A Tough Lesson About Living The High Life
USA Today reports on Arizona. “Some sellers on Scottsdale’s tony north side who have homes priced over $1 million are having to shave several hundred thousand dollars off their asking prices…says agent Karina Magana. There’s a record 45,175 single-family homes for sale in this bedroom community of Phoenix. When sales peaked in Scottsdale in March 2005, there were only about 2,900 homes on the market.”
“‘We’ve gone from an all-time low to an all-time high in supply,’ says Matt Deuitch, president of the Scottsdale Area Association of Realtors.”
“Compared with May of last year, single-family-home sales in Scottsdale overall are down nearly 23%.”
The Arizona Daily Sun from Flagstaff. “Townhouse and condo sales are dominating the summer real estate season. Second quarter sales figures show a sharp spike in the number of condos and townhomes sold, up 90 percent over last year’s figures during the same quarter.”
“Three large condo conversions projects helped drive down the median price for the townhouse/condo market. Median sale price was $197,000 for the second quarter of 2007, according to figures from Northern Arizona Association of Realtors’ MLS.”
“This represents a 26 percent drop in sale prices for the second quarter of 2007 when compared to the same time period last year.”
“The single-family detached house market also saw a 2 percent decrease in median sales price compared to last year’s second-quarter figures.”
“The number of single-family homes sold slowed over last year’s figures, down 22 percent for the second quarter compared to last year. Median sale price for single family home is currently about $377,000.”
The Business Journal from Colorado. “In a slow market, the pressure is on to arrive at residential values high enough to meet real estate broker, homeowner and lender expectations. Some appraisers have been threatened with the loss of future referrals if they can’t ‘make the numbers work,’ and others have been offered $100 or $200 to meet a lender’s ‘target.’”
“Alan Hummel, Forsythe’s chief appraiser, said that the pressure on certified appraisers has always been there, but the increased intensity of demand to meet stated or implied ‘loan targets’ has mushroomed, largely because 70 percent of residential loans are originated by third party companies, not lenders.”
“‘Some of these brokers are used to doing 10 loans a week, but with the slowdown in home sales, they’re looking instead at two to three deals a week,’ he said. ‘If I kill one transaction, I’m cutting their production by 33 percent — and they’re hungry.’”
“‘There’s so much liability if you don’t follow the letter of the law, and at the same time, there are mortgage brokers challenging your ethics to make a deal work,’ said Colorado Springs commercial and rural real estate appraiser Cheri Santi.”
“Locally she has seen appraisers asked to come in with the higher value or even to the exact penny called for in a contract.”
“Claudia Klein, a certified residential appraiser and president of the Colorado chapter of the Appraisal Institute agreed. “Most (residential appraisers) have been reluctant to talk about the subject because they fear retaliation from mortgage brokers and Realtors,’ she said.”
“October Research surveyed 500 appraisers in 2003. Almost 60 percent of respondents said they had experienced some form of inappropriate pressure by mortgage brokers and 47 percent said they had been pressured by real estate brokers to come up with ‘the right’ number for a seller or buyer.”
“Three years later, in 2006, those numbers had risen to 71 percent and 56 percent, respectively.”
“‘It’s not the lenders who are the culprits,’ Hummel said, adding that independent mortgage brokers who ’shop’ rates and conditions offered by a range of mortgage lenders are the biggest source of inappropriate pressure.”
“Another example cited by the AI’s chief appraiser was an aggressive home builder who advertised ‘We will provide you with a new Cadillac in the garage of every house we sell.’”
“‘That means the home loan will be based on a $500,000 rather than a $450,000 sales price,’ he said, adding that an appraisal slated to come in at 80 percent of the higher value does not truly reflect the value of the real estate.”
“Klein has seen the entire range of pressures exerted by anxious brokers and homeowners to meet predetermined expectations in the Pikes Peak region. She also is well aware of techniques used by unethical appraisers.”
“‘I’ve spent 17 years in this field, but it’s getting harder every day,’ she said. ‘Fortunately the lenders are really beginning to question appraisals that come in suspiciously high or low. After all, they’re the ones who will end up with the property if it goes into foreclosure.’”
The Rocky Mountain News from Colorado. “Downtown has scored a hat trick of high-end hotels with last week’s announcement of a W Hotel on the 16th Street Mall.”
“The projects also call for 238 luxury condominiums at the top of the hotels, creating a new market downtown: condo hotels, as they are known in the industry.”
“‘Downtown Denver is really evolving into much more of a cosmopolitan city,’ said Robert Benton (of) Robert S. Benton & Associates. ‘But in a recession, the first things to get impacted are travel and hotel rooms, with luxury hotel rooms impacted particularly hard. The real key is can they sell these expensive condos?’”
“Brian Phetteplace, housing program manager for the Downtown Denver Partnership, said the ‘condo hotel is something not seen in this market before.’”
“He said people familiar with W Residences will consider Denver a bargain when compared with similar units in California and New York, even though the condos at the W in Denver will likely top $500 per square foot.”
“But longtime real estate agent Sonja Leonard Leonard said sales of expensive downtown condos this year have been sluggish.”
“There have been only seven sales of downtown condos priced over $1 million so far this year, while 41 are listed in that price range, with 10 under contract, according to Metrolist data, she said. ‘One sale of a condo over $1 million each month is not a hot market,’ she said.”
The Las Vegas Sun from Nevada. “When Jerry Wayne looks out from the balcony of his luxury condominium at Turnberry Place, he sees Strip hotels and, behind them, the big Nevada sky.”
“But he also sees cranes, ominous signs that soon, Wayne will see little except for the wall of a 22-story garage and convention center being built less than 100 feet from his spacious balcony.”
“It’s part of the $2.9 billion Fontainebleau Las Vegas going up at the corner of Las Vegas and Riviera boulevards. ‘We won’t be able to see the sky,’ said Wayne, who paid $649,000 for his eighth-floor unit in 2003.”
“Wayne and the owners of about 175 units at Turnberry Place were among the first to get in on the valley’s high-rise condominium boom. Now they are becoming some of the first to learn a tough lesson about living the high life near the Strip. There are few safe bets. A nice view is certainly not one of them.”
“‘You can spit on it,’ says Turnberry resident Ann Stager, disgusted enough to make it seem that she might actually try.”
“She and her sister, Julie Stapleton, both are widows. They put ‘everything they had’ into the condo, Stapleton said. ‘All of us are going to have the values of our property cut in half,’ she said.”
“In Nevada, views are not protected by law. Turnberry residents were told when they purchased their condos that a hotel and casino project was planned next door. Still, they say they were told few details about the project and are only now realizing that they won’t be looking down on a hotel’s pool or lavish landscaping. They’ll be looking at the wall of a parking garage topped with a convention center.”
“‘They didn’t tell us they were going to put the butt of it in our face,’ complained Turnberry resident Rick Coleman.”
“What really peeves many Turnberry residents is that Fontainebleau is being developed by former Mandalay Resort Group President Glenn Schaeffer and, get this, Turnberry Associates principal Jeffrey Soffer, the same man who developed Turnberry Place.”
“Initially, residents say, the fact that the developer of their condo complex also was involved in the project next door provided some comfort. ‘We always expected something would be built there,’ Wayne said. ‘But we expected it would be integrated. Never would I have expected a wall obscuring every view I have.’”
“‘Clark County is always getting low marks for smart growth and sustainable development,’ said Paul Murad, a real estate agent and developer whose $1.2 million unit on the fifth floor will lose all but a sliver of its view.”
“Turnberry residents say they plan to appeal the decision in District Court and seek a temporary halt to the Fontainebleau project. ‘This is probably the first time there are residents this close to the Strip. There is no precedent,’ said Jerry Wendel, another Turnberry resident, himself a developer. ‘We are going to go all the way with this.’”
‘Regulators are trying to shut down a Phoenix mortgage firm they have accused of securing loans from illegal branches at Valley swap meets, malls, carnicerias, a Wal-Mart, a Home Depot and a couple of Food City stores.’
‘Arizona now ranks No. 7 among states with the greatest amount of mortgage fraud, blowing past the 23rd spot it held in 2006. This is the highest Arizona has placed on the Mortgage Asset Research Institute’s annual fraud survey.’
BTW, this big jump in condo and TH sales in Flagstaff is almost certainly due to all the inventory coming onto a market that didn’t have much of this before. Just as in other post-hot markets, developers turned to these projects to try and catch the last of the boom. The Daily Sun doesn’t even have a condo catagory in it’s online classifieds, but rather lumps them in with THs. Here are some quotes from that section:
‘20K under market University Heights Townhome…2bd/1ba condo, Owner relocating, price reduced from $235K to 225K, a $5K upgrade allowance makes this a best buy in Flagstaff!..Seller’s Moved Save$3 Br 2½Ba 1516sf now just $282.900 & will pay $2K closing cost’
I still see most things just ridiculously priced there and in Sedona. I’d almost stick Sedona in the “bubble proof” category, at least the ones over about 600K. Those people don’t seem to care if their properties ever sell.
Maybe, but the short sales and auctions will be setting the comps in due time. Lotsa over-leveraged folks.
I was hanging out in the clubhouse at Forest Highlands (60 homes for sale, just in their office) this past wknd, and got to listen in to a couple of Mojito fueled conversations….over-leveraged doesn’t even begin to describe the activity at the “high end”….there are some very nervous people who are so upside down in a big way.
I’m telling you, the foreclosures that are coming will be in 7 figures.
Also, sister-in-law lives in DC Ranch (Scottsdale)…the repo man has been busy there, gathering up the Lexus, Hummer’s and BMW’s.
I got that impression when I was there recently. It’s as if everone knows there doomed.
“I’m telling you, the foreclosures that are coming will be in 7 figures.
Also, sister-in-law lives in DC Ranch (Scottsdale)…the repo man has been busy there, gathering up the Lexus, Hummer’s and BMW’s.”
I guess that’s good for me since I have been car shopping for a few months now…I guess so long as I still have a job myself…
Is there any way to “short” BMW’s stock? I would be curious to see what their sales look like.
BMW AG, I think the ticker is BMW.DE and I don’t think it’s traded in the US, but in Europe. Could be wrong, though.
“Those people don’t seem to care if their properties ever sell.”
******
I was talking to some people in Marin who are trying to pull off that attitude. It’s pervasive in the Alt-A Bay Area, even though the segment of the market where this may be true is much higher than most think.
Time will tell, as it does with most things.
Didn’t you know there is an underground tunnel from Sedona, Az. to Mt. Shasta. in northern Ca? Something involving aliens or Lemurians. LOL
Funny thing about rich people, though. They generally don’t like to overpay, yet conversely they’re much more capable of absorbing a loss and moving on.
I wonder how larry goldilocks kuntlow explains what happened today what with interest rates down, full employment, no terrorism, no hurricanes and oil down?
you can buy a “its contained” t shirt now
it’s a lock !
What do you mean “no terrorism?” It’s occuring all over the world.
here - yet!
Or so says the world’s number one terrorist.
yeehaw. A down day finally. May it be the first of many!
Talk about down, for Snobsdale?: ‘There’s a record 45,175 single-family homes for sale in this bedroom community of Phoenix.’
Their SFH inventory rivals greater Phoenixs’?
Are we sure that number isn’t a typo ?
Didn’t PHX hit 50K last year?
I think that’s greater Phoenix’s inventory.
I think they slipped a digit. there are only about 110k homes in Scottsdale - 2000 figures are:
http://scottsdale.areaconnect.com/statistics.htm
USA Today article is incorrect. There are 45,175 homes for sale in the greater PHX area. From MLS data Scottsdale has 3643 single family homes for sale, 1453 condos for sale and 1766 homes for rent.
Some 20%+ of homes for sale are above $1.5 million. Unbelieveable.
A REAL down day. Over 225 points as of this writting (3:50 PM). Maybe the doubters will finally be hit over the head and jolted back to reality!
The NYSE put downside cubs in place, too, to keep it from being even worse!
This blog is more fun when the market is taking a dump.
stay tuned for the fall. We’ll have an orgy here one day.
LOL
txchick57, I enjoy your cut-upness. I’m a Yankee curmudgeon contrarian, myself. Are you a Texan?
Theoretically. I was born in Manhattan though.
We’ll have an orgy here one day.
I will have to see pics before I partake.
hi all — haven’t posted here in quite a while …
good luck in you doomsday prognosis for the stock market … but I fear you will be waiting for awhile. I agree it has been correct to be bearish on housing … it has also been correct to be bullish on the overall market and key sectors. Don’t let you bearish view on housing/lending taint your overall view of the stock market … or you will continue to sit on the sidelines watching it go up and losing out on profits. While there is a chance that the housing spillover will eventually build up enought to really impact the markets and economy… it hasn’t happened yet. Businesses are doing well in general, expcept for areas such as housing, financial, retail. Areas such as energy, technology and basic materials have done very well … and the intermediate/long term trend is still up (even after today) in these sectors and the major indices. Remember … “the trend is your friend!”.
Yeah, tell to the suckers who bought Angelos shares in the past several months…get a clue moron.
Hey, no need to resort to name-calling!
There’s something to what jeff has said. Don’t forget that there are groups of people sitting on sh!tloads of U.S. cash, like Japan, China, and Saudi Arabia. The inflation that can result from this fact could show up as funds to buy American products and services, or to buy U.S. equities, or both. (So far it’s been showing up as money to buy MBSs, but that’s changing.)
There are many ways this could pan out that keep equities high in numerical price even while the economy slows down. The stock market isn’t the same as the economy.
FWIW, I have some long positions in stocks, but happily for me I also have a lot of shares of SRS (housing short fund) which is up now 12% from when I bought it a week and a half ago. (Not a recommendation - do your own DD.)
“The stock market isn’t the same as the economy.”
Da What?
Agreed - the stock market seems to be disconnected from many of the factors impacting housing right now. It was just a few months ago the market took a dive (beginning of March) and the Dow dropped to 12,000. I don’t recall anyone predicting it would shoot over 14,000 within five months. Go figure.
many get hung up on that they believe the economy should lead the market …. in reality, its just the reverse.
many get hung up on that they believe the economy should lead the market …. in reality, its just the reverse.
(speechless)
$600k condos on the strip in vegas?
Livin’ la vida loanco…
Livin’ la vida loanco…
That’s funny. Getting dangerously close to my, ahem, brand. Just sayin’…
“‘They didn’t tell us they were going to put the butt of it in our face,’ complained Turnberry resident Rick Coleman”
Of course Rick and his neighbors could have cared less about the people living nearby who instead of seeing blue sky, see the Turnberry condo tower.
Agreed.
And in Vegas you never know when your view is going to obstructed by some builder’s development. I had one hillside home outside of Vegas that had its view of the strip blocked by some housing development of three story investor McMansion vaulted ceiling monstrosities. I guess I didn’t move far up enough on the hill. XO
I still cannot believe that people actually bought those things. What were they thinking? It’ll be cool to live right off the Strip?
I was talking to a businessman in LV a few years ago as these towers were going up, and he told me that he couldn’t wait to buy one. I asked him why on Earth he would consider such a thing, and his only answer was he thought it would be cool.
I did not end up doing business with this guy… partly because I got to wondering about his judgment.
“I asked him why on Earth he would consider such a thing, and his only answer was he thought it would be cool.”
Another reason for the housing bubble…people borrowing $300K (or more) to buy something because “it would be cool”. It’s nice to make your friends go “ooh” and “ahhh”, but at what price?
““‘They didn’t tell us they were going to put the butt of it in our face,’ complained Turnberry resident Rick Coleman.””
Just like driving a Hummer in 2005.
I’ll tell you what I think would be “cool” about owning a high-rise condo on the strip.
A couple of things must be understood first. I am single and male (and heterosexual, but I imagine this working regardless of orientation).
I could see walking from my high-rise condo to the strip, there to hang out amongst literally thousands of women bent on having a Good Time™
That, to me, qualifies as “cool”.
Or if you were a female prostitute it would be a prime business location.
Or if you were a female prostitute it would be a prime business location.
But for the legal enjoyment of normal adults, it’s by far better suited.
I actually resent what appears to be a half-hearted attempt on your part to paint the strip as some sort of low-budget, seedy part of town.
I’ve lived here over two years now and I’ve ridden my bike down the strip on numerous occasions and you can sneer all you want but there’s something to be said for living a cab ride away from one of the world’s prime destinations.
You probably wouldn’t care for Times Square, the LA beach strand or Padre Island, either.
I don’t care for Times Square–thanks for bringing that up.
Giant ads, scaffolding, people milling about, chewing gum speckled sidewalks, and event promoters.
Whatever.
Of course Rick and his neighbors could [not] have cared less about the people living nearby who instead of seeing blue sky, see the Turnberry condo tower.
Man! I never thought of that. Incredibly insightful.
““‘We’ve gone from an all-time low to an all-time high in supply,’ says Matt Deuitch, president of the Scottsdale Area Association of Realtors.””
All in a span of a year.
And the economy is Goldilocksed, and unemployment is at all time lows.
Yet sales are going down, inventory is going up (”all time low to all time high” in the span of a year), and foreclosures are skyrocketing.
So my question…to all of those predicting a “rebound” in 6 months to a year, how can we even begin to take you seriously when you were telling us all that the current events (strong economy, cratering housing) couldn’t possibly happen together?
The economy isn’t strong - the numbers are cooked. Corporate profits are up, but that’s mostly multinationals riding the back of the weak dollar.
Check out the shadow stats website for more.
““Locally she has seen appraisers asked to come in with the higher value or even to the exact penny called for in a contract.”
“Claudia Klein, a certified residential appraiser and president of the Colorado chapter of the Appraisal Institute agreed. “Most (residential appraisers) have been reluctant to talk about the subject because they fear retaliation from mortgage brokers and Realtors,’ she said.””
Bring the Realtors up on RICO charges. Does the NAR condone criminal activity?
You can look at David Learah’s hair and ask that question?
I just spit on my keyboard TX… I may have to hold you liable;-)
The problem is that the local governments are in on the gig too. You have a case here where government financially benefits from criminal behavior.
The appraisers need to take direct consumer action. Put up ads in the papers, market to buyers directly. They need to press their value to those who stand to lose the most - lenders and buyers. They should form their own databases of dishonest realtors and mortgage brokers and sell that data to their clients.
They should form their own databases of dishonest realtors and mortgage brokers and sell that data to their clients.
You’d be sued in a heartbeat.
Even the state appraisal review boards will not grant you immunity from civil suit if you turn in a crooked appraiser.
It’s why nothing ever changes and the rats are in control.
The thing to understand about appraiser’s is that as a group, the profession is small in number and for the most part severely fragmented when compared to the lending and sales industries.
The Appraisal Institute is no match for the Mortgage Bankers Association and the NAR.
Plus over the years legions of members have bailed from professional societies because the snots at the top kept raising the bar for designations which weren’t worth squat in the marketplace.
And extraneous to the demise of holding a designation, most of the legit and decent appraiser’s who have been in the business for 20+ years have found other employment.
The wholescale level of fraud and corruption drove them out.
Lay people need to understand that the appraisal professional is the inverse of any other occupation-THE MORE YOU KNOW AND THE BETTER YOU ARE-THE MORE THE L/O’s and SALES AGENTS DO TO MAKE SURE YOU DON”T GET THEIR DEAL…it’s very simple…these swine hate knowledge and intergrity.
So who’s left to do the deals?
Newbies; the crooks; and a sporadic group of those lucky enough to have a decent client base which has allowed them to stay in business. But you can tell from the story quotes-these people are tired. You can only get beat on for so long.
So there’s not much of an industry left to market a profession whose credibility and integrity is in tatters.
Evertyhing you said - Agreed.
Of course NAR condones criminal activity. As long as it pays a commission.
Countrywide was down nearly 11%, the biggest percentage loss among S&P 500 stocks. Housing shares were mostly lower as well.
- I did 3 Entertainment Centers for a customer who works for Countrywide in Manahattan Beach CA. The project cost him 46k and his house is in the Hill Section ( about 2.5 million ). He bounced his last payment of 25k and it took us a month to get the money … he brought us a cashiers check. Glad to get that job behind me.
Someone wrote a book a while back called “Entertaining ourselves to death”. Glad you finally got paid.
Not sure if this is what you’re talking about, but Neil Postman wrote a book called _Amusing Ourselves to Death_.
46K for home entertainment centers. Holy Shit! That’s what I paid for my whole house (of course that was back in ‘83, when houses were affordable).
Are you implying that someone who can afford a $2.5M house can’t come up with a measly $25K? C’mon, residents of MB are all filthy rich with plenty of cash on hand. It must have been the banks fault - that’s the only logical explanation.
Seriously, you’re lucky it only took a month.
He just needed to wait a month so his house would “appreciate” another 20% and he could write a MEW check.
““‘It’s not the lenders who are the culprits,’ Hummel said, adding that independent mortgage brokers who ’shop’ rates and conditions offered by a range of mortgage lenders are the biggest source of inappropriate pressure.””
Oh geeze, lets stop this right here and now. Let’s stop pointing the fingers at everyone else, *everyone* in the food chain had something to gain, and gamed the system to some extent.
Buyers were buying more house than they could comfortably afford becasue “prices always go up”, mortgage originators tried to help fudge numbers to shove as many commission bringing clients into the pipeline as possible, banks ignored the problems with “stated income” loans and zero percent down in order to rack up servicing charges during the life of the loan, investors buried their heads in the sand thinking that “house prices only go up”, so no matter the loan term, “it’s all good”, rating services ‘forgot’ to add the possibility of declining house prices to their ratings models, and mortgage loss risk was bundled up into securities and slapped with the flawed ratings to investors who thought they were buying “A” paper.
It was all a shell game from day one, and every knows it (or should have known), and they all should share the blame. Now it is coming down hard, and will actually come down even HARDER during the next two years. You get what you pay for, you reap what you sow, take your pick.
…*everyone* in the food chain had something to gain, and gamed the system to some extent.
This is very important and should be cast in concrete in the sidewalks (such as they are) in front of every foreclosed home in the nation for the next 3 years.
““‘They didn’t tell us they were going to put the butt of it in our face,’ complained Turnberry resident Rick Coleman.””
And they never promised you that they wouldn’t. Next time, don’t buy a very expensive ‘asset’ like a condo with visions of $$$ clouding your vision.
Good posts arroyogrande.
Thanks, HW, I was in a ranting mood today.
“In Nevada, views are not protected by law. Turnberry residents were told when they purchased their condos that a hotel and casino project was planned next door. Still, they say they were told few details about the project and are only now realizing that they won’t be looking down on a hotel’s pool or lavish landscaping. They’ll be looking at the wall of a parking garage topped with a convention center.”
Sympathy for these morons just jumped off a cliff. So, maybe next time someone tells you something and you are risking big bucks….listen and digest the information and act accordingly! Friggen morons….what is next “They said that they might build a firing range next to us but I never thought they would…now it is gun fire all night and ricochets zipping by us…it’s not fair!”
Bleh almost as smart as living on a fairway in a golf course, gotta love those golf balls taking out windows and animals and anything moving in the back yard…morons.
Ohhhhh….just reminded me of the morons that bought houses under the flight plan of John Wayne airport and not to mention old El Toro Marine base. When you get to take off from John Wayne Airport enjoy the ridiculous lift off angle to reduce noise for these RE morons. If you don’t like the sound of jets or trains or ships, think before you purchase!
I agree with both of your posts. The buyer needs to educate himself. Otherwise it’s a combination of greed and laziness that gets the better of them. They have no grounds for any lawsuit. Crybabies.
Morons in Berthoud Colorado are complaining about a 4-H shooting range. The range has been there for 50 years, but the complaints are just beginning. Funny, the developers think next to the range is a perfect place to bulid McMansions. They’ve got even more planned, and the whiners are even fussing that the range might slow down future development.
I can’t tell you how much this amazes me, that people never look beyond the few streets their future home purchase is going to be in, or do no research about the area’s demographics, and then just move in. And are surprised to find a firing range, farmland, cattle pasture, industrial complex, airport, or (oh noes!) a gang infested neighborhood or section 8 housing development next door. And then stupidly wonder why they hear airplanes flying overhead, guns being shot off, or to find their homes burglarized by gang members and crackheads who live within walking distance. (Or in the case of Vegas, the people who are surprised to hear and smell squealing pigs in thier new homes coming from the 50+ year old pig farm next door. Few things smell worse than a pig farm in a desert).
Heck, some people moved in near my parent’s parish church and threatened to sue if they didn’t stop ringing the bells on Sunday. The church has been there since the 1930’s, the churchyard is on the main street and it is a center of community life there (Irish Catholic, with Italians coming in in the 1980’s).
The parish decided that they didn’t have the money to fight the lawsuit, even though they knew they were in the right. They now only have bells on Easter Sunday.
If we had a loser pays system here, like in Britain, little guys like my parent’s parish wouldn’t get kicked around like that. They could say, “Go ahead, sue us,” and let the NIMBY, greedy,
homeownerspecuvestors pay their legal costs at the end of the day.More planned? Nothing is selling in Berthoud.
In New England the “whining” of new McMansion owners is directed at the the few remaining operational farms and working waterfronts which might happen to abutt some developer’s subdivision.
Never mind the operatiosn were there decades before the new arrivals
A plague of manure beetles on them all.
Manure beetles? You mean dung beetles?
Nah mate, you want to be RID of the dung beetles — they eat all that stuff up. Without them, as the Aussies found a hundred years ago, the manure sits forever and feeds flies, steaming piles of maggots, swarms and swarms of flies with manure all over their little feet, flying to the next property, landing on your face, on your food. Oh yeah, now THAT’S what we should wish upon them! (evil grin)
…the morons that bought houses under the flight plan of John Wayne airport…
I just moved to a rental under the Right Turn”
off McCarran airport here in Vegas.
I became aware of the noise the weekend of the second week I was there.
Luckily, I’m usually a heavy sleeper. This night, however I was fighting a cold
and had slept quite a bit already. It must be noted that the flights are
still climbing over my house, which means they are pedal-to-the-metal.
So far, it’s been a bit like counting sheep - I haven’t been able to count more
than a dozen (one every 2 minutes) - before drifting off.
“In Nevada, views are not protected by law. Turnberry residents were told when they purchased their condos that a hotel and casino project was planned next door.”
Hee hee, that’s *nothing* compared to what they plan to build just north of the Turnberries: the (proposed) 1888 ft “Las Vegas Tower” (if it ever gets approved and funded):
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=417060
Dow Housing Index down 4% today; down 13-14% in just 7 trading days, this considering the index is already 50% off its all time highs of July ‘05. Does this qualify as a freefall? If not, then what does? Plus it looks like the dollar index closed below 80, stocks are churning, subprime backed bonds are crashing, and Starbucks is raising prices again. Dogs and cats, living together. When does the panic start?
When does the panic start?
Due to busy summer schedules, back to school, etc. October. Early/mid/late? The committee is still deciding.
Seriously, bond markets always lead the stock markets. We have a flight to quality. The smart money knows the game is up.
Exactly when? I’d be much richer if I knew that. I believe we are effectively in the world’s greatest short squeeze.
Got popcorn?
Neil
OT, but I have to know…GetStucco, how did that “homepOwner” at the party that you posted about yesterday ‘dis’ you? What did she say (re: renters and how stinky they are)?
…how did that “homepOwner”…
I have to interject because this is not just a matter of misspelling.
The joke is “pwned” It came about from someone in an online game misstyping “owned”.
Yes, I know it’s tedious to explain a joke, but I can’t help it in this case, because the joke is being so seriously corrupted.
Stupid homebuilders; we all know they are going into the tubes, but determining when is difficult. They come out occasionaly and tell the market stuff that EVERYONE knows (no upturn for the next few years) and the market takes a dump.
The stock market seems to be more like the celeb gossip rag anymore. Somebody says something (that we all already knew; Lindsey is back on drugs; OH NO WAY) and the market moves like crazy. Nothing changed.
“He said people familiar with W Residences will consider Denver a bargain when compared with similar units in California and New York, even though the condos at the W in Denver will likely top $500 per square foot.”
Denver buyers are gonna compare prices to LA and NY. C’mon. pull the other one! Even David Lereah knows “All real estate is local”
FWIW, I’ld rather live in downtown Denver over LA any day (still think the prices are insane though)
Fontainebleau Las Vegas going up at the corner of Las Vegas and Riviera boulevards. We are not only running out of land
“Clark County is always getting low marks for smart growth and sustainable development. This could have been a great catalyst for that,” said Paul Murad, a real estate agent and developer whose $1.2 million unit on the fifth floor will lose all but a sliver of its view.
You mean a city built in the middle of a desert is not sustainable development?
Every city dweller knows: You don’t pay for a view unless it’s protected.
OT: there is a lot of fear-mongering on another I read from a realtor saying, “buy now because interest rate hikes will negate your bubblesit.”
Correct me if I’m wrong, but at this stage of the game an increase in rates will only pressure further price drops… yes?
Nope, because we live in bizarro world, where it’s either “always a good time to buy”, or it’s “buy now or [insert bad thing here]“, where [insert bad thing here] can be “be priced out forever”, “miss the historically low interest rates”, or even “be struck down by G*d for your renter blasphemy”.
It’s a sellers market. No wait it’s a buyers market. No wait there’s no one in the market anymore. Sellers have mailed their keys and buyers are waiting for prices to fall, meanwhile vacant houses are rotting. It’s a stagnant market.
The fates conspire to push prices down…
High interest rates, tightening loan/credit eligibility “standards”, high inventory, foreclosures, etc. all tend to push prices downward. How much, how soon, and to what effect are the big questions.
I don’t know if this has already posted, but it made my head spin:
Home foreclosures hit record in California
Riverside County at a new high. In addition, there’s a year’s supply of houses on the market in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, up from a three-week supply at the height of the boom.
By David Streitfeld, Times Staff Writer
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-foreclose25jul25,0,6482372.story?coll=la-home-center
“Foreclosures in the state during the second quarter totaled 17,408, up 799% from the same period last year. The current rate handily eclipsed the previous foreclosure peak set in 1996, when the state was in the final throes of six-year slump.”
Two things:
1. Riverside and San Bernardino go from 3 WEEK inventory to 1 YEAR inventory in one year. Wow.
2. Foreclosures in the state…handily eclipsed the previous foreclosure peak set in 1996
So…it’s actually worse than the last housing slump, when it was the economy to blame. Last time, bad economy led to job losses, which led to foreclosures and reduced demand. This time it’s not the economy leading to foreclosures and less demand, but none the less, foreclosures and decreased demand are happening just the same. Only in much greater magnitude than the last slump (you know, the slump where prices went down for years).
Fork, meet done meat, meat, meet fork. It’s done.
“This time it’s not the economy leading to foreclosures and less demand, but none the less, foreclosures and decreased demand are happening just the same…”
This time it’s Realtor lies, damn lies, fraud and stupidity that led straight to the bust.
“Some appraisers have been threatened with the loss of future referrals if they can’t ‘make the numbers work,’ and others have been offered $100 or $200 to meet a lender’s ‘target.’”
Sell your soul for $100…
Latest San Francisco foreclosure auction. No location is bullet proof.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0IY2-FJ7CE
Did or did not someone just post the other day on the qualification requirements that appraisers went through to get licensed? About as useful as a correspondence school for barbering.
Here the latest news story about about a San Francisco foreclosure auction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0IY2-FJ7CE
Knife catchers. 20% off wishing price is no bargen. 20% off the real based on fundamentals price….thats a bargin.
“She and her sister, Julie Stapleton, both are widows. They put ‘everything they had’ into the condo, Stapleton said.
You don’t just start making dumb moves when you get old. I’m sure they have years of experience. Oh well, they can always put up a mural of the skyline on their sliding glass doors!