A Rude Awakening
The Gazette Journal reports from Nevada. “The median price for an existing single-family home rose modestly in Washoe County but sales dropped during the first quarter, according to a report. The median price was in the Reno-Sparks metropolitan area was down 9 percent compared with the first quarter of 2006, said the report that does not count new home sales.”
“Sales recorded by the MLS dropped from 929 in the fourth quarter to 830 in the first quarter, a sign that the local real estate market has not fully recovered from last year’s slide.”
“‘I think we have seen the worst,’ said Tom Cargill, economist at the University of Nevada, Reno. ‘House prices are likely to stabilize, and they could come down a little more because there is still a considerable volume of inventory out there.’”
“‘People are wondering what is going to happen. You have the subprime market that has imploded and a lot of people I’ve talked to are just scared to purchase because they don’t know what’s going to happen,’ said Association president Dennis Wilson.”
“For the local market to fully recover, it must overcome a rising foreclosure rate, fueled by failing subprime loans, and housing prices that still are relatively expensive in the area, said Ken Wiseman, owner of Reno Rancho Realty.”
“‘A lot is highly dependent on how the subprime fallout comes about,’ he said. ‘And the house prices don’t meet the wages. Until we see that equal out, we are just going to be flat.’”
“The number of listings for existing single-family homes on MLS increased to 3,442 during the first quarter, up from 3,278 in the fourth quarter but well below the nearly 7,000 homes listed at its peak in 2006.”
“But inventory increased in every month during the quarter compared with the month before, according to the report. If that trend continues along with sales decreasing, a glut of homes could once again hit the market.”
“‘You are seeing fewer houses for sale, but still a lot of inventory out there,’ Cargill said. ‘That’s why I think prices are still soft.’”
The Tucson Citizen from Arizona. “David Greenleaf is seeing both sides, seller’s and buyer’s, of Tucson’s housing market. He recently sold his far East Side house but it took him eight months. The golden days of just two years ago, when eager buyers bid up prices and homes sold in days, rather than months, is a distant memory.”
“High housing inventory levels and falling prices make Tucson a strong buyer’s market with supply outstripping demand and sellers willing to do what it takes to get rid of properties.”
“The 10,185 active listings in the Tucson Association of Realtors’ March statistics mark the highest number in the past 12 years, and a 25.6 percent increase over the same month a year ago.”
“Greenleaf decided to sell his house last August. His original asking price undercut the five homes for sale in his neighborhood by $15,000 to $25,000, but he still had no takers. An offer for $14,000 less than his asking price resulted in Greenleaf selling the 1,380-square-foot home for $208,000 earlier this month rather than face more waiting.”
“‘It was a rude awakening to us,’ Greenleaf said. ‘When this offer came in we were kind of incredulous. We were in a dream world. We realized that holding out was not going to get us anywhere. Buyers are in a position where if they don’t go with ours, they can go to another seller and get a great deal.’”
“Industry experts say Tucson’s real estate market is adjusting following a buying boom that peaked in 2005. ‘It is almost a 180-degree turnaround from an extreme seller’s market 16 months ago to an extreme buyer’s market,’ said Steven Randles of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage.”
“‘We sucked the buyers in who weren’t thinking quite yet about buying,’ (consultant) John Strobeck said. ‘They would have normally have been buyers in 2006 or 2007. Now we don’t have the buyers out there.’”
“‘It was a feeding frenzy,’ Tyler Ford, mortgage adviser at First Magnus Home Loans, said of the boom that peaked in 2005. ‘There was little or no inventory out there. It was kind of auction-style bidding. It was kind of like when the stock market was going nuts and everyone wanted to get into the stock market. No one wanted to get left behind. They jumped on the bandwagon and bought at the top of the market.’”
“Price reductions are common, Randles said. ‘There are between 110 and 160 home-price reductions every day across the city,’ he said.”
“‘I look at this as another part of the real estate cycle,’ Randles said. ‘It is not what it was: We were spoiled in 2005.’”
The LA Times. “When Kyle Campos transplanted his family from Santa Barbara to this scorching slice of Sonoran Desert three years ago, Campos accomplished something he never could have done if he’d stayed on the California coast: He bought a house.”
“And he unleashed a flood of family members who followed him here to the Phoenix suburbs to fulfill the same thwarted dreams.”
“‘Living in Santa Barbara, you get used to nothing being under a million dollars, and a million-dollar house is really small,’ Campos said. ‘Here, I could build my dream house for less than $300,000. At some point, you weigh the beach versus a realistic life someplace.’”
“For the first time since Nevada became a magnet for Californians in the 1990s, the Phoenix area has nudged Las Vegas aside as the No. 1 destination for people fleeing the Golden State and its soaring home prices.”
“‘Housing isn’t cheap in Vegas anymore, nor is it in Phoenix, compared to what it was. But it’s still cheap compared to California,’ said R.L. Brown, publisher of the Phoenix Housing Market Letter.”
“In the 1980s, the Pacific Northwest decried the hordes of ‘Californicators’ who snapped up real estate and filled freeways in Starbucks’ stamping ground. After that, Sin City and its non-neon environs reigned supreme: no state income tax; no brainer.”
“But then home prices in the Silver State took off like a drunken gambler’s dreams. Between 2003 and 2004, the median price of a Las Vegas-area house jumped 40%, according to DataQuick. Phoenix started looking better and better.”
“February’s median home price speaks volumes about California migration patterns. Los Angeles County: $528,000. Las Vegas area: $300,000. Phoenix area: $253,000.”
“Ray Aleman is from East Los Angeles. But back in 1996, when California was struggling to shake off a recession, his bosses at Wells Fargo told him he could move along with his job to Arizona or look for work in his hometown.”
“It was a pretty simple decision: Los Angeles, unemployment. Maricopa Countyt. Los Angeles, a lifetime of renting. Arizona, a four-bedroom house with a pool on half an acre in suburban Mesa, purchased for $140,000 in 1999.”
“‘Can you get anything for $140,000 in L.A.? Not even in Compton,’ Aleman said. ‘My house doubled in five years. It was like, wow. That’s the main reason people from L.A. come here.’”
“Sure there are things he misses about Los Angeles, and he visits twice a year. As for the future: ‘I won’t go back.’”
‘It is almost a 180-degree turnaround from an extreme seller’s market 16 months ago to an extreme buyer’s market’
Sometimes one forgets just how fast this all turned.
I saw it turning during my summer 2005 bike rides. It seemed as if our soil had suddenly sprouted “for sale” signs. Like our summer weeds, they proliferated. And they stayed “planted” for a long time.
In fact, I can think of three properties that first went on the market two years ago that are STILL for sale.
Let me guess. They are in the pricing sweet (or would that be sour?) spot. To high for regular Joes but beneath the radar of those with higher incomes (MDs, executives, etc.).
In my community that sour spot is somewhere between the mid 200’s and low 400’s. 200K houses still sell (not in days, but in a reasonable amount of time). But if you go above that, you need to go way up (at least 500K). Preferably 2-3 acre lots, or lakefront property (not a lot of lakes out here).
There is no market for in between. Which is not surprising as we have lost thousands of tech jobs in the past few years. All those 70-90K per year jobs were replaced with jobs that pay a fraction of those salaries. So buildings that used to be full of well paid engineers sit empty. Meanwhile, at the new “Lifestyle center”, only the big box store and restaurant managers make a comparable wage to those that were lost.
Sour spot houses can take years to sell in Loveland.
True, but hopefully we’ll soon get another wave of retirees buying up property, maybe after yet another magazine rates the area as the no. 1 place to [insert something here].
Went to school in Boulder - Loveland was the place to go then for high tech, pretty city.
HP’s Loveland campus is a ghost town, as most pf the buildings are empty. There is a small Agilent presence, but that’s all that’s left.
Wow, I recall how Co was so hot with jobs moving out from Silicon Valley to your location. Its shocking to hear this.
I should add here in SV Ca we have former tech building converted to …
Do it yourself woodshops
Ceramics shops
Mountain Climbing Center
Furniture stores
Surplus Stores
and several churchs
And there is plenty vacant buidling go on to 7 years now.
OK, wtf is a “Lifestyle Center”? A mall?
i don’t know either….sounds scary
It’s sort of like a mall, but the stores are generally a little nicer, there’s not a lot of stuff for teenagers, and it’s outdoors. They’re all over; my folks live near one in Alabama.
oh, like that area in Pano, TX? now i get it! thx
Plano
Got one in Oakdale. They are a big box, usually a Best Buy with Magnolia theater center, Red Lobster/Olive Garden and two bloody jewelry stores….not a hardware store in town!!
They are consumer zombie land…..last stage before the cheap oil blow-off.
We have a couple of those centers in Omaha, and they’re building more! HA! We’re always late to the party.
LA county price statistics a few months back made this “sour spot” idea plain. The price at the 25th percentile was still rising, i.e., low-end homes were going for more $$$ than before, but the price at the 75th percentile was falling, i.e., not enough buyers for the upper-middle quartile of the homes. Who knows what happens at the very high end; as Colorado says, people with really big bucks at least CAN buy.
There’s a house on our street that’s just been relisted on MLS for the third time. Cumulative time on the market is more than 6 months. Cheaters!
The strangest thing is that they haven’t budged on the price ($639k). Evidently they’re not serious.
And that while 100% appreciation in three years may rightly be considered extreme, isn’t it odd that a 5% drop is also ‘extreme’? At this point, any more slowing is a disaster. Any drop in price, and it’s pills, a bottle of Jack, a warm bath and something sharp.
LOL! They would consider 5% appreciation to be “soft”.
Yes lights…these HouseDebtors tend to GET real STRANGE when the Music on the poopdeck STOPS and they FEEL the icewater suddenly seeping around their ANKLES.
Prices are a bit stubborn. I know they will drop significantly, it’s just taking a while. Foreclosures and short sales are setting more comps lately. The big builders are offering cash back after closing to keep up the charade. Sometimes, $100k and more. Isn’t it illegal when not reported to the lender? Don’t lenders do appraisals on new construction? How are they getting away with this stuff?
How much are the houses where they offer $ 100K cash back.?
They start at more than $500k.
Wow, down 20% and this is in Reno, right? Prices were way too high in Reno in 2005, about as much as Sac. back then. Good to see them come down and still a long way to go.
“Sometimes one forgets just how fast this all turned.”
Amen brother Ben.
PS: And I wouldn’t have been able to watch it unfold in quasi real time without your blog and the internet. It really is amazing to observe “the unraveling” this way. It’s never been possible to so track the national RE market and see it change directions, truly it’s historic.
Got thanks!
I couldn’t disagree more. There is no buyer’s market. The prices are still too outrageous for anyone to buy anything. The roller coaster just passed the top; it will need time to accelerate downward.
repo girl
There’s a new Paradigm in the Real Estate World and called a “BAGHOLDERS Market”
Yeah, I’d rather hold my bag of money anyday than plunge into it a house and see it disappear as the house price decreases.
If a builder gave a 100k cash-back it’s a fraud deal . The appraisal is false and its fraud against the lender . The builder should be turned in if the builder is doing this or the lender allowing this .
Just because the builder has alot of inventory does not mean that cash-back deals from a builder are legal . In fact ,during turn downs builders have been know to pull this kind of fraud but they should be turned in .
We should not have a real estate appraisal system that is riddled with fake inflated appraisals .
“‘A lot is highly dependent on how the subprime fallout comes about,’ he said. ‘And the house prices don’t meet the wages. Until we see that equal out, we are just going to be flat.’”
I think it should be revised ” Until we see that equal out, we are just going to be negative.”
Get it through your heads, prices has to come down. Don’t expect salaries to catch up–that will take 10-20 years.
Especially if you’ve been waiting for it to happen for 6 or 7 years. Even a stopped clock is right 2x a day…
Unless it’s a digital clock. Kool-Aid drinking perma-bulls seem to like those.
A digital clock can be right twice a day. A 24-hour clock is right only once a day.
Just clarifyin’
IAT
He said “a stopped clock”. When a digital clock is “stopped” (i.e., broken or out of juice), it usually displays nothing. So it cannot be right anytime –just like Kool-Aid drinkers
.
My digital clock when stopped just sticks on the same time. So, I guess different ones work differently. Which, of course, means a stopped digital clock can be right twice a day.
IAT
So you’re saying it’s not really “88:88 p.m.” right now? Did I miss happy hour?
“‘A lot is highly dependent on how the subprime fallout comes about,’ he said. ‘And the house prices don’t meet the wages. Until we see that equal out, we are just going to be flat.’”
So….houseprices are gonna stay flat until wages raise to meet them, huh?
Ya, that’ll only take 15-20 years.
Or wages raise to meet housing prices - I’ll let my boss know that I expect a raise.
Did this guy just call for a large helping of inflation? be careful of what you wish for.
$10.00 BIG MAC’s anyone?
Latest pet peeve comment: referring to all these “buyers” that are “scared” to buy.
The question really is: how many of these scared buyers could actually qualify for a loan in today’s environment. Unless they are qualified buyers, then their comments are useless, irrelevant and pure noise.
Perhaps they are not scared at all, but just choosing not to buy at this time.
I’m too pissed off at the egregious prices to buy.
Here here! I just go out and make low-ball offers as retribution. And if I get lucky, the whole neighborhood will love me for establishing the new comp >; )
“I just go out and make low-ball offers as retribution.”
That’s funny. I may start doing that instead of just eating the dessert and drinking the free water / sodas.
I still have some old business cards that have my project manager title on it from the socioeconomic center I worked for. I take them with me. While some agents seem happy to get any offer, some of the agents get real defensive about the price and ask indignantly why am I making my offer using a model with a 1997 base. I tell them to check my card and ask me again.
I now rate agents by how long their mouth hangs open >; )
I then ask for a bottle of water and a cookie.
I’m not scared. I’m also not stupid.
I’m very scared of losing money and being shackled to a mortgage payment if I buy.
I’m scared of the undiscovered/uncertain fraud risk. That risk is worth an immediate 25% right off the top barring proof to the contrary.
implosion-are you really in the market for 50+ units??
If the next two years were to pass without a significant downturn in house prices, I would conclude that none is coming. (Based on ARM reset schedule.) Whether I would then go and ahead and buy would depend on my luck as a tenant, and on my painful donations to the IRS.
RIGHT. I see these articles about how the buyers and sellers are squared off in a game of chicken, each waiting for the other to blink.
What it the buyers simply can’t blink??? They can’t qualify, and don’t have a $40K+ downpayment.
What if the sellers can’t blink??? They owe too much, and what they want to buy hasn’t come down. They have to stay until they get what they owe/need to have a downpayment.
Then it really comes down to the foreclosure rate. Unless banks are willing to sit on the houses, waiting for inflation to bring incomes up to the level that people can buy, they’ll have to cut prices to the point where poeple can afford to buy now. Once they do that, people will see they are upside down, and foreclosures will multiply.
Bottom? Not until the foreclosure rate peaks, then comes back down. Right now, we’re not at the peak. We’re not even at the point where the slope is flattening. We’re still at the point where the slope is gettin steeper.
I heard it said today that the average housing correction lasts 22 months from the peak. The peak was last summer. That means we’re only 9 months in. And, housing starts drop 50%. We’re only at 30%.
Bottom? Not even close!
“What it the buyers simply can’t blink??? They can’t qualify, and don’t have a $40K+ downpayment.
What if the sellers can’t blink??? They owe too much, and what they want to buy hasn’t come down. They have to stay until they get what they owe/need to have a downpayment.”
Yeah, seriously. It’s like a Clockwork Orange version of a staring contest, propped up in chairs facing each other, eyes pried open. Except that the sellers have the added burden of a James Bond laser beam inching closer and closer, while the renters have beautiful women periodically stuffing thousand dollar bills in their pockets.
There is no universe where this housing slump will only last another 13 months. In the best case, we may be able to hold off recession for that long, but it’s coming. Whoever manages to hold out for the reset will be swept away when the job losses hit. Or those not impacted by either trauma will have to watch as principal payments can’t keep up with depreciation.
It’s like a slow-motion trainwreck. And trapped inside those train cars some people are dying of disease and starvation, and others are sitting on ticking timebombs, and all throughout the train are venomous snakes slithering around. Now, normally one would consider this a staggering compound of tragedies, but the train cars have also been filled with laughing gas… so someone watching this giggling gaggle slowly crumple is left mostly with a feeling of curiosity regarding the timing of the individual cruelties. Some even cook popcorn.
THAT’S Neil !…MOVE him AWAY from the Tracks, he’s one of OURS.
Dude… its like crashing…
Popcorn…
One of things AJAS commentedonthe loss of jobs.
Long before the bottom..
We will hear Wall Street whine about the loss of the” wealth effect” as the excuse for the business slowdown caused by the slump in housing.
Let’s listen,” yep no bottom.
“And trapped inside those train cars some people are dying of disease and starvation, and others are sitting on ticking timebombs, and all throughout the train are venomous snakes slithering around.”
The train is called the HomeDebtor’s express, and it has run away and is heading for the bridge that washed out. I can’t think of a better time in recent U.S. history to be out of debt (especially mortgage debt), except for the risk of facing the wild card of deliberately-created inflation, which is the preferred antidote to a debt-led deflationary spiral. I guess that is why Bog created precious metals and Forex accounts.
Hey, your plagiarizing my nightmares. And by the way, how did you know about the snakes? If, as I suspect, your are in fact one of the reoccurring characters in my nightmares, you are violating the conscious subconscious confidentially privilege.
Latest pet peeve comment: referring to all these “buyers” that are “scared” to buy.
I saw a buyer sitting on the sidelines today. Well, by “sidelines” I mean he was sitting on a bus stop bench at an intersection. But he did look like he was scared to buy. Scared of something, anyway. Maybe he’s waiting for the right mortgage product, because his assets consist of 31 aluminum cans and a pair of dirty socks. Clearly he’s playing a game of “chicken” with Donald Trump; it’s just a matter of who blinks first.
I almost spit out the peanuts I was eating! LMAO!
Sort of on topic - I love this guy from Patrick.net who often comes up hiaku on housingbubble topics.
April 26th, 2007 at 11:18 am
newsfreak Says:
“Renters can eat sushi
and watch the landlord
fix things from their lawn chair.”
Sushi is very big on Patrick.net too >; )
damn now I’m hungry
Someone on another post commented that things are different ecoomically since the Depression because of the interent - news that used to take a long time to trickle across the continent is now instantaneous - it will be interesting to watch how the psychology of that affects the market (a no brainer).
BTW, more anecdotal info on a slowing economy - in my town (10,000 people, W. Colorado, regional market center for 60,000) - today and yest. the entire town is dead. Everyone is commenting on it at the espresso shop (the 3 people there). It’s truly been years when you could even find a place to park downtown, now entire blocks are empty. An anamoly, or??? (weather is OK, Lereah, it’s neither good nor bad so can’t blame that…)
Maybe that’s how it starts: a few isolated towns and counties that simply quit working and buying, and this contagion slowly spreading out till it means simething big.
I read a story years ago about a town in the southern Midwest that had a single train track as contact to the outside world. They shipped out grain mainly, and brought in supplies. One day the trains just stopped, so the town relied on what they grew and local barter. Nothing much changed for them. Life was OK. It was years before they heard of a thing called the Depression, though it didn’t mean much. Now that’s isolation, of a kind we may never see again.
I’ve seen that kind of isolation. Sometimes I lock myself in the bathroom with a case of Crackerjacks, and just have the wife slip the latest newspapers under the door for a few days. Very Zen.
A gem from Isaac Asimov…
“Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that, once it is competently programmed and working smoothly, it is completely honest.”
I keep looking (just for grins) at the land prices in Crested Butte South. A year ago, there were less than twenty lots of sale on the MLS. Now, there are over 50 and the prices have come down drastically. A year ago, most were priced above $200K - now most are priced around $180K or below. Some of the ads mention a motivated seller.
If you really want some fun, look at the MLS for condos on Mt. Crested Butte. There are a several hotel rooms for sale. I pity the fools that bought these rooms hoping for a quick flip. There was a frenzy of buying last summer. Who on earth would want to buy a hotel room long term? Why not just rent a room when you get to town? And, at the prices they are asking, any chance on investment income is impossible.
Yeah, I watch CB, also Tellyride and Durango. All up in the stratosphere. It’s easy to get lost in their stats, as they were SO high even before the bubble started. People lost touch, they didn’t even have a clue there was a bubble, a lot just thought prices there were outrageous because they were resort towns, as this uptick has been going on for years in Colorado. So… they got double blindsided - it will be interesting to see what happens. Park City is the same. I’m also seeing prices coming down. They have a really long ways to come down in those towns. Durango will be really hard hit, IMO. But be patient, the bubble combined with the price of gas will hit tourist towns esp. hard. Of course, with global warming, the skiing will suck. It’s already sketchy in Tellyride, not predictable.
I love Montrose
If the “Housing Baron’s” make it to the ski slopes this year, their “House’s Equity Vapors” might beat THEM to the Bottom of the Mountain.
“Who on earth would want to buy a hotel room long term? Why not just rent a room when you get to town?”
You and I wonder in amazement, but the answer is: the sheeple. During the mania, they bought anything and everything. It’s pathetic. The location, price history, and condition of the property didn’t matter. In their minds, just buying any real estate was the ticket to financial freedom and wealth. Now, they’re just starting to look around and say, “Hey, this isn’t what I planned, and it’s not fun anymore.”
“I keep looking (just for grins) at the land prices in Crested Butte South. A year ago, there were less than twenty lots of sale on the MLS. Now, there are over 50 and the prices have come down drastically. A year ago, most were priced above $200K - now most are priced around $180K or below. Some of the ads mention a motivated seller.”
I had intended to purchase a sizeable tract of acreage in rural western WA in order to cultivate the land. But the speculators showed up, and drove prices up by as much as 1000%, and I could no longer justify (or affrord) the expenditure. Now, it is becoming evident that it was a short term gain a lot of them were hoping for as I see a number of parcels making their way back to the mls at ridiculous prices. Some are even selling to other speculators. For the most part, the land has not been improved. It’s nice to hear that prices are coming down in Colorado, albeit slowly, but I don’t anticipate I will be able to afford Washington land for years.
have a friend moving there, she says prices are getting soft…be patient.
I actually don’t have the patience to wait that long. I changed my plans due to the bubble. It was either buy now and be priced in forever, or do something different. I chose to do something different.
Adaptability and resilience - I’d give you good score.
I was staying at the Doubletree in Seatac one weekend, and the cleaning lady asked me how I liked her room. Apparently her whole extended family pitched in to buy it. I was speechless for a good three seconds.
Talk about buying a job… and not a very good one at that.
Are you talking about the DoubleTree next to the airport? The sprawled out one where it’s a marathon of walking and elevators to get to your room? You mean people are buying those rooms? Please tell me you’re kidding.
Yep, in one of the more inaccessible wings of it too.
Ain’t gonna be able to grow tomatoes at 8-9000 feet in Crusted Butt…or Telluride….or Durango….or Pagosa Springs…..
Would not buy land in the mountains to save my life….can’t grow anything there….
Madness….sheer madness….
Durango?
AS I commented above, I think Durango will come down a lot. The train won’t carry it for long. Working people are leaving there because of the ridiculous prices.
Durango is in a bubble? Isn’t that a tiny town in the middle of nowhere? Wow.
It is, but the San Juans are quite pretty. Also, I do believe there’s some oil and natural gas extraction going on, although not as much as in northwest New Mexico.
Durango is getting very expensive. Tourism, close to a ski area, and limited land (in a long valley) - has uranium tailings, but a very pretty place. Also a nice small college. Some of those expensive houses are built on Anasazi graves, but they prob. don’t know that.
I had a cousin who moved to Durango back after the 80s oil bust. They bought a bad-ass house that cost the owner $300k during the oil boom. They paid $150k.
50% drop…it’s like, historical and stuff.
If the economy is slowing down and housing and subprime failure is going to cause a recession, why is the stock market (S&P 500) still hitting all time highs?
I’m beginning to wonder if the housing burst is really going to affect the economy at all. If the economy does soften, I think the housing prices will come down much faster, but I’m not seeing that.
Time will pull the veil from your eyes!
Real estate has to first lose value in the mind of the seller, then be reflected in the stats months, possibly years later. (FB’s wake up a bit faster than regular folks). Be patient and remember “Even a dead cat will bounce if you throw it high enough”, so don’t rush in at the first sign of a reversal.
Regarding the stock market, speculation is that all of the sellers of Real Estate in the past 3 years are sitting on piles of cash and are driving the next leg of the Dow…..????
I know how you feel Dan, this stuff is baffling at times. Perhaps things are still getting lined up for a major meltdown. The consumer is tapped out, and living on credit. As everyone knows, that can only last so long. After a certain point consumer spending has to drop off sharply, putting the squeeze on businesses. I think it’s only a matter of time until the economy is in the crapper. This bubble will prove to have many more losers than winners. As for the stock market, a lot of the big money folks, unaffected by housing, play with their funds there.
From the Las Vegas Review Journal: “Though taxable sales are increasing, the single-digit growth rate of recent months lags the double-digit gains of a year ago. Taxable sales rose 12.9 percent from February 2005 to February 2006, the Department of Taxation said.
Local economists have attributed the slower sales to a downturn in residential construction and less consumer spending, as homeowners with dwindling home equity retreat from fresh outlays on cars, vacations and other big-ticket items.” (http://www.lvrj.com/business/7199831.html)
the stock market “detached” from the economy last summer.
IMO - when I was young the equity market forecast economic conditions 6-9 months out. Today, the Central bankers have taken control, it forecasts NOTHING & reacts to everything.
How else would one explain:
a) global real estate bubble - now popped - stocks go up
b) 17 rate increases,stocks go up.{usedto be3 dteps & stumble now it’s every rate hike is met with “iys the last one!”
c) Auto and the supporting industries in a down right depression, GM goes up.
d) Every last airline never makes money for long, yet BA {Boeing} orderbook is full. 9 out of ten airilines in 1stageor another of bankruptcy.
e) Upper channel of a 2 hundred year trend line broken - no sell off.
f) US Stock charts {S&P &the DJI} in any other currency but Mexican Pesos looks like the Nasdaq chart.
g) Gold versus DJI ratio trading closer to the 1962 highs then an all time high, and gold had been in a 20+ year bear market , while Wall Street keeps telling us its the same ole BULL.
h) Companies lower earning expectations in Month one of each quarter, sometimes more than once, then they beat that lowered number and stocks all rally. Or a Company like Softy admits that they must record deferred income gains from who knows when, all year and that is “gap up” time on the stock..tomorrow the rest of the stock market will try to rally on the same nonsense.’
THE MAGISTIC MYSTERY TOUR - coming your way daily.
Isn’t the “Magical Mystery Tour”?
“…news that used to take a long time to trickle across the continent is now instantaneous…”
Propaganda is also instantaneous, and when well written, rather difficult to separate from actual news or complete idiocy, for that matter.
“The best propaganda omits rather than invents.”
– Mason Cooley
Happening in the suburbs, too. Was to the new Target and the old Kmart here in town this week….they are EMPTY of people, cars, etc. Just floorwalkers….bet they do not even make enough to keep the lights on. Notice Walmart on 9 a.m. on Saturday mornings used to have ten checkouts open….now it is one only…..same condition…no one in store.
Recession/depression has started but has not reached hallucinating Wall Street yet.
“‘A lot is highly dependent on how the subprime fallout comes about,’ he said. ‘And the house prices don’t meet the wages. Until we see that equal out, we are just going to be flat.’”
I was with him until the “we are just going to flat” comment. So, let me just correct it for him: “we are just going to continue seeing price declines.”
>> 1,380-square-foot home for $208,000
Still too high.
Just wait until $208,000 in 2014 dollars equals $104,000 in 2007 dollars, then buy.
Real money plan.
Buy at least 1 oz. of gold monthly.
When you can buy an average home in California for 105 oz’s or less..go ahead and exchange assets.
CALC as follows.
Avg home CALI in 1940 = $3,527
{courtesy of http://www.census.gov/housing
” price of 1 oz Gold in 1940 = $33.85
courtesy ofKITCO.com}
# of oz. to buy avg. home in Cali = 105 oz’s
OR If AZ is to your liking $1400/33.85 = 41+ oz’s.
Colorado? $2091/33.85 = 61+ oz’s.
NY $4389 NJ $4528/ 33.85 = 129-133+ oz’s.
true relative value of a depreciating asset - your home.
Using the 90 -9 rule
In 90 years the FEDhas lost over 90% of the value of the dollar and the country has $9 trillion in debts.
In 92123 that 1,380 sq ft home will cost you a half mil, give or take a few thou.
I was going to say…. I’d be all over a 3/2 1380 in 95616. They’re a half mil here too. How freaking crazy is that?
Yeah, but its 125 degrees there in the summer! That said, I have a job interview in Phoenix tomorrow (currently living in San Diego). Home prices are one, but not the only reason I’m considering moving into a blast furnace. lol
My rent in LA was $1000 per month for a studio - no washer or dryer, no dishwasher, no garbage disposal. My rent in Phoenix is $967 per month for a 2 bedroom 2 bath apartment with full size W/D, dishwasher, garbage disposal…My income in Phoenix is the same as my income in LA - no, actually more because I’m working a lot of overtime. Paying $300 per month in summer for air conditioning in Phoenix versus paying an extra $1700 per month for equivalent amenities in, say Marina Del Rey where some apartments actually have washers and dryers in the units. Duh, which is a better deal?
Relax, it rarely goes past 115.
“‘Can you get anything for $140,000 in L.A.? Not even in Compton,’ Aleman said. ‘My house doubled in five years. It was like, wow. That’s the main reason people from L.A. come here.’”
The normal rate of inflation is around 3-4%
Either the government printed money like it was going out of style. Or, we’ve just lived through the largest housing bubble in US history.
Since we’re talking about Vegas my bet is on both.
For what it’s worth…
Driving east to west on the 15, we encountered heavy smog from victorville, right into the city of the angles.
The following day we drove on the 60 freeway towards downtown el lay and couldn’t see the city center until we were 1/2 a mile away from it.
I remember when Victorville was not part of the metro area. And when billboards in Victorville plugged new 80K houses.
Had anyone told me that someday it would be full of 300K houses I never would have believed it. What’s next? 400K houses in Baker? (across the street from the ‘Bun Boy’ restaurant)
Hey, it’s a sign of getting old when you say, “back in my day” (of course, in this case, getting old means you were around 10 years ago)…
What’s do houses in Barstow cost? The only reason people stopped there on the way to LV in the 70s early 80s was to get gas and run into the McDs.
Isn’t Baker’s claim something like “Gateway to Death Valley”?
That and the Worlds Largest Thermometer….Oh boy!
It’s nice to be constantly reminded from anywhere in town that it’s 128 degrees.
We Greeked it up in Baker…
Gyro me baby~
That - and The Mad Greek….
But they do have the Mad Greek restaurant and the Alien Jerky stand. Both are pretty good.
Also the most expensive gasoline in California.
The Mad Greek in Baker sucks. Having been to the one in Garden Grove many times, I always heard about the famous one in Baker, so I tried the Baker location when I was coming back from Death Valley. My synopsis:
1) Some of the worst service I’ve ever had. Food took a very long time to be ready. (Literally like half an hour.)
2) Spanakopita’s were burnt (not quite black-charred, but severely burnt. Trust me - I know Greek food).
3) No actual Greek in sight while I was there. Only Mexicans (ahem - Lah TEEE Nos).
4) It’s been a while, but I recall something we had ordered was way too salty, but I can’t remember what it was.
Anyway, I’ve got no complaints on the Mad Greek in Garden Grove (which I think was started by the other dude’s brother or something). It’s different, but it has consistent quality and nice people. Oh, and there’s real Greeks there.
I don’t know how people can stand to live in those places. It’s hell on earth.
that was the only reason I ever stopped there!
I once took a wrong turn in Barstow while on a road trip and ended up at a military base in the middle of nowhere (Ft. Irwin?). The tank crossing signs should have tipped me off.
Aladinsane, you’re making me misty-eyed for my youth. I went to school in North Hollywood (or what was called N. Hollywood back then) in the Seventies, and I recall having my lungs burn after even a light PE. Disgusting. I still get nauseated cresting the hill into the Valley on the 405 when I see that putrid brown chunky air.
I also recall someone telling me at the time that a co-worker had arrived from England, and was working in the Valley for months before they realized there were any mountains nearby. As horrid as the air is now, it was abhorrent back then.
I used to go XC skiing in the Los Angeles Nat. Forest just north of LA (yes, we Alaskans need our skiing fix anywhere we end up…) I remember looking down and thinking “Wow. Look at those clouds down there, rising up. Rain?” Then the smog would hit and I am sure that suicide by sucking exhaust pipe could not have been worse. Even the rattlesnakes were coughing…
Couple months ago I was driving down from Utah to Vegas to catch a plane. I could “see” LV before I could see it. HUGE brown dome of smog surrounding it visible from many miles away. Then 45 minutes to go about one mile on the interstate coming in to town. Disgusting.
For what it’s worth 2 …
Long, long ago, when I was a kid, I used to live in the victorville/apple valley area. Me and my trusty horse used to lean over the EDGE of the high desert, peer INTO the SMOG WAY DOWN BELOW and wonder WHAT in the world was down there.
I got drafted and survived Nam. My horse stayed there and I think the SMOG crept UP and ATE him.
My Folks also MOVED when I was in Nam and “FORGOT” to tell me WHERE they moved…ha ha ha
‘February’s median home price speaks volumes about California migration patterns. Los Angeles County: $528,000. Las Vegas area: $300,000. Phoenix area: $253,000.’
Interesting that the media can look directly at the rolling bubble and still not understand that these prices won’t hold. Did the Californians bring high paying jobs with them? And if the CA price action was a bubble, this ‘migration’ merely spread the problem.
i know a calfornian guy who is sitting on 2 vegas alligators right now.
he bought in 2004 and rented em out.
now he’s sick about it, cant sell for what he paid, both are vacant and he’s had 2 years of deadbeat renter hassels and the places depreciated.
his plan is the same as many FBs - dump all alligators asap and keep primary residence (if possible).
Look about below vegas, CA hates you now. We are giving our money to the injuns instead.
Houses must be in North Las Vegas? No gain after 3 years, that is pretty bad.
Northern Nevada is approaching 2004 prices right now. I imagine they could be back to 2003 by the end of the year unless some second wind buying spree materializes.
Excluding really close to the strip, golf courses, or a lake, why would homes appreciate in Vegas? Its not like its much of a drive to virgin land.
But to Ben’s note, there is a drive in migration patterns. However, I just do not see a median income of $100k for Vegas and $80k+ for Phoenix. Yes, they are more affordable than LA at 10X income…
I’m off to blog a sad story…
Got popcorn?
Neil
Ben, many came with plenty of money, tax free gain on sale of primary residence. They were faced with moving up and taking on enormous debt load or moving and paying a lot less for more house. PHX has become LA. Far far east LA. Overcrowded, traffic congested and smoggy. No thanks. That is the reason I left LA. Quality of life (and to escape the TAXES). Scaling back my cost of living was just a bonus.
More Asimov:
“To surrender to ignorance and call it God has always been premature, and it remains premature today.”
“Sure there are things he misses about Los Angeles, and he visits twice a year. As for the future: ‘I won’t go back.’”
That sure hits home for me.
I remember how hard it was to move from San Francisco to San Diego. And then how hard to move from SD to Minneapolis, I thought I might die.
And now, I visit both places twice a year, and that’s enough. I doubt I’ll go back unless things radically change.
I never say never, so who knows what the future holds… but even in our long term retirement talks (my goal is to semi retire when I turn 45) California no longer is in the top 10 locales… we couldn’t afford to both drop to half-time employment and live the way we want in CA. Hence, we’ll just visit.
You could afford to retire in CA (or any place else for that matter) if you would just invent, market, and sell an item than everybody needs. Quit whining and do something about it. Suggestions: electric chopsticks or steak flavored beer.
yeah, you could hire unemployed realtors/mort. brokers to market it for you…
I used to work with Kyle Campos mentioned in the LA Times story.
He was a “high-payed engineer” that CA types seem to think will save the day for housing, and was working at a successful Santa Barbara company that invented a software system used throughout the world.
He couldn’t make ends meet here due to the high cost of living, so he quit, left for Arizona, opened a smoothie store, and is much happier for it. The job he left here was not refilled.
That sequence of events points out why high housing prices are so bad for the health of our economy, state, and country.
Very well put. I try to explain the circular way economies work and bulls just see dollar signs. The question is always “how can I game the system on both sides?”. I usually answer “think of something necessary and constructive and do that”. I’m usually told that’s too hard.
the opreative word here is “think” - easier to just game the system
Very well put again
High housing costs are horrible for our country and its people for a multitude of reasons. Yet, the government and many industries are hell bent on trying to prop them up, something which would ultimately cause more harm. They could have taken steps to prevent things from getting so bad, yet they chose not to. It’s an outrageous disservice they have done to the country. And a bailout of the FB’s would really stick it to the general population.
“‘I think we have seen the worst,’ said Tom Cargill, economist at the University of Nevada, Reno. ‘House prices are likely to stabilize, and they could come down a little more because there is still a considerable volume of inventory out there.’”
I’m sick of hearing these guys say this same garbage over and over and over and over and over………… “this looks to be the bottom, now we return to double-digit price increases every year until the end of the world”. Why do any people even listen to these guys, let alone take any of their advice?
“February’s median home price speaks volumes about California migration patterns. Los Angeles County: $528,000. Las Vegas area: $300,000. Phoenix area: $253,000.”
Each respective city can kiss those “values” goodbye just a few years down the road from now.
Tom must be texting Gary Watts, so in honor of Mr. Watts:
Tom has called the bottom, its in the Gary’s bag.
Hurry, hurry, I better go out then and make a full priced offer. Oh, you mean there’s more offers coming in; then raise my offer 5%. Still not high enough; remove ALL continencies then. More offers coming in - - - - - - hehehehehehehe Remember this just a short time ago? Cahill is an idiot, check out Thornberg at Humboldt State recently.
The essence of propoganda is to repeat a falsehood over and over again until it becomes a perceived truth.
Just one more wafer thin Asimov quote…
“Violence is the diplomacy of the incompetent.”
My brain just exploded.
And of course: “War is diplomacy by other means.”
How about this?
The right to buy weapons is the right to be free.
A.E. Van Vogt, “The Weapon Shops of Isher”
Think life’s bit more pleasant here in Germany, where you have to pass a somewhat difficult exam to get a hunting license in order to buy a gun, than it is in Afghanistan, where you can pick them up at the baazar with your veggies.
And definitely freer for women…
“For the local market to fully recover, it must overcome a rising foreclosure rate, fueled by failing subprime loans, and housing prices that still are relatively expensive in the area, said Ken Wiseman, owner of Reno Rancho Realty.”
I’m not sure but doesn’t the Reno Rancho have a massage parlor in the back?
yeah, but happy endings are only available with FULL commision
What happened to the comments from before 14:00?
My last post before they went away was the ASU “Arizona Housing Affordability Index” results for the last 20 years. From 1990-2004, the median household could afford the median house. In fact, in 2004, median household income was 126% of what would be needed to reasonably afford the medain house. Then median price jumped from $170K to $260K while interest rates went up .6%. The result was double the expected monthly payment.
At the end of 2006, medain household income here in Arizona was only 74% of what would be needed to reasonably afford the median house.
We’re not going to see the bottom until the median income can again afford the median house. Whether that is a drop in sales price, wild inflation that brings up income, or lower interest rates, I don’t know.
My guess is some of each. Falling prices and tigher lending will cause more foreclosures, this will bring down prices, causing a cycle of more foreclosures, causing tighter lending…
To try to stop this, the fed will drop interest rates, causing inflation, which, of course, will push interest rates right back up.
Then, Uncle Sam to step in to reduce foreclosures, by using tax payer money to guarantee loan refinances for houses at risk…. But those refi’s will untimately end up back in foreclosure as falling prices cause people to walk away from the house they are upside down in.
In the end, the combination of inflation and eroding prices will result in the affordability index coming back to where the median income can afford the median house.
Then, and only then, will supply and demand really be back in long-term balance.
Greater Phoenix Between 2000 and 2006
median household wage growth $360 per month or 9%
Increase in median resale home price $131,700 or 102%
Increase in median resale housing payment $680 or 73%
Anyone besides me think those numbers unsustainable?
The SMOG ate them ?
Arthur Laffer is a regular guest on Larry cinderella Kundlow show and gives appearance to me that he knows what is going to happen as if he owns a crystal ball that actually works.
Can anyone recall if Laffer has ever been wrong on one of his economy predictions?
Or is he just another pompous lereah /lay clone like jackass?
“‘I think we have seen the worst,’ said Tom Cargill, economist at the University of Nevada, Reno. ‘House prices are likely to stabilize, and they could come down a little more because there is still a considerable volume of inventory out there.’”
The housing market is decentralized and heavily manipulated by government and industry efforts to offset busts like the current one.
The consequence is a very slow equilibrium adjustment processes which plays out over years, not weeks. There is no possible way the housing market in Reno or anywhere else in the U.S. where the market could have possibly reached a new equilibrium so soon after the subprime collapse.
But I would be interested to know what ties Cargill has to the REIC, as that could have considerable influence on his propensity to declare “the worst is over, so go out and buy a home tomorrow.”
Stucco,
care to name some of the websites and authors you read? I’d be very interested to peruse your reading list.
Thanks.
BTW…a must read for all:
http://www.kitco.com/ind/Willie/apr192007.html
“‘A lot is highly dependent on how the subprime fallout comes about,’ he said. ‘And the house prices don’t meet the wages. Until we see that equal out, we are just going to be flat.’”
Convergence between house prices and wages in the absence of the subprime prop could either come about because of wage increases or falling home prices. Though some social engineers prefer wage inflation to falling home prices and are making strenuous backstage efforts to bring this scenario about, I have a hard time envisioning sufficient wage inflation to avoid further nominal housing price declines, especially against the backdrop of a residential construction and real estate sales recession coupled with a collapse of subprime lending and tightening lending standards. And no matter how you slice it, real home price declines are in the bag.
not gonna happen this time….too much pressure on pricing from imports, etc from very low wage countries
wally world is laying off 3,000 managers…
“Words calculated to catch everyone may catch no one”
Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.
GaelicNonSequitur posted in the bits Bucket a story from the Tucson newspaper, Tucson Citizen.
The comment section is a hoot! Honest-to-god real estate Bulls!
Get a free account and join the fun!
Fess up! Who here is E.L.?
Not me!
E.L. ?…Wasn’t me either. it was Neil !
Mikey,
You’re stalking me.
And no, wasn’t me.
On aviation blogs I’m “Lightsaber.” That’s my only other persona on the net.
definitely an HBBer
“The past is a source of knowledge, and the future is a source of hope. Love of the past implies faith in the future.”
Stephen Ambrose
“Good Luck, Mr. Gorsky”
Uttered after stepping onto the moon’s surface.
Neil Armstrong
Over the years, many people have questioned him as to what the “Good
luck, Mr. Gorsky” statement meant. On July 5, in Tampa Bay, FL, while
answering questions following a speech, a reporter brought up the 26
year old question to Armstrong. He finally responded. It seems that
Mr. Gorsky had died and so Armstrong felt he could answer the
question. When he was a kid, Neil was playing baseball with his
brother in the backyard. His brother hit a fly ball which landed in
front of his neighbors’ bedroom window. The neighbors were Mr. and
Mrs. Gorksy. As he leaned down to pick up the ball, he heard Mrs.
Gorsky shouting at Mr. Gorsky, “Oral sex? Oral sex you want? You’ll
get oral sex when the kid next door walks on the moon!”
WTF does this have to do with housing
I was just hero worshipping…
Pardon me, my trespasses.
This is an urban legend:
http://www.snopes.com/quotes/mrgorsky.htm
Oh well…
Sounded good.
“On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does.”
Will Rogers
“‘I think we have seen the worst,’ said Tom “It’s just a flesh wound” Cargill”
“Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president.”
Theodore Roosevelt
“First of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Selling Off the Family Possessions to Make Money
As a way to make extra money now, Lisa sells objects on eBay and Craigslist. “We have so much in the house, and it all has to go. We accumulated a lot of stuff as a family that I can sell. I don’t do any more buying. Just selling! But that’s the thing. I see so many listings on Craigslist and eBay where families are selling everything. So I know they are going through it, too. People stop short of saying they’re in foreclosure. They just say they’re moving, and not because they don’t own anymore. It’s totally humiliating.
I lived in the city of angles most of my life and spent a few days there this past week, and it’s really a soulless place…
I was talking with a ko-kayaker this weekend about el lay and car chases, in particular…
I was on the 101 fwy headed west one night, about 5 years ago, when I thought i’d experienced my first ufo encounter and it was just a dozen helicopters, all with lights on, following the car chase, as if it mattered, heading eastbound…
The car chase is the perfect metaphor for a rat trapped in a maze, all humaned up, for our enjoyment.
“‘Housing isn’t cheap in Vegas anymore, nor is it in Phoenix, compared to what it was. But it’s still cheap compared to California,’ said R.L. Brown, publisher of the Phoenix Housing Market Letter.”
The Phoenix Housing Market Letter? That would have to be F, wouldn’t it?
Next month’s letter: U
At least it’s an honest housing publication
Here in Phoenix, I keep hearing how we’re not as expensive as CA. Yeah, but CA is out of room. The houses being built in L.A. are in Riverside and Redlands. That is 60+ miles form downtown. Easily a 2 hour commute from downtown or the beach for rush hour, which lasts from 5AM until 11AM, then noon to 1PM, then 2PM until 8PM.
San Diego, new homes are out past El Cajon or in Oceanside.
I don’t even know how far from the jobs the San Fran jobs are.
By contrast, here in Phoenix there are over a dozen gowing communities like Chandler, Gilbert, Cave Creek, Sun Lakes, Buckeye, Goodyear, Avondale, Glendale, Peoria, Desert Ridge, etc., etc. And, most of these places are within 20 miles of downtown.
That is what happens when you have 4 million people, and very little in the way of expansion. San Diego has that ocean, and mountains, and that other country, and Camp Pendelton (the only thing keeping L.A. from reaching San Diego). L.A. has 17 million and an ocean and mountains and that same base keeping it from reaching San Diego. San Fran also has ocean and bay and mountains.
So, in L.A. space where people want to live is like gold. Here in Phoenix, it is like… here it is like desert that stretches out in all directions.
California is not out of room.
Japan has very slightly less land mass than California and 4-5 times as many people. And they had a 14-year residential real estate bust. Go figure.
Don’t forget to mention that during their real estate bust, Japan had a vibrant industrial economy, an educated populace and low to nonexistent crime. Yet will all those benefits, they still suffered a two decade long real estate bust. Now, we need to ask ourselves again, “How long will the bust last over here?”
Actually there is plenty of space still left.
This week prime are which had SJ flee market will be turned to new housing and shops. I didnt that one coming. SF is still making more room for new high rise tower condos. Its full steam builders at action.
Driving down Harbor Street toward Disneyland a few weeks ago, I look over and see a piece of property with a grove of orange trees. My jaw dropped; somebody has been really holding out for a long time.
“NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The U.S. economy grew at a 2 percent rate in the first quarter, the government reported Friday, a sign of surprising strength indicating the world’s largest economy is less likely to fall into recession.”
This is a quote from April 27, 2001 and the expectation was for .9% GDP. Later in 2001 the Goperment determined we were already in a recession.
Watch for the same thing tomorrow. The consensus is 1.8%. They’ll come out with something over two and history will repeat itself…
How does this work?
http://www.azcentral.com/class/marketplace/homes.php?pgAction=homedetail&address=5516+W+REDFIELD+RD&city=GLENDALE&zip=85306
5516 W REDFIELD RD
GLENDALE, AZ 85306
Week Ending Buyer (Last, First) Price
04/02/2007 VAITA, AARON $315,000
01/05/2007 ANDERSON, RONNIE $235,000
07/29/2004 ANTHONY, CAROLYN $157,000
I live a half-dozen houses down the street. The house sat empty for 3 months, nothing done to it at all, and it went up $80K.
How?
Probably the house has really good Fung Shwei and the foolish previous owners did not recognize it!!
When Californionz come to your town they can spot hidden values like that and monetize!!
fraud.
“When I refinanced my mortgage six years ago, my lender appraised my home at $274,000 but I borrowed only $220,000. I have made several improvements since then and have paid that loan down to $203,000. Now I want to refinance to lower my interest rate (not take any cash out of the property) and the lender says the appraiser now values my home at $186,000, so my application is being denied. I think they are just trying to keep me at the higher interest rate. Is there an agency to report these companies to? A.H”
1) There is something way wrong with that. No where in the country is a house down 30% over the last 6 years.
2) Maybe it was 6 months. 6 months with an ARM makes way more sense that he now wants to lock in a fixed rate. In that case, I’m guessing the appraisal of 6 months ago (before the mortguage meltdown, before the lenders actually started using reputable appraisers, before the lenders had the buyers of the equity traded securities kicking back non-conforming loans) is the one that was off.
In short, like so many others, this house is headed for forecolsure.
“a sign that the local real estate market has not fully recovered from last year’s slide.”
Can this be for real? Not fully recovered, like - almost recovered?
I was thinking :
“a sign that the local real estate market continues last year’s slide with no sign of relief in sight.” Plunge maybe rather than slide?
What a crock!
“‘We sucked the buyers in who weren’t thinking quite yet about buying,’ (consultant) John Strobeck said.>
rephrase with honest this time :
“‘We suckered the buyers in who weren’t thinking quite yet about buying,’ (consultant) John Strobeck said.
What is funny to me, is that sellers say that will not consider taking low-ball offers. What they are forgetting is the time-value of money, where a dollar is worth more today than it is tomorrow. Fine, balk at the low-ball offer, but don’t come crying when you go into foreclosure and are looking for a bailout.
Wake up, Ben!
Gotto yell louder…WAKE UP BEN:-)