The Housing Bubble

The News Tribune reports from Washington. “Downtown Tacoma’s condominiums have helped to transform a once-troubled downtown where few previously wanted to live. Today, a patchwork of exposed steel, scaffolding and cranes showcases a decade of marketing, recruiting developers and trying to convince buyers of the area’s merits.”

“Dozens of condo buildings have gone up or been renovated in the city’s downtown core. As of December, all six neighborhoods surveyed averaged 14 months of condominium inventory, which measures how long it would take to sell everything built and approved.”

“Buyers enjoy some advantage and prices don’t appreciate as quickly, said Deanna Sihon, the study’s author. Tacoma also is subject to a hesitation common in areas remaking themselves and having to overcome long-held perceptions, Sihon said.”

“‘People are being careful and almost waiting to see, gosh, is this renovation and this new place really happening?’ she said. ‘It is in Tacoma.’”

“‘I think everyone would like the strongest sales possible. You’d like to see them fly off the shelf, and they’re not doing that right now,’ said consultant J.J. McCament.”

“Since 2004, nearly 400 condos have been sold downtown with another 525 for sale and about 1,500 proposed.”

“A year ago, a hot market meant condo shoppers had to make rapid buying decisions, said real estate agent George Pilant. Not so now. ‘Buyers have so many choices they don’t feel a sense of urgency,’ he said.”

“But condos are a niche product that at higher inventory levels, he said, raise this question: Will good-paying jobs needed to sell such downtown housing continue to be created? ‘I suppose that’s where the gamble is,’ said Paul Turek, an economist with the state Employment Security Department. ‘In the Tacoma area, we have some high-paying jobs. Whether there’s enough to support the building of the condos remains to be seen.’”

“For some buyers, the hesitation has little to do with a good job or affording a condo but leaving behind a house. Realtor Marilyn Tennison said she and husband (have) pondered the possibility of condo living and like the idea of a low-maintenance home. Rather than buy immediately, the couple likely will first lease a condominium, she said.”

“‘It’s difficult to think about going from a house to a condo,’ she said. ‘Because in many ways it’s like an apartment.’”

“Soon-to-retire Eric Johnson is doing the condo life times two. He’s buying one in Miami and last year purchased a 1,200-square-foot town home at City Steps. He plans to sell his Northeast Tacoma house. ‘As you get older you realize this: Less is more,’ he said.”

The Herald from Washington. “On paper at least, downtown Everett is poised for explosive growth. Nearly 800 new downtown condos and apartments are in various stages of planning. The city’s population is expected to grow from 101,100 to 123,000 people.”

“There’s a good chance some of the projects scattered across a dozen development sites will not get off the ground, officials acknowledge. ‘We’re going to look out across this city in a few years, and I will be surprised if we don’t see cranes,’ Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson said.”

“Buildings now in the planning pipeline include $1.1 million bay-view penthouses. All of this does not include 660 upscale condos, shops and restaurants being constructed on the marina, or up to 1,500 condos planned for the Lowell neighborhood along the Snohomish River on a former mill and landfill.”

“Developers in Everett talk about ‘pent-up demand’ and say they aren’t deeply concerned their projects will create a glut of vacant condos for sale, as is the case in Las Vegas and parts of Florida.”

“‘I’ve always said Everett is the best kept secret in Washington, and people are finally starting to see that,’ said Donna Corpus, owner of Studio Donna. Corpus and her husband bought the salon’s current building and began quietly assembling other downtown properties.”

“They hope to begin construction this year on Colby Tower. With Sub-Zero refrigerators, Wolf gas ranges and other luxury accouterments, condos are expected to range from $950,000 to $1.1 million.”

“‘We’re just hoping for something kind of special and elite for people who want that,’ Donna Corpus said.”

“Anthony Aversano, (a) remodeling-contractor-turned-developer, said he’s trying to stay positive, but he thinks Everett’s downtown building boom could fizzle if the cooling housing market nationwide turns into a dot-com-style bust.”

“‘It’s going to come down to economics,’ Aversano said.”

The Register Guard from Oregon. “People looking for houses to buy in Lane County right now are enjoying more of a buyer’s market than the area has seen for years, with more homes to choose from and more time to make up their minds.”

“The number of houses put on the market in Lane County last month jumped by 25 percent, compared with February a year ago, according to the Regional MLS. Buyers had about 1,500 listings to choose from in central and eastern Lane County. That’s an increase of 9 percent since December, and a whopping 39 percent more than the number on the market a year ago, in February 2006.”

“Broker Norm Brock says both buyers and sellers should take care when trying to read the local real estate market. ‘At the moment, things are slowing a bit, and the number of houses on the market has increased, but it’s a situation that could turn around quickly,’ Brock said.”

“The time it takes to sell a house also has slowed substantially, giving many buyers more time to think about their purchases. The inventory of homes for sale also is higher than it’s been for years, with more than 5.5 months worth of homes available for the first two months of this year.”

“‘We’ve gone through this kind of slowdown many times before, then all of a sudden it turns around and the market heats up again,’ he said. ‘I think we’re in for a good year all the way around - I think everyone’s going to be happy.’”

The Associated Press. “It’s a popular refrain from many in the West. When Californians move in, it’s always their fault when things change. They infect the rest of the region with their…questionable driving and make housing prices soar.”

“Sure, it’s been 30 years since Oregonians first slapped ‘Don’t Californicate Oregon’ bumper stickers on their cars, but ‘Californication’ is still alive and well.”

“Yes, Californians drive up housing costs, and some can even be blamed for falling prices because of the many investors who snapped up cheap houses, then wanted to sell, creating too much inventory in cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix.”

“‘Home prices go up and we all blame Californians,’ said Jay Butler, at Arizona State University Polytechnic. ‘They are sort of like the West Coast version of the New Yorkers. They have the attitude.’”

The Pioneer Press reports from Minnesota. “Welcome to an ultra-competitive spring housing market. Motivated sellers are cutting prices. Axing in some cases. And that new willingness to move the product marks the end of last year’s stare-down between buyer and seller, and could spell a sharper falloff in area home prices over the next year.”

“Chuck Eckberg was stunned when his clients last week announced they wanted to drop the $419,000 price on their house by $20,000. Price reductions are something sellers typically resist like a colonoscopy. ‘I didn’t think we needed to reduce at all,’ said Eckberg. ‘They’re trying to beat other sellers to the punch because they don’t want to suffer through anything they saw, or many experienced, last year.’”

“Serious price reductions that typically don’t start until closer to the July 4 make-it-or-break-it point, are happening now, Eckberg said. ‘I think people are finally saying ‘I get it,’ said broker Steve Hyland.”

“Part of it is a plethora of offerings to choose from. For-sale listings around the Twin Cities have swelled again to 28,362. And that doesn’t capture all the empty newly built homes around.”

“Susan Thacker will be singing if her house just sells. (She) and her husband first listed the house in December for $990,940 after months of extensive improvements. Three price reductions later they’re asking $862,000. They just want to move to their new house, Thacker said.”

“The cuts were tough, but necessary, Thacker said, even though the house is paid off.”

“‘We had a sense from everything we’ve read and watched on TV, and seen on the Internet, that the real estate market was as it is - just very, very sluggish,’ she said. ‘You don’t have to like the reality of price cuts to accept it.’”

“It’s a similar story in West St. Paul. Jean Wirsig, a retired math professor, has been trying to sell her two bedroom, two bath condo since she listed it at $178,900 in 2005. She cut the price another $1,000 last week to $154,000, a deal, said her agent, Mary Farrelly, given its impeccable condition, wooded location and spot high atop one of West St. Paul’s Signal Hills.”

“‘People don’t even come to look,’ said Wirsig.”

“It’s not just homeowners grappling with the slow market. Lenders, trying to minimize their losses on foreclosed houses they’ve repossessed, appear more willing to cut prices too, agents say. Craig Murphy, an agent who deals exclusively with lenders and foreclosures, agreed that lenders are starting to price their foreclosures more realistically from go. ‘We’re seeing the prices come down pretty good,’ said Murphy. ‘It just takes time for them to come to grips.’”

“Anna Green has had her St. Francis house on the market for six months. She keeps an eye on other for-sale signs in the neighborhood, she said, and notices when ‘reduced’ signs appear. So the Greens reduced their $425,000 original price. And reduced. By early March, they were at $400,000. ‘That’s kind of the frame of mind of the buyers, of waiting for things to be reduced,’ said Green.”

“She and her husband, who works in construction, designed it together. He built it himself. They need the money, Green said. Her husband’s construction work has become too sporadic.”

“‘We’re hoping with the nice weather coming back it will start picking up,’ said Green. ‘It’s one of those things, keeping your fingers crossed and hoping for the best.’”

The Journal Sentinel from Wisconsin. “Wisconsinites have paid dearly for the wild success of the quick-but-costly subprime loan trade. Homeowners across the state took on $1.6 billion in subprime loans in 2005 alone, the most recent year for which figures are available.”

“Those loans accounted for nearly 21% of the state’s mortgage market and a stunning 34% of Milwaukee County’s, federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act records show.”

“This state is now 11th worst in the nation on loan defaults, based on its fourth-quarter 2006 foreclosure rate of 1.46%, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported. Legal actions to seize property for unpaid debt surged 34% last year and are running 27% higher in this year’s first two months, according to ForeclosuresWI.com.”

“‘We’re seeing the fallout from the inappropriate loans of ‘05 and ‘06,’ said Todd G. Clausen, after mapping the numbers attached to all those broken dreams. ‘I think that’s what the big increase in foreclosures is all about - adjustable-rate mortgages, high interest rates, high fees,’ Clausen said. “I don’t think people realized just how high their payments would go.’”

“The Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions records show 112 consumer complaints as of mid-March, compared with 358 in all of 2006. ‘Some people say, ‘They should have never made me this loan,’ said Michael J. Mach, the department’s banking division administrator. ‘Some say, ‘I didn’t understand what I was getting.’”

“Milwaukee homeowner Scott A. Schlipp counts himself as one who escaped. In seeking to consolidate the mortgage with some credit card debt, he turned to one of the nation’s top-volume subprime lenders.”

“‘I said, ‘I don’t care what you charge me, I only care what I owe each month, and I don’t want my payments to change,’ Schlipp said. ‘They offered me a 4.75 percent rate, without an appraisal, all over the phone. But they lied. When I got the papers, I checked the APR (annual percentage rate) and found it was variable. The range was from that low all the way to 18 percent. And I’m like, ‘I’m not signing this.’”

“Schlipp said he has lived happily ever after, on a 6% fixed-rate loan from another lender. ‘I laughed when I read they shut down here,’ he said. ‘They were definitely trying to pull something.’”

The Quad Cities Online from Illinois. “Mortgage foreclosures spiked in Rock Island County and inched upward in Scott County in 2006, and are on track for another barn burner if all else stays equal, court records indicate.”

“Rock Island attorney Bruce Buckrop said he has definitely seen a rise in the number of his clients facing financial difficulty because of adjustable rate mortgages. Some borrowers are wooed into an adjustable interest rate by an attractive low starting rate of 5 percent interest that increases six months later to 8 percent and then 11 percent, he said.”

“An 11 percent mortgage rate is ‘a killer rate’ that can take a $400 a month house payment to $950, Mr. Buckrop said.”

“‘I don’t know if we’ve seen the worst of it,’ said Brian Boyles, president of real estate lending for American Bank & Trust Co., Davenport.”

From Chicago Business in Illinois. “With inventory stacking up and few buyers in sight, home sellers are starting to sweeten the deal in the hope of enticing casual house hunters into signing on the dotted line. ‘We all need buyers quite a bit,’ says Tom Gilfillan, a northwest suburban agent.”

“‘I’m telling all of my sellers, give me six months,’ says Barbara Floyd, (an) agent who’s sold real estate in Chicago for more than 20 years. ‘It’s taking longer to sell. You can’t sugarcoat it.’”

“With homes languishing on the market for an average of 131 days, the supply of homes for sale in Cook County as of last week had risen 38% from last year to 43,339, according to the MLS of Northern Illinois.”

“The oversupply situation isn’t lost on those few buyers out there, says Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist at LaSalle Bank in Chicago. The result: a game of chicken.”

“‘If buyers sense that there are going to be bargains out there, and a lot of sellers are very reluctant to lower (prices)…the result of that is the waiting game,’ he says.”

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. “Sales of new one-family houses in February 2007 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 848,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 18.3 percent (±12.2%) below the February 2006 estimate of 1,038,000.”

From MarketWatch. “Inventories of unsold homes rose 1.5% to 546,000, representing an 8.1-month supply, the largest inventory in relation to sales since January 1991. The inventory is up 27% in the past 12 months. Inventories are probably understated, because they don’t include homes thrown back on the market due to buyer cancellations.”

“The number of completed but unsold homes rose to 179,000 from 177,000, up 43% from a year earlier.”

“Residential builders have piled on incentives, including free vacations and new cars, to sell homes and reduce inventories. Such incentives are not subtracted from the sales price reported to the government.”

“Sales are reported when a contract is signed, not at the closing of the sale. Builders have reported a large increase in cancellations in recent months. Since cancellations are not reflected in the government data, reported sales are likely overstated.”

“Sales in January were revised lower to show a 15.8% drop to an 882,000 annual rate, compared with the 937,000 reported previously. Reported sales for December and November were also revised lower.”

From CNN Money. “The pace of sales tumbled from February 2006, with all four regions of the country showing sharp declines. New home sales are more of a leading indicator since they are booked when a sales contract is signed, not when the sale is closed, as is the case with existing home sales.”

“Monday’s report suggests the housing market weakened further in February rather than stabilizing. It also raised fears that problems in the subprime mortgage sector first seen in February could further batteer the struggling real estate market. A recent survey by the National Association of Home Builders found builders saying the subprime woes were already cutting into their sales.”

From Origination News. “Nearly three-quarters of Washington-area real estate agents in a recent online survey said the availability of subprime mortgages and tighter standards for alternative-A loans have hurt their ability to get homes under contract, according to City Influence.”

“In addition to the 73% who responded affirmatively on this question, 60% said their clients are having difficulty qualifying for the loan they need to buy a home, the firm reported.”

“‘I think this raises a number of questions about the longer-term impact of mortgage availability on the velocity of sales in the market,’ said Kim Hoover, president of City Influence. ‘We know that a significant portion of buyers who were able to enter the homeownership category over the last decade took advantage of more flexible lending standards. The question is, if that group is unable to buy a home going forward, how much of a ripple effect will that have up the chain?’”

From Reuters. “Bank holding company OceanFirst Financial Corp. said it sees an additional provision in the first quarter to repurchase subprime loans due to first-payment defaults.”

The Wall Street Journal. “Mark Ernst, CEO of H&R Block Inc., has said repeatedly the company will announce whether it has reached a deal to sell Option One Mortgage Corp. by the end of March. But it may have to lower its $1.3 billion asking price on the unit, which deals in risky subprime mortgages, if it wants to cut a deal by then.”

“In regulatory filings, H&R Block said Option One’s delinquency rate in its fiscal third quarter that ended Jan. 31 rose to 11.2 percent from 5.6 percent last year. Because of a jump in defaults, the lender recorded loan-loss provisions of $111.1 million, a nearly 750 percent increase from $13.1 million a year ago.”

“Of those delinquencies, 84 percent were on loans written during previous quarters, indicating that H&R Block had sharply underestimated the increase in defaults. ‘There are likely to be more provisions in the future, and you would think an astute buyer would know that,’ said Donn Vickrey, co-founder of equity research firm Gradient Analytics.”

From Bloomberg. “U.S. foreclosure filings last month jumped 12 percent compared with a year ago as homeowners struggled with declining home values and higher adjustable mortgage rates.”

“More than 130,000 homes entered foreclosure last month, according to RealtyTrac. That’s the second-highest since RealtyTrac began collecting data in January 2005.”

“‘The rise in foreclosures over the past year probably only marks the beginning of the problem,’ wrote Jan Hatzius, a Goldman, Sachs & Co. economist. ‘The main reason to expect further deterioration is that house prices are likely to fall significantly in 2007, with further declines possible in subsequent years.’”

“Interest rates on about $775 billion worth of subprime loans are scheduled to rise in the last nine months of 2007, according to Bear Stearns Cos.”

“The median U.S. home price was $212,800 in February, 1.3 percent less than a year ago and down 7.6 percent from a record in July.”

“One-fifth of home loan borrowers have adjustable rate mortgages, according to Credit Suisse Group. About 15 percent of the $9.5 trillion U.S. mortgages are subprime, according to Bear Stearns.”

“‘People who bought homes in the 1980s and 1990s started refinancing their equity out in the 2000s, so we can’t assume that foreclosures will only affect people who bought their homes in the last couple of years,’ said Schahrzad Berkland, who publishes the California Housing Forecast in San Diego. ‘And a lot of adjustable-rate mortgages were taken out by prime borrowers, so we can’t assume that the more qualified borrowers will be immune to losing their homes.’”

The St Petersburg Times reports from Florida. “Subprime companies found fertile ground in the Tampa Bay area as home values soared in 2004 and much of 2005. The old rule of thumb, no mortgage within seven years of a bankruptcy, went out the window as lenders scrambled to make loans to borrowers they once would have shunned. ‘It’s risk vs. reward,’ says Richard Doyle, a Pinellas County real estate agent. Lenders ‘get higher interest in return for higher risk.’”

“Among Doyle’s clients is a resident of upscale Belleair Beach who got a $576,000 loan at 8.65 percent interest from Fremont in 2005 even though he had filed a personal bankruptcy four years earlier. He defaulted on the payments, and the house is now in foreclosure, slated for public sale in April unless a buyer can be found before then.”

“The property was originally worth the loan amount, but housing values have dropped in Pinellas ‘absolutely without question,’ Doyle says. ‘There’s an unprecedented level of inventory.’”

“In 2002, Hattie and Jerry Jones bought a house in the Port Tampa area with a Fremont mortgage at 8.9 percent. On his Social Security and her modest wages as a nurse’s aide, the Joneses can barely make the $603 monthly payments, which don’t include taxes or insurance, and keep up with their other bills.”

“Mounting debts forced the couple into bankruptcy court two years ago. They are determined to hang on to their home, even though they realize they would have been far better off renting.”

“‘I don’t want to walk away, but I sure feel like it,’ Hattie Jones says. ‘Buying a house is not really for people who don’t have money.’”

From Bloomberg. “The experience of Beth and Fabrizio Faieta, who have bought five homes in the Fort Myers-Naples area over the past few years, provides a tale of what happens when home prices sour.”

“When the Faietas arrived in the Fort Myers area from Massachusetts 2 1/2 years ago, homes were in high demand in the Sunshine State. ‘We had to put in offers the same day we saw them or they were gone,’ says Beth, who was a part-time real- estate agent in Massachusetts.”

“Although they have had no problem renting the Bonita home, with the slack market, they have had trouble selling it on their own. They recently signed on with a local real-estate agent and have reduced the asking price of almost $400,000 to $359,900.”

“‘We purchased the house with the thinking that we would like to keep it long term,’ Beth says. ‘I am not happy to sell it. I am also not happy that we are putting our other properties up for sale.’”

“Within sight of the Faietas’ property are three similar homes for sale. According to the Naples Area Board of Realtors, there are 11,000 houses on the market, an 18-month supply, and more than 2,900 homes under construction in neighboring Lee County.”

“Doug Brunner, a real-estate agent in Bonita Springs, says: ‘Two years ago, it was common to see sales contracts written at 90 percent of the original list price. Now it is common to see listings reduced by anywhere from 20 percent to 33 percent before an offer is made.’”

The Herald Tribune. “Steve Noriega and Robert Byrne had a vision for taking laid-back, beachfront properties to the next level of luxury and sophistication. They convinced more than 30 individuals and 20 banks to help them pull it off.”

“All told, Noriega and Byrne borrowed $43 million, using $26 million of it to buy two dozen properties from Anna Maria Island to northern Longboat Key. They then submitted plans to build 33 condo units and 15 homes.”

“Five years later, all they have to show for their grand vision is a partially constructed luxury home, four duplex apartments, a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing citing $33 million in unpaid debts and a collection of angry investors.”

“‘I have never been as disappointed in a person in my life,” said Patricia Hart, a retired schoolteacher who mortgaged her house to invest more than $500,000 with Byrne. ‘He portrayed himself as a dear friend, and as far as we knew he was on the up-and-up.’”

“Paul Collins, now an agent in Sarasota, helped Byrne buy 25 units in Bradenton’s River Club condo in 2000. Collins forfeited his commission with the understanding that he would make much more when the units were resold.”

“‘I was foolish enough to think I would get paid,’ Collins said after Byrne sold the units without him. ‘In the end, I was left with the impression that he was not very trustworthy.’”

“Southwest Florida community bankers say the monumental loan problems faced by Coast Financial Holdings should not reflect poorly on community banks in general.”

“Nevertheless, Southwest Florida’s 21 community banks do have something in common with Coast: Their noncurrent loans and loan loss reserves have risen sharply over the past year.”

“Southwest Florida’s 20 community banks, not including Coast, reported a 595 percent increase in noncurrent loans, from $4.1 million December 2005 to $28.5 million in December 2006, and a 43 percent increase in money set aside to deal with future loan problems, from $29.3 million to $41.9 million.”

“‘Real estate lenders became intoxicated with the market,’ said Jody Hudgins, who heads up Florida banking operations for Pennsylvania-based FNB. ‘Now they’ve been sober six months, but problems are starting to show.’”

“Community bankers say those loan problems might worsen this year because of the continued softness in the economy.”

“What is more, profits for the 20 area community banks excluding Coast are likely to fall in 2007. ‘We are going to see continued pressure on bank earnings,’ said Community Bank of Manatee Chairman Bill Sedgeman. ‘Loan loss reserves will increase. That’s inevitable.’”

“Then there’s the problem of the inverted yield curve. ‘Banks historically make money by issuing relatively short-term CDs and lending the money out through longer term loans,’ said Steve Jonsson, CEO of Bradenton-based Flagship National Bank. ‘But we can’t do this as profitably now because short-term interest rates are higher than long-term rates.’”

“Community bankers say the reason certain banks are having loan problems and others are not has to do with who they lend to. Take Port Charlotte-based Peninsula Bank. Three of its problem loans, totaling $1.7 million, were made to James Russell Crain, who has defaulted on millions of dollars in loans over the past decade.”

“Thanks in part to Crain, Peninsula’s noncurrent loans rose 1,827 percent, from $275,000 in December 2005 to $5.3 million December 2006.”

“The Bank of Commerce’s loan problems are also largely connected to a single borrower, serial condo converter Warren Hickernell. Hickernell took out four loans from the Bank of Commerce between July 2004 and December 2005. He then used the money to convert barrier island motels and Sarasota apartment buildings into condos or condo-hotels.”

“But the market for condo conversions dried up in 2006 and all four of Hickernell’s loans are now in default. As a result, the Bank of Commerce’s noncurrent loans rose 1,896 percent in 2006.”

“Community bankers predict an increase in problem loans in the year ahead and a decline in profitability. ‘2007 will be a tough year,’ said Flagship’s Jonsson. Community Bank’s Sedgeman agreed. ‘I’m concerned for our industry.’”

“Auctions have become a more familiar phenomenon in Southwest Florida and the state as a whole with the cooling housing market. Some of the trend is an outgrowth of owners who need to move properties quickly, while another driver is banks auctioning properties after foreclosure.”

“Marsha Wolak’s first area ‘mega-auction’ is scheduled at the Sarasota Hyatt on April 15. There will be more than 30 properties up for bid, including several multimillion-dollar luxury homes. ‘We do take ordinary properties,’ Wolak said. But the business also takes ’sellers who need to sell in this difficult time, too.’”

“‘We also specialize in short sales, which is when the bank takes less than the mortgage due, to close the sale in a market like this,’ she said.”

From CNN Money. “The once red-hot Florida housing market leads the nation in delinquencies, according to RealtyTrac.”

“There were more than 19,144 properties in some stage of foreclosure in February in the Sunshine State, up 63.5 percent from January and nearly double the number a year earlier.”

The Naples News. “Tuscany Reserve is a little less exclusive. Built for affluent second home buyers, the luxury golf course community in North Naples has been repositioned to offer more homes at a lower price, reflecting a tougher market in Southwest Florida.”

“When the developer, Bonita Springs-based WCI Communities Inc., conceived the project, it expected to sell homes for $2 million to $5 million, with golf memberships in the range of $200,000.”

“In the fourth quarter, WCI reported a rare quarterly loss and $118.3 million in impairment charges. The charges included an $84.9 million write down for Tuscany Reserve, reflecting a market loss in value in the community.”

“‘The community never really gained traction,’ WCI’s CEO Jerry Starkey said.”

“‘Basically it’s a result of the market. The market was telling us that this community needed to be more reasonably priced,’ said David Fry, chief operating officer for WCI’s traditional homebuilding division.”

“The average selling price in the community was more than $2.5 million, he said. Now, it’s $1.5 million, reflecting the new housing options WCI is offering. ‘People can get into the community for less than $1 million,’ Fry said.”

“In the first seven weeks of marketing the new products, Tuscany Reserve saw 25 percent of the traffic that it had all of last year.”

Please post off-topic ideas, links and Craigslist finds here.