A Reversal Of The Pattern During The Housing Boom Years
The Miami Herald reports from Florida. “Newly built Miami condominiums were auctioned Thursday night, an event that many observers expect to see repeated as more under-construction condo buildings are completed amid the struggling housing market. CNBC covered the event, which came with echoes of Miami’s 1980s condo bust when developers turned to full-throated auctioneers to unload units.”
“Eight of 20 units Thursday were offered with no minimum-bid requirement and prices ranged from $181,500 for a one-bedroom to $357,500 for a three-bedroom.”
“Some observers…noted that figures were significantly below what previous buyers paid for Platinum units. In May, for instance, a one-bedroom on the 14th floor closed for $360,000. But Thursday night, two one-bedroom condos on the tower’s 16th and 18th floors couldn’t crack $220,000.”
“‘Next week or the week after, look for the lawsuits on this building,’ said Jack McCabe, a Deerfield Beach real estate analyst. ‘Many people who bought are now upside down. The place isn’t worth what they borrowed, suddenly, thanks to this auction.’”
“Analyst Lew Goodkin said better bargains should come in 2008 when the market is even softer. ‘Going, going, gone,’ said Goodkin. ‘Sold to the schlemiel who should have waited. I think it’s too early in the game.’”
“What’s going on with appraisals in some parts of the country? Mortgage lenders, and appraisers themselves, say they’re increasingly coming in with valuations higher than the contract prices agreed to by sellers and buyers.”
“Are some sellers giving in to lowball offers, fearful that they can do no better in the wake of the subprime mortgage implosion and home sale bust? Or are appraisers simply lagging behind downward market adjustments?”
“‘We’re seeing it a lot now,’ says Patrice Yamato, president of Plaza Mortgage Group in Jacksonville, Fla. ‘Appraisals are coming in higher than the contract’ - a reversal of the pattern during the housing boom years, when appraisals often came in at or occasionally below the contract price.”
“‘I think buyers are pushing very, very hard,’ says Yamato - and they’re walking away with steals.’”
The News Press. “A study says Lee County ranks as one of the worst major markets in the country for decline in home prices.” “Moody’s sees a hard fall for Lee County because of factors ‘that are common for all Florida metropolitan areas,’ said Per Berglund, senior economist for Moody’s.”
“‘Namely, you have the tremendous increase in prices in the housing boom and that has clearly given the large imbalances in the market. We’ll definitely see further price decreases going forward,’ Berglund said.”
“Also, Berglund said, ‘Inventories (of unsold homes) have been built up to levels way out of balance. There’s five times the number compatible with market equilibrium.’”
“The median sales price of an existing single-family home sold by a Realtor, for example, fell 22.5 percent, from $322,300 in December 2005 to $246,100 in July, the last month available, according to the Florida Association of Realtors. The number of unsold homes is about 15,000, more than three times what it was a year ago.”
“Fort Myers-based real estate agent Brett Ellis said he agrees Lee County will have a sharp decline and said that if anything, Moody’s is a few months behind in its prediction. ‘I think we’ve already dropped 17 percent,’ he said. ‘The price drops have been fast and furious” in recent months.’”
The News Journal. “A real estate agency owned by Felix Amon and his wife, Ursula, developers of oceanfront condominiums, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.”
“The filing by RX Realty Inc…swiftly followed the decision of an arbitrator to award a former agent of the company more than $400,000 in unpaid real estate commissions.”
“Condominium units in two properties Amon developed on the oceanfront in Daytona Beach Shores and New Smyrna Beach recently were put up for auction, but did not sell, Amon said.”
The Orlando Sentinel. “Central Florida is experiencing an increase in advertisements for ’short sales.’ Just under 200 homes are being offered as short sales in Orange County right now, listings show.”
“Short sale attempts have increased but often fall through, especially when the seller also has a second mortgage to satisfy, says Greg Gary, president of Grace Title Inc. ‘Unless you’re a master negotiator, it’s hard to get Bank A to agree with Bank B on a price,’ Gary told me.”
“And don’t think it’s an easy out if you’re behind in your mortgage payments. The amount of debt forgiven on a short sale may be taxed as income. And while the banks may allow a short sale, they may not be willing to forget about it and walk away.”
“Banks often go after sellers for what they are still owed. ‘I’m going to turn around and sue the borrower for the short amount,’ said Robert Orsolits, president of a foreclosure and bank-owned asset and real estate management company. ‘We do it with investors a lot.’”
‘In 2004, Mark Spector and his wife, Deanna, paid $350,000 for a six-bedroom house in Bridgewater, a new development in Wesley Chapel, Fla., about 25 miles north of Tampa. They moved into their home and looked forward to meeting their neighbors.’
‘Then Florida’s once-feverish housing market started to cool. Investors who’d bought a large percentage of the properties in Bridgewater found they couldn’t flip them for a quick profit, and brought in tenants, instead. By last year, Mr. Spector estimates, close to half of the residents in the subdivision of 750-plus homes were renters.’
‘In Mr. Spector’s community in Florida, where the 10% threshold is long since breached, the sheriff’s department has an inch-thick stack of incident reports: Aggravated assault, stolen cars, neighborhood disputes, even a drive-by shooting. ‘For a brand-new community in those priced homes, we do see a lot of activity,’ says Doug Tobin, the department’s spokesman.’
‘Then there are the problems that never reach the police but do reach the Bridgewater homeowners association through a form on its Web site. ‘They are always parked in the street,’ one owner wrote. ‘This afternoon, we had to call a tow truck because our driveway was blocked.’ ‘Cars as well as guests lined the street all night, with several breaking bottles,’ wrote another. ‘They won,’ another homeowner wrote. ‘We’re selling.’
Could be worse
You could be Phil Spector…
So count your blessings
re: ‘They won,’ another homeowner wrote. ‘We’re selling.’
I had not thought about this - in addition to waiting for prices to get to the proper ratio, we are also going to have to wait to see how some neighbourhoods turn out.
Oh yeah. Considering that a housing bubble misallocates resources, it is to be expected that subdivisions are built where they shouldn’t be, etc.
Such as 300 D.R. Horton houses right on top of an aquifer recharge area? You mean like that?
And like the subdivisions in Pasco and Hernando counties being built over ancient sinkholes?
This happened to South Central LA. Look at the circa late 1920’s homes. Mahogany staircases, lots of oak, marble fireplaces… in what is now a slum.
And the major wave of resets is still ahead of us. Gulp!
http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com/2007/09/late-mortgage-payments-continue-to.html
Before we get to the superbowl and the famous “spring selling season,” its going to be heading south faster.
Got popcorn?
Neil
A few comments on the Florida subdivision. First of all, it is a Lennar development. See the response of the Lennar attorney. ‘Nuff said.
But also, as shown in some of my posts and the weekend topic suggestion about changed communities, this story illustrates one of my biggest beefs about the housing bubble. I agree with bob, one of my concerns in waiting to purchase is to see how neighborhoods shake out, because I have seen the changes in otherwise stable neighborhoods take place almost overnight. This area of Hillsborough County used to be very predictable. You could more or less tell what a particular neighborhood was going to be like. But it seems we’ve had a population and demographic shift in the area, increase in gangs, Section 8 rentals, people displaced from other parts of the county moving here, push n’ shove newly (but perhaps artificially) prosperous from New York and New Jersey, infestors throwing their weight around, etc. It has been confusing and unsettling for what was once a rather quiet, semi-rural area.
I’m going in to futures on agriculture and some such stuff as an inflation hedge.
I’d go foriegn currency but after watching the ECB inject a trillion dollars in Euro’s; I aint sold on that as a hedge.
As Palmetto noted in there… lots of things are going to shake out different.
I’m still trying to get details on the mangling at GSE.
What the hell happened to the democrats anyway? Bailing out investors, speculators, banks and jumbo loan holders?
Aren’t they the party of the people?
If we are refinancing subprime and adjustable rate guys shouldn’t they be tackling the little guys they supposedly charish?
The world turned upside down!
Republicrats and Demicans. They are just keeping the sheeple busy with their antics while their friends sell the country out from under us.
aaa…the section 8 invasion. Expect this problem to only get worse…..we are already seeing evidence of this in Northern Virginia
“…the section 8 invasion.”
Think of it as blowback. All the FB who send their kids to private school and let the public schools rot, who were happy to let the rabble shoot each other as long as it was outside their gated community… now the rabble are coming in. Boo hoo. To paraphrase Jared Diamond (I think it was in Collapse,referring to parents in Weimar Germany), they wanted to take care of their children, but they forgot to take care of their children’s world.
I remember this effect being brought up about a year ago. We were talking about having to wait until it all played out to see what areas turned into a POS. Also related to being one of the few people in an area with skin in the game.
That is very sad for the families who just wanted to move into a decent neighborhood and bought their home to live in, not as flippers. It seems those people are totally screwed Ben.
Agree.
However, someone who bought in 2004 was probably convinced that house prices would go up forever. The couple must have believed the mantra ‘buy now, or be locked out forever!’ They were fooled and are now paying the price. How wonderful it would have been if they rented instead of buying!
To me it was obvious. I could not afford to buy at 2004 prices and had already been priced out of the market. Prices could have gone on to double, but I would not have made a different decision.
Amen to that. I just couldn’t afford the prices. It was as simple as that. Also, I’m not much of a gambler and I was certain that prices were unsustainable just doing simple math…
The area we looked at in central FL almost doubled between 01 and 04. We own a house, but it stopped us from making a move.
I agree..the person who bought my home has already lost $100K in value…basically they are stuck for years to come..and yes they did the equity line up to the max…
Never Never NEVER buy a new home in a subdivision until all the other homes around are completed. I bought a new home in a cul de sac 1991. Mine was the first one to be built. Craftsman homes started to build 4 others in the sac. I asked the guy framing “how much are these homes going to be selling for?” He said “oh these are going to be rentals. In the 7 years I lived there I’ll bet there were at least 25 families in and out of those rentals. For the most part they were decent quiet folks. Now I won’t even consider a property that is not established and especially one that doesn’t have other homes around it. I’d hate to have a Lowes parking lot behind my fence or worse a two story apartment complex.
The developer, Lennar Corp., estimates the number of renters in Bridgewater at about 30%. In an email, Mark Sustana, Lennar’s general counsel, said, “We have no evidence that leads us to believe that rentals are the cause of the homeowner concerns.”
Well just look at the police reports if you need evidence, Mr. Tool of Lennar.
That article is great, discussing condo “reversions” and accidental landlords. Overview of how the housing bubble is changing the rental market.
Rentals are not the cause. Renter screening is the cause . About 1 1/2 miles around the corner from us is a large apartment complex. I live in a town that’s had 3 murders in 60 years (all domestics), so crime is low. The previous owner let the place run down & rented to anyone who could fog a mirror. Every single day in our paper there were 2 or 3 police reports from this apartment building. Drugs, domestics, evictions, etc. Someone else bought it, cleaned it up, got rid of the dead beats and screened all renters. I haven’t seen police reports for there in over a year.
‘For a brand-new community in those priced homes, we do see a lot of [crime] activity,’ says Doug Tobin, the department’s spokesman.’
Ha! Amateurs! They should come check out Costa Mesa, CA. The median home is more than twice that, and we have rampant auto theft, gang activities, and burglaries. I have had a bicycle stolen from the front of a grocery store (they actually cut the chain) and my car burglarized (took radio, CDs, and changer). And I’m the cautious one!
That’s because you probably live on the westside, which is strange because it is closer to the ocean but also closer to an industrial area. I’ve been looking in that area but the school are absolutely horrible.
As I have said for 2 years now, the ILLEGALs will be the new tenants, with 3 families per household.
I am already seeing many working-class neighborhoods where cars are parked all over the yards, day and night, mostly at night.
They are turning neighborhoods into rooming houses.
This was inevitable. It’s simple demographics. Houses are too expensive for working people to afford and the speculators who paid the exhorbitant prices hoping to “flip” need cash.
Screw the neighbors, they need to avoid forclosure and can’t sell.
They don’t care what happens to the house, they just want out.
I agree, diogenes, that is happening around these parts. The bubble was Alan Greenspan’s great social experiment.
This was the goal: turn America into a 3rd world nation where everyone lives like ants in their own filth. Having a middle class presented problems for those in charge - what better way to get rid of it than to strip people of their money and their houses while filling the nation with illegals?
The “new America” will be a place where English is a second language and poverty and violence shall play out in the shadows of McMansions.
‘They won,’ another homeowner wrote. ‘We’re selling.’
Ah, and that is what I loooooved about being a renter. Not that I was one of those rowdy renters; in fact, we wanted and fit into typical, established neighborhoods just fine and kept our house and yard as if we were owners. But as a renter, it was soooo much easier to pick up and move if you found the streets clogged with cars at night, and neighbors breaking beer bottles outside. When you own, you are stuck, and the problematic reasons you are moving are the very reasons that you will lose even more money when you do finally manage to sell. I do feel sorry for the families that moved there not looking for a quick flip but looking for a peaceful suburban neighborhood.
Even in non-bubble times, trying to sell in a HOA can be rough, especially if you’ve had neighbor trouble or someone on the board has a wild hair up their butt.
Are there any communities built in the last 20 years that DON’T have a HOA?
HOA are vital to prevent homeowners from thinking that they actually own their homes. After all, how dare you try to paint your house a different color, grow a garden, or plant a tree (unless it is a Bradford Pear, of course - junk trees for junk houses!)
With all the crud of HOA’s, one may as well rent - you have the same amount of “freedom!”
Bridgewater, a new development in Wesley Chapel, Fla., about 25 miles north of Tampa.
Ben: I looked at the homes in Bridgewater back in 2004 and was told all of the RE stuff about homes will always go up in value. When I looked at the legal records, I found a large majority were not occupied by the owners. Looking up the names of the owners, I found a large portion were realtors. Needless to say, I did not buy in this area. One of the realtor/investors I ran into was a woman who had purchased 15 properites and has since gone BK. Anyone who bought in this area which is west of I-75 will probally not regain what they paid when they bought the home.
Lake County has had a drop of 80% so far this year in terms of permitting for single family homes dropping from 3,000 last year to 600 this year.
Let them eat Upside Down Cake…
“‘Next week or the week after, look for the lawsuits on this building,’ said Jack McCabe, a Deerfield Beach real estate analyst. ‘Many people who bought are now upside down. The place isn’t worth what they borrowed, suddenly, thanks to this auction.’”
Lawsuits will be a waste of FBs’ money. How many people have successfully sued an automaker or dealer when they bought last month, and a new “incentive” took effect this month that lowers the price of their model?
Does anyone know if Florida is a non-recourse state?
Agreed. Maybe I should consider suing my local grocery store because the price of corn or applies drops right around harvest time. Prices go up. Prices go down. How can you (successfully) sue someone because the price of something dropped?
test
looks like FL is 50% off peak for condos
they’re # 1 !!!!!!!!!!
Florida is kicking butt, it seems we are #1 in college football, #1 in college basketball and #1 in nationwide home price declines. Florida really knows how to go for it big-time
Meant #1 in college from last year
lmao!!!
It’s Great
To Be
A Florida Gator
“Some observers…noted that figures were significantly below what previous buyers paid for Platinum units. In May, for instance, a one-bedroom on the 14th floor closed for $360,000. But Thursday night, two one-bedroom condos on the tower’s 16th and 18th floors couldn’t crack $220,000.”
I think the biggest fools during this housing boom surfaced during the Feb - July of this year. It was fully evident that the boom was over and that prices were going to fall. They will probably continue to fall until 2011. But the GFs believed the “low interest rate” and “there has nver been a better time to buy” propaganda by RE shills. In southshore
MA area (where I have been looking for a grand bargain before 2009), the GFs have been buying properties at ridiculous prices (e.g., GFs are paying around 300K for houses originally listed at about 350K, while the true price when all said and done should be
[...somehow the above message was truncated...]
about 350K, while the true price when all said and done should be
[..try again..]
less than 250K).
Nobody should have any sympathy for the 2007 buyers who find by Spring 2008 that they vastly overpaid. Serves them right!
The less than symbol cuts off the text in Word Press.
Probably need tu use > (& gt;) altogether as an experiment.
It might be possible using < and > (& l t
adn (& g t 
That’s a 38.88% decrease in four months. OUCH~!
Note that there were people who brought because of valid reasons (new job, relocation, etc.), not just flippers and investors. My cousin and her husband brought a new house last month and somehow managed to sold their old house. The reason is the school system and the neighborhood was getting worse (no longer safe).
Their house would normally sold for about $450K in 2005 but they put $100K into renovations (adding new kitchen and expanding living space by 400 sf). They tried to sell for 550K in June 07 and ended up selling at around 500K before fees.
That sounds like a good argument for NOT doing extensive (read: expensive) renovations.
I think many of them believed that buying was smart because property taxes were going away..that is what the guy thought when he bought my house in Feb..that was at the height of the talk about property taxes being removed…
If that were my motivation for buying, I’d wait until it actually happened.
“Banks often go after sellers for what they are still owed. ‘I’m going to turn around and sue the borrower for the short amount,’ said Robert Orsolits, president of a foreclosure and bank-owned asset and real estate management company. ‘We do it with investors a lot.’”
Wow. There’s no actual point to trying to get a short sale vs. foreclosure, is there? Either way, trashed credit and serious praying on the FBer’s part that somehow he’ll qualify for CH 7 bankruptcy vs. 5 years of indentured servitude under 13.
Anybody know of a publicly traded company that manufactures new identities for folks? There’s a growth industry for ya.
“Anybody know of a publicly traded company that manufactures new identities for folks? There’s a growth industry for ya.”
People complain about illegals committing crimes and slipping back across the border (I’m one of them) but Mexico used to be a bolt hole for US criminals on the run, or for people who just wanted to disappear.
Care to tell us what crime you committed?
Whoa, buddy, sort of a weird question, considering all the old Western frontier stories that are part of US lore, fictionalized accounts like The Shawshank Redemption and songs like Tim McGraw’s “That’s Why God Made Mexico”.
Care to tell me what I said this time that annoyed the snot out of you? Really, bro’, just skip my posts and peace out.
Forgot the classic, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”.
I think he was kidding you because of the way your post was written, which could be read to imply that you’re one of the illegals committing crimes and slipping back across the border, rather than one of the people complaining about them. I read it that way the first time too, and giggled at that mental picture differing so greatly from the one I’ve developed of you over the past few months on the blog. I have to say, your posts would seem so much different if read with the knowledge that are dear friend Palmetto is actually Juan the undocumented tomato picker from Guadalajara.
OH, LMAO, I just re-read my post. ROTFLMAO! What a classic blog blunder!
APOLOGIES, BILL!! Geez, I thought you were taking a swipe at me. Heck, I was wondering why ICE was knocking at my door.
Apology accepted. I would have posted the explanation but tampaesq beat me to it.
The big builders will be competing with existing home sellers for buyers, for years. As builders look to survive, prices will get driven down for years.
I LOVE this one:
‘Going, going, gone,’ said Goodkin. ‘Sold to the schlemiel who should have waited. I think it’s too early in the game.’”
Goodkin has been a real estate analyst in South Florida since I arrived in the early 1980s. If I recall, he was something of a cheerleader during the bubble, but I’m not sure. If so, he’s changed his tune.
‘Going, going, gone,’ said Goodkin. ‘Sold to the schlemiel who should have waited. I think it’s too early in the game.’
There it is!
Don’t worry, the option to bid on these will come again. This is what’s called ‘diverisifying the pain’.
“Some observers…noted that figures were significantly below what previous buyers paid for Platinum units.”
Much of this bubble has to do with “phantom bids” all to often many on this board have made offers only to be told about “other higher offers”. Many have walked away and still the homes were left on the market. The auction process will provide better visibility on actual offers.
“The phantom bid is one of the oldest tricks in the book”
MIKE DONIA, veteran Toronto realtor
The secret’s out on phantom bids
Registry, open bidding needed to stamp out phony offer scams, some realtors say
http://www.thestar.com/Ne … le/256968
The incoming head of the Toronto Real Estate Board has come out swinging against phantom bidding tactics after denying they even existed when she ran for the job three months ago.
“It’s dirty realty, it really is,” Maureen O’Neill said of agents who fabricate offers during bidding wars. She is now calling on the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) to yank the licences of agents convicted of using phony bids.
“Boot them out, we don’t need them in the business,” O’Neill said. “I don’t think these people should be allowed to sell real estate.”
Phantom bids can be used by selling agents to spark extra rounds of bidding or to spook potential buyers into rushing or raising offers. The practice is considered a breach of ethics under the Real Estate and Business Brokers’ Act of Ontario – administered by the Ontario council – and realtors who are caught can face hefty fines.
Bidding and bitterness
http://www.thestar.com/ar … le/256092
Many in the industry will say – off the record – that selling agents are attempting to manipulate the process and scare potential buyers into raising or rushing offers with talk of bidders who may not exist.
They say there’s nothing to stop agents in Ontario from doing so because – unlike in Quebec – they are not obliged to disclose bid amounts to potential purchasers’ agents in an open process. The lack of transparency means some competing bids, especially those that have been “faxed in” to the selling agent, can’t be verified.
I deplore the use of phantom (or shill) bidding, but it is commonly accepted practice in non-real estate related auctions, sometimes the auctioneer will do it to protect the price of an item on behalf of the client. I put some stuff with an auctioneer recently, with instructions that if they couldn’t fetch at least a certain price, I wanted them back. I wanted him to start them at my minimum, or place a reserve. He chose instead to start lower but protect the price with disguised house bids. I guess his thinking was that if he started at a lower price he could attract more bidders, but the strategy backfired. I won’t be using his services again, very unprofessional.
At least you didn’t get taken like certain governments in the DC area who sent old equipment to auction and got scammed. The auctioneer held sham auctions that were not advertised. Their agents purchased the equipment for less than the value of the parts and then resold at a hefty profit.
Bidding in auctions for the uninitiated, is like being a sheep and doing your own sheering…
I’m going to my first auction tomorrow morning (just to watch), I hope it’s entertaining.
Hey here’s something else we’re #1 in, Medicaid Fraud. It explains to me why there are so many people here that don’t seem to have a real job.
From today’s Washington Times - “According to a report this week by the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, health care providers in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach submitted $2.5 billion in claims to Medicare on behalf of HIV/AIDS patients in 2005. By contrast, providers in the rest of the country submitted less than $1 billion in claims combined.”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070921/NATION/109210084/1001
Hello Bubbloians,
All the news this week is troubling.
The Fed (not FED) slashed the rates and the dollar took a dive
The congress/Bushites came to an agreement on expanding the GSE in to jumbo loans
So we are going to get a lot of bad debt heaped on to the public along with dragging out the war on savers a few more years. Not sure what all the chages to the GSEs were at this point but it will probably “temporarily” push rates to 500k+. The refinancings will not help anyone capped out in debt however, it bails out the bank and puts it into the FM portfolio.
Since the government has had ZERO urge to enforce laws on fraud these days; it means the asshats at CFC will be able to roll the debt into new fraudulent buyers or new loans with more time to go bad.
So… this should wreak havoc on the few remaining survivors in the next couple of years.
What laws do we enforce these days… its hard to tell.
I agree now was not the time to be lowering rates. Perhaps not raising them either, but definitely not lowering.
We’re going to have to start enforcing laws like we used to.
I’ve been thinking about major corporations and the fact that they have many of the same rights as actual human beings, but really none of the responsibilities, which is the general idea of a corporation. Nobody’s responsible. They act like entitled spoiled bully children whose parents have allowed them to run amok.
Not only that, corporations don’t inevitably die. Think about that for a moment.
“We’re going to have to start enforcing laws like we used to.”
Good luck with that.
What’s wrong with that?
‘Many people who bought are now upside down. The place isn’t worth what they borrowed, suddenly, thanks to this auction.’”
That’s like saying “The emperor was looking pretty swanky in his gold lame lounge suit till that dork came around muttering about the absence of said clothing”
The homes are worth less in the sense that it will take a long time for them to sell it at the same price. But since they bought it as a place to live they shouldn’t really care too much. Right?
San Quentin, sometime in the future…
Debtors Prison, as well as holding the usual riffraff
“And don’t think it’s an easy out if you’re behind in your mortgage payments. The amount of debt forgiven on a short sale may be taxed as income. And while the banks may allow a short sale, they may not be willing to forget about it and walk away.”
We just got back from Fort Myers, Pine Island area, unmowed yards, vacant homes, parts of the area almost look “post nuclear”, surprisingly the bars/restaraunts were semi busy though.
Ft Lauderdale, when people just can’t confront the chaos anymore, they shrug and go eat or drink. A couple of other posters have noted that bars and restaurants seem to be holding their own.
Probably makes sense. That unpaid $3000 mortgage buys a lot of Jack on the rocks.
Local Market Observation — Gainesville Florida
Is a coincidence that on TUESDAY Heli-Ben dropped the FFR?
On WEDNESDAY, brand new signs declaring “We Buy Houses - CASH” appeared all over NW and NE. Similar signs were last seen 6 months ago.
On THURSDAY Alarion Bank put up a sign and began clearing a forested site on NW 39th Avenue (near the Meadowcrest
ApartmentsTrailer Park).LIQUIDITY HAS BEEN PUMPED BACK INTO THE SYSTEM. I REPEAT: LIQUIDITY HAS BEEN PUMPED BACK INTO THE SYSTEM.
Elsewhere, condoze still go unsold. And rents in corporate units advertized as low as $333/mo. This is cheaper than it was in 2005! Yes, rents were increased (in ‘06, due to condo conversions) but they’re sliding back down sooner than anyone expected (except, maybe, the builders of Cabana Beach).
How many trees will be gone when Hurricane Housing Bubble is all over?
“How many trees will be gone when Hurricane Housing Bubble is all over?”
Another major concern of mine. Trees are the natural air filters of the planet and moderate temperature, flooding, etc. They are very useful plants. I am not anti-development, but it has to be done responsibly, with the health of the environment and people in mind. Much of the development I have seen during the bubble is, as I have said before, nothing less than mass rape.
I am also not against business profit, but I am against profits that are taken at the expense of quality of life, because to me, that’s not profit, that’s outright theft and mayhem.
Agent Smith in the Matrix was right about humanity, at least for the most part. Most of humanity is like a virus - a species that will continue to consume, destroy, and pave over the entire planet with malls and McMansions until we are starving, gasping for air, atop a pile of our filth, wondering what went wrong, and yet somehow sickeningly proud of all the “stuff” we have.
Had to add an update…
FRIDAY a new handprinted intersection ad (haven’t seen one in about 3 mo.s after the “RE Investor Seeks Apprentice” scam dried up): “$5000 — $10000 A Week, Fun and Travel”
“Banks often go after sellers for what they are still owed. ‘I’m going to turn around and sue the borrower for the short amount,’ said Robert Orsolits, president of a foreclosure and bank-owned asset and real estate management company.
That is what I call taking it in the shorts! Bend over borrower!
Is it possible that we as a collective society are now over-reacting to the downside, just as we, again collectively, over reacted to the upside? Are there opportunities is a bubble burst just as there was in the bubble creation?
Is it possible that we as a collective society are now over-reacting to the downside, just as we, again collectively, over reacted to the upside? Are there opportunities is a bubble burst just as there was in the bubble creation?
JJJJ
yes
http://www.freesmileys.org/emo/basic/tears.gif