A Recipe For Foreclosure
The Lawrence Journal World reports from Kansas. “The number of foreclosures has increased across the country, and Douglas County is no exception. In the first four months of 2007, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office auctioned 39 homes. Comparatively, in the first four months of 2006, 28 Douglas County homes were auctioned at a sheriff’s sale. That’s a roughly 40 percent increase.”
“Many more homeowners, closer to 80, have received notices from the sheriff’s office that auction was pending unless they paid up on their mortgages.”
“Robert Baker, counselor at Lawrence’s Housing and Credit Counseling Inc., said a main reason for the increase in foreclosures is a change in the economy. ‘The economic times aren’t quite as heady as they were in the go-go ’90s,’ Baker said.”
“Jonathan Becker, a bankruptcy and real estate attorney, lists four reasons for the rise in foreclosures: a lessening of credit standards, an increase in the kinds of loan options, a lack of home value appreciation, and a decrease of new homebuyers’ financial experience and education.”
“Combined with any catastrophic event such as a job layoff, reduced income, illness or car accident, ‘you’ve got a recipe for foreclosure,’ Becker said.”
“Becker said he is starting to see a lot more homeowners come into his office who are caught with loans that carry interest rates that are suddenly going up. ‘The 2-28 loan was becoming the welcome mat into the house. It’s now becoming the prison bars when the 28 (years) kicks in,’ Becker said.”
The Rocky Mountain News from Colorado. “The Denver-area housing market likely will buck this year’s national trend of falling home prices and sales, and may appreciate next year by as much as 10 percent.”
“At least that’s the assessment offered Wednesday by the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors. ‘All real estate is local,’ said Lawrence Yun.”
“He said the Denver area just recently started to recover from the downturn of the tech train wreck that cost the region tens of thousands of high-paying jobs since late 2000.”
“‘Denver did not really participate in the boom of other cities for the last couple of years,’ Yun said. ‘But Denver is ripe for a turnaround. You still have a high inventory problem that needs a little working off, but I think this year your prices and sales will be positive.’”
“At the end of May, there were 29,110 unsold homes in the Denver area, a 4.6 percent drop from the 30,457 in May 2006. ‘I think you will outperform the nation as a whole this year and next year,’ Yun added. ‘I feel by the end of 2008, your housing prices could rise by better than 5 percent and as much as 10 percent.’”
“Broker Todd L. Crosbie agreed with Yun’s assessment. ‘Simply put, Denver has had some really negative press during the past couple of years because of its foreclosures,’ said Crosbie, who has been selling real estate since 1986. ‘I’ve seen positive cycles and I’ve seen negative cycles. While it’s not a boom market right now, it is not gloom and doom, either. Homes are still selling for a good price, and if priced correctly, they will move pretty fast.’”
“The Denver area home sales market is flat overall, with two exceptions: sales of foreclosed homes and homes priced at more than $1 million.”
“Chris Mygatt, president of Coldwell Banker Residential in Colorado, cautioned that a surplus of high-end infill developments, from Hilltop to Sloan’s Lake, is cutting developers’ profit margins.”
“Sam Barnes, a broker in Westminster, said the meltdown of the subprime mortgage market eventually will help the foreclosure crisis.”
“‘The best news is that when all of these subprime lenders took hits, it washed a lot of people out of the market who were buying homes that shouldn’t have been,’ Barnes said.”
The Denver Post. “A rally organized by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, also known as ACORN, demanded the Federal Reserve crack down on high-rate mortgages.”
“ACORN groups across the country gathered in front of Federal Reserve Bank branches with a list of demands, including the elimination of prepayment penalties in subprime loans and a one- year moratorium on foreclosures so borrowers late on their mortgages could set up payment plans.”
“‘We’re letting (politicians) know that this foreclosure thing is getting ridiculous. It’s the mortgages; they’re rip-offs. They’re predatorial,’ Melvin Scott said.”
“Facing a sale date only 12 days away…the Scotts said they refinanced two years ago to pay bills and that an adjustable-rate mortgage was the only loan the bank offered.”
“Gov. Bill Ritter has endorsed five bills to address the problem; the bills are not expected to help those already in foreclosure but should prevent future foreclosures with tighter regulations on mortgage brokers.”
“Colorado led the nation in rate of foreclosures for much of last year, and the state is on pace to record more than 37,000 foreclosures by year-end, an increase of about 30 percent from 2006.”
“Amid the soaring home prices, the rock-bottom jobless rates, the traffic jams and the worker signing bonuses, one indicator typifies the giddy exuberance of the new energy boom: $56 double shots of Grand Marnier 150.”
“Coming back is the big question in Mesa County. Can the economic boost currently provided by the energy industry keep coming back, month after month and year after year?”
“Here in the commercial hub of western Colorado, raw memories of the last colossal energy bust are never far from the surface.”
“‘There’s that ever-lingering taste in the mouths of people who remember the oil shale bust,’ said Mesa State College professor John Redifer.”
“Home prices are soaring. The median value for single-family homes in Mesa County has gone from $129,000 in 2003 to $151,000 in 2005 to $196,000 this year, an appreciation rate of 52 percent in four years.”
“Building permits for single-family homes in Grand Junction are 20 percent higher this year compared with 2005, with some new homes in the Redlands area west of town approaching $2 million.”
“One beneficiary has been Bob Fuoco, whose Fuoco Motor Co. in Grand Junction has been one of the main suppliers of the ubiquitous white pickup trucks favored by oil and gas drillers and related service companies. ‘Every month this year we have exceeded our best sales ever,’ Fuoco said.”
“That’s well and good, said winery co-owner Bob Witham, but that doesn’t alleviate his concern about the sustainability of the boom. ‘You really need to be thinking about what happened 25 years ago,’ he said. ‘History repeats itself, and that’s a scary thing for me. I wonder if people realize that it could crash just as fast as it has gone up.’”
Wait so 30% more foreclosures then last year (leading the nation) and prices are going to go up by 10% because they did not go up before? Ok what am I missing here?
I know we have reached the point where people think that protests solve everything, but protesting for lower mortgage rates!? This is as silly as when the voters of California tried to vote for lower car insurance.
Add to that the fact that many of these homeowners took out these loans to pay off their bills and it makes you sick that they think they should be given a break .
What if they were sick? I mean, what if they or other family members were in the hospital?
I don’t feel bad for the victims of keeping up with the Joneses. But some of these other pitfalls in life–hey, it could be me. I try to prepare, but if you look at those hospital bills in the thousands, that could wipe me out.
“What if they were sick?”
AFLAC!
Oh come on, that is probably an itsy bitsy percentage of these GF’s. We had thousands in medical bills once because we didn’t have insurance. You know what we did? We PAID THEM OFF, WITHOUT A HELOC!!! Don’t make a victim of everyone.
It seems like Lawrence Yun wants to outdo his predecessor, David Liareah, in the amount and the frequency of B.S. they shovel out. I guess they gotta do something to counter all the negative press in the MSM these days.
I saw only now that Yun is now “chief”, as opposed to “senior”, economist. When did this happen? Did it coincide with his stepping up on the BS?
I’ll try and confirm if Lawrence Yun is really their new Chief economist ( I mean propafandist).
David
http:/davidlereahwatch.blogspot.com
In our structure, Chief is a much higher rank than senior…
Either way, its going to be amusing.
Got Popcorn?
Neil
How long does it take to sell your soul? Less than it takes to sell a house I’d have to guess…
It’s just his youthful, new-guy-on-the-job optimism. He will be beaten down just like DL finally was.
“At the end of May, there were 29,110 unsold homes in the Denver area, a 4.6 percent drop from the 30,457 in May 2006. ‘I think you will outperform the nation as a whole this year and next year,’ Yun added. ‘I feel by the end of 2008, your housing prices could rise by better than 5 percent and as much as 10 percent.’”
Hold me back, a 4.6 percent drop in a very high housing inventory number and foreclosures coming out of their butts. I am quiet sure this will lead to a 10% increase in home values. This guy is worse than David L.
Mr. Yun seems oblivious to the fact that the tech sector in Colorado is still bleeding jobs. 10% increase! Not likely. If Colorado bucks any trends, it might be that the crash won’t be as spectacular as in places like IE or LV. The best we can hope for are flat prices.
didn’t CO crash hard and never really recover ?
mang, I was out there in 86
CO knows how to crash
CO job market crashed hard and never really came back much. Maybe some, but not enough to support our cost of living. We have had many years of short term migration, both in and out. People get here thinking salaries are similar to wherever back East or CA. They can’t find that upon arrival, remain underemployed or financially (not to mention ego) crushing unemployed, move back or somehwere else. Buying and selling homes along the way. RE went up in late 90’s and never came down with employment. It has been like Real Estate musical chairs and agents made a killing.
No. The jumped in ‘97-’99 when all the tech companies were moving in. As the jobs were lost in the tech wreck, low interests rate kept the housing market flat.
What is happening now with rising interest and tightening lending standards is the housing crash that didn’t happen back in 2001.
Darrell, you are right about low interest rates keeping things propped up, and CO has an enormmous amount of HELOC and ARM’s coming. It will be worse than 2000 & 2001 around here. Just one gloomy opinion. I have been headhunting in CO through the whole rise and debacle for 12 years now, I still get oblivious people already moved here calling me without a job thinking it’s cheap and they are going to live their dreams in the Rockies. When they are enlightened about salaries, they turn Wagons East……
Salaries appear less than that in bubblicious areas like LA and DC, but I don’t think that less. I’m looking into an opportunity in Colorado Springs, and it appears salary is probably 10-15% less than that of comparable positions in DC. However, when you compare housing, it’s half of DC. Am I dreaming?
Depends on industry, experience, what and where. Is there big competition for the role? Supply and demand. Colo. Spgs. comparing to DC is hard. If the positon is even remotely tied with fed. govt. spending then no, you are not dreaming. Just my suggestion, but do some serious homework on the company, also. Tenure in this market is a bigger factor than anywhere on the East Coast. I am referring to here today, whoops, now asking you to relo to Minneapolis 8 months after you get here.
Not picking a fight with Minni, btw, really enjoyed the city on my last visit.
And DC housing costs are just gross…… That is my technical analysis.
Tenure in this market is a bigger factor than anywhere on the East Coast.
This is very true. Plus if you get laid off, there might not be anyplace to go, at least not anyplace that pays 70% of what you were getting just before the layoff.
I don’t know. We moved from CA to CO because of,well, everything. But we ended up both landing jobs out here (Hubby works in tech and I work in a regular old office doing marketing) that pay more than we made in CA. And the housing in CO is a good almost half of what it is in CA (which is part of the reason that we left). We are still holding off on buying for the obvious reasons, but on the whole, it has been a good move for us so far.
Hey Colorado -
That lot in Crested Butte sold for $110K. The lowest priced lot on the MLS is $156K. The times are a changing.
I wonder what was the last previous real sale price was (as opposed to the MLS wish upon a star prices).
Talk about a Baghdad Bob statement. If you squint you can see 29,000 empty homes over his shoulder as he is speaking.
Yun and Watts should go to a bath house in SF and really get to ‘know’ each other. They could be on the same page when prognosticating the increase in the sales price/volume. hehehehehehe
The Rocky Mountain News from Colorado. “The Denver-area housing market likely will buck this year’s national trend of falling home prices and sales, and may appreciate next year by as much as 10 percent.”
- Is Lawrence Yun smoking crack?
Where is the demand going to come from? Almost no one is moving to the front range these days. Its true that the western slope is having an oil/energy boom, but that is for all practical purposes a different state.
It’s called a Rocky Mtn. HIGH. Scott was smoking some of it behind the garage.
We may “only” see a 25% price drop in the next year or two as every ARM and HELOC written in Denver and surrounding resets. The only significant industry job grow I can think of since 200 bust was mortage banking and real estate. The bill is due, and a large number of people can’t support their cost of living w/o home equity increases.
So Larry Yun…what is the data supporting this expected appreciation (besides a weak gut-check).
Pathetic.
Nooooooo! Not Lawrence! I thought for sure all of those hipster musicians would prop the housing market up! They aren’t making anymore flyover hipsters. No really, they aren’t.
http://myspace.com/whiteflightsounds
Lawrence, Kansas is a bedroom community for Topeka and Kansas City. Very few people actually work there, unless they’re tied to the University. I thought real estate was all local? You know it is truly a bubble when flyover towns are participating in the foreclosure boom.
University employees are traditionally “cheap” frugal, fiscally conservative. University towns have very stable employment and economies. If there is a bubble popping in Lawrence, KS then no one can deny this is going to be an unprecedented, global bust.
They have to be frugal. Universities don’t pay that well. (I know this from having worked at two different universities.)
Ditto. Grew up in a midwestern university town, dad was a prof, now I’m following in his footsteps. With tenure you get a job for life, but they don’t make any promises regarding what you will be paid for that job… most faculty see their salaries drop over a career in real dollar terms.
Having grown up in a place very much like Lawrence, I’m simply amazed.
But Lawrence is dirt cheap. KU doesn’t pay great, but they do pay good. Compared to the UC system, anyone in Lawrence should be living like a king.
Yun is saying the same lies that all of the real estate pundits have been saying about Colorado since 2001. You know, “Colorado didn’t participate in the boom, so it will not suffer a crash.” “Colorado’s economy is improving and is now well diversified.” “Housing is local, etc.” He forgot to say that “foreclosures are a lagging indicator.” That statement was made in 2001, then 2002, then 2003, then 2004 and for the last couple of years I haven’t read it. Sure, it is a lagging indicator but that says nothing about whether the trend is up or down.
Housing is local but credit is national and/or international. Who can afford to buy a house without credit? Not many people and the ones who can obviously either already own real estate and cannot sell or are on this blog (waiting for rock-bottom prices).
Judging by rents, Colorado has a way to go to reach bottom. I am sure that this article will entice some people to buy now. I just wish that it was Yun who was buying. That way he could be stuck with a hungry alligator. Hey, maybe he is trying to unload his place???
We live in Denver and articles like this are getting so tiresome. I am sure that if you haven’t lived in Colorado for long, you would probably believe Yun’s statements. He is an economist. I am sure that he has credentials. He must be right…..
“(Chicago) didn’t participate in the boom, so it will not suffer a crash.” “(Chicago’s) economy is improving and is now well diversified.” “Housing is local, etc.”
I knew I heard that before!
BEN or ?
what is critical mass on foreclosures ?
2% of total households or ?
tia
I’m starting to think that the BS from Liareah and Yun is not meant for home buyers, but for the dues-paying Realtors that make up the bottom of the NAR pyramid. If they are kept believing that “it’s a good time to buy or sell”, hence a good time to be a realtor then they keep paying dues. It’s like the mafia - you always have to be producing and “kicking up”, or else you end up - well, we all know where you end up.
As the number of realtors and hence dues goes down, the “power” and influence of the NAR will be reduced compared to local forces. As long as those hungry armies of realtors keep paying $500 a pop per year, the NAR can afford multi-million dollar national advertising campaigns to tell people that “All real estate is local”.
I think that you are right on on your assessment.
Wow, Lawrence is (was) one of the cheapest places to live in the U.S. that was close to a major metropolitan area. If you can’t afford a place in Lawrence, you’re in trouble. For example, my mortgage on a new 3br starter home (20% down) was less than the rent on my 1Br apartment had been.
any questions as to how they’ll vote ?
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, also known as ACORN
If you wan’t to read more denial in a rocky mountan state, check this story out. Housing sales are down at Big Sky Montana… bozemandailychronicle.com
http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com
Three years ago 5 houses sold for 1 mil. Today 132 are for sale at that price.
But there is not really a bubble in the Big Sky area. And despite the fact that no one is buying those houses, they really want to because Big Sky is being discovered.
The Gallatin valley is one lovely place, but Big Sky seems to have been ramping up in extremely slow motion over the last few decades.
I loved the soft pedalled statements about the Gallatin Valley market “slowing” a bit. No need to cry fire in a crowded theatre. Only 1000 homes listed on the MLS for Bozeman alone, which doesn’t include all of the new construction or the satellite areas. My former colleague’s house has been on the market and vacant since April of 2006, dropped asking from $600k to $450k, but don’t worry prices aren’t dropping! With so much inventory it is just taking buyers a while to look at all of their options before buying.
Prices aren’t dropping. Heck, if debt=wealth, then I guess it naturally follows that the new paradigm also states that price reductions=house appreciation. Man, I gotta go back to school and get some edumacation.
In other related news, daylight is the new nighttime and what is now considered nighttime is the new daylight.
“‘We’re letting (politicians) know that this foreclosure thing is getting ridiculous. It’s the mortgages; they’re rip-offs. They’re predatorial,’ Melvin Scott said.”
Mortgages are also voluntary… people are funny.
AFTER he took one out to pay off his bills… people are so entitled.
“Facing a sale date only 12 days away…the Scotts said they refinanced two years ago to pay bills and that an adjustable-rate mortgage was the only loan the bank offered.”
Yes, and if you had to refi two years ago to pay your bills you should have sold the house and pocketed the equity and moved into an apartment. But I know, you’re entitled to have it all.
Must have bad credit if they can only get an adjustable rate loan.
It’s the borrowers…they’re scam artists. Wringing every nickle they could out of their POS house, and spending it.
Predatory BORROWING!
The only thing greedier than corporations are its customers!
predatorial?
Here’s one that didn’t get posted about Colorado Springs:
http://www.gazette.com/articles/springs_23469___article.html/homes_years.html
There’s probably no better time to buy a pricey home in the Colorado Springs area, assuming you have the bankroll, of course.
The supply of luxury homes for sale in the Pikes Peak region — generally defined as $1 million and up — is as fat as Warren Buffett’s investment portfolio and will take years to exhaust.
“When you look at the big picture, there’s a lot of sellers that are just sitting there, scratching their heads, saying, ‘How do I get these things sold?’” said Joe Clement, owner of Re/Max Properties in Colorado Springs.
At the end of last month, the ranks of $1-million-and-up homes totaled nearly 200, which, at the rate they’ve been selling for the past four months, would take 2½ years to dispose of, according to Pikes Peak Association of Realtors figures compiled by Re/Max Properties of Colorado Springs.
It’s an ample supply when compared with other housing types; the supply of homes in the $200,000-to-$249,000 range, for example, is a little less than seven months.
The luxury-home backlog is just one part of a Springs-area market that’s saturated with houses. The Pikes Peak Association of Realtors reported a record 6,576 listings in May, while sales for the month were down 18.4 percent from the same time last year.
Something is terribly wrong when McMansions are all the rage by everyone. I just can’t figure out what it is though.
A million dollar house in Springs is more than a McMansion, its probably the real thing. Keep in mind that 400K buys a 3-4000 sq ft house in Springs. 1 million house is Springs is almost certainly 100% custom, built on a acre or more, most likely lake front property, and is likely 6-7000 sq ft. These are not an IE cr@pshacks.
What blows me away is that they built so many of them. Who is supposed to buy them? Laid off WorldCom employees?
“Jonathan Becker, a bankruptcy and real estate attorney, lists four reasons for the rise in foreclosures: a lessening of credit standards, an increase in the kinds of loan options, a lack of home value appreciation, and a decrease of new homebuyers’ financial experience and education.
Combined with any catastrophic event such as a job layoff, reduced income, illness or car accident, ‘you’ve got a recipe for foreclosure,’ Becker said.”
Reason #5: Loan resets on loans where the FBs could barely afford to make the payment to begin with.
“Jonathan Becker, a bankruptcy and real estate attorney, lists four reasons for the rise in foreclosures: a lessening of credit standards, an increase in the kinds of loan options, a lack of home value appreciation, and a decrease of new homebuyers’ financial experience and education.”
and some not so main reasons; Paid any utility bills lately? How about the $75 to fill the family car? Billy had to go to the doctor and get a tetnis, another $90. Hey let’s go out to dinner, oops $60, Celular phone family plan $125, Baskin robbins on a nice hot summer afternoon, $15, Need a new bed? $1000, How about some cable television? $65. Dang kid, you drink all that milk again? $3.50, Crap, power steering pump went out on the car, $275.
It adds up pretty quick these days.
It adds up pretty quick these days.
Testify! Sometimes it feels like I need to padlock my wallet!
Yup, I try and save but it seems like every month something happens I have to drop hundreds if not thousands on to resolve.
See GetStucco’ War on Savers. These issues we bring up are all part of the bigger picture of this unmentioned war. But hey, if we are saving we are not doing our part to keep the 70% of our economy running.
Let the rich buy cake!
So true. Look, I admit that I can spend with the Rockkerfellers when I want to (just kidding, but you get the point). However, I find that even when the misses and the kids and I are all trying to live frugally, it is difficult. Every time you turn around milk is up, bread is up, meat is up. Then someone invites you or your kids to a b’day party. Then it is treacher and volunteer appreciation day. Every time you turn around, someone has their hand in your pocket.
At this point in my life (40 in 8 days), I am going to drive the 2 cars we own right into the graveyard. I just do not want to deal with car buying at this point in my life. Thankfully, my commute is 16 miles a day (inc. going home for lunch), so hopefully I can get another 5-7 years out of each vehicle. On the other hand, as a former homedebtor I can’t imagine trying to keep up with all that includes nowadays. My SIN and BIN (who bought our old house) are now struggling to keep the grass green. Seems that Fontucky is in a drought (d’oh) and the oven is heating up out in the IE. I am so glad to be renting. After they tell me this I just go over to the pool for a nice cool swim with the misses and the kids. Glad I don’t have to fight the heat and water problems of lawn maintenance. Life is too short! Now, if I owned outright and could pocket that 1500-2000 a month for savings, taxes, and maintenance, not so bad. It’s just that pesky mortgage payment.
It’s been said the best things in life are free. Unfortunately, there is less free (let alone inexpensive) stuff anymore. It really is amazing what experience teaches us (thank you Ben Franklin). My father used to say youth was wasted on the young. I would retort with wisdom is wasted on the old. If only I knew then what i know now.
The best things in life are free. That’s true. I’m forced to rent in Salinas because housing is not only high but butt ugly. But on the bright side: every week end morning I and the wife head into Pacific Grove for a cup of java and then take a five or more mile walk along the ocean clifts. Sometimes we take sandwichs and a bottle of vino for a oceanside lunch. Last weekend we left at 6am and didn’t get home until 5pm. We get to enjoy Pacific Grove, Monterey, and Carmel without having to pay the costs on a weekly basis. Life is good, that is until we have to spend one of our precious weekends to visit the relatives down in Bakersfield.
Out to dinner for $60? I took my wife, daughter, daughter’s boyfriend to dinner in Monterey last night and the tab was $125. It was her birthday, but I could have cooked as good or better meal at home for under $50 with fancier trimmings.
Yun is a recycled douche bag of Lerah, however I do understand why he is doing what he is doing. It doesn’t mean I condone people selling their proverbial souls and lose all credibility and respect for a life time for a quick buck. But, what can we expect him to do, if he tells the truth and gives a real picture on what is happening he will effectively BK all the agents that are RA and screw the industry as a whole with the truth. I expect nothing less than lies, if he told the truth I would be more shocked. Just like the Gov, they have their own propaganda, I just laugh at the believers of both the NAR and the Gov on their respective propaganda….stupid people will always be lead by lies…long live the minority of truth seekers.
Some timely quotes:
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
“The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over”
“Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.”
“Intellectual activity is a danger to the building of character”
“Faith moves mountains, but only knowledge moves them to the right place”
Joseph Goebbels
Spooky hunh?
You can add to that from what I have read and gathered on this blog:
Debt, consumption, and entertainment also keep people from dissent. Who really has the time or energy when everything is put into debt, consumption, and entertaining ourselves. Like I have time to march down Pennsylvania Ave. Sure, and the boss back in OC fires my A$$ and now I can’t make the 10K/monthly mortgage payment.
“‘We’re letting (politicians) know that this foreclosure thing is getting ridiculous. It’s the mortgages; they’re rip-offs. They’re predatorial,’ Melvin Scott said.”
They were good enough for you when prices were going up and you were laughing at everyone who was “priced out”, weren’t they?
Tell you what, I think I’ll go rent something I can’t afford and then demand a moratorium on my eviction.
What a goddamn joke.
Once again the phrase, “Privatize profits, socialize risk and losses” comes to my mind.
What is really scary about these times we are livin’ in is not just the massive debts we have, but the attitude that the gubmint should be my insurance/safety net. As many of have said on here, I am not against the elderly couple who have 2 $300 mortgage payments left and pops get s seriously sick. Geez, I am not that cutthroat of a capitalist. However, these swine that rung up 50K in CC debt, bought 2 Hummers, went on the around the world QM 2 cruise in luxury class all on a HELOC, then refi’d into an exotic mortgage, just to HELOC it all over again are not getting any symopathy.
I really am getting sick and tired of the woe is me attitude. We kid about the tin foil hat/Mad Max scenarios, but truth be told, most Americans would be dead in 2-4 months. We just don’t have the fortitude as a nation anymore. We don’t have the resolve to solve problems peacefully or ingeniously anymore. We go to war and we go to court. Heck, if your kid busts his arm skateboarding on my driveway, don’t sue me for a million bucks. You should tell him to be more responsible and make him pay the medical bills with his allowance. Case in point, my son wanted a PlayStation game this past weekend. Didn’t have enough money for it. Okay, I will advance your allowance, but no allowance for 6 weeks. He said okay. Now, as an 11-year old I won’t charge interest yet. However, def. no allowance and you will still do the chores. He has done this before for a week or 2. I am sure he will try to wiggle out allowance from me, but I will calmly remind him of our contract.
If any bad scenario popped up the Pepsi generation would fold in 2 weeks max. It is true the meek shall inherit the Earth, and those who push pencils and have no spine and are dependent on the Feds and the local Gov will never survive a terrible scenario. If you want to meet me for a beer on the day after, look West 30 miles of Catalina I will be chilling with my rod in the water. =)
Yeppers, Freddie just “adjusted” their outlook. http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/6112007_Subprime_Spillover.asp
They can project ahead but can’t count backward 3 years?
Looks like Austin is still in the “if you build it, they will come” mindset…note the last line that mentions that there are now 6 major condo projects in the works for Austin.
Another downtown condo tower in the works
Austin Business Journal - 2:55 PM CDT Monday, June 11, 2007
A new luxury condominium, hotel and art museum are on tap for downtown Austin.
Called 21c, the development is slated to be located at Third and Brazos streets and will reach 44 stories. 21c is planned to have 202 residential units, a 209-room hotel, a spa, pool, museum and restaurants. The entire project — a $220 million investment — will measure about 779,000 square feet.
Depending on city of Austin approvals, the projects will break ground in the first quarter of 2008. The museum will include a mix of contemporary visual and performing arts.
“We intend to partner with local arts groups and look forward to joining Austin’s thriving arts community,” says Steve Wilson, chairman of Art Commerce Entertainment Unlimited of Kentucky, a development partner in the project. ACE has a similar development in Louisville, Ky.
The project will also include a restaurant that will feature contemporary American cuisine that emphasizes local and sustainable agriculture. Michael Bonadies, CEO of ACE, was also a founding partner. Bonadies was previously a founding partner of New York-based Myriad Restaurant Group, which owns well-known restaurants such as Tribeca Grill, Nobu and Rubicon.
Whitley Printing currently sits on the site and will relocate. The site is one block from Congress Avenue and one block from the Austin Convention Center, and about a block from the planned commuter rail.
The team of architects for the project includes New York-based Deborah Berke & Partners, Boston-based Goody Clancy Architecture, Austin firm and Susman Tisdale Gayle. Other team members include REI Real Estate Partnerships, an Indiana firm led by Mike Wells, president; Austin-based Ironwood Real Estate, a partnership between local developers Matthew Hooks and Scot Krieger; and Urbanspace Realtors, led by Kevin Burns, which specializes in marketing and leasing high-end residential and mixed-used properties in downtown Austin.
More than six major downtown condo projects are in the works at this time.
Txchick, you must have some insight on this soon-to-be boondoogle. I know builders have to build, but this is getting downright crazytime, now.
With a museum on sight, do I get free admission. Better yet, do I get to house any of the artifacts I might like. Better yet, make my condo a museum to this greatest credit bubble of all time. Heck, make the whole complex a museum.
Ya, I see those towers going up downtown. Its going to be a mess for sure.
Not to mention all the stupid bonds the voters approved.
According to Zillow, the place I sold in San Diego is now about 15K under what I sold it for a year and a half ago. Missed the top by 10%. Unfortunately for the buyer, it was a condo. I saw they were converting apartments to condos in San Diego and that prompted me to sell immediately.
TEST
“and a one- year moratorium on foreclosures so borrowers late on their mortgages could set up payment plans.”
And there I was thinking they already HAD payment plans………
LOL!
At least that’s the assessment offered Wednesday by the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors. ‘All real estate is local,’ said Lawrence Yun.”
WANT TO BET LARRY BABY?
I think your record will be worse than Diareahs?
Yun is saying there’s going to be a turnaround in Denver RE. Didn’t he just say that about parts of Florida last week. (Sarasota or Tampa-if forget which) Guess he’s doing the 50 state tour of the union to bolster morale among the Realtors.
“The Denver area home sales market is flat overall, with two exceptions: sales of foreclosed homes and homes priced at more than $1 million.”
So all that’s moving are million dollar home and foreclosures that don’t count against the comps. Depending on what’s counted and how it’s counted, could Yun be right? Quoting Stalin, “Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything.” If Yun does the counting and that’s what the MSM reports, is that what happened (all real evidence to the contrary)?
The slight YOY decline in listings is irrelevant. How many listings have expired? How many additional listings would there be if anything were moving or were moving at levels near what people owe?
Slightly off topic, here is a report on WA real estate (personal email from a leading state analyst, who is generally very pro-RE):
“Markets all over the state are slowing noticeably, with the May data apparently more pronounced. Aggregate statistics in most places are still showing increases, but it’s my bet that much of that is purchasers doing some bargain shopping and moving up-market compared to what they would have been purchasing a year ago.”
I’m calling a 1st quarter 2007 top for the laggards (WA, UT & …). Turn out the lights, the party is over…
“ACORN groups across the country gathered in front of Federal Reserve Bank branches with a list of demands, including the elimination of prepayment penalties in subprime loans and a one- year moratorium on foreclosures so borrowers late on their mortgages could set up payment plans.”
How about the elimination of payments all together? Nobody will ever have to make a payment again…yeah, that’s the ticket!
Homes are going into foreclosure all over the place here in Riverside, Ca. Seriously, I’m going to have to get my camera and go for a drive, for everything other street or so, there are brown lawns, some with for sale signs, others with notices taped all over the windows. So, this may sound stupid, but for the ones that just have the brown lawns, how do I find out about auctions. On Realty Trac, they will say there is going to be an auction on a certain date, but without joining their site, I’m wondering how else I can get info. I’ve emailed the County Tax office and their auctions are once a year, so who else holds these?
Thanks
Western Colorado is, indeed, different from eastern Colorado. However, the only big thing we ever have going for us is the energy industry. In the 1950’s it was uranium. In the 1970’s and early 1980’s it was conventional energy and oil shale. Arguably the oil shale bust was presaged by a fall in natural gas prices and drilling that occured in the months before the bust. Conventional energy extraction collapsed with oil shale and negatively impacted the area economy for at least ten years. Now we are in the throes of a major natural gas boom. Indeed, can and will history repeat itself?
Tad