Low-ball Offers And Feelers Are Routine These Days
The Sacramento Bee reports from California. “Tracy Trammell sold the boat, the extra vehicles and tried everything to ‘find a way to refinance, or do what I could not to lose the house for my children.’ She is in a bind all too common in Sacramento: a home losing value and an adjustable-rate mortgage with payments that jumped $1,000 a month in June.”
“Neither Trammel nor Countrywide has yet been able to work out a deal to spare her small house in Citrus Heights from foreclosure. ‘I asked, ‘What’s your solution? Give me some ways I can keep this from happening,’ says Trammell of her dealings with the nation’s leading lender. ‘They said, ‘Get a roommate.’ That’s what she told me. I said, ‘OK. Well, I guess we’re done talking.’”
“Lenders tout a willingness to work out troubled loans with a variety of options to keep people in houses. Yet some observers say the numbers speak louder than words.”
“‘The statistics don’t bear it out,’ said Martha Lucey, president of a statewide nonprofit loan counseling service. ‘The foreclosures are rising. The workout options just aren’t there.’”
“Lenders, for their part, say it’s a two-way street. Staffers often find people unwilling to give up cell phone service or satellite TV to finance strategies to save their houses, Ed Delgado, a senior Wells Fargo executive, told the California Senate Committee on Banking, Finance and Insurance last month.”
“In Citrus Heights, Tracy Trammell said she knew she might have trouble with refinancing the loan her husband took out in 2005. But a Countrywide representative told her early this year not to worry, her loan would only go up a little.”
“As June approached, she called again. This time a different representative said she faced a major reset on her two-year adjustable loan, the payment would rise $1,000 a month.”
“‘I called the original girl and said, ‘I need to know what’s going on,’ Trammell said. ‘She said, ‘Fax me the stuff, and I’ll get back to you.’ Then her first words were, ‘Oops, I missed that part.’ I said, ‘What do you mean, oops? This is my home.’”
The Recordnet. “Rosalee and Ernie Schimpf have enjoyed the country life east of Stockton for nearly three decades. But now they want to get on with the next phase of their lives - retirement and relocation to Colorado.”
“This isn’t the real-estate market for such dreams, so they are discovering as they try to sell in a brutally slow home-sales market that has left them feeling as if they have hit a brick wall.”
“There have been lots of lookers, they said. They can’t get any serious offers, though, for their 1,700-square-foot home, plus finished basement and a 600-square-foot workshop on two acres.” “They got the property appraised and initially set the price at $589,000 in May, later lowered to $549,000, a price below anything similar in the area, they said.”
“Still, the only offer they have gotten came in at almost one-third below asking price. ‘Guess he figured that if you’re desperate, you’d take it,’ said Ernie Schimpf.”
“Other lookers either turned out to be unqualified for a loan, or hinted they would be interested only at a far lower price or else needed to sell their home first in a sales market that feels frozen.”
“‘We look at each other and ask, ‘Could we have chosen a worse time to sell?’ It’s scary, said Rosalee Schimpf. ‘I’m just not sure - do you wait or drop the price enough to sell?’”
“Low-ball offers and feelers also are routine these days, said Jerry Abbott, president of Coldwell Banker Grupe. ‘Buyers right now are saying the market is going to come down even more, so if we’re going to buy now it’s going to be for a lot less than they’re asking,’ Abbott said.”
The Fresno Bee. “A real estate mystery lingers in southeast Fresno: Why would a developer build two dozen houses, sell only two and then disappear?”
“Few cars visit this ghost tract south of Butler Avenue, known as Ashwood Park. Weeds choke many lots. The model home complex is closed. There are no real estate signs in the yards, and no phone numbers posted anywhere. Just placards in the windows that read ‘available.’”
“‘It’s very quiet and peaceful,’ said Pao Ly, one of two home buyers who moved in before the developer, Lafferty Homes of San Ramon, vanished in March. He suspects the surrounding houses eventually will sell for less than the $450,000 he paid for his 2,900-square-foot home, and would like to renegotiate the deal — if he can figure out who to call.”
“Experts say the developer likely turned the tract over to lenders because it couldn’t sell houses fast enough to cover debt payments — much as some troubled home buyers walk away from a house they cannot afford and cannot sell.”
“‘The odds are that there was a large loan on the land and the builder could not afford to carry the land,’ said Alan Nevin, economist for the California Building Industry Association.”
“Lafferty Homes may have priced the houses too high for the area, some real estate observers said.”
“‘The houses were too tricked out for the area,’ said Walter Diamond, executive VP of the Fresno division of Beazer Homes, which has a tract in the area.”
The Orange County Register. “Real estate agents and mortgage brokers are being squeezed out. Appraisers have seen their six-figure incomes cut in half. Movers are selling trucks suddenly standing idle.”
“But the hemorrhaging doesn’t stop there. This Labor Day weekend finds consequences of the housing slump trickling down through all sorts of professions – from termite inspectors to escrow officers and even newspapers that have seen a decrease in real estate advertising.”
“Because so many depended on a pie that’s half as big as it was in 2005, professionals of all stripes are eating out less and cutting back on personal spending. Some have taken jobs elsewhere to keep food on the table. Others are diversifying, moving into commercial real estate or other related fields to supplement their incomes.”
“Certainly they made a lot of money in the boom, and many set aside a cushion for slow times like this. But it’s painful nonetheless, industry insiders said.”
“‘I think every person in the real estate industry has been impacted , from the appraiser to the real estate agent and mortgage companies,’ said Huntington Beach appraiser Cindy O’Dell.”
“‘We’re already seeing the first steps of people leaving the business, and it’s going to increase,’ said Mike Cocos, general manager of ERA North Orange County. ‘Our agents are not making as many transactions, so they’re not making the income they’re comfortable making.’”
“Appraisers regularly face tremendous pressure to overvalue a property so a lender will fund a transaction, Chirpich added. A handful of appraisers now are giving in to such pressure to get more work.”
“‘If an appraiser refused to bend to pressure, they would no longer get assignments and many times would not be paid for completed assignments,’ said Carol Chirpich, president of the Southern California chapter of the Appraisal Institute. ‘To keep work, (some appraisers) will bend to the coercion of the broker.’”
“Experienced professionals, aware that the housing market is cyclical, prepare for such times by saving up a cushion to offset lean years like this.’
“‘Some brokers are doing very well. Some are wondering when the day comes they’ll have to put the sign out, ‘Will work for food,’ said Jack Williams of the state mortgage brokers association. ‘It depends how well established they are and how well protected they are (by) putting money aside for days like this.’”
“‘The houses were too tricked out for the area,’ said Walter Diamond, executive VP of the Fresno division of Beazer Homes, which has a tract in the area.”
Pimp my crib.
- Tricked Out houses in Fresno? WTF!
As much as I dislike Fresno, you grossly underestimate the standard of living there. There are numerous areas with 5br/3ba/3 car garage houses…behind the requisite electric gate. As recently as 2000 these McMansions sold for $250K, and this is what drew in all the Bay Area refugees in the first place. Now it’s all horribly overpriced and those same houses run $550K-$650K, but the same thing would be 2x to 3x more on the coast.
“As much as I dislike Fresno, you grossly underestimate the standard of living there.”
And you my friend grossly underestimate the income levels and the gang activity there. There is a reason that the houses of which you speak would have had many buyers even at the level of $200k prior to 2000. They only sold because of NO DOWN and interest only loans.
And you my friend grossly underestimate the income levels and the gang activity there
No, I lived in the mountains near that area for some time. Fresno is a thoroughly segregated community (by race and income) with some nice enclaves–hence the electric gate comment.
For that matter, you can literally drive 6 blocks from the best areas of LA and be in the ghetto. Not to mention even more overpriced Oakland/Richmond, with a far worse crime rate (per city-data dot com). California is like that.
In the late 1990’s, a brand-new 4 bedroom/2 bath/3 car garage home in North Fresno sold for around $130K or so. Now these houses are selling for over $500K. The CURRENT average yearly income in Fresno for a family of 4: Less than $50K. Take away exotic mortgages and prices will continue to reset.
How much is a monthly electric bill in summer when you have to air condition a house like that?
tricked out houses in Fresno by Laughferty homes? Is that like the show Pimp My Ride?
“It’s very quiet and peaceful,’ said Pao Ly.”
Not for long. He can thank the Bee for advertising that there are ~20 prime squatter pad/methlabs available just off Butler Avenue.
“Few cars visit this ghost tract south of Butler Avenue, known as Ashwood Park. Weeds choke many lots. The model home complex is closed. There are no real estate signs in the yards, and no phone numbers posted anywhere. Just placards in the windows that read ‘available.’”
That does it. California, here I come. I’d have to change my name, though. Iceplant?
Palmetto - stick with what you know, and go with Date Nut Palm.
“Date Nut Palm.”
Better idea. “Napalm”.
Palmetto, this is not the same Incredulous above. I’m the one from Tampa, so this isn’t my comment.
You know, I kind of thought the style of the posts was different. Someone hijacked your handle?
… which reminds me, I was in a video store a few years ago, talking to a rather young girl who was working behind the counter. As I described the plot of a movie I was searching for, a look of disbelief spread across her face.
“You look incredulous,” said I.
She blushed a deep red, and gushed, “Oh my, thank you!”
I didn’t have the heart to tell her what “incredulous” actually meant…
Actually, I had no idea what incredulous ment so naturally I looked it up, and it was often confused with Incredible
1 : unwilling to admit or accept what is offered as true : not credulous : SKEPTICAL
2 : INCREDIBLE
3 : expressing incredulity
- in·cred·u·lous·ly adverb
usage Sense 2 was revived in the 20th century after a couple of centuries of disuse. Although it is a sense with good literary precedent-among others Shakespeare used it-many people think it is a result of confusion with incredible, which is still the usual word in this sense.
You learn something new everyday.
“….1 : unwilling to admit or accept what is offered as true : not credulous : SKEPTICAL
2 : INCREDIBLE
3 : expressing incredulity
- in·cred·u·lous·ly adverb
usage Sense 2 was revived in the 20th century after a couple of centuries of disuse. Although it is a sense with good literary precedent-among others Shakespeare used it-many people think it is a result of confusion with incredible, which is still the usual word in this sense.
You learn something new everyday….”
“…More matter, less art….” Gertrude to Polonius in Hamlet
Droog, I think you’ve discovered a great flirting loophole!
The Playa Del Rey area just got abuzz from a Foreclosure that went down - down being the operative word. Sold in Dec 04 for $804,000 and Zillow ‘appraised’ for $945,000 - the FB saw his old property released for $685,000. Since that screams 2003 pricing, it’s been a real shot across the bow here.
Ahhh…loving this Labor Day weekend. I slept well last night…
Got Z’s?
socal, the pdr guys seem to be biting off more than they can chew. lots of just completeds with lots more in the works. plus they got an endless backlog of street improvements.
Keep up with info on PDR. I might be a buyer in q4 of 2009.
Keep up with info on PDR. I might be a buyer in q4 of 2009.
I have not been around thea area (LA in a while) how is the Playa Vista thing doing? I think it’s the only place in the US, I heard, where they built residential housing on top of a methane gas storage grid.
I am absolutely the wrong person to comment there…from the get-go I could not fathom the concept of getting crammed into a small 1×1 packed into all the other ones and then paying $600K for that right. It is on a methane ‘grid?’ and the blowholes at jefferson and culver will show that. Plus all the required methane readers in each house that come ’standard’ should be a give away. I just looked at the whole development as a long overdue disaster.
Made worse while watching the CEO of the development, during an 05 ‘concert in the park’ oh-so-smuggly declare ‘I am proud to announce that your investments here at Playa Vista have appreciated 20% this year’ - met with a rousing round of cheers…something about the manner in which he did it, the arrogance he subtely demonstrated while bellowing it…just got me really annoyed and I thought to the day the Ben Jones train would be driving right up their collective asses.
So - sorry, aside from showing my distain for the general development, I can’t offer any specific changes/insights. Except that the rate of development has definatively slowed in the last year or two. Don’t know about prices/sales rates at this time.
Last year people on this blog were prophesying this weekend would be a “Labor Day Massacre.” Didn’t quite come true but I’m wondering if it’s now time to start offering 30-40% off list price.
Can’t wait to see the NAR stats coming out this week. August should be quite shocking!
Hey CVG, I don’t know if Playa Vista interests you, but there apparently there are foreclosures going on over there.
Cool LAIG, I’ll check out foreclosure dot com. It’s a bit out of our desired area but first-time buyers can’t be choosy . . . oh wait, yes we can! Real estate always goes down!
It’s worth looking at, but as I said last time, I’d hold out for a SFR, PV is a decent location but nothing to walk to, plus HOA fees are a pain. I did see a house on 7th and Rose with a big “foreclosure” sign in front yesterday, I don’t know who the agent was, but things are obviously deteriorating, uh, I mean, improving.
We went out today and looked at a house that a builder was selling. The only reason they have it back in their inventory is because the original deal, and then yet another deal fell through. They say it’s worth 490K after upgrades (upgrades I wouldn’t have chosen, btw, so I don’t feel I should pay for.) They are “asking” around 420K and thinking they are doing us a favor. We seriously went in there and gave them an offer of 350K. He couldn’t get us out of his office fast enough.
We didn’t think they would accept it, but at least it perpetuates a trend of what they consider “low-ball” offers. Hubby and I even argued in front of the guy and I said “It’s not even worth 350! Just because these other idiots overpaid for their houses, doesn’t mean I will. But 350K is what I’m willing to pay.”
Rock on, this is the way to deal with these people.
If you have a spouse and sense of humor, play good cop, bad cop! Have one person argue for 30% and the other for 50% off and settle at 40. Priceless >; )
Oh we always do. He’s good cop. I’m bad cop. Then after too much time we both become down-right mean cops.
Oh, and if they call us in a couple of months because they still have the house in inventory and want to take us up on our offer then.. our price automatically goes down even further. Chase down the market?? No, you chase down ME!
Hailey;
“Chase down the market?? No, you chase down ME!”
Nuke ‘em, Hailey. It’s the buyers turn. If you weren’t married I’d propose. That is the sexiest thing a woman could say,
Hahaha.
If you are interested in buying now, you are going to be taken advantage of. I suggest just completely forgetting about buying now. Don’t get attached to some house. You’ll surely get ripped off if you buy now.
We’re in the process of selling a house in San Diego County (in escrow).
Price? At least 30% off from peak — and there’s still room to fall.
Point is, some sellers are able & willing to accept lowballs. Never hurts to try!
RE: “Labor Day Massacre.”
Oh, I think that 340 point morning drop on the DOW a couple weeks ago was pretty damn good. I watched the whole thing on CNBC. There were a lot of glazed and panic stricken eyes which would certainly indicated a “massacre” was taking place.
What’s amazing is the number of political strings which can be pulled by the financial heavyweights to continue to lull the masses into thinking everything is contained.
If you buy for 40% off, you are still going to lose 50% of your investment before this is over. Cool your jets for awhile. Why offer 40% less on a 300% overpriced house when you can offer 50% less on an already 50% reduced house. Um, I hope that made sense.
My former neighbor just fired his RE agent because the agent didn’t want to waste his Sundays (already wasted 4) on open houses where no one shows up. And I’m not exaggerating, not even a neighborhood lookeeloo. Maybe because he has POS 2 story dated tract home listed for 1.5M. So now he’s going with Help U Sell, I don’t see how that will make a difference other than lowering the commission, and I guess he’ll have to do his own open houses. Anyway, the agent said he was happy to lose the listing because he has “too much inventory”. Sherman Oaks area.
WOW, about 18 months ago RE agents were jumping through hoops to get a listing, any listing. And now they are too swamped with them? That’s quite a sea change. What will the next 18 months bring??
“What will the next 18 months bring?”
A lot of starving agents.
“What will the next 18 months bring?” A lot of starving agents.
Maybe to keep from starving, the agents could go to their former colleagues’ open houses and eat all the free food.
What will the next 18 months bring?
Per my predicted timeline, desperation and panic. I think we’ll just be entering capitulation at the end of that timeframe. Investment cycles have a pattern that is rarely broken. So be patient. Others long before figured out the pattern. We (as a people) never seem to learn.
Bwaaa haa ha!
Neil
Capitulation around Nov 15..WHY? Aug 15 was the finance blowup, I’m guessing homeowners and speculators can live off their credit cards for 90 days (that’s my history 30 years ago), so when the credit limits are reached, and the credit
card companies start asking for their money, BK will follow.
Any offer on any home with the smallest of equity will be accepted. Some Wall Street finance guy said this is the worst fianance enviornment he has seen in 50 years. 50 YEARS! This is unraveling faster and deeper than anybody but Ben’s Bloggers could see. I predict 90 days.
David,
It will take 90 days for more FB’s to even go through the booze in their bar… even if there is a stock market crash on top of the 2 Trillion or so lost in bonds… it will take a while.
Don’t get me wrong, I predict this will also be huge. But hey, I’f I’m wrong on the timeline, I’ll buy you a drink.
Got popcorn?
Neil
I’ve been at this 20 plus years and I though it would be first or 2nd Q of 2007.
Timing is hard to call. Neil, I don’t see it lasting another 18 months when there are serious cracks in the damn already. But, I’ve been wrong before.
But in support of Neil’s position, according to the now famous Credit Suisse ARM reset chart, (bubbleinfo.com), the max ARM resets were in August of 2007. The actual time from payments stopping to actual default and than to foreclosure is lengthening. In Orlando it’s taking close to a year for this process to play out. But we have had ARM’s resetting, defaults and foreclosures for approx the past year and its building and will continue to build until the actual number of resets tapers off around the end of 2008. ARM’s aren’t the only component but they’re a large component.
Until everyone gets on the same page Buyer, Sellers, Realtors etc. we cannot declare the bubble officially over. Prices are declining, so let it go!! It’s mainly Sellers and Realtors keeping them up at this point at this point.
If you are a FB the question is which strategy will result in you loosing the least amount of money. The best strategy is to keep lowering your price until you sell and see if the Bank will let you short sell. If not, take Jim Kramer’s advice and quit paying your mortgage now, bank the monthly payment, wait until foreclosure and rent.
The one thing that we can all be sure of is that this is a long bumpy ride and it’s far from over.
An edit of my above post.
ARM resets will tape around December of 2008. The resultant carnage of the preceding year or so will run on til 2009 and beyond.
A guy on my street has had his place on the market since March. He got two appraisals [both way too high in my opinion] and price it at the lower one. To call the realtor’s efforts “desultory” would imply a sense of urgency that doesn’t exist. The flyer drawer is always empty, and on the rare occasions its refilled, they are cheap, poorly-printed B&Ws. Clearly the realtor is only going through the motions, as he’s realized the place is overpriced. And this smug, happy renter won’t be buying until starving realtors are our - the creditworthy buyer’s - staunchest allies against greedhead sellers.
The realtors ™ will only be an ally you can trust as far as you can throw them.
Remember, their are four people involved in a house sale. The seller, the seller’s realtor, the buyer’s realtor all trying to make sure the buyer pays the highest possible price. I’m not cynical… but its always been that way. Get very informed on prices. Like a used car salesman, the realtor will try to convince you that you’re the smartest overpaying…
Let’s face it, they’re still insulted with low ball bids.
Got popcorn?
Neil
Actually, I hate to say it but Help-U-Sell is not that great and FSBO is even worse. Selling property is a numbers game. You push as many wanna-be buyers through the property as possible hoping that one will bite. FSBO usually means the owner is sticking a badly pained sign on his lawn and maybe putting a couple of cheap ads in the local newspaper. Okay in a red hot market. 99.9% a waste of time in a market such as we have today. Truth is, a realtor networks and all the other realtors in the area are happy to show someone a property even if it isn’t their listing. Especially if they are hungry and, at the moment, they are staring starvation in the face. Of course, realtors should only get 2% of the selling price and that should be fixed by state law. 6% is a joke. 2% is all they deserve. Your former neighbor will probably be sitting on that $1.5 million property for a looooong time UNLESS a sucker comes along……which does happen.
This is Colorado Springs. It’s not a $1.5M property - it’s more like $340K. Still overpriced. Most of the FSBOs and Help-U-Sell houses I’ve looked at have been greedhead owners and cranks who are even more delusional about their wish prices than most realtor-”serviced” sellers. I love going to their open houses and blithely informing them that similar houses are going for 30% less, and I’ve got all the time in the world to wait for even better deals.
My parents’ neighbors moved out of state and actually have a reasonable price for their house— $250K for a house on a quarter-acre lot in a neighborhood where the (few) sales have been in the $350-$400K range. And none of the neighbors really care, since it’s one of those neighborhoods where people stay for decades, and it can’t kill the comps since it’s the smallest house on the block.
I wish that realtor luck, since my parents liked the owners and they don’t seem to be wanting every last drop.
Maybe one will soon start to realize what $ 1.5 miilon is. It is a sh*tload and one ought to realize and respect that. In flyover land one can buy a great home in a peaceful area and live of the fat of the land for most of the rest of one’s life with the difference. Stuff the coastal areas and the insanity that goes with them.
If appraisers, realtors, and the rest are starving, why don’t they look for work in some other, less predatory, profession? Inflating appraisals to get work sucks; lying to get work sucks. Instead of wringing their hands and wailing, why don’t these bums get on with their lives? What were they doing before becoming crooks, and can they go back?
They’re like old exotic dancers still trying to get someone pay them to hang upside down on an e-coli coated pole, and whining because fewer and fewer people are willing to pay them for their alleged talent. Does anyone ever tell them the game is up?
I will tell them incredulous . Real estate salespeople ,the game is over …..he he he . But ,just like stockbrokers ,some realtors will make alot of money on the way down .
Evidently, not the ones in these stories. They probably ARE former exotic dancers. Last week Ben posted material from a St. Pete Times article on a realtor with orange hair who thought she was “classy” because she wore diamonds and a Rolex, despite being millions in debt. That was probably one of the funniest, and saddest, article to-date on this bubble pop.
Sounded kinda like our friend Toni Everett, Incredulous.
Hi Palmetto. You got it. By the way, I am not the “Incredulous” talking about sticking to what you know above. I left a note there to indicate this.
It’s very annoying that other people can just pick up ones pseudonym and use it. I thought our pseudonyms were connected with our IP addresses, so Ben could filter stuff. Oh well. Toni and family. Ugh. I’m told that she constantly has plastic surgery. I wonder what’s happening with the highrise thing she–I heard she was behind it–built on the water south of Gandy.
Hi, Incredulous, I got the note above, thanks. I thought there was something different about some of the posts. Just didn’t seem like you. Did you send an email to Ben? Because taking someone’s HBB handle is trolling, IMHO.
Hi Palmetto,
I didn’t know there was some unwritten rule about it. I guess I could e-mail Ben, but I’m sure he reads these posts, so he already knows. In case he reads this, I’m the Incredulous from Tampa, with an MSN e-mail address and a Verizon account.
That lady was in line to be disabled by work and stress.
Maybe wall street can fix this problem also. Put these out of works into a package and sell them to the same GF’s thay bought their “AAA’ rated liar loan packages…..like as slaves or something.
Does anyone ever tell them the game is up?
I got out back in 2002 because the pressure to lie, cheat, steal, and deceive became intolerable.
Lender’s would black-ball you at the drop of hat, if you pissed off some real estate agent because their deal got f*cked up by something you said.
Sure the fook my name isn’t on any appraisal’s floatin’ around these last 4 years.
I can guarantee you that 80% of the reports out there do not conform to the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice.
All time bomb’s waiting to explode.
hd74man ….. I got to say, I like you alot ,and I’m glad you don’t have your John Handcock on a bunch of cr-p .In my lifetime I have always refused to go along with the crowd also when I thought something was wrong ,even when I loss money because of it . Thank God I have never been in the position in my life that I would starve if I didn’t do some dirty deed ,so in a way that is a blessing in life . I guess I always felt like I would pump gas or gather cans before I would do something foul in the name of making a living .
I’ve written about this before. I see them trying to find jobs at UCD for positions they are freakishly unqualified for. To find a nice, safe state job would require a huge pay cut but at least they’d be able to eat and get health ins in $12 an hour.
Welcome to the real working wage in the central valley
To find a nice, safe state job would require a huge pay cut but at least they’d be able to eat and get health ins in $12 an hour
Have them move down here to LA, the LASDU just gave health benefits to part time workers (4 hours a day). It was “for the children”.
When I first moved to Calif in 1992, I noticed one day in the LA Times a list of So Cal’s largest employers. Practically all of them were entities financed by taxation. So where is the tax BASE? Who is paying all these people? (I decided it wouldn’t be me, that’s why I don’t live there now.)
Government entities are the largest employers in any region, because the individual private sector employers just aren’t that big. I’m sure that places like Detroit and Pittsburg were different in the good old days, but probably not any more.
From the Bakersfield Californian BY GRETCHEN WENNER:
A major housing development southwest of Bakersfield is dead, a victim of the wheezing housing market.
The Flying Seven Ranch was slated to put more than 9,000 homes and apartments south of Panama Lane on four square miles of farmland owned by the Destefani family. Flying Seven developers now say their project is kaput because of drooping demand.
That project’s demise may also impact plans for the Gateway project of nearly 16,500 more units immediately to the south of Flying Seven. A gap created by Flying Seven’s pullout could hobble Gateway’s plans for annexation into Bakersfield.
“Things were going great guns,” said Marc Gauthier, the city’s principal planner, “then got slammed into neutral.”
http://bakersfieldbubble.blogspot.com/
I don’t understand. None of these big long term developments were planning for any form of downturn in prices???? We had a huge project at my work and it got voted down last here. But the developer, Centex, said even though the market was turning down they were prepared for it. So its hard to believe a massive project of over 5000 homes had no downturn in their plan. Now thats some bad planning.
No no no, all those talking heads over at MSNBC assured me 2 years ago that the builders had grown “smarter” this cycle and had all “learned their lesson” from rampant overbuilding during the late 80s/early 90s. There’s no way anything like that could have happened again ‘cuz builders and Wall Streeters always pay attention to HISTORY and economic FUNDAMENTALS. Well, at least the big guys do when it comes to cashing out their company’s stock at peak price.
“wheezing housing market.”
LOL. Gee, I guess she was trying to tie the housing market to the local air quality.
Good. Stop the sprawl and unsustainable population growth. Save some farm-belts and open space for the cityfolks. I mean CHrist this is 26,000 units (what - 75K to 100K people)! It seems like these big landowners have inordinate control of the design and growth of cities in California.
i call bullshit on the comment ’some brokers are doing very well’! as of this last month (August), no brokers are doing well, the market stopped in its tracks. the sales volumes will shock even the bears.
A major housing development southwest of Bakersfield is dead, a victim of the wheezing housing market.
The Flying Seven Ranch was slated to put more than 9,000 homes and apartments south of Panama Lane on four square miles of farmland owned by the Destefani family. Flying Seven developers now say their project is kaput because of drooping demand.
That project’s demise may also impact plans for the Gateway project of nearly 16,500 more units immediately to the south of Flying Seven. A gap created by Flying Seven’s pullout could hobble Gateway’s plans for annexation into Bakersfield.
“Things were going great guns,” said Marc Gauthier, the city’s principal planner, “then got slammed into neutral.”
The following month, developers of the McAllister Ranch project on the north side of Panama Lane got a two-year extension for 274 homes on a 582-acre patch there.
The 6,000-home McAllister Ranch community is moving ahead, though at a slower pace than developer SunCal Cos. predicted two years ago. Then, it said residents might move in at the end of 2006. SunCal took over the long-dormant project in April 2005 after previous developers dropped out in 1993.
These days, a golf course designed by Greg Norman boasts tidy greens, but the rest of the 2,070-acre project rises not much higher than the curb-and-gutter stage.
http://bakersfieldbubble.blogspot.com/
Looks like ‘The Flying Seven Ranch’ turned out to be a boomerang instead.
Haw. Nice turn of phrase there.
test
“Lenders, for their part, say it’s a two-way street. Staffers often find people unwilling to give up cell phone service or satellite TV to finance strategies to save their houses, Ed Delgado, a senior Wells Fargo executive, told the California Senate Committee on Banking, Finance and Insurance last month.”
- You folks outside of California need to throw us some love here. How can we be entertained and informed without cell phones, tv, broadband etc.
- This totally smacks of discrimination, next you will want illegals to stop getting fake ID’s and Social Security numbers.
I wouldn’t give up my cell phone. As a single working mom, it’s an essencial. However I don’t have cable, or Sat TV.
What did “single working moms” do ten years ago without cell phones? Doesn’t appear to me that anyone suffered too much.
I don’t know… But knowing my kids, and/or the school can reach me anytime is important. I know when I was a kid, my parents didn’t get all the messages from the school. Not only that but being able to make a phone call when, for example, your car is broken down at the side of the road. Depending on the kindness of strangers is unsafe.
“Depending on the kindness of strangers is unsafe.”
So is yapping while you’re doing 60 miles per hour on the highway. Do you do that?
Nope.
I do. And I regard 60 mph as entirely candy-*ss. I do that speed when I’m freakin’ parked.
Olympiagal, if I couldn’t have my wife I’d want you.
My mom was single and raised me just fine without a cell phone. I can’t believe the looks people give me when I say I dont want a cell phone anymore. Its just a big waste of money. There is so much useless technology that people use everyday its disgusting. But then again I dont think they should make automatic cars either.
“Back in the day” there was often at least one parent home who could keep tabs on where the kids were & what they were up to. Now, both parents often commute to jobs far away.
Truth is, it’s VERY important to be able to reach your children & for them to be able to reach you.
No offense, but those without kids probably wouldn’t understand.
You don’t have to give up your cell phone. Just give up your landline.
At least do the rest of us a favor and set the POS to vibrate so that everybody else doesn’t have to be annoyed every time your kids call. I am so sick of listening to those gawd darn ring tones during work. I make it clear to the person that reports to me that I better not hear their cell phone during work and I better not see them talking on it except for emergencies. Other managers just whine, “I don’t understand why they are on their cell phone all the time”. Losers!
Of course it’s on vibrate… and I can count on one hand the number of times I have talked on my cell phone during work time. I’m at work to work… Not talk on my cell phone.
Wow. Then you are the first of your breed. All of the single mothers that I work with can’t shut up on those stupid things. Of course many of the conversations are with their mothers, sisters, boyfriends, etc.
I hate talking on my phone… The microphone is in a funny place, and people say “what?” all the time.
If I am going to chat, I use my house phone.
I might be old fashioned, but IMHO it’s just wrong to chat with people when I am being paid to do work.
“I hate talking on my phone… The microphone is in a funny place,”
I know a lot of people whose microphone I would like to put in a funny place.
Karen, I completely agree with you. I have a cheap little Vmobile cell phone, with a pay as you go plan. I use it for emergencies mainly. I rarely give out the number. I use my home phone for longer conversations. I know many people who can’t live without their cell phones. I sure can. Quite nicely.
NYCBoy - got anger issues much?
We have one of those that both my husband and I use for emergencies. Only a few people have the number. But, people look at me strange when they ask for the cell phone number and I say I don’t have one.
Funny, way back when I used to have a cell phone. It was a free phone with the plan and had it for a few years. It went beyond the contract date and after a while the phone gave up the ghost. When I went three months paying the basic rate for a phone that I wasn’t using because it didn’t work it became really evident it was a wasteful monthly expense. Now, no cell phone (only hubby’s pay as you go) and I don’t miss it a bit.
I wouldn’t give up my cell phone. As a single working mom, it’s an essencial
Of course it’s on vibrate…………..
Could somebody please call Karen
“NYCBoy - got anger issues much?”
Whenever the subject is rude pricks and cell phones the answer is, “yes”.
He’s in NYC, of course he has anger issues >; )
Single working mom, if you’re a widow condolences. If you not why are you single? Not fair to the child.
I love being judged by strangers on the internet. Why am I single? None of your business.
And as one of those strangers on the Internet, I just love paying the societial and fiscal costs for irresponsible women who bear children from unfit partners who won’t stick around to assume their parental responsibilities. Not judging, just stating a cold hard fact. There’s a damned good reason why most societies look down on unwed mothers and frown on divorce.
Hey Karen, you did throw your personal information out there to begin with. And if you are going to defend cell phones then you had better be prepared to fight to the death since I think I can safely say they are hated by many of us. Those of us that don’t act like jerks with cell phones hate those people that do and that is one huge club.
Don’t worry, Sammy, you don’t pay squat for this single mom.
Irresponsible? I’m pretty sure I’m not irresponsible… I work, I get no form of support from the government.
My ex pays child support and sees his kids regularly.
I wouldn’t be so sure. A huge proportion of our prison population, for example, comes from broken homes. Even if the mothers are not on public assistance, raising kids requires a committed mother and a father. Anything less is shortchanging the kids. My point is, I think a lot of women make very poor choices when it comes to the guys who impregnant them (by accident or otherwise). They shouldn’t be surprised when Romeo doesn’t honor his obligations.
“There’s a damned good reason why most societies look down on unwed mothers and frown on divorce.”
But of course! While the lying, cheating, wife-beating psychopaths they were married to (and managed to hide their true selves until it was too late and you already were pregnant) get off scot free.
Single mother here - daughter enrolled in Stanford - never took a dime from the state. Worked two full time jobs for years. Paying cash tuition.
Society should be on their knees kissing my feet for giving birth to her. She is the most beautiful, intelligent, generous girl I’ve ever met.
Please understand, I make a sharp distinction between single moms who are essentially faultless in the scenario, and those who are single because they made poor choices whose outcomes were entirely predictable. I think society could and must help the former, for the sake of their kids, but should take a much hard line - like involuntary sterilization - on the latter.
The problem isn’t single or divorced mothers. The problem is loser ‘don’t give a damn’ parents (married or not) who don’t give their all to their children.
Sammy, a huge proportion of the population comes from broken homes…. I believe the divorce is around 70% I was married for 20 years. Over the last 3 years of the marriage, I did everything I knew to save the marriage. I was miserable. My ex was happy with the status quo, and saw no reason to change anything. How long do you stay with someone who is fine with you being miserable?
At the end of the day I decided my kids were better off coming from a broken home than living in a broken home.
This whole conversation is uncalled for. period
I can’t believe how everyone is giving this woman such a hard time. All she said was that she is a single mom who needs a cell phone. Where is all this hostility coming from? Give here a break!
kockwurst
“Hard” to take you seriously, please call Karen.
Thanks, kockwurst, you said exactly what I was thinking. Have to say, the need to attack someone you don’t know anything about, and lump them into some larger group you hate, is pretty indicative of something. Just not sure what. I’ve seen these attacks here before and never understood them.
It’s hard for people to hide their true selves long enough to get married. Usually the partner will overlook issues because they want to pretend that their man/woman is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I know women whose husbands beat them up or cheat on them regularly, but he’s still a great husband according to them. One even has a husband who is in prison for drug trafficking, but he’s still a good person according to her.
“It’s hard for people to hide their true selves long enough to get married.”
Not for psychopaths. If you’ve read up on them (as I have after trying to make sense of the man), you know the signs to look for - otherwise you’re a sitting duck.
They hide it until they know you’re trapped. Then it comes out - a little at a time. You catch the lies, and start looking. What you find isn’t just ugly, it’s horrifying.
Not all psychopaths/sociopaths are serial killers - they’re your neighbor, your boss, a co-worker, and sometimes, someone you make the mistake of falling in love with.
Anon in DC,
MYOB as my, and I suspect your mother, would have told you.
This is a blog, not a grand jury. What happens here is very public.
Jees, this is really bizarre,
Having to defend yourself because you are a single mom. I expect an increase in single moms during the coming crisis and I sincerely hope that Sammy will have to pay for all of them through higher taxes. That will give me some real Schadenfreude.
Children learn what they live. The one thing you will teach your children without fail is how to have relationships. You will show them how they should let others treat them, and how they should treat others. They will learn what feels right and wrong from you. Teach them that being married is better than having healthy relationships and you demonstrate what is wrong is right. People who don’t like each other, don’t respect each other, don’t trust each other but living a lie of a marriage are on the road to bungling at raising their kids. If you bungle that, nothing else you will ever do will really matter.
My personal preference for my child is to have two parents, grandparents, lots of aunts and uncles and cousins. However, it is not about just having a mother and a father that makes for a successful home and happy child.
It takes people who are committed to being what it takes to raise happy, successful and well rounded children. It takes people who demonstrate with their daily actions what respect looks like. What trust looks like and what honesty feels like. What it feels like to be valued, cherished and protected. It takes people who respect themselves, live honestly, and who hold themselves accountable for their actions. Those things don’t come from reciting some lines, changing the name, and exchanging rings. They should be present when doing such things, but considering the divorce rates those who enter into marriage for the right reasons and successfully embody what they promise are hard to come by.
It is not about having the kind of child you always wanted, but it is really about being the kind of parent they need. To do that, you must be able to live your own life honestly and make choices for good reasons, and own up to the bad ones you will make and help your kids know the difference. Live a lie for the sake of appearances and that is precisely what you will teach your kids is normal and worth aspiring to.
I think an important part of any parent’s job is to take responsibility for their relationships and choices associated with them. If you choose to be unmarried- do it honestly and for the right reasons and take responsibility for what your child needs. If you choose to be married, choose wisely.
Single mom here too. Never have taken a dime from public funds. Worked three jobs, put myself through college. Working in the top 5% of my field, putting an absolutely wonderful child through college. Zero debt. good savings. and of course appalled at the number of forked up kids being steeped in toxic homes with people who pat themselves on the back for the wrong reasons.
ps. I grew up with parents who stayed married “for the sake of the kids.” They were the poster children for the addage… If you can’t be a good example, at least serve as a horrible warning.
So you automatically jump on the single mom? Did it ever occur to you that the father may have bailed? Must be nice to have such bright and shiny morals. I’m sure you do nothing wrong. (P.S. I’m a single mom, too.)
In about 90% of the single-mom cases I’m familiar with, the mom is single because she conceived a child with some loser who was clearly not the sort to own up to his obligations. Talk about foundations of sand - what did they THINK was going to happen?
Of course, so many of the so-called men in this country are pathetic specimens of manhood, and in those cases, and only those cases, do I really have sympathy for single moms who ditch the loser for the betterment of their offspring.
Your last scenario describes my situation.
Then you have my sincere sympathy. There’s no form of life I despise more than fathers who refuse to live up to their responsibilities as men, husbands, and fathers.
Whoa, guys, get over the Adam complex, OK? Gals and gents, we’re all in this together, we’re all bozos on this bus.
The question that I have never had answered is why do women continue to have children with these pathetic chimps?
The answer I always get is I don’t know. So you didn’t think about it before you brought children into the world with a deadbeat loser as a father? Even as a male, I am scared shiftless of getting married and having children with the wrong woman. I would have thought that women would be more careful since they are more likely to be left holding the bag.
I cannot even believe this topic, but Sammy, I’m going to explain to you exactly how a woman might become a single mother. Say a young woman is dating a guy for several years. They are in a committed, monogamous relationship. She becomes pregnant. Even though everyone in her family can see he’s a jerk, she wants to keep the baby and decides she should marry him since it’s his kid. A couple of years later, they have another kid, then another. He’s verbally abusive and disrespectful. He does stupid irresponsible things that she finds incomprehensible. A couple more years go by and the woman can’t take being controlled and verbally abused anymore. Her self-esteem is suffering. She feels hated, not loved. She’s depressed, full of self-doubt. She decides to leave him and move in with her parents. Soon, she’s on her feet, is working full time, living on her own and caring for her kids too. Her kids see that she is feeling better. Since they are away from their father, they stop calling her names and disrespecting her. They are a happy family for the first time in their lives. Now, is that so terrible? This is the story of not one, not two, not three, but four women I know, minus the second and third kids in some cases. Some men still live in the dark times and think they can treat women any old way. It’s not true anymore. “Sisters are doin’ it for themselves!” Annie Lenox
Don’t marry a loser in the first place. Is it REALLY This hard to understand?
Even though everyone in her family can see he’s a jerk, she wants to keep the baby and decides she should marry him since it’s his kid.
So…. she knowingly married a jerk?
I wouldn’t give up my cell phone. As a single working mom, it’s an essencial.
Using it while driving, however, is not. Few women seem to understand that, like the idiot who rear-ended me at a red light a couple of years ago while gabbing on her cell phone.
Nope I don’t talk and drive.
Did you know that, statistically, men use more cell phone minutes each month than women? Things that make you go hmmmm…
Quote:
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Did you know that, statistically, men use more cell phone minutes each month than women? Things that make you go hmmmm…
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I don’t think so, and I am a man. What do you get your statistic from ?
How about the GUY I saw driving a semi, trying to make a sharp turn while talking on his cell phone? Or the GUY driving the tanker, standing next it while refueling the gas station storage tanks, testing his new cell phone? Darwin awardees….
One of the guys I work with admits to texting and driving.
As a single mother with an MBA and a fulfilling and lucrative career, I am almost entertained by the misogynistic venom spewing on this thread. You’re correct of course - we never should have gotten ourselves pregnant, dammit! How selfish of us!
irvine, I for one was sorry to see some of the comments. I dunno, as someone who has made plenty of mistakes in life and made some bad decisions, I usually find out that the most judgmental types who hold themselves up as examples of rectumitude never-done-a-wrong-thing-in-their-lives are fulla baloney. This used to mess with my head when I wuz a pup, because I’d think the folks who blatted about the morals of others were upstanding folks and I’d feel like I was a pup who could never measure up to their superior morals. Later on, I’d find out that Mr. or Ms. Rectumitude were diddling little kids or stealing their neighbor blind or something like that. After that, it always made me alert to those who protested the loudest how perfect they were.
I’m not saying that’s necessarily the case with the posters here, I’m just saying…
Let me bring this back to housing. Here goes. For most of recorded history, the nuclear family has been the basic building block of society. It’s also been the individual’s first and last safety net. Those families lived, to the degree possible, in decent abodes - homes, not houses. Taking on home ownership entailed accepting certain sacrifices and responsibilities, and generally, those were best handled by two parents playing more or less traditional father-breadwinner/mother-homemaker roles. The further we’ve gotten away from that as a society, the more dysfunctional we seem to have become, with results and decline that are evident all around.
Trying to be a decent husband and father is a tough, full-time job. I honor my responsibilities and try to be a net asset to society. I’m raising my kids to do the same. I resent paying the costs of those who have shown poor judgement and little restraint in their personal lives, and force society to effectively become a Nanny State. That is not a blanket condemnation of single moms, or “misogynistic venom.” I’m tired of being told it’s my civic duty to tolerate and subsidize irresponsible behavior. The trends we’ve seen in the housing market - the shoddy construction, the mass deception on the part of the real estate industry, the willingness of masses of people to lie on their loan appliations - is indicative of a larger failure to ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR ONE’S OWN ACTIONS. The consequences affect us all. As someone who pays the bills, I have every right to say, “Enough! Clean up your act!” to the people who refuse to accept basic responsibility for their actions, be they FBs or the kind of single moms who pop a new kid by a new “boyfriend” every other year, and expect me and others like me to uncomplainingly pick up the tab.
I’m not saying that’s necessarily the case with the posters here, I’m just saying…
The only “Palmetto” that has any standing on this board, is the one in Tampa. You don’t sound like him. Please pick a new name, since I don’t think he’d want to be confused with you.
Remember when a few posters started jumping on Tx because her and her husband choose not to have children? Pwleaze. A person can be very smart fiscally and a real knuckle-dragger socially.
I’m just saying that for many people, it ain’t all like Leave It To Beaver and Father Knows Best. And part of the problem is, many, people have those expections and when it doesn’t turn out that way, bitter disappointment. June, moon, spoon. That’s the way it’s supposed to be and if you don’t have that, why, you must be a failure.
Hey, Sammy, this is me. Sorry, I’m not purfick. I don’t have kids and I gotta broken marriage. Sue me. But at least I sold my house at the top of the market and I’m renting.
“is indicative of a larger failure to ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR ONE’S OWN ACTIONS.”
Yes. If you have kids with a deadbeat - you better plan on working two jobs/doing without to make ends meet. You buy a house you can’t afford - eat canned soup for the next 30 years.
Do not expect ’society’ to pay for your mistakes.
I got rear-ended a few months ago. I got out of my truck and was ready to beat the crap out of the woman for being single. But she confused me by disguising herself as a married man. Bitch.
LOL…That was awesome!
“next you will want illegals to stop getting fake ID’s and Social Security numbers.”
I’d like them to stop having to be in the position where they have to get fake documents.
I agree. California, such an Inland Empire, need to recruit more illegals with false social numbers to buy homes here. Mortgage fraud should be legal in CA. The rest of the taxpayers should help us.
Sammy,
Both my husband and I are children of divorce, and because of that, we’ve agreed to do everything within our power to stay together and make that “perfect family” for our kids.
Problem is…things change. Sometimes, people change — and not for the better.
We consider ourselves blessed and **fortunate**. We tried to make good decisions when picking our life-long partners, but things changed…
The first two years of our marriage ended up being hell. We were thisclose to getting divorced when I discovered I was pregnant (happened before things really got bad).
Thankfully, we were both committed to fixing things (not common in many marriages) and spent thousands of dollars and three days a week (for almost two years) getting marriage counseling. We came out okay, and things have been amazingly good since then (over 6 years).
Point is, sh*t happens. It’s not for any of us to judge others in such a hateful and spiteful way. We don’t know everyone else’s story, and what you did to Karen (and any other single mothers on this blog) is totally uncalled for.
I fully believe divorce (and having children out of wedlock) is one of the biggest reasons for problems in our society. But to blame single women is just stupid.
For every “welfare mom” there’s a welfare dad. Just a thought…
How did you screw up so badly to have a hellish 2 first years of marriage. I’m not even married, but in a live-in relationship for 7 years, and things are peachy.
Marriage is VERY different from dating relationships. Unfortunately, many people change, usually for the worse, after marriage.
People get married too soon. I’m all for dating as long as possible before pulling the trigger on getting married. My wife and I dated for 7 years before we got married. After that long…you pretty much know whether it’s going to work or not.
“‘It’s very quiet and peaceful,’ said Pao Ly, one of two home buyers who moved in before the developer, Lafferty Homes of San Ramon, vanished in March. He suspects the surrounding houses eventually will sell for less than the $450,000 he paid for his 2,900-square-foot home, and would like to renegotiate the deal — if he can figure out who to call”
Hey Pao Ly…..this is your old good buddy Jim Lafferty….the guy who sold you your house for $450k. I’m off on a short vacation but will be back soon. Will be happy to renegotiate the deal…I got extra cash comin out the yingyang. To get this started, send me a cashiers check for $50k and I will return a check for $150k. Mail to me here in the Cayman Islands….address on the envelope. Later good buddy, Jim
LOL. His realtor and mortgage broker can probably be found working the drive-through at Taco Bell. He can’t refinance, but he can join them on the shift for the next thirty years to come up with the equity that’s vanished since he closed.
but, they aren’t making anymore land… or we had a another couple in here who is very interested in the home or this area has never dropped in value. I heard this from different open houses this past weekend. Realtors, most not all are bird brains.
“Others are diversifying, moving into commercial real estate or other related fields to supplement their incomes.”
Now here is a guy with insight to the future! More great fodder for a hollywood script.
Falling Down, part Duex?
‘I asked, ‘What’s your solution? Give me some ways I can keep this from happening,’ says Trammell of her dealings with the nation’s leading lender.
What CW should have told her:
‘Lady, you bought more house than you could afford. Triple your income.’
Got 10% down?
Good one! Or how about this…
Tracy: ‘I asked, ‘What’s your solution? Give me some ways I can keep this from happening,’ says Trammell
Countrywide Rep: Well, let’s see… It says here on your stated income document that you currently earn $10,000/month in your current occupation. So, just get a second night position doing the same thing, problem solved!
Re: the FB who had problems with Countrywide….
“‘I called the original girl and said, ‘I need to know what’s going on,’ Trammell said. ‘She said, ‘Fax me the stuff, and I’ll get back to you.’ Then her first words were, ‘Oops, I missed that part.’ I said, ‘What do you mean, oops? This is my home.’”
Yes, and you’d think YOU would have paid more attention to your loan docs since this is YOUR HOME. There is so much finger-pointing going on these days, most of these FBs need extra hands.
FWIW, the roommate idea is not a bad one - but it sounds like this gal has already made up her mind not to do anything more besides “sell the boat and extra vehicles.” WTF!
My thought exactly. Hey Tammy, it’s YOUR house - maybe YOU should be the one to take primary responsibility for reading and UNDERSTANDING what YOU were signing. Or, since it’s a safe presumption that you lacked the intelligence to comprehend the documents, pay a competent real estate attorney to do it for you. The stupidity of these FBs is exceeded only by their hubris in assuming that since it’s always someone else’s fault, ergo, someone else will bail them out.
Extra vehicles? This meant she had at least three. And she wants to save the house “for the children”. I bet since mom overindulged in extra vehicular craze, the brats had all the must have toys, too. Unbelievable.
On a different topic, I was out at an open house in Laguna Hills. House on the market for about a year. Priced in the $849k - $879k range. House was mosly empty except the master bedroom. Had a chat with the realtor. I got set off by the “it’s a good time to buy” chant. I replied to him, do you know what is the key word in this market? After a blank stare, I said “JUMBO”. Without JUMBO at reasonable rates you will not have a market in SoCal. The best case scenario is a $520k home with 20% down, that will leave a $416k mortgage.
JUMBO=Blood Bath. I’m hearing some are getting two loans to meet the requirement. If I was an investor, I need full disclosure if the buyer is taking on two huge mortgages.
In the article, it’s evident that she’s a recent widow. So there is, in this instance, a “major life event” that has seriously reduced her earning power. And I think the reason she’s resistant to a roommate is the aforementioned kids. I’m not a parent yet but the idea of bringing a stranger into my household is a little worrisome. (And of the friends I’d be okay with, there are precisely zero who would need lodging.)
This does not, of course, change the fact that her case may well have been cherry-picked to generate sympathy. The article writer wants you to feel sorry for folks who are foreclosed on, so he’s not likely to focus on the idiot with the Hummer and the vacations in the Caribbean.
“‘Some brokers are doing very well. Some are wondering when the day comes they’ll have to put the sign out, ‘Will work for food,’
Woe the poor real estate professional. Additional suggestions:
Brokers and realtors could have roadside bake and garage sales on the many foreclosed properties to supplement income. Brokerages and real estate houses could hand out a free spray bottle of Windex and a squeegee to recently laid off employees (additional cleaning items need to be purchased with cash). They could volunteer for the new raging sport in FL called “mortgage broker tossing” which is more popular than NASCAR. Brokers could line up at Home Depot’s for day work. Carrying “Will work for commission” signs on busy intersections may be useful.
I forgot to ask the guy who was holding up the HOMELESS sign at the intersection the other day if he was an FB or a former RE agent, when I gave him the dollar bill!
The funniest part is that their experience as a “Realtor” qualifies them for almost no real job. They can go into some form of sales, maybe. They have no real skill such as a plumber, doctor or exotic dancer (maybe they could do the last depending upon how much work they’ve had done on the upstairs and the basement). The recession will be very unkind to the unskilled white collar trash worker, such as the run-of-the-mill mortgage broker or real estate agent. Hard times build character and they definitely have a shortage of that.
White collar trash. I like that. it describes most of the college boys/girls who never get their hands dirty and produce nothing of value. Business and marketing majors are worthless. realtors, loan “officers”, etc are all lazy bums who don’t know a damned thing except how to talk into a cell phone.
This housing crash is going to shake things up in a good way. Business owners will learn (the hard way) that the guy on the production floor is the money maker, not the suit in the air conditioned office.
Fire the college boys, give a pay raise to the mechanics and techs.
Fire the college boys, give a pay raise to the mechanics and techs.
Good luck with that. Who do you think decides whom to fire?
I don’t think it comes down to a choice of the guy on the floor or the guy in the office. A successful business needs a well designed team with leadership starting at the top and filtering all the way to the guy on the floor. Anybody on the team that doesn’t lead by example, and that includes the guy on the floor, needs to be gotten rid of. That is how a great company works.
Unfortunately, this is how the typical corporation works:
CEO: Out of touch boob that makes 364 times the average worker
Board: Riding the gravy train to collect board fees, never questioning top management because they don’t want to lose their priced place
Senior Management: Yes men and women willing to sell out the little guy at every turn, merely trying to fatten up on salary and stock options.
Middle Management: People moved up from lower positions that don’t want to be in management, except for the paycheck. They forget where they came from and hate the people they answer to.
Floor worker: Thinks that because they “produce” the product that the company would fold without them, even though their job could probably be done as well by a chimpanzee. They show up late, leave early and bitch all day long.
I think that is probably a good overview of the average American corporation. I’ve been around these monstrous organizations enough to know what I’ve seen.
Very well put! Just yesterday I was talking to a bunch of friends one of whom is taking industrial psychology and wants to help companies run HR better - nothing wrong with that - but she just couldn’t get the “well-oiled” successful business that you described above.
Me thinks some of these people have “heal the world” stars in their eyes and just don’t realize that it is every man for himself in the typical business organization - screw the little guy who works his ass off.
“I think that is probably a good overview of the average American corporation. I’ve been around these monstrous organizations enough to know what I’ve seen. ”
NYC, you hit the nail on the head and smashed it halfway through the wood. If that’s not dead-on, then there is no such thing as dead-on.
DP
“Carrying “Will work for commission” signs on busy intersections may be useful.”
Can I state my donation amount as I drive by?
http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/beat_the_press_archive?month=09&year=2007&base_name=the_fed_and_the_housing_bubble_1
The above is from the American Prospect-Dean Bakers blog entry-he says the Fed is now trying to cover its ass for creating the housing bubble.
Thas is starting to get good!
“…the Fed is now trying to cover its ass for creating the housing bubble…”
I am mildly encouraged by some of the commentary I have read regarding the Jackson Hole pow-wow. Here is one which suggests that Bernanke delivered a low key, Fedspeak version of, “Cramer, eat my shorts.”
Unfortunately, talk is cheap, while resolute action is priceless.
The Fed v the financiers
The US economy is flagging despite a balance of $170 trillion in the global financial market, but who is to be trusted? Central bankers or markets?
Kenneth Rogoff
September 3, 2007 7:45 PM | Printable version
In his August 31 address to the world’s most influential annual monetary policy conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke coolly explained why the Fed is determined to resist pressure to stabilise swooning equity and housing prices. Bernanke’s principled position - echoed by European Central Bank head Jean Claude Trichet and Bank of England head Mervyn King - has set off a storm in markets, accustomed to the attentive pampering lavished on them by Bernanke’s predecessor, Alan Greenspan.
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/kenneth_rogoff/2007/09/the_fed_v_the_financiers.html
“Appraisers regularly face tremendous pressure to overvalue a property so a lender will fund a transaction, Chirpich added. A handful of appraisers now are giving in to such pressure to get more work.”
“‘If an appraiser refused to bend to pressure, they would no longer get assignments and many times would not be paid for completed assignments,’ said Carol Chirpich, president of the Southern California chapter of the Appraisal Institute. ‘To keep work, (some appraisers) will bend to the coercion of the broker.’”
You’re full of BS, Carol.
The number hitter hacks started evolving way back in 1992/’93, the minute the Federal government told the state’s to implement licensing programs.
And instead of setting the bar to accommodate some semblence of intelligence, expertise and professionalism, the morons in all the state unemployment agencies used the mandate to accommodate legions of the marginally educated and unqualified.
Can you smog a mirror-here’s an appraisal license.
So in the process hundreds of licenses were issued, saturating the market and driving fees into the toilet.
The state where I began practicing had a tradition ecomic need for 400 appraiser. 2100 became licensed.
Experience and professionalism was deemed irrelevant.
As one banker said to me, what the f*ck do I care what your experience is…That piece of paper hanging on your office wall for the last 20 years, looks the same as the guy who just hung up his…and he’ll work for half of what you want. So take a hike.
But the fee structure was the least of anyone’s concern. Queer a deal with any type of negative comment about the property which would invite questions from underwriters or come in short on a value and you were toast.
The job structure was the virtual inverse of any other profession.
The better educated you were and the more you knew about the market, the less the real estate agents and their lending whores wanted you about.
At one time membership in a professional organization such as the Society of Real Estate Appraisers or the Appraisal Institute was virtually a neccessity in order to assemble a proper qualifications statement and to sell yourself to clients.
However, with the glut of appraiser’s all that became irrelevant.
The lenders were enthralled with the escalating numbers. Not only did it allow them to go “shopping” for the values they needed to do their deals, they also were able to skim off appraisal fees by charging what traditional to the market, post it on their estimated closing cost statement; proceed to hire inexperience-pay them half the amount and pocket half.
The six-figure incomes noted in the posted were in all likelyhood earned by the prinicpals of boiler room operations, putting out reams of computer generated canned comment reports, with pre-determined numbers ordered by their mortgage broker masters.
The rube doin’ the actually grunt work is probably making half the amount, with expenses (most are hired as independant contractors)
taking half.
At one time you used to wear a coat and a tie to inspections,
society gatherings, and continuing ed courses. I knew the jig was up the day, an inordinately obese woman dressed in a pink jogging suit with little Easter bunnies, sat down next to me and began knitting during a continuing education course on the Standards of Uniform Practice.
However, the dregs of the appraisal profession will continue to ply their trade, because this new era of desperation is the perfect cesspool in which they can thrive.
And Carol-if your still in business, I’m sure you’re playin’ the game just like all the rest…otherwise you’d be starving.
So why did you stay in a racket that was so terrible?
RE: So why did you stay in a racket that was so terrible?
I started in 1983. For the first 10 years I thought I had the best job in the world.
I put a lot of time and money in professionsal memberships, computer equipment and mandatory continuing education course work.
When I started real estate appraising was largely an undiscovered profession. But I did my D&D on what was involved in getting started and made my way. Scores of people used to tell me, geez, your job looks interesting-how do you get started.
I’d mumble something about doing some research and go on my way. Many also asked about becoming a “trainee”, but I was on to that game. The only person “trained” is your future competition.
They stay with you until they learn the ropes and take a couple clients away. So you only
But federal mandated licensing provided the proverbial yellow brick road into the biz, and that was pretty much the ballgame. I watched the professional slide for about another decade. Not quite enough to walk away, with so much invested but you knew if your gut there was trouble.
But in 2002 it all came to a head with the outright blatant corruption and coercion, so I decided I had enough.
IN the words of Dirty Harry Callahan…A man’s got to know his limitations.
My limitation was I couldn’t be bought.
This whole appraisal business is so screwed. They’re just puppets. “show them the money” and they’ll do anything.
Did you see Property Ladder two weeks ago? It was 3 dumba$$es in Atlanta that were going to flip a house together. They had no clue what they were doing. They were complete idiots. Oh, by the way, they previously worked together as property appraisers.
Here’s how appraisal should work.
The value of the house is the tax value as assessed by the locality.
However, the owner has the right to sell his deed to the locality for the assessed value. This prevents assessed values from being too high. But the locality is motivated to make the price as high as possible. Thus, a “mark to market” occurs which is the real value of the property. Bingo. You don’t need appraisers anymore.
hd, you may not have earned all those sleezballs respect but you have earned the respect from the group on this blog because of your professional ethics. Thank you for not contributing to this bubble.
They should beg guys like HD74 to come back into the profession .
I dont know why everyone has to try to make themselves feel so special by calling themselves a professional or whatever extra job title they want to throw in. I graduated with a BS in Civil Engr and am sick of seeing the janitor trying to call himself an engineer. You are an appraiser. Good or bad, whats with the whole professional thing?
“‘I called the original girl and said, ‘I need to know what’s going on,’ Trammell said. ‘She said, ‘Fax me the stuff, and I’ll get back to you.’ Then her first words were, ‘Oops, I missed that part.’ I said, ‘What do you mean, oops? This is my home.’”
She meant OOPS, like in “Oops, you FORGOT TO READ THE FINE PRINT!.
Use of the slang word oops suggests a petty misdeed — a mere peccadillo. For example:
* Oops, I missed that part.
* Oops, I forgot my diaphragm.
* Oops, I didn’t know the gun was loaded.
* Oops, I guess there were no WMDs after all.
Luv, Jen
Exactly right! If this woman feels any need to be concerned about someone saying, “oops” to her on the phone, then it’s not really “her” house now is it?
oops i crapped my pants
a fave snl skit.
“Neither Trammel nor Countrywide has yet been able to work out a deal to spare her small house in Citrus Heights from foreclosure. ‘I asked, ‘What’s your solution? Give me some ways I can keep this from happening,’ says Trammell of her dealings with the nation’s leading lender. ‘They said, ‘Get a roommate.’ That’s what she told me. I said, ‘OK. Well, I guess we’re done talking.’”
Well, “get a roommate” was actually excellent advice. What did she expect to hear, “oh sorry, you’re right, you shouldn’t have to pay us back what you borrowed”?
If you go into debt, it’s your responsibility to pay it back, and the lender isn’t there to counsel you about how to do that.
How much do you want to bet that she was insulted when her doctor told her to lose some weight by exercising and eating better when her BP clocked in at 180/100?
Right, jbunniii, I reacted the same way as you. What’s so terrible about renting out a room? Only that it’s getting harder to do, if everyone’s trying to do it.
The Ernie Schimpf house in Stockton on Hubbard Ave is worth, at most, 380K. Probably less. The homes there are over inflated.
The place is a dump! 550K for this?????
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070902/A_BIZ/709020303
But it’s got a 600 sq foot shack - I mean workshop, too.
It is amazing how many houses I see on the flip shows that look like $150,000 homes and get priced at $500,000 - $600,000, mainly in California. The entire machine needs to be retooled.
In Stockton no less. Geez
“We didn’t know whether to laugh or cry,” Rosalee Schimpf said. “We look at each other and ask, ‘Could we have chosen a worse time to sell?“
Next year????
People have no idea what they can really afford. A $100,000 household income putting down $10,000 with $500 month debt (car/student loan/etc.) can’t afford more than a $400,000 house. If sellers realized how out of whack prices are under standard “household planning” numbers, they would c**p their pants.
It’s hard to imagine anything in Stockton being worth much more than $200k in a “normal” market.
worth not a dime above 300K.
What’s amazing is the woman sits there and comments about how they’ve followed the housing market for years. Yeah, they need to wait a few more years.
“Lenders, for their part, say it’s a two-way street. Staffers often find people unwilling to give up cell phone service or satellite TV to finance strategies to save their houses”
Slightly off-topic, but I’ve got to rant a little about the cable TV…
Last week, a co-worker’s mother passed away. The co-worker is a single mom (13 year-old daughter and 4 year-old son) who had been living in a two-bedroom apartment with her mother (until she died). Her mother’s social security disability check basically covered their rent, while her paycheck covered everything else. So now she doesn’t know how she’s going to cover her September rent passed next month and can’t even come up with $600 to cremate her mother. She was overwhelmed with not only losing her mother, but not completely screwed financially.
This woman is a good friend at work, so I talked about it with my wife and we decided to give her a check for $300. So on Friday night, we headed over there to meet her at her apartment. We go inside and sit down and the 4 year-old starts showing us how to work the Comcast digital box. Then my co-worker asks me if we’d like to watch last week’s episode of Big Love on HBO On-Demand. She knows that my wife and I really like the show but only get to watch it when we’re over at my parents. We just subscribe basic cable because of the cost, even though we’re DINKs who gross a combined $90k.
I didn’t say anything, but that really pissed me off. The woman makes ~$35k with two kids, and she’s spending $100/month on Comcast? I also know that she has DSL plus a cell-phone for both herself and her 13 year-old daughter. So she’s probably spending around $200/month on telecommunications.
As I said to my wife once we were inside our car, that $300 is paying to cremate her mother, but is paying for 3 months worth of cable. This country is doomed because nearly EVERYBODY confuses luxuries with necessities.
$600 is not that much money. Granted, it was an unexpected expense, but shit happens. You’ve got to be prepared. Next month it could be the timing belt on her van or something with her kid, etc. That’s why prudent people don’t spend everything they earn. Now I’m glad that we were able to help her out, but I just feel that she needs a serious reality check about how she spends her money.
Where’s Daddy? Two kids - he should be paying at least $600 per month in child support.
She doesn’t know, doesn’t really care. He left before the 4 year-old was born and is probably living on the street somewhere or dead. He had/has a bad crystal meth habit and would beat her, so she’s glad to have him out of her life.
She has a very sympathetic story and is such a nice person who has a very crappy life. That’s why we were happy to give her $300 to help her out with the cremation and other bills. I just don’t understand why she’s spending 10% of her take-home pay on digital cable, high-speed internet, and cell phones. When my wife and I were struggling financially (I got laid off in 2004), we cut back on all that crap.
“She has a very sympathetic story”
Really? I must have missed that part.
Exactly. So many single moms are such by choice. They browbeat the bum into marriage. It will change him. That does n’t work. Well he’ll shape up she tells herself when the baby comes. That does n’t work. Well when the next baby comes, husband will magically get responsible. And so on.
That reminds me of alot of girls I know from highschool. They find the worst piece of turd available and start having babies in the hopes that the turd will turn into gold. Surprise, he ends up in prison or runs off with someone else and the girl ends up on welfare in Section 8 housing asking why life sucks. I tell them to look in the mirror.
Would you people just SHUT UP already? Jesus, I come to this blog because it’s usually full of intelligent analysis of a topic that I find fascinating, and also some very witty commentary and jokes. Today seems to be the Rush Limbaugh day or something. Get over yourselves and start talking about the housing market again. Sheesh!
Whoa whoa whoa, Irvine. People like this woman are the ones crying for a bailout right now. That makes this a very appropriate topic. Opinions may vary but the topic of irresponsible parents, whether alone or in tandem, is a very appropriate subject. This lady, or people like her, are currently a huge part of the housing market, if you haven’t noticed. You don’t need to be Rush Limbaugh to see that.
Thank you - I keep thinking I’m on the wrong blog - what happened here - heat getting to folks?
They just have women issues. (and personal ones as well. i.e. can’t get a date, or worse)
Single family homes are the norm now, and most people are happier for it. Many marriages were miserable 50 years ago, and the kids too, when couples stayed together out of financial necessity… Referencing traditional values to bolster a social argument is not wise. Unless you want to include slavery as one of those values.
Single parent families are better? That’s a new one. I wonder how many single moms feel that way. None that I know of.
Leave the newborn with a stranger all day while you go to work. Great idea.
I’m missing the sympathetic part. This is a societal parasite. She fathers two little bastards by some worthless bum, then (imagine that) finds herself in dire financial straits? What kind of life did she help doom her kids to? “Help” should start with her court-ordered sterilization.
“She fathers two little bastards by some worthless bum,”
I’m glad I wasn’t drinking when I read that. We have a shortage of “tough love” in this world.
If you’re advocating sterilizing her, find the douchebag that got her pregnant and fix his ‘nads as well. He’s probably spreading his genetically desirable seed elsewhere.
Amen brother. Time to reverse IDIOCRACY one imbecile at a time.
I’ve been a longtime advocate of sterilizing irresponsible parents, male and female. If a woman has a child and is on welfare, tie the tubes. If a guy does not pay child support, then off with the nads.
actually, me too…although it is not exactly a water cooler topic, if you know what i mean….
Oh, these kinds of conversations always remind me of the infamous Buck case of the 1920s. California and most of the South had this kind of program well into the 1970s, and are still paying out the damage awards to this day.
“It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes. Three generations of imbeciles are enough. — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., writing the majority opinion in BUCK v. BELL [274 U.S. 200 (1927)]
Better yet, send the two kids to live with daddy. Then she’ll have extra $$$ each month for the cable bill, right?
Oh wait, if she did that she would be making less $$$ each month. She has to hijack the kids to keep that child support (=welfare money) rolling in.
RE: Where’s Daddy?
In prison.
“Where’s Daddy? Two kids - he should be paying at least $600 per month in child support.”
Judging from the childrens ages their just may be two daddy that should be paying. BTW. doesn’t SSI have a $1000 death bene that would cover cremation?
Props to you for doing that. People sometimes forget that what goes around comes around. Particularly when you do something positive. Karma works both ways IMHO.
How is enabling her irresponsibility a positive? I am really missing something in this story. If you want to help her, and her kids, tell her you won’t do a thing for her until she does the right things for herself. You merely paid 3 months of her Comcast bill.
I thought I was tough but you guys are cracking me up.
I think that the creator forgot to give me the mommy gene. The whole thing gives me the creeps.
TX, my boss marvels at my lack of sympathy for people caught up in the housing mess. He says, “unlike you, I do feel sympathy for some of these people.” I reply, “and that’s how bailouts begin, so I have no sympathy.”
RE: I think that the creator forgot to give me the mommy gene. The whole thing gives me the creeps.
Not a thing wrong with that.
On an earth of 6 billion, which is suppose to only be able to environmentally support 3bil, I’d much rather vote you a Legion of Honor Medal than getting on my knees and kissing the feet of the poster with kid headed to Stanford.
Well I’ll bet you’re all glad YOUR moms didn’t think the way you do…
Bring a beautiful, healthy child (or an ugly but good-hearted one) into this world, and providing the kind of environment where they will grow up a net asset to society, is the most important and noble job there could possibly be. For those who chose to be childless, all power to you, but for those who raise good kids, you’ve made the world a better place.
I’m with hd74man. Overpopulation is the biggest environmental problem. China’s one-child policy should be enforced everywhere, even if it leads to gender imbalances in the population.
I was commenting on his intent. Clearly he was unaware of her irresponsible spending habits until he made the visit to deliver the money. At that point, it might have been a little difficult to say “here’s the money to help with funeral costs, oh wait nevermind. The intent was positive. I agree with you NYCityBoy about telling her she needs to help herself. Sometimes people need an outsiders perspective to realize that they’re going down the wrong path. Financially, or otherwise.
Eventually, she won’t be able to pay the bills and they’ll get cut off. Then, if she’s lucky, she might realize that neither she nor her kids need any of that stuff.
When my own mother became ill, I finally realized that it was up to me to take the reins. No more Mom to fall back on. It lit a fire under me, frankly. I managed to work full time by doing 12 hour shifts on weekends and Fridays, and go to school full time to finish my degree.
And you bet we did without cable, meals out, new clothes (thrift stores and rummage sales), steak, cell phones, health club memberships, vacations (except camping, which we did in tents and rarely spent more than gas money and did in national and state parks). Once you learn how great life can be when you’re not in debt and you don’t give a flip about impressing people, it actually becomes sort of addictive. More people should try it.
This country is doomed because nearly EVERYBODY confuses luxuries with necessities.
- Ditto So Cal times one hundred. That ‘necessity’ included buying homes for zero down. Young 20 year olds were seduced by the ‘you will be priced out forever’ BS - you need that now!
The human brain isn’t fully capable of mature reason till roughly 25 years of age….but we allow 18 yr olds to vote, to wear lots of Kevlar and shoot at total strangers who have not threatened them, we allow them to sign contracts…. What am I missing here?
I don’t think those young men are over there shooting at people for no reason. They’re shooting at people trying to kill them.
The real question is should they be in the middle of a civil war in the first place?
BTW - Plenty of police officers put on kevlar and gun holsters well before they’re 25. Some people mature before others. Then you have 50yr olds who were out there flipping houses and losing their entire life savings.
Personally, I’m 25 and was more mature at 16 than most people are at any point in their lives.
The human brain is not fully formed until 25; that doesn’t mean under 25s are incapable of making mature, rational decisions.
“I don’t think those young men are over there shooting at people for no reason. They’re shooting at people trying to kill them.”
If some asswipe decided to drive a tank down MY streets in MY country, I’d be trying to kill ‘em TOO.
Yep, one of my co-workers, a young 20 something bought a house in Blowmont for 450k at the top of the bubble. Now he’s probably 100Gs in the hole and can’t sell. He got a job up Norf and is now paying rent plus mortgage on a house he isn’t living in.
“This country is doomed because nearly EVERYBODY confuses luxuries with necessities.”
I think this is the intent of your message…and all I have to say is AMEN!
Re: FB in Citrus Heights / Countrywide
I read this story yesterday in the paper, and thought the same thing. Boo hoo she had to sell the boat, and her extra vehicles (plural? you had more than one?). I agree it is a little hard to feel sorry for her, until you read that her husband is the one that negotiated the deal in 2005, and he died. So she’s a widow stuck with a $3,000 a month mortgage payment.
I still can’t believe the Countrywide rep told her to “get a roommate”. That seems so insensitive to tell someone in this kind of situation, I mean there are more tactful ways to go about explaining that there aren’t any refinancing options available to her. Particularly when you’re in a customer service position (not that anyone has any idea what customer service means anymore.) Plus, she’s so pissed now she would rather just foreclose on the place. Which doesn’t help the lender at all.
I know that Countrywide going down the tubes will have a very significant (scary) impact on the housing industry. But how can you not applaud their downfall when you hear about them treating people like this?
I see that there were a few posts since I started writing my response to this story, I just want to say I’m not defending this lady, or the least bit sympathetic to her situation other than the fact that she lost her spouse. I agree that these owners should have to pay back the money they borrowed. Period.
Uh, so he had no life insurance? So they were irresponsible. Get a roommate is about the best advice she can get if she has any chance of staying in the house. You can’t double your income overnight, but you can get a renter.
Otherwise, just mail in the keys.
I’m not saying it was bad advice, but that’s the kind of advice I expect from a friend, or a blog like this one. I would expect a call center rep to at least be able to word it so it doesn’t sound so harsh. Something like: “We suggest that you explore the possibility of sharing your monthly expenses with a renter.” If I was the call center supervisor and I overheard one of my employees saying that to a customer, especially at a time like this when they’re trying to portray themselves as anything but “predatory”, he/she would be sweeping the floors instead of taking calls.
Let me restate that I do not feel sorry for her financial situation. If she loses her house, it will be a result of lack of budgeting, and not realizing the terms of their mortgage.
It is also possible that they did state it to her in such a manner, but her reiteration of the conversation is less than accurate.
I appreciate your response bitterLArenter, I was beginning to think that my post wasn’t interesting enough :). I think there are two faults in this story. First, the owner for thinking that the lender is going to provide her with some type of pardon or groundbreaking insight. Second, the lender for not handling the situtation with the tact that it required. Which resulted in this story that is now on the front page of the Sac Bee, and more importantly, this blog.
“You can’t double your income overnight”
Not if you’re a customer service rep at a pest control company:
http://www.pestweb.com/employeeemail/mail_r.cfm?x_name=&x_region=Pacific
They refinanced the house through Countrywide. I’m sure she had no idea what he was doing or where the money went. I guess her signature isn’t on the loan docs.
Why didn’t he have life insurance?
The author of the article didn’t say anything about that, did he? Maybe I need to re-read the story. I don’t know how you could have a boat without having life insurance.
Oh wait I know what you mean, if there was life insurance, she would have been able to pay off the rest of the house, or at least put a dent in the amount owed. Good question.
Actually I think the FB’s, the lenders and Wall Street all deserve each other.
They all played the game. They all are now getting burned.
Actually I think the FB’s, the lenders and Wall Street all deserve each other.
They all played the game. They all are now getting burned.
Pretty much the attitude that the rest of the world will take with the USA as we decline…
She’s probably making the other end of the conversation as if they are unsympathetic. It could be that the CW rep was suggesting other solutions, like taking on a roommate.
There is nothing CW can do. They signed the contract. You pay this amount for so many months and it will be different thereafter. boo Hoo
“She’s probably making the other end of the conversation as if they are unsympathetic.”
I think this is the most likely scenario. I’m sure she’s taking every step she can to make CW the villain in this story. It’s not like it’s difficult, anyone that’s ever had to deal with the Cingular/At&t call center knows what I’m talking about. Those people are unbelievable. If you hate your job so much, why are you there? Oh wait you used to be an RE agent huh?
Lord, I apologize for that. I just couldn’t help myself.
Funny, when I cancelled my AT$T cell phone, the person at the call center told she was about to quit, that she hated it there and so she wiped out $60 of my last bill so i paid nada. This was in 2004.
I think the advice of “get a roommate” is sound advice. This is the advice I would give, and the advice I would probably follow if the need arose.
I suspect it is the advice thousands will soon be forced to follow if they are truly serious about keeping their houses.
The part in this story that is sad is that the market is so screwed up that this women can’t even sell the place to move to a cheap rental to get out of the obligations she can no longer afford because of the death of a spouse .Also ,the toxic mortgage the family took out went up 1k a month ,so this family most likely should not of been put on a loan like that .
I don’t know why people with children would not have some kind of insurance to pay off major debt in the event of death of a breadwinner/parent .
I do believe that this lady is entitled to social security benefits for the children from the husbands SSI account that might add up to over a thousand a month to income .So,it’s not as if she is not going to get some aid for the children .
Look, before the big housing run-up ,this lady would of sold the house and moved to a cheap rental ,or she would of gone into foreclosure because of loss of spouse with no mortgage or accident insurance .
I watch married couples get a divorce and they are shocked that they can no longer afford the lifestyle that they had when they were married .
It’s possible they couldn’t get life insurance if he had a pre-existing condition.
Didn’t read the full article, but just thought that might be a possibility.
“That seems so insensitive to tell someone in this kind of situation, I mean there are more tactful ways to go about explaining that there aren’t any refinancing options available to her.”
I was fine until I read this comment. I am so damn sick of this crap “more tactful way of explaining”. People better start growing a thicker skin if they expect to grow and prosper in this world. The rest of the world doesn’t function on all this Political Correction crap!!! Pull yourself up by you own bootstraps and you might really enjoy participating in life.
There’s probably a good chance that the conversation was taken out of context, embellished for the sake of the article. Something that I hadn’t thought about at first, but thanks to the HBB responses I was able to see it from a different perspective.
That being said, I don’t know if it’s as much a question of being PC, as it is of having respect for the individual given her recent loss. Which again, could have been the case for all we know. I didn’t realize that making a comment about her spouse dying, would elicit such a strong reaction. I just didn’t see that part in Ben’s original highlight, and thought that it was something that should be said.
salinasron, I’m not offended by your bootstraps comment if it was in fact directed at me. I think it’s a little dramatic to be honest, but if being totally blunt has helped you “prosper in this world” then more power to you. Personally, I’ve found that no matter how pissed I get, I stand to gain much more from treating people with respect. Whether they deserve it or not.
“Appraisers regularly face tremendous pressure to overvalue a property so a lender will fund a transaction, Chirpich added. A handful of appraisers now are giving in to such pressure to get more work.”
Oh yeah … that will fix things. Let’s just get a bunch of appraisers to overstate the value of each house and everything will be hunky-dory. LTVs will be great.
Now, if we can just get the Chinese to buy our funny money again …
“Neither Trammel nor Countrywide has yet been able to work out a deal to spare her small house in Citrus Heights from foreclosure. ‘I asked, ‘What’s your solution? Give me some ways I can keep this from happening,’ says Trammell of her dealings with the nation’s leading lender.
OK, maybe I’m a bad person, but I exult everytime I read about some idiot learning the hard way - the only way they CAN learn - about the need for PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. Their mantra - “What are you going to do about it?” - shows the root of their problem: trying to make others shoulder responsibility for the documents that they - the FBs - sign or agreements they freely if stupidly enter in to. Once this Trammal ginch figures out that Countrywide only gives a rat’s ass about getting their money, not about her and her self-created problems, she will be on the road to enlightenment, not a minute too soon. It’s like the New Orleans voters who tolerated and perpetrated a massively corrupt and incompetent city government, then got their just desserts when that same government proved completely inept, not surprisingly, at it’s most fundamental task: safeguarding the city and its citizens. People generally get what they deserve, and one hopes that the Trammels among us are going to come out a lot poorer but a lot wiser for getting burned by their own hubris and stupidity.
“Lenders, for their part, say it’s a two-way street. Staffers often find people unwilling to give up cell phone service or satellite TV to finance strategies to save their houses, Ed Delgado, a senior Wells Fargo executive, told the California Senate Committee on Banking, Finance and Insurance last month.”
Give up their satellite TV? Only if you pry the remote control from their cold, dead hands.
Oh the carnage this housing bubble has caused. Let’s say all these people stop going out, cut off paid TV, mobile phones, shopping and everything else to pay for their monthly ball and chain. the entire economy will go into a deep recession. I’d rather see them take up a second job or stop paying the mortgage.
Just move into a new place. Left my TV (CRT) behind, because it was too heavy to carry. It has been a month without TV. Are they still running DiTech commercial? LOL
I’ve gone two years without the tele, and it is no different this time around. I was paying $70 for basic cable, and thought it was too much then and perhaps still too much now. I must admit I miss having friend over for major sporting events, but other than this nothing really.
But now they want to get on with the next phase of their lives - retirement and relocation to Colorado.
—————————————–
Translation: They want to steal 400% of profit from the stupid younger California generation, then flee the state giving nothing back.
Translation: They want to steal 400% of profit from the stupid younger California generation, then flee the state giving nothing back.
With all the retirements about to happen… people think CA will “only go up.” How the &*%# can that happen when so many have an unfunded retirement?!? Very few at my work stay in state for retirement. Its too expensive for all but the best savers/investors to stay in California. Cest la vie.
Neil
With all the retirements about to happen… people think CA will “only go up.”
This describes my neighborhood to a T. A very high-cost CA town, very few young families with kids coming in because of the housing prices. About a third of my subdivision is retirement-age people who had middle-class jobs (teachers, engineers, skilled trades, etc.) who bought here decades ago when it was affordable to such groups. Eventually they are going to pass away or move to retirement homes, and there won’t be enough very-high-earning DINKS to buy them all out at current prices.
Not only do they not plan on staying in the state, about 20% are not staying in the country.
True. A small number of coworkers are retiring in Costa Rica. Not something I would do… but to each their own.
Neil
A small number of coworkers are retiring in Costa Rica. Not something I would do… but to each their own.
Unless these people have real experience living overseas… or established friends/network of people there… highly likely they will try it but it won’t sustain.
Lot’s of people talk about it, fewer do it, even fewer stay more than 2 years.
For most of the folks moving out of the country, they are going to their country of origin: China, Japan, Czech Rep, Korea, Germany, New Zealand.
Only one person going to CR and she’s already bought. She travels the world speaking on a regular basis so I think she’ll be fine.
I know of a few who have retired in Costa Rica (sub 2 years) plus a few building there. I also know a few people who fell in love with New Zealand while doing business there and have planted themselves there. However, different situation, they have maintained a California residence “just in case.”
Neil
How the &*%# can that happen when so many have an unfunded retirement?!? Very few at my work stay in state for retirement.
And these people seem to have purchased their house years and years ago… probably paid $75,000 in 1993 and now have their retirement all planned out counting on it selling for $550,000 or higher.
As Real Estate is your best investment. The stories of riches abound, for at least the last 4 years. So they are entitled to it.
Nobody gives a sh!t about true economics and supply and demand, only what they _believe_ in. Not a chance to learn, a chance to have someone else “fix it”.
My wife and I have a work-based loan guarantee for the next 2 months that would allow us to spend up to $950,000 at a variable rate loan that resets annually with a max increase of 100 basis points per year. There is no PMI. The initial rate would be 4.95% for the first year. So, it would take us three years even with annual max increases to get to an interest rate close to where 30 year fixed rates are right now. If we don’t use the loan by the end of October, we will lose the guarantee and have to go to a commercial lender where the best we’d get is somewhere around 6.25% plus points for one or the five or ten year ARMs. We just looked yesterday at houses in West LA and Mar Vista — it is stunning to see what is out there at a list price of just under one million dollars right now. We think that the only way these places look anywhere near attractive is if we could negotiate a 20% discount off of where prices are right now. Although asking prices are softening, it seems like we are wishing for the impossible in the next two months.
Loan guarantee for the next 2 months that would allow us to spend up to $950,000
How much money are you bringing in to the house? 20% down is a healthy start. A $1m house, I assume your combined income is in the $200,000 range?
Otherwise seriously consider renting. compare the monthly costs.
The best interest rate is none, no loan.
GoldenBear, I’ve been renting in Westwood for the past 14 years (I know, I should have bought in 96). I would not even be thinking of buying right now. Asking prices have not come down yet and it is too soon to know whether the houses that sold in the last month or so went for lower prices. 20 percent off 1.2 million is A LOT of money that you would not be owing, no matter at what interest rate. It has been said many times on this blog that you can renfinance the interest rate at some point in time, but you can never renegotiate the purchase price. My advice is to wait at least until next spring.
OR…try lowballing.
You never know if you’ll come across a seller with a paid-off house who needs/wants to get rid of it quickly.
IMHO, offer 30% below what it would have received at the peak (if not more). Keep doing this & see what the reaction is.
Good luck!
Yet another lie from an “industry insider” gets published in the MSM:
“Certainly they made a lot of money in the boom, and many set aside a cushion for slow times like this. But it’s painful nonetheless, industry insiders said.”
Here is the truth: “Certainly they made a lot of money in the boom,
and manybut nobody set aside a cushion for slow times like this. But, and it’s painfulnonetheless, industry insiders said.”Got 10% down?
Why would anyone bother setting aside a cushion when a War on Savers is underway? Don’t fight the Fed!
Invest in foreign commodities companies like Suncor, BP, BHP, Rio Tinto. It is a good hedge against the falling dollar. With rapid BRIC growth, they will be sucking up raw materials for the next few decades. PetroChina and CNOOC are buying up every oilfield available.
Invest in foreign commodities companies….
Exactly. I have made a ton of $ in mining and energy companies the last three years. Your mileage may vary.
Two prominent economists Feldstein and Shiller at the annual Jackson, Wyoming meeting are predicting 50% price drop in some bubblicious areas. Feldstein suggests the Fed take action and cut the funds rate to 4.25% from 5.25%.
http://tinyurl.com/34c8a9
that has to be the worst of the ideas……
as the monetary tools designed to create a cetain outcome begin to fail, the wheels wont just wobble off this monster…
a cut of that magnitude would not just be a tremor, it’ll be the big one…they know thay cant save housing, and this type of balloon getting floated is just the type of thing to get sheeple, believing in the hope. Which, dear G-d, may be the only thing that remains.
‘Buyers right now are saying the market is going to come down even more, so if we’re going to buy now it’s going to be for a lot less than they’re asking,’ Abbott said.
———————————————
That is a long, wordy way of saying…
BuyerWillEPB
Evidently the Jumbo lending credit crunch is starting to flatten out SD list prices like a pancake (as I have long anticipated). For instance, on the current MLS, there are 11,179 homes listed for $450K and above, and only 9535 homes listed for $500K and above, which implies 2244 homes are currently listed on a $50K range from $450K to $499K — for an average of 45 homes for each $1000 range. That is a pretty dense listing density for a dead market.
$1000
rangeincrement“But the hemorrhaging doesn’t stop there. This Labor Day weekend finds consequences of the housing slump trickling down through all sorts of professions – from termite inspectors to escrow officers and even newspapers that have seen a decrease in real estate advertising.”
I thought Heli Ben, Shrimp, Cramer, Toll and Suzanne said it was contained!?!?!?!?!?!!?!
Bwahahahahah… Welcome to reality, idiots. And beware, it’ll get a lot worse before it gets better.
termite inspectors
They’ll be fine. They’re like dentists, at first as individuals delay the small pay business; but then people have to come back for the big job.
Got popcorn?
Neil
German bank IKB, hit by subprime crisis, expects to lose up to €700 million
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/03/business/EU-FIN-COM-Germany-IKB.php
This will teach them a lesson to keep their investment nose in Germany. Love it.
Awfull nice of them Germans to pay us back for the Marshall plan. Sixty years ago we rebuild Europe now they pay us back in Mcmansions!
I love your thinking, never thought of that. Brilliant!!
Thanks, even a broken clock is right twice a day!
If we peons knew about this ponzi scheme two years ago, you would think that these billion dollar banks would have a clue. their due diligence was to trust Wall Street.
Ivory tower syndrome. Most of these people who live and work the way they do have no idea what goes on in 95% of the real world. The ones that do get it use their money to “influence” scum in both parties to look the other way as maximize the takings until the bubble pops.
“‘If an appraiser refused to bend to pressure, they would no longer get assignments and many times would not be paid for completed assignments,’ said Carol Chirpich, president of the Southern California chapter of the Appraisal Institute. ‘To keep work, (some appraisers) will bend to the coercion of the broker.’”
Any bending by coercion should be delt with by severe penialties as these bastards drive up TAXES and ability to afford properties based on wages and salaries. HURTS everyone….. Loss of licenses and big fines for fraud should be levied!
Try prison time for fraud. the real threat of a few years in prison with Bubba or Tyrone should straighten out that business.
Don’t drop the soap.
No Quick Action Expected on Mortgages.
Congressional Help for Those With Bad Mortgages Unlikely to Come Soon.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Want government help to get out of a bad subprime mortgage? Don’t look for Congress to come to your rescue anytime soon.
Lawmakers have lots of ideas and plans — as well as hearings to share their concerns and assess blame — but there’s no consensus on how to stop the foreclosures. The only thing everyone has agreed on is that something must be done.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070903/risky_mortgages_congress.html?.v=1
“Some Democrats also would like to see mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — which are recovering from accounting scandals — play a larger role in the mortgage market. Some want to see the two companies buy “jumbo” mortgages of more than $417,000 in high cost areas in areas of the country where home costs are higher.
The House in May passed legislation that would do that. But the situation has worsened since then, and the legislation must be reworked, Frank said. “The current crisis in the mortgage market demonstrates we should raise it to a higher level,” he said.”
Maybe I’m having a hard time understanding this, why would this be a good thing? Meaning, what is the justification in promoting the the Freddie/Fannie increase?
Thanks for posting the link luvs_footie.
test
“Some Democrats also would like to see mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — which are recovering from accounting scandals — play a larger role in the mortgage market. Some want to see the two companies buy “jumbo” mortgages of more than $417,000 in high cost areas in areas of the country where home costs are higher.
The House in May passed legislation that would do that. But the situation has worsened since then, and the legislation must be reworked, Frank said. “The current crisis in the mortgage market demonstrates we should raise it to a higher level,” he said.”
Maybe I’m having a hard time understanding this, why would this be a good thing? Meaning, what is the justification in promoting the the Freddie/Fannie increase?
Thanks for the article luvs_footie.
The justification is to get taxpayers to bail out Wall Street ibanks and hedge funds.
I think I understand that part. And I know that’s the end result (which sucks), but is that the case that’s being made publicly? Thanks for your response jerry.
“‘We look at each other and ask, ‘Could we have chosen a worse time to sell?’ It’s scary, said Rosalee Schimpf. ‘I’m just not sure - do you wait or drop the price enough to sell?’”
Gee Rosalee, you really are a MORON, aren’t you?.
Wasn’t Schimpf the Stooge that came after Curly died?
Anyway, my advice to her would be to keep waiting until it bottoms out then comes back up in 10 years and she gets her asking price.
I am the oldest of 8 kids, raised by a single mother, and I did a whole lot of the caretaking myself. I watched out for my family as best I could from the start, which wasn’t very good, being a little girl and all. We were hungry a lot. We wore sh*t for clothes, even before we got away from my dad. My dad was a wretch.
Nycityboy, sammy schadenfreude, Anon in DC– you got firm opinions on single moms, and how they ought to do stuff better, so tell me—you ever get beat into a new, pretty, purple shape by your own dad? While your sisters watched? You can all kiss my girly *ss. I wipe my *ss on your negative views of single moms.
Wow. Let’s see if you hook one.
Olympiagal, I’m with you. I don’t understand all this venom that is being spewed today on this site. I thought we were a collection of intelligent people doing battle against the forces of the REIC. Instead I have to read Neanderthal remarks from people who should be minding their own business.
Let’s stick to the housing bubble. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof…
Amen, droog. That whole part of this thread blows major chunks.
Hey, what did the Neanderthals ever do to you buddy?
P.S. It’s time to put down the Burgess novels.
Your comments indicate alot of bitterness. As part of the non blogging part of the housing bubble community (I am hear to learn and have little to contribute) I am sorry about what happened to you.
Please consider that a tree is known by its fruit, by condemning other members of the blog in such a rude manor reflects poorly on your mother who was a single mom. Furthermore you are unaware of the lives of these three other bloggers. Perhaps they have observed the rough life that childern of single mother endure, that you admitted facing. I also do not believe that the other bloggers would have encouraged your family to stay together in light of the domestic violence.
Could you make a good arguement though that single moms are as good or better than a stable 2 parent family. That is the premise of there arguements.
“Could you make a good arguement though that single moms are as good or better than a stable 2 parent family. That is the premise of there arguements.”
Good parents are good whether there is one or two of them. It’s more difficult if you’re alone - but you can do it.
Having both parents - who are both good - who only want the best for their children - in the house is ideal. But I know so few I can count them on one hand. Of course, I think anyone who sends their child to the typical public school is a lousy parent.
Your comments indicate alot of bitterness. As part of the non blogging part of the housing bubble community (I am hear to learn and have little to contribute) I am sorry about what happened to you.
Please consider that a tree is known by its fruit, by condemning other members of the blog in such a rude manor reflects poorly on your mother who was a single mom. Furthermore you are unaware of the lives of these three other bloggers. Perhaps they have observed the rough life that childern of single mother endure, that you admitted facing. I also do not believe that the other bloggers would have encouraged your family to stay together in light of the domestic violence.
Could you make a good arguement though that single moms are as good or better than a stable 2 parent family. That is the premise of there arguements.
Seriously, if you feel the need to debate social issues, take it to another blog!
No, my dad never beat me up as a kid. That may well be because my mom married a decent, honorable, hardworking guy who put his family first and had actual values and principles. We all make our choices when it comes to partners and mates, and so many times, all the danger signals and red flags go ignored. It sounds like your mom made some horrible choices with the men in her life, and you paid for it. That doesn’t invalidate my point - it comfirms it. I hope you learned from her mistakes.
Olympiagal:
Please google psychopaths and sociopaths. It will help you.
Olympiagal,
Agree that the “anti-single-mother” posts are offensive and ignorant.
The heat must be getting to these people. Waaay too much venom on this thread. People need to get out more and experience a bit of reality.
Not all men are good & honorable. Sometimes, it really is impossible to know this until it’s too late.
Cell phones and computers = STRESS!
How about going back to the time you checked your answering machine a couple of times a day. How about reading a book in depth on a subject instead of checking a short version on Google. Everyone I know says manners have become incredibly bad in the last few years (since personal computers and cell phones arrived on the scene).
Of course, property prices have risen so everyone is better off. Oh, maybe not! I just read that productivity has risen 20% in the last 5 years in the US. However, the bad news is incomes have only risen 3% - unless you happen to a pal of Bush like a CEO of an oil company, drug company or you are one of the Financial Gangsters of Wall Street like Hank Paulson. Oh, I forgot. The other big earners were realtors and mortgage brokers. They use cell phones a lot. Of course, that house you bought for $200,000 in 1995 is now worth $500,000 (and dropping in price very fast) and that $100,000 RV you bought when you sucked the money out of your ATM property isn’t paid off but you’ve maxed out your home equity to the full $500,000. Still you can always call your friends on your cell phone as you drive that gas guzzler you bought for $45,000 (which isn’t paid off).
Oh, yes, we’ve made great strides since the cell phone and the laptop computer came into universal being during the last 7 years. However, I must admit I have a cell phone. T-Mobile Minutes To Go. $10 a month. I also have Vonage. Basic service. 5 hours for $16.00 a month. I can call the UK for 4 cents a minute. My car is now 12 years old…………..and my financial situation is I could buy any house (several in fact) on the street where I live for cash and STILL have enough left over to live comfortably until the day the grim reaper calls. Sheeple, sheeple everywhere one looks.
I certainly will low ball you as much as I humanly can. Don’t expect to play fiddle to someone like me because I don’t care who or what you are. I don’t care if the FB is fat and has 12 kids and 6 husbands and 7 wives and works at Walmart and Century 21 flipping burgers or if they’re DINKS and DONGS and Dorks who work at Fridays and Home Depot or whatever weird combo of lifestyles they live, if I think your house is worth 1999 prices, I’ll offer that. If the house looks like it’s worth 1907 prices, then yes, I’ll offer 1907 prices. I don’t really care if people are stupid enough to pay $700K for a condo in the desert or $1 million for some concrete Swiss cheese box in Compton or $250K for a McMansion in one of the weird countries in the Southeastern USA (take these numbers x .005 and you’ll get an idea of how much I’d give you for them) because I don’t really take the housing market seriously anymore. I would be just as worried about any legal shenanigans being pulled by the builders or the local government or any of the other players in the REIC. I’ve heard of where some of the RE lawyers will try to hide covenants or other weird stuff in property titles or contracts. Shouldn’t this be a concern to everyone as well?
one of the weird countries in the Southeastern USA
LOL! One great effect of the impending correction is that people will realize once again that location matters. Sorry dummies, a house in Compton or the Central Valley or Florida or any of the other bad areas was never worth more than what it would cost you to rent it, minus a premium for the added risk inherent in ownership.
What I don’t get is why they skip the entire payment after it adjusts. In the case of Tracey Trammel, the payment went up by $1,000 a month. Ok, so the extra $1k might not be doable. But why not send in the amount you paid in the prior months so at least you’ve paid something in the current month. Any insights on this? Are they just throwing in the towel.
Also, love the Entitlement embedded in completely dismissing the idea of getting a roommate, also how about getting a part time job to make a few extra bucks. You do want to keep the house don’t you?
A partial payment counts the same as a default. They probably figure they will lose their home, so they might as well save up money for the upcoming rental. That’s what I would do.
In the full article ,she skips a payment and appears headed for foreclosure.
Mtg co do not accept partial payments. It’s all or nothing. And the same holds true as you get further and further behind. That’s why once you reach that point, no one can redeeem or get out of foreclosure.
“Experts say the developer likely turned the tract over to lenders because it couldn’t sell houses fast enough to cover debt payments — much as some troubled home buyers walk away from a house they cannot afford and cannot sell.”
It took an “expert” to figure that one out?
Now you’re getting somewhere.
“Any reasonable offer will be considered.”
http://sacramento.craigslist.org/rfs/413104397.html
Depends on their definition of “resonable offer”.
List price on this little gem is $440,000.
By reasonalbe do they mean they will take 50 to 60 cents on the dollar? Because that’s all it’s worth given the location of Stockton, CA.
No one in Sac would buy that. It’s overpriced. Any benefit from the solar would be eaten up in transport costs driving to sac and back. I’d consider offering 200k if I lived within 3 miles of it.
Even worse. The house is in Stockton…
I can barely see the house, because someone built a hideously ugly garage in front of it. Please tell me that was added after the fact - it might be easier to remove if so.
That thing already got about 3500 signatures in two weeks!
I suggest in addition to signing it, that everyone who reads this email it to their own Clowngresspersons. Lets get this party started RIGHT!
http://www.petitiononline.com/bailout/petition.html
No room here for bad mouthing anyone that is a single parent, etc. None of know what the real story is, deserved or not. This is a housing blog. We are here to fight against the lunacy that became propped up prices. Each person is responsible for their own choices. I am not passing judgment on anybody for being a single parent, or whatever. I just expect everybody to take responsibility for their own choices. Rant off.
I lost my house…thank god that I sold it, just before the current slump. It was a nice house, only after I spent time performing numerous repairs. Because it was such a nice house, I got no sympathy from anybody — even friends were scathing. I lost my job, and nobody gave me any help whatsoever. In fact, people were like vultures, stealing from me. No sympathy for ex-programmers in those days, even with two kids. My, how times have changed.
I might consider an offer on that one house in Sacramento.
$9.99. Take it or leave it since I’m guessing that any house bought with an ARM loan or other weird financing and/or the current owners are FBs of some form likely have trashed the house, stunk it up, or did some other cute thing to the property. God knows what kinds of weird kinky stuff people have been doing to their flipper houses. I thought that guy letting wild fat pigs, REAL pigs, run around in his house was funny. On Kunstler’s site (I read his site for laughs sometimes) he told of a foreclosure where some young gal abandoned her flip and the water main broke and the whole house froze over in the winter LITERALLY. The whole house was an ice cube, icicles coming out the windows just like in the cartoons.
We even have a flipper in my neighborhood. He’s your typical horse-faced 20 something who moved in about four months ago. I saw the house during the open house before it sold and the place is a dump. Heating vents were missing, the basement looked like Igor’s dungeon, the fence in the back yard had a huge hole in it, the porch carpeting was frayed, the kitchen was a mess including what looked like ancient coffee stains all over the fridge and the stove (or something worse) and the whole place stunk. YUCK! The realtor was some bimbo who would look like Horse-Face’s girlfriend and a majority of the people walking around were also of Horse-Face’s age group and/or social class. Everyone was praising how this was some great investment and I was thinking that we have now entered the Twilight Zone.
aeyra, the man (or the single mom, to some on this thread) upstairs definitely gave you a gift. I’m still laughing.
The way Everything seems to be going these days, i think we are all truely in the Twilight Zone and that seems to be the real problem every where. Nothing makes sense and nothing works any more and no body can be trusted. So, may be the true exercise for every one ought to be to “Tune in, Turn Off, and Drop Out”. That is what i have done and continue to do and plan to keep doing. Fook the b.s. that this whole morass has done and the morons responsible for all of this……… Life is way too short.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20070831/cm_csm/yselgin;_ylt=AhMzr_isEgkw_zItN139ucqs0NUE
Hopefull view of current FED
Lotsa words up there, so here’s a summary of today’s posts:
Someone: “Irresponsible people suck.”
Doofi: “Agreed, single parents do suck.”
Single parents: “WTF??”
Doofi: “Irresponsible people suck.”
Everyone else: “WTF??”
Doofi: “Exactly. And I ain’t bailin’ out no irresponsible single parents, especially that b*tch Sherry Jones who turned someone down for the prom for that football hunk and finally got dumped like she deserved. And plus I didn’t want to go with her anyway.”
[Everyone backs slowly away and makes note to avoid the slow news days in the future.]
Bwahaha!
I knew it would be worth it to skim to the bottom of the comments.
I have never read such an emotional thread on this blog in the past several years.
To the people spewing venom at cell phone users and single moms, congratulations, you’ve ruined a thread. Keep it up and you’ll ruin a blog. No one is going to wade through that much crap very often.
I’m certain you’ll respond to this with an equally condescending attitude. If you must disagree with a poster, disagree once in a civil tone and leave it at that. Your point has been made.
LOL. You should see what else they go off on. A few months ago myself and several others were dragged over the coals because we dared to say we did not want to have children. Now single moms are being spit at. I guess only two parent families with 2.4 kids should be allowed to speak on this blog.
As a SINK (single income no kids) I will support my friends and family and not worry about what people on a blog, who forget they are talking to feeling human beings, say.