The Housing Bubble

The Kennebec Journal reports from Maine. “Augusta has tended to trail other communities in Kennebec County, in population, income and new housing. ‘Around the year 2000, something happened,’ says Hallowell consultant Frank O’Hara. ‘Augusta joined the national housing boom. Augusta’s population turned up for the first time in 20 years. What prompted the change? ‘It wasn’t an increase in jobs,’ said O’Hara, ‘The city lost about 750 jobs between 2001 and 2005. It wasn’t an increase in incomes.’”

The Boston Globe from Massachusetts. “Middlesex North Register of Deeds Richard P. Howe Jr. was at the Registry when housing prices tripled, and he is there now, as overextended homeowners are losing the roofs over their heads.”

“After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the US government and business leaders became concerned that the economy would never recover, said Howe, so the Federal Reserve began charging a lot less for financial institutions to borrow money. That, combined with easier-than-ever-to-obtain credit, drove up housing prices, he said, and triggered the refinancing boom.”

“‘People realized that, for the same monthly payment, they could pull $50,000 out of their home, and they went crazy,’ he said. ‘They’d go out and buy a new car, take a trip to Disney World, and get that new kitchen.’”

“Because people believed they could always sell their homes for more than they paid, ‘the only question people were asking was, ‘Can I afford the monthly payment?’ he said.”

“‘The spring of 2003 was the busiest we have ever been,’ he said. That year, the registry recorded 140,000 documents, he said. ‘That summer, people here were eating PowerBars at their desks, instead of going to lunch, because of the volume of work,’ Howe recalled.”

“As 2004 began, he said, the market was still robust, but he was getting nervous. ‘You’d heard the stories about ‘For sale’ signs going up, and the seller getting three offers the next day, all above the asking price,’ he said. ‘That’s when I started telling people, ‘This won’t end well.’”

“The September median price of a single-family home in Massachusetts was $304,000, down 4.4 percent from a year ago, and September was the 17th straight month that prices have fallen on a year-to-year basis, a report out today said.”

“The number of Massachusetts single-family homes sold in September was 3,735, an 18.7 percent drop from September 2006 and the steepest monthly decline in a year, the Warren Group said.”

“‘It appears we’re seeing in September the ramifications of July’s credit crisis,’ said Timothy Warren Jr., CEO of the Warren Group. ‘We’re also seeing the tightening of the mortgage market. Jumbo mortgages are becoming less common.’”

“The total number of foreclosures in 36 Massachusetts communities north of Boston nearly tripled from January through September compared with the same period last year, showing the national mortgage turmoil is hitting home with a vengeance.”

“‘You can see that it’s a crisis,’ said John L. O’Brien, registrar of deeds for southern Essex County. ‘It’s starting to take on a life of its own.’”

“The numbers of lenders buying back properties at auctions now is on a par with the deep housing recession of the early ’90s, a broker said.” “‘It’s been years since we’ve seen anything like this,’ said Juliana Tache, a broker in Salem, which is marketing more than 100 homes and condos owned by lenders.”

“‘A lot of distressed properties are clogging up the system,” Warren said. ‘When you have a lot of bargain prices out there, it’s hard for people to sell at the full, fair-market value.’”

The Eagle Tribune from Massachusetts. “‘You look at communities that had a high rate of homeownership a few years ago, now there are two and three vacant buildings on the block,’ said Tina Brooks, state undersecretary for Housing and Community Development. ‘That puts a stigma on that community.’”

“‘We can’t save a lot of these foreclosures - people made very bad decisions and couldn’t afford any type of mortgage,’ said Sen. Susan C. Tucker.”

The Staten Island Advance from New York. “For the first time in his life, Tony Morreale must ask for help to pay his mortgage. Despite recent promises of aid for struggling homeowners from everyone from President Bush to Morreale’s own lender, Countrywide Home Loans, Morreale isn’t getting a lot of sympathy.”

“Morreale and his wife are two months behind on monthly mortgage payments of $3,360 on their semi-attached home in Arden Heights, and their adjustable rate mortgage is set to adjust again in six months to $3,600.”

“Morreale acknowledges he’s made financial missteps along the way. He’s not the only one who’s made some bad decisions. A Manhattan-based nonprofit estimates that foreclosures on the Island could reach 1,471 by the end of this year, when adjustable rate mortgages reset.”

“‘If home prices were still rising, borrowers would have better opportunities to refinance. It’s not a perfect storm, but there can be these cascades of events,’ said Keith Gumbinger, VP of HSH Financial Associates.”

“‘Their adjustable rate mortgage, which jumped by $380 in July, will jump again early next year to $3,600. ‘We should be living in Beverly Hills for that,’ Morreale joked.”

The Long Island Business News from New York. “Foreclosures have hit Long Island hard, but with a slew of adjustable rate mortgages ready to reset, the worst may be yet to come.”

“The conventional wisdom that Long Island’s wealth would deflect the foreclosure collapse is clearly wrong. In fact, Suffolk County topped the national foreclosure average in the first half of 2007; one out of every 180 Suffolk homes entered foreclosure between January and June, compared to the national average of one in every 216 homes, Kamer said.”

“Kamer (pointed) out that 51 percent of Long Island residents already live in unaffordable housing – a home is considered unaffordable if the owner spends more than 30 percent of household income on it. ‘It’s likely that the foreclosure problem will be worse on Long Island than elsewhere,’ she said.”

The Philly Burbs from Pennsylvania. “Homeowners across the country and around the state are defaulting on their mortgages at a record pace — and Bucks and Montgomery counties aren’t immune from the trend.”

“‘Our numbers definitely are up this year,’ said Sharon Krusen, who coordinates real estate cases for the Bucks County Sheriff’s Office.”

“‘The people in trouble now are just the beginning,’ said Mike Bannon, head of Bucks County’s Consumer Protection office. ‘The first wave is affecting the less expensive houses, but I think it’s going to keep spreading.’”

“‘Subprime refers to the loan, not the borrower,’ said Joseph Mason, a professor of finance at Drexel University. ‘It’s a loan that allows the borrower to borrow more than they would otherwise be eligible for, by lending you an amount that’s way above your means.’”

“The only way for people to buy homes that would otherwise be out of their financial reach was to keep their monthly payments down by using loans that don’t pay down the principal, Mason said.”

“‘For awhile, this was OK with people, because housing prices were rising, which would give people an ownership stake in the home,’ Mason said. ‘When that stopped, the arrangement became less worthwhile.’”

The Press of Atlantic City from New Jersey. “Elliot Building Group on Nov. 6 will auction off all of its properties at 14 New Jersey and Pennsylvania developments - including Seapine Estates in Egg Harbor Township and Forest Walk in Millville.”

“Founder and Chairman Brad Elliott said Friday that the company has abandoned attempts to reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy and will sell all of its assets.”

“‘Timing is everything in life,’ Elliott said. ‘It seems like whatever could go wrong, did. The projects were not selling when we needed them to (because of the real estate industry slump), and when we did go to reorganize, the credit crunch happened a week later.’”

“Numerous homebuyers who signed contracts for houses and paid deposits of $40,000 to $50,000 haven’t known for much of the year whether their homes would eventually be built, whether their deposits were lost or even whether they could shop for houses elsewhere.”

“Like many others who made deposits on Seapine Estates and Forest Walk houses that weren’t built, Dr. Lance Smith is seeking reimbursement as one of several dozen creditors in the bankruptcy case. He said he knows he won’t get back his full deposit, but he hopes he gets something.”

“‘For some people, unfortunately that was their life savings,’ he said.”

“Georgeanna Newmones of Executive Realtors in Egg Harbor Township said the trend to rent rather than sell is highest among those who bought homes or condominiums pre-construction and are committed to the deal.”

“Newmones said he recently worked with a couple from Atlantic City who had to move to California but didn’t have enough equity to sell their home. The couple ‘had to put a tenant’ in the home, Newmones said, and they ended up renting it to a family last weekend, with the hope that they will be able to build the equity to sell it later.”

The Gazette from Maryland. “First Mariner Bancorp, the Baltimore parent of First Mariner Bank that was founded in 1995, showed a net loss of $3.9 million for its 2007 second quarter.”

“Total assets also declined to $1.25 billion from $1.4 billion a year ago. A key reason for the decline was a $45 million decrease in outstanding commercial loans and a $23 million drop in residential construction loans, executives said.”

“First Mariner has stopped issuing ‘Alt-A’ mortgages — loans falling between prime and high-risk subprime quality — through its wholesale lending division, said CEO Edwin F. Hale Sr.”

“Home foreclosures continued to increase in September across Maryland from a year ago, according to RealtyTrac. Last month, the state had about 2,800 foreclosure filings, a rise of 393 percent from September 2006.”

“‘The residential mortgage loan market is not what it was two years ago, but qualified borrowers need not worry,’ said Atwood Collins III, president of M&T’s mid-Atlantic division in Baltimore.”

The Baltimore Sun from Maryland. “Staging is garnering attention in today’s sluggish real estate market. With properties sitting longer, asking prices being slashed, and lenders scrutinizing loan applications more closely - anecdotal evidence suggests Realtors, sellers and investors alike are increasingly turning to staging, for that competitive edge.”

“During the housing boom a few years back, ‘people in the industry had more money, and they could afford to pay professional stagers,’ says E.J. Villarreal, an agent in Baltimore. ‘Now, many Realtors, like myself, are pinching pennies and staging the homes themselves. Baltimore has a lot of inventory now, and [to sell] you have to be a cut above the rest.’”

“‘In this market, it’s become a necessity,’ says Abe Soumah, an investor who buys properties. ‘It has slowed down across the board. At one time in Baltimore, you would see Dumpsters and scaffolding on every street. Now crews aren’t as busy.’”

“‘I’m hearing that investors and Realtors are getting nervous,’ says Lisa Kane, president of Just Stage It in Sparks, of the shifting market. ‘Many investors are overextended with mortgage payments, and there are million-dollar houses that are sitting empty.’”