from these homes, all in Waco, which he bought as investment properties. Instead, ‘I’ve lost $100,000 or more, and my credit rating is totally and completely shot.’”
Have I missed out on the home investment boom in Waco? Somehow I never thought of that as a frothy market where gambling on five investment homes was a sure road to riches.
The big question, IMO, is how many Thomases are out there, soon to release their five foreclosed investment homes on top of the already sizeable inventory pyre. If there are enough Thomases out here in San Diego, our affordable housing problem could go away in a big hurry…
stucco, i am stucco in a stucco condo im renting in la costa. its the worst place i’ve ever lived in. landlord is a shark and all my dumb money can’t afford a house anywhere in california. does prescott or sedona rent houses for people with small dog?
I wish I had words of comfort to offer you, but the fact is that we are both priced out of SD for the foreseeable future. If you cannot hold on as a renter, then there are liveable cities in other parts of the country with a much more reasonable rent/income balance than out here. Even though it is cheaper to rent than to own in SD, rents are nonetheless pulled skyward by astronomically high home prices, as renting and owning are substitute forms of housing consumption.
Best of luck!
GS
“‘Where’s the homeowners in this? They’re not there,’ she said. ‘You have a home on the market, and you’re going to compete with 70 percent of the sales?’ Melton sees a spreading belt of foreclosures, however, that is now reaching middle-class neighborhoods in Arapahoe and Jefferson counties where homes were overvalued and buyers borrowed 100 percent of the purchase price. ‘It’s on its way. It’s in my backyard,’ she said.”
The tidal wave of foreclosures represents the flop side to the tsunami of misguided flipper investments using high risk loans which drove prices up to unsustainable levels from coast to coast. Anyone thinking about buying a home who does not want to risk the prospect of soon going underwater on their mortgage would be well advised to wait for the wave of foreclosures to work its way through the market. The comps are way beyond screwed — it’s in the bag.
Dear Folks,
I am barely computer qualified so I ask your help. The local Grand Junction, Colorado paper, The Daily Sentinel, had a front page, above the fold, article on home sales slipping as prices rise in Mesa County. The date was November 21, 2006. I think you will find it interesting, but I don’t know how to post it. It is one of the first stories of its kind that concerns western Colorado.
Home sales slip as prices rise in county
3rd-quarter values rise 8 percent from 2005
By WYATT HAUPT The Daily Sentinel
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
A robust Mesa County housing market surged in the summer months as dollar volume increased more than 8 percent to about $480 million, an industry report showed Monday.
And with mortgage interest rates at attractive levels, a steady influx of new residents and a shrinking number of homes for sale — the area housing market seems poised for more growth.
http://tinyurl.com/t48he
The west slope & Mountain Colorado RE market is totally different from the Denver / east slope market. I’m still kicking myself for concentrating on buying Denver HUD foreclosure auction properties in 1989 and not the Summit County or Glenwood Springs. Gawd!!! I could have done much, much better. I remember when Exxon and Occidental shut down the oil shale projects on the Roan Plateau and their company RE developements in Dubeque in the 1980s. A whole brand new town could have been had for cents on the dollar. I hate to think what those “retirement” bugalows are going for now with all that gas developement in the Piceance Basin.