The Housing Bubble

The Mercury News reports from California. “Home sales around the Bay Area fell in January for the 36th month in a row, and four Bay Area counties saw median prices drop below $500,000, something not seen since 2005, DataQuick reported. A total of 3,586 new and resale houses and condos were sold in the Bay Area in January. That was down 29.2 percent from 5,065 in December, and down 41.9 percent from 6,168 in January 2007.”

“The figures were the lowest for any month in DataQuick’s 20-year history. Foreclosed sales counted for 19 percent for the entire Bay Area.”

“‘There was very little selling in those counties and significant chunks of it were foreclosure activity, said analyst Andrew LePage. ‘In Contra Costa, 33.1 percent of homes sold in January had been foreclosed on in 2007. In Solano County it was 43.2 and Alameda it was 24.9 percent.’”

“The median price paid for a Bay Area home was $550,000 last month, down 6.4 percent from $587,500 in December, and down 8.5 percent from $601,000 in January last year. Last month’s median was 17.3 percent lower than the peak $665,000 median, reached in July, and was the lowest since February 2005, when the median was $549,000.”

“Hans Johnson, associate director of research for the Public Policy Institute of California, said many factors were influencing housing statistics, including market psychology, decreased demand and the credit crunch.”

“‘While there was clearly a market psychology when the market was going up,’ he said, ‘now market psychology is on the downside.’”

“In the heady years of the real estate boom, buyers who pulled out of a deal usually got their deposits back. But these days, in a market still searching for a bottom, buyers who walk away are increasingly out of luck.”

“Just ask Seyda Harding Kaynak. Three months after she put down a $30,000 deposit on a $952,975 home to be built by Toll Brothers in Dublin, she and her husband changed their minds. So in July, Kaynak asked Toll Brothers to refund her own deposit. The company…refused, pointing to the signed contract, which both Kaynak and her husband signed. Eight months later, Kaynak is still fighting to get her deposit back.”

“Kaynak, a Pleasanton resident, realty agent for 20 years and onetime lawyer, is well-acquainted with the home-building industry. She said her house wasn’t even built when she tried to cancel the contract last summer. Furthermore, she said she has represented several new-home buyers in the past who backed out of contracts, even at the last minute, and got back their deposits.”

“‘In each case, each builder said, ‘We’re not in the business of keeping people’s deposits, we’re in the business of building homes. We would rather keep their good will,’ Kaynak recalled. ‘I remember those words.’”

“‘In the past, some home builders would not try to keep deposits knowing full well they could sell the property for more money within a short period of time,’ said Ron Rossi, a veteran real estate attorney in San Jose. ‘Obviously when the markets get tighter, these things get more dicey.’”

“Attorneys who handle such cases say disputes over deposits are on the rise, and not just over new homes, but also for resale homes. ‘I’m seeing all these $300,000, $400,000 even $500,000 deposits that are fought over,’ attorney Rossi said.”

“Kaynak, whose contract contained no contingencies, said that, like many buyers, she was swept away in the moment.”

“‘It was on April 1, and if you didn’t write it that day you would miss out on the $4,500 plasma TV,’ she recalled. ‘Yes, I’m an agent and a lawyer, but I’m also a human being.’”

The Ventura County Star. “Home sales in Ventura County and other high-cost areas were ‘abysmal’ in January, economists said Monday. Year-over-year sales have been declining since October 2005, said Robert Kleinhenz, deputy chief economist for the California Association of Realtors.”

“Ventura County sales of existing single-family detached homes plunged to 195 in January, a 38.3 percent drop-off from 317 for the same month a year ago, according to CAR.”

“‘Good grief,’ said Bill Watkins, executive director of the UC Santa Barbara Economic Forecast Project, when told about the number of transactions. ‘They can’t get much lower than this.’”

“The median sales price was $590,380, down 11.1 percent from $664,400 a year ago and 2.4 percent from $604,730 in December, according to CAR. It was the first time the median dropped to less than $600,000 since November 2004, when the price was $596,000.”

“One of veteran agent Janet Scarborough’s clients purchased a home two years ago for $525,000, but is being forced into a short sale. The three-bedroom, 2.5-bath, 1,660-square-foot condominium in Ventura initially was listed for about $439,000 in October.”

“The price since has been reduced several times. Calls started coming in after it was listed for $385,000. Still, one bidder wanted to go lower, offering $320,000.”

“Similar hard times are being felt throughout the state. In California, home sales plunged to one of their lowest levels in 25 years in January, said Robert Kleinhenz, deputy chief economist for the California Association of Realtors. The California median was $430,370 last month, a 21.9 percent drop from the $441,220 a year ago, according to CAR.”

“‘I do think we have a ways to go before we get through this,’ Kleinhenz said.”

The Press Telegram. “Los Angeles County’s housing market continued its decline in January with the median price retreating to 2005 levels, a trade association said Monday. The median price of a home in the county fell an annual 18.4 percent to $469,420, said the California Association of Realtors.”

“Sales plunged 39 percent from January 2007. ‘I cannot imagine we will go much further,’ said Kleinhenz. ‘But it’s really an open question now. It depends on how long the liquidity crunch is in play.’”

“In the High Desert, which includes the Antelope Valley, sales fell 39 percent and the median price plunged 26.2 percent to $234,310.”

“Jonathan Petralia, an agent who works in the Northridge-Porter Ranch area of the San Fernando Valley, said properties are selling, but only those priced realistically. Some asking prices here are now back to early 2004 levels, he said, and homeowners wanting top dollar will be disappointed.”

“‘There are buyers out there. But I want homeowners and the public to know that buyers are price sensitive. They are looking for value,’ he said.”

The Sacramento Bee. “Prices for building materials are slipping as new home construction continues to slump. Demand from the remodeling sector is down from its peak when both speculators and homeowners sank equity into their properties, betting they would increase in value, said Adam J. Fein, founder and president of Pembroke Consulting.”

“Gordy and Lydia DeNecochea of Sacramento’s Land Park area are looking to score savings. Retirees who have owned their home since 1970, the DeNecocheas are shopping the Internet and local businesses for items to remodel the kitchen.”

“Although they differ on the aesthetics, one thing is clear to the couple: ‘Granite is cheap.’”

“The cost of prefabricated granite has dropped considerably from the building boom highs of four years ago, as much as 50 percent or more, said Cheryl Tarido, a sales associate at Medimer Marble & Granite.”

“‘In our particular county, people are holding materials,’ said Gordy DeNecochea, a former administrator at the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development. ‘The prices will come down. They can’t afford to hang onto the inventory.’”

“Remodeler Darius Baker said the remaining growth is coming from homeowners who have decided they will keep their houses rather than cashing out in a down market.”

“‘The homeowner’s saying, ‘I’m going out of this house feet first. I’m happy with the neighborhood. I want to make this house exactly what I want it to be,’ Baker said. ‘They’re saying, ‘I’m going to spend my equity and make it my own little Taj Mahal.’”

“Baker said he’s finding no shortage of building products when he places his orders. That’s far different from several years ago. ‘The products are readily available,’ he said.”

Bay Area Newsgroup. “Move over McMansion, make room for the East Bay’s newer, cheaper house. KB Home will add two new scaled-down models to its new Antioch development, Almond Ridge, that will range from the low-to-mid-$300,000s.”

“‘Our business model focuses primarily on the affordability and combines the whole idea of value to the customer,’ said Marc Burnstein, VP of sales and marketing for KB Home, South Bay Division, which includes the East Bay. ‘The average homes size was 2,700 square feet and now it’s about 2,100 square feet.’”

“Burnstein said the biggest expense for builders is land and by adding more density per acre, it creates more affordability. ‘You combine that with a build-to-order business model and people aren’t going in and paying for things they don’t want or need,’ he said.”

“Bryce Ellsworth, broker in Brentwood, said that builders in tougher markets will find it hard to compete with newer bank-owned properties. ‘People look for value and a house being under a certain price,’ he said. ‘But they want a bigger house for less money.’”

“Alan Nevin, chief economist of the California Building Industry Association, said that in the Bay Area, smaller homes will be seen first in the outlying areas of east Alameda and Contra Costa counties, as well as Solano County.”

“‘It’s hard to buy a $250,000 plot of land and put a 1,200-square-foot house on it,’ he said. ‘But if they were $200,000 and now you’re getting it for $100,000, you can put out smaller homes.’”

“Nevin said that publicly traded builders, who answer to shareholders, have more pressure to sell off existing land than private builders. Many will be selling land to smaller developers at a loss, possibly fueling the cheaper land for cheaper houses trend.”

“‘Across the board we will be downshifting to about 2003 to 2004 prices,’ he said.”

The Bakersfield Californian. “Carl Cole, the former Crisp & Cole Real Estate broker and the subject of an ongoing FBI investigation, has a new job selling real estate on the coast.”

“Keller Williams Realty recently hired Cole to work in its Camarillo branch as a broker/associate, according to a Feb 3. advertisement placed with the Ventura County Star newspaper. When reached by phone at his new office this morning, Cole hung up.”

“Cristina Better, who runs the real estate agency, said she doesn’t ‘really have any background information on him.’ ‘I don’t want to discuss him,’ Better said.”

“Better then hung up as well.”

“In September, federal agents raided 13 Bakersfield offices and homes associated with the Crisp & Cole Real Estate company and its founders, the more experienced Cole and his partner, 28-year-old David Crisp.”

“The Department of Real Estate, the state agency regulating the real estate industry, also filed a detailed complaint against Cole, Crisp and three of their ex-employees in September, alleging they deceived lenders to secure more than $12 million worth of home loans.”

“The Ventura County Star ad lists a variety of professional titles Cole has earned, including the energy and environment-focused EcoBroker designation.”

“‘My mission is to provide real estate clients the direction needed to make pragmatic and informed decisions that will enhance the value of the lives, their families, their communities and the environment, thus enabling them to make economic, energy-saving, and environmentally sustainable choices,’ Cole is quoted as saying.”

From KGET TV 17. “It’s been five months since the fbi raided the homes and businesses of real estate agents David Crisp and Carl Cole. Former Crisp and Cole real estate agent Scott Reynolds didn’t want to talk with us on camera about his former employer David Crisp, but his defense attorney says Reynolds has been talking to the authorities.”

“‘We have been in contact with the FBI and in contact with the prosecutors, I think that’s an open fact right now,’ said defense attorney Carl Faller.”

“The FBI will not confirm for 17 News whom or what they are investigating. But it might be home purchases like the one Reynolds made at 522 Fern Valley Way.”

“Reynolds bought the property from David Crisp and Carl Cole in July 2006 for $414 thousand with 100-percent financing from SunTrust mortgage. The house went into foreclosure in December, and eventually sold for $240 thousand.”

“‘David Crisp involved a lot of folks: employees, friends, old high school friends in some land deals that he represented to be totally legitimate,’ Faller said. ‘But in retrospect they might have been a little sketchy.’”

“Not so, says former Crisp and Cole broker Ty Stewart. Crisp is now living with Stewart at a Southern Oaks home.”

“‘I have worked for David and Carl from the very beginning. And I wasn’t taken advantage of,’ Stewart said. ‘But I can only speak for myself.’”

“‘It’s not his fault that properties have lost values. That’s happened across the board,’ Stewart added. ‘There are over a thousand foreclosures in Kern County right now, and David didn’t have to do with hardly any of those.’”

“‘Everybody thinks that his situation is funny, and it’s just desserts, so they are having a good time with it. You know, but he’s gotta live his life,’ Stewart said.”

“At the height of the market, Stewart admits Crisp made quite a statement, driving a $500 thousand Mercedes and reportedly flying potential clients to Bakersfield in a private plane.”

“‘Were they flashy and eccentric? Absolutely. Did they flaunt their success? Sure. And that’s starting to look like a pretty bad marketing strategy,’ Stewart said. ‘I don’t think anyone was pressured into buying anything, everyone wanted to make some money over here.’”

The Rocky Mountain News reports from Colorado. “New home construction in the Denver area last year fell to its lowest level in 16 years, as builders cranked down on construction because of a sluggish and overbuilt market. Permits for single-family homes dropped 34 percent to 10,986 in 2007, down from 16,263 in 2006, the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver said. A record 20,420 permits were pulled in 2005.”

“Denver-based MDC Holdings, in a recent SEC document, said it cut its work force in half at the end of 2007, from its peak two years ago. And MDC, parent of Richmond American Homes, sold and closed only 818 homes in Colorado last year, a 44 percent drop from the 1,463 it sold in Colorado in 2006.”

“‘It is tough out there,’ said Roger Reinhardt, executive VP of the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver. ‘It wouldn’t surprise me if we’ve lost 10,000 jobs, or even beyond that,’ from peak employment, he said.”

“Economist Patty Silverstein said that an estimate of 10,000 lost jobs seems too high, but she said no good data exists that tracks the home-construction market. She said a drop in home construction spreads to related businesses ranging from furniture to granite countertop and tile and carpet companies.”

“‘There’s going to be some short-term pain. But on a macro level, this is exactly what needs to happen. We need to whittle down the unsold inventory to help stabilize prices for existing homeowners,’ Silverstein said.”

The Gazette from Colorado. “Colorado Springs’ upscale housing market remains fit, even as it’s gotten fat. A slowdown in sales has swelled the inventory of $1 million-and-up homes on the market to a more than four-year supply, according to one estimate.”

“The Re/Max Properties report showed a roughly 55-month supply of $1-million-and-up homes for sale in the Pikes Peak region. A year earlier, the figure was about 30 months.”

“The report also shows a nearly 34-month supply of homes priced from $750,000 to $999,000, and a 17.4-month inventory of $500,000 to $749,000 homes.”

“Many people from California or other areas with more expensive housing move to the Springs and find they have enough equity in their old homes to afford an upscale property here, said Stuart Scott of Stuart Scott Ltd., who compiled figures from the Pikes Peak Association of Realtors.”

“‘People who are buying these houses are not satisfied with buying the less desirable house,’ Scott said. ‘They buy the best house and when they buy the best house, they pay the top price.’”

“‘We still see a lot of money out there,’ said Dirk Gosda, California-based Sunrise Co.’s Colorado president. ‘The high end, we still see people buying homes in California. They see it as better than stocks and bonds.’”

The Albuquerque Tribune from New Mexico. “Home sales in Albuquerque declined almost 20 percent in 2007, to 10,671. But the Realtor association says that might be a result of market stabilization - 2005 and 2006 saw housing booms that simply could not continue, realtors say.”

“‘We saw years of 16 percent growth, and those were nice years, but that’s hard to sustain,’ said Janice McCrary, the association’s CEO.”

“Michael Sivage, an Albuquerque builder and developer, said building permits are down more than 50 percent from the boom of 2005, but still more than double than in 1990, the low point of the last housing market recession.”

“The MFA report shows the median home price in Albuquerque - at which half the homes cost more and half cost less - was $200,000 last year. That means a family of four needs to earn $62,345 a year to afford the house. But the median household income in the city last year was $55,900.”

“‘And if the incomes are only moderately increasing - 2 or 3 percent - and home prices are increasing at 10 percent, then that gap continues to spread,’ Sivage said.”

“‘Are there buyers that are a little skittish? Yes,’ said Cathy M. Olson of Prudential Sandia Real Estate, who prepared the realtors association report. But that’s due more to to ‘media campaigns that the sky is falling.’”

“Erin Quinn, the MFA’s senior policy and program adviser, said the rewards of homeownership remain.”

“If a home’s value rises 7.5 percent a year, she said, ‘that’s better than a lot of stock. And this isn’t just an investment. This is the place you are coming home to at night and making memories and having birthday parties.’”

The Arizona Republic. “Suzanne Lostaunau can still laugh about her Scottsdale Ranch home being unsold after nearly 10 months on the market. And that’s after cutting the price by a hefty 9 percent.”

“But she is eager to sell and recently got some high-profile help. Donna and Shannon Freeman, the mother-daughter hosts of the HGTV cable series Secrets That Sell, came to central Scottsdale to film a segment on Lostaunau’s 2,500-square-foot home.”

“The Lostaunaus’ inability to sell is not unusual in a Scottsdale housing market that saw sales fall 20 percent in 2007 from the previous year. The Valley has more than 46,000 resale homes on the market, with 7,770 in the Scottsdale area, according to a recent report.”

“Last April, the Lostaunaus listed their home for sale at $660,000. They have had about 30 showings since then. A few potential buyers were interested. But no one has closed a deal.”

“So what’s the problem? ‘For one, I don’t have a pool,’ Suzanne said. ‘After that, I don’t know. The price is reasonable, and Realtors all love it.’”

“It may be four months before the Lostaunaus home is featured on Secrets That Sell. Suzanne said she is looking forward to her TV debut. ‘The truth is I probably wouldn’t have done it if I wasn’t so desperate to sell my house,’ she said.”

“Nearly forgotten in this struggle to sell the Scottsdale Ranch home is the appreciation on the property. The Lostaunaus bought their home for $290,000 in June 2002.”

The Christian Science Monitor on Arizona. “The state of Arizona and all its cities and towns are confronting huge revenue shortages this year, mainly because sales-tax revenues are far below projected levels. In fact, Arizona has the dubious distinction – along with California, Nevada, and Florida – of leading the country in the current economic slide.”

“‘Those four states are where the housing bubble was the biggest, where investors and speculators had a significant presence,’ says Marshall Vest, an economist at the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management in Tucson. ‘Those states saw a higher use of subprime mortgages. These are the states that have been in recession for several months already.’”

“Consumers in Arizona, Dr. Vest says, lived beyond their means for the past seven years. It was easy for them to tap the equity in their houses and to get very low interest rates on credit cards.”

“So when the housing bubble burst, housing prices declined, along with the equity homeowners enjoyed, and banks began to tighten up on credit. That meant people had much less money to spend.”

“‘In addition to that, we had 6 percent employment growth just two years ago. Today it is essentially zero,’ Vest says. Arizona’s economy peaked in August and has been shrinking ever since, he says. It’s been in recession, he adds, since the third quarter of 2007.”

The East Valley Tribune from Arizona. “Queen Creek’s plan to cut $5 million from its budget due to a slow housing market will hit several town departments. The ‘potential budget gap’ comes from a lower-than-projected number of new-home permits - from about 500 originally anticipated to less than 275 permits now expected this fiscal year.”

“At the height of Queen Creek’s building boom, fees from more than 1,200 new-home permits would hit the town’s coffers in a year, Assistant Town Manager Patrick Flynn said.”

“Queen Creek has the highest per capita municipal debt in Arizona…$7,671 for every resident.”

“‘To bring infrastructure to the community is expensive stuff - that’s just the way it is,’ Flynn said. ‘It’s impossible to do those larger projects without going into debt.’”

“And as Queen Creek expects less revenue due to a slow housing market, the town will take on $40 million more debt this year with the purchase of Queen Creek Water Co.”

“‘We’re down to (new-home construction) permit levels that are just about a break-even to cover the debt,’ Flynn said. ‘We build up reserves and other backstops to help with that. But we’re in an anomaly. People will still be coming to Arizona, and before you know it we’ll be back on the growth train.’”

“About two-thirds of Gilbert’s debt goes toward major street, water and wastewater infrastructure projects, town spokesman Greg Svelund said. ‘Which of those things do you want to get rid of?’ he said.”

The Review Journal from Nevada. “All but five of 61 ZIP codes in the Las Vegas Valley showed depreciating home values in 2007. The biggest drop came in ZIP code 89169, where median home prices slipped 24 percent from $275,000 in the second half of 2006 to $210,000 in the second half of 2007, housing analyst Larry Murphy of Las Vegas-based SalesTraq reported.”

“Also hit hard were ZIP codes 89146, down 22 percent to $222,450, and 89085, down 20 percent to $336,150.”

“Overall, the median price of an existing home in Las Vegas decreased 4.3 percent to $275,907 based on 23,956 sales in 2007, according to SalesTraq. For December, the price is down 11.2 percent from a year ago at $253,000.”

“Tony Silva of TRG The Realty Group said: ‘For me, it’s no shock of what’s happening. I told everybody and nobody would believe it. Prices are still going down. Look at the figures. The figures don’t lie. It’s going to come back, but people have to realize they’re not going to get the prices they want for their house. Prices are going to be back where they were before this surge started in ‘04.’”

“Declining home prices bring an upside. Francisco Jimenez was able to buy two condominiums for $105,000 and $111,000, well below the $185,000 median, at separate foreclosure auctions held in December.”

“He picked up a third condo at a Feb. 10 auction, paying $140,000 for a 1,200-square-foot unit with attached garage that previously sold for $243,000.”

“‘This is like the stock market. Buy low and sell high,’ Jimenez said. ‘There is opportunity for lower-income people to buy, if they can’t afford $250,000 for a home but they have a job and good credit. It’s a good opportunity for anyone who has the money. I would buy another 10 if I had the money.’”

The Las Vegas Business Press. “Home buyers looking to purchase units at Sky Las Vegas, One Queensridge Place and Panorama Towers won’t be running to BankUnited for a mortgage. The Florida-based bank has named those projects and others in a blacklist of 191 luxury condominiums across the country for which it will no longer write loans.”

“Declining market value, high investor concentration and structural-based litigation are reasons for being blacklisted, the company said.”

“BankUnited also looked at delinquent homeowners’ association dues, rising foreclosures and its own exposure in the over-saturated condo market.”

“‘The projects blacklisted in Las Vegas are all great projects,’ said Sam Cherry, developer of Newport Lofts and SoHo Lofts, which are named in the blacklist. ‘It’s easy for a bank that puts out so many nonperforming loans to say they’re not going to do it anymore.’”

“Almost 70 luxury high-rise projects were planned in Southern Nevada last year, totaling 45,616 units, reports Restrepo Consulting Group, a local real estate research firm. However, only 10 of those projects have broken ground; and, 27.5 percent have been suspended or canceled.”

“Yet, luxury condos are still hot sellers that command big bucks, Restrepo reports. Almost 90 luxury condos were sold in 2007 with a median price of $502 a square foot. It marks a 4.9 percent increase over the previous year.”

“In Nevada, licensed real estate agents are seemingly as numerous as video poker machines. But unlike slots, most Realtors aren’t making very much money.”

“‘Not making money? There’s blood on the desert,’ said Bill Ochs, owner of Nevada Mortgage.”

“‘This slowdown in the housing industry is deeper and more long-lasting than most had predicted,’ said Jeanette Cobb of Windmill Realty. ‘Things are so bad, I’ve been told half the real estate agents have deserted the industry. Some 6,000 of them moved on.’”

“Nevada Real Estate Division records indicate otherwise. But state sources say they expect many will not renew their licenses when their two-year anniversary date arrives.”

“Such a scenario has already occurred among the ranks of state-licensed mortgage agents. According to the Nevada Mortgage Lending Division records, 6,722 mortgage agents have active state licenses, but more than three times as many — 27,170 — have licenses that are closed or inactive.”

“‘In the home building industry, we do have our own real estate sales agents, and our industry has laid off thousands in recent months,’ said Monica Caruso, spokeswoman for the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association.”

“Margaret Westcamp, a Las Vegas Realtor, said she’s stopped mentioning her profession to shuttle drivers when she returns home from business trips and vacations.”

“‘I swear, it seems every time I mention to the driver that I’m a Realtor, out would come the loan officer business card,’ Westcamp said. ‘They’re not servicing loans. They’re driving vans and limos.’”

“The Southern Nevada Home Builders Association’s Caruso said many people have forgotten that the housing market is coming down from the biggest and most unprecedented boom in sales and price appreciation in the nation’s history.”

“‘Anyone old enough to remember gas lines, ’stagflation,’ the savings and loan crisis and the mini-recession of 1991 knows these things come in cycles,’ Caruso said. ‘We are simply coming down from a boom that never could have been sustained.’”

The Miami Herald reports from Florida. “Home prices in South Florida sank by double-digit percentages in January, posting some of the steepest declines since the housing market slowdown began more than a year ago. The number of single-family homes sold fell 48 percent in Miami-Dade, while the number of homes listed on the market increased 45 percent over the year before. In Broward, sales slumped 33 percent over last year, while inventory grew 18 percent.”

“The dearth of buyers forced seller Mari Redondo to mark down her Virginia Gardens home $70,000 over the last seven months. She is now asking $330,000 for the four-bedroom — just enough to pay off her mortgage. ‘It’s been horrible. The only thing I see is people renting because they can’t afford,’ Redondo said, ‘In about a month, I might put it up for rent.’”

“In January, lenders took back 641 properties in Miami-Dade from borrowers in foreclosure. ‘You are having to compete against properties that are $50,000 to $100,000 less than yours is. So, you don’t have a good chance of selling before they do,’ said Dee Del Castillo, a real estate agent who focuses on Southwest Miami-Dade County.”

“Her phone finally started ringing in January from potential buyers. All, she said, had asked to see bank-owned homes or foreclosures.”

The Sun Sentinel. “When Ellen Levy moved to the Carriage Pointe townhouse development in Boynton Beach two years ago, she thought it would be a vibrant, stable neighborhood. Instead, the community has turned transient. Four of the 158 homes are in foreclosure stages and roughly a third have liens imposed by the homeowners association for not paying their monthly dues.”

“Carriage Pointe’s homeowners group doesn’t have sufficient income to replant dead trees and make other repairs and improvements, said Ellen Levy, former president of the homeowners group. While some Carriage Pointe homes were vacant, others had the opposite problem: two or more families crowded into them.”

“‘It’s sad,’ Levy said. ‘It’s definitely not what we bargained for.’”

“Phil Thomas, a retired lumber yard manager from Idaho who moved to Carriage Pointe 18 months ago, said he figured he’d have to endure a special assessment or two. ‘But what’s frustrating is knowing that so many people aren’t paying,’ he said.”

“Even more disappointing: watching property values decline and the development deteriorate over the past year. Thomas paid $345,000 for his unit, but some of the townhomes now are on the market for less than $300,000.”

“‘I thought we were buying into a more upscale kind of community,’ he said.”

“Irano Fleurancian, a construction worker from Haiti, paid $121,000 for his small Delray Beach house in 2002. He refinanced two years later thinking he would get a better rate that would lower his $1,300 monthly mortgage payments.”

“Instead, the adjustable-rate mortgage increased his payments to about $1,800. When the interest rate on the loan reset, the monthly payment soared to $2,300. His attempts to sell the house have failed.”

“‘How is a guy making 15 bucks an hour going to afford $2,300 a month?’ said Jim Di Paola, whose foreclosure-rescue firm in Delray Beach tried to help Fleurancian. ‘That’s a recipe for disaster. And it’s happening over and over again.’”

“South Florida’s housing troubles are playing out in dramatic fashion along the 7900 block of Ramona Street in Miramar. Since last year, nine of the 37 homes on the tree-lined street have slipped into some stage of foreclosure.”

“‘It’s really, really quiet now,’ said Maria Dennett, who moved here 17 years ago. ‘Really, really quiet.’”

“‘Banks were taking a lot of risks because they could. It was a frenzy, almost like a drunken stupor. Nobody was saying, ‘Stop it,’ at the time,’ said Gus Zambrano, Miramar’s economic development and revitalization director.”

The Naples News. “There were more foreclosures in January in Collier County than for the entire year in 2005. Kevin Lilly, a tax analyst with Tax Appraiser Abe Skinner’s office, said somewhere down the line in 2008, the county will collect the taxes on all those foreclosed properties from 2007, but it will likely represent a compounded loss for the banks that issued the mortgage.”

“‘Never in my experience has the mortgage industry been in such disarray,’ said Jack Ablin, the corporate chief investment officer for Harris Private Bank. Asked if the savings and loan debacle in the 1980s, Ablin acknowledged that he’d have to return to about 1986 to find a parallel.”

“‘Think about it this way. Two years (ago) the Bush administration was touting that the homeowners rate was as high as 70 percent,’ Ablin said. ‘The problem is, the natural rate of home ownership in this nation is 65 percent. As a nation, we sold home to 5 percent more people than should have been in those homes.’”

The St Petersburg Times. “Tampa Bay area home sales have spent two years grasping for a ledge to arrest the plunge into the canyon. Home sales totaled 1,235 last month in the three counties, the Florida Association of Realtors said. That’s 24 percent below the 1,627 homes that sold in January 2007 and 59 percent below peak January sales of 2,995 in 2005.”

“Reflecting a glut of more than 40,000 houses and condos for sale on the market, median home sales prices declined from $220,100 to $187,100 the past year.”

“Housing boom prices exceeded rents and incomes so much that a few years of stagnation are in order, said University of Florida economics professor David Denslow. ‘Look at San Diego and other boomtowns,’ Denslow said. ‘In those places you have six to seven years of declines followed by six to seven years of boom. That could become our pattern.’”

The Tampa Tribune. “As builders try to unload finished inventory or secure sales contracts to build new ones, they increasingly are competing against homes they recently sold but have come back on the market as resales, either from people seeking to avoid foreclosure or from banks that have seized properties.”

“Lenders, anxious to rid their books of foreclosure homes, tend to slash prices significantly lower than what it costs builders to construct a similar home, said Jack McCabe, of McCabe Research & Consulting in Deerfield Beach.”

“‘This renders builders uncompetitive,’ McCabe said. ‘If you can buy a new home from a developer for $300,000, or a year-old foreclosure home just like it for $200,000, it’s a no-brainer. Especially when it’s in the same neighborhood.’”

“A 4-bedroom, 2,134-square-foot home built in 2005 is on the market in the Live Oak Preserve neighborhood in New Tampa. It’s in foreclosure. List price: $202,500. The builder, Engle Homes, has a similar, recently completed home in the same neighborhood on the market for $329,990.”

“Just last week, Default Research said it tracked 919 new foreclosure lawsuits, which lenders file to take back properties, in January in Hillsborough County. That’s up 9.7 percent from 838 cases in December.”

The Ledger. “Polk County’s housing market continued to struggle last month as existing home sales dropped to their lowest level since 1999. ‘Off the top of my head I felt it was the worst I’ve seen in six years. But eight years? I believe that,’ said Tony Fridovich, broker/owner of Lakeland-based RE/MAX Paramount Properties. ‘I have to say February’s not looking any better.’”

“In addition, Fridovich said Polk still has more than 3,000 existing homes sitting on the market. ‘That’s twice the inventory we need,’ he said. ‘Too much supply, not enough demand and that’s what we got.’”

“Broker associate Sean McDonough said realistic pricing is still key for sellers.”

“‘If these Realtors continue to put homes on the market with what the seller is hoping to get - is willing to wait 12 to 18 months to get - then our numbers aren’t going to change,’ McDonough said. ‘We certainly want to list all the homes we can, but we’re realistic with folks and we put the right price on homes, not just stick a sign in the yard.’”

The News Journal. “With distress sales dragging down the real estate market, Volusia-Flagler home sellers sacrificed their properties in January for the cheapest prices in nearly three years.”

“A total of 321 existing single-family homes changed hands last month at a median price of $179,100, the lowest level since February 2005, the Florida Association of Realtors said Monday. Prices were down 12 percent from a year ago while sales volume plunged 35 percent.”

“Mark Dougherty, executive officer of the Daytona Beach Area Association of Realtors, said the market remains weighed down by a growing number of foreclosed properties being added to the area’s inventory.”

“‘We really expected the inventory level would drop before we enter our seasonal lurch,’ the period when longtime homeowners try to unload properties on special-event tourists, Dougherty said. Instead, 1,710 more owners listed their real estate during January just in East Volusia, adding nine properties for every one that was sold.”

The Northwest Florida Daily News. “When it comes to the state of the housing market on the Emerald Coast, two sets of figures offer a stark reality. In January, home foreclosures in the region nearly equaled single-family home sales.”

“And there actually were more foreclosures in January than single-family sales in Walton County, according to county records and information from Metro Market Trends Inc.”

“‘I don’t think we’ve seen the worst of this,’ said Melissa Neal, of the University of West Florida. ‘We’ve done some research on when we’re going to cycle through this, and it appears it would be 2009 before sales come around and we have a normal amount of homes for sale.’”

“Longtime Realtor Ray DiTirro in Destin said selling a foreclosed home can be a nightmare.”

“‘These people are walking away from the homes and then the utilities get shut off,’ DiTirro said. ‘We showed one last year that had been sitting for 90 days, and there was mold and mildew everywhere. The swimming pool was bright green. So the seller would get maybe 50 cents on the dollar because of all it would take to get it corrected.’”

“Just a couple of years ago when interest rates were low and adjustable rate mortgages proved so enticing, some people borrowed money to buy condominiums they were going to use as rental properties.”

“‘Lenders were lending money like drunken sailors,’ DiTirro said. ‘Now there’s thousands and thousands of condos for rent for less than market value. If you own them, you can’t even get your overhead back. A lot people are stuck. I know of one that was bought for $425,000 in 2005 and it’s selling for $150,000.’”

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