The Housing Bubble

Reuters reports on California. “New foreclosures more than tripled in Los Angeles in July from a year ago, with more than $2 billion of mortgages turning sour in Los Angeles alone, PropertyShark said. The number of newly scheduled auctions of foreclosed properties in Los Angeles County rose 249 percent to 5,982 from July 2007. Los Angeles saw foreclosure activity start to spread to wealthier areas, such as Malibu, Santa Monica, and Manhattan Beach, according to the report.”

“‘We are still in the middle of a housing hurricane where foreclosure activity remains high, home prices have declined, and the number of sales transactions has fallen dramatically,’ said CEO Bill Staniford.”

The Voice of San Diego. “As much as one-quarter of the single-family homes in foreclosure in California have renters occupying them, according to an estimate from the California Apartment Association. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill into law in July to extend the amount of time such tenants are given before they must vacate the house from 30 days to 60 days.”

“Homeowners who live in their house are only entitled to three days once the bank has repossessed the house before they’re evicted. Tenants get at least 60 days to stay there, and they don’t have to pay rent.”

“‘Even though it’s bad, it’s really not as bad as it sounds,’ said local attorney Steven Kellman, who runs the Tenants Legal Center. ‘It’s kind of a soft landing. Some of them actually think of it as a benefit, because they can save up their rent.’”

“Kellman has seen a spike in calls from tenants whose landlords are in foreclosure, he said. Kellman attributed that trend to significant appreciation in the housing market this decade, where homeowners bought second or third or fifth properties with hopes of renting them out.”

“‘We had new landlords, novice landlords, coming in and going out — they get to hold their property for two, three years,’ he said. ‘But they were just visiting the land of landlords.’”

The Fontana Herald News. “The Riverside/San Bernardino metropolitan area ranked second in the country in the percentage of properties with foreclosure filings, RealtyTrac said. There were 43,600 foreclosures in the Inland Empire in the second quarter”

“Fontana has been hit very hard by the difficulties in the real estate market, but Roberto Tavarez, district manager of R & R Home Lending in Fontana, said he believes ‘the biggest hit has already been taken.’”

“Tavarez said that after the tremendous plunge in home prices during the past two years, buyers are now ready to check out the market again. ‘This is probably one of the best times to buy,’ he said. ‘Prices are basically at rock bottom. The situation has stabilized at this point.’”

“Some houses that were once in the $400,000 range are down in the $200,000s, he said.”

The Visalia Times Delta. “There have been more than 1,000 home foreclosures in the last three months in Tulare County, leaving once-full neighborhoods blotted with abandoned houses. Tracking down the former occupants isn’t always helpful. Many during the mortgage crisis have simply walked away from their homes, say real estate and community development officials.”

“Most houses in foreclosure come up with the banks as owners. Many are out-of-state banks, and some are outside the country, said Tim Burns, neighborhood preservation manager for the city of Visalia. ‘It can seem like nobody is willing to accept responsibility for a property within this [foreclosure] process,’ Burns said.”

“Dave and Pat Griepsma watched helplessly as weeds on their neighbor’s Visalia property climbed to the home’s back windows and took over the front yard.”

“The home in the 3900 block of East Oak Avenue has been vacant for two years. The for-sale sign was long gone and the owner - they knew his first name only - was nowhere to be found.”

“‘We didn’t know who to call,’ Pat Griepsma said recently.”

The Manteca Bulletin. “There were 515 completed transactions made through the MLS in Manteca as of July 29 within the city limits. That number translates into an annual sales pace of 895 homes. But if you look at the past two months when sales accelerated sharply, the market actually is on pace to reach the 1,050 mark.”

“That is more homes than what had been sold through the MLS for the previous two years when 402 homes were sold in Manteca in 2007 and 627 homes in 2006.”

“The median sales price of those 515 homes is $260,205 or the same it was in mid-2002. Prices of existing resale homes peaked in Manteca when they registered a median price of $429,000.”

“But that doesn’t reflect the quirkiness of some foreclosure sales - homes that need a lot of work. Back in 2002 with a strong market, the homes considered less desirable still held value in a reasonable relationship with the middle of the market.”

“Now with the sub-$250,000 market driving Manteca and more forecloses becoming available each day, banks are pricing those less desirable homes extremely aggressive to make sure they don’t linger. It has effectively driven prices of such homes back into the late 1990s levels.”

“Eight out of every 10 homes in Manteca are selling under duress. There are 457 existing homes currently available for sale in Manteca. That number includes 178 bank owned homes, 170 short sales, and 109 homes not under duress.”

The Fremont Bulletin. “Alameda County Assessor Ron Thomsen has delivered the 2008-2009 gross local assessment roll of $207.2 billion, reflecting a $9.6 billion increase, 4.87 percent above last year’s assessment roll.”

“‘The 2008-09 assessment roll accurately reflects assessments of more than 490,000 taxable properties including the 44,212 properties that were provided reduced assessments due to recent market value declines,’ Thomsen said.”

“Those reductions in assessed value totaled $3.1 billion.”

The Press Democrat. “Dozens of homeowners in Del Webb’s Clover Springs retirement community in Cloverdale are suing the developer, saying their homes have leaks, cracks, mold and other problems caused by faulty construction. The defects will cost millions to repair, according to the lawsuit filed last month (July) in Sonoma County Superior Court.”

“‘It’s like they just threw these places together,’ said Laureen Emmons, who has lived in Clover Springs with her husband Bob since 2000. ‘The floor keeps cracking.’”

“Clover Springs, which opened in 1998, is Cloverdale’s largest residential subdivision, with 362 single-family homes and about 650 residents. Del Webb developed the 175-acre subdivision during the housing boom of the late 1990s, said Fred Adelman, a Santa Monica attorney representing the homeowners.”

“‘It was a hot market and they wanted to take advantage of it,’ he said. ‘They cut the construction time and quality was compromised.’”

“It will cost at least $100,000 per home to fix the defects, he said.”

“Willo(cq) Rose, a real estate agent who lives in Clover Springs, said her house has problems with mold and one of the windows is cracking. ‘If I were to sell the house I’d have to replace the linoleum,’ she said.”

“Summer’s still swinging, but parents are already dragging their kids to local retailers in search of back-to-school bargains that won’t break household budgets already rattled by the recession.”

“Lanette Zootis, a real estate agent in Windsor, said the soft housing market has been tough on her family and caused her to do everything she can to ’squirrel away money for a rainy day.’ Ironically, that means more shopping, not less, as she hunts harder for the best deals.”

“‘It’s not so much that we have financial problems, but the job stability is just not there,’ she said.”

“Zootis was back-to-school shopping with her daughters at the Meryvns department store in Santa Rosa last week when her 8-year-old Karley rejected some clothes as ’so totally not my style.’”

“‘It’s on sale,’ Zootis replied. ‘It’s so totally your style.’”

The Bakersfield Californian. “The state Department of Real Estate wrapped up its arguments Monday in the mortgage fraud proceedings against David Crisp and Carl Cole, but not before fleshing out some details in the case.”

“Joe Carrillo, a senior deputy commissioner with the Department of Real Estate, testified he wore a wire for the FBI while interviewing Cole at a real estate office in May 2007.”

“Former Crisp, Cole & Associates employee Janie ‘JJ’ Stockton received at least $20,000 from Crisp in exchange for using her name as the purchaser on loan documents, Carrillo said.”

“‘She signed everything that David Crisp gave her to sign,’ Carrillo testified.”

“During cross-examination…Carrillo said Gary Crabtree brought discrepancies in the values of properties to the department’s attention. Crabtree, an appraiser, said Monday afternoon in a phone interview that he wrote a letter about ‘transactional anomalies’ to the Bakersfield Association of Realtors’ executive committee.”

“Former Tower Lending employee Jayson Costa testified that both Cole and Crisp knew he wasn’t a licensed broker. He was encouraged to get his license, but during the boom, ‘there was such a backlog at the state to get people licenses,’ he said.”

“Costa now lives in Lompoc and works at a Dodge dealership.”

“Luke Martin of the Department of Real Estate testified that when he interviewed Crisp in 2005, the real estate salesman brought magazine articles that detailed his success - the private jet, the designer clothes, the fancy cars.”

“During a hearing recess, Costa said he missed the real estate business. ‘I know Carl and David are getting in trouble. A lot of other people benefited from this boom. We just made more money than everybody else,’ Costa said.”

The County Sun. “Something you can expect to read about more, here and elsewhere, is the opportunity exporting provides businesses of all sizes in helping to push us out of recession.”

“Larry Sharp, president and chief operating officer of Arrowhead Credit Union, and Lori Van Arsdale, a city council member in Hemet, dropped by the newspaper Monday morning to talk about a major conference that’s taking place in Palm Springs in October to encourage small- and medium-size businesses in particular to take advantage of export opportunities.”

“‘Long term, we have to get out of our dependence on housing to drive our economy,’ Sharp said.”

The Pensacola News Journal reports from Florida. “Like the Pensacola Bay Area housing market itself, Randy Phillips and his wife Heather Hood have found themselves with too many homes and not enough buyers. They have a house in North Hill they can’t sell, a mortgage to pay on their home in East Hill, and another mortgage on their former home in Orange Beach, Ala.”

“‘We hate to do it, but we’re now thinking about putting the house in East Hill on the market,’ Randy Phillips said. ‘But, quite honestly, I don’t have the confidence we can sell it for anything close to what we have in it. We’re really caught.’”

“They purchased their North Hill home in 2004, just before Hurricane Ivan hit. ‘The storm took the roof off, and we never spent a night in it,’ Phillips said.”

“But they did spend a year and $50,000 repairing it, only to decide it was too small for them. They then bought their current home in East Hill, and in mid-2006 put their North Hill home on the market for $259,000, thinking it would sell quickly.”

“‘As soon as we bought the house in East Hill, the market turned,’ Phillips said.”

“With so many houses for sale, Phillips and Hood turned to the rental market for relief. They managed to attract someone looking for an 18-month lease, but the deal fell through, and they were forced to put the house back on the market.”

“Several subsequent price cuts have pushed the asking price down to $199,999, more than $15,000 below what they paid for the house in 2004. Burdened with three mortgages, Randy Phillips says something has got to give.”

“Bill and Teresa Preston have had their 5,600-square-foot home near Bayview Park on the market for the past two years, with an original asking price of $895,000. While Bill Preston acknowledges that the original price may have been set too high, it has since been dropped to $689,500.

“A few perspective buyers have looked at the house, but so far, no takers.”

“‘I guess I’m luckier than most because I’m not desperate to sell,’ said Preston. ‘I think it’s reasonably priced now, but I also think if I cut it to $500,000 somebody would snap it up.’”

“The developer of a 412-acre Lost Key resort in Perdido Key filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday. Carl Icahn, chairman of WCI Communities, said the filing was necessary because the Bonita Springs-based developer’s entire $1.8 billion debt soon may be in default.”

“‘I don’t know exactly what the bankruptcy filing means for WCI’s future,’ said Perdido Key Realtor Brenda Beumer. ‘But if they go and sell off properties piecemeal, it would be a killer for Perdido Key.’”

The Miami Herald. “WCI’s Miami-Dade County developments include One Bal Harbour and Miami Beach’s Mosaic, luxury condos priced from $1.1 million and $2.5 million, respectively, its website shows. In Broward, it’s building homes in the Parkland Golf and Country Club and Heron Bay in Coral Springs.”

“In a sign of just how challenging the real estate business has been for WCI, it reported 84 new condo orders but 174 cancellations or defaults in the second quarter. A hundred of the defaults happened at one project, Pompano Beach’s The Plaza at Oceanside condominium, the company disclosed last week.”

”’When you get more new cancellations than new sales it’s damn near impossible to continue functioning,’ said Jack McCabe, a Deerfield Beach real estate analyst.”

The News Journal. “Locally, WCI built five condo towers and a carriage home complex in the Hammock Dunes community of Flagler County. It still owns more than 40 units in Casa Bella, Tuscany and Le Jardin towers. WCI also owns a vacant oceanfront lot at 1751 S. Atlantic Ave. in Daytona Beach. The company paid $23 million for the .66 of an acre in January 2006.”

The Palm Beach Post. “Talk about fire sales. Laramar Group of Chicago in July paid about $32 million for the 160-unit Oceanview Apartments in Boca Raton. The previous sale, in 2006, was for nearly twice as much. NRW Development of Miami paid $56.2 million for the apartment complex and planned to convert the 40-year-old building into pricey condos.”

“‘It certainly was discounted,’ said Laramar VP Ron Roan. ‘But the prices people were paying in ‘05 and ‘06 were for condo conversions. Unfortunately, a lot of prices people paid then really don’t have any meaning in today’s market.’”

“Laramar will run the property as apartments, and it plans renovations that include washers and dryers in each unit, granite counters in kitchens and new floors. Rents will range from $1,500 to $3,000 a month.”

The News Press. “July was another month of record foreclosures in Lee County and very little new construction of single-family homes. ‘Foreclosures are doing what they’re doing, but the good news is that people are buying foreclosures, so at least there is a demand for these,’ said Jeff Tumbarello, director of the Southwest Florida Real Estate Investors Association, which tracks foreclosures.”

“‘For every two deeds they take back, they’ve been selling one,’ Tumbarello said.”

“The gluttony of existing and foreclosed homes on the market isn’t doing the construction industry any favors. ‘Foreclosures are being sold at prices new homes can’t compete,’ said Jamie Pirrello, CEO of Cape-based Vision Homes USA.”

“In Fort Myers Beach, there were no permits issued this month. None last month either and two in July 2007.”

“Realtor Denise Fulton can see Cape Coral’s foreclosure crisis from her front yard. Standing outside her home on Southeast 8th Place, she can point to four abandoned homes rapidly falling into disrepair.”

“‘People are moving on or moving out of the area,’ Fulton said. ‘And they leave these eyesores for those of us who live here.’”

“The owner of the house on Southwest 17th Terrace had walked away but the bank had not yet taken ownership of the property.”

“‘The problem with the foreclosures is the interim period,’ said Tommy Lee, president of the Cape Coral Association of Realtors. ‘It’s definitely taking longer because of the overwhelming amount.’”

The St Petersburg Times. “As the minibus swings into the driveway, Janet Kenyon takes one look at the new three-bedroom, two-bath house and lets out a shriek. ‘”Oh, my God. I hate yellow!’”

“Kenyon and husband Blu head inside to a pleasant surprise. ‘Aw, this is nice,’ she coos, stroking the faux granite countertops. Best of all, the price: $103,000.”

“Three years ago, a house like this might have gone for $250,000 as investors swooped into Cape Coral and transformed the sleepy waterfront city into one of the country’s hottest real estate markets. Then demand dried up, and by February, the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area had a new distinction: No. 1 in the nation in foreclosures.”

“With nearly 11,000 homes in foreclosure - 1 in every 31 households - it could be two years before all the distressed properties find buyers.”

“Cheaper housing prices than those in the Tampa Bay area or South Florida, attracted hordes of speculators. ‘It was a feeding frenzy,’ recalls Suzanne Sherer, an agent in Cape Coral. ‘People were flipping properties right and left. You’d see some homes in bidding wars the minute the sign went up. Prices didn’t make sense anymore.’”

“Blu Kenyon likes Cape Coral’s proximity to Interstate 75 and Southwest Florida International Airport. But the couple decided not to buy one house in Cape Coral. Instead, they decided to buy three. Among them: an 1,800-square-foot home built two years ago for $314,500. Today’s price: $99,000.”

The Herald Tribune. “An abandoned, boarded-up home that sits among the well-manicured properties in the Lakewood Ranch Country Club is a symbol of one way in which the growing foreclosure crisis is marring some neighborhoods.”

“The Presidio Glen home was owned by Preston and SaraLynne Slater, who own another Country Club home in the 7400 block of Riviera Cove. The Slaters, who were reportedly living in the Presidio Glen home at the time of the fire, could not be reached for comment. The phone at their Riviera Cove property has been disconnected.”

“Manatee Building Department Director John Barnott said he learned about the unsafe conditions at the home two weeks ago and then began trying to contact the mortgage firm. ‘They are a hard bunch to get ahold of,’ he said.”

“The problem is particularly acute in the Sarasota-Bradenton market where an average of about 2,000 houses a month have gone into foreclosure since the spring.”

“Manatee County officials gave the company until last Friday to say how it plans to correct the problems at the residence. It was unclear if the company had responded by the end of the day Friday.”

“‘They are either going to repair it so it can be lived in or they are going to tear it down,’ Barnott said. ‘They have to make that property safe, and if they won’t, then I will.’”

“Thanks to speculative home buying during the boom and the exodus of construction workers during the bust, the market for rental properties in Southwest Florida is still way out of whack.”

“Stressed by increasingly heavy tax and insurance bills and the inability to generate rents to cover these costs, some landlords are now walking away from their properties. At the same time, people who paid more for housing than they could afford during the boom are defaulting on their loans and joining the ranks of renters.”

“Jill Lyons, a rental specialist in Sarasota, said homeowners who might have been shelling out as much as $2,300 a month in mortgage payments feel extreme relief after moving into rental property where the rent is only $1,200 a month.”

“Scott Corbridge, president of Sarasota Management & Leasing, said the supply of homes available to rent has grown this year as investors have given up on trying to sell their properties and are looking for temporary relief by renting them. The result is that the additional supply is weighing on rents.”

“‘What used to rent for $1,000 is now $800,’ Corbridge said. ‘What used to rent for $850 is now in the low $700s.’”

“The decline in apartment occupancy and rents is a direct result of the collapse of the housing industry in Florida, and landlords who provide housing at the lowest end of the market have been hit the hardest.”

“‘I’ve got a place in Englewood, a working-class duplex, and I’m not getting any calls at $650,’ said Al Holmes, president of the Sarasota Landlords Association. ‘The jobs just aren’t here.’”

“The developer behind the new Donald Trump hotel in Fort Lauderdale faces allegations it violated securities laws by marketing the condo-hotel as an investment. John Taglieri, a Massachusetts restaurateur under contract to purchase a $730,000 unit there, filed suit Monday against the luxury hotel slated to open next year as one of the priciest in Fort Lauderdale.”

“‘There’s a real emphasis on the investment potential,’ said Jared Beck, the condominium lawyer representing Taglieri. ‘This was purchased on the [developer's] representation that it was going to be a great investment.’”

“Dante Alexander, president of the National Association of Condo Hotel Owners, estimates there are more than two dozen condo-hotel lawsuits under way across the country.”

“‘It all started with the change in the residential housing market,’ he said. ‘The majority of these buyers bought them with the intention of making money on them. The appreciation factor is gone — at least for the short-term.’”

The Daily Business Review. “U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz in Miami dismissed 29 lawsuits Friday against Opera Tower near downtown Miami, stating the contract was explicit about what buyers were getting, no matter what a slick advertisement promised.”

“The brochure showed a 56-story elliptical-shaped building on the water with a nearby marina. The illustration omitted surrounding high-rise buildings. The one- and two-bedroom units were priced from $200,000 to $800,000.”

“Developer Tibor Hollo said the lawsuits filed against Opera Tower are from ‘flippers’ upset with the turn in the housing market. ‘When they couldn’t make the extra money, they didn’t want to close, and they sued for their deposit,’ he said. ‘It’s human nature.’”

The Bradenton Herald. “Much of the time, Miami native Kenneth H. Thomas, a nationally known banking expert, is traveling, often to Philadelphia to lecture at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he got his doctorate in finance. In a recent interview, Thomas weighed in on the state of the banking industry and the economy.”

“Q: When will the housing market begin to turn around? A: I don’t think the market will improve in terms of normal price appreciation until perhaps two or three years, which could be the end of 2010, maybe 2011.”

“Q: Who is to blame for the current banking woes?”

“A: When we do the postmortem in a few years, the way we did with the S&L crisis, I’m certain we’ll conclude that there were many factors. In my belief, chief among them will be the fact that former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan kept rates too low for too long. And it may very well be he was inordinately influenced by the White House — based on my analysis of his very frequent visits there. But we don’t really know that. But I would say the fact is the punch bowl was left out too long.”

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