“Overpriced Homes Are Languishing On The Market”
The Boston Herald reports fron Massachusetts. “Just trying to sell a deluxe downtown condo is no picnic in this market. Yet a few developers in Dorchester and Roxbury are finding buyers willing to shell out big numbers as if it were the summer of 2005 all over again. But hold the champagne.”
“Many of those buyers are facing foreclosure after signing up to buy not one, but two, three or four units for numbers well higher than $1 million. Sometimes the foreclosure notices are arriving before anyone has even moved in.”
“These developers appear to have recruited their own pool of live bodies ready to sign off on whatever mortgage paperwork they are shown. The developer walks away with a big sale. A profusion of easy, ’stated-income’ loans makes it all possible.”
“‘When you couldn’t put together a legitimate deal (anymore), you had to sell scams,’ Dorchester housing researcher John Anderson said of real estate downturn. Anderson has identified three or four groups of speculators who are scoring big at a time when most are not even scoring at all.”
“These real estate wheeler-dealers have bought and quickly flipped at least 150 to 200 units. The prices are often more than $300,000, or even $400,000, not bad for tough neighborhoods in a down market. As many as 30 units are now mired in foreclosure proceedings, often just a few months after the sale. It’s about as fast as a mortgage can go into default.”
“This suspicious sales boomlet is producing what should be a statistical impossibility, two and often three condos in a triple-decker all facing foreclosure at the same time. Examples can be found on Park, Dix, Armedine, Draper and Bowdoin streets.”
The Champion from Massachusetts. “It’s a buyers market out there, plain and simple. Though there are plenty of homes for sale, they are not selling for nearly so much. ‘Sellers can’t shoot for the moon anymore,’ said agent Nick Storrs.”
“Storrs has been in the real estate business for nearly 20 years. ‘For the most part,’ he says, ‘The numbers in 2006 are significantly lower than they were in 2005. Houses today are going to be worth less than the day they were bought. If someone wants to sell their home now, that statistic is a bad thing.’”
“Charles Caron has seen a similar pattern, said people were buying high in 2005, resulting in a drop in real estate value today, a good thing for current buyers. He said many homes have fallen below $200,000.”
“Sellers, Storrs says, need to continue to be brutally aggressive on their prices. ‘It’s just a fact of life,’ he said. ‘You hear a lot ‘it’s not fair, my house is worth more’ and I say, yeah, that’s true, but not in today’s market.’”
The Boston Globe. “Boston homeowners, reacting to a fifth year of property tax hikes, have inundated the city with requests for relief. Current assessments are based on property values as of Jan. 1, 2006, before last year’s downturn was in full swing.”
“‘People were surprised to see the value they’re being given by their assessors when they’ve been reading, or found out first hand, that their home would not sell for that,’ said Barbara Anderson, executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation.”
The New Hampshire Business Review. “Last year, real estate agencies across the state and Grafton County experienced an overall downturn in sales. Littleton area Realtors felt the slump too.”
“‘There’s no denying that it was a relatively difficult year in terms of sales,’ said Bonnie Guevin, New Hampshire Association of Realtors president.”
“(Realtor) Andy Smith said 2005 and 2006 were completely different in terms of sales, though he was quick to point out that expensive housing markets in Lebanon and Hanover often heavily skew countywide data. Smith said however, local towns did experience a similar slumping phenomenon in comparison to the rest of the county.”
“(Broker) Dick Reinhold said much of the change was due to a lack of real estate investors in the area. ‘Investors are fleeing the real estate market,’ Reinhold said.”
“While some areas, like Littleton, are generally not affected by investors just looking to turn a profit, towns like Franconia, Sugar Hill and Bretton Woods typically see investment-related sales. Bethlehem, Franconia and Whitefield all experienced significant drops in price, for overall percentage changes ranging from a 12 to 17 percent decline in pricing.”
The Herald Community from New York. “Real estate agents say there are no statistics on people who are returning and buying homes, and that while some do come back, many more young people are moving out of the county. Pearl Kamer, an economist with the Long Island Association, said that from 2000 and 2005, 65,000 people between ages 25 and 44 left Nassau and Suffolk counties, according to the survey, which is coordinated by the U.S. Census Bureau.”
“It is no secret that Nassau County is losing young people. ‘Young people can’t afford the high taxes or housing,’ Kamer said. ‘They can get better salaries elsewhere.’”
“Realtors say that for younger people looking to buy in Baldwin or nearby towns, the current housing market is actually in their favor. There are currently 260 homes on the market in Baldwin, (Broker) Erik Mahler said, compared with 193 in Oceanside.”
“Housing prices are dropping as well. According to Prudential Douglas Elliman, the average price of a home in Nassau County was $586,401 in the fourth quarter of 2006, down 5.6 percent from the previous year’s average of $621,445.”
“Mahler and others said that potential home buyers have become savvy, and are ignoring homes that are overpriced. Unlike 2003, when demand was at its highest, real estate agents say that overpriced homes are languishing on the market.”
“‘Buyers became smarter,’ (realtor) Sandy Boci said. ‘A lot of homes are overpriced right now, because the sellers think they are going to get 2005 prices, but it’s not going to happen. It was just overblown.’”
Buyers became smarter she says. And smarter they’ll become I say. You got to love it.
I do love it! To pay even 90% of asking price for most houses is crazy. Some people here in S. Florida have gotten the memo and priced the homes accordingly. Others are still in la la land.
Good real estate agent friend of mine told me that you can ask for crazy things like 6% cash back at close to pay closing costs and repairs. This in addition to $25 or $30K off the asking price. He closed one deal that included the plasma TV. I think I read a while back where a seller was upset that a buyer would even dare to ask for the TV.
This is great to watch from the comfort of the home I didn’t overpay for.
And smarter they’ll become I say.
And Popcorn Got have I
Yoda
So when will the morons start selling their General Motors stock and Fannie Mae junk ? GMAC has lost 950$ million on their sub prime real estate loans. And it’s supposed to be a conservative estimate.
“Sellers, Storrs says, need to continue to be brutally aggressive on their prices. ‘It’s just a fact of life,’ he said. ‘You hear a lot ‘it’s not fair, my house is worth more’ and I say, yeah, that’s true, but not in today’s market.’”
Bitchslapped by the Invisible Hand.
“it’s not fair…” - yeah, life’s just like that sometimes.
I’m sure this RE agent is just being polite for the reporter. The conversation is probably more like, ” yeah, everybody’s house is worth more. Life’s not fair, you got f*cked, join the club. Now do you want to sell this POS or not? Yes or no? There’s a big list of people selling a POS just like yours, and I don’t want to be wasting time listing this POS if there’s no chance of selling it.”
“it’s not fair…” - I’m still laughing.
It’s only worth what someone is willing to pay. I’m so tired of hearing how flippin’ special people think their stupid houses are.
The price of ANYTHING is what the market will bear. I don’t care if a widget sold somewhere for $1000 … if the only buyer you can find won’t pay a penny over $650 then that’s what your widget is worth. Why the hell does this simple concept become difficult and emotion laden whe applied to a big box people live in? It’s nothing personal; it’s business!!
Exactly. The market sets the price.
Not any individual buyer
nor any individual seller.
Ok, yes, there are suckers on both sides… But I have a feeling that mortgage originators might actually start withholding credit to the biggest idiots.
Got popcorn?
Neil
Houses are worth a lot more … Than they were in 1995. They are also not worth half of todays ask prices.
But I guess it *was* fair on the way up, when they all Heloc’d their Hummers, right?
ROTFL
Houses today aren’t worth half their asking price.
Come back in 2009 and see if some areas didn’t drop to that. I watched homes drop 40% in a few select cities in California during the 90’s downturn. That was when homes shot up to 8X median income. This time they shot up to 11.4X median income… The stop has traditionally been at 6X median income. But due to MEWs… I’m thinking the bottom might be 5X median income this time.
So its quite possible to see homes sell for 50% off.
We’ll see.
Current buy/rent ratios say wait for years.
Got popcorn?
Neil
“‘Buyers became smarter,’ (realtor) Sandy Boci said. ‘A lot of homes are overpriced right now, because the sellers think they are going to get 2005 prices, but it’s not going to happen. It was just overblown.’”
Either that, or dumb buyers no longer have access to loans, thanks to the sudden resurrection of lending standards from the dead.
How much have lending standards really tightened? I hear a lot of differing opinion on this, but I would be interested in hearing how many applicants are currently being rejected and if they are approved, how much they are being approved for. This bubble would never have been if lax lending had not been the rule of the day for the past 5 or so years.
Well, we are in the process of buying a home in Texas with 30% down. Compared to pay stubs and credit report in Cali couple years back, they asked for heck a lot of docs. I asked the dude and why so many docs required with a very high credit score and 30% down. He said they are required to
Yeah then he tried to plug an option ARM on me … 
You see we had few student loans we had paid off some time back, but the credit report never showed it as closed (not up to date). It showed a last payment 6 or 7 years back. Even though the credit report did not say there were any later payments or anything, they made us to conference calls to each of these lenders to make sure we actually paid and closed the account
I remember when I purchased my first home in Cali.. the broker said ohh yeah you can afford it - don’t you expect your salary to grow at least 30-40% in the next five years. If not just refi or sell for a profit …
So my final conclusion its getting much tighter than it used to be … but have a long way to go …
Standards have tightened to an extent. For example, a 100% LTV with no doc with a bank I know now requires multiple trade lines, a higher credit score, and doesn’t allow for seller’s contributions.
The fact that these loans are still written at all says we haven’t tightened the belt far enough. Banks should require a substantial amount of the purchase price to be paid in cash. Not necessarily down payment, but on a $200K home you shouldn’t be able to walk to the closing table with less than $30 or $40K. In FL $4,000 will be soaked up just by closing costs. Throw in prepaids for taxes and insurance and you’re easily at $8,000.
That’s not it. All the dumb buyers of 2004/2005 have morphed into the dumb sellers of 2007.
overpriced flips are also languishing on the rental market. we find two $1.5-$1.6 million dollar McMansion bought as flips with near-100% financing in the 4S Ranch/Rancho Bernardo part of San Diego. the flippers involved are now trying to rent these out for $5100-$5250 each, even if rented, the mcmansions would be roughly $10,000 in the red per month per mcmansion.
the story gets better, see the rest at 4Closure Ranch: Flip This McMansion x 2
Great find.
“Either Sean and Al are knowingly committing mortgage fraud or one of them will soon be your roommate.”
Or both, if your name be Bubba.
“This suspicious sales boomlet is producing what should be a statistical impossibility, two and often three condos in a triple-decker all facing foreclosure at the same time.”
CA, FL, AZ etc. aside for a moment, the urban condo market in the northern cities is an impending disaster in its own right.
Because of the fraud going on ,you would think lenders would put a cap on price increases and not funds loan purchase prices that exceed 2004 or IQ 2005 prices by 10% to 30% ,(big red flag ).
Thats the problem with these sub-prime stated income low/no down loans ,they bring out the crooks . Also, down payment requirements discourages crooks because they only want to take money out, not put any money in .
What is amazing is how many people are willing to engage in a cash back scheme like this including spec. builders .These crooks are getting more money than they ever could from just holding up a bank or liquor store and the sub-prime lenders are just handing it to them .When lenders go back to actually underwriting loans and get serious about appraisals again it will be better for everybody .
Housing Wizard’s suggested strategy is exactly why az_lender’s lending volume declined to near zero in 2006-07. I elected not to lend any more than 80% of the January 2004 prices. Naturally most of the requests that came in were for too-large amounts. As for “stated income,” no problemo. I don’t even make them state their income. I just tell them what the (fixed) payment is going to be and ask them if they can comfortably do it. They know the answer.
Your smart to go no more than 80% of the 2004 price. That increase that Arizonia got in 2005 of 39% statewide was just pure hype .
Actually, judging by the number of EPDs around, some people can’t figure out what they can pay today, never mind figure out what they’d be forced to pay tomorrow.
Ben,
You may want to use this article.
http://biz.yahoo.com/fo/070209/d6d86763d460b30914c910b495fbbcb3.html?.v=1&.pf=loans
In late 2005 Velma Vardiman, now 34, was diagnosed with a rare skin cancer that forced her to quit her secretarial job and go on Social Security disability. To pay off hospital and other bills, she refinanced a $45,000, 30-year, 7.37% fixed-rate mortgage on her St. Louis area home. But in a lawsuit pending in federal court against mortgage broker St. Louis Financial, and a subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase & Co. that lent the money, she claims she learned only after closing that she had signed for an adjustable loan that could go as high as 13.95% after just two years. She also claims she wasn’t told that her new lower payment didn’t include $150 in monthly taxes and insurance, as her old one did. “I’m mad at myself, I was too trusting,” laments Vardiman, who now faces foreclosure.
St. Louis Financial and Chase deny any liability or misconduct, but did they have the duty to steer Vardiman away from the adjustable loan? Probably not under current laws, which, while they to some degree limit fees and prepayment penalties to prevent gouging, don’t impose any fiduciary obligation of the lender to the borrower. But as mortgage defaults rise, the new Congress and several state legislatures are contemplating enactments that would require mortgage brokers and lenders to make sure a loan is “suitable” for a borrower–just as stock brokers have to make sure an investment is suitable for a client. Your loan officer would be required to ask a series of detailed questions about things like your financial goals and your tax status. And if the loan was inappropriate, the lender would be open to a lawsuit–and even a prison term.
“If something like this were to pass, it would dramatically change business models, just because of the litigation risk,” says Kurt Pfotenhauer, chief lobbyist for the Mortgage Bankers Association. Example: Lenders could face liability for pushing balloon mortgages to retirees living on a fixed income, or for committing debt-laden borrowers to loans with monthly payments that exclude taxes and insurance.
A Tennessee law that took effect in January, for instance, prevents lenders from refinancing a mortgage that’s less than 30 months old unless the refi “provides a reasonable benefit” to the borrower. No telling what a jury will consider reasonable. The law also caps fees on certain loans and requires warning stickers on nontraditional mortgages (like interest-only mortgages).
In Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson has proposed that mortgage brokers should have a “fiduciary obligation” to act in a borrower’s best interest and an obligation to disclose insurance and property taxes in the monthly payment quoted to the borrower. Under the proposal, providing a “grossly unsuitable” loan would subject a lender to a criminal penalty of up to two years in prison.
A new Ohio law imposes a “duty of fair dealing” on nonbank mortgage lenders and requires mortgage brokers to secure loans with “advantageous” terms for the borrower. What that means would be left to state courts. Banking commissioners in Pennsylvania, Washington and North Carolina are weighing aspects of suitability-type requirements.
The new House Finance Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and the new Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) aim this year to rewrite lending laws to establish new consumer protections and stricter rules for loans made to subprime (that is, not very creditworthy) borrowers. The reform could cost lenders and brokers billions of dollars.
The mortgage industry doesn’t object to the congressional intrusion, since a federal law might be preferable to a patchwork of state laws (though the industry would have preferred a Republican-run Congress). Consumer advocates are now happily taking their case to a Democratic Congress, and they don’t deny that what they propose could crimp profits of lenders and of investment banks that securitize home loans. “It would eat into returns and presumably investors’ appetites, too,” says Keith Ernst of the Center for Responsible Lending in Durham, N.C.
Today a fourth of mortgage originations–or $665 billion in all–is in the subprime market, estimates the Center for Responsible Lending. That’s up from $35 billion a decade ago. Foreclosure actions ranging from defaults to sheriff’s sales were 35% higher in December 2006 than a year earlier, and 42% higher for all of 2006 than in the previous year, according to RealtyTrac.
But that’s just the beginning. Subprime adjustable mortgages totaling $1 trillion are subject to rate resets over the next two years; less than an estimated $300 billion in those mortgages adjusted in 2005. A lot of those borrowers facing adjustments aren’t the most financially solid; Fitch Ratings projects that in 2007 payments will increase on 33% of outstanding subprime loans, and it says more than 45% of those loans to the less creditworthy got underwritten with less than full documentation standards. (Meaning, loan officers didn’t even verify income and work-history details.)
One issue up for debate is whether any new protections would apply to all borrowers, only poorer ones or borrowers taking on riskier, or newfangled loans. Of course, well-off people often already get the nanny treatment for complex loans. Marc Minker, a CPA and managing director of Mahoney Cohen, of New York, which manages money for families with assets of at least $25 million, evaluates potential mortgages for clients in a process lasting up to five hours. “I think of myself as a financial consigliere,” says Minker. “It’s always a good idea to determine if an exotic mortgage is suitable.”
I really don’t think loan agents can determine if a loan is suitable for a borrower or not, but a underwriter can determine if the person will qualify for the loan payment when the payment adjusts up .
Why would a borrower go on a loan that would adjust to 13.75% in a short time, which also has a pre-payment penalty if they didn’t expect to sell or refinance out of that loan in a short time ?
Wait until all these FB’s find out they cant refinance out of those toxic loans in this down real estate market yet this was how the REIC was selling these loans . People are just plain stupid to believe in a future promise that they can get more favorable financing .The loan industry needs a disclosure statement that states that a new loan might be denied .
I know someone who went on one of those adjustables no down loans and wants to get out of it but they have a 6 month interest pre-pay penalty of about 13k.The property has gone down in value so they are stuck .
A underwriter I know said to me yesterday ,”These sub-prime borrowers just didn’t deserve a loan at all ,it doesn’t make sense .”
“I really don’t think loan agents can determine if a loan is suitable for a borrower or not”
One complication is that they might get sued for denying a loan product to a member of a minority group (racial, religious, disability, etc.)
Even with all these subprime loans and loose credit , the mortgage/lending industry is still being accused of racism on a daily basis. I’d like to see the Rainblow Coalition and LULAC start lending money out of their own crooked pockets to these deadbeats.
A underwriter I know said to me yesterday ,”These sub-prime borrowers just didn’t deserve a loan at all ,it doesn’t make sense .”
Spoken like the Germans in all the little villages who used to view the smokestacks behind the barb-wired fences.
Vat ist dat smell?
I learned 20 years ago to never accept a prepayment clause. Don’t know if it has become more common since then, but it is still a firm part of my mindset, having taken R/E invesment classes and holding a license for 12 years. BTW, only sold 1 house to a close friend on a land contract for $29k and gave him back half of the commission -
“provides a reasonable benefit”
That’s the term the lawyers / lawmakers put in to insure future litagation and more laws down the road. Job security.
A third grader could come up with a better solution.
Everybody with the same story… I didn’t realize it was an ARM loan.
I mean what the heck. No personal responsibility. Damn Sheeple are demanding a bailout before December or sooner.
“The law also caps fees on certain loans and requires warning stickers on nontraditional mortgages (like interest-only mortgages).”
LOL! That’s a great idea! You can use “Mr. Yuk” stickers. Stick ‘em right on the Mortgage Loan and Truth in Lending Statement.
Defining diligence down
Test
anyone have the list of 10 states that went up in price?
WY is all I see
There is not ten that went up. From memory, I think one stayed the same, Utah, and four had insufficient data.
“Realtors say that for younger people looking to buy in Baldwin or nearby towns, the current housing market is actually in their favor. There are currently 260 homes on the market in Baldwin, (Broker) Erik Mahler said, compared with 193 in Oceanside.”
“Housing prices are dropping as well. According to Prudential Douglas Elliman, the average price of a home in Nassau County was $586,401 in the fourth quarter of 2006, down 5.6 percent from the previous year’s average of $621,445.”
This is great news as I’m sure that the average person just out of college will have no problem affording the median price of
$586, 401. At that price most liberal arts grads should be able to afford two homes in Nassau county since their student loans won’t get paid back anyway.
I just dug a half million dollars out of my couch. I was going to go to Taco Bell with it but now I think I’ll buy a house. That is, since houses are affordable and all.
Don’t laugh too hard. With the dollar dropping in value, you may soon need a wheelbarrow to carry your cash to Taco Bell.
Is there a way to buy wheelbarrows ?
There is no statute of limitations on student loans. Personally, I believe this is overly harsh, but I would not oppose the removal of statutes where fraud is concerned, since it is not a regular debt, but rather stolen money.
As a taxpayer, I don’t think it is overly harsh. The loans are guaranteed by the federal government. If the borrower doesn’t pay back the loan, then you and I have to. Now that is what I call harsh!
Charging an ingnorant kid $15k per year for a worthless degree is harsh too.
OK, but what’s the solution? We already offer a legal means for that kid to have most of his education paid for by taxpayers. It’s called the public university system.
If you are telling me that many 18-year-olds are too ignorant to make good decisions regarding higher education, I agree with that, but many 40-year-olds are just as ignorant. Witness the bad advice or lack of advice that many/most parents dispense with respect to eduation.
Maybe we could require universities to administer an IQ test to incoming students, but isn’t that more or less what the SAT is supposed to be?
Climber, bravo!!!
Jbunniii - you as a tax payer aint payin a dime on those, I hate to break the news to you but yours and the rest of ours so called tax payments are paid to keep the currency from blowing up. It pays interest on the debt, nothing else. Now factor in the govt stealing via inflation and all the other things you pay a tax on up front… Who is the real thief here???
If the ignorant kid isn’t smart enough to learn a useful skill then he needs to pay for the four year pot smoking vaction he just took.
So many asshats take it easy in college and major in fluff. Plenty of career counciling was available but they decide sociology was the way to go.
Now its “harsh”… again the lack of responsibility.
This entire country is ripe for a fall.
“OK, but what’s the solution? We already offer a legal means for that kid to have most of his education paid for by taxpayers. It’s called the public university system.”
Why don’t you take a look at tuition at these “public universities.” In MI particularly the tuition is higher at these institutions than at private institutions. You’re foolish to believe these are nearly free.
The problem with higher education is the system itself. We continue to push employers to require higher education. The public sector will hire almost no one without it. What do you get for your 4 years? Permanent liver damage, a re-hash of your high school education, and 4 or 5 classes beneficial to your major.
Why not have specialized education programs that are particular to your career field? What does a business admin major benefit from disecting a frog or learning about the “fine” arts? A 2 year program of intense career training is what’s really needed. Every class has a purpose for the major. The problem with that? These “not for profit” public universities miss out on 2 years of easy money.
As an employer, I’ll take an employee with 10 years of real world experience and no college over a hung-over 4-year graduate with very little or no experience.
And for the naysayers who think I’m uneducated scum. I hold an MBA in Business Management.
And for the naysayers who think I’m uneducated scum. I hold an MBA in Business Management.
Are those mutually exclusive?
FYI:
California public university, UCLA, is currently 18K/year tuition.
Public unversity, College of William and Mary (VA)is 28K/year.
-tuition-paying mum who is very glad she owns her ranch free and clear.
“And for the naysayers who think I’m uneducated scum. I hold an MBA in Business Management.
Are those mutually exclusive?”
I got into a rant. You certainly can be educated scum. You can’t touch a good school public or private for less than $10K per year. That’s a sin! If you buy the “not for profit state university” bull you’re crazy. Look at the buildings at most public universities. These aren’t just utilitarian buildings. They are grand ornate wastes of my tax dollars. Also look at the salary of the presidents of these universities. It’s an outrage.
As I said before, a 2-year major specific program would be much more beneficial to the working world. It’s not beneficial to the higher education status-quo so I doubt I’ll see it in my lifetime.
I’m working on my DBA right now so I can teach in this public university system when I retire. I may as well catch the gravy train.
I have trouble believing there is one house in Baldwin worth anything like $586,000. I bought a house there in 1984 for $117,000, and it was overpriced then.
“Houses today are going to be worth less than the day they were bought. If someone wants to sell their home now, that statistic is a bad thing”
Only to the seller, or flipper, that was banking on a easy retirement financed by the chump one row down on the pyramid scheme. Screw ‘em.
I remember a few years back when Enron and the others took a dive, their was legislation that came out of this called Sarbannes/Oxley. I work for an oil company that lives and breathes by this act and fears not keeping every dot and I crossed. Perhaps we need regulations after all to keep the crooks and liars at bay. Really though, the Fed made it easy for people to be greedy.
CONgress and the FED make Enron look well managed.
The difference between government and big business is that big business won’t come after you with big guns if you don’t pay up.
You could start by requiring American citizenship of home buyers or proof of legitimate business activities in this country. That would have eliminated probably a third or more of the scams.
Wells Fargo and BofA and others are happy to do business with the 11 million illegal immigrants … no social security number required, just your INS number and a Mexican drivers license with a picture and you can buy a house. However, if I want to access my account with them the ssn IS required cause I don’t have a Mexican drivers license. Are those hard to get?
How do you get an INS number if you are an illegal immigrant?? Wouldn’t that be like asking to be deported?
Deport…wha?
What did you just say - deported…?
That is soooo 1962.
Fat chance. Banks are controlled by crooks and bandits. They will never accept regulation. And the President that introduces regulation for these crooks in banking, will end up with a bullet in the head just between the eyes.
“‘When you couldn’t put together a legitimate deal (anymore), you had to sell scams,’ Dorchester housing researcher John Anderson said of real estate downturn. Anderson has identified three or four groups of speculators who are scoring big at a time when most are not even scoring at all.”
You had to? ‘When the Realtor could no longer make a living by selling homes, she resorted to selling her body.’
JUST SAY NO TO ILLEGAL SALES ACTIVITIES!
Better wording:
she resorted tohad to resort toAt least when peddling houses, she was selling a commodity that people want, albeit at obscene prices.
A mortgage company is running ads here on Phoenix radio. The best line in the commercial is at the end when it states “You shouldn’t have to pay more for a loan just because you have bad credit”. What is the point of having credit scores and paying on time then?
Does any one know what happened to the bond market when the last housing bust started to take off. I was in my twenties and my awareness only went as far as my next late night out. Specifically, what was the reaction to the slump in the municipal bond market offering Triple A insured bonds. I am told these bonds are pretty safe but I am still skeptical. Any help out there I need shelter.
2006 was the year of the scams . Desperate people do desperate things . Sellers and realtors that resort to fraud cash-back deals deserve to go to jail . The fraud will only get worse as the housing downturn goes forward . Many people will try to take the easy way out and there is always some crook offering a easy way out .
Easy way out = HARD TIME
‘You hear a lot ‘it’s not fair, my house is worth more’
The house is not WORTH more…they have just paid more. I wonder if they understand that?
The house is worth what somebody is willing to pay. What they should say is “My house wasworth more.
In the end, agents do agree on one thing: that it’s a buyers market, but not for long.
“Take advantage of the market right now,” said Storrs. “This trend won’t continue into the warm weather. Buyers are going to start coming out of the woodwork. It would be in people’s best interest to beat the spring market and do their shopping now.”
When I read these stories lately I find myself looking for the inevitable broker cheerleader statements. It’s amazing that the reporters never ask “based on what evidence?”
“…It would be in people’s best interest to beat the spring market and do their shopping now.”
Translation: “It would be in the best interest of my commission if buyers would do their shopping now.”