Facilitating The American Dream
The Statesman Journal reports from Oregon. “Two years ago, Staci Brigham and her husband wanted out of their adjustable-rate mortgage and sought to replace it with an interest-only loan. They hoped to keep payments down and planned to sell their Woodburn home once she finished school at Oregon State University. Brigham said instructions to their loan officer were clear: they didn’t want another adjustable-interest mortgage; they didn’t want a penalty for paying the loan off early; and they didn’t want a ‘negative-amortization’ loan.”
“They were shocked later to find the new loan included all three features. ‘When we called to confront (the loan officer), he hung up on us,’ Brigham said.”
“Monthly payments have since jumped more than $300, and the couple is locked into the loan one more year because of a $9,000 prepayment penalty.”
“Oregon’s relatively high real-estate prices, combined with its modest incomes, help explain why the state has the ninth-highest use of interest-only mortgages in the country, and the seventh-highest use of negative-amortization loans, according to First American data.”
“David Tatman, the state’s chief banking regulator, said interest-only loans are ‘facilitating the American dream of being able to buy your own home.’”
The Bellingham Herald from Washington. “The latest Whatcom County home sale numbers appear to be sending mixed messages as the area adjusts to a changing real estate market. According to a report released Wednesday, September saw a significant slowdown in sales, leaving real estate professionals to ponder what this means for the rest of the year.”
“In Whatcom County 196 homes were sold, down 21 percent compared with September 2006, while Bellingham was down 24 percent.”
“‘Whether we can avoid the median price declines being experienced in many other parts of the country remains to be seen,’ said Julie Hansen, an economics professor at Western Washington University. ‘The strength of the Canadian dollar is certainly a positive factor for our local market; in the coming months, increased demand from Canadian buyers could help sales recover from last month’s slowdown.’”
“‘What’s been interesting is that the inquiries have been for both second homes and primary residences,’ said Lylene Johnson of The Muljat Group South office in Fairhaven. ‘There are Canadians who can’t find affordable homes in Canada and are willing to commute from Whatcom County.’”
The Port Townsend Leader from Washington. “When Kevin and Amanda Adams lose their Port Townsend home to foreclosure in a few weeks, they won’t be alone. Every 30 seconds, another American family loses a home to foreclosure. That’s more than three times the rate of foreclosures just two years ago, according to RealtyTrac.”
“Kevin and Amanda bought their home for $160,000 in February 2005. They financed it with two fixed-rate loans with a combined payment of $1,300 a month.”
“Amanda’s dream was to open a day care and stay home with their own two kids. They refinanced the home to start the business, borrowing $270,000 with a 15-year, interest-only loan with payments of $2,000 a month.”
“After six months, she realized that her dream job wasn’t going to work out after all, and she closed the day care. Early this year, Kevin lost his job as a private security guard. Soon they were behind on their mortgage payments and their real estate investment was upside down: Their mortgage balance was more than the value of their home in today’s market.”
“A real estate agent said they could try listing the house for $269,000, but their out-of-pocket costs would have been at least $6,000.”
“‘Shit happened and we lost our house,’ said Amanda, fighting back tears.”
“‘So now we’re going from a 1,700-square-foot house to a single-wide mobile home,’ said Amanda. ‘We’re OK with it. I hate this house right now - it’s caused so much stress for our family.’”
“Carol Fletcher, a broker at Hadlock Realty and Development Co., bought a rental home with a mortgage payment of $1,000 a month two years ago. ‘I got a notice the other day,’ she said, that the payment on her adjustable rate loan is going up to $1,360.”
“‘Where does a person come up with the additional $360?’ she asked. ‘You can only hold on for so long.’”
“She’s hoping to refinance, but other people won’t be so lucky, she said, especially when their property taxes go up as well.”
“‘Don’t fall for sucker loans,’ said Laura Piper, owner of Consumer Credit and Debt Counseling Service of Port Townsend. ‘We’re getting so many people with adjustable rate mortgages.’”
“Better yet, Piper said, ‘Don’t get over your head in the first place.’”
“Puget Sound area real estate prices have for the most part been holding steady while other areas of the country have seen some homeowners left with no equity. Nonetheless, the proliferation of signs reading ‘new price’ or ‘price reduction’ suggest it’s no longer a seller’s market in Jefferson County.”
“‘There’s some screamin’ deals out there,’ said Nick Harper, a real estate agent (in) Port Townsend.”
“According to Harper, there are many more homes for sale in Port Townsend today (128) than a year ago (60). And during the first eight months of 2007, the number of sales nearly matched the same period in 2006 (92 versus 103). Having twice as many homes for sale and slightly fewer homes being sold works in favor of buyers, he explained.”
“What we have, he said, is ‘a lot of homes that need to be sold. I think we’re definitely at the bottom,’ said Harper.” “Some sellers, Harper said, are ’still hanging on to last year’s prices.’”
“In August 2007, the median price of homes sold was $380,000 in Port Townsend and $365,000 in Jefferson County, according to the Northwest MLS.”
“Income tax deductions take some of the sting out of investment property cash-flow requirements, Harper said, but the biggest potential return on investment comes from property appreciation.”
“‘Don’t you wish you bought two houses five or 10 years ago?’ Harper asks of anyone who’s been a small-time landlord in Port Townsend. ‘In three to five years you’ll be tickled pink,’ he said of buying investment property today.”
“It’s common to assume that a house being foreclosed is a good deal, said Harper, but ‘why didn’t they sell it before it was in foreclosure?’ It could be that the house is worth less than the outstanding balance on the mortgage, he suggested. Or maybe there’s an issue with the house that isn’t readily apparent from the outside.”
“Harper urges caution for first-time buyers and those who might not have the resources to deal with surprises that could come after making the winning bid on the proverbial courthouse steps.”
“‘You don’t want to buy something that’s overpriced,’ agreed Carol Fletcher, who owns Hadlock Realty and Development Co. A current appraisal by a local appraiser is one way to address that concern. But even then, she said, a foreclosed home can be a bit of a pig in a poke.”
This is gonna be a doozey of a pullback, If I counted how many people I know that have banked the retirement in land around here. You guys simply would not believe me, and when you tell ‘em, “I dont think thats gonna work out wuite like you thought” , I get the 1000 yard stare…..like Im some sort of an idiot.
boyos, this is gonna be one for the ages.
wuite = quite,
maybe I am an idiot
here = southern Oregon.
its true, I am an idiot.
Voz,
No way!
Sometimes I’ll reread one of my post and thing, my heavens, what were you drinking (don’t drink often…LOL).
Leigh
LOL…thing=think (DANG)
Easy on yourself, pal — we all make typos.
ys we du.
NOT.
Voz - you can say that again. A dear friend is “selling” her Ok, if smallish, mobile on 5 acres…. for close to $400,000. Not a thing I can say. In this case, hopelessly naive, not greedy……guided by a realtor who quotes the NAR schtick like mantra. Reality’s a bitch for way too many people.
Put down the bong and listen to this …
Mobile homes in High Springs, FL on market for $195K.
Empty lots in High Springs generally go for $15K.
A nice new singlewide costs $35K.
Maybe they are following Dr. Andrew Weill’s “stoned thinking” mantra (from his psychadelic era autobiography).
It has to be, b/c I don’t think you can get an interest only loan on a property when the unit’s “modular” … right? (Land you need cash for, though I do think the trailer dealers have payment plans available.)
The icing on the cake: I took a look at a NICE, large 1985 home in NW Gainesville on market for $199K. Doesn’t seem too ridiculous, except the lot sizes are small, the commute sucks, and there was a redneck infestation across the street (giant garage full of NASCAR and football stuff, boats in front lawn, pickups, etc).
“Better yet, Piper said, ‘Don’t get over your head in the first place.’”
finally some commonsence, couldent this have been said years ago!
American Nightmare
Nationally, people are defaulting on mortgages at a faster pace than at any point in recent decades. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, some 5% of all mortgages are delinquent and the share rises to almost 15% for “subprime” mortgages—those lent to people with shaky credit histories. In the second quarter of 2007, almost 3% of subprime loans entered foreclosure (the process of default and repossession). RealtyTrac, a company that tracks foreclosures, reckons up to 1.5m households will enter the process this year (see chart), double last year’s figure. And with some 2.5m adjustable-rate mortgages resetting to higher rates before the end of 2008, everyone knows there is much worse to come.
The pain will probably be concentrated in two main areas. One, typified by Maple Heights, is the Midwest—states such as Ohio and Michigan, where the subprime bust is battering an industrial economy already in long-term decline. The other is quite different: booming states, such as Florida and California, where the subprime bonanza fuelled the biggest housing bubbles.
http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9905451
A little-known hidden cost of rampant commodities price inflation…
“Thanks to high commodity prices, vacant homes in poorer neighbourhoods are quickly stripped of their aluminium sidings and copper fixtures.”
I can think of an aluminum sided house that deserves such treatment on my block. But I think the previous tenants did a pretty good job of trashing it on the inside.
Why a rush to bailouts is folly:
And the hard truth is that in many cases preventing foreclosure is a bad idea. Not all defaulting borrowers are suffering families. In the bubbliest property markets, many mortgages are held by investors, who were speculating on higher prices. In Florida, a quarter of all defaulting loans are held by non-residents. Even in Cleveland, many subprime borrowers are in houses that they cannot—and will not be able to—afford. Foreclosure is, unfortunately, the right outcome for perhaps half of America’s problem mortgages.
That suggests politicians should put more emphasis on making the process more efficient. Already there are vast differences between states. In New York it takes at least 15 months for a house to be repossessed, according to Rick Sharga of RealtyTrac; in California it takes at least four months, while in Texas delinquent homeowners can lose their house less than a month after receiving a formal notice of default. That is extreme, but relatively speedy repossessions might at least reduce some of the collateral damage.
A lot of families are also better off foreclosed on sooner rather than later. As prices continue to drop they will just be in worse condition later on and they may drain all their savings in the process as well. Most of the “bailout” plans seem to heavily depend on rising prices to work out in the long run.
Exactly. Better to get out from under an unrepayable debt now, than to ride the falling knife to the ground while bleeding cash all the way down. The bailout only works for REIC firms (lenders, builders, GSEs, etc) and may actually inflict irreparable financial harm on the HHs the hypocritical pols claim they want to save.
“In the bubbliest property markets, many mortgages are held by investors, who were speculating on higher prices.”
Does anyone have a rough estimate of what percent of these ‘investors’ were actually hedge funds gambling on the certitude of a bailout? It would be quite clever to find a group of Senators willing to make a ’save our homes’ political pitch to cover up a hedge fund bailout that reaped large dividends in the form of future campaign contributions. The same strategy could work quite well if the GSEs were bailing out big investors, in the name of ’saving America’s homes.’
I don’t mean to suggest that this is actually happening; rather I am noting one potential dimension of the moral hazard problem connected to ad hoc mortgage bailouts.
The hedge funds need hundreds of billions of dollars. The govt can only come up with tens of millions.
Well consider the number of vacant houses for sale. That percentage is about the percentage of speculators.
Also look at the percentage with flipper stuff in them. SS appliances and granite. No functional reason for those and we should NOT bail out that kind of excess.
“Michael Ciaravino, the mayor of Maple Heights, points out that only three houses have sold in the past two months, compared to a monthly total of between 15 and 50 a few years ago. Once prices halve, he reckons, the market will clear, new families will come in and his suburb will recover.”
“Once prices halve” - and that’s the Mayor talking. I wonder how comforting it is for existing owners to hear these words from the chief executive of their city?
At least they enjoy having one of the few honest politicians in the U.S. as their mayor.
“The pain will probably be concentrated in two main areas. One, typified by Maple Heights, is the Midwest—states such as Ohio and Michigan, where the subprime bust is battering an industrial economy already in long-term decline. The other is quite different: booming states, such as Florida and California, where the subprime bonanza fuelled the biggest housing bubbles.”
There are only two places I like to eat ice cream, indoors and outdoors.
Right — other than in the center of the country and also out towards the coasts, we will be just fine…
When I was a kid, Maple Heights used to win the state wrestling championship every year.
They are right, though, that there are about 7 states that are worse off than the rest - OH, MI, IN, FL, NV, CA, GA .At least as far as foreclosures go, they’re way ahead.
All right, The Economist pimps the IE.
In contrast, almost 800,000 people piled into the Inland Empire between 2000 and 2006, swelling the population by a quarter. The area is the main distribution hub for Chinese imports, and it has added 50,000 jobs in the past year.
- Guess what, these are warehouse jobs filled with illegals! The IE has to have the largest population of illegals in the whole state of CA.
IE = soon to be national leader in forclosures.
If they are illiegals they probably aren’t counted int he statistics. Of course, the IE is a pretty diverse market with some areas close to OC (corona), areas closer to LA (Upland, rancho) and areas thet are real far out (hemet, adelanto). The number of for sale/foreclosure properties in Upland is moderate, while hemet has big problems.
50,000 new jobs vs 800,000 new people. Did anyone else see this and just say “ruh roh” to themselves?
I need a Scooby snack…
Thats 300,000 jobs over the 6 years that 800,000 people moved to the IE (if it’s 50K/yr)
At first I clicked on the link and read the article. WTF? I said. Then I re-read it more carefully:
I missed the words interest-only. While there’s a chance they were duped, an i/o mortgage is risky, by definition. And they all increase payment eventually. They don’t let you pay interest only forever.
But her first point is right. Always hire a lawyer. I can remember my CA and FL “buyers agent” being very disturbed that I basically ignored them and dealt with my lawyer and the seller. But I’m awfully glad I did.
My lawyer:
1. Saved me from a toxic HOA
2. Let me get a true bargain on a piece of land by making an offer on land that wasn’t zoned right contingent on getting the zoning, getting a YEAR to work out the problems, and working with the county on changing the zoning. And when we did get the zoning change, the seller wanted out of the deal. (The land was now worth more!). Again, the lawyer forced them to perform “or else”
You’d be crazy trusting a salesman or a R-E agent (just some woman who passed a test. Think Carmela Soprano) for accurate information.
Most likely, though, the documents these two dingbats signed had the terms and were clear about it. They just didn’t read them because they “trusted” the salesman, or heard what they wanted to hear.
they didn’t want another adjustable-interest mortgage; they didn’t want a penalty for paying the loan off early; and they didn’t want a ‘negative-amortization’ loan.”
Where’s Judge Smales when you need him? “They will get nothing and like it”
Brigham said instructions to their loan officer were clear: they didn’t want another adjustable-interest mortgage; they didn’t want a penalty for paying the loan off early; and they didn’t want a ‘negative-amortization’ loan.”
“They were shocked later to find the new loan included all three features. ‘When we called to confront (the loan officer), he hung up on us,’ Brigham said.”
How does this happen? Do they not read what they are signing? Does their copy of the loan docs differ from the one on record? What happens in that case? That is out-and-out fraud and the homeowner shouldn’t be liable… unless they signed for a neg-am ARM, which is what I suspect.
Call me cynical but I doubt they told their broker point blank what they wanted and didn’t want.
they lie later
hint: ARM to interest only
What they probably told their broker was that they wanted the lowest monthly payment possible and that they planned to sell when they finished college. And the broker smiled and said I have just the product for you.
Yes, and the lender paid the broker $5,000 in “rebate pricing” to put the borrowers into a more expensive loan. That is correct….all these loan officers are getting $5,000 to $15,000 from the lenders for moving the buyers into more profitable loans for the lender. It is easy to imagine the loan officer just saying “Sign here. It is what you need. No one reads the docs.”
It is all about the money….
Except the lenders are finding out that defaulted loans aren’t profitable at all…
We had a similar situation occur during a refi in 2002. The broker told us verbally what rate we would get.
When we walked in to sign the papers, my wife noticed that the bastard had changed the qoute to get himself a bigger commission, so we asked for a rewrite. He did the same thing AGAIN!
Finally we got the rate that we wanted.
I would suspect that on some of these deals, the broker told the client one thing, rewrote the loan, and had the clients unknowingly sign. That way, the broker is covered, since the client signed the paperwork.
We now trust NO ONE in any RE cycle.
‘Trust but verify’
SMF,
I know you’re pretty savvy after the last time. If I remember correctly your wife is a math major and had a tough time right?
For those people who haven’t gone through this before, get the GFE and have the attorney pour over a copy along with looking over the title.
Schedule your signing in the morning -the sneaky ones will try to make excuses to get the appt near close of business. Tell them the next day at 9 will be fine.
Now when you go to sign, literally compare the agreed upon GFE _line by line_ with the final. Take as long as you like, call for back up (attorney) if you need. You have a legal right to take it home but they’ll fight to keep you from leaving the building with it. If they sneak something in, have them rewrite it and start the comparision again. Take all day if need be to get it right. If they pull the heavy sighs, foot tapping - tell them point plank to stop or you will walk.
This advice comes from Mr. Gwynster who has seen it all.
Gwyn,
My wife majored in statistics and checks EVERYTHING. Including store receipts.
I would not have caught the error, and STILL have a hard time understanding what the broker tried to do.
What I can tell you for sure is that it was all to get himself more of a commission, and all it was for was a $122K 15 year mortgage.
This guy later screwed my brother in law and specialized in the Hispanic market.
“David Tatman, the state’s chief banking regulator, said interest-only loans are ‘facilitating the American dream of being able to buy your own home.’”
???? If the loan is interest only you NEVER own your home, you rent it from the bank. I fail to understand why anyone would ever do this for a home they intend to live in. Why not just rent?
“David Tatman, the state’s chief banking regulator, said interest-only loans are ‘facilitating the American dream of being able to buy your own home.’”
He’s the state’s chief banking regulator???? What a dumb sh%$!
Yeah, and here I thought Oregon wouldn’t participate in the dumb comment parade.
I guess we really are part of this mess. I’ll alert the others.
How does a $9000 prepayment penalty lock them into the house? They own a home and don’t even have $10,000 in savings? What would they have done if the roof had sprung a leak? Refinance you say? But you can’t refinance to get the money for the prepayment because the house is worth less than the mortgage? Oh…that is why they are locked in. The prepayment penalty is only part of the equation.
If they sold the house, would they just pay the prepayment penalty out of their profits? No profits you say?
The couple refi’d and got a new $270,000 loan. After paying off their first loan of $160,000 they would be left with $110,000. Why do you need $110,000 to start a daycare in your own home? What are you buying? That’s a lot of wipes.
No kidding, where I come from the cost is nothing to open a daycare. You already have toys from your own kids, so buy a few more juice boxes, extra snacks and you are in business.
That story is loaded with pure BS
Agreed. My niece opened a Day Care in her home last year. It only cost her a couple hundred of dollars (not sure of the exact amount, but it was in that ballpark), and most of that was for State Certification and inspection, so we are talking about a legal, licensed, business, not a fly-by-night I’ll watch some kids “business”.
I’d like to know where that $110,000 REALLY went….
“That’s a lot of wipes”
“That story is loaded with pure BS”
“‘Shit happened and we lost our house,’ said Amanda, fighting back tears.”
Sorry for “piling on”
I can’t be as hard on these guys as the ones who spent money on hummers, vacations or granite. I don’t think in the article it says that the daycare was run from her home and her husband lost her job. This country was built on small businesses..the problem is most people 1)don’t have a business plan and 2)don’t realize it can take 2-3 years before the business can show a profit so you must have savings…They took a chance and it didn’t work..better than most who took the house ATM card and went wild!!!!
I agree with the people up above. There’s no way that an in-home daycare should have substantial start-up costs. And having a daycare outside the home really is counterproductive if the mother wanted to be home with her kids and have a reasonably streamlined life.
Note that their first mortgage payment was for $1300, and the husband was a private security guard. That seems too much, too.
Ain’t buying what these two are sellin’. The article states that she wanted to stay home with her 2 kids so I would assume the daycare was home based. There is absolutely no way she could have spent a 100k on her daycare business, More like 1k or less. Besides, you don’t borrow a 100k and then quit, especially when your husband is a security guard. Come on. IMO she thought running a daycare would be easy and when she discovered it was a lot of work she quit.
“That’s a lot wipes.”
Well, they are pretty FOS.
C’mon people. Did you not notice that this was in the NW? Um, our daycares are special, just like our home prices. That’s why they borrowed so much. Hellooooo.
/sarcasm just getting started.
If Staci Bingham was so proud of herself that she knew the difference between an I/O, and ARM, and a neg-am, then why didn’t she know enough to plug her numbers into an online calculator and found out roughly what her payment would be — BEFORE she went to the loan officer?
At the very least, she should have gotten major red flags when she found out her monthly payment, (gee, that sounds kinda low…) enough to actually read the paperwork.
This is why I am Still unemployed Every HR girlie is this clueless today. Smart people have very little chance of getting by this little thing.
Once she gets a sense you really are smart, well no job for you……….
God i miss the days when Adults were in HR and were reading the resumes, and would actually take a phone call from a prospective employee or at least return them……
PS…I would be scared to death of her taking care of my pets after this article…lets hope she doesn’t pass veterinary school….
What?
She is going to vet school and i have 3 cats…..do you want her touching YOUR pets?
I use to have a beaver (Oregon State) girl friend. Every time I took her out, she got dumber. The problem with public education is illustrated by Brigham’s not reading her documents. On the front page in 24 point type is a disclamer stating that it is an interest only or adjustable loan. ‘Please feel sorry for me’.
“I use to have a beaver (Oregon State) girl friend.”
Ummm…I was going to comment but I think I’ll leave it alone.
I’m sure you were thinking about Beaver Cleaver, heeee-heeeee-heeeee!
Who in the world CHOOSES an I/O loan and expects fixed rate with no prepayment penalty? I doubt that such a product exists. You want a fixed rate with no prepayment penalty, then get a standard 30-year.
“‘There’s some screamin’ deals out there,’ said Nick Harper, a real estate agent (in) Port Townsend.”
Oh, they scream all right….”help, help, let me out…”
“… Having twice as many homes for sale and slightly fewer homes being sold works in favor of buyers, he explained.”
“What we have, he said, is ‘a lot of homes that need to be sold. I think we’re definitely at the bottom,’ said Harper.” “Some sellers, Harper said, are ’still hanging on to last year’s prices.’”
I know real estate is supposed to be local, but did this guy never read the newspapers concerning what happened south of him? First, people stop buying, then inventory piles up, then prices go down. Scheesh… it’s that simple, yet this guy seems incapable of seeing the handwriting on the wall.
“‘There’s some screamin’ deals out there,’ said Nick Harper, a real estate agent (in) Port Townsend.”
Oh, they scream all right….”help, help, let me out…”
LOL!!!!!!! TOO FUNNY
Stop it, De. I almost spat my smoothie on the keyboard.
“What we have, he said, is ‘a lot of homes that need to be sold. I think we’re definitely at the bottom,’ said Harper.” “Some sellers, Harper said, are ’still hanging on to last year’s prices.’”
does anyone think this guy is still dreaming?
I can see it now. The HBB big guns are already trained on this:
“Amanda’s dream was to open a day care and stay home with their own two kids. They refinanced the home to start the business, borrowing $270,000 with a 15-year, interest-only loan with payments of $2,000 a month.”
Good gah-rief! A $270k loan to open a DAY CARE? Were the training potty seats gold-plated? Were the sippy cups from Tiffany & Co.?
And here’s another one with a bullseye painted on it:
“Income tax deductions take some of the sting out of investment property cash-flow requirements, Harper said, but the biggest potential return on investment comes from property appreciation.”
“‘Don’t you wish you bought two houses five or 10 years ago?’ Harper asks of anyone who’s been a small-time landlord in Port Townsend. ‘In three to five years you’ll be tickled pink,’ he said of buying investment property today.”
Must have been the home theater equipment, plasma tv, surround sound system, hummer to drive the tots to/from field trips, boob job (gotta be presentable to keep the daycare business steady), new granite countertops, trip to Hawaii (need some downtime ya know)… blah blah blah…
My wife started an in-home daycare years ago. I seem to recall she/we spent maybe $600-$900 on items to get the house/center up to county compliance (to pass inspection for a license). Did a nice little business, pulling in $20k per year (while paying no daycare for our 3 boys). If we had to pay daycare, she would have had to be making over $45,000 per year to come close to what she was clearing with the daycare biz once you factor in the Federal/FICA-Medicare/State taxes and loss of significant income tax deductions for the in-home biz plus commuting expenses (gas, wear/tear on a car, insurance, etc.).
Sounds like this florence henderson wannabee didn’t understand the hassles of doing daycare.
Now she is TPT (trailer park trash). She could always make some extra money with amatuer “movie” making possibly.
I bought my second home in Manhattan Beach Ca in 1985. Soon after we had our second child and the child care cost me $750.00 CASH per month!
I had my wife quit work and we opened a licensed child care center that catered to the ‘New Yuppie Moms’ that was just beginning. We came out a little ahead with her part time day care center.
She forgot to do the research where the state says one person can only watch so many kids, including her own. And then the part where you have to go through a bunch of official licensing courses (Red Cross type stuff). I could make 20K a month setting up an orphanage-style daycare for 20 infants where I just plop a bunch of bottles in the cribs every couple hours but the state would shut it down pretty fast.
What’s funny is that I’ve known several moms in San Diego who nanny 1-2 kids in addition to taking care of their own and they make good money, particularly since it’s under the table. (Very popular gig for military wives.) This lady would have been so far ahead if she did something like that.
Well, it is a day care center. It’s for the chil’in.. the tiny ones.. the babies who’s moms are out working 9-5 (7:30-6:30 if you count commute) to get money to feed their own vicious, ravenous alligators.. and just don’t have the time to raise their little tykes..
jeeze.. doesn’t anyone have any compassion these days??
I call BS - they knew what they signing (IF THEY EVEN GLANCED AT THE PAPERS). I’ve closed thousands of loans. It’s impossible not to know.
But saying your a dumbass does not get your name in the paper.
Actually in watching the stories come through the amount of outright fraud without the homeowner participation as a equal partner seems pretty low. Only a small percentage of the stories come across as someone who was truly conned.
Ding, ding, ding… AZ Republic ran an AP paper about a couple that had a custom house built in Atlanta 20 years ago. “A few years ago they refi’ed to get a lower rate.” Now the lady lost her job and they are losing the house to foreclosure.
If they’ve had the house for 20 years, the house has to be worth 3-4 x their original loan amount… And, if they paid for 20 years, they have to owe half their original value. So, they SHOULD have 85% equity and NO risk of foreclosure.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhh you did a cash out refi to 100%+ LTV and now you can’t get a loan because you owe way too much… Dumbass.
Isn’t this why we have real-estate lawyers? I realize all this crap is buried in thousands of pages of documents, but again, isn’t that why we have real-estate lawyers, to read through it all for us?
just having enough brains to consider using a lawyer means you’ve got your eyes open and are concerned and probably have enough smarts to get along without one..
whereas these FBs are laughing as they leave the loan office, disbelieving how they signed some paper and got a house, practically for free..
No kidding, what’s a RE lawyer cost anyway? (I’ve never paid more than $500 myself) But what does the realtor get? 10X, 15X, 20X that?
Penny wise and a dollar dumb those types are.
I made the mistake once of commenting to a mortgage broker whose wife was a realtor that the person who needed the least amount of training walked away with the biggest check in the transaction. He was almost livid at the idea that I was discounting the importance of his wife’s part in the transactions. He mentioned needing “people skills”, etc. I still haven’t changed my opinion: the person who needed 7 years of school and had to pass a rigiourous exam is only asking for $300 to $500 for their part of the deal. I’m not sure why the realtor is worth more than that other than they are will to wait for the deal to close.
Because they have the monopoly on the data. If you want to list you house in MLS, then it is gonna cost you 6%, and you’re going to thank them for letting your house in their database!
Wow! I can’t believe that we *lawyer types* are actually getting favorable comparisons to realtors. This is the best thing about the whole bubble.
** Not officially licensed yet.
Ya make me chuckle tab.
“David Tatman, the state’s chief banking regulator, said interest-only loans are ‘facilitating the American dream of being able to buy your own home.’”
Psst. Hey Overpaid dummy, IO loans let you RENT a house you can’t afford. No appreciation=No Ownership.
An this guy’s the friggin’ “Chief Banking Regulator” in Oregon…THAT is pretty scary if I have any deposits in an Oregon state bank…..WOW!
wikipedia has a page on the “American Dream”. The phrase’s history goes back to before the birth of the USA.
..not until the article’s very last line is a home mentioned:
In the early and mid 20th century, the use of the term “American Dream” to more narrowly refer to home ownership was promoted by Realtors in order to associate social success with home ownership.
I think I’ve been inspired to write a letter. This guy’s gotta go.
“‘Shit happened and we lost our house,’ said Amanda, fighting back tears.”
Ladies and gentlemen, presenting The Housing Bubble Blog’s new motto.
I am fighting back the tears just reading about poor Amanda.
I think we know why her daycare business didn’t work out. Would you leave your kid with a potty mouth?
I’m fighting back the tears of laughter from the many humorous posts.
I call first dibs on t-shirts and iron ons…
damn…good call.
Shotgun!
“‘You don’t want to buy something that’s overpriced,’ agreed Carol Fletcher, who owns Hadlock Realty and Development Co. A current appraisal by a local appraiser is one way to address that concern. But even then, she said, a foreclosed home can be a bit of a pig in a poke.”
i thought the appraisers were the ones that created this mess, why should anyone trust one now?
Appraising is like driving a car with your vision restricted to the side windows and rear view mirror. You won’t see the end of the road until you’re already over the cliff edge.
“Kevin and Amanda bought their home for $160,000 in February 2005. They financed it with two fixed-rate loans with a combined payment of $1,300 a month. Amanda’s dream was to open a day care and stay home with their own two kids. They refinanced the home to start the business, borrowing $270,000 with a 15-year, interest-only loan with payments of $2,000 a month. After six months, she realized that her dream job wasn’t going to work out after all, and she closed the day care. Early this year, Kevin lost his job as a private security guard. Soon they were behind on their mortgage payments and their real estate investment was upside down: Their mortgage balance was more than the value of their home in today’s market. ‘So now we’re going from a 1,700-square-foot house to a single-wide mobile home,’ said Amanda. ‘We’re OK with it. I hate this house right now - it’s caused so much stress for our family.’”
What’s wrong with this picture? They purchase a house, leverage it past its value, spend on a business that fails, and then complain about the consequences. I thought the U.S.A. was the land of opportunity. Apparently now it is the land of guaranteed success(?)
Where else can you borrow to start a business and leave the bank holding the bag when YOU fail?
mall cops pull in maybe $10.00/hr ?
No it’s true I have heard of these houses that are designed to cause stress for families. There are about 30,000 around the nation, built by some rogue government agency. I saw it on X-Files
“‘Shit happened and we lost our house,’ said Amanda, fighting back tears.”
Ha,Ha,Ha….. Yes Amanda crap does occur.
“‘S**t happened and we lost our house,’ said Amanda, fighting back tears.”
I’m sure others are quoting this post, but it’s probably getting flagged unless you asterisk it. Anyway, this sounds like the official motto of American FB’s for the next few years.
“‘Shit happened and we lost our house,’ said Amanda, fighting back tears.”
“‘So now we’re going from a 1,700-square-foot house to a single-wide mobile home,’ said Amanda. ‘We’re OK with it. I hate this house right now - it’s caused so much stress for our family.’”
She took out $90K, failed a business and left the bank holding the bag. Well, as long as she is ok with it. WTF? And she hates the house for the stress its caused? Who’s fault was this? Thankfully this irresponsible idiot isn’t watching children anymore.
First mortgage problems were the fault of the realtors, brokers, investors etc. and now it’s the house that caused the stress. Nobody bothers looking in the mirror anymore.
If they did they would be told they are not the fairest of them all.
Mirror Mirror
On the wall
Who’s the fairest FB’d of All?
Couldn’t have said it any better Leighsong
Mirror, Mirror
Broken chapter eleven
Bad years to come, seven
Good one, Leigh! I like:
Mirror, Mirror
On the wall
Who’s the fu*kedest buyer of them all
O Lady Amanda,
though fu*ked ye be,
The fu*kedest of all we have yet to see
“‘Where does a person come up with the additional $360?’ she asked. ‘You can only hold on for so long.’”
“She’s hoping to refinance blah blah…
- That $360.00 equals a night out on the town here in So Cal. WTF.
Sobay,
I’m there with you. That is one third of our play money per month. (Our budget to have fun, including trips.) If you’re about to be foreclosed, say goodbye to trips, restaurants, etc… sheesh! If you cannot come up with that much each month, by the time you are a “homeowner,” you are overextended.
To the students out there, please don’t take this in the wrong light. We’re talking about someone later in life who has established their career.
Got popcorn?
Neil
To the students out there, please don’t take this in the wrong light. We’re talking about someone later in life who has established their career.
Don’t forget to the end the sentence with: and has high paying jobs in CA.
Seriously, we are in the early stages of career building but a decade past the student era and $360 per month is not “play money” to us. Another difference is that we don’t have 2 full time professional incomes and won’t for the forseeable future. Those people who have to work full time service jobs would also probably disagree with the assessment of how much $360 really is. (Although it’s awesome that you have $1k or so as “disposble income”. )
However, I do agree that if the difference between making the monthly nut and not is only $360 then you shouldn’t own a home. That’s way too close to the edge.
OT: Another small bank failure.
The Ohio Superintendent of Financial Institutions’ closure of Miami Valley, which had $86.7 million in total assets and $76 million in total deposits, marks the third FDIC-insured bank to fail this year.
The state regulator found that the bank is in an unsafe and unsound condition to stay in business and that it’s insolvent, with liabilities in excess of its assets.
MarketWatch: http://tinyurl.com/ystk2h
Dah… only $14M of uninsured deposits. No small businesses will fail because of this. Naaa..
But what is happening with a Thursday announcement? That breaks the pattern of Fridays, preferably at the end of the quarter. The timing confuses me.
Got popcorn?
Neil
LOL!!
There must be a big one tommmorow…they needed to get this one out of the way. 3 down…
Big things always start out small…gotta start somewhere.
Wonder how many due diligence teams are secretly looking at Countryfried right now? Remember when the due diligence teams from various banks were stumbling over each other looking at the Texas banks in the late ’80’s early 90’s.
“They were shocked later to find the new loan included all three features. ‘When we called to confront (the loan officer), he hung up on us,’ Brigham said.”
Lets see here house rise in value:
“Mr loan officer you are brilliant!”
House drop in value:
“Mr loan officer what have you done to us?”
“‘So now we’re going from a 1,700-square-foot house to a single-wide mobile home,’ said Amanda.”
And if they overpay as much on the mobile home as they did on the house they’ll probably spend $150k for a POS trailer.
“David Tatman, the state’s chief banking regulator, said interest-only loans are ‘facilitating the American dream of being able to buy your own home.’”
what an @$$. What about being able to afford it? This country has gone straight down hill since slick willie took over in 1992 and getting worse!
What a bunch of bozo freeloading homedebtors!
“‘So now we’re going from a 1,700-square-foot house to a single-wide mobile home,’ said Amanda. ‘We’re OK with it. I hate this house right now - it’s caused so much stress for our family.’”
Nothing wrong with living in mobile home park if this is what you can afford to live in. No every chimp can afford to buy a stucco box 4000 sq ft mcmansion dump.
Re The Brighams
I’m a loan officer in Palm Desert, Ca. and I am not an expert on Oregon disclosures. In California we disclose up front. When they sign the final loan docs they must sign an adjustable rate rider, a lender rate and term form, and any pre-pay is in pretty bold print. I suspect it isn’t that much different there. I have noticed over the years that as the stack of disclousres grew, [I have been doing this for 30 years] that there is a M.I.G.O. effect [My eyes glaze over] on the borrowers and many read the first page or two and then quit looking and just sign. I suppose it’s possible it happened the way they said, but I am skeptical.
On Kevin and Amandas’ house it looks to me as if the real bagholder is the lender who basically bought their house through equity withdrawal. If we are looking for victims I think we can find better ones than a couple who gamboled their house on a business and failed. I’m not trying to be hard hearted. A lot of dreams get swept away with a lost home.
My parents were fully grown when the depression hit and lived through it. I used to think they were stingy and too careful with credit. They are looking smarter every day.
Paul Hiller
So, Amanda got $270K, walks away from the loan and probably won’t have to pay the taxes on the default - what is she crying about - that’s a hefty little profit.
Funny stuff:
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20057325,00.html?xid=cnn-1007-nightmares-viii
“Facilitating The American Dream”
Road to hell is paved with “good intentions.” It sure is paved with stupidity.
Jas
The road to hell is not paved with true “good intentions”. Her intent was to live beyond her means. Her focus was on the material stuff but the intent was always clear.
“Shit happened and we lost your kids…”
Airline variant: Shhh happened and we lost your luggage.
O/T But another bank failed today. Miami Valley Bank, Lakeview, Ohio
http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/miamivalley.html
S**t happens and you lose your bank.
“‘There’s some screamin’ deals out there,’ said Nick Harper, a real estate agent (in) Port Townsend.”
They are screaming for knife catchers.
Subprime Delinquencies Accelerating, Moody’s Says
Oct. 4 (Bloomberg) — Subprime mortgage bonds created in the first half of 2007 contain loans that are going delinquent at the fastest rate ever, according to Moody’s Investors Service.
The average rate of “serious loan delinquencies” in the securities has been higher than 2006 bonds, New York-based Moody’s analysts Ariel Weil and Amita Shrivastava wrote in a report today. Serious loan delinquencies are those 60 days or more past due, including properties in foreclosure or already foreclosed upon.
“It is shocking what you see,” said Kyle Bass of Hayman Advisors LP, a Dallas-based hedge fund that reported a 400 percent return on its bet the U.S. housing market would fall. “Anything securitized in 2007 has got to have the worst collateral performance of any trust I’ve seen in my life.”
Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings have been downgrading subprime securities issued in 2006, and Fitch said yesterday it’s now reviewing ratings on bonds created in 2007.
Moody’s has cut ratings or placed on review 496 bonds backed by first mortgages issued last year, or 3 percent of such bonds created in 2006. Through Sept. 21, S&P had cut ratings on 433 securities from last year and backed by subprime loans, or 9.1 percent of the total. Fitch yesterday cut ratings on $18.4 billion of bonds backed by subprime loans.
The Moody’s report today compares with research from S&P in March that said 2006 bonds may be the worst-performing ever.
http://tinyurl.com/275sad
(Simultaneously plugs fingers in ears and tightly shuts eyes):
The Credit Crunch Is Over!
These securities were issued within the last nine months! What were they smoking? This is after all hell broke lose. Mistakes were made. There will be harsh consequences. Welcome to the Bernana eke-con-Oh-me.
LMAO!
“Anything securitized in 2007 has got to have the worst collateral performance of any trust I’ve seen in my life.’’
Again, it isn’t the number of defaults. It is the losses.
Lenders plan to take a $20K loss on each foreclosure. That is what is baked into the model. With medain houses in CA going for 10x median income, they are gong to lose $200K per foreclosure.
“David Tatman, the state’s chief banking regulator, said interest-only loans are ‘facilitating the American dream of being able to buy your own home.’”
———————————-
Hmmm. Is it worth my time to work through the logic with Mr. Tatman?
Ok, here goes…
Me: “Hey Dave.”
D.T.: (waving thick cigar smoke out of the air) “Yes, may I help you?”
Me: “I saw your statement that all the interest only loans helped so many Americans buy their own home.”
D.T.: “Ah yes, those interest only loans are wonderous financial instruments.”
Me: “Dave, Dave, Dave, help me out here. In order to buy your own house, you have to pay off the principal AND the interest, correct?”
D.T.: “Absolutely! Do you think I can buy these cigars with just the interest, fees, and commissions? Ha - ha - couggh - couggh! Sorry, that’s a little banker joke there.”
Me: Uhhhh … yeaahhh. Anywho… so if people are using “interest only loans” to buy houses, it means they are not paying down the principal.
D.T.: “Yes, I suppose that’s true.”
Me: “So it means they will never … ”
D.T.: (stubby, smoke stained fingers stroke chin) “Hmmm.”
Me: If people don’t pay down the principal on the loan, it means they will never…”
D.T.: “Uhhh … They’ll never… Own - the - house.”
Me: I knew you could do it Dave.”
Let me see if I can summarize what I read from all of these sob stories - location, income, age, etc irrevelant. Everyone wants to refinace their low rate, teaser payment, equity fallen house. They want a lower rate, fixed interest rate (no ARMS), lower permanent payment, and the bank to ‘forgive’ the fallen part of the equity, and for them to stay in a home they clearly can not afford? Did I get the essesnce of what all of these sob stories are asking for? And of course, more to come. And they want the gubmint to help bail them out of their unfortunate timing because it wasn’t their fault?
“Amanda’s dream was to open a day care and stay home with their own two kids.”
Seems like I hear this a lot: people wanting to go back to the 50’s and let mommy stay home with the kiddies while dad goes out and earns the bacon. Sorry folks, but that kind of ideal lifestyle doesn’t work anymore.
It does in our household.
It’s working for us, but we don’t spend wildly like many of our neighbors do.
Assuming raising a child is top priority, mom-at-home doesn’t work if what you call “lifestyle” is defined as living beyond your means..
Trying to resurrect a long-dead social paradigm played a not insignificant role in helping to convince many sheeple to buy at prices that common sense - and the concrete limtations of time and money - should have prohibited.
Committing 5x, 10x, or more of one’s income reeks of blind faith - and audacious belief - in a stable future of escalating real wages. You had to be mighty high on your own supply to spend and HELOC like many of those folks did.
It does here too. There are loads of folks in the “less desirable” areas making it work on one income. You may have to drive an old car and have come cozy family living arrangements, but it is possible for many, and if more of us did it costs of a lot of stuff would come down since there would be less money chasing it.
This is the #2 reason given for families relocating out of CA according to data gathered recently (can’t say more until PI begins publishing). #1 is pursuing affordable housing.
recently = sacramento co. 1st & 2nd cohort
Everyone in my family- mom and dads- going back 4 generations all worked and raised kids.We all turned out just fine. So that’s sort of the way I’m used to things being.
As with the story in the post, I think many feel that just because one parent stays home, then they naturally feel entitled to special treatment.
Simply put- if one income is going to cause unnecessary financial stress, then the obvious choice is for mom to go back to work. At least until financial matters are resolved. You’d be amazed at how many people I know where this is NOT an option.
jetson_boy -
We live on 1 income with some money I bring in part time. My sister’s household is 2 income. I never bought into that I would warp my kids if I decided to work. Adults have always need to work to make a household run. For instance, if somehow people imagine that running a 19th century farm involved tons of quality time with both parents at home, well, it’s more than a little romantized.
I totally agree with you that if “sacrifice” involves borrowing large sums of money, then someone needed to work. 1 income families don’t deserve to live beyond their means any more than 2 income families do.
In the end, the stay at home person should be generating the tax free savings that makes the lifestyle work. I think ultimately 1 income is more “livable” with less overall stress but there should be no particular entitlements that go along with it.
Once I hit 8th grade, both of my parents worked. And of course that made me what I am today, a pathological axe murderer.
Let’s not forget, whoever (mom or dad) is staying at home and raising the kids are working also.
Works in ours, too. The 50’s lifestyle also requires living like the 50s: cheap, if any vacations, small houses, cheap cars, no debt, limited eating out, and no buying “toys” - iPod, iPhones, iJetski, etc. on a whim.
The problem is that they wanted a 2 income lifestyle as a 1 income family. They left no margin for error. Ironically, today’s mobile home is much closer to the average square footage in a 50’s home. They might have made it if they started in a mobile home and accepted that’s how they needed to live while raising the kiddos.
What’s interesting is that in 1957, the level of contentment for the avg American was the highest ever recorded. This was at a time when houses were an average of 700 square feet and the family had a single car and maybe a single TV set.
I think what’s different these days in regards to a 50’s lifestyle is the issue of retirement. It certainly isn’t supported by social security nor company pensions. The saying on the street these days is that the avg american should have 900k by the time they’re 65. This is a conservative estimate assuming current inflationary standards which might greatly increase as a result of the latest fiasco.This is compounded by the fact that retirement is being shoveled out of the way in favor of buying houses.
When I hear of stories like these where a couple bought a place and could barely afford the payments, then I know that they were not contributing anything towards retirement, which would be a much bigger problem than the house once they got older. I assume MANY are in this exact same situation.
As for myself, me and my wife both work and live a rather spare lifestyles.Perhaps even less spare than a traditional 50’s one. We’re just waiting for the housing market to detract enough for all the savings to afford us a place with no debt and savings leftover for retirement and investments. Might take a few more years.
Having grown up in the 50’s, sans malls, it simply doesn’t occur to me that “shopping” equates to recreation. The confusion between want and needs astonishes me. Need an iPhone? In what incarnation?
Works here.
Actually jetson_boy, if you want to stay home with your kids running a daycare can be a pretty good way to make some money, start up costs are next to nothing and it’s a great tax write off. Also you don’t have to pay someone to care for your children. My SIL has run a successful daycare business for the last 25 years. You can write off toys, printer ink, a portion of your mortgage (or rent), phone, gas, water, electricity and cable bills, food, etc, etc.
I suspect the real problem with Amanda’s dream is once she discovered taking care of children was pretty hard work she just didn’t feel like doing it anymore.
“Kevin and Amanda bought their home for $160,000 in February 2005. They financed it with two fixed-rate loans with a combined payment of $1,300 a month.”
“Amanda’s dream was to open a day care and stay home with their own two kids. They refinanced the home to start the business, borrowing $270,000 with a 15-year, interest-only loan with payments of $2,000 a month.”
I would like to nominate these two for today’s joshua tree treatment. My SIL has run a very successful home daycare for the last 25 years. There are no appreciable start up costs for running a daycare business and the tax benefits are awesome. What in the world did she spend over a 100k on?
This woman needs a reality check, first of all your husband is a security guard. Second thing you borrowed a 100k to start a business, you can’t afford to stay home and sit on your @ss now. I think Amanda found out that taking care of other people’s children is hard work and she just didn’t want to do it anymore.
“‘Shit happened and we lost our house,’ said Amanda, fighting back tears.”
No honey, you did this all to yourself.
I would like to wipe away her tears with a Joshua Tree!
that statement was bugging me from the get-go.. Who the hell dreams of taking care of a bunch of undomesticated, strange kids? Is there any tougher way to spend the days?
I can see starting a business .. been there done that.. but it wasn’t a dream. It was a way to afford to eat while doing something i half way enjoyed and was good at.
If I had any subconscious inkling of a dream it sure as hell disappeared about 5 minutes after the business was out of the gate.
Yeah, my real dream is to having a tree that grows money. Alas…
My business gives me nightmares on a regular basis. And not just during my sleepy-time.
I can’t stand it. I’m watching the local news right now and they have “Doctor” Lawrence Yun flogging a rebounding real estate market in Florida. What a complete a$$. He’s saying the market will rebound in the spring. He’s saying mortgage rates are going lower. He’s saying prices will be 25-30% higher in another five years. He’s saying baby boomers will be coming to Florida. He’s the Manchurian Candidate of the NAR.
He’s pissing into a tsunami
“They hoped to keep payments down and planned to sell their Woodburn home once she finished school at Oregon State University.”
This dynamic has pumped up real estate in college towns all over the country. I was talked to a very seasoned Realtor here in Pullman in a non-professional situation who confided that our RE boom has been driven almost entirely by student/parent speculation. The actual rate of new household formation in Pullman, WA has been constant for 30 years. But there is building going on everywhere and a double digit appreciation for the past 3-4 years.
Students/parents are driving up the cost of low end homes (prices in that category have more than doubled in 3-4 years), both new slap up tract homes and the 1950’s inventory. Then long time homeowners are using their windfalls to “move up” into $400k homes with a view.
But since there is no real growth underlying this boom, this will have to end badly. For example, vacancy rates for student rentals (group homes, duplexes, cheap apartments) have jumped way up.
Bottom line: In a financially sane world, vet students can’t afford $250k homes. That is a starter home for someone on a $80k salary.
Kevin and Amanda Adams are example of the two uneducated, ignorant, blind-as-a-bat, typical white-trash Americano that have not learned anything during their grown-up adult life. Just looking at the picture revealed two obese, fat-ass, pig-style eating habit human beings. And Amanda wants to take the easy way out by opening a daycare center so that she can make off money from taking care of other people kids and staying at home munching on frito-chip and watching “The Price is Right” on TV all day long. They bought a house in 2005’s and turned around and refinance it to get $270K to pursue of their Americano dream: “TO GET RICH WITHOUT WORKING”. That is what I believe at this moment what most of the American citizen is thinking, “I have got to obtain my Americano dream: TO GET RICH WITH WORKING AND SWEATING AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE”. Pathetic people, pathetic culture, pathetic nation !!!
Everytime I hear “bail out” i want to puke.
I remember a couple coworkers when i mentioned the bubble in 04 started to say “its time to pull out some equity”… I can’t wait till we have a RIF.
So many jackasses.
Speaking of Whatcom county and mixed messages: It’s funny that realtors are crossing their fingers and hoping Canadians will buy primary residences here in Whatcom County. Just a couple days ago there was an article in the same paper with retailors lamenting that, despite parity with the Canadian dollar, Canadian shoppers were actually coming down less frequently than in past years, because it’s becoming more of a hassle to cross the border than ever before. And likely to get worse as passports become required later this year. Doesn’t sound like a pleasant daily commute for work.
Friends’ B’ham house still hasn’t sold and the realtor’s getting sloppy - left the key in the door after the last open house. I picture a despondent realtor who could give a sh*t anymore moping away absent-mindedly from the house.
My Seattle friends are finally sobering up. Just had a long conversation with one of them about drama pricing. They’re now willing to price it at 475K (down from 630K in May). However, their realtor is reluctant. As we talked, it finally came out that the realtor lives in the same neighborhood and probably is more concerned about ruining the comps on her own house than getting the commission from their sale. My friend finally had an “Aha” moment and may dump her.
It’s funny that realtors are crossing their fingers and hoping Canadians will buy primary residences here in Whatcom County.
Funny? It’s absurd. Canadians can’t just move to the US at will and commute to work in Canada. It’s one thing for a Mexican to live and work in the black economy, but for a Canadian holding a regular job and expecting regular government services it’s just not doable, except for those very few who hold dual citizenship. If it were Whatcom County would have become a suburb of Vancouver, BC (which is right across the border) decades ago. It’s a lot cheaper, for exactly this reason.
“Sorry folks, but that kind of ideal lifestyle doesn’t work anymore.”
Yes, it does. I haven’t worked full-time since my first was born about 14 years ago (I did some PT stuff here and there - mostly around Christmas’). Staying at home IS my career. I literally “manage” everything, including our money - which is growing quite nicely thank you.
In the beginning (of my husband’s career) we weren’t making much money so we had very few “toys” and didn’t eat out much - we also rented apartments or small homes. Now DH makes well into the 6-figure range, we have all the toys - paid CASH for them - and we don’t pay for daycare. Try paying daycare costs on 3 children and see what you come up with - longer working hours away from home and more debt. Staying home is a common sense, practical and profitable choice when done right.
And, yes, the kids DO benefit in the long run. My children have many friends who are left at home alone way too much. Just last week one of my daughter’s friends was beaten up by her big sister, who was only 16, when she was left in her care after school while mom and dad worked until almost 7pm. The girls started arguing and the big sister just lost it and took it out on her little sister. Tragic.