Looking For A ‘Bucket Of Money And A Box Of Stupid’
The Bulletin has this report from Oregon. “Linda Laws and her husband have been trying to sell their little 712-square-foot rental house on west Bend’s Northwest 12th Street since June. The price, after a drop from the initial listing price, is standing at $349,000, still a tidy profit on a house they bought for $135,000 in 2002, then renovated.”
“The Laws want to wheel their gains on the house and another one they own on Baltimore Avenue into an investment property they have already bought in another state. But there’s a problem: Hundreds of other people have the same idea this summer.”
“The number of homes for sale in Bend has risen 249 percent since the first of the year, overwhelming the flow of buyers that has remained strong through most of the year, but not strong enough to keep ‘For Sale’ signs from cropping up like summer dandelions.
“Buyers have plenty of choices, and some are hanging back to wait for prices to drop, broker David Foster said. Some sellers, meanwhile, are getting frustrated. ‘I think we’re at the point now where we’ll just make this thing work, and maybe take the houses off the market until the market gets better,’ Laws said Wednesday. ‘I’m not sure.’”
“Month-to-month sales volumes in the region’s priciest markets, Bend and Redmond, skidded in July from June. Bend posted 162 sales, down 32.5 percent from June. They lagged far behind the torrid pace of 2005; 41.7 percent off of July 2005’s sales in Bend, and 34 percent off in Redmond. The average listing price for homes on less than one acre on the Bend market dipped from $566,212 in June to $530,385 in July, down about 3 percent since the first of the year.”
“The regionwide average sale price dipped from $393,000 in June to $371,000 in July, Berger said, a drop of 5.6 percent in a month. ‘For that to come down to $371,000 in one month, that was a fair-sized drop, and I think we are going to see that coming down some more,’ broker Bill Berger said. ‘My take on it is that we are going to see some fairly significant price decreases for the next couple of months before we see it start to level out.’”
“Others ‘think it might take a couple of years for prices to shake out,’ (realtor) Foster said. ‘I don’t lean that direction. I think Bend is a little more special than that. But it’s really hard to say.’”
“Inventory has built rapidly in the once-tight Bend market, Berger and other market watchers say, for one key reason: Speculators are trying to bail out at the top price. Their houses are crowding a market that’s already full of the normal traffic. Bend alone had 1,322 active listings on July 31. It had 387 listings on July 31, 2005.”
“George Hale of Bend-based WoodHill Homes, said the inventory buildup is causing him to trim his production plans this year, but he’s still bullish on the long haul. WoodHill sold about 25 percent of its homes to investors in 2005, Hale said, but those buyers ‘are pretty much gone.’”
“It’s hard to tell how sellers will react to the upwelling of inventory, Foster noted. Some are selling because they have to sell. Others are just testing the waters at intentionally high prices, trying to see whether a buyer ‘with a bucket of money and a box of stupid’ will show up to pay too much.”
“Stevi Hjertstedt’s 1,427-square-foot house is listed for $309,900. The Hjert-stedts paid $185,400 for it when they bought it in 2004. As in most Bend neighborhoods, she’s competing with some investors and speculators who are also trying to get out. A bigger house one street over, bought by an Oakland, Calif., resident in 2001 for $213,746, is listed at $348,900; price reduced. Another, owned by a Bend investor, is priced at $298,000, up 68.6 percent from the $207,000 purchase price in February 2005.”
“‘When we bought two years ago, we thought it was outrageous,’ she said. ‘But when they told us what they were going to list this house for I was shocked. I said, ‘We’re stealing.’ But, you know? It’s priced appropriately for the market.’”
Thanks to the reader who sent in this link.
There is this from Washington:
‘Real estate agent Heather Fairless is working harder to sell houses this year. There just aren’t as many buyers. Not like last year, anyway, said Fairless, 32, who is with GMAC Real Estate in Vancouver. ‘Even in great school districts, the homes are not getting a lot of traffic. It’s frustrating,’ said Fairless.’
‘When (home) appreciation skyrockets 20 percent in a single year you have to have some sort of correction,’ said Hunzeker, also president-elect of the Clark County Association of Realtors.’
Ben,
Fascinating site. This is my first blog - ever! I don’t know how to start a “blog string” so it starts here… You said your economic analysis of ownership costs vs renting costs indicated the market was over priced. How about a complete analysis showing after-tax and opportunity costs? I’ve heard renting does come out ahead of paying on a mortgage.
Next topic… Can you do an economic analysis behind - Do Realtor’s earn their keep? I have bought and sold 6 homes, plus 4 rental properties. I do not need to pay a Realtor to find a home, price a home, show a home, negotiate, sell a home, finance a home, insure a home, do the closing, or sprinkle legal protections. I can hire a real estate attorney to the legal stuff. In this Internet and information world, I just don’t see the value. This is one anachronistic restriction in the market I easily live without!!!! Also, I would resent paying for the Mercedes for some well-dressed housewife who does a couple hours of work. It’s good money if you can get it - but come on - 7% (yes I know how its all split,,, I’ve held a real estate sales license and owned a mortgage brokerage). When will consumers wake up? When will the free market become free????
Done with the rant. Please, show me some numbers on the value proposition of Realtors? Yes, it probably varies with the experience of the buyer and seller.
Thanks!
Great site!!!
Chuck:
You may want to chill a bit.
Ben hasn’t done research requests in the 1 yr plus I have been reading and posting here, you never know he may start, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Here are a couple of places to get you started. I am in So Cal so the first is So Cal specific.
Evidence for a CA housing bubble.
http://www.piggington.com/bubble
A pretty consistent message on this blog is do you own due diligence.
Here is a rent vs buy calculator. Run it for yourself.
http://www.dinkytown.net/java/MortgageRentvsBuy.html
“Can you do an economic analysis behind - Do Realtor’s earn their keep?”
There’s a little of this in the book _Freakonomics_. They do better when they sell their own properties than when they sell yours.
The question shouldn’t be do realtors earn their keep (they do or else people wouldn’t use then for the majority of sales), it should be why do realtor’s earn their keep? Unless you want to pay my consulting fee for several months I’m not even going to speculate on the answer.
Chuck,
I have often wondered the same thing about RE agents. That commission seems absurd for someone like me looking to buy (not now of course). As a seller I can see the motivation for one, but as a buyer? I’ll have more success locating a nice place online than driving around town with an agent telling me how nice this and that area are (which I did last year and got sick of it and ended up getting rid of the agent). Like you said, the details can be worked by an attorney which may cost a bunch per hour…but nothing near the $50K the RE agent will get on an over-priced $750K house.
What are you talking about? Buyers don’t pay commissions. So if your a buyer no need to concern yourself with that right?.
Now as far as your other comment. Which applies to the other nutjobs above especially the one who quoted that a$$hat freakonomics author.
Let’s look at the guy from the SDCIA Board the one who’s currently losing his a$$ in Tucson most of the posters here are familliar with this guy. For three mo’s he has been bleeding on that property. Crying daily to the masses about how the local realtor guru screwed him on his binge of greed. Last I checked he had 6 pages of crap and shoulder support. Not one of those “seasoned” investors came up with a solution for his problem. But yet they are steady about bashing realtors and now I see Bubble Blog posters.
I could have that guys property sold and him on his merry way in 2 weeks or less at his current price. Im a broker yes but I haven’t set foot in Tucson for at least 10 yrs but I still know enough about that market to get rid of it in that time frame. I was going to help the guy out but they wouldn’t let me retain my anonominity or they recognized my nick and I was done in by guilt by association.
But the question is how much do you think that guy would pay to keep his credit record and that potential 45k loss in his pocket? The 14k he would pay on commission is small potatoes. A lot of you speak about hiring lawyers for the paperwork hell you got to get to the finish line of a successful sale before you can even think of hiring a lawyer. How much do you think a competent lawyer would charge to market and answer the phones to answer questions of buyers and do a escrow?. A helluva lot more than a Realtor.
Are there some incompetent Realtors who should be flipping burgers and selling shoes for a living? Yes. Are there some out there can make and save you thousands. You better believe it and if you can’t find one you need to change your approach to finding them.
“I could have that guys property sold and him on his merry way in 2 weeks or less at his current price.”
Really….care to share how you would do that?
“What are you talking about? Buyers don’t pay commissions. So if your a buyer no need to concern yourself with that right?”
Well…Except that the only person who brings a check to the closing is the buyer. So while the seller technically pays the agents commissions, I’m gonna guess that more times than not the seller has baked those commissions into the house price. So the buyer does seem to generally “pay” for the brokers, in one way or other.
“the seller has baked those commissions into the house price”
Probably not in the current market
August-
No, Not particularly. Since they turned me down for posting I’ve resigned myself to watching him and that Jeff fella rot on the vine.
mrincomestream, I am really glad you posted this. I have wanted to post something in defense of realtors/agents for a while, but haven’t had the courage to do so. No, I am not a realtor. But I have bought and sold 6 pieces of property over the past 12 years, with every combination of assisted and non-assisted selling: Owner to owner, agents on both sides of the transaction, selling on my own with an agent on the buyer’s side, buying with the assistance of agent with no agent on the other side. With only a couple of exceptions, most of the agents I have dealt with have been courteous, professional and helpful. And, in my opinion, more than worth their commission. If it hadn’t been for a realtor, I’d probably still be sitting desperately in a crappy, hostile gated community in South Florida, afraid for my life. And she happened to be the buyer’s agent. I was more than happy to pay her 3% commission, especially after I had paid a sleazy auction company a “marketing fee” for no results and been ripped off by a “Real Estate Attorney” to the tune of about ten grand for a complete mess. (A word about real estate attorneys and attorneys in general: they don’t get paid to make things happen. They get paid by piling up fees and they frequently work with the opposing counsel to raise problems and issues and draw things out as long as possible, billing their clients hourly. They tend to be parasitic on society and most especially on hard working people in general. The only attorneys worth hiring are those who get paid only if they win the case, for a percentage of the proceeds. So most attorneys have a vested interest in stopping transaction. Realtors don’t get paid unless they make a transaction happen, so they work to make it happen.) When I purchased my second property, I had the very good fortune to have an agent on my side who understood human nature. After interviewing us for a good hour and getting an idea of our needs, she took us out one day and showed us six properties. The first five were almost, but not quite, what we wanted. The last one was perfect. It wasn’t until a few years later that I realized what she had done. She knew already which one we would buy, based on our needs and budget. But she also knew that if she showed it to us right off the bat, we’d act like most inexperienced meatheads she’d dealt with, “Oh, well, it’s nice, but what else is there”. And then she’d have to waste time showing us the other properties and we’d probably forget how good the first one was and then have to go back there again. Yep, she played us like a fiddle. We loved her for it.
Any realtor who has been in the business for any length of time is usually pretty good, otherwise they don’t last more than a year or two at most. Most of them who last in the business work very hard, it’s a lot more than just entering information in a computer and waiting for a phone to ring. I know, because I’ve burned out more than a few realtors over the years who drove me around for miles to look at property I never bought. So they didn’t make a dime on me, and in fact were out of pocket for gas expenses. But they keep on plugging and hanging in there, if they are any good. They can keep emotions out of transaction, otherwise many buyers and sellers would be at each other’s throats. I know this for a fact, having sold on my own and having to severely restrain myself from ripping the throat out of some of the idiots who came by to see the property and had no idea how to present an offer, even when I gave them the forms to fill out and referred them to a title company. If you know what you are doing, yes, you can sell or buy property on your own. But many people don’t have a clue and I’ll bet there’s a lot of property out there that wouldn’t get sold or even rented if it weren’t for a realtor.
Realtors work on commission only in most cases and having been in sales myself, I understand how discouraging that can be sometimes. So if some of the hardworking realtors who have been at it for years caught a break during this bubble, I say more power to them and I hope they managed to salt away some of their hard earned cash for the lean times ahead. That’s the sales game. Some years are better than others. Don’t get me wrong, there are some real idiot realtors too, and I’ve run into them, too. One person who looked at my property to buy for her family later on became a local realtor (after trying four times to pass the exam) and God help anyone who ever has the misfortune to deal with her. Nasty and dumb as a box of rocks. Her last job before becoming a realtor was as a cashier at the local Quickie Mart where I bought my Sunday paper and candy bars. She was one of those who caught a little of the bubble boom and had her picture plastered all over the local weekly rag. I expect to see her at the Quickie-mart again sometime real soon.
I’m sure there have been some real bad eggs involved in this bubble. But if I were a realtor and people wanted to pay ridiculous prices for housing, who am I to say they shouldn’t? I sold my own property for far more than I would have paid. Should I have discouraged the buyers? They were willing to pay what we asked and in fact couldn’t shove us out fast enough (even going so far as to threaten us with a penalty if we didn’t close according to their bank’s timetable).
Realtors are going to get much of the blame for this housing bubble, thanks in large part to idiots like Mr. Liareah, who hasn’t done the profession any favors, IMHO. But realtors aren’t responsible for the actions of the Fed and predatory lenders, nor are they responsible for the greedy specuvestors that swarmed the country like rats. Nor are they responsible for the insane development. And they are not responsible for the sheeple who just had to buy a house at any cost. They just managed to make some money on a rare phenomenon. Why look a gift horse in the mouth?
OK, end of long rant. Go ahead and flame me, I don’t care.
Palmetto,
I agree with you that not all realtors are scumbags. We have had some great realtors over the years. We’ve had a couple that weren’t so great, but they weren’t terrible. As we have moved up in house prices $60k, $125k, $140k, $195k, $250k, $275k, $325k, $450k….We noticed that the agent didn’t work any harder when we bought or sold these properties, yet when we sold our last home for $600k, $36k for the same service. Of course we didn’t complain as we made $100k. Now on the fipside, as buyers, I’m not willing to pay an additional $36k+ for my home to cover the real estate fees in this market.
When discussing the prices in a model home recently, the sales agen said a lot of the problem is the realtors bought investment homes and are now stuck holding them. So, in many ways many realtors, thanks to the Big Guy (DL), are somewhat responsible. They helped fuel this bubble too, albeit from listening to Big Guy mantra.
Hi, Lizzie, well, now that I’ve had a good night’s sleep…
No question that many realtors drank the koolaid. I just now got off the phone with a fellow who works for a waterfront developer around here. He told me about a local realtor who bought one propety, then HELOC’ed it to buy and fix up another and is now stuck with the two properties. Had to get another job installing alarm systems. So definitely there have been some real idiot realtors involved in this bubble and those are the ones who are, rightly so, the target of much ridicule and resentment. But I think most of the realtor quotes we see in the various reports are probably from pump and dump Johnnie come lately types who have time on their hands to talk to the media, while the real pros are silent, because they are busy trying to sell, close or drum up business. As to making more money for the same amount of work, I guess that’s just the nature of the commission business. Some realtors (the smart old pros) cut their commission if it means the difference between making or not making a sale. I don’t begrudge them a little prosperity, because for many it is just payoff for working hard over the lean years and having out of pocket expenses to make up.
But as a buyer (or non-buyer) in this market, I agree with you 200% about paying extra for a place to cover realtor fees. I certainly wouldn’t do it. But if I needed to get out of a bad situation, I’d go to someone like mrincomestream above, if he could help me, and gladly pay his commission to walk away with my credit intact.
MrIncomestream,
You freaking crazy. How are you goiung sell that house in 2 weeks. The only way to do that is by lowering the price. You can offer all the incentives you want but the bottom line is lowering the price and using the MLS. That is how it works in a market like that.
If I recall that was the first thing the investors mentioned on that thread. SDCIA is a great web site with many knowledgable investors that know what they are doing. Sure there are some newbs, but they seek guidance by the pros that post on that board.
If those were real investors over there what I’m thinking would have already been suggested and the house would have been gone. Lowering the price is not going to help him. All that’s going to do is create more financial hardship. 2 weeks is all that would take with the right plan. Those guys are a bunch of rookies and novices. They have no idea what a real investor is. I’ve been in real estate for 12+ years and have created no less than 20 multi-millionaires in real estate nevermind my individual holdings. The advice those morons are giving to that FB is shameful.
Chuck,
Ben isn’t your personal research bitch. He does a great job of finding relevant articles and posting them, which seems to be a very full-time enterprise. If it’s “research” you want, maybe you could, oh, say, do your own?
LOL. Brutal…..it was his first blog, and now probably his last. Go easy on the poor fella.
LOL. Always glad to see Newbies in here, but there are folks out there — not saying Chuck is one of them — who expect to sit back and be spoon-fed information that takes a great deal of effort to collect and analyze. But, I’ll give Chuck the benefit of the doubt, and say, C’mon back bro. Pull up a seat. Grab yourself a cold one. Welcome to the Enlightenment. Didn’t mean to go all Tora! Tora! Tora! on you, or sound like Ben’s gatekeeper, just wanted you to be aware than running this site is an extremely time-intensive operation and it’s up to us, the posters and grateful readers, to help provide good content and comments.
Chuck - just be patient and keep reading. I suspect that all your questions will be answered indirectly over the next few weeks and people post different scenarios, articles, and numbers analysis. And don’t forget to support Ben for this great blog (this is for everyone) by clicking the PayPal icon for a donation!
It’s a lot of info to absorb at first. You have years before you should consider buying a house (probably.) Give yourself time. Also, if you have a question put it out to the group - not to Ben specifically. You’ll get more input. Also, some great references to old blog entries. Ben has enough to do collecting the info and babysitting us.
Well, someone finally flat out said it….’bucket of money and box of stupid’.
Whew…there are going to be so many pissed off 2005 buyers.
Not to mention 2006 sellers.
Unfortunately for these sellers, the housing shortage mirage is rapidly giving way to the reality of a shortage of greater fools.
That is a great summation of the GF phenomena.
Buckets of money and boxes full of stupid. LMAO, thanks I needed that.
Yep…brilliant. Can’t wait for the next time a real estate discussion comes up.
How would you like to be one of this realtors 06 BUYERS knowing the guy figured you showed up with a “box of stupid”? Nice to know he was looking out for your best interests!
‘BOX of Stupid’, Priceless. IMHO
Mama said stupid is what stupid does.
“Others are just testing the waters at intentionally high prices, trying to see whether a buyer ‘with a bucket of money and a box of stupid’ will show up to pay too much.”
Hello, we are looking for those rich Calif. suckers. Please cash us out and we will be on our way. This is the same scenario in a lot of western states, locals trying to cash out by selling to people cashed out of Calif. Unfortunately this gravy train is about to derail and some people are going to get hurt.
In my area, lot’s of million dollar+ spec homes are sitting on market looking for that California cash that these small time builders thought would never run dry. Now they’re just sitting, and the builders are looking like Sir Alec Guinness in the movie “The Bridge Over the River Kwai” when he utters the famous quote “My God, what have I done!”
nnvmtgbrkr,
thanks for all the updates in your area. I have been to Reno numerous times and am always interested in the latest news.
A million dollar house in the Reno locale must be a really nice house. But a million dollars is a lot of money no matter what state you are in. I think in many areas the only reason people bought $ 1 Million+ houses was because the price keeping going up and they thought they could make even more money with a more expensive house.
Now the tide has turned and people are going to shy away from the more expensive houses as they will lose the most money as the prices decline. It will be tough to sell these upper end houses in the future. There are only so many rich people and there will be fewer rich people in a recession.
Can’t wait to see the dominos fall!
We should market a set of dominoes with houses on them as they fall you end up with a bunch of houses that come crashing down and then the last domino just shows a foundation.
No strike that the last domino shows a flipper with his ass hanging out.
Some sellers, meanwhile, are getting frustrated. ‘I think we’re at the point now where we’ll just make this thing work, and maybe take the houses off the market until the market gets better,’ Linda Laws said Wednesday. ‘I’m not sure.’”
- Linda, honey - your frustration is real….of that I’m sure.
Lastly - The Hjert-stedts paid $185,400 for it when they bought it in 2004. I said, ‘We’re stealing.’ But, you know? It’s priced appropriately for the market.’”
- The only thing stolen was your reality and financial future.
“Others ‘think it might take a couple of years for prices to shake out,’ (realtor) Foster said. ‘I don’t lean that direction. I think Bend is a little more special than that. But it’s really hard to say.’”
- Note to ‘(realtor) Foster’ …. your area is Special!! WTF!!
It appears that the pricing formula for Bend is:
Origional Purchase Price x # of years held = list price
(Origional Purchase Price) x (# of years held) x (box of stupid size) = list price
“Lastly - The Hjert-stedts paid $185,400 for it when they bought it in 2004. I said, ‘We’re stealing.’ But, you know? It’s priced appropriately for the market.’”
First there a must be another fool who can also meet the
new lending guideline.
“We’re stealing”
Well, at least they’re admitting they’ve got it overpriced from the very beginning. It should be no surprise to them then when they have to start adjusting their price down. Then we’ll see if any “stealing” actually took place.
Maybe they took out a HELOC, that’d be kinda like stealing.
Another, owned by a Bend investor, is priced at $298,000, up 68.6 percent from the $207,000 purchase price in February 2005.”
I’n no math genius, but isn’t 91K approx. a 43.9% increase from 207K, not 68.6%?
yup
you got it toyota. 44%
an ex-girlfriend sold her 1-bd co-op on 102 and rsd in 2002 for $410k, purchased in 1990 for $150K. she is cursing having missed the 2005 top of $550k. she is crazy, as will be demonstrated when it sells in 2010 for $300k.
Every one of of these floppers needs to understand: They aren’t looking for somebody with a bucket of money and a box of stupid. They NEED somebody with a BIGGER bucket of money and a BIGGER box of stupid. Bulls get rich, bears get rich, pigs get slaughtered. Oh and as someone one generation out of the furrows and with kids in 4-H, bulls is geniuses compared to pigs. Bulls know they are bulls, pigs walk up the ramp thinking “I wonder if there’s anything good to eat on the otherside of those roatating blades?”
“a BIGGER bucket of money and a BIGGER box of stupid”
Excellent!
I don’t get it . Why does a house get at 43.9% mark up in 1 1/2 years .The more I see these investor listings the more I am convinced that the speculators drove the markets up . Why were people stupid enough to pay ? Why did lenders/appraisers go along with these obscene yearly increases ?
I just wonder how much more inventory is out there that the sellers have held back putting the listings on the market .
“I just wonder how much more inventory is out there that the sellers have held back putting the listings on the market .”
—————————————————————-
A lot. I’m thinking a whole lot of flippers are still counting on ever increasing prices and are thinking this is just a lull in the action. Why list now with so much inventory to compete with? Wait a year or 3 and REALLY cash in at even HIGHER prices. LOL.
You are missing something important - This is very similar to the S &L debacle in the 80’s in that people (who knew exactly what they were doing) were feeding and profiting form a boom bcause they could invest money and lay the risk off on others.
This boom is because there’s(was) a ton of easy money to lend based on conversion of loans to MBS - The lenders could make some easy money creating all these ” creative” loan products - 110 % neg am stated income no doc option arm loans, sell them to peole who they know coudn’t possibly understand or afford it on the “promise” of instant appreciation bailing them out, then offload the risk to investors (buyers of MBS). Mtg brokers, RE agents and appraisers are/were all too happy to get their piece of the pie. This board is full of comtemptous comments about stupid greedy FB’s and yes, most of them will get their due when they go under but the lenders, mortgage brokers, agents and others who knew better will get off lightly - the smart ones have already cashed out and made their money and transferred their risk to someone else.
Th real question is who is going to be left holding the bag when all the MBS paper sold to finance the boom becomes worthless.
That would be China and assorted other Asian Nations.
That would also be your and my pension funds…
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2005/08/global_investor.html
“The buyers of mortgage-backed securities include U.S. pension funds, hedge funds and insurance companies. But overseas investors are the fastest-growing source of demand.”
Do pension fund managers get kick-backs when they purchase these MBS products?
Could someone tell me what kinds of jobs there are in Bend, Oregon that throw off the kind of income necessary to support any house of $300k+.
“special” jobs, of course
There ain’t any.
It’s a resort/vaction town, so you better bring your money with you. Increasingly it’s looking like the buyers are bringing their money but leaving it there.
BTW, I think the 2nd home/vacation home markets will be hit the hardest. It’s unlikely that I’ll ever have enough money to buy were I live, even after a 30% drop, so I’m hoping the 2nd home market takes enough of a beating for me to pick up a “2nd home” as a first home in a few years.
Sign flippers are getting $15/hr. in SD. Maybe Bend will follow.
Having grown up in Bend I have always listened to the story’s of Bend locals of how all the “Rich Californians” are going to be retiring to Bend because it is such a great place. There is the outdoor lifestyle, mountains, hiking, skiing etc. However, it never has materialized to the levels that had been predicted and yes I would love to live in Bend but with a median household income around 35K tops, and no real jobs outside of tourism and construction I passed on the ship and moved on. Friends tell me about the $650K homes that have been sitting empty for several months with For Sale Signs. Bend is a high desert and gets dam cold in the winter and very hot in the summer not a typical favorite for retirees. Great place to visit but why buy when you can get rent a furnished condo at Sunriver with no worries?
The people paying these ridiculous prices are the fabled “young, trendy entrepreneurs” who are creating their own income streams. Or so says the Bulletin. And stupid people from out-of-state who plan on making it big.
Please let them all leave and give me my town back.
Although I suppose it’s too late now.
and what is that giant sucking sound you ask…
ben and his giant shop vac warming up for…..
drum roll please…………..
friday desk-clearing time!!!!!
yippee - FRIDAY!
“‘I think we’re at the point now where we’ll just make this thing work, and maybe take the houses off the market until the market gets better,’ Laws said”
Ah…good ole’ American greed at its finest.
I’m seeing ALOT of people taking this strategy in No. Ca. and oh boy are they in for a rude awakening.
People in the Bay Area seem to think money just falls from the sky. Maybe I would too if the last 10 years of my life were dominated by dot.com funny money and now a massive housing bubble.
Money does fall from the sky when you have “Heli-Ben” at the helm of the Federal Reserve (actually, it was really “Uncle Al” who got us in this mess … Ben just inherited it.). What a bunch of clowns!
Hey Mike I like your blog. You ought to put up a comments section because the credit bubble is at the heart of everything and you have some nice comments on the matter.
Yeah rent the dump out and go negative cash flow with the mortgage payment. This guy must be a Rockfeller or something. I have loads of cash and I can hold out until buyers have to buy.
SUCK EGGS - Take your dump off the market. What I do know is that 40% of the homes purchased in California in 2005 were either investment or second homes. I think a lot of the second homes were actually investment, but the greedy flipper just wants to write off the interest deduction and not have passive income rules if he rented it out. Anyways these guy are going to get bent over like they were a snitch in a prison riot.
LOL at ….”these guys are going to get bent over like a snitch in a prison riot .” ….The funny part is how the flippers were selling to flippers .You can tract some of these houses and they were selling every 12 months .
You know it occurred to me today that Labor Day is only a few short weeks away. If last year was any good indication, isn’t this the time of year when the RE markets go into hibernation for the remaining part of the year?
Could we be seeing a bit of panic in the streets by Sellers exposed to Jan 07 ARM re-sets?
But Gary Watts said there should be a pickup in RE sales activity in September.
Greetings from Los Angeles. I am new to this Blog. Just want to add my two cents. I read these stories and comments and I am wondering when the class action lawsuits will emerge, as enraged or aggrieved investors/speculators/suckers attempt to find a scapegoat for their troubles. Not to mention the vast amount of corruption and fraud that will inevitably emerge from this housing bubble once it bursts and peeps finally realize they’ve been Had. Just wondering.
There’s been a fair bit of postulating here over the past many months that lawyers will be picking up a lot of RE-related lawsuit work in the coming years. In an age when people are taught that they are victims anytime anything goes wrong — heaven forbid they should be solely responsible for their own decisions and greed — how could it be otherwise?
Greetings from Los Angeles. My first post on this blogsite. I am reading the current entry and replies, and it occurs to me to wonder when the class action lawsuits will emerge from enraged and aggrieved homeowners/investors/speculators/suckers who will want to find a scapegoat once they realize they’ve been had. Not to mention the vast amount of corruption and fraud that will definitely surface once this real estate bubble bursts and leaves a lot of people dazed and bewildered. Just wondering.
The lawsuits are already starting to happen .The lawsuits will increase as we get further into the correction .
‘We’re stealing.’ But, you know? It’s priced appropriately for the market.’”
The greed is frying my brain.
“Others ‘think it might take a couple of years for prices to shake out,’ (realtor) Foster said. ‘I don’t lean that direction. I think Bend is a little more special than that. But it’s really hard to say.’”
In a few more months Foster will be doing more than “leaning.” Bend is about to become “Bend Over.”
That would be a good welcome-to-town billboard for a get-even bear with some extra cash:
Bend.
Over.
Believe it or not, Foster is probably the MOST in tune with the real estate problems of all the local realtors here in Bend…the rest just simply continue the tired old lines “No Worries! This market is just getting started! We are set for a solid ten year run!” Believe it or not, a realtor here said that exact thing to me the other day…
“I think Bend is a little more special than that. ”
Yeah, SPECIAL ED.
Who cares anyhow about Bend?
What a dumb name for a town.
Bend was actually ranked as the 5th overpriced city in the nation (when compaired to income, historical records, ect) a couple months ago in the “House Prices in America, Updated for the first quarter of 2006″ by Global Insight and National City Corporation.
“The price, after a drop from the initial listing price, is standing at $349,000, still a tidy profit on a house they bought for $135,000 in 2002,”
“Stevi Hjertstedt’s 1,427-square-foot house is listed for $309,900. The Hjert-stedts paid $185,400 for it when they bought it in 2004″
”
A bigger house one street over, bought by an Oakland, Calif., resident in 2001 for $213,746, is listed at $348,900; price reduced.”
” Another, owned by a Bend investor, is priced at $298,000, up 68.6 percent from the $207,000 purchase price in February 2005.”
F Them. The sense of entitlement - to think they deserve 40 , 60 , 80% appreciation in a year or two - combined with the complete state of denial, the complete ignorance of what if happening right in front of them, has removed any compassion I had for these FB’s .
“F Them. The sense of entitlement - to think they deserve 40 , 60 , 80% appreciation in a year or two - combined with the complete state of denial, the complete ignorance of what if happening right in front of them, has removed any compassion I had for these FB’s .”
Nor do I have the least regard for these housing usurers.
Let there be many foreclosure casualties among the greedy swine. The greater the pain, the more instructive to the next lot of gougers.
‘I think we’re at the point now where we’ll just make this thing work, and maybe take the houses off the market until the market gets better,’ Laws said Wednesday.
UNbelievable. Truly.