Corrections Will Be Steep For Speculator Favorites
The Rocky Mountain News reports from Colorado. “Last year, the lending division Peter Garvin headed from his Denver Tech Center office made $1.5 billion in mortgage loans to new-home buyers across the country. On Aug. 6, he was laid off when his company, American Home Mortgage, filed for bankruptcy. The company said ‘extraordinary disruptions’ cut off its funding to make new loans.”
“‘I think the nature of the mortgage business is that it is a transient business that ebbs and flows with interest rate fluctuations,’ Garvin said. ‘You lose jobs, you get jobs. That has happened to me six or seven times.’”
“The almost 40 percent drop in new-home building permits in the Denver area will take its toll on other parts of the economy, from appliance and furniture sales to landscapers, said Bernie Markstein, senior economist for the National Association of Home Builders. ‘You’ll see a drop in Dunkin’ Donut sales,’ he said, half-jokingly.”
The East Valley Tribune from Arizona. “The mortgage industry’s tailspin from lofty heights has left potential Valley homebuyers scrambling to pick up the pieces of shattered deals, as lending standards tighten on a near-daily basis.”
“During the housing boom, it was easy to get a loan, said Elaine Paddy, senior VP at Alliance Home Mortgage in Mesa. ‘If you lived and breathed, the underwriting guidelines would pretty much allow for you to get a loan,’ she said.”
“Subprime and Alt-A borrowers are taking the biggest hits because they are at greatest risk for default, said loan officer Jeff Underwood. Many Alt-A borrowers are self-employed and have depended on these loans, Underwood said. That includes local investors, a number of them real estate agents, who hope to refinance loans on multiple properties in the coming months, he said.”
“‘I really feel like we’re going to see a lot of Realtors, who are going to be in trouble this year,’ he said.”
The Arizona Republic. “The number of people losing homes in metropolitan Phoenix climbed again in July, and market-watchers are concerned that foreclosures haven’t peaked yet. Last month, 806 homes were foreclosed on Valley-wide. That’s at least a five-year high, according to Information Market.”
“Most of the homes, almost 86 percent, in foreclosure now are going back to the lender. In the past, Maricopa County trustee sales or foreclosure auctions were very popular with investors. But now more is owed on most of the homes than what they are worth.”
“The precursor to foreclosures, notice of trustee sales, climbed to 2,478. That’s also a five-year high for metro Phoenix.”
“National housing analyst John Burns decided to focus on the positive in his newsletter this month since there’s ’so much doom and gloom in the market.’ Phoenix as well as Las Vegas, Atlanta and Orlando made his list of ‘favorite long-term markets.’”
“Burns also said ‘these markets were speculator favorites too, so their corrections this year will be steep.’ That’s not such great news but not a surprise. At least one-third of the foreclosures in the Valley now are on homes bought by investors.”
“Undocumented immigrants are starting to leave Arizona because of the new employer-sanctions law. Adrian, a 34-year-old undocumented immigrant from Sonora, plans to move back to Mexico as soon as he can sell a 2-acre tract he owns in Tonopah.”
“‘Yes, we are desperate to leave the moment I sell my property,’ said Adrian, who rents a house in Goodyear.”
“Adrian has been calling his real-estate agent every day to see if there are any potential buyers for his property. But Guadalupe Sosa, the agent, said this is a bad time to be selling. Undocumented immigrants are putting their homes up for sale when there is already an abundance of houses on the market, adding to a glut.”
“In July, the Arizona Regional MLS listed 52,336 homes for sale in the Valley, up 17 percent from a year earlier.”
“Adrian said his sister also is selling her house with plans to return to Mexico. He knows other undocumented immigrants who are refinancing their houses and getting cash out so they can return right away rather than waiting for their houses to sell.”
“Sosa said, many immigrants are not buying homes because they are worried about losing their jobs under the law. That has made it even harder to sell homes in immigrant neighborhoods.”
“She pointed to three of her West Valley listings that are owned by illegal immigrants who want to leave Arizona. One was a brick four-bedroom selling for $167,000 in the historic district of Avondale. Another was a beige stucco house selling for $210,000 in a new subdivision in southwest Phoenix. One was a blue townhouse selling for $95,000 in west Phoenix.”
“‘A lot of people are selling because of the uncertainty,’ she said. ‘They have one or more family members who are undocumented, and without that extra money, they can’t make the mortgage.’”
In Business Las Vegas from Nevada. “As the credit crunch worsens and consumer demand remains soft, Las Vegas builders are cutting back on their production of new homes.”
“For only the second time since January 1992, homebuilders took out fewer than 1,000 permits in a month, according to Dennis Smith, president of Home Builders Research, who expects new-home prices to continue to fall through 2008.”
“The price decline in the new-home market is caused by soft consumer demand, an oversupply in the resale market and the increasing difficulty of getting financing, he said. In July, Smith reported a median new-home sales price of $314,551. For the year, prices are down more than $20,700, or 6.2 percent, he said.”
“In the resale market, Smith said, 2,101 transactions in July brought the yearly total to 16,957, a yearly decrease of nearly 37 percent.”
“The opening of Sun City Mesquite increased residential sales in Mesquite by 10 percent in the second quarter compared with April through June 2006, according to Mesquite Realtor Chris Miller.”
“The average sales price fell from $291,379 to $249,659 in the second quarter as the average unit size fell about 200 square feet to 1,447, Miller said.”
“New home sales followed similar trends, with the average size of homes sold declining from 2,173 to 1,834 square feet and prices per square foot falling from $194 to $184, Miller said.”
The Las Vegas Business Press from Nevada. “Southern Nevada’s housing market has seen better days. A total of 3,147 new foreclosures were reported in the second quarter, 792 percent more than a year ago, reports Applied Analysis and Urban Environmental Research.”
“And the dramatic slide doesn’t look like it will slow anytime soon, with another 4,535 foreclosures actively under way in the second quarter, 820 percent more than in 2006.”
“As foreclosures occur they inevitably add to the valley’s swelling home inventory. There was a record 24,087 units on the market at the end of July, reports the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors. It marks an 18.8 percent increase from 12 months ago.”
“There were only 1,318 homes sold in July or 34 percent less than last year. Median sale prices dipped to $295,000 last month, which is nearly 5 percent less than in 2006.”
“There was also a record 6,269 units worth of condo/townhomes available in July, too. It marks a 28 percent increase from last year, yet sales are still sluggish with only 303 units sold last month for a 40 percent year-to-year drop.”
“‘This is more proof of what we’ve been telling prospective home buyers for months,’ said Devin Reiss, 2007 GLVAR president. ‘Now may be the optimal time to buy a home.’”
The Spectrum from Utah. “The current home mortgage situation in the U.S. is extending its unforgiving, toxic fingers into small-town America. And Southern Utah, regardless of its reputation as one of the nation’s most economically promising and fastest growing regions, is no exception.”
“To put it bluntly, some experts say the bottom is simply falling out when it comes to the mortgage industry. ‘I think this is a whole new realm,’ said Chris McCormick, a loan officer in Cedar City.”
“‘We’re just now starting to feel the impact of people who couldn’t pay their mortgages once their rates went up,’ said Winnie Warner, principal lending manager for Desert Valley Mortgage.”
“‘It’s been very difficult for people to get qualified,’ said Kam Ouellette, a former loan officer with First Colony Mortgage, one of the lenders that have gone belly up. ‘They’ve changed the guidelines so that they’re so unbelievably strict.’”
“Ouellette believes part of the problem stems from shady lending practices where agents were more concerned about their commission as opposed to their clients. Understandably, her opinion of the mortgage industry has changed significantly since everything started tail-spinning out of control.”
“‘They allow people to get into these situations, but they won’t allow them a way out,’ Ouellette said. ‘And that’s what really bothers me.’”
“In Cedar City, Jim Watson, president of the Iron County Board of Realtors, said there are currently 182 homes for sale priced under $200,000, 190 homes for sale in the $200,000 to $400,000 range, and 67 homes priced over $400,000.”
“Watson said the amount of homes on the market locally is definitely unusual. And because the credit crisis is a national problem, and most of Southern Utah’s buyers come from other markets, no one is buying here.”
“‘Our market is driven by sales in the Las Vegas, Arizona and California markets,’ Watson said. ‘Since those houses are not selling as quickly in those markets, our potential clients aren’t moving as quickly here as they have in the past.’”
“Also, like always, when a market is overly saturated, the overall value of the product naturally decreases. Value also declines when homeowners are forced to sell at a lower price than what they paid.”
“But even when the value of a home goes down, sellers want to avoid taking losses at all costs, especially when they have to pay off their high-interest, subprime or Alt-A loans to avoid foreclosure, or if they’ve dipped into their equity funds.”
“Watson said this phenomenon has left some realtors struggling to make ends meet, but he is optimistic that the housing market will rebound quickly. ‘We’re hoping for an upspring by spring of 2008,’ Watson said.”
“‘They allow people to get into these situations, but they won’t allow them a way out,’ Ouellette said. ‘And that’s what really bothers me.’”
That’s the way it works - eventually the trap springs shut and the victim is trapped. You only give away the free bait long enough to gain the mark’s confidence.
Just like a drug dealer who gives away the first few few dime bags for free, until the user gets hooked. Then it’s “if you want to play, you gotta pay baby.”
Let ‘em rot.
I really miss those free dime bags. Those were good days.
I never got free dime bags. I always had to pay.
Even dealers had tighter credit standards 20 years ago.
“Watson said this phenomenon has left some realtors struggling to make ends meet, but he is optimistic that the housing market will rebound quickly. ‘We’re hoping for an upspring by spring of 2008,’ Watson said.”
This clown is a disgrace to our name
‘Adrian said his sister also is selling her house with plans to return to Mexico. He knows other undocumented immigrants who are refinancing their houses and getting cash out so they can return right away rather than waiting for their houses to sell.’
I hope Mr Gross is reading this today. Please, let them use Countrywide for the refi!
Why, I’m sure Mr. Gross would be happy to refi these poor, struggling victims so that they can return to their homes. In Mexico.
Exactly! What is this BS??!! My first impressions are:
1. Illegal immigrants should not be allowed to purchase real estate.
2. Realtors should not do business with people who are in the country illegally.
And the paper should stop calling them “undocumented imigrants” and call then what they are…. ILLEGAL!!!
“She pointed to three of her West Valley listings that are owned by illegal immigrants who want to leave Arizona. One was a brick four-bedroom selling for $167,000 in the historic district of Avondale. Another was a beige stucco house selling for $210,000 in a new subdivision in southwest Phoenix. One was a blue townhouse selling for $95,000 in west Phoenix.”
“‘A lot of people are selling because of the uncertainty,’ she said. ‘They have one or more family members who are undocumented, and without that extra money, they can’t make the mortgage.’”
Who was it that predicted this would happen? (Someone on this blog.) Well, they were right. I have a feeling this is happening everywhere.
Great time to bail out the mortgages, no?
I think we’ve passed the point of no return. It looks like the “trend is our friend” and has too much momentum to slow.
Got popcorn?
Neil
“. . . three of her West Valley listings that are owned by illegal immigrants who want to leave Arizona.”
Do you feel ashamed in the slightest for your actions, Sosa? Nope, you are bragging about your illegal alien clients in the newspaper.
Let’s deport the realtors. Problem solved!
ROTFLMAO
Don’t forget the mortgage brokers.
The illegal criminals should have their homes forfeited and seized by the gov’t., then given a good kick in the ass on their way out.
Boo Hoo that the illegals are leaving. Maybe neighborhoods will be quieter - no boom boxes blaring Mariachi music, no drug dealer associates of their visiting the neighborhoods, etc.
Starting to look like a reversal of the slumming of America, or at least Arizona.
I wish California had this law in the 1970s. Maybe there wouldn’t have been problems in my hood. There was a mexican gang fight on my parents’ front lawn right outside my window. They’ve had a hold on this southwest area thanks to decades of socialist economics.
“…they are getting cash out so they can return right away.”
In other words they hope to refi and then skip, leaving the bank holding the bag.
You’re surprised? Stories like this have just begun. Grab some of Neil’s popcorn and get ready to be tripped-out.
Won’t this hurt the phony economy that we have built upon flipping houses to each other? But Bill in Phoenix keeps telling me corporate profits are good, PEs are low, and that we should keep piling money into the stock market. Could the corporate structure be just one more house of cards, propped up by this housing BS? I thought Goldilocks was so strong. I am so confused.
illegals leaving will hurt the economy? LOL.
Yep.
Just sit back. As NYCityBoy notes, the phoney economy is toast. Too much of the economy is salespeople. Why? I have a very nice net to go out and buy stuff.
Others predicted this “flight of funds” would happen. It should be no surprise. I wish I could claim credit for the prediction… Instead I just listened to those who figured it out first.
Got popcorn?
Neil
RE: In other words they hope to refi and then skip, leaving the bank holding the bag.
And you bet your sweet azz, they’ll strip the house clean of any material worth something to the scrap yard/recycling buzzards.
Adios copper plumbing systems and door knobs!
Now what is your collateral asset worth there Mr. CDO/MBS holder?
When the dust settles evidence will show that a lot of folks did exactly what is described. Take what can, while you can, and walk. Fortunately, cash-out refinacing has recently been greatly restricted. But the damage is done, bigtime.
Heck, I’m still getting spam that says ‘RE prices are coming down! Refi now and get all of your equity out before it’s too late! Act NOW!’
Let ‘em rot.
Have you ever seen Bill Gross and Chris Dodd together in the same room?
Sorry, I don’t do the adult film thing.
I believe they named their project togther “Keeping the Liquidity Flowing”.
Scores of thousands of people are losing their homes. How can you people joke at a time like this?
Sammy S used to have a sayin about that.
To NYCityBoy I say damn funny
To Jen I say if I didn’t laugh I’d cry. And since I refuse to let the bastards get me down, I’ll keep on laughing!
‘Sorry, I don’t do the adult film thing.’
Well, ex-nnvmtgbrkr, do you mean as ‘performer’, or do you mean as ‘audience’?
Either way, your loss.
Haw!
The fraud levels are just outstanding.
How the heck are illegals getting home loans? I mean what the fricking hell is going on out there?
And we are going to end up paying for this in one way or another.
That might of been what the plan was in the height of the boom . Buy a house ,cash out and go back to Mexico and live like a king/queen. With no skin in the game and only big bucks to gain ,what the heck .
That might of been what the plan was in the height of the boom . Buy a house ,cash out and go back to Mexico and live like a king/queen. With no skin in the game and only big bucks to gain ,what the heck
This is one reason why this debacle will be so fookin’ huge.
None of this crap went on during the ‘90/’91 bust.
Nothin’ more than a nation destroying sell-out by the Pigmen on Wall Street
This is nothing new, thanks to our friendly neighborhood kook liberals. Here in Michigan, where things were already bad, the Democrats in the House not only proposed a tax increase, but a benefit for the illegal criminals!!! (either welfare or tuition, I forget what offhand, sorry) You’re already paying for the illegal criminals in one way or another, my friend.
Isn’t it just the same as an Englishman or German buying a Florida condo?
“Good morning. I’m a Mexican national and I would like to purchase a property please. Can you help me Mr. Realtwhore?”
“Sure. When do you want to close? I am assuming you will be putting down negative 25 percent just like all your compadres?”
“I would like to move in with my 75 closest relatives and friends next week, and Yes Mr. Realtwhore, I would like to extract 25 percent cash immediately to send to Mexico so I can buy my vacation hacienda. Now, could you excuse me whilst I go put a roof on that McMansion over there.”
Yes, but I’d guess the difference is whether or not you are able to live legally (optional in the US for some, of course) on the property after your passport terms of stay expire. We purchased a property in Argentina before obtaining a temporary residency Visa to live on it. We would not be able to live on it for any time past our passport terms of stay without the Visa. This is why folks crisscross borders; they can re-start their passport terms of stay in a country.
I’m sure Guadalupe Sosa (the agent) pointed prospective illegals in the *right* direction
Hey, so another 100 million or so worth of bad loans in the form of re-fi’s to quickly departing Mexicans shouldn’t hurt anyone. Right?
Actually, they’re dreaming f they think they’re going to get re-fi’d just in time to go back down south. Haven’t they heard about the credit crunch?
Que? Por que? No leer mucho, Senor Moogsy.
After reporting a steady stream of bad numbers the real estate hack says “‘This is more proof of what we’ve been telling prospective home buyers for months,’ said Devin Reiss, 2007 GLVAR president. ‘Now may be the optimal time to buy a home.’”
and then his lips fell off.
And his nose just got bigger.
‘If you lived and breathed, the underwriting guidelines would pretty much allow for you to get a loan,’ she said.”
Ah, the old fog the mirror test.
Right, one would think those in the industry would be ashamed to admit this with all the foreclosures, etc.
‘If you lived and breathed, the underwriting guidelines would pretty much allow for me to bag a hefty commission off of you,’ she said.”
I don’t get it. They act like the Southwest is habitable into the future.
“The news coming from the Southern Nevada Water Authority Thursday about the valley’s future water supply is worrisome. Unless we act quickly, there will be no water for hundreds of thousands of Las Vegas Valley residents in just three years…Even if all of the water projects are finished and everything starts working on time, the Southern Nevada Water Authority still predicts a shortage. That means by 2010, the valley will be short 64-million gallons of water a day.”
Traveler, I’m amazed its lasted this long. My father was chief engineer for the Arizona district, USGS Surface water division and taught a course in hydrology of arid lands at UofA. It’s been 50 years since he began telling anyone who would listen (not very many did) that there simply wasn’t enough water to support massive development of the American South West. He’d be amazed, were he alive, to know it’s lasted this long.
FWIW, the only students who took his course were from the Middle East. Americans could care less.
They used to say of Bush the Elder, he was born on 3rd base and thought he’d hit a triple. We had a lot going for us, and we thought it was all our ingenuity, blah blah blah. We were good, but not that good. Now…it’s too bad to be credible, I guess. You’re so right, your Dad was, that is. We’ve known about this my whole life. I can remember reading at least 25 years ago about a dream house in Texas, and the author was so impressed with the hand-tiled Roman tub, until her hostess said, “Oh, be sure you don’t use more than an inch of water.”
There’s plenty of water. This “we’re running out of water” crap is getting old. 80% of all water consumed in Arizona and Cali is used to grow water intensive crops such as rice, wine grapes and strawberries. It’s the subsidized Ag industry that sucks up the water.
Water should be priced at open market rates with no special deals for Ag. Then the growers (who hire illegals and pay them starvation wages) will have to grow crops that don’t use so much water or move to the places like North Dakota where they can get cheap water and grow wheat.
I was in California this week watching a wildfire, pointing out to my daughter we never should have irrigated California to do what could have been done better in Kansas.
I read somewhere, years ago, that 90% of trees have been cut in Ca due to mostly to mining in 19th century. (possibly read that in “Men to match my mountains”, not sure). There has not been large scale reforestation, or has there?
I rec’d a form-letter from a local politician asking CA residents to limit their water usage. “Turn off the water when you brush your teeth”, etc. I wrote back and asked why he didn’t mention that it is the meat industry that consumes over half of all water used for all purposes in the USA. I never rec’d a response from him.
There is not either plenty of water. You’ve said some smart things on this blog, clearview, but this most especially is NOT one of them. But first of all, let’s define your terms and your internal landscape, so we can be sure we are discussing the same thing. Sure, there is lots of water on the planet, is that what you mean? Those big ocean thingies? With the darling whales and fishes in them like on television? Or do you mean as far as water that is usable for human consumption? Do you mean plenty of clean and germ-free water? Plenty of icky water?
See, you know what; I don’t even know where to start to object here, so tell me more of what you think about this plenty of water thing.
Let me clear things up. There is plenty of “fresh’ water in the American west and southwest. However, ag interests consume 80% of the fresh water growing nonstaple crops like wine grapes. Only 10% of the water consumed in Cali and Arizona is used by households. Only 10% is used by industry. I repeat, 80% of the water consumed in Cali and Arizona is used by Ag.
And that water used by ag is subsidized. Household water consumers pay 10 times the amount per acre foot compared to Ag. If the Ag industry was to pay market rates for water,i.e household rates, there would be enough water to support 10 times the number of households in Arizona and Cali because the Ag industry would have to move to the Dakotas and grow wheat, corn,oats and soybeans. But those staple crops don’t pay like wine grapes and strawberries and the growers would have to live in Fargo instead of Napa. So the growers give big bribes to the pols to subsidize their water and look the other way on the illegal farmworkers the growers hire and abuse.
Hey OlympiaGal, what happens to the water that goes down my toilet?
Hint, it comes out of the Gila River, is filtered and treated, then pumped to my house.
Answer: when I flush my toilet, the water goes to a treatmetn plant where bacteria eat the crap, then the solids are skimmed out, then the water is filterd, treated, and put back into the Gila River… Where it flows to the Yuma and they repeat.
And up stream of me is Flagstaff that does the same.
The water I use to water pool and on my grass does evaporate, or gets combined with CO2 and turned into grass or tree, which then gets cut and burried in a land fill.
Based on how much my water bill changes from summer to winter, I think my lost water is about 25% of my total water usage.
A couple of good articles in NYT. Commentary said cutting rates was antithetical to capitalism and was in essence socialism for the wealthy. If Gov says a business can’t fail then business and investors will borrow as much as they can and invest in that business regardless of how poor it’s business model is. If I knew the gov would reimberse me for my losses, I’d head on down to the casino and put my life savings on black a few times.
Couldn’t agree more.
By having no skin in the game and a belief that a gvt bailout would arrive just in case the bet went bad has caused a lot of this mess.
Let ‘em rot.
They’re rewriting that trickle-down copy as we blog. Businesses can’t fail, we’ll all go blind, our spines will curve, we must save the wealthy to save ourselves.
“If Bill Gross finds himself unable to afford caviar cupcakes, middle America may not be able to afford the milk necessary to keep their babies alive.”
Yesterday afternoon I was literally standing where Ronald Reagan’s lifeguard stand was beside the Rock River in Dixon Illinois. I took refuge there from aggregiously expensive DuPage County after 9-11, and now everytime I’m on I-88 I stop by, great park. It never fails to amaze me how much damage his economic theories kicked off.
Who’s calling for a bailout?
Dodd
Clinton
Obama
Schumer
I’m no Republican, but aren’t you being a bit deceiving?
Oh, they’re horrifying me. Wrong is wrong. Doesn’t matter which party, to me.
yeah, it was damaging to coax congress to lower the tax rates from 70% to 38% for the top, and the middle class tax rates were lowered as well.
It was damaging to coax communist nations to tear down that wall. yes.
We needed 4 more years of wimpy malaise and instead we got a President who made us feel darned good about America. I shed tears.
“A couple of good articles in NYT. Commentary said cutting rates was antithetical to capitalism and was in essence socialism for the wealthy.”
As someone on this blog put it….privatize the gains, socialize the losses.
If homeowners “want” to send in extra tax money to “bail out” their fellow homeowners, fine. But to expect everyone to fund a bailout, regardless of whether or not they participated in this fiasco, is obscenely unfair.
And I don’t believe for one minute that these FB’s are going to want to stay in homes that are worth 20% less, 30% less, 50% less than what they paid for them.
Hey Lisa, I think you are on to something. How about a new check box on tax return forms “Check here to contribute $1 to the FB Bailout Fund.”
Let ‘em rot.
“He knows other undocumented immigrants who are refinancing their houses and getting cash out so they can return right away rather than waiting for their houses to sell.”
“Undocumented immigrants”
ARGGGGG!!!!! Call them what they are. ILLEGAL!!! It isn’t like there is an option on the immigration forms..
Which would you prefer, fill in one bubble:
O: Imigrate legally with documentation.
O: Imigrate legally without documentation.
The AZ Republic NEVER calls them illegal, or mentions they broke the law to come here! That irks me to no end!
And, I’m sure these people will be paying back the loans…. right?
No comment that if an illegal could get a loan, then we’re all forked?!?!? Hello, if standards were that low, what does that say about a market with tighter standards?
And, still I find people willing to argue with me that OHX prices will be flat because so many people are moving here. ARGHHHH!!!! People were moving here for construction jobs, and those jobs are going away. You think people will keep moving here instead of moving away?
Hey Darrel_in_PHX:
3 days ago, on my way out of Tucson on the 10, what appeared to be a Mexican (???) family were traveling eastbound (towards El Paso???) in a U-Haul truck with all of the U-Haul corporate markings duct-taped out or taped over with black plastic. “Their” truck was also hauling a home-made trailer (back of a pick-up sawed off) filled with household items that looked to be thrown in as opposed to packed in boxes. :/ The driver was hunched so as to not be identified as I passed. So, their going…hopefully with none of our $$$.
In CA, I noticed far fewer Mexicans/Central Americans in Northern Santa Barbara County as well as in SB itself. Same with OC, SLO.I also noticed definite attitude changes too: the illegal Mexicans now know that they are not welcome.
PS: Thank you and the other Arizonan posters for your advice on getting through Tucson with the downtown exits closed and for taking alternate routes around PHX.
~Misstrial
So the conclusion I’m drawing is, the guy stole the U-Haul and is hauling ass back home to Mexico. Presumably, Mexico will let him back in and not care about owndership of the truck.
Yep, that’s what I thought too after I passed him/them.
~Misstrial
I noticed they didn’t turn the comments section on for that article. I wonder why?
“He knows other undocumented immigrants who are refinancing their houses and getting cash out so they can return right away rather than waiting for their houses to sell.”
Translates into: “He knows other undocumented immigrants who are getting inflated appraisals on their homes for as much as they possibly can, taking the cash, leaving the country, letting the home go into foreclosure, and leaving the mortage company and taxpayers here in the US to clean up the mess, while they retire in Mexico.”
Is it just me or are you people on this blog as F**king pissed off beyond belief of them being allowed to do this as I am???????????????????
And Gross, Hillary, Pelosi think we need a bailout after reading this bulls**t?????????
I don’t see why you or anyone else is so surprised about this. This has been going on for a long, long time. Anyone who complains about it is typically labeled a racist or insensitive, especially if they’re a Republican. Why do you think there was so many at that immigration rally in LA?? It’s because the criminals have it good, and their kook interest groups have the ear of the Democratic Party.
The bailout is for their Wall Street buddies. They could care less about the idiots and criminals who took out the loans.
This is Nancy Pelosi’s plan…
Madam speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to put a Windfall tax on all stock market profits (including Retirement fund, 401K’s and Mutual Funds! Alas it is true, all to help the 12 Million Illegal Immigrants and other unemployed Minorities!
Nancy Pelosi condemned the new record highs of the stock market as “just another example of Bush policies helping the rich get richer.” “First Bush cut taxes for the rich and the economy has rebounded with new record low unemployment rates, which only means wealthy employers are getting even wealthier at the expense of the underpaid working class.”
She went on to say “Despite the billions of dollars being spent in Iraq our economy is still strong and government tax revenues are at all time highs. What this really means is that business is exploiting the war effort and working Americans, just to put money in their own pockets.”
When questioned about recent stock market highs she responded “Only the rich benefit from these record highs. Working Americans, welfare recipients, the unemployed and minorities are not sharing in these obscene record highs.” “There is no question these windfall profits and income created by the Bush administration need to be taxed at 100% rate and those dollars redistributed to the poor and working class.” “Profits from the stock market do not reward the hard work of our working class who, by their hard work, are responsible for generating these corporate profits that create stock market profits for the rich. We in congress will need to address this issue to either tax these profits or to control the stock market to prevent this unearned income to flow to the rich.”
When asked about the fact that over 80% of all Americans have investments in mutual funds, retirement funds, 401K’s, and the stock market she replied “That may be true, but probably only 5% account for 90% of all these investment dollars. That’s just more “trickle down” economics claiming that if a corporation is successful that everyone from the CEO to the floor sweeper benefit from higher wages and job security which is ridiculous.” “How much of this ‘trickle down’ ever get to the unemployed and minorities in our county? None, and that’s the tragedy of these stock market highs.”
We democrats are going to address this issue after the election when we take control of the congress. We will return to the 60% to 80% tax rates on the rich and we will be able to take at least 30% of all current lower Federal Income Tax payers off the roles and increase government income substantially. We need to work toward the goal of equalizing income in our country and at the same time limiting the amount the rich can invest.”
When asked how these new tax dollars would be spent, she replied; “We need to raise the standard of living of our poor, unemployed and minorities. For example, we have an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in our country who need our help along with millions of unemployed minorities. Stock market windfall profits taxes could go a long ways to guarantee these people the standard of living they would like to have as “Americans.”
Would you post a link for that speech?
hd74man,
Thanks. If I wrote that, Jose Manolo, David Cee, and Kenny “Babes” would scream bloody murder. They tend toward economic socialism and are for robbing the productive to give to the lazy.
JUST FOR THE RECORD, THE SO-CALLED SPEECH ATTRIBUTED ABOVE TO NANCY PELOSI NEVER HAPPENED.
I am a conservative, so I want to believe it, but several independent websites indicated that the speech was an urban legend and was likely concocted by someone to parady Pelosi.
Check the facts, please.
The banks are not victims here. They are co-conspirators.
‘We’re hoping for an upspring by spring of 2008,’ Watson said.”
And I’m hoping to play center field for the Yankees next spring, too.
Gee Watson, isn’t that exactly when the peak of the resets hit? Keep on hoping…
Let ‘em rot.
Personally,
I hope my wife’s lottery ticket is a winner…
But I didn’t base Plan A or B on that!
As bottomfisherman notes, the resets hit a peak by spring. Let’s not forget how bad the resets will be for the rest of 2007. Christmas 2007 will suck. Because of that… people will have other worries than to buy overpriced homes. Since they are overpriced nationally… that means everywhere goes down.
So I’ll continue to spectate. But before I’m concerned about spring, I want to see when the peak inventory hits this year… that’s important. We’re not there yet…
Got popcorn?
Neil
Goddammit! That’s a reference to Damn Yankees, i isn’t it?
I grew up in southern Utah. It’s beautiful country, and–surprise– easily spoiled by endless miles of goddawful ticky tacky subdivisions, which is what lots of places have now.
I am fascinated by that little water thingie, too. It’s a desert, you know. D-E-S-E-R-T. As in, ‘dry up and die in the blazing inferno of the Utah sun if you don’t have any water.’
But maybe they think if water stops coming out of the faucets then they can all pray to Baby Jebus, who will quickly send some seagulls with bottles of Evian?
They just need to shut down the golf courses, or replace the real grass with mini-golf style carpet.
The golfers…they’re in a class by themselves. Hubby died young, but his plan was to retire early from the rat race, get a masters in hydrology, and work out West, but he was a golfer, and I’m thinking …wow, I’m suspicious he would have been turning himself inside out trying to figure out a way to favor golf over all else. To people who golf, it’s the pinnacle of civilization, a transcendental life experience, near as I can tell. I have a some irrational values too, but they don’t happen to be water intensive.
More golf courses were closed than were opened last year for the first time in many years. Interest in golf is down. Look for many golf courses to disappear in the next few decades. There is an oversupply of both public and private courses leading to cheaper greens fees and limited profitability, if any.
Don’t get me started on the golf course bubble…
Nothing wrong with golf if a course is run environmentally (it can be done). I too expect many to be converted to other uses.
Got popcorn?
Neil
True, but it takes a long long time to make anything on a golf course. They were originally like polo, deliberate status barriers. It’s amazing we were able to build so many of them.
You should see what they’ve done to the Algarve in Portugal with golf courses. Its basically the same semi-desert/mediterranean climate as SoCal, but its chock-full of golfing greens for the tourists.
No suprise then, that the interior of the country (ie anywhere two kilometres in from the coast) goes up like a creosote bush every few years, due to the chronic lack of water in areas other than the touristy beach resorts.
I’m amazed that we’re hearing about Greece going up in flames, rather than Portugal this year.
What we have is a standoff between buyers and sellers where neither side is able to blink.
Buyers can’t buy because they can’t get loans, and don’t want to buy near peak.
Sellers can’t drop prices because they owe too much, or are selling only to lock in mass profits.
“Watson said this phenomenon has left some realtors struggling to make ends meet, but he is optimistic that the housing market will rebound quickly. ‘We’re hoping for an upspring by spring of 2008,’ Watson said.”
Hope all you want, but I think looking for another line of work would be more effective.
“but I think looking for another line of work would be more effective.”
These purveyors of endless bulls–t are not qualified to do anything, other than enter politics and that job market is already glutted.
“…‘We’re hoping for an upspring by spring of 2008,’ Watson said.”
I’m reminded of the old saying, “Hope in one hand and crap in the other, and see which one fills up first.”
Thanks Ben for giving the world a little look at Southern Utah again. So now its the spring of 08 for the rebound. Last month they said winter of 07, summers sales are slow in the desert you see. And the fact that home prices here are not based on local affordabilty. But people with money moving into town, This area was built to drop sooner or later. Equity holders moving into this area has been the driving force for 15 years. Now the moneys not coming to town and the market is dying.
And because of 15 years of overbuilding expensive homes and no starter homes. The labor pool lacks the needed people to fill service jobs and the stores are crowded and timely service lacking. They market this area as a dream come true. Yes it is as long as you stay in your little stucco box and dont need any services or drive across town.
HIVtv
kendra retodd - we’ll list your house for”
drum roll…………..,,.,.,
cost plus commission”
what’s it sell for?
“She pointed to three of her West Valley listings that are owned by illegal immigrants who want to leave Arizona.
- Fast forward to Californina and Nevada. Now multiply the number of illegals who purchased homes by 10 or 50 or 1000 times. No matter how difficult your local real estate situation is ….
IT IS DIFFERENT HERE!
I don’t understand how an illegal can legally buy a home here. After all, every time I’ve bought property, I’ve had to provide my SS # for the closing documents. I imagine that’s because the IRS would like to know about the purchase. How do they get away not having to enter a SS number for an illegal? Do the just put “na” in that blank. Make one up? Would this mean that illegals can just walk away from a mortgage because the documents were not even legal in the first place? If so, how can an illegal unload a house with fraudulent closing docs?
But then what do I know about the intricacies of fraud?
“I don’t understand how an illegal can legally buy a home here. After all, every time I’ve bought property, I’ve had to provide my SS # for the closing document”
I read an article some months back about illegal immigrants buying houses. The *lenders* were not checking the SSNs. Also, 20 years ago my mom worked at the unemployment office in Napa, CA. and the farm workers would come in for benefits and 15 different people would be using the same SSN.
“Adrian said his sister also is selling her house with plans to return to Mexico. He knows other undocumented immigrants who are refinancing their houses and getting cash out so they can return right away rather than waiting for their houses to sell.”
My folks are in the process of selling their home in CA. The last thing the lender asked for (Friday) is proof the buyer is not an illegal alien. He is originally from Mexico and had to go to Social Security to get a letter documenting he is here legally.
I do think that it is important to point out however that mortgage fraud does not solely rest among the illegal population of this country. In my opinion, if they ever do stats on this, it will be the greedy, legal Americans who have the largest share of this pie.
We are now in the Terry Schiavo stage of the economic cycle. How much longer can the central banksters keep the patient on life support, while causing more harm than good.
It is nice however, that the central bank stock holders are becoming the new bag holders of the toxic waste securities and foreclosed properties. We should make sure that the new bagholders keep paying the taxes and maintenance on their new possessions.
Whilst I was taking my dogs for a long walk, I was reflecting on potential impact if this really does blow. Velocity of money and liquidity is problem.
If paper assetts cannot be priced, then they’ll not be tradeable and will have to be market down. What is scary is that even if you think you are not exposed, think again. Money market accounts can and does hold this shite.
Even if you hold stocks in other things, the institution holding them could be in big trouble and then you are in holding pattern waiting to get access to your assetts.
We all think runs on the banks happen in places like Argentina. Whilst this will not be Bush’s fault, I can see it happening under his term. The guy has an inverse Midas’ touch.
I just bought some rolls of Silver Eagles on ebay.
I keep telling myself to get the junk silver and then I put it off again!
I’ve been procrastinating on this as well. Thinking I can time this but today I decided to enact it as if there is a panic, I may not be able to physically buy it due to being unable to access my bank account or other people having same idea. It is not like you can just walz into Walmart and buy it.
I have no interest in being a coin collector but this is a just in case. I also bought this out of curiosity http://cgi.ebay.com/Estate-Sale-Currency-1909-VDB-Old-Silver-Coins_W0QQitemZ320149787093QQihZ011QQcategoryZ525QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem
You leave out the pertinent details, HoustonStan. What are your doggies names? Are they cute dogs? Do they want to eat cats? How long have you known them?
Also, I approve of your use of the word ’shite’, and also that you bought Silver eagles on eBay.
I enjoyed watching Argentina blow up, although I hoped it would get more dramatic. In fact, that was my very first awakening to the whole world of financial excitements. I was thinking of emigrating there, and then–boom.
“Adrian, a 34-year-old undocumented immigrant from Sonora, plans to move back to Mexico as soon as he can sell a 2-acre tract he owns in Tonopah.”
So illegals were speculating in raw land, too? Nice. It was probably a NINJA loan with zero down. Bank deserves to eat this one.
How does someone with no credit history and no SS# get loans to become a junior trump? Now we are supposed to bail these schmucks out?
Yes, I been annoyed/upset/angry also at the illegal immigrant mess. What really baffles me is how the illegals all claim poverty at home, no economic future, etc, etc … then have SEVEN FUGGIN KIDS … and somehow, someway, manage to scrap together several THOUSAND dollars to give a coyote for transport.
I mea, c’mon now. Mexico isnt in the middle ages, they know about family planning. And I dont buy the Catholic Church excuse of discouraging birth control as a means to birth more religious faithful because if the so-called poor people can understand & get info about America and all why cant they fathom the consequences of a large family?
And again regarding the money part: several thousand dollars pooled together with other like-minded people is plenty of capital to start a business. Yes Yes I know Mexico is corrupt & the officials bleed you dry but if its intolerable then CHANGE YER OWN DAMN COUNTRY’S SYSTEM!
The lastest MSNBC news headline about the McDonalds manager in Colorado or Wyoming or wherever just reinforces how greedy business owners will not let the illegals stop coming. He whines about no workers @ $10/hr. Oh gee wizz mr business owner, maybe pay em $13/hr or whatever it takes to keep workers. He can afford it, just like farmers, but they dont WANT to share more of their profits. And whats even MORE hilarious is how he will waste thousands of dollars trying in vain to recruit minimum wage workers, instead of just paying more upfront to keep em. Its all about ego & principle, like how a bank will not lower a price for a repo right away, because if they did that then OMG the HORROR .. every joe average would just take advantage of the poor bank & not pay their bills. Cant have THAT now can we? Cant have reason or logic when mean spirited empire protection rules.
Ever see a farmer NOT driving a new Ford 350? Or a McDonalds owner driving a Tercel???
Greedy bastards,all of em, used to gouging the workforce but now cant do it as easily. Boo Hoo cry me a river !!
Or a McDonalds owner driving a Tercel???
Don’t bag the Tercel! I loved the one I used to own. Yea… I sold it due to boredom. (Super reliable, super economical, super… blaa vehicle).
However, with minimum wage workers, the issue is the high turnover. Yes, one should pay better wages to attract better employees… but its hard work to manage a McDonald’s; I have no problem with them earning a reasonable ROI on their investment and a decent salary.
As to Farmers and new F350… Nope. I usually see them in OLD F350’s. There will be a home for all of the 2500HD trucks too. Farmers want functional, not beauty.
It will be interesting as the illegals flee and are forced south. It will change the economy…
Got popcorn?
Neil
One of the few fast food establishments in Cali that still consistently hires high school and college kids is In-N-Out Burgers. They are privately (family) owned, and they pay a significantly higher wage to their burger flippers. The service is usually (ok, always) top notch, and they use only fresh ingredients (and you can see them slicing actual, whole, real potatoes for the fires while you are standing at the counter).
They always attract the best of the best of the casual workers, because they treat them right (or at least better). And they are not suffering for sales by going this route. Every time an In-N-Out opens up next to a McDonalds, it’s no competition…the In-N-Out is always busy, and the McDonalds is relegated to selling Happy Meals to kids who don’t care about the food and want a “prize”.
Pay your workers decently to attract and motivate the best ones, and they will come, especially in the service industries. And you can *still* make a profit.
Homeland Security is clamping down hard on businesses that hire illegal aliens; they admit that it is to make an example of us, to show us how much we really need illegal labor (as in “be carefull what you wish for, now we are going to crack down, and you’ll see what kind of chaos ensues when we don’t have enough illegal labor”). It will be interesting to see who was right, the “tighten the borders” crowd (me included), or the “comprehensive reform” crowd (the current president included).
I *am* sick of hearing the phrase “jobs Americans won’t do”.
I’ve been to In-and-Out many times, and I don’t think that I’ve EVER seen a person horsing around - they work their tail off…
…oh, and by the way, at least the one’s I’ve seen clearly are not illegals (or at least not Hispanic).
Hey, AG, I couldn’t agree with you more. My son got a temp job bottling wines for Claiborne & Churchill Winery off the 227 (X street Price Cyn Rd). Were it not for immigration law being enforced, this job wouldn’t even have been advertised.
~Misstrial
My nephew is a house painter. Been told by his previous employers he is an excellent painter and a hard worker. However, they also told him they wouldn’t be rehiring him because they can hire illegals cheaper. He wants to continue to work in his profession. So too am I sick of hearing the phrase “jobs Americans won’t do”
Report them to Immigration & Customs Enforcement:
1.866.347.2423
http://www.ice.gov/about/contact.htm
~Misstrial
Thanks Misstrial,
I will pass the information to my nephew.
YW!
~Misstrial
That MSNBC story cracked me up as well. “Go west, young people, where you are needed!” For a $10/hr job as a gas attendant in Montana - what?
I thought I was day-dreaming, because surely the MSM wouldn’t publish such a shallow pointless article.
Alas: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20427902/
“New home sales followed similar trends, with the average size of homes sold declining from 2,173 to 1,834 square feet and prices per square foot falling from $194 to $184, Miller said.”
$184/sq ft in the desert? $500 and up per sq ft in Lala land? I still can’t grasp those numbers for a stinkin’ house. We paid $100/sq ft for our brand new Sarasota home in 2002 (no pool). The foreclosure we live in now was purchased for $69/sq ft under air in 2005. With the needed and desired renovations and improvements, we’re up to about $85/sq ft sunk cost. That’s in a gated, golf course community (a walk through our back yard nets one or two free golf balls a week) on a large lake. The replacement value for insurance purposes is about $110/sq ft.
$185/$500 indeed! The fall will be long and hard.
From the AZ Republic story on illegals returning home:
“Immigrant advocates, business groups and analysts say the exodus is having a ripple effect that could add to an already-tight labor market and dampen the state’s economy.”
Don’t worry, Arizona employers, there’s a whole REIC army that will very shortly be needing to make some money. But don’t skimp on training, while this bunch may be great at arranging furniture and flora, it’s unlikely that they’ll know which end of hammer to hold.
“Adrian said his sister also is selling her house with plans to return to Mexico. He knows other undocumented immigrants who are refinancing their houses and getting cash out so they can return right away rather than waiting for their houses to sell.”
“Sosa said, many immigrants are not buying homes because they are worried about losing their jobs under the law. That has made it even harder to sell homes in immigrant neighborhoods.”
1 ) Someone needs to inform immigration department about Adrian so that she can deported right away
2) Sosa should help Immigration departmetn find the illigeal immigrants and maybe reqward her better than 6 % commision.
“Many Alt-A borrowers are self-employed and have depended on these loans”
If only that were totally true. Many Alt-A borrowers were “investors” whom did not want to admit that they couldn’t possibly make the barest of payments on the gigantic mortgage they were about to take out. These very wise investors were hoping to run negative cash flows for two years and then re-sell for a fantastic profit. I have seen this time and time again here in Austin.
You see hair stylists, government workers, and teachers living in $300K houses. Common sense tells you these people cannot afford the monthly payment. However, on the mortgage documents indicate they have income from phantom roommates, side businesses, ebay, you name it. The loan officer could care less if the person is lying - they get a bigger commission selling a no-document loan.
Nationally, the use of these low-document loans has increased from 7% of the market to about 20%. Did we suddenly have more self employed people or did lying on a mortgage application all of a sudden become fashionable?
“This is exactly what it is supposed to do. (Illegal immigrants) have no business being here, none,” said Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, the main architect of the employer-sanctions law. “Shut off the lights, and the crowd will go home. I hope they will all self-deport.”
Russell Pearce for prez in 2008!!!
Agree strongly with the above objections to using the term “undocumented”. This is a classic case of what Senator Moynihan called “defining deviancy down”. The first step is to select words that are a neutral and factual as possible. Yes, these people are in fact without “documents”. That makes them present here illegally or, in shorthand, that makes them “illegals”. If they were in a position to obtain “documents”, they would get them and therefore wouldn’t be “undocumented”.
I wouldn’t object strongly–inasmuch as I and most of us see through this shite–except that this technique is employed so selectively, and for such obviously political ends. The MSM insists that we call wife-beaters “batterers” or, indeed, “wife-beaters”. We do not get to call them “physically demonstrative spouses”, even though the latter phrase is, factually, correct as far as it goes. We do not call racists “ethnically selective individuals”.
It is the use of language to obscure underlying reality that drives me up the wall.
“To put it bluntly, some experts say the bottom is simply falling out when it comes to the mortgage industry. ‘I think this is a whole new realm,’ said Chris McCormick, a loan officer in Cedar City.”
You mean, like, a whole new economic model than in the past?
As in, this time it’s different?
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
I’ll bet this blog has more “Bwahahahahas” per inch (BPI) than any other… (and I’ll bet the BPI has been steadily increasing all year)…
When they require tax returns (some confirmation of receipt of IRS is necessary - I can remember a friend years ago making new forms with different #s he used for loan apps) then it won’t be as easy to fudge income.
We’re hoping for an upspring by spring of 2008,’ Watson said.”
I am hoping for the lottery jack pot next week.
$300Million jackpot won in Indiana. That should make Indiana real estate jump by 10% automatically, right? Get in now before you are priced out!
Sarcasm off.
“Cash out and head back to the home country” is not exclusive to people from Mexico. Spoke to someone the other day who purchased a bunch of second hand applicances from his neighbor. Where did they come from…you guessed it, stripped out of the family home. They pulled out all the equity in a Refi and then never bothered to make the first payment. Drum roll……where were they from?…..where were they heading back to?……Israel.
“‘This is more proof of what we’ve been telling prospective home buyers for months,’ said Devin Reiss, 2007 GLVAR president. ‘Now may be the optimal time to buy a home.’
We can confirm that Devin Reiss has the updated NAR talking points.
Hey ex-nnvmtgbrkr,
Looks like someone’s cashing out…
Reno, NV
4.2M in Reno? WTF?!?
p.s.: That third line is a link.