Economic Reality Isn’t Always Easy To Swallow
It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “Mega homebuilder Corey Barton hopes to push potential homebuyers off the fence with a ‘Deal of a Lifetime’ this weekend when he reduces prices on 200 Treasure Valley homes by up to $70,000. ‘The market’s changing, and we want to sell some houses,’ Barton said. ‘It’s just logical. I want to build more. It’s the best time to buy.’”
“‘It’s a good thing,’ said Mandy Herrmann, who moved in last January with her husband. She said she wasn’t worried that the sale could depress the value of her house. ‘These houses have been sitting here a long time. It’d be nice to have some neighbors.’”
“Times have turned tough in the Central Oregon housing market. Brooks Resources Corp. will try to auction off the last three of its RiverWild bluff townhomes at Mt. Bachelor Village early next month. Brooks knocked $99,000 to $184,000 off the asking price of each of the three 2,000-square-foot units to come up with minimum bid prices, said Realty Marketing President John Rosenthal.”
“Brooks CEO Mike Hollern, who said he expects the Bend market to remain overstocked with housing for at least a couple more years as the speculators of the boom years try to sell their houses, is hoping that an auction will, at least in theory, produce quick sales that will allow everyone to ‘find out where the market is.’”
“‘I have no idea,’ Hollern said. ‘We’ll find out.’”
“According to the Korea Financial Telecommunications Institute and Lotte Construction yesterday, only two people bought apartments out of 50 units of Lotte Castle Medici put up for sale in Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, leaving 48 units of apartments unsold.”
“One official of a construction company said, ‘Usually, 30% of apartment units are sold even though their location is not great as long as they are in the Gangnam area. What happened to the Lotte apartments is shocking.’”
“Developer levies have been slashed by about $25,000 per home on newly released land in Sydney’s western growth corridor. Premier Morris Iemma said the new measures were designed to make housing affordable for Sydney families.”
“The reforms came too late for Mellissa Page, who has already bought land in Harrington Park and is in the process of building a home. She said she supported any move to make housing more affordable. ‘It’s a good idea. Twenty-five thousand is quite a bit - it will be a big help,’ she said.”
“Susan Foley, recently appointed ‘foreclosure czar’ for the city of Denver, has seen firsthand the impact of people losing their homes. ‘As a Realtor, I’ve seen what foreclosures do to families and homeowners,’ Foley said.”
“Data presented at the meeting showed that 81 percent of the foreclosures in Denver were for loans priced from about $100,000 to less than $200,000. City Councilman Rick Garcia said the figures indicate that the vast majority of foreclosures are the result of people refinancing the equity out of their homes, not from people who bought homes.”
“‘There are some $100,0000 homes for sale in Denver, but not 81 percent of them,’ Garcia said.”
“On a year-over-year basis, Hawaii’s September foreclosure rate is up 145 percent, ahead of the national rate of increase of 99 percent.”
“If the percentage of people who can afford a median home in Hawaii drops below 20 percent that could put the islands in the danger zone, RealtyTrac’s Daren Blomquist said, adding that affordability in California, one of the states with the highest foreclosure rates, dropped to 17 percent of the population in 2006.”
“Interesting stats on California’s first-time homebuyers from the California of Association of Realtors confab in Anaheim. 29.4% of first-timers put zero down in ‘07 vs. 40.3% in 2006.”
“The Eureka Reporter published a story outlining Humboldt State University professor Erick Eschker’s findings that prices may fall by 40 percent in order to return a key economic indicator, the price-to-rent ratio, to historic levels. Eschker said the ratio, which compares the median price of houses with the average rent, skyrocketed after housing prices rose during the housing bubble, while the other factor, rent, stayed the same.”
“Property manager Bev Hart said she expects rent to catch up to house prices. Realtors disputed Eschker’s main point: that the North Coast is not immune from statewide or nationwide trends.”
“In an interview, Eschker stood by his original findings. ‘I’m not predicting a 40 percent drop overnight by any means. I don’t know what’s going to happen,’ Eschker said. ‘I’m just trying to ask the question, ‘what do the numbers say?’”
“I have a novel idea. What if everyone who has their house on the market who doesn’t actually need to sell right now, refuses to sell it for a lower price. Either the buyers take it at their price or leave it.”
“Then when all those lower priced houses are sold or there is so little inventory of houses, the sellers who can wait it out, can then put their houses on the market for what they feel their house should sell for according to what the market should bring compared to all the sales that have gone before; not what the market had declined to, or what people are saying the market is going to decline to in the future.”
“After reading many of the post here about sellers being advised to be ready to pay for the buyers closing costs and any repairs and lower their prices even more, that isn’t right in my book.”
“We have never bought a house where we were given these concessions and frankly I think that is absurd. I really feel bad for those who must sell because they have been transferred or who have circumstances in their life where they need to sell and are forced to ‘eat crow’ while doing it.”
“I know some will say I am going through the anger stage and anger is correct. Much of the hoopla about all these price reductions that are needed is perpetuated by the media, bankers, real estate agents, and all the hype about how the ‘market’ is going down and you better sell now for whatever you can get or be prepared to just sit on it for years or really loose your “…”.”
“No wonder buyers are hestitant to buy houses or are backing out of sales. Can you blame them - they are waiting for a $5 hamburger to go for 50 cents and who can blame them.”
“Sellers take back your power and hold your ground!”
“I live in Mayville, a small town of not quite 5,000 people about an hour northwest of Milwaukee. We live here because our family lives here. We live here because we love this life. We live here because this is what we can afford.”
“Metro Milwaukee, like many parts of the country, is experiencing a rash of home foreclosures. More than 4,000 area homes already have entered foreclosure, and more are sure to follow.”
“The problem, in my opinion, doesn’t lie with predatory lenders. The problem rests squarely on the shoulders of homeowners who bought homes beyond their means. It’s your job, not the bank’s, to make sure you can afford the house you buy. To check and recheck the numbers. To have a backup plan, just in case.”
“We’ve thought about moving closer to Milwaukee, but the numbers just don’t add up. A four-bedroom, two-bath home in Waukesha County runs closer to $350,000. For $150,000 to $200,000, we can buy a two-bedroom, two-bath condo. Not exactly ideal lodging for a family of six.”
“Economic reality isn’t always easy to swallow. By all rights, we should be able to buy a nice home in a new subdivision. My husband, a respected professional engineer, designs said subdivisions.”
“But while we’re content to remain in the home we can afford, many people are not. They see nice homes and think they should have one, too. More often than not, home-buyers stretch to reach some unobtainable version of the American dream.”
“As a nation, our expectations have changed tremendously over the years. We used to need a roof over our heads; now, we need a roof, a media room, a master suite and a three- or four-car garage. The average new home is now 2,459 square feet, up from 1,695 square feet in 1974. Families, meanwhile, have gotten smaller.”
“Stretch if you want to for your dream home. Just don’t come crying to me when the mortgage turns out to be more than you can afford. I’ll be enjoying life in Mayville.”
Another great week folks, with only one brief server issue. My thanks to those who support this blog. Please check back this weekend for news, your market observations and topics.
Gardenweb, Ben? Will we find you on TheKnot.com next? LOL
Har! TX, your comments to the OP were priceless. Well done
Well done indeed. Succinct and lethal.
Tooooooo funny.
Happy Friday Ben and Bloggers!
Smiles,
Leigh
I thought that Gardenweb fantasy was great — sort of like, “LSD inspires seller to hold firm.” It brought back many memories of all the happy talk that we observed on other blogs during the bubble’s peak. It’s funny now to recall that we were seeing “live,” so to speak, the Suzanne commercials and my own all-time favorite, the article about San Francisco seller Linda Gao, now notorious for her quoted demand, “If you want to buy my house, you have to feed the squirrels.”
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05168/523385.stm
If it weren’t so pathetic, I’d rank Jeff’s “Riches to Rags” saga and crash on SDCIA #2 among favorites.
got seeds?
Thanks for the Bend story. I might need to email that to someone I know…
OUCH ! Hurts to be a FB ..lol !!
“Mega homebuilder Corey Barton hopes to push potential homebuyers off the fence with a ‘Deal of a Lifetime’….”
Thanks again, Hovnanian. Deals of the Century for everyone!
How far down is the ground from here?
“Sellers take back your power and hold your ground!”
How NOT to conquer your inner-sheep — Buy at the peak and hold.
Sell — Conquer your inner-sheep.
I gave that bimbo a piece of my mind.
Thank you to all you guys for starting my weekend off right. I have also decided to quit my job and take my power back as an employee, until my boss starts paying me the seven figures I deserve, with three months paid vacation!
“Sellers take back your power and hold your ground!”
Sweet comedy.
How is the neck?
Pazuzu … the main antagonist from The Exorcist horror novels and film series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pazuzu_(The_Exorcist)
So classic. You think you can hold your ground against the tide of thousands of foreclosures and homes that will become foreclosures if the sellers don’t get out now?
Fine, hold on to that rock with all your might as the tide rises over your head… hope you can hold your breath for a really, really long time…
That is what Ken Lay told Enron employees. Don’t sell things are looking up while quietly he was sending SELL, SELL, SELL order on the laptop under the podium.
“I have a novel idea. What if everyone who has their house on the market who doesn’t actually need to sell right now, refuses to sell it for a lower price. Either the buyers take it at their price or leave it.”
Someone needs to tell this buffoon that this is a “stand off” that the buyers will win. It is supply and demand pricing.
Even if some uneducated buyer offers them their wishing price, neither the Appraisers nor the banks will approve it.
The reality is many owners must sell (foreclosures, monthly payment increases, job losses) but buyers don’t have to buy. This is the inevitable reason why sellers will lose a stand off.
You know, I read that entire article along with the posts and I must say, get the fracking thing off the market if you don’t need to sell it! You’re messing with my head you fracker you!!!!
Some of you may remember we sold our home in NW FL in June 07 for $286k. A home is shelter, and it is a money PIT! We did uncountable improvements, because we wanted to do them to make our stay more enjoyable (and the hubby is a rabid energizer bunny!) We truly thought we would stay there to the end, but that’s another story. I’m happy for the new owner, and the price was phenomenal in terms of a quality, well cared for home.
Sure, we want to buy here in WI. You see that last post from Mayville? Yeah, we look at a home in Mayville. 2000sqft, 7 acre for $399,000. That woman talking bull above (hubby is a design engineer for subdivisions!!!!!!!grrr) is full of dog do. I’m a house mouse, so Mayville would suite me fine, but let’s get real for the sake of Jeesh!
Back on topic, get the frack out of the market if you don’t want to sell MORON! (not directed at bloggers here). Who, in the name of love, lists their house for the hell of it?! The stupidity of it all is mind numbing. As is the logic of the said article…grrr.
Smiles,
Leigh
P.S. You go TX!
check out zillow some time and look at the “Make Me Move” listings..
Zestimte $425,000
Make Me Move Price $1,000,000
OMG Pen, my hair would catch fire and my eyes would beam lasers of deadly penetration!
Zillow was novel fun for giggles a couple of years ago, now it just makes me grrrr.
Smiles,
Leigh
Zillow is an absolute joke. By their account, my house increased in value 125K in the last month! (15%)
Their model does not work, though I love the concept of these sites eating into the Realtor’s business
Zillow is a joke!!!!!!!!
I was going by zillow estimates until my cousins bought last month. Behold…. The zestimate now is the new price which my cousin’s bought for…… And they paid over 35,000 over the peak market price.
Its so different here “king county”.
Yes, by all means, please “Sellers hold your ground.”
Meanwhile the buyers will be using blitzkrieg tactics on the thousands and thousands of foreclosures around you. We’ll be in your backyard soon enough anyway.
“After reading many of the post here about sellers being advised to be ready to pay for the buyers closing costs and any repairs and lower their prices even more, that isn’t right in my book. We have never bought a house where we were given these concessions and frankly I think that is absurd.”
Excuse me? When I bought in ‘96 in Marin County (Bay Area), the market was dead as a doornail. I got $ taken off the purchase price, plus the seller paid all my closing costs and also gave me a small amount outside escrow as well.
Looks like those days will be making a comeback.
hmm..yeah, and camping out just to be bidding tens of thousands over asking, taking a Neg. AMORT IO ARM at 10x gross, skipping the home inspection, writing a nice letter to the sellers, agreeing to feed the squirrels to buy some POS isn’t absurd?
Word.
You also get the Hummer the bummer bought with Home Equity.
“Sellers take back your power and hold your ground!”
Custer’s last words to his men
“Banker, please take back this house or I’ll burn it to the ground.”
OK, I was wondering about this very idea but did not want to say it out loud … would you guys expect a massive spike in arsons as people try to collect the insurance money in lieu of foreclosure? Yikes.
yes
Chuckle.
They can only hold off as long as they can pay their mortgage.
And watch the REO’s become the new comps. Don’t forget, banks are finally back to double checking appraisals. Pretty soon, they’ll triple check.
Got popcorn?
Neil
“banks are finally back to double checking appraisals”
can you imagine what would happen, if the local bankers actually started visiting properties that they were about to lend on? You want to borrow how much? I must be at the wrong house….
This happened to me when I build a house in WV in 1993. Borrowed from a small local bank, the VP came out to check it out.
Sellers wishing prices are the nail. Affordability is the hammer.
I like that statement!!
Best,
Leigh
Ditto.
Agreed. Brilliant. Captures the utter fulility of listing home, staging, sign twirlers, free hummers, cruises, and granite counter tops will be useless as viagra on a corpse, unless buyers can honestly afford it. The REIC jackasses have been torturing themselves trying to “creatively” avoid this truth for the last four years.
And Reality is the big, hairy, muscular carpenter holding that hammer and saying aloud ‘Okay, which one do I hit first?’
on the Bank appraisals - this has the glue huffers over on the HGTV forums really pissed. Reading those posts is p0rn for a housing bear like me.
…banks are finally back to double checking appraisals…
International banking, globalization, new world order…
How in the Jeesh does anyone figure this scheme out(come)?
Now the Wall Street police are attempting to price hedges.
No accountability, and clueless cheerleaders rallying on and on and on.
Point, nothing is local, (ignore the lies) it’s global. How on gawd’s green earth are they able to figure out they are in a juggernaut?
Few local banks to check the comps. That’s the conundrum.
A lending institution in another state (or country) will show up to do the comps? Hecks no…makes me sick. Business as usual!
Gawd, globalization is inevidable, may I please pass to my next realm?
Sometimes I’m happy sometimes I’m not (feels like an almond joy)
Dang, you picked a sore spot Love!
Respectfully,
Leigh
This has to be the best post I have read so far!!!! I couldn’t stop laughing!!!! SELLERS TAKE YOUR POWER BACK!!!!
I second that nomination VC. My sides hurt from laughing. The stupidity is of heroic perfection. Snigger, chortle, choke. A total rip from the movie Idiocracy, where the lack of Darwinian consequences has created a world of morons. Not a great movie, but I just rented it, and I could stop thinking of how appropriate it was for this unfortunate blogger. Giggle, snort. Sellers strike! Wheeee!
“The stupidity is of heroic perfection.”
I had a post in mind on this topic, but I cannot top this line. Perfectly said!
“‘It’s a good thing,’ said Mandy Herrmann, who moved in last January with her husband. She said she wasn’t worried that the sale could depress the value of her house. ‘These houses have been sitting here a long time. It’d be nice to have some neighbors.’”
Unfortunately, they don’t see the headlight on the locomotive that is heading towards them (even if it is carrying the new neighbors).
“It’s your job, not the bank’s, to make sure you can afford the house you buy. To check and recheck the numbers.”
Almost everyone buying assumed they were using short-term ‘move up’ or ‘flip it’ financing. The mindset was different. Why read something you intend to dispose in 24 months or less? It’s a minor detail.
This one got my attention because I remember clearly, in late 2004, the mortgage person in a local well-established bank telling me I had just about a blank check for any house I wanted to buy, based on my near-max credit score. There may well be a high correlation between credit scores and the ability of their owners to use a calculator. I worked out what I could afford and it was much less than I could borrow. If I considered what I could comfortably afford, it was only half what was so readily available to me, and that wasn’t from a fog-a-mirror broker. It was scary, but heck, so were a lot of other things in my life. I took note and moved on. Been renting since and lovin’ it.
American Dream keeps creeping into the news…
We eat our Jung
Oh, man … you just cost an ethanol plant a bushel of input.
“I have a novel idea. What if everyone who has their house on the market who doesn’t actually need to sell right now, refuses to sell it for a lower price.
“Then when all those lower priced houses are sold or there is so little inventory of houses, the sellers who can wait it out, can then put their houses on the market for what they feel their house should sell for according to what the market should bring compared to all the sales that have gone before; not what the market had declined to, or what people are saying the market is going to decline to in the future.”
- What the Hell? I almost spit out my Perfect Manhattan!
All of those lower priced sales will set the comps for the future loan approvals, which will be much lower. How will the hold-out sellers get a higher price with such low comps?
..as the mortgage business further erodes and lending standards revert to the old days or rates climb, taxes climb, etc.
How will the holdout sellers get a higher price with such low comps?
By having the selling take back paper. Then the FB will default and the seller will foreclose.
selling = seller
opps!
yeah.. there’s nothing better than being in 2nd position, knowing full well that your 2nd loan will default, when this rapidly depreciating collateral is auctioned off to satisfy the holder of the first.. i think sellers should take your advice.
Well, maybe she can “hold out” for say, 20 years and then get her wishing price…
My God, man! You imperiled a Perfect Manhattan? Will the horrors caused by this housing bubble never end?!
“Data presented at the meeting showed that 81 percent of the foreclosures in Denver were for loans priced from about $100,000 to less than $200,000. City Councilman Rick Garcia said the figures indicate that the vast majority of foreclosures are the result of people refinancing the equity out of their homes, not from people who bought homes.”
“‘There are some $100,0000 homes for sale in Denver, but not 81 percent of them,’ Garcia said.”
Proudly, a politician stakes the morale high ground for the mile high city…
“Economic reality isn’t always easy to swallow. By all rights, we should be able to buy a nice home in a new subdivision. My husband, a respected professional engineer, designs said subdivisions.”
If memory serves me correctly, didn’t Henry Ford say something about the workers having to be able to afford the “product”?
How many times have we heard California homeowners quoted in recent years saying “We could not afford to buy our own home”?
The fact that a successful professional engineer can’t afford a standard suburban home in the Milwaukee area tells it all.
This successful engineer saw the writing on the wall and sold a standard suburban home. He is very happy watching the movie from the front row now.
Hi Ground,
The fact is Metro Milwaukee is too expensive. They could rent on the cheap, but noooooooo…must own. (Whisper) what would the family, neighbors, Jones et.al think?
Ya just can’t make this stuff up.
The problem with little miss know it all is she can’t rent her Mayville house out, even at $600+ because it’s an hour out! WI heating prices are a rising, as are round trip commutes!
People are truly stupid!
Best,
Leigh
“The fact that a successful professional engineer can’t afford a standard suburban home in the Milwaukee area tells it all.”
Exactly GHD. That one struck me like a ton of bricks.
“If memory serves me correctly, didn’t Henry Ford say something about the workers having to be able to afford the “product”?”
Indeed he did, Pen. Now there’s a novel concept.
Bingo…that sure had my knickers in a twist…what a twit.
Lord, forgive me.
Amen.
Leigh
You have to love those comments from that idiot at GardenWeb:
“We don’t feel we should have to lower our price to below what we have put into our house and don’t feel anyone else should either.”
And I want a pony.
No one gives a damn what you feel your house should sell for. Prices are simply insane right now and they’re finally coming back down to Earth.
“It will cost them in the long run [to not buy a big, spiffy house like mine], they just don’t know it now.”
No, buddy, it’s costing YOU right now. You thought you could add a new room onto your deteriorating suburb shack and turn a profit in real terms and you guessed wrong. Now your banker gets to enjoy the interest on your big fat mortgage. How do you like all that phantom “equity” you’ve been gaining?
They’re welcome to their feelings. I don’t think their feelings will do anything to help sell their house, though.
I dunno. I’ll sell my feelings for … say … $1.50.
I’ll bid 2.25! ..oops, I’m gettin’ that ol’ auction fever.
HA! I want a pony too!
I’ve said it on this blog before, if you don’t have to sell by all means don’t. The caveat to this statement is that even if you don’t sell now, it does not necessarily mean you will get a better price for your home at a later date.
Burn CA flipper scum. Burn with the light of a thousand suns.
“Burn CA flipper scum. Burn with the light of a thousand suns.”
That post gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling. I don’t know what folks are smoking tonight, but wonderful one liners are on the fly! Glad I tuned in.
I want a pony!!
I want the government to allow me to save!!
Wish in one hand and *pee* in the other!
Gold is inflated, so they say.
Tired of sound-bites!
Smiles,
Leigh
City Councilman Rick Garcia said the figures indicate that the vast majority of foreclosures are the result of people refinancing the equity out of their homes, not from people who bought homes.”
Since most homes were refinanced, how long until the higher priced homes go into foreclosure? Quite a few of these were done on “prime” loans with longer reset periods.
The cap won’t be at $200k much longer.
Got popcorn?
Neil
Nodding head. I tell ya, this is one fine mess. grrr.
Smiles,
Leigh
Check out the new home builder Web sites. See how many “inventory” or “quick move-in” homes they have. Right now, the development we’re looking at just had two come into stock just this week (And they’ve only sold 7 total so far… now make that 5 and they aren’t even definites yet). My guess, the buyers backed out for one reason or another (couldn’t get financing, think they can get it cheaper later and better to walk now, etc.).
It’s not just “refinancers”.
It’s not just “refinancers”.
True.
Not to mention too many people bought more than they could afford. Those foreclosures traditionally happen 3 to 5 years into the house. Since 2002 buyers still have an easy out… We’ll have to wait 24 to 36 months for those foreclosures.
In other words, my estimation of the down timeframe only slides to the right. I’m really looking for good news!
Got popcorn?
Neil
“Property manager Bev Hart said she expects rent to catch up to house prices. Realtors disputed Eschker’s main point: that the North Coast is not immune from statewide or nationwide trends.”
What a pile of $hit! Where do thse people come from?
Dennis they come from desparation … if she didn’t have that job, what other one would she find in Humboldt County? Therefore, Eschker HAS to wrong …
things are different here behind the Redwood Curtain!!
I think you are spot no isold. Realtors are still in denial up here in Ashland too, and scared. Unless people are willing to buy overpriced POS homes in perpetuity, how will these beauty school dropouts make their hummer payments!??
Biggest deadbeats in CA!!!
http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=6664
“State hopes public shame will loosen their checkbooks”
sigh, I’d like to think so, but these days it seems to me that shame is an out-moded concept.
A bit OT, Palm.
A dear friend of mine and I were discussing my son. He erred, and the topic was public humiliation he would face at the sweet age of 9.
Of course, as a mom, wanted to minimize said humiliation.
Best words I ever heard from anyone: “That’s the problem, Leigh, we’re a shameless society. Let him feel humilation, and he will know humanity”.
I’ll never forget those words, and how they changed my life, and probably saved my son from all to empathetic mom : )
Smiles,
Leigh
Are the “Crispy critters” on the list related to the Bakersfield R/E clan?
I saw that too, I am not sure. It would not surprise me though.
From the list - LMAO!!! The Juice!!
Orenthal Simpson
Miami, FL 33176 $1,435,484.17 Personal income tax 09/01/1999
I just saw that!
I also see Dionne Warwick S Orange, NJ 07079 $2,665,305.83.
Do you think her psychic friends could have predicted this?
Although it admittedly is a distraction from the main point, what in the world is a government, that apparently has computers, doing calculating taxes owed to the penny, instead of the nearest dollar? I can’t remember exactly when it was acceptable to round off on your tax return, but I think it was before any of my very-adult children were born.
Perhaps they are proud tax evaders not paying for bums and illegal aliens and general corruption.
Looks like Dionne Warwick is on that list, and what a shock! Orenthal Simpson (lien for $1.4 million since 1999)
“Stretch if you want to for your dream home. Just don’t come crying to me when the mortgage turns out to be more than you can afford. I’ll be enjoying life in Mayville.”
Just be thankful you’re not in Maywood, CA.
“The problem, in my opinion, doesn’t lie with predatory lenders. The problem rests squarely on the shoulders of homeowners who bought homes beyond their means. It’s your job, not the bank’s, to make sure you can afford the house you buy. To check and recheck the numbers. To have a backup plan, just in case.”
OK people fess up…which one of you is this woman?
LOL… If she’s not here, she should be… someone send her a note.
“Susan Foley, recently appointed ‘foreclosure czar’ for the city of Denver, has seen firsthand the impact of people losing their homes. ‘As a Realtor, I’ve seen what foreclosures do to families and homeowners,’ Foley said.”
Fab4 4Ever
Asked a Realtortrix what she wanted to be
She said baby, can’t you see
I wanna to be famous, a repo queen
Gotta do something inbetween
Baby, you’re a foreclosure czar
Yes, you’ll see how bad loans can scar
Baby, you’re a foreclosure star
And maybe you can be a mortgage czar for w?
I told that ‘trix that Denver’s
Prospects for a ‘hood were good
And she said Realtors were misunderstood
Working for peanuts is all very fine
but I can repo all the time
Baby, you’re a foreclosure star
Yes, you’ll go quite far
Baby, you’re a foreclosure czar
And some day, you’ll repo
Beep beep’m beep beep yeah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvFG0VnIurM
You need to read this from Forbes.
America’s Most Stable Housing Markets
“Also primed for a stable year are Pittsburgh, Columbus, Ohio, and Dallas. They follow Seattle in our ranking of the country’s 10 most stable markets.”
Sorry if it is a repost. It is a week old, but the first time I have seen it.
http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/103630/America’s-Most-Stable-Housing-Markets
“‘There are some $100,0000 homes for sale in Denver, but not 81 percent of them,’ Garcia said.”
No wonder we have FB’s when a zero is added willy nilly.
I was doing time
In the universal mind
I was feeling fine
I was turning keys
I was setting people free
I was doing all right…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOFl6rwr3F4
LOL!
http://dallas.craigslist.org/com/447490758.html
Uh, isn’t a pixel a dot that appears on your screen? And the price for this dot is a dollar?
See http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com
I believe that the creator sold a million pixels at $1 each to fund his college tuition, which he probably ended up not needing, in the end.
Thanks, Pen. Learn somethin’ new every day.
Check out this comic strip that makes reference to the tv shows about flipping…
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/mallard.asp?date=20071012
Check out this comic strip referencing the tv shows about flipping R/E..
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/mallard.asp?date=20071012
Okay, no one has said it so I will:
Buyers take back the power. If you don’t have to buy right now, keep your money (downpayment) in the bank. Don’t buy at a higher price.
Oh wait….
But for those of us who enjoy a blood sport, I wonder who will blink first. The buyer with money making interest in the bank or the seller paying mortgage, insurance, tax, and maintenance? For added spice, the lenders seem to be playing as well with the credit crunch.
Hmmm, the buyer who has no hurry vs. the pitiful fool bleeding himself dry financially?.
Now THAT’S a tough one huh?.
This is a tough one.
I’ll have to think about it… This might delay when I start looking to buy.
Got popcorn?
Neil
“I wonder who will blink first…”
The interest on our savings pays the rent, and we have no debts at all. Renting, we are living on the cheap - far fewer expenses than when we owned (and we bought a house we could afford with a 15-year fixed).
We can win a staring match with any seller.
“We can win a staring match with any seller.”
The sellers will be dead, buried, exhumed, and being studied by future generations before I will blink. I can imagine the article in an archaeology journal…. “It seems these primitive people were part of a tribe known as FBs…”
“Sellers take back your power and hold your ground!”
That is a riot. No concept whatsoever of how much larger this is that what her little mind can comprehend. Hey lady, your 3 decades too late for your “movement”. Wow pretty much sums it up. Wow. Tired of this entitlement mentality…..
“Sellers take back your power and hold your ground!”
I can hear this lady 6 months from now:
“Oh no, the Sheriff is coming, he’s holding a foreclosure notice. Everyone “Run to The Hills!”
“‘It’s a good thing,’ said Mandy Herrmann, who moved in last January with her husband. She said she wasn’t worried that the sale could depress the value of her house. ‘These houses have been sitting here a long time. It’d be nice to have some neighbors.’”
Muwhahahahh! Be careful what you wish for! No offense to anyone here but let me move into a subdivision alone due to the difficulties of the builders not being able to sell & I’ll take each (unbuilt) lot off their hand for like um 10k. Yup that would be good. Let’s see a buffer of about 3 lots on each side of the house….
LMAO! Wow, a KB Home employee REALLY pissed someone off.
http://tampa.craigslist.org/rfs/447007202.html
BAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Let us charitably ascribe the spelling errors (5 by my count) to the frame of mind of the poster.
State sales taxes flash recession warning:
http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSN1137468020071011?sp=true
I am pretty sure that is a 50 cent hamburger that is currently being sold for $5
Buttonwood
It’s a Wonderful Mess
Oct 11th 2007
From The Economist print edition
The costs of clearing up the subprime crisis
…
Joseph Mason, who teaches finance at Drexel University, was one of the first to warn that subprime defaults would have dangerous consequences for the financial-services industry. He has now written a paper, “Mortgage Loan Modification: Promises and Pitfalls”, illustrating the problems that may ensue when those who service loans try to alter their terms.
Mr Mason says it will simply be impossible to modify the terms of many loans, particularly those where borrowers inflated their stated income by 50-70%. But even where loans can be restructured, this can merely delay the inevitable; preliminary data suggest that modified loans suffer a 35-40% default rate over the following two years. The biggest success rate occurs when the loan-to-value ratio is below 66%, a condition that rules out recent subprime borrowers.
…
It is one thing to assess the effects of modifying terms on a single mortgage-backed security, which is likely to have one firm servicing it. It is another to figure out the value of the mortgage pools within a CDO, which will own a diversified pool of securities.
Nor is it clear what will be the upshot of Congress’s attempts to protect struggling borrowers and to punish what it sees as predatory lenders. In short, investors are dealing with a new set of complex securities, based on loans to a new type of borrower, where the loan terms and conditions may not be clear and at a time when house prices are falling nationally for the first time in living memory. It is not going to be fun.
http://economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9957947
JOSEPH R. MASON: ARTICLES
“Mortgage Loan Modification: Promises and Pitfalls” (October 3, 2007)
http://www.criterioneconomics.com/docs/20071003%20Loan%20Modification%20Paper.pdf
“I have a novel idea. What if everyone who has their house on the market who doesn’t actually need to sell right now, refuses to sell it for a lower price. Either the buyers take it at their price or leave it.”
Great idea. I wish we here in Hong Kong and our compatriots in Tokyo had thought of that. Prices for middle income homes are still 30% below where they were in 1997. And for Tokyo? Some people are still underwater vs. their purchase price 20 years later (especially those that took out 100 year mortgages).
Of course, the writer could be right. Bennie & the Feds could inflate the entire thing and send the US Dollar into a race with Zimbabwe’s currency to see which is more useless. If that’s the path we take, buy gold. Or perhaps buy Iraqi dinars. Even Iraq’s currency has appreciated against the US dollar in the past 2 months. And 10 year paper has dropped 100 basis points since the Fed cut, while US 10 paper has risen 20 basis points. Who would’ve thunk that Iraq’s currency and bonds would outperform the US dollar and bonds? Bennie and the Feds may do their best to inflate their way out of this mess, but it is a Faustian bargain….
Auctions are a joke.
They start at price point that is still above what the market would bear if it were truly “free”. Where is “free market capitalism” when it really counts? That phrase is jammed down our throats daily by globalists and the WTO but when push comes to shove…they cherry pick.
If you really want supply/demand to be “free” START AT ZERO and let people bid up from there. That would truly establish what the market will bear…not some “safe” starting point set by the same sharks that helped pump the market up to begin with.
As it is you still end up overpaying at these sort of “fixed” auctions…