The Housing Bubble

The Union Tribune reports from California. “Nearly 50 San Diego County dwellings per day were lost to foreclosure in April, as the tally of mortgage failures rose 169 percent above last year, DataQuick reported. ‘Some of the people have lost their jobs and they can’t afford their payments, but a lot of them just don’t want the home anymore,’ said Linda Ring, a real estate agent who specializes in foreclosures. ‘They don’t want to ride out the storm.’”

“April was the county’s 37th consecutive month of year-over-year increases in foreclosures and notices of default. There were 1,413 residential foreclosures countywide, a 35 percent increase from March but a rise of nearly 170 percent over April 2007.”

“Serafina Jahries has been searching unsuccessfully for a foreclosure home for six months. The 38-year-old stay-at-home mom said she and her husband Chris are renting a home in Encinitas and shopping for bargains among foreclosure homes.”

“The couple owned a townhome in nearby Santaluz, but sold it near the peak of the recent housing boom. Their goal was to wait until prices dropped, then invest their $100,000 profit in a house.”

“The problem is they can’t find North County foreclosure home in their $400,000 price range that doesn’t need extensive repairs, Jahries said. In the meantime, she feels like she is wasting the $2,300 per month she is spending to rent a single-family home.”

“‘Here we are just throwing our money away,’ she said.”

The Press Enterprise. “Foreclosures are pushing down home prices, but the real long-term solution for providing affordable housing in Southern California is to encourage home construction and increase the availability of financing for builders and buyers, said speakers at a conference of government and housing officials held Wednesday in Riverside.”

“Richard Lambros, CEO of the Building Industry Association of Southern California, said in the current housing recession, the region is not building enough homes to keep pace with population growth.”

“‘We are not going through a slowdown. We are going through a shutdown,’ he said.”

The Desert Sun. “By this time last year, Desert Hot Springs had issued 382 building permits with revenues from those building fees totaling about $1.6 million, said City Manager Rick Daniels.”

“But as of April, the city had only issued 155 building permits, resulting in the collection of fees totaling just $140,907, according to city documents.”

“‘These are the hard facts,’ Daniels said. ‘The new building construction has been stifled by the bad economy and probably over-building to the point where there is a surplus of supply.’”

“‘The housing market was overheated and the sub-prime loan allowed people to get into houses they couldn’t afford, which increased demand beyond normality,’ Daniels said. ‘That led to all these foreclosures and people not buying new houses anymore.’”

“About 990 homes within Desert Hot Springs’ city limits are in various stages of foreclosure, according to city documents.”

From The Sun. “Insurance fraud appears to be the key reason behind an uptick in torched vehicles - many of them the high-end variety, local fire investigators say. Frank Huddleston, Ontario Fire Department arson investigator, said an increase in such cases seems to correspond with harder economic times.”

“‘We have a real problem right now with newer-model, high-dollar cars and gas guzzlers being reported stolen,’ Huddleston said. ‘Nothing is taken from them, but they’re taken to a location and torched.’”

“When the housing market began to take a nose-dive, investigators in the area saw that many of those responsible for the fires were deep in debt.”

“‘It’s been people overextended in their finances or who face reduced income or loss of jobs,’ Huddleston said. ‘I’ve seen many people the past few years who were in residential construction or in real estate.’”

“The most common cars burned of late are SUVs, trucks and Escalades at an average of $13,000 loss each, he said.”

“‘Our vehicle arsons always, always spike when the economy goes in the tank or when it starts getting bad,’ he said. ‘Most times, when I get on the scene of a vehicle fire, the cops are just getting the call the car is stolen.’”

“Mike Huddleston said he’s witnessed a jump from three incidents in March to 12 in April, which indicates a rising state of financial panic.”

The Recordnet. “Matthew and Zoila Toth just bought a home in Stockton in order to save money. From the couple’s perspective, the foreclosure crisis has been a blessing.”

“By recently buying a foreclosure property in the Country Club area of west Stockton, the young couple, with a young son, was able to move from a $1,100-a-month apartment into a $132,000 home carrying a monthly mortgage and insurance payment of $950.”

“‘The house was so cheap, we even had a little money to do upgrades,’ Matthew Toth said.”

“The median price of new and existing houses sold last quarter countywide stood at $262,000, compared with $390,000 a year earlier - a sales price drop of almost one-third.”

“Robert Rivinius, the home building association’s CEO, noted that the bulk of those affordability gains were in communities most affected by the subprime mortgage and foreclosure issues, especially Central Valley communities.”

“Affordability in most major metro areas, he said, remains at or below 25 percent - depressingly low. He expects prices to rise again once the large supply of foreclosed homes is sold off.”

The Carmel Pine Cone. “After nearly three years of declining values, sluggish sales and overall pessimism, the Monterey Peninsula real estate market has made a significant upturn in the past few months, according to realtors.”

“Paul Lecce, mortgage broker in Carmel, said many of his customers are first-time home buyers who want to purchase a home because they believe home prices will not fall much farther.”

“‘They actually have an opportunity to get into the market,’ Lecce said. ‘The prices here haven’t been this low since the early ’90s.’”

“First-time home buyers Karen and Eric Sonne looked at about 10 homes in Seaside ranging from $300,000 to $350,000. ‘I think the prices have dropped as far as they will go,’ Karen Sonne said.”

“‘There were five offers on each home we called on,’ she said. ‘A lot of people are hoping to get these homes as investment properties and rent them out because they know the real estate market is turning.’”

“The Sonnes were able to get 0 percent financing through an online lender for a small two-bedroom, one-and-a-half bathroom house in Seaside.”

“Realtor Michael Kirch, who specializes in selling foreclosures in the Seaside area, said he has 10 houses in escrow. While he’s seen an upswing in the sale of homes in the $200,000 to $400,000 range, homes in the $500,000 to $700,000 range are not selling as quickly.”

“Canning said he sees little change happening for the remainder of 2008. ‘I think the bottom of each of the markets will suffer all the way into late 09,’ he said.”

Bay Area Newsgroup. “The housing market quagmire has unleashed more misery on the East Bay economy. Washington Mutual Inc. and a Citigroup Inc. unit are cutting jobs in the East Bay. E-Loan, a subsidiary of Irwin Financial Corp., and Fremont Investment & Loan have exited large offices, which has created additional empty space in the area.”

“‘This is the fallout from the mortgage meltdown,’ said Bill Nork, a manager of (a) commercial realty brokerage’s Emeryville office. ‘The worst part is people have lost their houses. But in addition, a lot of people have been laid off and mortgage companies don’t need as much office space.’”

“Even worse, the employment cutbacks and real estate-linked empty offices are symptoms of an ailment that is unlikely to abate in the near future, warned Jeffrey Weil, a senior VP with the Walnut Creek office of a commercial real estate firm.”

“‘This is going to continue,’ Weil said. ‘We have not seen the bottom yet. Another million or two million foreclosures are possible.’”

“‘This is something we have to work through,’ Nork said. ‘The mortgage problems are like the dot-com meltdown. The subleases have an effect on the office market because the space is empty.’”

The Los Gatos Weekly Times. “Pamela Simmons, an attorney in Soquel, said at a recent Silicon Valley Association of Realtors tour meeting the number of California homes going into foreclosure continues to increase as the market works its way through declining home values and a pool of at-risk mortgages.”

“Simmons started seeing the first flow of cases pertaining to foreclosures about a year and a half ago. Those affected in this first wave were homebuyers ‘who had no business buying a home in the first place,’ she said.”

“These were people without steady jobs, who were targeted by predators with offers of zero down payment loans. She indicated these homebuyers have lost their homes.”

“Included in the second wave of foreclosures are homebuyers impacted by subprime borrowing, many of whom entered into loan agreements with adjustable interest rates. Those rates have now adjusted upward, and the homebuyers cannot keep up with the higher house payments.”

“Today, Simmons is seeing more of the third wave of foreclosures–homeowners with negative amortization loans. Included here are homeowners who could not afford their debt and took out too much equity from their home.”

‘Some of these homeowners have payments that have increased by as much as $3,000 a month. Homeowners with multiple properties, popularly known as ‘flippers,’ also belong in this third group.”

“‘It’s like playing musical chairs, and the music has stopped and these people are left without a chair,’ Simmons said.”

“These days, cases involving lenders going after homeowners for misrepresentations on loan applications and lenders going after agents and brokers are on the rise as well, Simmons said.”

“She said, at least for much of the state, ‘I see a continuing market for people losing their homes.’”

The Sacramento Bee. “Six months after it was announced, a plan by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to help struggling California homeowners appears to have had limited impact on preventing foreclosures. A key reason: Things were a lot worse than anticipated.”

“Foreclosures, nonetheless, remained stubbornly persistent and rose sharply in California during the same quarter. More than 47,000 households surrendered their keys to banks during the period, a 49 percent jump from the previous quarter, according to DataQuick.”

“State officials acknowledge that changes in the mortgage market have overshadowed an agreement forged in a different environment. It was hatched amid fears that 500,000 adjustable subprime loans in California would reset within 18 months and sharply hike monthly payments.”

“Since then, though, rates have fallen, meaning that in many cases new monthly payments won’t reset significantly.”

“‘Events have overtaken the initial effort, in that interest rates were then the big bogeyman,’ said Preston DuFauchard, commissioner at the state Department of Corporations.”

“Other problems have plagued the voluntary effort by lenders, some of them cited last November by skeptics doubtful about the governor’s agreement. ‘Declining prices are the current threat, and people upside down on their homes (owing more than a house is worth) are the big issue,’ DuFauchard said.”

“The commissioner said falling prices encourage more speculators to abandon their investments. Buyers who tapped out home equity or paid little money down are walking away from homes. More owners also have defaulted on loans before their interest rates reset, he said.”

“‘The level of default even before resets has been a little of a surprise,’ said Michael Krimminger, special policy adviser at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. ‘The level of delinquencies and problems even before rates reset has kind of swamped some of the benefits.’”

“Krimminger and others also worry about pending resets for other types of loans popular during the boom years, particularly those known as ‘Alt A’ and ‘pay option’ loans that offered initial low monthly payments. Those could pose trouble in California after its subprime mortgage problem begins to subside late this year, they say.”

“Meanwhile, nonprofit loan counselors are seeing new trouble for borrowers with conventional loans, said Martha Lucey, president of a Fresno-based statewide loan counselor.”

“‘It’s related to declining property values,’ she said. ‘You can’t refinance out of your health care crisis, job loss or divorce.’”

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. The Monitor, “Obra Homes is the latest victim of a dismal home building market. The Rio Grande Valley-founded home builder has shut its doors locally and sold its remaining properties to a partner. At its peak in 2005, the company was the largest Valley-based home builder, putting up more than 500 homes here that year.”

“In 2006 it ranked as the 70th largest home builder in the United States, with $135 million in revenue, according to Builder Online. During 2005 and 2006, more than 6,800 homes were being built in Hidalgo County each year. New home permits have dropped by more than a third since then.”

“Los Angeles-based KB Home, one of the nation’s largest home builders, pulled out of the Valley in 2007. Metrostudy estimates there are more than 3,000 unoccupied, new homes in Hidalgo, Cameron, Willacy and Starr counties.”

“‘They’ve all cut back,’ said William Brueggeman, director of the real estate department at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, of lenders. ‘Their volumes are below half of what they were in the boom years.’”

The Rocky Mountain News. “Mike Rinner, an economist with the Genesis Group that has tracked Denver real estate for nearly 20 years, gives the metro-area housing market a D-minus.”

“‘There is no sugarcoating it,’ said Rinner. ‘The only reason it doesn’t get an ‘F’ is that we feel it will rebound pretty nicely after this. Before, we thought it would just decline to these low levels and just go splat.’”

“Larry Stark, principal of National Valuation Consultants, also said the U.S. market is in much worse shape than Denver.”

“‘We work all over North America. . . . And until you have been to some of these places, you don’t really know how bleak they are,’ Stark said. ‘We have an office in Florida, and it is going to be three years before it even starts to see a turnaround, and in the real estate industry, three years is an eternity.’”

Dow Jones Newswires. “Highlighthing their desperation to sell houses, builders are bringing back the gimmicks - mortgage rates that start low, help with down payments, zero out-of-pocket expenses - that helped fuel the housing bubble before its spectacular bust.”

“But this time, they say, history won’t repeat itself.”

“Builders acknowledge things are tough, but they promise they’re being responsible. ‘What’s going on right now is not what got us into this, it’s what’s going to get us out,’ said Dan Klinger, president of K. Hovnanian American Mortgage. ‘We overdocument. The loans have never been cleaner.’”

“That isn’t enough for some, who say the specials sound too much like the free- lending heyday.”

“‘It’s a different shade of gray, but essentially it puts people in the same position,’ said Jeffrey Guarino, managing director of Gotham Capital Mortgage in New York. ‘If we haven’t learned anything about the value of equity in the risk of a foreclosure, then what have we learned?’”

From CNN Money. “As part of the Economic Stimulus Act, Congress tried to get funds for jumbo loans flowing again by temporarily raising the dollar limits for mortgages that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can buy.”

“Despite the increased caps, these new ‘conforming jumbo loans’ - for anything between $417,000 and $729,750 - are still more expensive than the conforming loans below $417,000.”

“‘[The raised caps] produced less activity than I thought they would,’ said Rep. Barney Frank, in opening remarks at the hearing. ‘Beneficial effects have be slow to materialize,’ added Spencer Baccus, ranking republican member from Alabama.”

“The problem: The investors who buy mortgages on the secondary market still consider these new conforming jumbo loans riskier than the original conforming loans, and put a higher risk premium on them.”

“They’re only available in about 70 metro areas - many of the most challenging markets in the nation. ‘Look at the markets where these are offered,’ said Keith Gumbinger, of HSH Associated, a publisher of mortgage market information. ‘It’s where home prices are falling.’”

From Reuters. “As U.S. banks mop up the mess from billions of dollars of bad home loans, buyers are finding the days of cheap money are over and, in many cases, tougher versions of old lending rules now apply.”

“‘The clock is rolled back about 20 years,’ said Lou Barnes, publisher of Mortgage Credit News.”

“Craig Van Skaik, a Beverly Hills, California, mortgage broker, who has a stable of wealthy clients, said he has been pinched as new rules prevent him from borrowing on the equity he has built up in the $6.2 million house he renovated.”

“The debt on the house totals about $3.5 million. He has ample assets and income, but he needs an out-of-fashion stated-income loan.”

“‘I can’t get one dime out. I don’t like feeling like I’m trapped and I can’t tap equity,’ said Van Skaik, who has listed the home and says that because of all the new hurdles, the best buyer is someone who can come in with an all-cash bid.”

“‘I’ve done this for 22 years. I’ve never seen anything like what we’re experiencing now,’ he said.”

“Delinquencies in U.S. subprime debt and higher-quality mortgages known as Alt-A securities are continuing to increase, Standard & Poor’s said on Thursday.”

“Delinquencies for Alt-A mortgages rated between 2005 and 2007 are climbing, with total delinquencies rising as high as 17 percent in some cases, more than 6 percentage points higher than previous estimates, the ratings agency said in a report.”

“‘The 2007 issuance year continues to be the worst-performing vintage in terms of cumulative losses,’ S&P said, regarding subprime mortgages. ‘Serious delinquencies’ of payments 90 days late or more and foreclosures also are rising, S&P said.”

The Orange County Business Journal. “Newport Beach-based bond manager Pacific Investment Management Co. has bought $2.5 billion worth of subprime mortgage bonds from Israel’s Bank Hapoalim Ltd.”

“In the quarter, Hapoalim lost $870 million before taxes related to the bonds it sold. In April, the bank said it lost another $209 million stemming from mortgage defaults.”

From Bloomberg. “Residential Capital LLC, the distressed mortgage-finance company, won support from most bondholders for a debt restructuring plan needed to stave off bankruptcy.”

“Investors tendered about $9.5 billion of notes as part of an offer to exchange or buy back $14 billion of debt for as little as 80 cents on the dollar, GMAC LLC, ResCap’s parent company said.”

“Some bondholders had initially sought to build opposition to the plan, which offered investors as little as 80 cents on the dollar for their bonds, though no organized protest emerged. The bankruptcy threat left bondholders with little choice but to tender, according to a report last week by high-yield research firm KDP Investment Advisors.”

“Credit-default swaps tied to ResCap’s bonds have been trading at levels that suggest…a 97 percent chance of default within five years, based on an assumption that bondholders would recover 40 percent of their investments, according to a JPMorgan Chase & Co. valuation model.”

“Cerberus Capital Management LP’s $7.4 billion purchase of General Motors Corp.’s finance arm in 2006 also won control of a mortgage unit supplying a steady stream of cash to finance the auto lender. Then the home-loan money disappeared in a flood of subprime losses.”

“Now the GMAC LLC unit, Residential Capital LLC, is fighting to avoid bankruptcy. ResCap has been forced to stop making loans to borrowers with poor credit histories after losses of $5.3 billion during the past six quarters.”

“Cerberus founder Stephen Feinberg now has to decide whether to inject more money into ResCap or let it die.”

“‘At the time the deal was done, ResCap was the good part,’ said Tom Flaherty, a money manager at Aberdeen Asset Management Plc, which oversees more than $30 billion. His team owned ResCap bonds and sold them before they were cut to below investment grade. ‘They’re in an unexpected mess.’”

“Citigroup Inc. created a $2.5 billion mortgage-backed security called Bonifacius Ltd. in August as capital markets seized up and panic swept Wall Street.”

“The bonds were created from subprime home loans as demand evaporated. Within six months, Bonifacius collapsed as homeowners fell behind on their payments in record numbers.”

“Citigroup, Merrill Lynch & Co., UBS AG and other banks created more than $1.5 trillion of collateralized debt obligations like Bonifacius, keeping an undisclosed amount in off-balance-sheet funds called variable interest entities.”

“Bonifacius and $190 billion of similar securities have gone bust since October, spotlighting loopholes the Financial Accounting Standards Board failed to close when Enron Corp. went bankrupt in 2001 after disclosing investments that weren’t on its books.”

“‘They never got the real problem fixed after Enron,’ said Lynn Turner, the chief accountant for the Securities and Exchange Commission when the Enron scandal was exposed. ‘When people find out how little FASB did, they’re going to be shocked. FASB needs to be taken out behind the woodshed and given a good whoopin’.'”

“Variable interest entities, or VIEs, are a post-Enron version of special-purpose vehicles, the term for the investments Citigroup created that led to the demise of the energy-trading company.”

“The lack of disclosure about VIEs is adding to concern among investors after financial institutions reported $382.6 billion of writedowns and losses from subprime-contaminated debt since the start of 2007.”

“Paul Volcker, who was chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1987, said in testimony to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress…that regulators should have stopped banks.”

“‘Why were they permitted to set up those off-balance- sheet entities that may or may not have had some formal relationship with the banks?’ he said.”

“Bonifacius is divided into nine pieces. The largest, which was originally rated AAA, has since been cut to Baa3 at Moody’s and to BBB- by S&P, the lowest levels of investment grade.”

“Banks are betting that markets will improve enough to allow the securities to be sold at a higher price, according to Stanley Sporkin, a former federal judge who helped write the federal 1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act when he was the head of the enforcement division at the SEC.”

“‘Not every off-balance-sheet activity is wrong,’ Sporkin said. ‘But there could be pockets of activity to hide things that later explode.’”

The Daily Breeze. “Rep. Laura Richardson lost her Sacramento home in a foreclosure auction two weeks ago, and left behind nearly $9,000 in unpaid property taxes.”

“Richardson appears to have made only a few payments on the house, which she bought in January 2007 for $535,000. After buying the home, Richardson hardly had time to live in it. Three months later, Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald died and Richardson - then a freshman member of the state Assembly - launched a campaign to replace her in Congress.”

“Richardson won the election, pouring in $77,500 in personal loans to her own campaign. Around the same time, she stopped making payments on the Sacramento house. The bank issued a default notice in December, and the home was sold at a public auction on May 7 for $388,000.”

“The real loser in the deal was Washington Mutual Bank, which issued Richardson a $535,000 loan with no money down in January 2007. By the time the default notice was issued, Richardson was underwater on the loan. She owed about $575,000, including $18,000 in missed payments.”

“Washington Mutual ended up writing off nearly $200,000 of that debt to get rid of the home.”

“Although Richardson did not pay her property taxes or the balance of her loan, she has begun repaying the loans that she issued to her own political campaign. Richardson, a former Long Beach city councilwoman, still owns a home in Long Beach.”

“One of Richardson’s first votes upon arriving in Congress last fall was on the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007. The bill helped homeowners by preventing the federal government from charging income tax on debt forgiven in a foreclosure, such as the $200,000 forgiven in Richardson’s foreclosure.”

“Joining 385 of her colleagues, Richardson voted aye.”

The News Press reports from Florida. “A plunging economy, soaring gas prices, the highest unemployment rate in 15 years and skyrocketing foreclosures are forcing Southwest Florida residents to hold garage sales not to downsize or de-clutter, but to make ends meet. People being foreclosed upon are moving out of state and lightening the load by selling possessions.”

“‘Southwest Florida has always kind of been the garage sale capital of the world,’ said Bruce Scott of Bruce Scott Auctions in Fort Myers.”

“Carl, of Cape Coral, is a Realtor who now takes listings of foreclosed properties from the bank, evicts the residents, does a lock change, and gets the property ready for bank re-sale.”

“The sale she was holding at a home in the Villas on a recent Saturday had been advertised as a ‘garage sale.’ In reality, she was selling the household property from three foreclosures at the home.”

“But the Villas home belonged to Carl. She had saved the property from foreclosure and intended to use it as a rental. After she bought it, the resident refused to move for three months, meaning Carl lost all that possible rent income.”

“Now Carl is in trouble with the mortgage on the investment home that was supposed to help pay the bills. ‘I’m stuck with this albatross,’ she said.”

From WWSB 7 in Florida. “The increase in the number of houses in foreclosure on the Suncoast has been a boom for one pesky species. The people who live in the Indian Beach Sapphire Shores neighborhood are slapping and scratching since one house went on sale for $1.6 million dollars about a year and a half ago.”

“Since then, the housing market crashed and it’s stood empty and abandoned ever since, and the once-sparkling swimming pool now looks more like a mosquito breeding swamp.”

“Dave Bagaus lives next door and Dave Braum lives across the street. They say nobody’s been taking care of the property for the past year and a half and the abandoned pool is a health hazard. ‘You can see how dirty it is. I’ve seen pea soup less green.’”

“All kinds of things are swimming around in there. ‘What is that growing over there? It appears to be palm fronds. Looks like a branch. There’s another mosquito (slap, slap), all sorts of algae.’”

From Winknews in Florida. “New information reveals another reason leading to local foreclosure problems — mortgage fraud. In fact Fort Myers ranks among the top ten cities in the nation for misrepresentation.”

“‘The street’s awfully quiet,’ said northeast Cape Coral resident, Daniel Garlock. But Garlock doesn’t so much mind the quiet. What does concern him, the number of empty homes in his neighborhood.”

“‘A lot of overgrown weeds around the houses look kind of run down. Just not very much attention is paid to them,’ he said.”

“Experts say people were claiming property as a vacation home instead of investment property to get a better rate. Investment properties are riskier loans, because people walk away faster when they run in to financial trouble.”

“‘Often times they’ll go ahead and rent it out and it’s truly being used as an investment property, or they’re trying to turn around and sell it very quickly for an appreciation,’ said mortgage broker, Laura Hess.”

“Some were buying multiple properties, but then… ‘In the last year, the property values have fallen so the people that were flipping properties are now just walking away,’ said Hess.”

The Bradenton Herald from Florida. “Two separate condominium projects that promised more than 300 units combined, retail and office space, and a marina are on hold. Since 2007, Bradenton City Council has issued seven extensions to planned development projects because of market conditions.”

“According to a CNN Money report published May 14, condo prices in the Sarasota area have dropped by 35 percent over the past year.”

“‘It’s not a shock. In my experience that’s reflective of Bradenton,’ said Ward 4 Councilman Bemis Smith. ‘Just look at the units that are for sale at Riviera Dunes (in Palmetto) and Promenade (in downtown Bradenton). You’ve got a lot more supply then you’ve got market for.’”

The News Journal from Florida. “After a decade of working for an area title insurance agency, Lisa McFarland lost her job with the downturn in the housing industry. ‘At the time they let me go, there wasn’t anything going on,’ McFarland said.”

“She took a job with the local office of a major tax preparation chain, but it lasted only for the season. Next, she turned to selling jewelry. But for the past five weeks, McFarland and her husband, Kevin McFarland, have been students at Hank Belden’s Hospitality Training and Bartending Institute here.”

“Lisa McFarland is one of several professionals from the real estate industry enrolled in Belden’s program. Others include an appraiser, three brokers, two salesmen and even a mortgage broker.”

“‘The bar business is recession proof. Nobody likes to drink alone. People at bars are either celebrating or commiserating,’ Belden said.”

From WJHG 7 in Florida. “You’ve seen the for sale signs lining the streets of your community, and heard the term ‘buyer’s market,’ but what does that really mean? It means sellers and builders are making great deals to make a sale.”

“It has provided such a tremendous opportunity for people to be able to own a home that weren’t able to own before,’ (said) Debbie Gericke, a realtor for almost 25 years. She says these great deals can be found all over northwest Florida, and many include appliances, high end counter tops and cabinetry.”

“Gericke said, ‘The buyer would be able to get into their first home at no more than 100 dollars and a monthly payment of $995 a month fixed for 30 years. Why someone wouldn’t want to take advantage of that I can’t imagine.’”

“And the deals don’t just apply to first time buyers. Homes like this with views like this are down almost 100,000.”

“‘You have an opportunity to purchase something that is drastically reduced over something two years ago, so you’re able to buy more than you were able to buy. The interest rates are at an all time low. They’ve never been this low before,’ (she said).”

“For anyone who is still skeptical according to the president of the emerald coast of realtors 2007 ranked as the fifth strongest year in our nation’s history as far as the number of real estate transactions. Gericke wants to assure buyers there’s no catch.”

The Atlanta Journal Constitution in Georgia. “Real estate agents have held private foreclosure tours, but last weekend’s tour may have been the first in metro Atlanta open to the public.”

“The white shuttle bus came to a stop and Damon Borozny joked to the passengers, ‘All right, time to scare the neighbors.’”

“At stop No. 5 on the seven-house expedition, the group examined a 4-year-old, two-story home on Glenvalley Drive in Decatur that looked beautiful in the dappled sunshine of a color photograph.”

“In March 2006 the house sold for $275,000. It sold again in May 2007 as a foreclosure, bringing $206,550. Now the lender had it back and was asking $176,900.”

“Borozny bought his Grant Park home this year out of foreclosure. He had lived in it as a renter, then was evicted when his landlord lost the property.”

“After months of dealing with the bank - ‘human beings have souls; banks don’t,’ Borozny told the participants - he was able to move back into the home as the owner.”

The Huntsville Times from Alabama. “Seeking to calm fears about the housing market locally and to highlight the favorable job growth trends, area Realtors and home builders presented their case at a press conference Wednesday.”

“Among the items highlighted were rising median sale prices in 2008, sellers getting prices near their asking price and a local economy expected to add an estimated 16,000 high-paying jobs in the next five years.”

“Realtors Association President Clif Miller said there is no better time to buy a home in the area. To support his claim, he cited healthy property values - median sales prices increased nearly 8 percent last year to $169,573 - long-term price appreciation, a 67 percent increase in property values since 2000 and low interest rates.”

“Speakers stressed that there’s no such thing as a national market. While 2007 marked the third-best year for the local housing market, 2008 is a bit behind that pace in several areas.”

“While there is good news to share locally, people are also taking a little longer to buy homes, said Sherry Dinges, a Huntsville Realtor and president of the Alabama Association of Realtors.”

“‘We’re probably as busy, but we’re probably showing more properties to people because there are more properties out there,’ she said. ‘We’re typically writing three offers before someone will buy. People are fearful, so we do a market analysis for them, showing there is no reason to be concerned - they are investing long-term.’”

The Sun Herald from Mississippi. “Unpaid debts and a stagnant housing market are jeopardizing a megadevelopment proposed in Stone County. Mississippi Investors VI, a real estate investment partnership based in Florida, announced plans in January 2007 for a community of 8,000 single-family homes in 12 distinct villages.”

“The company has purchased more than 10,000 acres from various companies and individuals. On Friday, 2,250 acres the company bought from Double A Firewood was scheduled for auction to satisfy unpaid debt. Chancery Clerk Gerald Bond said a second auction also had been advertised because of pending foreclosure.”

“Stone County Supervisor Wendell Patton said the developers are proceeding with Beaver Creek Estates, which he said will have 498 lots on 346 acres. But Patton does not think the larger planned development, called Horizon, is feasible in the current economy.”

“He said property was selling quickly after Katrina, and developers overbuilt. He recently learned 200 homes were on the market - a sizeable number for a county with fewer than 15,000 residents. ‘This economy is going to drive housing into a slump, from what I’m seeing,’ Patton said.”

“Real estate broker Paul Hardy said property sales escalated in Stone County after Katrina, but have slowed down.”

“It looked like a sweet deal: Pull together some investors, build houses in Mississippi, rent them to low-income tenants and qualify for federal loans that won’t have to be repaid.”

“However, new FEMA flood elevation standards are raising blood pressure among out-of-state investors who say they are spending millions to build housing here but may not be eligible for the state’s forgivable Small Rental Assistance Program.”

“That, in turn, will eventually force them to raise rents, putting affordable housing out of reach for many, the investors say.”

“Dave Irwin, a real estate agent representing a group of California investors, said they have already pumped in about $12 million to build 100 homes in Bayside Park over the past six months.”

“‘The whole project is in jeopardy,’ said Barry Hoffman, a California resident who pulled together a group of investors in the Sacramento area to build low-income housing in Bayside Park.”

“Hoffman, a dentist in the Sacramento area, owns four houses in Bayside Park. He became interested in Mississippi after learning of the dire need for affordable housing after Hurricane Katrina.”

“He and a partner pulled about 50 investors together to put money into Mississippi projects. ‘The money started to flow in,’ Hoffman said.”

“Then they learned about the Small Rental Assistance program and began applying for the loans. They began building three-bedroom homes in Bayside Park. There has been a building boom in Bayside Park. In less than two years, the county has approved 674 new construction plans for the south part of the county. Of those, ‘a good 75 to 80 percent’ are in Bayside Park, said building official Jerry Beauguez.”

“The out-of-state investors may have trouble finding local sympathy. ‘You invest, you take your chance,’ said Hancock County District 1 Supervisor David Yarborough. Yarborough thinks the Bayside bubble may pop and the area will be left with hundreds of vacant houses.”

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