Foreclosures Are Driving Everything In California
The Press Enterprise reports from California. “On Saturday, hundreds of homeowners in distress crowded a hall at the National Orange Show Events Center to meet with representatives of their banks, to hear experts explain what caused the mortgage meltdown, and to learn how borrowers can dig their way out of default through strategies such as short sales or forbearance. Banks already have been saddled with a glut of homes borrowers have walked away from, the day’s speakers emphasized.”
“They said that homeowners in trouble should overcome shame and denial because the problem only will get worse the longer they wait.”
“Moreno Valley resident Catherine Cee said she’s ‘upside down’ on her mortgage. She paid $178,000 for her six-bedroom, 3-bathroom, 2,630- square-foot house in 2001, long before the real estate market went crazy in the Inland Empire, and she got a fixed-interest loan.”
“But when she refinanced a few years later to fund some renovations, she unwittingly signed an adjustable-rate loan.”
“Now Cee said she owes $345,000 on her house, and her loan has been sold several times to different mortgage companies, making it hard to direct her inquiries to the person able to devise a solution other than default.”
“‘I did not want my loan to default,’ Cee said during a question-and-answer session with panelists.”
The County Sun. “Veronica Turner of San Bernardino is tired of unreturned phone calls from her lender and choosing between buying food for her son and paying the mortgage on her house.”
“Andrew Eakins and his wife of Apple Valley are six months into foreclosure on their house and are looking for help on how to save their home.”
“And while many of those in attendance were happy to be given a chance to get questions asked and obtain the information they needed, some wondered why it was happening now.”
“‘Where were they six months ago?’ Veronica Turner said. ‘This is a big step and there’s a lot of good information being talked about, but you have to wonder, why now? Is it because they’re losing their profits?’”
The North County Times. “Twelve small units in Brookhaven Condominiums, a development of two converted apartment buildings, have sold since December for $360,000 or more —- roughly double the prices of similar condos in the neighborhood. Indeed, the dozen Brookhaven units had surged by 31 percent in value since 2006, even as the median price of condos in the area plummeted 54 percent.”
“Neither Brookhaven’s developers nor their bankers would explain this remarkable performance, despite repeated requests from the North County Times. Two of Brookhaven’s buyers say they face foreclosure and tarnished credit records.”
“After eight months of no sales activity at the complex, which is near the corner of 15th Avenue and Escondido Boulevard, a 1,128-square-foot condo sold for $385,000. However, according to the county assessor’s office, the sale never happened.”
“The buyer of record, Julie Cottam of Escondido, said she never provided any money for the condo and did not know she briefly owned a unit in the Brookhaven complex. She said she signed some documents as a favor to a friend, Nancy Renfeldt.”
“‘I don’t know if it was a deed. I just trusted her; I was a friend,’ Cottam said, adding she never planned to buy the condo.”
“Soon after Cottam’s transaction appeared on the database, business improved for the developers. A month later, in December 2007, a 948-square-foot condo sold for $360,000. The price was up dramatically from the $256,000 paid for an identical unit purchased the previous March, the most recent sale.”
“The buyer who broke Brookhaven’s long sales drought was Maria Roberts of Tijuana. Roberts’ husband, James, said the couple had no knowledge of the Escondido real estate market. ‘They said several (condos) had sold for that price, so it had to be a good price,’ he said.”
“James Roberts said the sales pitch on the investment worked like this: The couple would hold the property in his wife’s name for a year while the developers paid the mortgage by finding renters. After a year, the developers would buy back the property and cover any depreciation.”
“For their trouble, the Robertses would receive $50,000, he said. They have received only $20,000, he said.”
“One month later, another sale to Maria Roberts closed with a 5 percent down payment, according to county records. But that wasn’t part of the deal, said James Roberts. Further, Roberts said they never put any money into escrow for the down payment. Now, the Robertses face foreclosure on both condos as the mortgages went unpaid.”
“‘The banks are screaming at us for the mortgage payments. And we’re screaming back at the bank because it shows she purchased two when she only purchased one,’ James Roberts said.”
“A boom in popularity of converting apartment complexes into condominiums has turned into a bust, driving condo developers into a corner, especially in places such as Escondido, where sales have been particularly anemic.”
“While condo conversions countywide have suffered in the downturn, condo sales in North County, especially Escondido, have been decimated: Highway 78 corridor sales are on pace to drop 90 percent from sales in 2005, according to MarketPointe.”
“Escondido’s condo conversion market peaked in 2006 with 236 sales. So far this year, sales sit at ‘negative-five’ in the city. MarketPointe considers sales contracts that were cancelled as ‘negative sales,’ meaning five more sales contracts were cancelled than sold.”
“Once prices started to decline, investors disappeared, said Russ Valone, CEO of MarketPointe. ‘They were affordable enough that Donald Trump wannabes could look at buying the condo conversion and maybe rent it at a break-even,’ he said. ‘When you lost that investor mentality, all of a sudden conversions didn’t work.’”
“Further, prices have declined to the point where single-family houses are as cheap, or cheaper, than many condominium conversions.”
“The condo conversion fallout was inevitable, said Miller, the University of San Diego professor.”
“‘When speculators enter the market, they’re the ones that drove prices up,’ he said. ‘Of course, there’s no fundamental way to support those prices. You couldn’t support it by how much you could rent it for or by how much people were making in income.’”
The Union Tribune. “As the slumping housing market erodes equity for many San Diego County homeowners, analysts say condominium communities face additional challenges as sales slow and renter populations grow.”
“When home prices were soaring between 2000 and 2005, high renter populations at condo communities weren’t a problem for lenders, said Robert Geiler, a mortgage banker in Rancho Bernardo.”
“‘During the craziness, with prices going up, lenders didn’t look at that as much,’ he said. ‘Loans used to just fly right through. Now, owner occupancy is coming to the forefront.’”
“Dilapidated stairways, rickety decks, leaky roofs, moldy walls and corroded sewer pipes. These are the sort of structural headaches confronting scores of homeowner associations as costly repairs to older complexes drain their communal treasuries.”
“After years of deferred maintenance, compounded by tightfisted members’ unwillingness to pay higher monthly fees, condominium associations are facing a looming financial crisis, condo experts say.”
“‘Deferred and unfunded maintenance is a ticking time bomb because so many homeowner associations are unprepared for it,’ longtime condo attorney Erik Basil said. ‘What sometimes happens is association members don’t want to contemplate having to write a $1,000 or $5,000 check, so they pretend there’s nothing wrong, and that’s what has occurred for the last 10 years.’”
“The problems associated with stalled repairs have worried Conlon’s association for some time and are being complicated by the slide in home values and the credit meltdown.”
“‘Before we started having high assessment delinquency rates and foreclosures, the issue of aging communities was one of our top trends we were tracking, and it still is,’ said Karen Conlon, president of the California Association of Community Managers.”
“Even associations with well-heeled members, such as that of the oceanfront Surfsong condominium complex in Solana Beach, haven’t escaped financial misery. Built in the mid-1970s, many of the units, with stunning, unobstructed ocean views, are valued at more than $1 million.”
“The 72-unit complex is in the midst of an $11 million rehab that includes new roofs, decks, railings, siding, fencing and a new sea wall. Each condo owner has been assessed more than $150,000 for the work, although the association had to foreclose on one owner who was unable to pay.”
“‘We are the prime example of deferred maintenance,’ board President Gail Steel said. ‘The magnitude of the problem was so frightening we had no choice. Things were actually falling down.’”
“Invariably, the answer is a special assessment. Often, the mere mention of high assessments infuriates stunned condo owners, association board members say.”
“‘They’ll say that all the experts are wrong, that ‘we’re going to get rid of you,’ ‘you don’t know what you’re talking about,’ said real estate agent Marguerite Thompson, a board member of a large condo association in Bernardo Heights. Her complex is the one facing $5 million in repair work. ‘There’s anger; there are threats to sue.’”
“Two condo eras are now converging to create an explosion in needed repairs. The first was the construction boom in multifamily housing 30 years ago, said San Diego attorney Mary Howell.”
“‘You’re now seeing the manifestation of deferred maintenance - the termites have come home to roost, subsidence has happened, you have irrigation problems, and the stucco and wood members are deteriorating,’ Howell said. ‘It takes 30 years for this to materialize and 30 years for the proverbial excrement to hit the fan.’”
“Ellen Kanady, a legal secretary at a downtown San Diego law firm, has already spent several thousand dollars toward repairing a leaking gas line in the eight-unit condo conversion where she has lived since December 2006. The College Area complex, built in 1980, has been bedeviled by unforeseen problems almost since the day Kanady moved in. Making matters worse, some owners have gone into foreclosure or are nearing that stage.”
“‘It’s a nightmare for me knowing that if we have another major emergency, we won’t be able to fix it,’ Kanady said. ‘And I don’t know what we’d do at that point.’”
The San Francisco Chronicle. “How much is your house worth in this turbulent market? That’s the question on the minds of many Bay Area homeowners, but it’s become increasingly tough to answer, even for the pros.”
“‘It’s miserable,’ said Karen Mann, who runs a small East Bay appraisal firm. ‘I’ve been in the business 28 years, and this is the worst downturn I’ve seen.’”
“‘They are shooting down the value of appraisals like I’ve never seen before,’ said Rick Gordillo, whose practice specializes in residential real estate. ‘It’s almost as if they don’t want the business. They are turning away loans even when the values are there.’”
“‘You can have what I call a very realistic or conservative appraisal done by an independent fee appraiser and that will go to a lender’s underwriter, and the lender can come back saying we don’t think that value is accurate,’ said Ed Craine, VP of the California Association of Mortgage Brokers. ‘It used to only happen once in a blue moon. Now it’s happening maybe 1 in every 10 times.’”
“The number of homes sold in the Bay Area’s nine counties fell almost 10 percent in June, according to DataQuick. That decline put June sales volume at its lowest level since 1993.”
“‘Any time you have a reduction in volume, especially because that is when the underwriting criteria of lenders tends to become more stringent, it’s difficult,’ said Charles Warren, who runs a San Francisco appraisal business. ‘Lenders want to see comparables from the last 30 days, and all of a sudden you are left without any valid data. That exacerbates the problem.’”
“‘Appraisals are extremely important,’ said Craine. ‘It’s not that that wasn’t true in the past, but we tended to minimize that during the real estate bubble. We’re getting back to it now.’”
The Recordnet. “In a hot foreclosure sales market, the latest trend taking shape is investors bundling their cash to buy bundles of homes. They want to either mass cherry-pick the market or buy at discount from a bank, wholesaler or mortgage company.”
“Bob A. Sullivan, a semi-retired owner and broker of a Stockton real estate firm…said he expects to no less than double or triple his investment.”
“‘What I like the best is the timing to buy,’ he said. ‘Prices are really depressed right now. In my mind, there’s no question that prices will go up again considerably. Whether it’s one year or five years, I don’t know. I don’t see any downside.’”
The Manteca Bulletin. “What is the best flippant way to describe the Manteca housing market in four words? The vultures are feasting. A stratospheric 52 homes went pending in the week ending Aug. 11 for an annual pace - if it holds - of 2,704 homes.”
“The accelerated sales pace doesn’t surprise Florsheim Homes’ CEO Joseph Anfuso. ‘Those who expect homes to fall another 30 percent in value aren’t being realistic,’ Anfuso said. ‘Home (values) can not fall below rental value.’”
“Anfuso said the overwhelming majority of new renters who have moved out of foreclosures ‘make excellent renters.’ ‘They have been paying a higher mortgage payment than their rental payments,’ Anfuso noted. ‘They were really de facto renters anyway as they didn’t have any skin in the game with zero percent down and low introductory loan terms.’”
“The inventory of available homes in Manteca on Aug. 11 was 462 with all but 109 being either bank owned or short sales.”
“‘Foreclosures are driving everything now,’ Anfuso said. ‘The amount of foreclosures has surprised me.’”
The Westside Connect. “Vacant homes are proving to be a magnet for trouble, adding to the struggles in neighborhoods already hard hit by the meltdown of the housing market and the continuing wave of foreclosures. Empty dwellings can be found throughout Newman - most commonly in newer neighborhoods where buyers snapped up home at the peak of the market before the housing crisis hit.”
“With increasing frequency, police say, those homes are being occupied by transients, drug users or those looking for a place to party.”
“‘We are getting a lot of complaints about people in the vacant homes,’ Police Chief Adam McGill said recently. ‘It has really picked up in the last few weeks. We are probably getting five complaints a week.’”
“‘In the last week, we have been to a number of homes with multiple mattresses laying around and tents in the back yard,’ the chief added. ‘We have a transient, mobile population that doesn’t lay their head in the same place twice. They are staying with friends, or sometimes with people they don’t even know.’”
“In many cases, McGill theorized, those using the vacant homes as flophouses aren’t technically homeless. ‘They may be people in their late teens or early 20s who might technically still live at mom and dad’s, but they only sleep at home a night or two a week,’ he said.”
“Officers responding to reports of activity at vacant houses often find indicators of drug and alcohol use, according to McGill.”
“‘People are going to look for somewhere to hide and be secluded,’ he commented. ‘Unfortunately, some of the homes are being damaged in the process. There is no water or electricity. We have seen cases of them using lanterns or generators, and continuing to use the restrooms.’”
The LA Daily News. “The Golden State kept some rare company during the second fiscal quarter. California was one of only 13 states where sales of previously lived-in homes (I can’t stand the phrase ‘existing home sales’) increased from the first quarter, according to the National Association of Realtors.”
“And what an increase it was - a whopping 26 percent, the association said in a report released late last week. Areas that saw the biggest sales gains were those hardest hit by foreclosures and biggest price declines.”
“Could this faintest of lights be signaling the end of a very dark tunnel? Richard Gaylord, a Long Beach Realtor who is president of the national association, says yes.”
“‘Everything I’ve seen indicates … we’re beginning to come out of it,’ he said of the real-estate slump. ‘People around the country are saying that California is of one of the states hit the hardest. Now that they are seeing some turnaround, the other places are going to follow.’”
“But will this burst of optimism last? ‘I don’t think it’s a temporary thing,’ Gaylord said. ‘I think it’s the beginning of a turnaround.’”
“115 metro areas saw prices decline - Los Angeles among them. The median home price here fell an annual 29.5 percent in the quarter, to $417,800.”
“Bill Brown, president of the California Association of Realtors, said one thing is clear. We are closer to the end of this bear market than the beginning. ‘Buyers for the first half of the year were on the sidelines. They were confused about pricing and financing,’ he said.”
“‘There is value in the current market and they should buy now,’ Brown said of anyone thinking about home ownership. ‘One things we’re telling people is not to try to time the absolute (price) bottom of the market. Buy now and you will do very well on your investment over the next three to five years.’”
““Moreno Valley resident Catherine Cee said she’s ‘upside down’ on her mortgage. She paid $178,000 for her six-bedroom, 3-bathroom, 2,630- square-foot house in 2001, long before the real estate market went crazy in the Inland Empire, and she got a fixed-interest loan.”
“But when she refinanced a few years later to fund some renovations, she unwittingly signed an adjustable-rate loan.”
“Now Cee said she owes $345,000 on her house, and her loan has been sold several times to different mortgage companies, making it hard to direct her inquiries to the person able to devise a solution other than default.”
“‘I did not want my loan to default,’ Cee said during a question-and-answer session with panelists.””
Yeah, $345k to fund some renovations? Add another soul to the mass-grave!
Stupied borrower, stupied lender but lender did get the big fee’s thou.
It seems fitting that Jerry Lewis is one of their local reps. This whole thing is a bad comedy.
Maybe it’s time to unlock The Day the Clown Cried, Jerry Lewis’s film which has been supressed for decades.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068451/
This film shows Jerry as a clown hired by the Nazis to lure Jewish children into the gas chambers.
This woman will get to keep the $170K she took out on her second mortgage, and not owe any income tax on her forgiven debt. You or I would have to earn $300K to net $170K. Yet, we’re the ones being taxed to cover her.
Boo Hoo! Why doesn’t anyone confront these folks when they present their sob stories? By my accounting, she did great!
By my account, she’s a f—ing crook. That must have been one heck of a renovation. Of course she didn’t mention the vacations, wine, lottery tickets, clothes, etc. that she bought with the money, as if it were income. Income free of income taxes and this bich is whining. I hope somebody kicks her in the t*ts.
Is she any relation to David Cee?
Unwittingly?
My arse.
Why didn’t she keep her fixed, and get a heloc that was ARM or was that what she did and the ARM got a leg too?
I’ll tell you what, you can go ahead and do the tit kickin’ while I focus on the caboose. Together we could make one helluva team!
Opera glasses time, huh? LOL
–
We are a compassionate society. Honest, hardworking and responsible people have the moral obligation to pay for all the crooks, irresponsible and the lazies. The Ameican people are dedicated to an ownership society and helping people realize their American dream no matter the cost to collective taxpayers.
Our econo-political system is in tune with that philosophy.
Jas
Which group do government workers belong to?
Depends on the government and the worker. If you believe all teachers, cops, soldiers, geologists, architechts, lawyers, engineers, and IT people (etc. etc.)on the government payroll are lazy idiots then I guess we live in different worlds. Maybe worlds that are warm, comforting, and intellectually easy to grasp, but different.
I have been consistently surprised by the quality of the professionals in the federal government. I came in with a “government workers are incompetent” attitude thanks to the Reagan years. Now I have a different view. Often something like “political appointees like Greenspan” are idiots and “people working for Cheney believe the constitution is for wimps.”
Then again, secretaries in the federal government are often really, really incompetent. Give me a good legal secretary any day.
It doesn’t matter if they are compentent or incompetent. They produce no wealth and are extremely ineffiecent due to the size of the beauracy and the lack of any incentive like a profit motive to cut costs.
They are rewarded basically for just showing up and moving up a grade due to senority. Its not how the real economy works and we can no longer support their bloated ineffiecnt ways.
“Could this faintest of lights be signaling the end of a very dark tunnel? Richard Gaylord, a Long Beach Realtor who is president of the national association, says yes.”
Well, shoots! Now he’s calling himself ‘Richard’? I strongly disapprove. But I guess everyone laughed annoyingly when he introduced himself as ‘I’m Dick Gaylord, liar extraordinaire’. Dick Gaylord was just SUCH a great porn-star name!
How about if I start a petition for him to change his name back? Would all of you sign it?
Oh, and Ben, thanks for the great articles. Ahhhh, I love the smell of fear and desperation on a pretty Sunday morn.
My porn-star name would be…
Nero Hacienda
(1st pet, 1st street name)
Sorry, the last name sounds like a Realtor™ not a porn star.
Not sure if mine would work that well, for obvious reasons:
Zippy O’Connor
Hmmm. Wow. Upon mature consideration, I am sure I like it.
Mine would be ‘Ramona Nut’.
Mine would be “Franklin 23″.
Sounds dangerous.
Ginger Rush, here.
I guess I’d have to be a cross-dressing porn-star, on account of the fact that…I’m a dude.
Buddy Rush, if you count my last dog.
In honor of the Beijing Olympics my porn name would be Hung Wang.
Excellent Olympic spirit, NYC….. and if you’re a girl, how ’bout Mi Suk Dong?
You’d better check Mi Suk Dong’s ID real closely. Even though she claims to be an adult, she could be jail bait. I wouldn’t put it past the Chinese, after they lied about their gymnasts’ ages!
Long duc dong can’t be far behind…
If we are doing pet/street, how’s Peewee Warren for a porn star name?
Julie
Pixie Johnson here !
Or Sugar Johnson.
It could be worse. You might’ve ended up as “Peewee Johnson”.
FPSS says:
It could be worse. You might’ve ended up as “Peewee Johnson”.
Too late. That name’s taken already. Peewee Johnson is a female pro basketball player.
– Lance Albans, here.
“Bill Brown, president of the California Association of Realtors, said one thing is clear. We are closer to the end of this bear market than the beginning. ‘Buyers for the first half of the year were on the sidelines. They were confused about pricing and financing,’ he said.”
“‘There is value in the current market and they should buy now,’ Brown said of anyone thinking about home ownership. ‘One things we’re telling people is not to try to time the absolute (price) bottom of the market. Buy now and you will do very well on your investment over the next three to five years.’”
Ah, yes, another Realtor (TM) telling people to “buy now.” It’s always a good time to buy when you are a Realtor (TM) and collect a fat commission for doing little work.
There will be “value” in the market when the total monthly cost of owning–mortgage payment, property taxes, insurance, maintenance, and association fee–is less than the total monthly cost of renting. In very few parts of California is this true. Just because a property is down 30% from its peak price does not mean it is a good value. A lot of knife-catchers are going to learn this lesson the hard way.
And how long will it take before people stop referring to houses owners themselves live in as “investments”? An investment is something that puts money in your pocket on a regular basis, which a house occupied by its owner does not. What’s more, house prices rise at about the rate of inflation over the long term. There are much better long-term investments than houses.
Keep the popcorn popping,
Red Baron
“‘There is value in the current market and they should buy now,’ Brown said of anyone thinking about home ownership. ‘One things we’re telling people is not to try to time the absolute (price) bottom of the market. Buy now and you will do very well on your investment over the next three to five years.’”
Will someone please take this illiterate @sswipe out and shoot him?
Overpaying for shelter for another five years isn’t an “investment”, it’s stupidity. This industry deserves to implode. It still needs to purge itself of leaches like Brown.
Where do these ay-holes get off saying things like, “There is value in the current market and they should buy now“?
How does he know who “should,” and why they “should,” buy?
Ol’ Bill Brown needs to look at the end of that bear again. Maybe this time he will see the a$$hole!
Yes, any investment returning greater than 0% will beat residential real estate over the “next 3 to 5 years” (the holding period that realtors are suggesting).
A fool and his money are easily parted.
These modern day PT Barnums (who believed it was wrong to let a fool keep his money) have been fleecing fools left and right.
The product a salesperson is selling, is always the right product at the right time.
I don’t know why Realtors ™ were ever treated any differently than any other commissioned salesperson.
I’m in Long Beach, CA and his for sale signs just say “DICK”.
Very appropriate
investors are buying - like in 1992
breakeven 1997
why not just buy a reit
“Could this faintest of lights be signaling the end of a very dark tunnel? Richard Gaylord, a Long Beach Realtor who is president of the national association, says yes.”
Grateful Debt…
Driving that train, high on loan pain,
Dick Gaylord is ready, watch your speed.
Trouble ahead, trouble behind,
And you know that notion just crossed my mind.
Trouble ahead, market in red,
Take my advice you’d be better off w/o debt
Switchmans sleeping, train hundred and two is
On the wrong track and headed for you.
Trouble with you is the trouble with me,
Got two good eyes but you still dont see.
Come round the bend, you know its the end,
The fireman screams and the engine just gleams…
I hope you get paid for these
When Tijuana’s one of the few sources of buyers, when trying to sell your home in Tijuana-adjacent, your market just might officially suck, big-time?
_________________________________________
“The buyer who broke Brookhaven’s long sales drought was Maria Roberts of Tijuana. Roberts’ husband, James, said the couple had no knowledge of the Escondido real estate market. ‘They said several (condos) had sold for that price, so it had to be a good price,’ he said.”
Isn’t that area known for its high-quality marijuana? This guy was clearly hitting the bong.
Nope, TJ is known for their shwag. You want good stuff you need to buy american.
No doubt! Talk about instant migraine………not that I would know, of course.
72% of California’s total revenue is from personal income and sales tax. So when a substantial amount of people are paying little or no taxes due to job losses and reduced consumer spending, it’s only logical to see why California is experiencing a huge budget deficit. My guess is that as long as the housing bust continues for the next several years, the budget deficit will only get worse. Expect more government job cuts to come and salary reductions (to minimum wage) would not be a viable option.
And those higher interest rates that will come when China can no longer snatch up American debt will really be a pain in the Richard Gaylord (a$$).
The REIC jerks still don’t want to confront 8%, or above, interest rates. The monopolistic practices of Fannie, Freddie and FHA can’t last forever. They better hope the Chinese keep buying up all American crap paper.
We’ve got 12 million illegals sucking free health care,education and all the other goodies of a semi-welfare state. Ca would save $15-18 million in 2008 if we kicked them out. They could go to NY or Mass. Too many bleeding hearts in SF or Sacramento.
Why not just quit redistributing stuff from producing people to any who wanders by? That way you don’t have to chase illegals and you fix this problem.
The felons among them could be supervised in building an electric fence near the Rio Grande on their way south.
The US could also deduct the cost of caring for these people from our Mexican gas import bill.
And…
Never mind.
Bullsh*t. We are broke as a state because our primarily Democratic legislature spends like drunken sailors.
Our budget is now more than 60% higher than it was 5 years ago. Revenues are not down accordingly. As Arnold says…we don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.
Yes, illegals don’t help, but the majority of the increases were to fund a bunch of useless bond measures and programs that voters are too stupid to know = new taxes. And now of course, all of those bond measure funds are being raided for completely different purposes.
Wow, simulated profanity.
California’s roughly 3 million illegal immigrants cost taxpayers in the state nearly $9 billion each year. People quibble over the number, but it’s h-u-g-e.
Yes, that is clearly a spending problem.
“Escondido’s condo conversion market peaked in 2006 with 236 sales. So far this year, sales sit at ‘negative-five’ in the city. MarketPointe considers sales contracts that were cancelled as ‘negative sales,’ meaning five more sales contracts were cancelled than sold.”
Question. If 5 condo conversions are sold between now and the end of the year, what percentage increase in sales can the NAR tout?
In ProcrastiNation, people wait until it’s too late…
“Veronica Turner of San Bernardino is tired of unreturned phone calls from her lender and choosing between buying food for her son and paying the mortgage on her house.”
“Andrew Eakins and his wife of Apple Valley are six months into foreclosure on their house and are looking for help on how to save their home.”
We just watched the end of “Our First House” on HIVTV. Two troglodytic young wannabes had just bought, “their first place”. It was a 100% financed, interest only ARM. The two losers were just so happy to finally “own their own home”. They talked about how much it took to get there. By my calculation it took $0 and 0 brains.
I’m guessing this couple would have reminded me of those two defective sperm samples I saw on HIVTV.
On Saturday, hundreds of homeowners in distress crowded a hall at the National Orange Show Events Center to meet with representatives of their banks, to hear experts explain what caused the mortgage meltdown, and to learn how borrowers can dig their way out of default through strategies such as short sales or forbearance
They should have called the real experts, Ben Jones and Co. We could give them much more real information that whatever clowns (like Gary and Fun Yun and LAY they may have dragged in). They should just be given Ben’s web address and they can read the real scoop going back to the inception of this site.
Andrew Eakins and his wife of Apple Valley are six months into foreclosure on their house and are looking for help on how to save their home.”
Here is a hint on how to save your house. PAY YOUR BILL!!! I know that might be a shocking relevation. But it comes down to “put up or get out”. No more information needed. No sob stories, or any other BS. You were gambling when you went in. You lost. Take your lumps and go.
But I thought the Governator was going to solve of California’s budget woes. Never Fear, Ahhold is here! (ha, ha, ha). Another good reason why I left California.
I know the feeling. Jesse Ventura made leaving Minnesota very easy.
Who would we have to hire to get the rest of the people who really don’t wanna be here to move out? Whoever that candidate is, I would vote for them in a heartbeat. I love San Diego, but I hate traffic.
“Even associations with well-heeled members, such as that of the oceanfront Surfsong condominium complex in Solana Beach, haven’t escaped financial misery. Built in the mid-1970s, many of the units, with stunning, unobstructed ocean views, are valued at more than $1 million.”
“The 72-unit complex is in the midst of an $11 million rehab that includes new roofs, decks, railings, siding, fencing and a new sea wall. Each condo owner has been assessed more than $150,000 for the work, although the association had to foreclose on one owner who was unable to pay.”
A friend of mine was renting a unit here in the midst of this rehab. The single-pane windows had been so rusted from ocean air that they actually fell out of the tracks, hitting the ground below. With their ocean facing exposure, the interior got so hot in the afternoon that we had to close every blind to block the sun. The exterior stucco, windows and roofs were being completely stripped off, with the blare of jackhammers and drills from 7:30 in the morning. Very relaxing. It seemed like it would have been less expensive to just scrape these units and start over again. “All I got for my $150,000 assessment was a 70s condo.”
“although the association had to foreclose on one owner who was unable to pay.”
I guess that proves who really owns the condo. The Ownership Society takes another hit. The Ownership Society is starting to look like Mike Tyson against Buster Douglas in 1990. It had one good punch in the midst of an otherwise overwhelming a$$-kicking.
Not even covered yet by the U-T is the quicky condo conversion deferred maintenance time bomb. These units should have been bulldozed or thoroughly rehabbed, not given granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances and offloaded at peak bubble prices. I’m just not seeing overextended buyers of these units also having $$$$ for special assessments for all of the coming repairs.
Exactly.
These places were hastily put to market in most cases with just a redecorating to cover their age and problems. I can think of several which are now repartments and didn’t really sell enough units to get a HOA up,running, and properly funded. Add to this the massive number of foreclosures and the fact that even fewer owners are paying their share of dues toward any sort of upkeep fund, let alone the amount of the insurance required for the buildings. UP go the HOAs, as the U-T has reported previously. Who has money left for assessments after that and their loan resetting?
I talked to one guy who was having to come up with a special assessment of $1000 just to help pay for a frivolous lawsuit against his complex by one of the other owners. This on top of another assessment of $1200 for a new roof and $300/mo HOAs. That’ll end well.
Consider the absurd prices that the developers paid per unit in buying at the peak. (UTC comes to mind especially with several large complexes between $230K and $270K per unit for old apartments!) Even with renting the former conversions out now at about $100/mo more than before, I have to wonder exactly how overextended are these developers / now landlords and how long they have been able to postpone their own day of reckoning. Some refinanced their construction loans as I remember, pushing them out a very few years.
The U-T was one of the biggest cheerleaders for these cosmetic conversions, touting them as “affordable” housing. They were typically so “affordable” that no one that had been previously renting such a unit would buy it following the cosmetic conversion. A place I was renting prior to late 2004 had an asking price in early 2005 for what in debt service plus HOA fees would have been more than 3x what I’d been paying in rent. They were asking $450K for a 2 bed/ 2 bath sub-1000 sq ft unit with a fire place, but no balcony and no washer/dryer in the unit. That’s quite a markup for some overdue interior cosmetic improvements.
I was in the same situation. Paying 3x as much as my rent to become an owner was laughable. Yeah, that’s very “affordable” housing. Knowing the problems in several of these conversions from having lived around there, no amount of granite or Pergo flooring could convince me to buy into that!
The U-T’s definition of affordable remains a joke.
RE: “‘Appraisals are extremely important,’ said Craine. ‘It’s not that that wasn’t true in the past, but we tended to minimize that during the real estate bubble. We’re getting back to it now.’”
Geez, Mr. Craine…would you care to embellish on that “we tended to minimize part…”
Inquiring minds, like the US taxpayers who are now on the hook for the losses attendant to your industry’s “minimizing”, would really like to know the how you determine when the appraisal accuracy and validity faucet gets turned on and off.
The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice and Ethics seems to be at odds with your methodolgies.
Again, another reason for lawmakers (and Attorneys General) to try to recover losses by suing the large Realtors, Appraisers, and Title Companies. Nobody likes them anyway, and I’m sure a little bit of investigation would uncover some law that they broke.
Why can’t one outcome of the collapse of the housing bubble mean the end of the Realtor(TM) business as we know it. No more 6% commissions. Just pay an attorney $1000 to make sure everything is on-the-level.
Nuremberg 1945: “We were only doing our jobs”
California 2008: “We were only doing our jobs”
Nuremberg 1945: “we were only following orders.”
California 2008: “we were only ordering followers.”
Nuremberg 1945: “we were only following orders.”
California 2005: “we were only taking orders.”
You WANT HOW MUCH ?…for OUR deferred maintenance, condo conversion disaster, Association Special Assessment ?!?
Bawahahahahaha:)
“California was one of only 13 states where sales of previously lived-in homes (I can’t stand the phrase ‘existing home sales’) increased from the first quarter, according to the National Association of Realtors.”
I can’t stand the phrase “previously lived-in homes”. Too long. Can’t they just say “used”?
Would you like it better if we replaced “existing home sales” with “sales of homes that have previously been eaten in, slept in, pi$$ed in, $hit in, screwed in, farted in and died in”? I think that sounds a little bit more accurate.
Secondhand houses.
Sheesh !
What does “”replaced “existing home sales” with “sales of homes that have previously been eaten in, slept in, pi$$ed in, $hit in, screwed in, farted in and died in”? I think that sounds a little bit more accurate.”" do for homes that are 50-200 yrs old..
nycityboy, instead of your favorite friend, JackBeam, did someone slip you some ‘piss and vinegar’ !
“‘Any time you have a reduction in volume, especially because that is when the underwriting criteria of lenders tends to become more stringent, it’s difficult,’ said Charles Warren, who runs a San Francisco appraisal business. ‘Lenders want to see comparables from the last 30 days, and all of a sudden you are left without any valid data. That exacerbates the problem.’”
This should not be so difficult with a glut of foreclosures and vacant unsold new homes on the market. Look around at the list prices of all the homes that are not selling, and subtract 10, 20 or maybe 40 percent from the lowest list price for comparable housing and you have a ballpark appraisal in hand.
“Bob A. Sullivan, a semi-retired owner and broker of a Stockton real estate firm…said he expects to no less than double or triple his investment.”
“‘What I like the best is the timing to buy,’ he said. ‘Prices are really depressed right now. In my mind, there’s no question that prices will go up again considerably. Whether it’s one year or five years, I don’t know. I don’t see any downside.’”
Look up, Bob, and behold that Stockton foreclosure tsunami headed straight towards you.
Bob A. Sullivan, a semi-retired owner
full retirement will continue to elude Bob after he squanders his savings on a set of falling steak knives….
“Veronica Turner of San Bernardino is tired of unreturned phone calls from her lender and choosing between buying food for her son and paying the mortgage on her house.”
No “choice” there that I can see. Feed kid, walk away from aligator. Of course, her son is probably 23 and a doper.
Heckova snow job, Brownie…
“‘There is value in the current market and they should buy now,’ Brown said of anyone thinking about home ownership. ‘One things we’re telling people is not to try to time the absolute (price) bottom of the market. Buy now and you will do very well on your investment over the next three to five years.’”
This IS a good bit of old-fashioned spin, isn’t it?
“One things we’re telling people is not to try to time the absolute (price) bottom of the market.”
In other words, “Yeah, I know we said the market was at bottom - and that you should buy - six months ago. It’s now clear we were wrong again. But, as luck would have it, you don’t really need to time the bottom afterall! That’s just inconvenient for everybody. Just buy.”
1930’s: Hoovervilles
2000’s: Bush Leagues
“‘People are going to look for somewhere to hide and be secluded,’ he commented. ‘Unfortunately, some of the homes are being damaged in the process. There is no water or electricity. We have seen cases of them using lanterns or generators, and continuing to use the restrooms.’”
What a bunch of fricken whiners. Can’t pay the mortgage? Well, mail in the kids. I have this feeling that some people blame everyone else for their screwups. By the way, if you have no clue whether you just signed an adjustable or fixed rate loan, then maybe in the future it should be ILLEGAL for an illiterate to borrow money.
“‘It’s miserable,’ said Karen Mann, who runs a small East Bay appraisal firm. ‘I’ve been in the business 28 years, and this is the worst downturn I’ve seen.’”
Miserable? The Bay Area’s off what, 10%, if that? What will it be called when the Bay Area goes off 30%?
File this in the sign of the times folder…
Was at a catholic mass today and during the prayer of the faithful, they are going through the usual suspects, the sick and elderly, travellers, etc. However, this time, a new group was added to the mix and they happened to be the unemployed, the lepers of the job market. I haven’t heard the unemployed get prayer props in about 8 years in this part of town. Anyways, next week when they ask “who else should we pray for?”, I may chime in with “For those who have lost homes to foreclosure, may they find affordable housing and not succumb to easy financing and lending charlatans next time around.” I’ll report back if any grumblings or “Amen!” are heard.
Offering up a public prayer for FBs to abstain from procreation would probably be exceeding the bounds of good taste and sound religious doctrine. I personally, however, would be highly entertained if I were in the congregation.
Mr Mortgage talks about “bulk asset sales” where Lehman, Fannie Mae, Merrill Lynch etc sell foreclosed houses to companies who dump them on the market. Fannie Mae has 54,000 foreclosed houses to dump!
Real estate doesn’t go down in value
until it does.
Bill Brown, president of the California Association of Realtors:
“‘There is value in the current market and they should buy now,’ Brown said of anyone thinking about home ownership. ‘One things we’re telling people is not to try to time the absolute (price) bottom of the market.
——————————–
Bill says don’t engage in market timing, but “BUY NOW” is his advice… a little contradictory… wouldn’t you say? Then again, these are the same people who said (during bubbly times)… “You have to buy now to make sure you’re not priced out of the market forever!”
“The Golden State kept some rare company during the second fiscal quarter. California was one of only 13 states where sales of previously lived-in homes (I can’t stand the phrase ‘existing home sales’) increased from the first quarter, according to the National Association of Realtors.”
“And what an increase it was - a whopping 26 percent, the association said in a report released late last week. Areas that saw the biggest sales gains were those hardest hit by foreclosures and biggest price declines.”
“Could this faintest of lights be signaling the end of a very dark tunnel? Richard Gaylord, a Long Beach Realtor who is president of the national association, says yes.”
This is a dumb comparison. You can’t compare Q1 to Q2, especially if Q2 is always historical higher than Q1. You have to look at previous year to get a real comparision. This is just spin.