“Sellers Not Willing To Make Big Cuts May Be Frustrated”
A housing report from the Arizona Republic. “Valley home sellers frustrated by a lack of action on their listings will soon have another selling tool: the auction block. More than 100 homes are expected to go up for bid in a mass housing sale set for next month in downtown Phoenix.”
“Housing auctions, popular during the economic downturn in the early 1990s, are re-emerging as sellers look for different ways to make their home stand out from competing listings. In addition to the 40,000 resale homes on the market, it is estimated that there are as many as 25,000 ’spec,’ or speculative, houses that home builders have completed or are working on but have not sold.”
“Some experts say that any mechanism, including an auction, that reduces some of that inventory should be welcome; though they acknowledge it will take more than 200 homes to make a dent in the local inventory.”
“But auctions, especially for houses, can project the image of a cheap sale from a desperate seller. Sellers not willing to make big cuts may be frustrated to learn the buyers are bargain hunters or vulture investors.”
“‘I think they’re just kind of scammy-type predators in a market where they can hopefully get a bunch of buyers and get enthusiastic response,’ said (realtor) Doreen Drew in Anthem. ‘A lot of times, they don’t reach the reserve or the minimum amount. These guys are trying to create a little buzz. And I don’t think the sellers have capitulated yet. I don’t think they have said: ‘I just don’t care. Just drop the price to the mortgage and I’ll walk away from it.’”
“‘Historically, when auctions begin to appear, it’s not a good sign,’ said Jay Butler, head of realty studies at Arizona State University. ‘Rightly or wrongly, auctions are seen as a negative. In real estate, the auction is perceived to be a last-resort process.’”
“Brett Barry of Realty Executives said the two things stopping homes from selling now are price and the condition of the house.”
“‘If sellers are going to participate, they need to say, ‘We’ve been overpriced.’ The typical seller, they are greedy, they will think this is the magic pill,’ Barry said. ‘What is the magic dust that makes the house sell? To me, it sounds more like a gimmick unless they can get the prices down.’”
“John Burns, a real estate consultant based in California, said holding an auction is a good way for someone like a developer with an oversupply of housing to set the market value. He also thinks auctions will increase as people fall behind on risky mortgage loans.”
“‘I think the banks in this cycle will wind up with a lot of homes and would rather do this than go through a foreclosure auction,’ he said.”
“Some residents of a south Gilbert development are questioning if a battle with Chandler Unified School District would have ended differently had homeowners, and not Shea Homes representatives, run their homeowners association. Shea runs the HOA because the development has not reached the necessary percentage of sold homes to have a resident-run association.”
“The meeting was filled with residents angered by what they see as a failed last-minute effort by the HOA to prevent the school board on Jan. 24 from adopting district boundaries excluding Seville residents living north of Chandler Heights Road from attending Riggs Elementary.”
“Jeff Miller, a father of school-age children who lives in the excluded northern Seville sector, said many residents remain troubled by Shea’s initial sales pitch, which included the showing of a model that displayed a school, then referred to as Seville school, especially for Seville homeowners.”
“‘They (HOA board members) don’t have to live with the property-value loss. Your home is sacred, it’s one of the biggest investments you make,’ said Brad O’Hearne, a northern sector homeowner.”
The Daily Star. “A state Senate panel agreed Wednesday to enact laws to attack mortgage fraud, though several members questioned whether the changes will do anything at all.”
“Felecia Rotellini, superintendent of the state Department of Financial Institutions, cited situations in which a buyer gives a seller more than a home is worth, with the proviso — not reported to the bank — that some of that money be given back to the buyer.”
“But the whole proposal did not sit well with Sen. Pamela Gorman, ‘Getting cash back as a buyer doesn’t make you a criminal,’ she said. Gorman also said everything this legislation would criminalize already is illegal. ‘We’re not going to say it’s illegal, because it already is,’ she said. ‘We’re going to say it’s really, really illegal, which I don’t think is a useful exercise for this body.’”
“Sen. Robert Blendu said it appears the real reason few people are charged is that neither Rotellini’s agency nor the Attorney General’s Office has the funds to investigate and prosecute. ‘All the laws in the world mean nothing unless there’s enforcement,’ he said.”
“If nothing else, Blendu said, there needs to be better regulation of appraisers, as they are the key to all types of fraud.”
“But Rotellini said other types of fraud occur because a borrower provides incorrect information about income or a lending officer purposely inflates that income to help secure a larger loan than the person would otherwise be eligible to get.”
“Rotellini said these scams have victims other than lenders. She said people who buy legitimately in areas filled with homes with artificially jacked-up prices not only pay more than they should but could find values plummeting when other buyers default and lenders find out that more is owed on the property than it is worth.”
The East Valley Tribune. “A Scottsdale developer announced Wednesday it hopes to begin construction of a 26-story condominium tower on the north shore of Tempe Town Lake early this year with sales opening in March.”
“WestStone’s tower is one of a number of planned projects that could bring more than 2,000 condos to the area surrounding the lake, said John Fioramonti with real estate research firm Hanley Wood.”
“Fioramonti said he’s seen a frenzied rush to build condos during at least three housing market cycles in the 30 years he’s lived in the Valley. ‘The bug starts, and everybody starts building condos,’ he said. ‘And then they have way too many condos, and they can’t give them away.’”
Let the ‘blame game’ begin now that the ‘guaranteed appreciation’ is no longer there.
Got a NEW post up…
SoCalMtgGuy
http://www.housingbubblecasualty.com
“‘I think they’re just kind of scammy-type predators in a market where they can hopefully get a bunch of buyers and get enthusiastic response,’ said (realtor) Doreen Drew in Anthem.
Now Doreen, isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black?
Ahh, the proverbial “two-edged sword” cuts deep in both directions.
She’s just pissed that they’re taking potential sales away from her. However, nobody’s gonna sell a thing at the wishing prices so it’s a moot point.
This post may be the best one yet, Ben!
What is predatory about having an auction?
They’re predating her “sales”
Hey TXchick (and other interested folks):
My wife inherited about $10k in Exxon/Mobil stock about 5 years ago, now it is north of $20k in value. The only stock she owns other than her 401k. I keep telling her to sell and diversity,but she keeps holding on. So far she has been rewarded (ExxonMobil posted the highest corporate profits ever this week!). My reasoning, beside investment rule 101 (diversify) is that oil profits will never be better than under Bush/Cheney and those two are past their expiration date..
Obviously, she won’t listen to me, but she said she would listen to the sages on this blog. What do you (or others) think she should do?
Sell XOM and buy USO. If the Democrats tax the heck out of the oil companies and cut back on the tax breaks for exploration, the oil companies get hit, not oil prices. If the oil companies cut back on exploration, oil prices will go up. Besides, with the US pulling back in Iraq soon, and the Iranians rattling the saber, the ME is ready for another turbulent summer. Venezuela and Bolivia are also causing a ruckus.
Learn how to hedge the position using put options.
Buy a leap put at a price slightly below current price. You have a tidy profit in the stock already. Sort of like insurance, you will at least X dollars sometime in the future regardless of stock price movement.
Hold the XOM until all the world’s eyes are on screaming, front page headlines about $100+ oil per barrel. Don’t hold it forever unless the company is able to replace reserves. And don’t buy USO - it decouples from the price of crude to the detriment of shareholders and in any case offers no leverage. You may as well go buy a barrel of oil and put in the garage - maybe you can sell it later and make a buck or two.
If your wife’s holding a single stock, XOM is not a bad choice over the next few years.
Oh, also, XOM will pay your wife a dividend, which she should reinvest in extra shares. There’s no fee to do so and if she cashes the checks she will just piss away the money - it’s the human thing to do. USO will charge her a fee for the privelidge of holding its shares - 1.5% a year or something. Stick with Exxon.
Get out of the stock market all together. It is a disaster waiting to happen (again). Be long the dollar and/or hold govt near term bonds. Now is the time to play ultra-safe with the money you have. The risk of losing future gains is much lower than incurring future losses in securities or bonds.
The risk of losing future gains is much lower than incurring future losses in securities or bonds.
Yes, including the very high risk of holding “dollars”.
WMBZ…. to your comment AMEN! I bet Doreen is a really nasty, dirty pot to boot!
THIS COMMENT just PISSED ME OFF!
“But auctions, especially for houses, can project the image of a cheap sale from a desperate seller. Sellers not willing to make big cuts may be frustrated to learn the buyers are bargain hunters or vulture investors.”
I find this offensive. If you look for a good deal your a vulture. So, if I am a vulture…. you, if you were one of those agents or brokers that sold one of those over-priced sh*tholes with a toxic loan… you were a ####@#@##$#@$#@$#$@###@#A-hole!!!!!!
–
“But Rotellini said other types of fraud occur because a borrower provides incorrect information about income or a lending officer purposely inflates that income to help secure a larger loan than the person would otherwise be eligible to get.”
No, you dumbkoppf, fraud occurs whenever someone can loan someone else’ s money without any peronal consequences to the loan approver. The whole American economic system has been turned into fraud because how credit is extended.
Jas
The stories I could tell of how true this is. A lot of the hopped up figures used on applications are not only ignored wholesale underwriting, but in many cases encouraged. Who cares when you fund it, bundle it, and sell it off in 30 to 60 days.
“Subprime Loan Defaults Pass 2001 Peak, Friedman Billings Says”
ruh roh
“… fraud occurs whenever someone can loan someone else’ s money without any personal consequences to the loan approver”
Hi Jas, that’s exactly what they mean by moral hazard.
Immoral system fostered and maintained alive by that bunch of gangsters and criminals, that mafia called; Central Bankers.
Bankers + Gangsters = Banksters
Maybe all the people fleeing the insane, uncivilized weather we’ve had in Colorado lately will help prop up that AZ market. At least it’s warm in AZ.
Too many AZ builders counted on CO, WY, IA, MN, WI, MI, &c.
Hey, be thankful for your deluge. If we don’t get some weather soon in our neck of the woods it’s going to be a troublesome summer.
Yep, only 2.5 feet of snow pack when the normal is 10 for this time of year. Hopefully Mother Nature will start cooperating.
Yeah,
And I am working on my tan up here in Oregon. In February..go figure.
I just had snow in the front yard for over a week. I understand there were pipes bursting in the Phoenix area recently.
I will be spending a lot of time pruning frostbitten citrus trees later this month.
The winter storms we’ve been having in CO aren’t “insane and uncivilized.” It’s called a return to seasonal norms after the drought of the past seven years. If it drives out some CA equity locusts or keeps others from infesting us, I’ll happily accept the arctic conditions as a worthwhile trade-off.
When I lived on the Front Range, the thought was after a good “cow killer” winter like this the U-Hauls would head back to Cali. in the spring. Tough thing is many of the CO immigrants are from Chicago/Milwaukee/Minneapolis. There is nothing the Front Range can throw those folks that they haven’t seen before.
Can you send some of that Arctic weather to Oregon?
Can you send some of that Arctic weather to Oregon?
Only if I can bundle it as a package deal with many boxcars full of CA equity locusts.
LOL.
The Ca Equity locast term cracks me up, but I have one concern. I think the Ca equity Locust are the a$$holes that bought multiple properties in other states but still live in CA. Ca People that took their equity and moved to different state did so because they hated the Ca equity locust aswell. So give people like me a break and don’t key my car just because I have Cal plates.
“Many times they don’t reach the reserve or the minimum amount.”
Phony baloney non-auction phase still dragging on.
“a good way for … a developer … to set the market value”
Hello! Developers no longer set the market value! the market has finally taken over.
“And I don’t think the sellers have capitulated yet. I don’t think they have said: ‘I just don’t care. Just drop the price to the mortgage and I’ll walk away from it.’”
Who says that’s the point at which buyers will buy?
My thoughts exactly when I read that.
ditto
I was more thinking that the price would have to rise to the mortgage.
NR
This is why the bottom will be reached a few years from now. Each falling knife will slash a few hands before it hits the floor, and this will take some time.
You guys obviously don’t understand how RE auctions work these days.
First you total up the amount you owe on it:
$x_1$ = mortgage + cash-out refis + HELOCs (for bling, vacations, Hummers, Jamba Juice, etc.) + accumulated negative amortization.
Then you factor in what you think you paid for maintenance and “improvements” (such as occasionally taking out the garbage, mowing the lawn, or rousting the hobos now occupying your otherwise empty house):
$x_2$ = $x_1$ * 1.25
Then you factor in a generous “pride of ownership” premium:
$x_3$ = $x_2$ * 1.5
Lastly, you factor in your “early retirement with unlimited Jamba Juice” premium:
$x_4$ = $x_3$ * 3.0
That’s your secret, unpublished FB reserve price, which “stupid buyers” had better pay, “or else”.
My HTML subscript characters failed to work.
Oh, well, you get the idea.
This was coffee-spitting funny!
“Lastly, you factor in your “…unlimited Jamba Juice” premium”
As well as the price of dinners at The Olive Garden.
We need an update from AZGolfer on how her real estate mogul friend is doing.
The girl that I play golf with did sell her house in Cave Creek for 90K less than the original asking price. 420K to 330K. The house across the street is for sale for 215K now 198K. The lady that owns it is very religous and keeps telling me “god will bring me a buyer”
Another guy at work bought a house in 2001 for 167K and has it on the market for 360K. When I asked him way dosn’t he just lower the price he says “I can’t do that to my neighbors” OK good luck with that.
any 2003 prices yet ? a real auction may get there
“”…it is estimated that there are as many as 25,000 ’spec,’ or speculative, houses that home builders have completed or are working on but have not sold.””
As I’m sure you all know, the term “spec house” traditionally refers to houses that are all very much the same with similar lots size and floor plan; all built to the same specification, or ’spec’. But I certainly find myself amused at the author’s new definition! Wonderful!
Michael: spec homes are indeed homes built on speculation, not specifications. A spec home is one that is built before the builder has a buyer in hand. Works great in a bubble market, but you had better not get caught with units when it comes to a halt.
I think Michael might be thinking of tract homes, the typical product built over the past 50 years, where you have a large ‘tract’ of similar homes, usually a mix of several designs, but not much more variance.
I thought the same as Michael. You learn something new everyday. Thanks.
Melody, I miss your “read about:” postings. Did you get bubble blog burnout??? Things are starting to get really interesting now, so I hope to see you around more!
I still do it occasionally but Ben pretty much sums it all up these days.
Yes, the dominos are falling. IMO a bit late but they sure are falling now.
The house across the street from me is for sale. 1,029,000. It’s been up for about a month. They bought it for 475,000. I will keep you posted.
When did your neighbors buy that house, Melody?
BayQT~
I agree with CA Guy. When in Maine, I live in a spec house. It’s not in a tract. The builder speculated. The bank is eating him for lunch.
So if this legislation bans cash-back deals, and everything banned by this legislation is already illegal, then getting cash back as a buyer makes you a criminal, since by doing so, you’re breaking the law.
Right?
What am I missing here…? This woman’s statement makes no sense.
–Shannon
This women is trying to say that cash-backs are already illegal ,so if you now make a point that cash backs are illegal your acting like it’s new law when it isn’t . What they need to do is remind people that cash-backs are illegal and what the penalty is .
Real estate brokers should be advising their RE agents on just how illegal the cash back transaction is also . Its goes back to the old “everybody is doing it ,so it must be alright .”
Also desperate people do desperate thing ,and during downturns in markets people get real desperate .
The Market spinners were not doing this society any good by encouraging this housing boom of inflated prices that would result in people being desperate . I don’t want my fellow man and women desperate and in a pickle ,in spite of the fact that their greed might of got them in a pickle .
The only plus side to the market corrections is that now maybe some people who got priced out of the market might finally be able to get affordable housing at a comfortable payment . it’s not good for people to be stressed out . Stressed out people start to affect everyone around them ,( more car accidents ,abuse ,medical problems etc. ).
Logic and the subprime mortgage market are deteriorating in concert. Reminds me of “Now is a great time to buy… or sell!”
“But auctions, especially for houses, can project the image of a cheap sale from a desperate seller. Sellers not willing to make big cuts may be frustrated to learn the buyers are bargain hunters or vulture investors.”
“Vulture Investors…” so some person is giving you what they think your overpriced POS is worth, and inessence assuming the risk of owning your crappy POS, and this is what you call them. Be glad that they even show up at your auction, wouldn’t it feel like a slap on the face if they show up and don’t even grace you with a bid. I’ve been to many a auction, and the look on the seller and auctioneers face is priceless when they start with a bid so up in the startosphere that the bidders just role their eyes and don’t even make a bid.
Obviously the seller doesn’t know what the market will bear and in order to kow the market they are taking the auction route. Now who’s fault is it if they over leveraged on a gamble and lost.
tough $hit and suck it up.
“But auctions, especially for houses, can project the image of a cheap sale from a desperate seller.”
In other words, auctions project the truth.
LOL. Spot on.
I get annoyed with those in the media and REIC who use the term ‘vulture investor.’ Zee has it right, the FBs should be kissing the ‘vulture’s’ ring for bailing them out from their stupidity/carelessness. The velocity at which houses were being built and sold should have been the clue to these FBs that we were in a financial mania, nothing more. They overpaid, and now they’re underwater. But it’s the intelligent investors who will be labeled as the bad guy. I hope all vultures give the FBs a swift kick in the a$$ on their way out the door.
good point, the stock market doesn’t complain about “bottom fishers”…
You should thank them. Any bad press that discourages others from joining the “vulture” ranks will ensure that they have more and cheaper carrion to feed on.
Vultures are a very important part of any ecological system. They clean up the mess.
Real vultures clean up stinking, rotting roadkill that is useless to anybody else. Housing vultures provide a similar useful service.
I wear that tag ..vulture investor…with pride.
While I may be a vulture of sorts, albeit a charming and good-looking sort (!), I wouldn’t call myself an “investor.” When I buy a house, it will be for the sole purpose of providing a good home in a decent neighborhood for my family. You know, like people USED to think a house was for.
It would make just as much sense to apply the term “vulture investor” to the nincompoops who used cheap credit to acquire multiple houses during the run-up, pushing Real People like us out of the buyer pool.
Maybe we should pass some legislation to outlaw ‘vulture investors’, whatever that is. Define it as someone buying more than X number of houses below the price the houses sold for in the past.
Then the FB’s won’t have anyone to buy their crap. Instead of seliing a bunch of former 400K houses to vultures for 250K, they’ll have to keep lowering the price until actual residents can afford it for 175 or so.
I would love to see the tax code changed to penalize those who buy second (or more) homes and let them sit empty. Also, I think the exemption from capital gains should only apply to the primary residence, not speculative properties. Houses were meant to be lived in, and it’s long past time to start discouraging their use as speculative commodities (although the market seems to be taking care of that problem).
“Some experts say that any mechanism, including an auction, that reduces some of that inventory should be welcome; though they acknowledge it will take more than 200 homes to make a dent in the local inventory.”
Only problem with that is that most people who buy a house already have a house. So buying one at an auction doesn’t really decrease the inventory. Only NEW buyers decrease the inventory and now that mortgage qualification is tightening, there are fewer of those people. After all, if you didn’t qualify before with no doc, no down, interest only, how would you qualify now ?
You know, that’s probably one of the most profound comments I have read for a while. It’s not so much that massive numbers of buyers will come out of the woodwork once prices really go down. If you already are in a home, the value of that home will drop like everyone else’s so the move-up buyer won’t be able to move up easily. And the legitimate first-time buyer mostly already bought. The dregs are finished anyway.
It’s only the renters on this blog who are waiting patiently for prices to really drop who will buy. But that won’t consume the inventory. So it looks like a stalement as the few sales keep pushing the prices lower and lower, with hardly anybody out there able to pull the trigger even when prices drop below what is fair. Yes, SOME renters would buy, but by that time everybody will be so scared of real estate that they will stay put much longer than they really need to. Imagine you’re paying $1,000/mo. to rent. Eventually you can buy your rental for $900/month including mort. and taxes. You will still sit on the fence because:
a. If there is a real credit crunch, nobody will lend you money.
b. You will be scared of the obligation in case prices fall further and you go underwater on your loan.
c. This is the scary one. If interests rates reset upwards significantly, it could cost you MORE to buy a house even though it was worth LESS. So prices would really have to crash to get the sucker affordable.
What’s needed is some purchaser of last resort to bail the market out. But who wants the taxpayer to bail out the crooks and dummies?
a. If there is a real credit crunch, nobody will lend you money.
b. You will be scared of the obligation in case prices fall further and you go underwater on your loan.
You just described the housing market of 1990 - 1995. I considered buying then and was offered some amazing prices but the mortgage application process was unreal, took weeks to months to approve a loan, required incredible documentation (years worth of bank statements, proof of origin of every dime you had, etc.) and to me, flat wasn’t worth it. Then, you had the mindset that if you bought anything, you would have a very difficult time reselling it if you wanted to or circumstances changed; i.e., you were stuck with it.
I had a friend who was a 4 or 5 year lawyer at a big firm in Dallas. She and her husband had a house in a nice neighborhood in Dallas near downtown that they bought in 1987. In 1994, they sold it for a $50K loss to move to a bigger place. Today, that house would sell for twice what they paid for it.
Sad but True, if prices in my area ever dropped to the point where my mortgage equaled my rent payment, I think I would happily jump in. It’s true that prices could drop even further, but I would be getting tax savings that I don’t have as a renter, so that would mean I would be paying less for renting than for buying. Am I wrong in thinking that way?
Nope not wrong. You also have to consider what your rent is. At 1,000 a month, that’s 24K over two years. If the property you buy fell exactly 24K over the two years you waited, you still lose money. Tricky stuff.
Yes, you would be wrong. Your property tax bill would be far greater then any income tax savings. Add in insurance (manditory if you have a mortgage), upkeep on the house and appliances and you will find the real cost. Mortgage is only about 2/3 of your total bill.
Tommy, you are right. I was not considering taxes and upkeep. It makes me think it doesn’t make any sense at all to buy a house…
Buying a house can be a good thing. When I rented I felt like I was still nineteen. No sense of anything. When you buy a house - It’s your’s. Very powerful emotion. All right - The BANK owns it for a long time. Still. To me the key is was I prepared to live there for a long time? If yes, then who cares if the “value” goes down a bit. As long as you don’t get hosed on the price. If no, then don’t put yourself on the hook for all those additional expenses.
Keep in mind that — on average — outstanding mortgage debt has grown faster than the value of the underlying property. Yes, that’s right, every dime of appreciation has already been borrowed and more.
If prices simply return to pre-boom levels, the average mortgaged property will be underwater. You can’t trade up negative equity.
Since the only thing that supports median housing prices above 3x median incomes is trade-up equity, existing homeowners might as well be first-time buyers. Funny how this happens just as down payments are coming back into vogue, eh?
“scammy-type predators”
*laughs. Thank you ! I’ll take that as a compliment !
LOL. They call us vultures like that’s a BAD thing!
Not to re-flog the link in Ben’s original post, but you’ll enjoy the reader comments that follow the AZ Republic story on auctions:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0202auction0202.html
Thanks Slim. That was fun, various angry exchanges between REIC shills, bubble-sitters, and a$$hole wannage sellers.
The comments are always the best part of those stories. Never miss the Florida ones either.
yes, the comments fromt the sun sentinel can provide hours of cheap entertainment.
I feel dumber for having read those comments. I love the woman that points out the stock market is higher than ever and mocked people that said we wouldn’t recover from the tech bust.
NASDAQ 5000 (all-time high)
NASDAQ 2500 (02/02/2007)
I guess she means only the manipulated DOW, the index that has the lowest percentage of tech stocks. And we allow these people to reproduce?
Yes..it is very amusing. Especially “stevegar” who repeated in several posts that everyone wants to move to the Phoenix area because it is so beautiful. ??? This guy must never travel or loves sand & dirt. There may be a certain ambiance to the desert and o.k. to visit, but I would say most people in the U.S. would shudder at the idea of living in Phoenix. The only thing it had going for it was the low cost of living. Take that away and no one will want to go there unless they are forced to by a job transfer (or or super-rich and can afford a winter golf home).
This takes the prize:
“There may be a few dips and plateus, but in desirable areas prices always go up. You think prices are high here, take a look at Manahattan, outrageously priced, but still going up!!!”
I often think of Manhattan and Phoenix as being identical. Shoot me, please!
I just counted the empty houses from my house the local quick stop, (about 1.5 miles) 4 new construction, 7 existing, 6 lived in for sale and it looks like two more empty homes are being worked on for the spring bounce… not scientific, but an awful lot in just a couple of blocks.
John Burns, a real estate consultant based in California, “‘I think the banks in this cycle will wind up with a lot of homes and would rather do this than go through a foreclosure auction,’ he said.”
Hey, John, you dimwit, there are legal ramifications that force a bank to go thru with a foreclosure on nonpayment of the mortgage. The trustees deed wipes out all leins, other secondary loans, and encumbences. The bank gets a clean title!
The stench of REIC PANIC is getting stronger and the Spring Flounder Flop hasn’t even begun. I might consider buying when I see when I see my local RE Agents twirling signs reading ” Will Work for a Happy Meal”.
Then again..Nah..The cheap Entertainment Value of them twisting and dancing in the Wind would be lost.
Lol….I would be happy if the REIC would just admit that they made a big mistake ,fueled by greed ,but you won’t see that happen because of legal liability .Right now the REIC is sending out so many mixed messages because they have alot of egg on their face.Sometimes I wonder how realtors face clients that are going to lose money ,(remember your not suppose to lose money in real estate because ,”RE always goes up” ,”you can’t afford not to buy because it’s in the bag 20% a year “).
Report from Mazzholeland-
Was at the gym this morning making small talk with a bud, and this statuesque blonde walks by to go out the door.
So Phil says, Hey, Deb-lookin’ good, how biz? You still with CB-something?
Deb looks at him and without hesitation replies…Yeah, I’m still there. Not sure how long though…There are absolutely no buyers…
Yeah-guess what Deb, the pond of suckers has been fished out, and your gonna be still suckin’ wind come spring, babe.
Ain’t nothin’ gonna change it either, with a quarter mil bailin out of New England per annum.
Interestin’ how the anecdotal shit you pick up on the street, bears absolutely nothing to the picture media schills paint.
Got popcorn?
The euphoria is over – as I wrote in my term paper on human behavior “The illusion has become real – the more real it becomes the more desperate they want it” – when the Nazi war machine grounded to a halt in and the Russians were counter-attacking the propaganda machine kept reported back to Germany of decisive victories while whole division’s were being crushed – the housing propaganda machine in America that would have made Goebells proud as they kept churning out half truths and as the ugliness grew behind closed door, the fat cats kept feeding. It’s the middle class American who will once again be left holding the bag (financial bail-outs and future years of negative growth) until the dust settles and the feeding frenzy begins once again – sheep doing what sheep do best – baaaaaaaaaaaaaaa – then to the slaughter!
As the implosion of the housing bubble becomes more apparent to all, there’s an undercurrent of rising hysteria in the dissembling and distortions of the NAR spin-meisters like David Lereah. Many in here have made unflattering but apt comparisons between DL, LAY, and their ilk, and the Iraqi Information Minister, Baghdad Bob a.k.a. Comical Ali. The latter seems to be a lot more endearing to most people, however, since his delusional ravings were universally seen as such, while DL and his NAR minions were widely believed by the lemmings, to their great misfortune.
http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com/#quotes
“Sellers not willing to make big cuts may be frustrated to learn the buyers are bargain hunters or vulture investors.”
“‘I think they’re just kind of scammy-type predators in a market where they can hopefully get a bunch of buyers and get enthusiastic response,’ said (realtor) Doreen
We’ve been overpriced.’ The typical seller, they are greedy, they will think this is the magic pill,’ Barry said.”
Greed has been going on for years now!!! Now the feds want to do something about the bad loans. Why is everyone so late to the party? This crap amazes me.
I often email craigslist sellers and ask “if seller is serious and is willing to drop 30 %”
I get an in your face reply.
Speaking of Phoenix, does anyone remember the article at the height of the bubble about the 20-something real estate tycoon who was trekking around Phoenix, trying to locate all the houses he had bought and never seen? I’d love to see a follow-up article on that guy! Reminded me of the fawning articles about the nouveau riche programmers and receptionists driving $90K BMWs to their jobs at petfood4u.com back in the Internet bubble. A year later they were waiting tables and moaning about how unfair it all was.
A year later they were waiting tables and moaning about how unfair it all was.
Oh man, did I enjoy that!!!
Your home is sacred, it’s one of the biggest investments you make,’ said Brad O’Hearne, a northern sector homeowner.”
Hmm…I’ve never heard any theological justification for calling one’s home “sacred.” There are, on the other hand, quite a few admonitions along the lines of “a fool and his money are soon parted.”
Yea,
This sort of pseudomorality is one of the phony things that created this mania in the first place.
The St. Joseph’s statue perhaps?
“Your home is sacred, it’s one of the biggest investments you make”
Yeah, that one jumped out at me too. Yo, sucker, investments are not “sacred”…they’re a fianancial dealing. Sometines you win, sometimes you lose. A “home” is where you live–not necessarily a house; I have a home-it’s a rental apartment. I have a lot of money tied up in TreasuryDirect–but I’ve never been moved to call the site “sacred”.
Well at least those bonds are backed up the “full faith and credit of the U.S. government.
Sacred????
Occasionally there is an “Oh God!” coming from the bedroom. Would that be sacred?
You, my friend, are going to hell….
“But auctions, especially for houses, can project the image of a cheap sale from a desperate seller. Sellers not willing to make big cuts may be frustrated to learn the buyers are bargain hunters or vulture investors.”
Auctions results and bank REO sales are the new comps. Are they publicly available somewhere? I am guessing the REIC (esp. DataQuick, the NAR and OFHEO) take care to keep these out of their published price indexes?
Banks and appraisers have to know to make loan in good faith.
Zillow would have this info.
Zillow is not accurate.
“Sen. Robert Blendu said it appears the real reason few people are charged is that neither Rotellini’s agency nor the Attorney General’s Office has the funds to investigate and prosecute. ‘All the laws in the world mean nothing unless there’s enforcement,’ he said.”
Cool, my district’s State Senator made a sound point in between lunches with lobbyists.