Speculative Bubble A ‘Stumbling Block’ In Florida
The Palm Beach Post from Florida. “CB Richard Ellis’ big-picture report on the U.S. office and industrial space markets pegs West Palm Beach as a national player in both sectors. There are problems: Fuel prices and ‘the bursting of the speculative bubble in residential real estate’ are cited as potential stumbling blocks.”
“The authors write, ‘Markets having the greatest exposure to inflated housing prices may have the most difficult time in dealing with the fallout’ from soaring gas prices and plummeting housing valuations. That would seem to describe Palm Beach County.”
The Sun Sentinel. “A development group on Tuesday gave up its effort to turn 245 rental apartments into condos in Lauderdale Lakes, the only city in Broward County with a ban on condo conversions.”
“The investors thought there were ’safer places to put their money,’ said Deme Mekras, a real estate agent for members of the group. ‘It was [for] city reasons instead of market reasons.’”
“The decision to withdraw the proposal surprised city commissioners, who were poised to consider repealing the city’s one-year moratorium on conversions Tuesday night. When the issue became moot, the commission dropped its planned discussion.”
The St Petersburg Times. “In the spring, Port Richey officials expected five condominium and townhouse complexes with units priced around $200,000 to break ground by year’s end, doubling the city’s population of 3,200. Another developer planned to replace the Port Richey Mobile Home Park with hotels and restaurants, trying to attract tourists to the city’s waterfront.”
“One of the largest projects, the 170-unit Bay Point townhouses, has stalled. And two mobile home parks, ripe for redevelopment, remain on the market.”
“That’s because a slowing housing market and skyrocketing insurance costs have left the city struggling to get developments off the ground. City officials now estimate just 700 new residents by year’s end, a fraction of the roughly 3,000 predicted earlier this year.”
“Has the rebirth of Port Richey stalled? ‘Everybody knows with the prices of flood and property insurance, we’re struggling to make it,’ said Ed Winch, city building official. ‘It’s affecting the market badly. It’s slowed anticipated growth. With condos, there’s not a market for it.’”
“‘I think people have a wait-and-see attitude,’ said City Manager Jerry Calhoun. ‘With things slowing down, it isn’t just Port Richey, it’s nationwide. We have to back off our projections.’”
“‘Condos was the thing, and they were selling like hotcakes,’ Winch said. But then, ‘the bottom fell out (of the market).’”
The Orlando Sentinel. “Going broke has fallen on hard times these days. In the year since a tougher federal bankruptcy law took effect, personal-bankruptcy cases have plummeted, and consumers must clear more hurdles than ever to get a financial fresh start through the courts.”
“But despite the law’s fallout, many experts say it may be only a matter of time before going broke is thriving again, thanks largely to massive adjustable-rate-mortgage debt many took on during the housing boom. Homeowners, especially those who have interest-only or so-called ‘teaser-rate’ mortgages, could see their monthly payments more than double.”
“‘Some just won’t be able to make the new monthly payments,’ said Jules Cohen, a bankruptcy lawyer in an Orlando law firm. ‘They’ll get two or three months behind, and then you’ll see a lot of them file Chapter 13 bankruptcy in hopes they can set up a debt-payment plan and prevent foreclosure.’”
“Interest rates will rise on about $300 billion in adjustable-rate mortgages this year alone, according to a research group. That figure is projected to skyrocket to more than $1 trillion in each of the next two years.”
“Consumer lawyers say they are already beginning to see some ‘victims’ of real-estate investments during the housing boom. Jonathan Alper, a bankruptcy lawyer in Heathrow, said a couple who recently visited his office faced insolvency after buying two $400,000 homes as investment properties. With annual household income of only $75,000, the couple quickly defaulted on the loans.”
“They blamed the ill-advised venture on tips from a ‘wealth-in-real-estate’ seminar.”
“‘Overall, the real-estate issue is going to be a big problem in the bankruptcy system,’ Alper said. ‘We haven’t seen that much yet, but it is coming. Real-estate lawyers tell me there are a lot of their clients in trouble these days as buyers try to get out of deals before they close.’”
“There may be signs that real-estate troubles are already having an effect. The latest numbers show that bankruptcies are beginning to climb again. New cases in Florida’s Middle District, for example, rose 31 percent from the first quarter to the second quarter this year, the court reported. Last year, cases were up only 13 percent in that period.”
“‘Most people think it’s just a matter of time before the number of people filing bankruptcy gets back to a normal level,’ Orlando bankruptcy lawyer Doug Neway said. Returning to ‘normal’ would be a dramatic change under the new law, which, among other things, set up a ‘means test’ to see whether someone could extinguish all debt by filing Chapter 7 liquidation.”
“Debtors who earn more than their state’s median income, after reasonable living expenses, must file Chapter 13 and pay some of their debt.”
must file Chapter 13 and pay some of their debt
Does anyone have a concise summary (or link) of the new BK laws?
How much gets repaid for those above median income? And why wouldn’t you make sure that your income is below median before filing?
TIA
Try the ABI website. http://www.abi.org I believe it is. There are links for the public.
Sorry. Senior moment.
http://www.abiworld.org/
I have it on a hot key so I never have to type it in.
A hot key! For the bankruptcy rules! Hee hee!
We can only assume it’s for professional reference, txchick! But I reckon more than a few FB’s are also going to need hot keys set up so they can access that site quickly and regularly. Perhaps we can have MS Vista’s browser to include it as a standard feature.
If you make more than the median income for your state you are now forced to file a Chapter 13. You are required to pay at least 10% and up to 100% of your debts over a 3 to 5 year period. If your income is too large for a 7, but not enough to repay 10% of your debts under a 13, well, you my friend, are screwed. Happens all the time according to the BK lawyer in the next office over.
Thanks for the summary.
If your income is too large for a 7, but not enough to repay 10% of your debts under a 13, well, you my friend, are screwed.
Have we brought back the debtors prison of the middle ages? Seriously, how on earth will this stand up to challenge?
people should pay their tab
age of personal responsibility
If fraud (overstated income or personal residence misstatements)is involved, forget about BK the debt will not be discharged.
It used to be that in Florida you could go BK and keep your house. This created a situation where flakes would buy multimillion dollar homes and go BK. Anyone know the rules? Are they the same? Have they changed to what?
I believe the unlimited homestead exemption is still in place but you have to have owned the home for 2 years (something like that) prior to filing. Same thing in Texas. Used to be you could just buy something and file 60 days later.
Hi Texas thanks for your comment. I have noted your comments are very informative.
“Consumer lawyers say they are already beginning to see some ‘victims’ of real-estate investments during the housing boom. Jonathan Alper, a bankruptcy lawyer in Heathrow, said a couple who recently visited his office faced insolvency after buying two $400,000 homes as investment properties. With annual household income of only $75,000, the couple quickly defaulted on the loans.”
“They blamed the ill-advised venture on tips from a ‘wealth-in-real-estate’ seminar.”
Victims? DId I hear right? VICTIMS?
I guess if you’re poor and you commit accounting or loan fraud you’re a VICTIM. Let’s treat everyone equally here. It take two to tango with silly mortgage terms.
Stupidity is not accounting or loan fraud. If they didn’t lie on the applications, they don’t have a problem.
even if the applications didn’t have any false information, purchasing something that you’re not sure you can pay for isn’t completely honest.
Well, that gets into a whole ‘nother area. That is or was another reason to deny dischargeability of a debt - that the debtor incurred a debt that he reasonably knew he could not pay at the time he incurred it. Tougher to prove but if the creditor is aggressive and wants to spend some money taking section 2004 examinations, etc., they can go for it.
No, they were sure they could pay it because there was going to be an unending supply of Canadian Snowbirds that wish they bought earlier themselves that will then genuflect at the rental contract agreement and pay it for them. Jesus, don’t you know anything. No wonder you’re a bitter renter.
haha
And not only that, they be forced to pay any increases in rents due to ARM resets or tax or insurance increases, because after all, THEY HAVE TO VACATION THERE, someone somewhere is putting a gun to their heads and forcing them to take their mandatory FL vacation every year and they’ll just have to make that trip and sign the rental agreement, even if the cost of gas goes up and driving or flying is cost prohibited, they have no choice, THEY MUST vacation in Florida to help pay these specuestors debts for them. No way around it, that’s the law, priced out forever Snowbirds must flock to FL every year and spend money they may not have in the future. Therefore the lending terms make sense.
Remember the Seinfeld bit - “my parents didn’t want to move to Florida, but they’re in their 60’s now and that’s the law”.
Yeah, classic. I love Seinfeld. What a great show.
The did put it ‘victims.’
A reader posted this flash-back:
‘Real estate-crazed Americans have started behaving in ways that eerily recall the stock market obsession of the late 1990’s. In Naples, Fla., some houses have been bought twice in a single day, an early-21st-century version of day trading. Buying stocks on margin has morphed into buying homes with no money down.’
‘It just seems like everyone is doing it,’ Laurie Romano, a 26-year-old self-described real estate investor, said with a giggle as she explained why she was attending an open house.’
Consider this, you can take out a home-equity loan or HELOC and buy another home without reporting it to the lender as to what you’re buying. Not only tat, but once you have the other house you could choice to insure it or not or even just under-insure it. Not only that, the second house doesn’t even need an unbiased appraisal for the lender’s info. Now imagine if that house is a house in Florida and it gets taken out by a hurricane. I know just such a scenario personally. Imagine what the a lender 30 years ago would have to say about that shit.
And also from this article comes the famous quote:
In Miami, Ron Shuffield, president of Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors, predicted that a limited supply of land coupled with demand from baby boomers and foreigners would prolong the boom indefinitely.
“South Florida,” he said, “is working off of a totally new economic model than any of us have ever experienced in the past.”
I’m only 26, but I’ve quickly learned that anytime someone uses the term “new economic model” (or to be really chic, “new paradigm”) its usually a sign to run the hell away from whatever it is that there selling.
In the mid/late 1990s, the CNBC crowd was claiming that earnings weren’t important, that all a company needed was the internet. Around the same time some postulated that “globalization” rendered tiny things like unemployment rate and national savings rate meaningless because we’re all owners of capital (of course, that claim is in fact self-contradictory on its face). And now for the past few years, its a new real estate market that supposedly guarantees nothing but future wealth. What a load of crap.
It doesn’t matter how smart you think you are, the same basic economic principles that applied 100 years ago are more or less the same rules of the game that we have to deal with now. Some new instruments (a fully developed and integrated options market, improved/instanteous IT technologies, etc.) may help prudent investors manage risk and market inefficencies a bit better, but its essentially the same game that’s always been played.
I have looked high and low to find it again, but I know in 2001 I saw an analyst’s report that included a quote from a Dutch tulip trader proclaiming that the world was going to work on a new economy based on tulips!
While Dow and S&P are hitting new all-time highs, NASDAQ is still nowhere its all-time high. My old company hit a high of $151 a share before the bubble burst and it ultimately dropped to about $2. Now it’s up around $4. Wow, that’s a 100% increase!
Methinks that one ought to take those “wealth in real estate” seminars with a HUGE grain of salt.
BTW, the library offers a lot of useful info about the business of real estate. And it’s free.
Yes, but the library only has boring facts/figures/econometric data.
What they don’t have is the “secrets” of getting rich in Real Estate, or the “time-tested methods” that someone has used to Get rich in RE.
That information isn’t in the library, because it’s “secret”.
Sounds like a cult. Worship at the altar of no money down, real estate always goes up.
Corporations can file for bankruptcy protection when they become insolvent due to unwise business decisions. Why should this same option be denied to individuals? Let’s treat everyone equally here …
I agree let’s treat everyone the same. Of course I am talking about applying the current consumer standard and not the Corporate one.
Well your basically talking about eliminating limited liability for corporate shareholders, which would render the separate entity concept of the corporation pretty much useless.
Because individuals are not businesses?
Fine. Then why does the law rule that these businesses have the same rights as individuals if they do not have to have the same responsibilities?
annata,
You know, I’ve said that for years. Especially now that so many airlines etc. have declared themselves “indigent” in order to skirt their pension obligations. “Prudent” is they way they’ll spin it to the financial media (along with a healthy salary and bonus for a “hatchet guy” that guts the company). Their stock rallies following the announcement!
John and Jill McDebtor do the same thing (after enduring much self inflicted pain) and somehow there’s STILL this negative stigma that goes hand in glove with that!
I was at the bank yesterday and one of my daughter’s friends was their “loan officer”. We got to talking and she explained to myself and the Mrs. that they are “re-thinking” their stance on HELOC’s! I didn’t rub it in but it was obvious she felt some guilt at putting people further into debt just after “consolidating” their debt. The elephant in the room was the public knowledge that a subdivision just blocks from the bank was a hot bed for foreclosures!
I’m all for a company keeping it’s word but if you work for a pension and don’t keep tabs on that pensions funding level or your companies finacial health in general you have no one to blame but yourself if you end up without your promised compensation..
It is a predatory universe.
When a corporation files bankruptcy, it essentially becomes owned by the creditors. They can either continue operations under their terms or liquidate, whichever they feel would get them more money. Be careful what you wish for.
Umm… That doesn’t sound like such a bad deal. The assets get divided by the creditors, and any debt that cannot be repaid from the assets is essentially forgiven. Then the same people that ran the company into the ground in the first place can start a new corporation with a clean slate. That Heathrow couple should be so lucky!
Ha. If it were only that easy.
I hope they go broke and have to repay all the loans.Their greed is what has caused a lot of people to suffer, F@ck them.
A lot of these RE wealth seminars are held in Orlando; my umm… soon to be RE mogul relative is always dragging her kids and baby-sitter up this way to attend these 1-3 day seminars. After each seminar, she gets all wild-eyed and charged up and says kooky things like, “I’m going to leave my 80k plus job, become a realtor, start a RE business, and then I’ll have more time for my family and kids.” As most of us in the real world know, starting and running a business leaves very little extra time for family.
Anyway, these seminars are higly motivational and extremely dangerous to the unsuspecting nimble minded folk around us. They motivate people to do really stupid things like levering up with credit cards, home equity lines, second mortgages and so on to buy 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 negative cash flow homes. What’s more, the producers of these seminars charge a hefty fee for providing this umm… service.
Like I said before, don’t underestimate the power of *positive* thinking; it can prove financially fatal. A lot of people here in FL are charging like mad bulls into bankruptcy court via their unreal real estate dreams only to wake up with white flags sticking out of their arr..rears and saying things like, “I am victim.”
No sweetie; you’re not a victim. You’re a schmuck, a knucklehead, a nincompoop, a halfwit, a dunce; you’ve been conned. I know it hurts. Now, walk it off.
Two words; CASEY SERIN
Better yet one word: Schmuck!
A lot of those RE wealth gurus are domiciled in Florida, some came from CA first and migrated here. I admit, I’ve been to one of those seminars, many, many moons ago, when they were a lot less expensive, more laid back and actually had some interesting information. In the past ten years or so, they’ve become downright vicious in their aggression, according to one of my friends who has been to two of them in two years. Oh, also, Orlando is home to the American Cash Flow Institute, another lovely bunch of shysters.
No sweetie; you’re not a victim. You’re a schmuck, a knucklehead, a nincompoop, a halfwit, a dunce; you’ve been conned. I know it hurts. Now, walk it off.
It’s totally amazing how everyone is a victim and no one is responsible for thier own actions anymore. Remember the dumbass that put a cup of hot Mcdonalds coffee between her legs and got a 1.6 million dollar settlement? And we can’t forget my favorite, the little bag of moisture absorbant that comes with electronics with the words “DO NOT EAT ” written on it. Obviously some idiot thought the electronic industry thought he needed a snack while he was setting up his new system! So why should lending be any different? Printed on the front in bright yellow letters should be a warning that states ” This contract could be hazardous to your health”. Side effects may include severe depression, and rapid heartrates resulting from the depletion of your assetts! If an erection lasts for more than a week call your friends and tell them what a great deal you got! Seems like noone was complaining when the little scam was working. Everyone was an entrepeneur driving around in thier hummers and bragging at partys. Now all of the sudden everyones a “victim”. I don’t feel sorry for them one bit. In the immortal words of Forest Gump ” Stupid is as stupid does”.
Unless this article pertains strictly to Orlando, I think there are some problems with it. While bankruptcies did fall dramatically in the beginning of this year, there was a huge rush to beat the rules change last October and the rules change is believed to have pulled many people who would have filed later into that time frame.
While the new regs definitely make filing more onerous (and expensive), filings have been rising quickly. Also there is concern within the industry that while there will be fewer people officially going bankrupt, there will be a substantial increase in defacto bankruptcies as people give up on paying their debts, but don’t go through the legal process.
Yup. BUT, the collectors will be a lot more aggressive than they have been in the past, filing suits, etc. because they know that fewer of these FBs can file chapter 7.
De facto bankrupcy?
I thought we just called that “not paying”.
I am sure your right though, there are going to be people who can’t even pay an attorney to get them through the process. Just hand over the keys and walk away. Let them try to get the money out of you; they only have 5 years (or 7?) until the debt is dead anyway. Just live “under the radar” financially until then (under the table payments, etc).
Its an option; glad its not one I am going to need to explore.
7 years from the date of last activity on the account (original creditor). But these accounts get sold and resold to various collection agencies who also ding the credit report so it’s like a disease you can’t get rid of.
TxChick,
Your right, I know the debt gets sold. But I thought it was uncollectable after 7 years of non-payment? I know some people “rebase” the debt when they buy it, but I have heard that practice is illegal. From my understanding, they can still chance you after 7 years, but have no legal recourse.
Is this accurate, or have I been hearing too much “happy talk” from my sunk RE investor friends.
Thx.
The seven years relates to the length of time a bad debt can remain on a credit report. The uncollectability of it is subject to state statutes of limitation, which vary from state to state. Some are as low as 4 years and as long as 10, I believe.
“Interest rates will rise on about $300 billion in adjustable-rate mortgages this year alone, according to a research group. That figure is projected to skyrocket to more than $1 trillion in each of the next two years.”
So let’s see 300 billion this, year and then 7 times as much in the next 2 years, and the fallout so far is pretty bad. Imagine what a 7 fold fallout will look like. Ugh.
Few hundred Billion here, couple Trillion there, pretty soon were talkin real money(ACK).
After talking with a broker-friend, the time line will stretch. In her world, while re-fi’s have increased, the vast majority are 2/1, 3/1 and 5/1 ARM’s being re-cast into the same type of loan. Basically it’s a money thing with few folks having sufficient equity or cash on hand to qualify for a 30Y fixed. Their putting off judgement day. She says about 20% don’t qualify (upside down with a 0% down or neg-am loan) for a re-fi - and it’s early folks.
That’ll be ugly. Add a few more years to the bottom.
“So let’s see 300 billion this, year and then 7 times as much in the next 2 years, and the fallout so far is pretty bad. Imagine what a 7 fold fallout will look like. Ugh”
Makes one want to get into the bankruptcy business, doesn’t it? I wonder what the career options are for bankruptcy workouts…
It is an endlessly fascinating area of work (to me anyway). I loved it. You work your ass off though.
We are friends with a couple who are both bankruptcy attorneys (they work together; she interviews the clients and does the paperwork, he does the courts part). The fundamental problem of the business, they say, is that your clients don’t have any money.
You can only charge a certain amount anyway to file a consumer case unless there are ancillary proceedings. The corporate bankruptcies are just money machines for professionals.
Check this, you can take out a home-equity loan or HELOC and buy another home without reporting it to the lender as to what you’re buying. Not only tat, but once you have the other house you could choice to insure it or not or even just under-insure it. Not only that, the second house doesn’t even need an unbiased appraisal for the lender’s info. Now imagine if that house is a house in Florida and it gets taken out by a hurricane. I know just such a scenario personally. Imagine what the a lender 30 years ago would have to say about that shit.
Check this, you can take out a home-equity loan or HELOC and buy another home without reporting it to the lender as to what you’re buying. Not only tat, but once you have the other house you could choose to insure it or not or even just under-insure it. Not only that, the second house doesn’t even need an unbiased appraisal for the lender’s info. Now imagine if that house is a house in Florida and it gets taken out by a hurricane. I know just such a scenario personally. Imagine what the a lender 30 years ago would have to say about that sh!t.
Sounds like a totally new economic model to me!
Yes, Andy; we heard you.
Sorry, the post looked like it never went through.
an OC Anecdote: I asked owner of 99 Cent video store if he had BRAZIL?
No, that would get stolen instantly. I can’t keep it or A CLOCKWORK ORANGE in stock.
I thought you had peoples’ credit cards on file so you could just charge them?
Nah, the people who steal movies are all owned by Di-Tech.
Interesting discussion on bankrupcy. Would a foreclosed FB file for bankrupcy if they lied on their original loan ? If so, would that open them to criminal prosecution ?
Another angle to this is negative equity position. Would a FB continue with payments knowing that if they don’t, they will screw up their credit reports but also have IRS on their back with ‘loan foregiveness’ filing ?
Uncle Sam could make a killing here ! My prediction is that they’ll change the law to not do this sometime down the road.
Ah, what a tangled web we weave…
I believe the real danger is in removing too large of a block of citizens from being able to work. I knew a guy who ran a construction type company and he said he would hire these guys and they would work out for a while, then after a few months a garnishment order would show up from the IRS and they would be gone. On a small scale, I believe it has always been this way, but if this jumps substantially, the long term fallout for the economy and ability of the govt to maintain order could be undermined. These are definitely interesting times and not seemingly stable.
I recently had a conversation with a lawyer concerning wage garnishment (I was getting ready to sue a guy, and wanted to know what avenues I would have to collect on the judgement). She informed me (in Florida, at least) that if a person accounts for 50% or more of a family’s income, then his/her wages could not be garnished as a result of court judgement. But then again, GH’s story deals with IRS garnishment, which I’m sure takes major precedence over any “dinky” state laws. :^)
My story is “hear say” but the point is that once a person is stuck in deep they are no longer participants in the mainstream economy. Worse, many employers will not even consider employment for these individuals making their situation all the worse. Bottom line - They are removed from the worker and consumer pool and become social lepers. In small numbers the effect on the whole is not that great, but if as I suspect this broadens to impact millions over the next few years, this in and of it’s self will weaken our economy yet further. Bankruptcy was put there for a reason, and if there is no safety valve we have problems. the new BK law seems headed for the category of unintended consequences.
Totally true.
I actually ask prospective hires if they have garnishments or owe child support. I will tend to shy away from the ones that stumble on this subject because they usually jump ship after the first levy arrives….Gave one notice to a guy whom promptly went home and splattered his brains on the ceiling.
I would tread lightly with respect to asking prospective hires about garnishments. It varies by state, but in same places you can get your firm into legal trouble by using that as litmus test and then denying the person employment solely on those grounds.
A more prudent strategy is requiring all applicants (after an initial screening phase) to submit a credit report. That will give you the same information (actually, more) but it allows you to deny them employment for less contestable reasons.
That’s the ultimate way to get even with your ex and the kids.
On the stated income loans and lying about their income, I think the piece on 60 minutes a week and a half or so ago is a preview of things to come. In it, they were talking about how mortgage brokers would put down an inflated income without the borrowers knowledge and that at closing when the borrower said, hey this isn’t right, they’d say don’t worry, we’ll just refinance you into another loan. You’re going to have mtg brokers pointing fingers at the borrowers and borrowers pointing fingers at the mtg brokers. When politics gets involved, I’m sure the poor FBs will be turned into innocent victims of the mortgage industrial complex when an awful lot of them were just lying sacks of dung gambling with other peoples’ money. Rant off.
It wouldn’t do them any good to file bankruptcy if they lied on their loan application. Caveat: that assumes the creditor will file a non-dischargeability adversary proceeding. That’s a business decision for the creditor. Cost/benefit analysis: is it worth it to spend several thousand (at least!) in legal fees to render your debt non-dischargeable if the debtor is clearly not worth pursuing?
No taxes due in BK or insolvent FBs (IRC Sec. 108).
PIG NATION…take a bow all you gluttonous McMansionites.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1834360.ece
Check this out from a realtor and how he warns about MLS re-listings, interesting
http://www.soldbyrobert.com/content/view/40/2/
What a f**king douche bag that clown is. No wonder people are going to hate realtors as much used car salesman when this all plays out.
Here in Tucson, real estate agents are well on their way to used car salesmen levels of hatred. Just read the comments following any real estate-related story in our two MSM flagships:
Tucson Citizen
Arizona Daily Star
Trust me, those comments are NOT a love-fest.
Well, in this case, the guy isn’t a total scoundrel. From his own website (not the article mentioned):
“There has never really been a good reason for allowing re-listing in the first place, so seeing this practice go away is a move in the right direction. It also means that successful agents are going to have to be just a little bit better at what they do.”
So he’s not against the re-=listing ban per se. He does, however, point out that now people will be comparing apples and oranges when they look at DOM before and after this relisting rule comes into effect. And in his latest article, he certainly didn’t come across strongly enough in favor of the relisting ban. But he’s not completely off target.
They aren’t already?
I was at a party a few weeks ago and someone introduced her husband as a realtor. A friend of mine quickly pipped, “It must be nice not having to work for a living.”
Its kinda like “consultants.” There are some very hardworking people that make a killer paycheck doing it–but for a vast number of people, these are just semi-employed people trying to pass off as respectable professionals.
Interesting link. The “facts” in the post were interesting. What it shows is how much we’ve been lied to.
How many FB’s can ‘afford’ to take their home off the market for 30 days? I think a small fraction will. Most are going to start having their scary statistics shown to the world.
The best part is this will *end* listing for a wishing price rather than a market price. Or… people will get in the habit of bidding 59% of initial asking price!
Neil
” … it’s not as bad as it looks because we were lying to you before. But now we’re telling the truth. Honest!”
Anyone know of a good resource online to find upcoming RE auctions in FL or GA?
Any help would be appreciated.
- Jonathan Alper, a bankruptcy lawyer in Heathrow, said a couple who recently visited his office faced insolvency after buying two $400,000 homes as investment properties. With annual household income of only $75,000, the couple quickly defaulted on the loans.”
“They blamed the ill-advised venture on tips from a ‘wealth-in-real-estate’ seminar.”
Whats This! Someone at a Seminar lied?
Just wait until they start developing beach front properties in Havana. It will be like they started to make land again.
Seriously. That’s a big-assed island. Check it out on Google earth. Nothing down there. There’s as much beachfront property there as there is all along the entire eastern seaboard of the US. 5 times as much as FL, and it has mountains too. FL will be old hat if that ever gets opened up.