‘It’s Not, ‘If You Build It, They Will Come’ Anymore
The Post & Courier reports from South Carolina. “Contractors for D.R. Horton were clearing the thick wooded tract behind Carol MacLean’s home to make way for a 127-home subdivision. Though Horton’s corporate headquarters hadn’t yet purchased the land, local officials wanted to get a head start on the project. As it turned out, the home office never gave the deal final approval, said Steve Dufour, president of Aiken-based Dufour and Associates Realty.”
“‘They dropped their earnest money and ran,’ said Dufour.”
“The 68-acre Summerville tract the company was eyeing, now on the market for $6.3 million, underscores how the slowing housing market in Charleston and most other parts of the country has affected even deep-pocketed home builders.”
“At the local level, representatives of the big builders said they have had to adjust to the times. The growing inventory of homes on the market has made it more difficult for sellers, triggering a rise in sale cancellations and a smaller pool of prospective buyers, said Frank Finlaw, Beazer’s Charleston division president.”
“‘It’s not, ‘If you build it, they will come’ anymore,’ Finlaw said.”
The Tennessean. “Mary Jennings is struggling to keep her house out of foreclosure, but the arithmetic is working against her.”
“The retired kitchen supervisor refinanced her Nashville home in November and has already missed two mortgage payments totaling $4,739. She is likely to miss more. Her monthly income is just $2,780, not nearly enough she says to pay the mortgage and other bills.”
“In the first three months of this year alone, there were 312 Davidson County foreclosures, as borrowers defaulted on $67.5 million in mortgages. This amount is 70 percent higher than in the same period last year, although the figure is skewed by an unusually high number of multi-unit residential defaults. The problem is hardly unique to Davidson County.”
“The Tennessean found more than a third of Nashville’s foreclosures since 2005 have been on properties valued above $100,000, some on loans to people with both good incomes and good credit.”
“‘I don’t know what to do,” Jennings said. ‘”I didn’t go asking for this loan. The company wrote me and said they could refinance your home and put some money in your hand.’”
“The mortgage companies and their loan officers charged Jennings more than $24,591 in upfront fees. If Jennings is able to keep her home, things could get worse. Her monthly payment of $2,369 is scheduled to jump to $3,003 in less than two years.”
The Courier Journal from Kentucky. “Homes going up in metro Louisville this spring are expected to cost, on average, about 5 percent less to build than last year, according to estimates included with their building permits.”
“The lower builders’ cost suggests buyers may have become more price-sensitive as 30-year mortgage rates have risen back above 6 percent and foreclosure rates have spiked. As builders hammer their way out of the current housing slump, less-elaborate homes are leading the way.”
“At the same time, builders who put up more expensive, showplace homes last year, even as the Louisville market softened, are sitting on unsold houses.”
“‘A lot of those builders are reluctant to go ahead and build another house in that price range until they exhaust some of the inventory they already have,’ said Rocky Pusateri, VP of Louisville-based Elite Homes.”
The Indystar from Indiana. “The seven-unit luxury development at 1557 N. College Ave. is one of many such projects vying for buyers’ attention in a market awash with more than 1,000 newly built or soon-to-be-built condo units.”
“‘There is so much on the Downtown market right now,’ said agent Larry Gregerson, who is marketing the College Avenue Condos. ‘There aren’t enough buyers to support it.’”
“The ample supply, some would say it’s more like a growing glut, of Downtown condos figures to bring lowered list prices and offers of free amenities for buyers as the spring selling season arrives.”
“Gregerson, the fourth agent to try to sell out the College Avenue project, is advertising a 10 percent price cut for the units, which range from $245,000 to $317,000. One has been sold.”
“Indianapolis Downtown Inc. says 1,743 housing units, mostly condos, are slated to open in the next three years. F.C. Tucker Co.’s Web site for Downtown condos lists 29 projects with available units.”
“‘There’s definitely a lot more supply than demand,’ said developer Shawn Cannon. ‘You’ve got an oversaturated market. That’s very concerning’ for developers.”
The Ann Arbor from Michigan. “About 90 new condos came on the market downtown in 2006 when Liberty Lofts and Loft 322 opened and another 250 are planned for Ashley Terrace, The Gallery and Kingsley Lane.”
“But amid a sluggish housing market, sales have reportedly been slower than expected, prompting one condo development, Citi Centre Lofts, to change into apartments. Another tower planned to hold 90 condos in the William Street Station project is now being considered for a hotel.”
“The average sale price is down $7,400 to $191,712, while the median price fell nearly $24,000 to $161,250.”
“‘Having an imagination is very difficult for people. Making a commitment for a year from now is tough,’ said developer Peter Allen of Kingsley Lane.”
The Detroit News. “Southeast Michigan’s housing market continued to crumble in 2006, as new homebuilding permits hit a 23-year low, and experts say it will get worse.”
“Jim Rogers, a Southeast Michigan Council of Governments manager, said the housing slide could potentially last through 2009 as the region continues to lose jobs. ‘We have not yet seen a bottoming out of this,’ he said.”
“Rather than buy a new home, Claude Rochaix bought an existing five-bedroom colonial in Beverly Hills last month for $10,000 below the appraised value. The auto parts sales manager said he paid $395,000, while similar homes sold a year ago for $450,000.”
The Grand Haven Tribune from Michigan. “The number of mortgage foreclosures processed by the county in 2006 is more than double the number foreclosed three years ago, and more than 12 times the number of foreclosure filings in the county 10 years ago. And 2007 is shaping up to top last year’s record.”
“‘This morning, we had a record number of foreclosures (for one week) in Ottawa County,’ said Steven Cotton, a county Sheriff’s Department civil deputy who serves the foreclosure notices across the county. ‘We had 26 sales. Part of that was (an unsold) condo development in Ferrysburg.’”
“Ottawa County Register of Deeds Gary Scholten said it used to be generally middle-income families that had their mortgages foreclosed, mainly because it used to be hard for lower-income people even to get a home loan. Not anymore.”
“Scholten said part of the problem is that commission-driven lenders push through loans that often would not have been approved in the past. ‘It gets real tough for them,’ Cotton said. ‘The vast majority of the foreclosures that we see have more money owed on them than the property is worth.’”
The Record Eagle. “Sluggish property value growth and soaring home foreclosure rates paint a grim picture along the Interstate 75 corridor in northern Michigan.”
“‘The last two years have been slow. I would imagine the economy has something to do with that. This year we’ve had quite a few houses on the market and not much selling,’ said Bill Kerr, equalization director in Otsego County.”
“Builder Dale Ringlein has a house for sale in the Lakes of the North resort community that straddles Otsego and Antrim counties. His property has not sold, despite nearly three years on the market and a reduced price.”
“The ranch-style house with three bedrooms and two bathrooms is now listed at $99,000, down $10,000 from the initial price. ‘I doubt if I could get $89,900 for it, so I may lose money,’ Ringlein said.”
“He said a surplus of houses on the market combined with a poor economy means that far fewer properties change hands. ‘I never dreamed that it would take two or three years to sell that property,’ Ringlein said.”
I don’t know if any media types read these comments, but I am curious to know how the MSM can continue to ignore the fact that region after region is turning up over-built, over-leveraged and with foreclosures soaring.
Denial is a river.
I want to know why the MSM won’t ask what the poor “victim” did with all that MEW. Are we supposed to bail them out of their foreclosure or their massive credit card debt and vacations rolled into their new mortgage? Seems unfair to me. You traded unsecured debt for secured debt. The fabric of Western Civilization depends on your going broke and homeless. I’d rather bail out credit card junkies than these losers.
There will be no bailout. Not going to happen.
If it can be financed…the GF’s will come. No bailout. You better check it out.
http://sacramento.craigslist.org/rfs/326095152.html
The problem is with the way the houses are priced. Sure a no-down, no closing costs will help but it doesn’t mean jack if you can’t afford the monthly nut. Remember that all those “affordable house” programs require documented income which locks out most of the people in our area.
The key is affordable. Homes could go to a median $1 million nationally as long as income can match lock-step. The nominal price is not the shocker after all if income can keep up. So, a layman view would easily discern that a $100,000 home income will not get you a $700,000 home with nothing down and a PITI to suit. I am hearing, laughingly, from many of my acquaintances that this is a buyer’s market. They already have a house with a manageable mortgage payment. I think they are just repeating what they hear from the REIC. Once I start hearing about my friends getting houses with payments that are bargain vs. renting, then I will start looking for a place to call my own.
What makes you think the fishwraps, et al aren’t as every bit fraudulent as the rest of big biz amerika?
There’s a business cancer growing in this country.
I’ve noticed some people use shock value words like cancer, rather that explain what they mean.
Ben, I don’t get it either. Even the laziest excuse for a MSM reporter could figure out what’s going on and sould like an oracle simply by reading this blog.
My personal theory is that MSM resources don’t want to write about the bubble. My wife who works in a marketing company confirmed that many reporters are pretty much “for sale”. People write entire articles for them and they pick and choose what fits.
Independent news writers are on the web.
Having some connections in the past, I can tell you that MSM operates under the “Free Speech/Press, but you can’t yell ‘Fire’ in a crowded theatre” edict of Justice OW Holmes.
The financial community has convinced the press that bad stories can create “panic” and destroy the economy. Therefore, reporting anything too negative is almost the same as shouting “Fire!”
Advertising rules the day with the old media, and everything they do is colored by this fact.
You Ben on the other hand, could care less about not upsetting your advertising base, as you don’t have one.
Simple as that.
Think about the children before you act like a Nazi and moderate the comments, after all that’s what terrorists want.
I worked on the editorial side of Newsweek for 10 years, and getting domestic news coverage, of the consumer sort, is tough going. They focus first on international,then national politics, any any breaking news story. Jane Bryant Quinn is supposed to cover consumer financial, with Sloan covering the Street–but the powerhouse editors are in Nation and International, and have the clout to push their stories thru. This bust story is still not really breaking thru even the NYTImes-which ran a story on RE last week on what 3M will buy.
People probably pick that up from too much exposure to the MSM. It’s working at the emotional level and that’s what is required to constitute effective propaganda. For instance, “Buy now or be priced out forever” .
I’ll make his (well my) point.
The corporate world is awash in sheeple (like everywhere else). The honchos just want happy positive people around. No matter if your good at your job or not, if your a happy positive energetic moron that is terrible at your job you have a leg up and over well qualified competent coworkers that are moody (whatever word you choose, not a yes man…). The vast majority of those in charge of corporate Americh is more interested in harmony than results.
Only those results used to judge your job performance matter and they can usually be pencil whipped (falsified with no consequences) to appear as you like.
It is my experience in corp wold that appraisals mostly come down to the boss asking the underling if he has been doing a good job or not, the result being everyone is doing a great job. Once all are even in that regard it leaves eliminating the squeaky wheel, even if that is the only wheel that is turning.
It seems that unless your the new CEO making waves is taboo in corp America. For the vast majority of corp employees it is better to do as little as possible and be a rah rah type than to make waves and improve things. Improvement = work for your boss, better to let things rot as is than to have your boss pissed that your causing him work and then taking the credit if anything goods come from your work.
The large corporations have consumed the vast majority of all the MSM in the country. The corporate culturl of mediocrity has settled over all these news outlets.
The end result is 5 weeks of Anna Nicole bullshit ad nauseam with little negative news that really impact the masses that should be the real story.
socialism has been tried, it doesn’t work
Yes. Viva La France! Apparently, the French don’t think so either. Nor do the Germans.
I watched the last debate between Royal and Sarkozy. I figured Sarkozy would win because Royal was too cute. I don’t think the French would trust a pretty Madame la Presidente. Maybe if the Socialists had run a lady who looked like Maggie Thatcher they may have had a chance.
Not that Maggie’s ugly or anything.
IMO the mass media is a sales business. Their slant needs to mirror popular sentiment or they will loose viewership. Maximum circulation is where their payday is. The vast majority of our neighbors still think everything is fine. Reporting sentiment will follow public sentiment, not lead it.
IMO the mass media is a sales business.
Yes. Nobody wants to buy a newspaper that tells them their house is worth less money today than it was yesterday.
Ben:
It is obvious that this major slowdown IS occurring all over the place. From FL to CA to AZ to MA to MI and so on.
There are a few problems with trying to report it though IMO.
1) the NAR and other REIC successfully warped our minds to think of “national slowdown” as meaning “everywhere in the nation”. thus, when one tries to write about the “national” slowdown, the NAR is quick to point out that Seattle, San Francisco, and NYC/Connecticut are still holding up (for now anyway). Thus, it’s not “national” just many local areas.
2) Alan Greenspan with his “frothy” comments has redefinied what we would call “national” to instead saying “there is froth here and there”
3) the advertising dilemna (who pays the media’s bills)
4) reporter conflict of interest. Nobody wants the slowdown to be in their area. thus, in San Fran you read about the slowdown in LA. In LA you hear about Florida. In florida you read about AZ. but it is rare for you to hear about the AZ slowdown in AZ. reporters own housing too.
6) the extremely slow movement of this. There is no “wow, RE down 10%” headlines yet. It’s a slow gradual grinding… thus, we allowed the NAR to redefine this as “soft landing” and “goldilocks” and then they can keep revising their previous forecasts. First they forecast 6% up. then 4% up, then 2% up, then flat, then “negative appreciating” at 1%. it goes so slowly, that by the time it happens, they say “yeah, as predicted we have negative appreciation of JUST 1% per year”
“…the extremely slow movement of this.”
I’m wondering if the whole thing is just going to collapse at some point. Like, after this spring/early summer buyers just dry up while foreclosures skyrocket. There are too many people living on borrowed time and money.
I’ve thought about this and now I believe there will be a large catalyst that just torpedoes the market all at once. Here’s how it goes down: The synchronized global equity bubbles have gone from frothy to absurdly parabolic. Now the Chinese stock market is having a melt-up and they must take steps to control it. They will try to increase margin requirements, reserves, and maybe even try to raise interest rates, but none of this will stop the melt up. The Chinese CB will then realize (if they haven’t already) that the only way to break the nuclear melt-up is to decouple the ridiculous currency peg. This will cause immediate and horrific inflation in the US and will cause mortgage spreads to blow out, thus cratering the housing market. We will be looking at 15-20% mortgages literally overnight and prices will plummet. Almost no houses will sell at all without huge price cuts. There is nothing that can stop it right now. The slower the US gets, the more nuclear China becomes - it is now a directly inverse relationship.
Also, everybody keeps expecting that the US will have another 1929 stock crash, but this isn’t exactly the case. China is about to have a 1929 crash, and we are now the equivalent of 1929 Great Brittain, while they are the up and coming industrial power. Sure, our market will crash also, but not before China breaks the peg. IMHO, this will happen in the next three months. Parabolic stock markets never last more than a couple of years and we are right there with China. Some people think that China can experience a 80% stock hit and still rebound, but this is foolish. Once China breaks the peg (and they must very soon now) all hell will break loose and there won’t be any way to stop the unwind.
that’s an apt comparison US = GB china = US
what scares me is the only thing tha got the world out of the depression was WWII…
…I’d hat to see the WWIII it would take to get us out of what’s coming next.
I am sure they are well aware of these stories, but are roundly ignoring them. After all, the MSM was more than happy to spread the fear of “better buy now or be priced out forever”. In fact, in Seattle, the local news anchors would say something like “and housing prices keep on climbing, and there are only 5 areas left which are affordable for the average family”. I have no doubt that families took that information and hurried up and bought something in order to not be “priced out forever”. I think this shows who the MSM works for; big business and not the consumer.
Check out this morning’s Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/06/AR2007050601402.html?hpid=topnews
Plus, the national real estate section of the Sunday NY Times was full of housing bubble news. It was the same news I’ve been reading on this blog for months, but still. Some people seem to be getting the story right (finally!).
Berkshire Hathaway’s Charlie Munger on Saturday:
Munger: “If you were in Miami right now and had a stretched- out loan on a condo, you would feel abused by life. You would feel that you had come into a great liquidity shortage. If you are a real estate broker, you start starving. We are going to have more occasions like the Miami condos.”
“We’ve always had disruption and periods of widespread optimism followed by the opposite.”
“You can’t have this much excess without payback, but I don’t think it is going to ruin the civilization or take us back into the thirties or anything like that. There is not a tooth fairy that guarantees that everyone can make 15 percent a year.”
I respect these guys opinions, but the outlandish claims (ruin civilzation or back to the 30’s) only make me wonder what they really think.
Could it be they Buffet/ Munger are also crossing their fingers it wont be a complete crash?
Because it may tank Berkshire stock 50% or more too, and use up a lot of the $43 billion in cash they have?
I have no doubt Buffett would welcome a stock market that is 50% cheaper.
Using the ‘everyone says the opposite of what they really mean rule’ we can assume these guys REALLY thinks we are going back to the 30’s and civilization is going to be destroyed!
I think they are framing future expectations. Since I am concerned about complete collapse, a mere 20% loss on my Berkshire stock and I’m happy.
the ‘everyone says the opposite of what they really mean rule’
I think that’s a good rule for governments and the Fed, and even much of the biz world, but Buffett and Munger are two of the most honest people you’ll find anywhere. It amazes me that they don’t get way more attention than they do. They’ve done what few others have — make like 30% a year over a LONG time — and they even tell you their secrets! And still people ignore them and even call them liars.
“Contractors for D.R. Horton were clearing the thick wooded tract behind Carol MacLean’s home to make way for a 127-home subdivision.”
“‘They dropped their earnest money and ran,’ said Dufour.”
“The 68-acre Summerville tract the company was eyeing, now on the market for $6.3 million, underscores how the slowing housing market in Charleston and most other parts of the country has affected even deep-pocketed home builders.”
DR Hortons Chicago division, Cambridge Homes, scrapped plans for a developement in Addison, IL. They worked out the details for buying a 9 hole golf course with the village and the courses owner. Had they sign up (Coming Soon!) for over a year. Pulled the sign this spring and took the info for the developement off their website. Amazing how it never made the papers. I had to call the village to confirm it.
Being from Chicago metro, are you seriously surprised at this? Unless you’re a relative newcomer, you know d@mn well how developers operate in this town. Many are crooks, many are tied to the Daley machine, taking payola under the table.
That the scrapping of Cambridge Homes didn’t make the local papers isn’t surprising, either. To trust any Chicago newspaper (Trib, Sun Times, Daily Herald) to tell it like it is re: real estate is folly. They’re too busy talking up the need to green everything in sight to bother covering what is actually happening relative to real estate sales and local scam artists. At least there’s one local rag (Chicago Business) that attempts to try.
It’s no wonder an organization that would allow itself to be led by the likes of David Lereah is based in Chicago.
There’s a dead development I pass by in North Andover, MA. People with the house by the road sold the hillside behind their house to some McMansion developer for a small (5 or 6 house) development. The guy came in and cleared the land and started to make a few “pads” for the houses, but nothing has happened there in about 6 months. There’s a backhoe that’s been sitting there idle the entire time. Now of course since the land is cleared, it’s starting to slide down towards the house in front. I’d hate to be those people!
You may want to play good semaritan and leave them a note to plant grass seed, weed seed - whatever - as quick as they can on that sliding land. $200-400 worth of low-end grass seed may spare them a disaster.
That’s true victims of this bubble: the innocent trees that got mowed down….
Jennings said. ‘”I didn’t go asking for this loan.”
Classic.
another poor little victim who can’t read or add and subtract - poor little me…
A lot of these stories are the end results of desperate people doing desperate things led to their demise by soothing words. Whe nthe very real fear of losing your home meets up with a chance to save, however risky that chance, some will simply ignore the alarms. And the brokers that sold the deal can always say they didn’t have to sign, they could have walked away. Any good con artist uses the same line. Money for nothing and chicks for free.
And the brokers would be right. They did not have to sign. Thy had a right to understand the contract before they signed.
The brokers did everything to keep them from understanding, and the sheeple went along happliy with dreams of home ownership in their eyes.
Like pigs to the slaughter…
there’s no indication that this borrower was desperate — just that she was ignorant. ignorance is expensive.
“‘I don’t know what to do,” Jennings said. ‘”I didn’t go asking for this loan. The company wrote me and said they could refinance your home and put some money in your hand.’”
It’s even worse. If you read the story, the mortgage broker, who was a past president of the state brokers association, and who should have known better, did not even admit that they should not have lent this lady money. He even blames the victim for being stupid. And then hides behing “confidentiality” so he doesn’t have to respond. He’s even got the nerve to proclaim that “yes there are a few bad apples!” And he’s one of them!
He should be forced to respond in court to felony charges.
Yes the lady was dumb, but he is a crook. Or should that be a crock…
With over $24K in fees the brokers ought to be charged with finacial rape of the woman.
This is why i propose:
A return of all commission and fees if a loan falls into foreclosure in the first year or two….
Minus a few life changing events like death, permanent disability
That’s a bail out I can get behind. No tax-payer money. On the disgorgement of all commissions back to the “victim’s” first lien holder.
That’s excessive, no doubt. I’m not at all clear from the article what her actual income is/was.
“Jennings said her combined income from a disability check and payments she gets for caring for her stepfather and mentally ill, live-in wards of the state has never been more than $5,900 a month and fluctuates depending on the number of state wards she cares for.”
“The retired kitchen supervisor refinanced her Nashville home in November and has already missed two mortgage payments totaling $4,739. She is likely to miss more. Her monthly income is just $2,780, not nearly enough she says to pay the mortgage and other bills.”
That’s a 100% difference. What a mess.
It’s a mess, yes.
And if this lady loses her home, she loses her ability to earn money, since she’s taking people in for a living. (BTW not much of a living no matter how many corners you cut…)
And nearly $25K in fees to start up this loan??? The loan officer needs to be strung up by some unmentionable anatomical bits!
Here is the take-away lesson from the housing bubble:
Protect thyself…..No one else is going to do it. They are not your friends. They want your money.
“‘Having an imagination is very difficult for people. Making a commitment for a year from now is tough,’ said developer Peter Allen of Kingsley Lane.”
Oh… I have imagination. It doesn’t run to making a profit off building a home… yet.
Soon land, labor, and supplies will be cheap enough to do so… but not yet and I don’t have a good feel on when that will be. But we’ve seen it before and we’ll see it again.
Got popcorn?
Neil
In the early ’90’s when many a builder was going tits up, and building supply companies were having fire sales on materials, I rented a storage unit and began filling it with all manner of good stuff - units of lumber, plumbing and electrical supplies, roofing and mechanical material. In about a year I was able to build most of a nice little 1400 sq. ft rental duplex on a lot I bought for next to nothing. Probably saved 75%+ over a similar price just 4-5 years earlier. It can be done.
I imagine the half-pipe sessions were good that summer.
Oh, man, I like that idea! Is now the time to start doing that, or would you recommend in six months or a year?
I have a good friend that worked in commercial construction for over twenty years. He picked up all kinds of left over building materials rather than dumpstering them, and over a number of years built himself a nice house for very little cost. I’m amazed at the amount of waste generated from construction sites.
Now this is what I call value. Neat place!
http://santafe.craigslist.org/rfs/325766843.html
I’m sure it’s comfortable, but at first glance it looks like a post office.
When did “Contempary” turn into “Industrial” ? UG-LEE !
In 1929.
http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/GermanPavilion/
Can I have the Barcelona chairs? **drool**
I have to agree. If you remove the windows it looks like a highway rest stop public bathroom.
But I like houses that look like posts offices or office buildings.
I’m with TX on this. I love industrial design and would purchase this over that faux-tuscan, particleboard infused craftsman look-alike crapbox designs that builds are doing now. If only they’d build homes like these in Yolo Co., I’d be in heaven.
If I could afford the land here in Davis, I’d see about contracting to havie it built in a heartbeat. Add a sod roof and solar options and it’s a house that makes sense for the times ahead.
I have to plug the awesome prefabs coming on the market here. These are still my dream houses.
http://www.mkd-arc.com/homedesigns/index.cfm
Can’t wait for the builders to catch up and begin offering products like these.
Thanks, these are gorgeous!
Kind of reminds me of a well-funded town community center.It does look nice.
I was thinking it looked like an elementary school at first.
Me too!
I was thinking more like a Krispy Kreme
Neat place to sell burgers.
It doesn’t say anything about water other than it has a wet wall.
Where are the gas pumps?
You could tan (bake) on the roof.
I think this place was on “Small Space, Big Style” a while back. Either that or a place that looks exactly like it.
I’m not usually one for contemporary (usually too stark and spartan and cold for me) but that doesnt look too bad.
Bt $234k seems a bit much for the middle of nowhere, no?
I like it too. If I ever get around to building my own place though, mine will be along the lines of the coffee shop here in our little town. The incredibly resourcefull owners bought a closed down do-it-yourself car wash and renovated it into a funky modern but cozy coffe cafe.
Didn’t realize the “I-10 rest stop built in the 60’s” style was ever in for homes.
I’m debating on whether I want 2, 4 or 6 acres of MY sage brush around me.
I got a sunburn just looking at it. The big dog and I will stick to the forests, thank you!
It looks like a converted gas station to me.
Looks like a highway rest stop. Where are the picnic tables?
That looks completely out of place for NM, even if you like the post office / Burger King style.
http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/0507subprime0507side.html
“Tighter credit is hurting agents, lenders, builders”
“David Blank, a West USA agent in northeast Phoenix, closed a house with a subprime loan just two months ago in which the buyers had a bankruptcy and a foreclosure but still got 100 percent financing. Blank said the buyers wound up putting less than $300 into the deal after securing $8,300 in closing-cost money from the seller, some of which was used as a fee to secure an interest rate lower than the market rate.
“They got in under the wire,” Blank said of the buyers. “They got 100 percent financing. . . . That’s a lot harder to get now. They can afford the payment. By making the payment, it will improve their credit. They’re living the American dream: home ownership.” ”
Ooops….. he made a mistake… Let me fix this for him.
“They’re living the American dream: gambling with someone elses money while living rent free. And when they lose, they’ll let the bank take the house, and the hit.
I wish they would stop tearing down the woods and other native plants that would make a home in those areas valuable to me.
I’m truly afraid when I’m ready to buy my 20 acres in the woods somewhere, there won’t be any woods left.
If you want 20 acres, you obviously don’t want to be too close to the city. Here’s a suggestion: Go to any small airport and pay for an hour’s sightseeing ride in a small, high-winged airplane (so your view down is unobstructed). You will be amazed at how much undeveloped land there still is in this country.
*DITTO*, Bill. Even in the “built-out” northeast, everyone who tells me ‘they aren’t making any more land’ I invite for a flight with me (in my small, high-winged airplane) to see for themselves why we don’t need anymore to be made.
-Moose (PP-ASEL)
2 Comments First lots of 100-200 acre plus parcels l in Westchester and Fairfield counties but some are still Family owned for generations back to before Washington, unlikely they will sell it all.
Heck we have 2- 10 acre parcels in Norwalk ct near my parents house they still cant subdive after 25 years because the city wont allow them to build high density houses, because both the elementary school and high school are already at capacity and they have no land to expand. So it sits…
And kids still sled down the hills and most winters a little bog area freezes up nicely for ice skating,
There’s land, but a lot of it (in MA anyway) is wetlands. And we need those wetlands for flood control. Two years in a row now we’ve had the big rivers flood, and part of the reason more places haven’t been destroyed is that the wetlands absorb a lot of excess water.
OR just use GOOGLE maps….what an airiel view you can get almost down to 6 feet resolution in most cities…
I saw the outline of MY OLD Chevy Celebrity station wagon, (sold it 16 months ago ) in the driveway of my house on MSN maps….
At lunch I drove past the latest clear-cut parcel, and felt like throwing up. It seems like the builders and developers have a hard-on for every blessed tree, shrub, and twig in these parts.
What the destruction of the wooded areas has done is to reveal how much undeveloped land there was. Even as a lifelong resident of the PHL metro, I’m continually astonished at how much ground was lurking behind those lovely trees.
R.I.P trees.
I saw this mental defect of builders and architects when i left Charleston sc back in 89
Hundred acres of tress off Dorchester road past the airport and a Brand new development all shiny and new with NO TREES, oh, they planted a few bushes on that Little itty bitty patch of grass from the sidewalk to the street….so ugly so sterile…..so hip ,kewl and modern!
Sad to say the same is happening in my area as well this spring - by Pulte no less, who’s losing money hand-over-fist due to excess inventory.
The problem is, they don’t even leave one tree. If they would do some thinning, and leave some mature trees, it would be much nicer. Those guys are @$$holes.
They can’t leave even a few trees if they build zero-lot-line or “attached product.” I read that there is so little land left after building that the roots from even one tree are bound to hit foundations or water/sewer pipes.
Actually, they probably could leave a tree or two, but then they would have to position the house carefully around the existing roots, which would *horrors* disrupt the straight-as-a-ruler rows of cookies. Can’t be having any of THAT.
That’s why the pre 1980 developments are usually more attractive from the exterior. Back in the day builders were not attempting to extract maximum profit from every square inch of ground, and there was some attention dedicated to landscaping.
Probably a remodel or rehab of a good older home is the way I’ll go when prices finally become reasonable. Land is still too expensive for a straight-ahead new construction project, to say nothing of taxes on new homes. For my budget anyway.
Prices of raw land are much more volatile than developed land, though. I wouldn’t be surprised to see raw land at 10 cents on the dollar in a few years.
Yes I agree big trees are so nice why cut them all down? Take 50 years at least to grow back.
Because of the way heavy machinery compacts the soil it is quite likely that nothing like a tall and stately tree supported by a full and healthy root system will ever grow there until the site is redeveloped using bioremediation techniques. There is a lot going on with modular, green, and “up against the trees” development that allows only minimal disturbance of the building site, but most development going on today is well below postwar standards.
I hear ya philly…After they cut all the woods down they call the subdivision XXXX forest or XXXX woods or xxx ranch…
What ever the place was before they completely destroyed it.
Or, as my husband and I say as we’re driving past these monstrosities:
“Quail Run!”
“Where the quails used to be!”
“Blueberry Hill!”
“Where the blueberries used to be!”
Ad nauseum.
Too right. My parents’ subdivision is called “Winged Warbler Woods”. Uh, not more warblers since they cut down most of the woods.
“Having an imagination is very difficult for people…” said developer Peter Allen.
It doesn’t take much imagination to see where this RE market is headed. People don’t lack imagination. They’re beginning to see the light.
I dunno. Those people had no problem imagining themselves as the next mini-Trump, or imagining themselves as hot sh*t in their new Escalades.
not much pity here.
Housing cheers turn gloomy
Long criticized as too upbeat, Realtors’ departing economist now sees recession
BY MARY UMBERGER
Published May 6, 2007
On his way out the door, the housing industry’s self-described “cheerleader” is making one last economic forecast — a sober one at that.
“We’re in a real estate recession,” said David Lereah, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, who surprised many this week when he announced he would leave the Chicago-based trade group on May 19.
“I’m projecting the first [nationwide] price drop since the Great Depression,” he said. “We’re going to have negative home prices in 2007.”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0705050112may06,0,848236.story?coll=chi-business-hed
Now he is predicting real estate recession. Did not we on this blog made this prediction last year?
We didn’t have to get a degree (unlike DL) to predict what’s happening…
I see controversy in the near future.
In the Charleston market, company officials at the area’s largest national builders said they are changing their business strategies to weather the downturn, the first in more than a decade. Some have pushed back construction start dates and cut staff.
Hmm - my NOVA neighbor just heloc’d the rest of her house to buy two speculative lots in Georgetown, SC. (60 miles north). She says she’ll double her money in a year.
I was driving throughout the Charlotte metro area last week for 2 days and every other ad on the popular talk radio station WBT was for lots near the coast. (”The builder is moving lock, stock and barrel into a new project and this is your once in a lifetime opportunity to buy lots that sold last year for $300,000 to $350,000 for the UNHEARD OF price of only $280,000.”)I heard that one about 10 times…
I hope she enjoys the “Prestige” of being a long time land owner and tax payer on land she can’t sell.
She says she’ll double her money in a year.
OMG
“Hmm - my NOVA neighbor just heloc’d the rest of her house to buy two speculative lots in Georgetown, SC. (60 miles north). She says she’ll double her money in a year.”
This is why there is a bubble. Speculators went “all in”.
Somewhat off topic, but inventory levels are *low* in MA. Any thoughts? I was expecting much higher levels since sales have been very slow. I don’t know what to make of it. Are people waiting for “things to get better” before putting up for sale? Or are we back to normal inventor levels now that flippers are gone? (I’m only referring to inventory levels as “normal”, not prices or affordability.) This can be confirmed by housingtracker.net, but in my area I think the inventory levels are much less as compared to last year. I know a lot of housing bears will tell me to wait and be patient, but I want to see inventory, dammit.
Interesting. In my area (around Andover), there’s a huge amount of inventory and things are selling really slowly. A lot of people pulled their houses off the market over the winter and will relist them, but it’s taking a while. Of course this is a pretty expensive place to live…
I’m looking at Easton, MA. Homes are selling quick if priced “reasonably” (”reasonably” according to suckers) and I’m guessing somewhere around 35-40 percent less homes available from last year for Easton.
Another reason that inventory might be low is because their already going through the foreclosure process.
Inventory low my-ass. Inventory is up about 30% in the last month. Please look again
I’m talking about Southern Mass. It is definitely NOT up 30 percent.
Here’s a link from housingtracker.net on Boston:
http://tinyurl.com/255hzd
As you can see, it’s lower. I don’t see up 30% from last year. It should be up from last couple of months because it’s spring time but it’s lower than last year’s levels. Please provide a link to prove your quote “Inventory low my-ass … up about 30%”.
“Builder Dale Ringlein has a house for sale - His property has not sold, despite nearly three years on the market and a reduced price.”
“The ranch-style house with three bedrooms and two bathrooms is now listed at $99,000, down $10,000 from the initial price. ‘I doubt if I could get $89,900 for it, so I may lose money,’ Ringlein said.”
My grandparents raised me on a farm in Indiana. Midwestern folks would rather have something rust to pieces - rather than reduce the price and sell it … at least that was how my Grandfather was.
I’ve said this before:
but I think the midwest may escape some of the carnage simply due to pricing.
If you lose 20% of a $100,000 house it’s $20,000.
not fun, but doable for most folk.
If you lose 20% of an $800,000 house, it’s $160,000. Difficult for all of us.
And don’t go talking about that “income is so much higher on the coats” stuff again, either, because in general it’s not THAT much higher!
“And don’t go talking about that “income is so much higher on the coats” stuff again, either, because in general it’s not THAT much higher!”
You’re right. In many midwest areas, median home prices remain at 3-4x median income, while they are more than 10x median income in coastal areas.
I really don’t think $20,000 is that doable for most folks these days.
Maybe if they hit up the 401k, but otherwise I think that probably knocks out 50% of the adults in the country.
I was offered this place in October of 1999 for $250K. Not taking it was the biggest screwup of my life.
http://www.dougnewby.com/acc/archus/Texas%5FArchitecture%20%2D%20Architecturally%5FSignificant%5FHomes/properties/20%5Fsummit/
Din’t sweat it! We all make screwups in this life. I will say that I don’t know whether I adore that house or not. I would have to go see it. It is interesting and does look different. Love that boardwalk/bridge look. The price may be a tad high, however, that is what I expect for more than half a mil. The crap that passes know in Southern Cal (Stucco) is crap. Homes here, literally, shouldn’t be values at more than 150K, tops! When I look at that house, TX, I think several hundred K’s.
That’s a cool place tx. How come you passed, fear of commitment?
Yep. The original owners were “tired” of the contemporary place and wanted to move into a Faux Tudor shitbox in Waxahachie, Texas. They told me they spent $400K plus building the place to commercial specs and were willing to take a significant loss. I had enough cash sitting unused in my brokerage account to write a check for the place. I still drive by it from time to time just to torture myself.
I used to own a beautiful 1901 Victorian on Main St. in Waxahachie. I bought it three months before they canceled the SSC. Joke on me!
At little loud, but pretty cool, too.
Ah hell, I’ve got 10 of those “screw-ups.” I keep ‘em all in mind though. They might come back to me. Ya never know.
Gorgeous house. I would love to see it, the next time I’m in Texas. Why didn’t you buy it?
‘”I didn’t go asking for this loan. ”
No, of course not. You reenacted a scene from The Godfather, where somebody put a gun to your head and told you either your brains or your signature would be on the paper.
You folks brought up the issue of the lost trees - I agree that it is a real shame what these blasted developers have done. They’ve paved over everything to build houses that nobody needs, AND the houses themselves won’t last long enough for any trees to grow around them… not that there’s any room for trees now that they’ve build McMansions next to each other everywhere! It is sickening! The “perfect” development to them is row after row of cookie-cutter crudshacks with nothing but chemically treated lawn to break the monotany of it all. No pesky trees, wildflowers, birds, mammals, or anything else to interrupt the sterile horror of it all! Argh!
The theory of; “If you build it, they will come”, is flawed.
“‘I don’t know what to do,” Jennings said. ‘”I didn’t go asking for this loan. The company wrote me and said they could refinance your home and put some money in your hand.’”
Maybe Congress should pass some legislation. Like not allowing anyone with an IQ below 80 of being able to take out a mortgage. Did she really believe that? Jeez.