Too Many People Bought Homes They Couldn’t Afford
The Chicago Tribune reports from Illinois. “Lower- and more moderate-income areas continue to be hit by foreclosures, but pricier communities in Cook and Lake Counties are hardly immune, according to an analysis done for the Tribune. Record Information Services looked at foreclosures involving mortgages of $350,000 and higher and found 584 in those two counties in the first five months of 2007, more than double the 265 recorded in the same period last year and 117 in 2005.”
“Weed complaints are up in Highland Park, and so are foreclosures. ‘A good amount’ of the gripes, said assistant city manager Patrick Brennan, ‘is attributable to the increase in the number of foreclosures. Many times, when a property is in foreclosure, it’s abandoned.’”
“In many cases, the owners had the mortgage for less than a year, said Patty Maier, Record Information’s data management director.”
“Highland Park, where the median family income, according to city estimates, is $117,000, had 15 foreclosures involving mortgages of at least $350,000 in the first five months of this year. That’s on track to be triple the number the suburb recorded in all of 2005.”
“Mayor Michael Belsky said some residents are insulated from economic upheaval. ‘You do have some wealth, and you also have a lot of professionals that even in bad economic times are going to do OK because they’re bankruptcy lawyers or something like that.’”
“Hired to sell a foreclosed property on Cavell Avenue, Tom Koikas believes it’s simple: Too many people bought homes they couldn’t afford.”
“Consider 860 Pleasant Ave. in Highland Park. ‘No one ever lived there,’ said neighbor Holly Moore, after the 11/2-story bungalow was renovated and then unsuccessfully listed for about $600,000. ‘It has been a nightmare,’ added Jim Graue, whose wife regularly calls Highland Park officials about the tall grass and weeds; yards are in violation when weeds or grass exceed 8 inches in height.”
The Beacon News from Illinois. “Developers knocked on Hank Cryder’s door in Minooka for years before he finally let one in. Amidst a red-hot housing market, subdivisions were creeping toward his nearly 200-year-old farm at Ridge and Caton Farm roads, and Cryder was ready to pack.”
“He signed an option clearing the way for a developer to purchase the 1,800-acre farm. Then the housing market cooled. ‘In the best-case scenario, we would have been gone already,’ Cryder said. ‘But because of the slowdown…here we are 18 months later.’”
“In reaction to an estimated 30 percent drop in construction and sale of Chicago-area homes, developers are setting their sights on fewer Kendall County farms.” “For every three farms turned into subdivisions last year, only one has been developed this year, according to an estimate by Kendall County Farm Service Agency Executive Director Les Maierhofer.”
“‘In previous years, (farms) would be sold and immediately built upon,’ he said.”
The Winona Daily News from Minnesota. “Federal investigators are probing a possible rash of mortgage fraud in the Twin Cities in response to reports of a large number of unusual real estate transactions in north Minneapolis and elsewhere.”
“‘The FBI has identified Minnesota as an area significantly affected by mortgage fraud,’ U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose said.”
“Suspicions about illegal ‘property flipping’ were aroused by sales that attracted the attention of North Side neighborhood leaders. Some of those properties are now in foreclosure, according to Minneapolis City Council President Barbara Johnson, leaving the city with unpaid water bills and delinquent property taxes.”
“‘What they do is they buy the property at a normal price from a willing seller and they flip it within their own limited liability company and they do it at an inflated price,’ Johnson said.”
“The company often held onto properties for several months, according to property records. But according to Johnson, many of the properties lacked any evidence of improvements that would justify the gain in prices.”
The Twin Cities Daily Planet from Minnesota. “The Columbia Heights City Council revokes rental licenses at every meeting. Fire Chief Gary Gorman, who heads the city’s housing inspections, said there are generally two reasons.”
“The first is simple negligence: the landlord failed to make a repair or turn in money and paperwork on time. The second is foreclosure, a growing problem that has many residents, city, and state officials concerned.”
“‘Rental properties have become a real problem,’ Gorman added. ‘About five or six years ago, when the real estate market was so good, houses were valued very high. A lot of our old time owners said, ‘I’m selling. I’m out of here.’ What we got in, then, was people buying up investment properties. Then the rental market got terrible.’”
“‘Landlords couldn’t even get close to what they needed in rent to pay the mortgages; they’d bought these houses at such inflated prices. What ended up happening was that people were just walking away. They couldn’t sell them,’ Gorman said.”
“‘We cut a lot of lawns; the majority of them are vacant buildings,’ Gorman said. ‘Foreclosures are a big problem. The Anoka County Union [newspaper] has long lists of foreclosures. First ring suburbs are getting nailed worse than any others right now.’”
“Gorman said dealing with the banks can be frustrating. ‘Sometimes they ship it out to a contract company. I sit on the phone all the time to banks in California and Florida. They have no clue about a property in Columbia Heights, even when we’ve tracked it down to them. We can go a good six months without finding somebody to work with…How do you take a rental license away from a phantom bank in California?’”
The Grand Rapids Press from Michigan. “In the high times of home construction, Sable Developing in Rockford would carry between 45 and 50 homes in their inventory.”
“‘Right now, we have the absolute bare minimum for our company,’ VP John Bitely said. ‘We probably have 15. We’re struggling a little bit like everybody else.’”
“For some, struggling is an understatement. Single-family home starts through the first half of the year are down a combined 36 percent in Kent and Ottawa counties from last year, and down 56 percent from two years ago, according to Ada-based Builder Track.”
“‘Very few of our members are doing any speculative housing at all,’ said Judy Barnes, chief executive of the Home & Building Association of Greater Grand Rapids.”
“Rick Gootjes, of Deppe Homes in Caledonia, said starts for his company are not what they used to be. ‘A lot of guys are trying to pick up remodel jobs and jobs that, in years past, we wouldn’t have done because they were too small,’ he said. ‘There is not a whole lot of confidence out there.’”
“Gootjes said they recently sold a house entered in this year’s Spring Parade of Homes, but the home also was in last year’s Fall Parade. ‘We sat on it for eight or nine months,’ he said.”
From Crains Detroit in Michigan. “The housing situation is unlikely to get better before yearend. ‘To call the housing market a lost cause might be extreme, but there’s just a huge overhang of unsold inventory that is depressing both prices and new construction. It’s going to take a year or longer to work through the inventory,’ said Carl Steidtmann, chief economist for Deloitte & Touche USA L.L.P.”
“New federal guidelines were issued this month that reduce credit availability in the subprime market. ‘They flat-out can’t get a loan, now. They are out of the market,’ said Bob Walters, chief economist at Livonia-based Quicken Loans/Rock Financial.”
“David Meahney believes he has found a way to earn a profit despite a soft housing market, and the Plainfield Township Board is giving him a chance to test his hunch.”
“Board members unanimously agreed to let Meahney construct 61 condominiums instead of the 22 single-family houses previously approved for the southwest corner of Five Mile Road NE and Grand River Avenue.”
“Meahney said market demand for 20,000-square-foot houses has suffered a sustained nosedive.”
“He said condominiums averaging 1,200 to 1,500 square feet should be more attractive to baby boomers who don’t want upkeep responsibilities of a larger home.”
“‘The FBI has identified Minnesota as an area significantly affected by mortgage fraud,’ U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose said.”
Marge Gunderson: So that was Mrs. Lundegaard on the floor in there. And I guess that was your accomplice in the wood chipper. And those three people in Brainerd. And for what? For a little bit of money. There’s more to life than a little money, you know. Don’t you know that? And here ya are, and it’s a beautiful day. Well, I just don’t understand it.
For my money, Fargo is solidly within the rank of best films ever. It maintains its air of perfected depression effortlessly.
Sure. You betcha.
I understand there are some really cheap houses in Fargo.
We could all get together and flip them to each other and SET the market price.
The locals will love us!
I’m not going to debate you, Jerry.
I want to go to Pancakes House.
So you gonna call Stan?
Nope, I’m goin’ ta bed now.
(off topic: look in bits bucket for Cali numbers from DataQuick…Los Angeles median price up 5.8%, *but* $/sq. ft. *down* a few $ since last year.)
Can this happen in san Diago?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIQaQn722QU#GU5U2spHI_4
A little off topic, but did anyone notice HGTV continues to show good scenarios with regards to flipping on all their shows? It seems they have marching orders not to show any negatives and keep putting lipstick on the pig so she looks pretty for the public. I guess their advertisers would not look kindly on negative shows, same thing many newspapers are experiencing.
Ummm, they *are* Home and Garden TV, if the RE mania ever dies down, they are toast as a “network”. Who wants to watch other people “House Hunting” when RE becomes boring?
They will be doing flip shows until your eyes bleed. As long as there is credit there will always be a sucker to dump a “rehabbed” property on.
What I find annoying about the flip shows is that they never show the true costs of a flip. All they ever say is I paid this much and I sold for this much so I made this much money. Upgrade costs, Mortgage holding costs, HOA costs, value of your time are never brought into the equation.
Exceelent point and very annoying that they pretend those costs don’t exist.
Most of those flippers are dumb enough that their monetary value of time is minimum wage. I guess that’s why they think that investing 400 hours into a 10,000 profit is a good deal.
I went to the Sac auction and talked up a lot of people. I did find one flipper. The guy was looking to buy a house down the street from him in Colfax that had a bunch of unpermitted work done so he could flip it. My obvious question, “Why flip in this market?”. He needs something to do for the next 2 yrs. I did mention he could actually get a job but he just laughed. He then came back with “I did a lot of research on this”. I was so tempted to say “where HGTV?”
So yes folks we do still have some idiots out there.
I think most of the current HGTV flipping, get it sold, and first buyers shows were filmed in summer-fall 2006…now they have moved from California and the Southwest to the Southeast and DC area. They have had a lot of programmes in Atlanta lately…
Jerry Springer could get some milage out it.
put the wife and kids onstage .. the sleazy mortgage broker.. a couple hedge fundies .. a repo man.. let them go at each other.
05 was a hell of a year
play it again
Actually I’ve noticed HGTV is going in a different direction with some of their new shows for instance, Get it Sold and Secrets That Sell. Also Designed To Sell had a hard to sell week and it is on every weeknight now. Their new shows are geared to helping homeowners sell in this “tough market”.
I actually like Designed to Sell but Get It Sold and Secrets that Sell bore me to tears. Words that will never pass Donna and Shannon’s lips, the reason your house hasn’t sold is it’s overpriced. It doesn’t take a lot of brains to realize things like you need to paint over that blood red wall, clean up your mess, your home shouldn’t look like you run a daycare, your house shouldn’t smell like @ss, you need to patch the cracks, etc, etc.
I think many buyers have little imagination. Some of these houses have been sitting on the market for months and are way overpriced. The homeowner cleans up, slaps a little lipstick and rouge on the pig and bam, it’s sold.
‘Flip This House’ used actors to pretend to buy houses that are still for sale. They did not actually renovate the places to expectations. Just enough to fool the audience. I’d bet this fooling is not limited to just this show and/or host.
Source
A good friend’s sister was on House Hunters or whatever the one is where they look at three houses and buy the third one.
On the show she “bought” her home which she’d already owned for a few years.
Confirmed.
Friend said a friend of hers was recruited for House Hunters at the bank as he was closing on his mortgage. The contract was signed - they were just a day or two from closing. The filming for the houses that they didn’t “buy” happened after the he bought the house.
1) “Buy Me”, out of Canada, is a bit more fun, a lot of the time the house doesn’t sell and it’s always fun to watch the angst. It’s also fun watching the Realtor-client interactions. To be honest, 95% of the time the seller seems like the more
2) Designed to sell is probably my wife’s favorite–they had done a bunch in Chicago this year and it was interesting to note that many of the houses DID NOT SELL. At the end of the shows, the couple would come back on and sometimes say “We had some offers but we’re waiting for the right one”, or “We’re still waiting for the right offer” (meaning no buyers). A bit refreshing compared to the California sales shows from a few years before when everyone is giddy that they got “a billion more than asking price”
And yes, I feel shame for watching these shows.
Sorry–at end of 1) “seems like the bigger dipsh1t”
About 2) True and I remember some of those folks decided to up their price after the Designed to Sell improvements.
Did anyone see Property Ladder this past weekend? Two idiot flippers with $20k in their pockets and no sense managed to make $70 in two months. With shows like that on tv, everyone must be thinking to themselves, well I got 1/2 brain, which is 10 times as much as those morons, so I can’t fail!
The funniest part of the show was when the one flipper ripped the carpet out of his own home to put in the flip. When he was looking one of the help through on the rubbish pile.
Saw that one too. Stolen tile after he fired a crew. Hmm, wonder where it went? Thought they’d add on for $14K? Tards.
“Mayor Michael Belsky said some residents are insulated from economic upheaval. ‘You do have some wealth, and you also have a lot of professionals that even in bad economic times are going to do OK because they’re bankruptcy lawyers or something like that.’”
LOL. I guess Mike doesn’t see the big problem here… The 0.01% of his townsfolk who are BK attorneys are going to do great before much of the remainder are in deep financial poo.
yeah, that was a very dumb comment. one of the worst I’ve seen.
because they’re bankruptcy lawyers or high ranking politicians or something like that.’
He may as well have ended the sentence with “and stuff” like Beavis.
“Meahney said market demand for 20,000-square-foot houses has suffered a sustained nosedive.”
Was there ever market???? I mean - come on 20,000 square feet of house for 2-4 people?
What about the fact that he believes he has found a way to make money, instead of building those 20,000 square foot behemoths he came up with the unique idea of building 61 condos instead. That sounds like a sure fire bet to me
and this guy is a mental giant compared to the Plainfield Township Board..
You know, I asked my self that questiont a lot. Is there a market for gigantic homes. The answer is yes. Why? The million dollar question..
I think it is because no one goes outside anymore. I remember growing up, I am only 33 so not that long ago, kids would be playing outside all of the time. Moms would be yelling in unison, “dinner time”. That is non existant now. Kids only stay inside, play video games, and get fat. Unless you are a young girl then you just smoke, puke, and text your friends. Time have changed. I cant imagine having a house without a yard, but here in DC people praise the fact that they have a 5000 sqft house with no yard at all.. “No yard work”.
Sad.
that had to be a type right? I just assumed is should read 2000 sq ft. If not…speechless…
Reminds me of the listing where this guy wants like $2.5m for like 1000 acres and 3000 sf of house. The land is breathtaking with mountains, valleys, lakes, creaks, forests, etc. This is a playground for fit, active people. Might consider this if I win the lotto and prices drop down to $1m.
I bet the demand has dropped, along with the market for 200-foot long super-Hummers, no doubt?! Gah - what do we need 20,000 square foot houses for?! I mean, come on!
‘It has been a nightmare,’ added Jim Graue, whose wife regularly calls Highland Park officials about the tall grass and weeds;
OH MY GOD! Not tall grass! Ahhhhhhh!! The horrooorrrrrr! Somebody help Jim for the love of God!
‘It has been a nightmare,’ added Jim Graue, whose wife regularly calls Highland Park officials about the tall grass and weeds”
I could just see poor Jim taking it on the chin every night from his wife after her many failed attempts to get officials to take action…She then asks him repeatedly, “Jim, how come you don’t make the neighbors mow their lawns?”
(3:47 a.m. in a comfortable bed in Illinois)
Jim: Aaaaahhhh!
Wife: Jim wake up!
Jim: Nooooo! I can’t… they’re… no way can I…
Wife: They’re what? Jim, wake up!
Jim: They’re coming… all of them. I can’t… No! Aaahhh!
Wife: Who? Jim, I don’t understand you! Wake up, honey!
Jim: The blades, they’re 8.25 inches thick!! Noooooo!!!!!!
Hahahahaha…
Where did all this water come from, Todd? I don’t know, Margo! “Christmas Vacation”
I have a neighbor just like this guy’s wife–constantly calling the city to complain about every little thing wrong in their neighbor’s yards (but they don’t have the balls to actually say anything to us face-to-face). And they never lift a finger to help anybody else either.
I have one thing to say to Mrs. Graue: Get off your a$$ and MOW THE DAM LAWN yourself!! Consider it exercise, as well as improving your neighborhood and community. Stop being part of the problem (do-nothing complainers) and be a part of the solution. Yes, it sucks that hard-working people end up cleaning up OPM (other people’s messes), but deal with it. Cheeze and crackers, people!
That’s always bothered me…..can’t these people see the big picture, and just go ahead and mow the damn lawn, to keep the neighborhood from looking trashy? Seems to me that it would be better to do that, then let the neighborhood look run down.
With all the lawn tractors that everyone seems to own nowadays, it couldn’t take that much time. Or is there some kind of chickens##t liability issue?
I don’t know how some people even turn these tractors around on their lawns, the lots are so small.
Are you kidding?? 8 inches for a lawn is pretty darn lenient!! Why should she have to mow someone else’s lawn in foreclosure? If the bank won’t hurry up and sell it at a reasonable cost, they should at least be responsible for the upkeep.
What part of what problem is she part of? The problem of expecting people to maintain their properties? Not maintaining your house, or letting crap build up on your lawn, is not nice to your neighbors.
If you don’t have the decency to ensure that your neighbors don’t have to look at crap every time they pass by your house, don’t expect them to be nice and ask you face-to-face to get that Dodge Dart off of cinder blocks in your yard. Thank God for HOA’s.
J Jin la: LA as in Los Angeles? sorry about the Dart, just as soon as I can find a 4 barrel carb (318 engine) I’ll have it off the blocks and purring like a kitten.
Also, Jim, you could mow the lawn if it’s ‘a nightmare.’ I would mow lawns for free if that would make all of my nightmares go away. Lol…
Here’s a better one. Two rich guys, probably had it with trivial BS from the homeowners association, take things up a few notches:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/west/epaper/2007/07/23/c1b_dirtypool_0723.html
Ahaahahaah….couple of rich douchebag kids who drive expensive cars and leech off their “rich” RE parents. Ohhh the wake up call or slap of reality is going to hit these two ass clowns.
One-word answer as to why - drugs.
What a bunch of jerks.
Jeff, please pick up your room or daddy is going to have to take the keys to the Lambo.
“One brother, Jeff George, lives there full time.”
He’s probably still depressed over his pathetic NFL “career”.
This is what happens when there is no impediment to entry in upscale neighborhoods. It’s pronounced, “no doc, stated income.”
“…yards are in violation when weeds or grass exceed 8 inches in height.”
Do they have the displaced Taliban beard measuring guys roaming around Highland Park with their rulers?
I wouldn’t be surprised. Most of the existing homes in my neighborhood have sold (sw of chicago). (built 50’s era) There is some bottom fishing going on.
i lived in oak park for a few years, and i was shocked by all the rules & regs about grass height, paint colors, acceptable shrubbery, yard waste, and on and on. they both seem like nice ‘burbs, but c’mon.
Yep, not all HOA’s are fun.
A guy I know ended up having the nutty HOA show up and start planting a tree he didn’t want in the middle of HIS yard because some HOA-nuts decided that “everyone shall have one of these trees” and that’s the way it would be. Well, the tree was moved to the back yard and died - and would you believe the HOA had a fit about that?! They made him haul the tree out of the woods so they could “declare it dead.” Minor deity wannabes - why not declare it alive if they are that powerful? Yeesh…
That’s why I will never live in a HOA community. In fact I want to live somewhere rural and be alone.
This is very similar to Shanghai in China at the turn of the century with the press gangs and taking people on ships. I remember the hot days of Summer 2004 in Southern California with those flat bed trucks roaming the streets. They had one driver and a passenger and in the back were mortgage brokers armed with pens and contracts dressed in their snappy three piece pirate suits. They would see someone leaving an apartment and spring off the back of the truck and hold them down and make him sign the contracts to buy a new house with no money down adjustable loan. Those roaming packs of mortgage brokers did their damage now all those poor people who were just trying to get to their cars are stuck with these terrible loans.
This is sooo stupid….like they didn’t have a choice gimmee a freaking BREAK!
“In reaction to an estimated 30 percent drop in construction and sale of Chicago-area homes, developers are setting their sights on fewer Kendall County farms.”
A lot of land is going back on the block and not just in the boonies either. A 9 hole golf course in Addison was slated to be turned in SFH’s & townhomes and that fell through. In West Chicago one developer ( the name escapes me now) has cut their townhome community in half and is trying to sell off the rest of the land. There is also a huge swath of land out by Fermi Lab that is being sold off piece meal by the developer, I think the developer for that is William Ryan.
And its so sad sometimes what was done to the land…
About 30 miles north of Cincinnati sits the small city of Lebanon - it’s the antique capital of the area, quiant, full of historic homes, serves as the setting for movies, etc. Very Charles Dickens-esque.
Well, just outside the city sat a lovely horse farm with large pastures. A developer bought the farm, put in roads, water lines, sewer lines, and is now bankrupt. Only one demo house was ever built. No other lots have sold.
So the picturesque nature of the area has taken a major hit all for nothing. You can’t very well turn the land back to a farm now - sad.
This is an inherent problem with free market theory. The theoretical model of a market achieving a balance of supply and demand assumes that everything is perfectly reversible. The real world doesn’t work like that. Unfortunately for us, the collateral damage caused by miscalculations such as this one are usually borne by the public, not by the free marketeers.
You got that right. I’m in the intermodal business (railyard) and i’m lucky to get 40hrs. Retail freight is going down the tubes.
“I’m in the intermodal business (railyard) and i’m lucky to get 40hrs. Retail freight is going down the tubes. ”
Really? That’s what I thought too, but Buffett and all of his yahoos are buying up rail stocks recently.
It’s called externalities
Freemarket - blah blah - capitalism - blah blah - what about x? - blah blah.
Starting with the fact that the Federal Reserve’s monopoly on interest rates is responsible for the boom and is in no way “free market,” it is hard to blame these “externalities” on a non-existent free market.
On top of that, nobody claims that the free market is perfect and will result in a utopia with no conflict and non-scarce resources. It is simply the best solution of the many imperfect ones that have been tried.
Paul
“You can’t very well turn the land back to a farm now ”
Sure ya can. It is just very expensive. Maybe you can get a gov’t subsidy for reclamation.
At 1550 Museum Drive in Highland Park, neighbors lament the day work began on what was supposed to be a luxury home that included a 2-acre parcel, an indoor and outdoor pool, elevator and roof deck.
But there’s little more to show than a foundation and the beginnings of a superstructure, cloaked in sheeting and surrounded by a chain-link fence. The site is overrun with nearly waist-high weeds.
In a response to the foreclosure complaint, Joyce and Felipe Calubaquib said they met their financial obligations but that the bank refused to make advances to complete the home’s construction
Looks like he’s a realtor
http://www.agentaxis.com/skokie-realtor/home-for-sale.htmmlsid=6182446
and she was/is a mortgage broker (suspended)
http://www.obre.state.il.us/RESFIN/Discipline/2004/2004MBR-31-ORDER5275.pdf
my first link above doesn’t work for some reason, but here is a link that shows him as an agent and the listing for 1550 Museum
http://www.agentaxis.com/highland-park-realtor/home-for-sale.htm?mlsid=6159187#
” The site is overrun with nearly waist-high weeds.”
Well, if it’s the waist of a Dacshund, maybe Jim Graue won’t have to worry about that 8″ rule.
Too Many People Bought Homes They Couldn’t Afford
Noooo! Say it isn’t so! That would be terrib… oh.
“‘It has been a nightmare,’ added Jim Graue, whose wife regularly calls Highland Park officials about the tall grass and weeds; yards are in violation when weeds or grass exceed 8 inches in height.”
Oh Man Up you whiners. Guess what, when you’re out mowing your own lawn it’s quite easy to go next door and do that lawn too while you’re at it. I had to do this quite frequently for a neighbor who didn’t care about his lawn at all. I even ended up putting weed & feed on his lawn figuring it would make my house worth more by not having a crappy yard next to mine.
I wonder if this is going to be the latest scape goat in housing….I can’t sell because of your curb appeal!!!! This has nothing to do with the market but everything to do with the neighbors weeds?
Typical of Chicago’s North Shore communities. I feel bad for the full timers living on Marco Island who have to deal with these whiney NorthSiders every winter.
Highland Park people are incredible bores.
Unless you’ve let the vacant houses lawn get so high you need a hay baler to mow it.
A lot of money in hay. I sense a new business opportunity.
“He signed an option clearing the way for a developer to purchase the 1,800-acre farm. Then the housing market cooled. ‘In the best-case scenario, we would have been gone already,’ Cryder said. ‘But because of the slowdown…here we are 18 months later.’”
My guess is this is what will happen to the Briny Breezes trailer park folk. At least the ones who weren’t smart enough to sell their option while the deal was “hot.”
Wouldn’t he have been paid some money oferring that option ? It expired out of the money so he should still be happy for doing nothing.
Nice Mo Money, I have never thought of that, but thats really not a bad idea… not a bad idea if its an investment property either…
“He said condominiums averaging 1,200 to 1,500 square feet should be more attractive to baby boomers who don’t want upkeep responsibilities of a larger home.”
Are they sure baby boomers will want to retire in MICHIGAN?
Come on.
The same development plan has been approved in Aurora Il(I went there last Saturday, it is “latino central”, I’m pretty sure some of them were gang members), a friend (who is almost in bk, an accountant! who could tell!)told me the city has approved a huge condo project for the downtown river front, next to the casino. Condos will start at 199k and of course all retirees and young professionals will want to buy there…hmm I told her that if I am a retiree I wouldn’t like to live in Illinois, it is just too cold and that “young professionals” in Aurora don’t make enough money to pay more than 199k. I don’t think the project will even start to say the truth. They are enough new condos and converstion in the area and they are not selling any. Anyway her plan was to sell her house for 300k (before it goes into foreclosure, they cannot pay the helocs they got to pay for the caribean cruise and the LV trip- I’m not kidding, it is true- now that her parents are sick with no insurance and they have to pay the medical bills too) and buy one of those condos for 200k, the extra 100k will pay parents’ medical bills and son’s university tuition.
I wished her good luck.
“He said condominiums averaging 1,200 to 1,500 square feet should be more attractive to baby boomers who don’t want upkeep responsibilities of a larger home.”
For freakin’ cryin’ out loud…enough with the boomers already. Nobody really knows what they, as a group, want, or where they want to live or are able to live.
there is not going to be enough boomers for everybody!
This boomer/gen X cusp-er wants a large house on acreage. The more acreage, the better.
Hmmmm the real reason to have a big big house for 2 people:
being amorous in the same small place gets BORING!
Oh I would bet that the majority of them who weren’t stupid enough to buy into the RE/flip/heloc mania want one thing if they decide to move: A Good Deal. And the patient ones are going to get it.
I’m going to start a snow cone business, cause old folks like snow cones.
Everbody likes snow cones, just find a place where you can sell them year round, and where you have a favorable business tax situation, and…………….
This whole ‘boomers want to retire here’ mantra reminds me quite a bit about the dot.com bubble.
Since you could buy anything in the internet, it was assumed that everybody would. Nobody bothered to really research this early on. It was then realized that a lot of people actually like to go out and shop, not stay cooped up at home.
Very similar now. Just because baby boomers might not like the responsibilities of owning a home does not mean that they want a condo.
After all, the condo boom started when home prices got so high that the only house a person could afford was a condo. They bought condos not because they wanted, but because it was (relatively) an affordable option.
Only later was this corrupted to create the monster we have now.
I think they researched it and found that no one wanted to buy dog food or baby food over the internet at a price that allowed the site to be profitable. However, there is no money to be made on truth. So, they built the web sites, sold $10 bills for $5 each, convinced greater fools that profits are unecessary as long as you have revenue growth, then took the unprofitable companies IPO, makeing tons of money selling the turkeys to foolish speculators.
It’s moronic to mow your neighbor’s yard. They are sitting inside their house, laughing at you, while you do it.
It depends who your neighbor is and their situation. Is it Grandma or a single mom who could use a little help? Or it it some lazy @ss spoiled brats like these two? My husband used to weed eat my neighbor’s hill. She had cancer and her husband was away frequently on business.
Our neighbor used to come over with his snow blower and help us out with the New England white stuff. Everyone on the street would start shoveling around the same time on the morning after a storm, but he would finish way before the rest of us, and while we were still working our way around the cars (no garage) and doing the path to the front door, he would come over and take care of the end closest to the street. He did it for 3 or 4 other people on the street too. Just a nice neighbor.
Two words:
Controlled Burn
Paul
Wait, I am confused about this “affordable” word. See, the mortgage broker said he could put anyone in a house for any price - just name your monthly payment and it’s all good! Now, people are supposed to pay back the loan! Why, how unAmerican!