Buyers Have Become Increasingly Patient
Seacoast Online reports from New Hampshire. “The number of home foreclosures in Rockingham County in September were 33, compared to 19 in September a year ago, according to an independent statewide newspaper. The total number of foreclosures in New Hampshire from January through September of this year were 1,381, compared to 653 the year before, according to Real Data.”
“‘John,’ works installing dry wall. He put $17,000 down on their Collins Street fixer-upper home in 2004, he said. The couple got an adjustable rate mortgage of 8.25 percent with a fixed rate for two years and a balloon payment. They refinanced at the end of two years, but got an adjustable rate mortgage that offered a more affordable interest rate.”
“‘My credit was bad,’ John said. ‘I went to the mortgage company. I didn’t know the market was going to turn like it did. Even if it went up, I thought it would be by a hundred a month.’”
“The mortgage payment they could afford of $1,508 a month climbed to $2,115. ‘We got behind,’ Mary said. ‘We couldn’t keep up.’”
The Nashau Telegraph from New Hampshire. “The pace of property foreclosures in Hillsborough County isn’t slackening and may be quickening in places. Hudson has already seen three times as many foreclosures as happened all of last year.”
“Merrimack has already had half again as many foreclosures as all of last year. Litchfield had just one foreclosure in 2006 but has seen 11 this year.”
“Even the Souhegan Valley is seeing bad news: Amherst, Brookline and Hollis already have twice as many foreclosures as they had in 2006, while Milford and the Mascenic towns are already at last year’s total. Hillsborough County is on pace to have some 580 foreclosures of homes and businesses this year, nearly double last year’s tally and five times the total of 2005.”
The Cape Cod Times from Massachusetts. “The median property sale price last month was down 7.6 percent when compared with the October 2006 median of $373,500.”
“Foreclosure numbers continued to be high in October, with 27 foreclosure deeds filed with the registry, 145 percent more than were filed in the same month last year. This number adds to a record-setting year in foreclosures.”
“Through the end of October, 217 foreclosures have been completed on the Cape, according to registry records. That’s the highest number since 1995 when 222 foreclosures were filed during the first 10 months of that year.”
The Inquirer and Monitor from Massachusetts. “Beth Ann Meehan, the mortgage loan officer at Pacific National, said that the national situation has not directly affected lending on Nantucket.”
“‘What’s interesting is when the subprime thing started falling apart, people started asking me about Bank of America and I initially said there would be no impact because we’re not a subprime lender,’ Meehan said. ‘But it did impact us in a roundabout way. The jumbo rates have gotten higher. Those interest rates have crept up, and that’s one of the fallouts of the subprime mortgage disaster. I wasn’t expecting that. New guidelines are coming out every week. The easy borrowing days are pretty much over for the time being.’”
From The Day in Connecticut. “Foreclosure actions in New London County have risen nearly 42 percent this year, but experts say that if you think things are bad now, just wait until next year.”
“‘The number of people facing foreclosure is going to be doubling or tripling in the next few months,’ said Daniel S. Blinn, an attorney with the Consumer Law Group in Rocky Hill.”
“The Warren Group indicated about 1,000 homes in New London County have faced foreclosure actions in the first three quarters of the year, compared to about 700 last year.”
“Locally, experts say that banks and mortgage companies often are left to sit on properties in foreclosure for longer periods without generating any income. ‘Nobody’s even showing up for these sales,’ said Barbara Crouch, a housing counselor for Catholic Charities in Norwich. ‘There’s so many of them, nobody is showing up.’”
“She said the courts are so backlogged with cases that it can take six to eight months to evict the former owners from the property, meaning some are able to stay in their homes rent-free for almost a year before a foreclosure auction is held.”
The New York Post. “Three months after Gov. Spitzer announced a $100 million program to save New Yorkers in danger of losing their homes due to the subprime mortgage crisis, only a single mortgage rescue is in the work.”
“It is estimated that by the end of the year, some 1,250 city residents will have lost their homes through foreclosure.”
“‘I can’t explain the feelings running through my veins right now,’ Ray Dawkins, a Brooklyn homeowner who says he was duped into a risky mortgage, told Crain’s. After he tried to refinance his duplex in 2005, a mortgage broker told him his monthly payment would be $200 more than the $3,300 he was paying. Instead, it jumped to $4,500.”
“The state’s program was initially limited to single-family houses, which excluded many of the city’s potential foreclosures.”
“Another obstacle is that Fannie Mae, which is buying the loans, requires borrowers to be less than two months late on payments when they close on their new mortgages. That’s a challenge for many trying to dig their way out of mounting mortgage debt.”
The Star Ledger from New Jersey. “New Jersey’s five-year housing boom has given way to a market with flat prices and considerably lower sales volume, a Star-Ledger analysis has found.”
“East Orange had a 59 percent drop in sales volume, Paterson a 57 percent decrease, Plainfield 46 percent, Elizabeth 41 percent and Newark 37 percent. ‘Every upswing has a downswing,’ said James Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. ‘And we’re in the downswing.’”
“The drop in sales is not from a lack of houses on the market, real estate experts say. New Jersey’s inventory of homes for sale reached record levels this year, soaring to more than 72,000 in June, they report.”
“Bruce Gaylen of Wayne said he has looked at at least 40 two-family houses over the past year. In all but three instances, he didn’t make an offer. ‘I don’t understand how they are asking that much for some of these places,’ said Gaylen, a first-time buyer.”
“Indeed, some sellers, especially investors looking for a quick profit, are still living in the past, experts said, asking for prices as if the market remained as robust as it had been several years ago.”
“Buyers also have become increasingly patient, brokers said, waiting for the market to hit bottom before they pull the trigger.”
“‘Nobody wants to buy something for $500,000 when they think that if they wait a while they can get it for $450,000,’ said Lawrence Perlaki, a broker at a firm in Jersey City. ‘Nobody wants to look like a sucker. Everybody wants to say they got a great deal.’”
“It’s no longer so easy for many to borrow money to a buy a house. ‘The industry has become more rational about how we’re lending money,’ said Michael Borodinsky, assistant VP for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. ‘The industry is scrutinizing borrowers like we should have been before.’”
“Perlaki has been selling real estate in the city for more than 30 years. During the peak of the real estate boom, Perlaki said, developers of the luxury housing projects would ignore his inquiries on whether they wanted his help selling their unit.”
“Now, he said, the developers are holding parties for local Realtors to enlist their help. ‘Every day, I get e-mails from them,’ Perlaki said. ‘It’s crazy.’”
The Times Online from Pennsylvania. “In the Middle Ages, St. Teresa of Avila began to bury medals of St. Joseph in the ground of properties sought for Carmelite Convents. Over time, the medals became statues and the tradition of burying a statue of St. Joseph in the grounds of homes for sale became very prevalent.”
“If real estate agents thought they had the market cornered on selling homes, they got it all wrong. With today’s sluggish housing market, many home owners are turning to a higher power to help sell their property: St. Joseph. Heck, he even comes with his own real estate kit.”
“St. Joseph is enjoying a surge in popularity with homeowners of all religious backgrounds desperate for a quick sale of their home.”
“Dave Lichius, owner of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Books and Gifts in Beaver, estimates he has sold nearly 4,000 plastic figurines of St. Joseph since a flustered real estate agent burst in the store a decade ago desperate to buy one of the figurines for a client.”
“‘This harried looking guy, a real estate agent, rushed in and said ‘I need a statue of St. Steven.’ He was frantic about it, you know,’ Lichius recalled. ‘I called around to some other shops to find out what this guy wanted. As it turned out it was St. Joseph the home seller. Since then we’ve sold quite a few. People come in and ask for them all the time.’”
“The Web site known as ‘the underground real estate agent kit,’ is just one site devoted to selling the statues and offers a free online home listing as well as testimonials from believers, including a bevy of real estate agents. Ordering is simply - and the number unforgettable - at (888) Bury-Joe.”
“‘On Tuesday we had 564 orders come in,’ said Phil Cates, who started selling the kits in 1990.”
“Mary Sonnett, manager of St. Francis de Sales shop, said she noticed that the sale of kits started to pick up last summer, just when the market started to turn sour. ‘We’ve shipped them everywhere, really,’ Lichius said. ‘Even overseas.’”
“His clients, he said, aren’t limited to those with a Catholic background. He once sold several real estate kits to a Jewish rabbi who said he planned to distribute the statues among friends. ‘I guess when there’s a lot of money is concerned, the theological lines get blurred,’ Lichius said with a laugh.”
Wow, trading curbs already in place and it’s not even 3 minutes after open.
Whoa! I missed the curbs… I didn’t think they went on until 10% down. Or is it that too many stocks couldn’t find enough buyers to open?
Got popcorn?
Neil
For those Ron Paul supporters out there history is currently being made this November 5th! Check it out and send a message to the “Federal” reserve and their kindly treatment of your real estate down payment savings….
http://www.RonPaul2008.com
What is with the popcorn from Neil?
He’s sole heir to Orville Redenbacher’s estate.
LOL .
Also ,another by product of the bubble crash is that the court system is going to get blogged down . Add to that all the lawsuits and we will have a court system that is overcrowded ,and the court systems were already overcrowded .No speedy justice with this mess .
Ya gotta have your popcorn to enjoy the show, Zeb.
Went trick or treating in the old FB neighborhood. Number of forsale signs pretty much the same as they’ve been for a while. In talking to some old acquaintances there, turns out the big change is in the divorce rate. I thought the forsale signs would be first, but apparently the divorces are happening first. Huge increase just this year. Observers who aren’t in a financial bind think it can’t be a financial issues, because they aren’t seeing external signs of financial stress yet. I think they don’t know what they’re looking at…there’s no way it’s just coincidence and everybody just got tired of each other at the same time.
I would love to see a study of the reasons behind these divorces jsut a little deeper than money trouble.
Mostly I would like to know how they break down the blame. Was it a mutual demand for a lifestyle way beyond what they could afford? Was is the man who saw how much “money” (phantom equity) his buddies were making in huge, expensive houses? Was it the woman who just had to keep up with her friends or the people she saw at work?
My guess is that there were a lot of each, but that the last is most incidious - especially for women who have relatively low level positions at their jobs and female bosses. Seeing yourself in the same peer group as your boss when your boss’ household income is way higher than yours is a killer for women.
There are downsides to the collegial office.
I only know personal details in one of the cases. Second marriage for both, his kids were grown, hers still young. He was a professional, she was in social work. His wife had passed away unexpectedly, she was divorced. It appeared from the outside that he was trying to be a good guy and share his life and income and try to help her raise her kids. A few years ago he got laid off and ended up under-employed at a salary probably similar to hers. I think that at some point an inheritance paid off the house, not sure if any money was pulled out after that. Regardless, things were high-stress for a long time, but everyone thought they’d adjusted to the realities of his career issues. She and the kids are gone now and he’s still in the house. Might have happened completely independent of the bubble, but the huge overall jump suggests something else is going on in at least some cases.
Was it the woman who just had to keep up with her friends or the people she saw at work?
That’s why the Suzanne commercial was so infamous. It hit too close to home.
It will be interesting to see how this shakes out in my Agrestic-lite community. Lots of over-groomed, stay-at-home moms with nannies and housekeepers, who gather for weekly baby-buggy jogs in their Juicy sweatpants. My husband calls them “leg shavers,” for reasons unclear, since I’m not au-natural. It makes me ill that all these women went to college for a Mrs. degree, so they can brag how smart they are, but gosh, they’re super moms, despite the hired help. Wonder if they’ll be able to maintain this lifestyle, especially if their half of community property is zilch.
Lots of over-groomed, stay-at-home moms with nannies and housekeepers, who gather for weekly baby-buggy jogs in their Juicy sweatpants.
My cousin’s wife really sandbagged him. She played all meek and mild, until she got that wedding band on her finger, and then - Katie bar the door!
I heard that when she went to visit her family in Brazil, she brought not just her live-in nanny, but another one, yes, each kid gets their own nanny! How many freaking nannies can one lady need? And she only works part-time…?!?!?
But my cuz may have the last laugh. He slipped a pre-nup on her, two days before their wedding day. And she signed it.
Good thinking on your cousin! And word to the wise, guys. Unless you are loaded and don’t care, any future Mrs. who demands a diamond you can’t afford is bad news. This is only the beginning. And diamonds are a big load o’ crap, foisted onto the public with the same psycho-bubble logic (courtesy of DeBeers) that got us into this housing mess. Knew a guy, loaded with student loan debts, whose fiance demanded a $25,000 Tiffany engagement ring. We all thought he was crazy to marry her, but he did anyway, cuz he was in luv….
Buy the future Mrs. platinum, palladium or gold. At least there’s an honest re-sale value in that.
has anyone noticed that there are alot of pissed off people out in public? seems to me there is alot more road rage and store employees being rude. i got into an argument with one at costco last week.
I’m in Marin County, and yes, it looks to me like the Debt Zombies are angry.
“Has anyone noticed that there are alot of pissed off people out in public?”
My wife and I made this same observation a couple of weeks ago. The deteriorating J6P sheeple’s attitude bugs her a bit, but I just laugh it off and use it as affirmation of our having chosen to live a prudent and relatively low-stress lifestyle.
And it’s only going to get uglier from here.
Watch out in mall parking lots around X-mas.
Then again, maybe they will be deserted?
“…store employees being rude.”
I have noticed an alarming increase in this type of behavior. It really blows me away. I am at a loss as to how companies can ignore this sort of thing. If I am treated rudely somewhere, I NEVER go back to that place, EVER. It appears as if there is some new business model which counts on a never ending supply of new, rather than repeat, customers.
sometimes you have no choice but to return to the stores with rude employees;
they are the only seller around. like walmart.
noticed years ago that the middle & lower classs was getting pissy in general. I attribute it to several things.
No career opportunities; we beat russia. there is little to rally the populace now, thats why terrorists were substituted, to provide a new rally point. People see that the hard work doesnt cut it anymore. Cronyism, azz-kissing & connections does.
Eduation is watered down. Got a degree? so what, everyone else does too. Online, mail order, in-person, degrees all around.
Lack of business loyalty. corps do not have any loyalty to US citizens/customers for jobs, but bellyache when purchases are made from imports. also no govt oversight or enforcement from the lassiez faire bidness at all costs results in an average guy-dont-mean-squat mentality.
Yeah, we beat Russia, those godless commies. So now what? well, we play nice guy, no-grudge-holder & let a lot of them into the US. Wow, more competition for jobs among established US citizens. Lovely!
Also, Russia turns to a capitalist economy and, like China, and India is … wait for it … wait …. COMPETING WITH THE US FOR JOBS !!! Oh BOYYYYY, we got what we wished, eh beaver? We ” saved ” the world from communism, but got what exactly in return?
The delusional, shortsighted US corps thought it would take decades for for our former opponents to ramp-up to a competitive economy; WRONG !
So now here we are, the very same generation that worked so hard for a laudible goal, now being forced to endure the worst possible outcome of their efforts.
There simply is little hope for bettering one’s situation. Thanks to the internet & faster speed of communication in-general, worker bees are very well informed, and not subject to false info from one source only. They see no end to their monotonous, endless serfdom and will speak out about it. After all, what do they have to gain, or lose?? That cashier will likely remain in the same dead-end job for a long time, because America gives more support to new arrivals than it’s established citizens.
So where there was hope for a better tomorrow is now just despair, anger, and resentment against shoppers that are perceived as being the “upper class”.
We in the US are experiencing what the billions in China, India & Mexico have lived for a long time, and we dont like it.
Who’s fault is it? Who created this mess & how do we fix it? Lets tune it to Britney’s latest escapade. She’ll have the answer!
Nice post Aquis .You can see it in the faces of alot of worker…that quiet desperation …the loss of the American dream . All this pain while the talking heads on the business news are claiming global markets are strong ,as if Americans without good jobs give a damn if global markets are strong for stock market hacks . They won’t have left over money to even invest in the stock market .
What you’ve all seen is the sense of false entitlement going away, to be replaced with who knows what?
Beware of anyone with a sense of frustrated entitlement.
“we beat russia. there is little to rally the populace now, thats why terrorists were substituted, to provide a new rally point. People see that the hard work doesnt cut it anymore. Cronyism, azz-kissing & connections does.”
Right on Aquis. Now they’ve worn out the turrrism diversion and the masses are seeing that “taxcuts” aren’t good for anyones economy other than the wealthy.
Let it build brother. Let it build.
Funny you mentioned the word “serf”; isn’t serf defined by attachment to the land? Part of your analysis makes no sense: by your logic, we should shut down all universities right now because every graduate they produce is driving wages down. The only difference between a regular university graduate vs. one that has his education paid for by Russia but is willing to work here is that we didn’t have to pay for his education! Assuming their technical skills are comparable (if not comparable then wages would be different, hence no real competition). How is not having to pay for K-12, and perhaps even the first 4yrs of post-secondary education a bad thing, as far as our economy is concerned? The Russians, Indians and Chinese may experience a “brain drain,” but it’s good for us. Before you talk about depressing wages, think this: shouldn’t the person be creating more value than he is being paid? That should be the reason why he is hired to begin with. Unionism doesn’t work; it may benefit some union members, but only at the expense of everyone else, several times over. Keeping out potential workers under whatever protense in order to artificially keep the wage up is essentially unionism. The nominally higher wage is offset by higher prices.
Our real problem is not too little government meddling in the economy (including the flow of goods and labor), but too much of it. Government manipulation of the currency for the benefit of the big banks is what caused this big bubble-bust phenomenom, just as Thomas Jefferson predicated two hundred years ago: “If the American people ever allow banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them, will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.” That’s exactly what the banks, and their agent the privately owned Federal Reserve, have done through the bubbles and the rewriting of bankruptcy laws in recent years.
RE: In talking to some old acquaintances there, turns out the big change is in the divorce rate.
Scores of female beggars on Craiglist.
Guess all those real estate jobs which facilitated independance via a divorce action, kinda shit the bed, and now all those new condo purchasers need a sugar daddy to bail their sorry azzes out.
Wonder if there is room for a new internet dating site just for people who aren’t FB’s? You’d have to disclose job status/industry, total debt, FICO, etc. and take a quiz about the housing bubble and the reasons for the crash.
Scores of female beggars on Craiglist.
Can you link? I’m not disputing you, I’m just stunned that they’re openly begging and not laying low like my cuz’s abovementioned wife did.
RE: Can you link…
Since I’m divorced, I hang out in the W/4/M in the Boston Personals section.
My comment is based on collective reading over the past couple years.
Wants include everything from “extra” pro sporting events tickets, free rent, et. el., to the demand for to a guy having a collection of term papers and old tests relative to completing a Harvard MBA program.
Seems cheating and free-loading is in these days
If you want a laugh tune in to your specific city’s listings.
<“The Web site known as ‘the underground real estate agent kit,’ is just one site devoted to selling the statues and offers a free online home listing as well as testimonials from believers, including a bevy of real estate agents. Ordering is simply - and the number unforgettable - at (888) Bury-Joe.”
Faith-based Real Estate sales. Sheesh. I just slaughtered a chicken in my kitchen. The bones tell me that this strategy won't work.
Working for 40% of your previous salary? “Have Faith! The economy is ‘roaring’”. Keep hearing about “tax cuts” but your taxes are actually higher? “Have Faith! You’ll get yours someday”. Working harder for less? “Have Faith! You too will be a millionare if you only work a little harder.” /sarcasm off
bill maher actually had a brilliant commentary this past friday. basically he boiled it down to: there are two classes: the haves and the been had. and if you been had and continue to support republicans, you deserve to be eating cardboard in your retirement years…
Brilliant as he always is. If only presidential candidates were as eloquent as Bill Maher.
Ha, support a dumbocrat that never owned a company and watch the everything go collapse long before retirement.
Hint, some jobs pay $5 an hour because that’s what those jobs are worth!
Hint…. keep drinking the koolade.
Hint: learn to spell. Kool-Aid.
Hard to claim that the reason for your failure is the nasty ‘publicans if you can’t spell.
Sad that the dwindling pool of fools have nothing to harp on but spelling. Very sad.
There is economic reason why we use trucks and not horses to move stuff from point A to point B. Could it be done with horses? Sure. But the cost of doing it with horses would be higher than the cost of doing it with trucks and that’s why no one sane uses horses to move product when they can do it cheaper with trucks.
“he cost of doing it with horses would be higher than the cost of doing it with trucks” That’s true. For the moment.
The simpleton anecdotes are astounding.
Well, at least you could cook the ritual chicken after you consulted the icky little entrails and bones, make a tasty meal with carrots and wine and so forth. So it’s not a total waste. How good would St. Joeseph taste in the same situation? Especially made of plastic and reeking of FB desperation?
Don’t forget to make “gribnes” (http://vital.org.nz/blog/2003/10/08) It’s not PC anymore to eat chicken skin deep fried in Chicken Fat, but it’s served my family well for the past 3500 years, more or less.
“St. Joseph is enjoying a surge in popularity with homeowners of all religious backgrounds desperate for a quick sale of their home.”
_________________________
Faith-based Real Estate marketing. Sheesh. I just slaughtered a chicken in my kitchen. The bones tell me that burying a statue will not work.
If anyone needs me I’ll be consulting the oracle at Delphi.
Didn’t Delphi go BK?
Try one of those cheap Chinese oracles, instead…
Didn’t Delphi go BK?
Try one of those cheap Chinese oracles, instead…
Forget oracles and burying Joe … feng shui is the ticket .. seen all those “red front doors” on HGTV?
I with all those home shows I wonder what its like for the current episodes in production that are being filmed right now
I always check the year when I watch stuff on HGTV. I saw one “My house is worth what?” from 2007 where a real estate chick told a family that their Silver Spring Maryland house was only worth $5000 more than their purchase price plus what they spent on upgrades. Still not realistic, but the desolation on their faces was priceless.
Then she said that a $25K addition (more bathrooms) would increase the value $100K. This was on the assumption that they could build a two story addition to the house containing a master bath and a downstairs bathroom themselve for $25K.
And I have a bridge to sell you. No, this is DC. I have a house to sell you - right in downtown DC, big, white, great home office.
Polly,
Does columns come with this house?
We’ll know that the market has hit bottom when Evangelicals and Fundies resort to St. Joe (they don’t believe in the intercession of saints, and believe that its a sin to ask them for help)
Exactly. They view praying to saints(dead people) as demonic.
evangs have resorted to much baser nonsense, than idol worship…
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119405087481781173.html?mod=yahoo_hs&ru=yahoo
Double Squeeze for Homes
Struggling homeowners seeking mortgage relief from their lenders say they are hearing a tough message: We can’t help you unless you first fall behind on payments.
That is putting borrowers in a bind, given that defaulting on a mortgage triggers all kinds of headaches.
Consider Sharon Cooper of Lynn, Mass., who wants to sell her home. The problem: She now owes more than the house is worth, so she asked her lender to allow a “short sale” — selling it for less than the amount due, and forgiving the rest — to avoid foreclosure.
She says the lender, Countrywide Financial Corp., in August told her she would first need to fall two months behind on payments. So last month, she stopped paying. “I don’t have any option but to stop paying,” she says.
That’s like a doctor telling you that he can’t do anything for your cancer until you let the tumor spread!
I think the bail out people should be informed that the loan service people are suggesting to people that they should default in order to get help .What a joke .
So, in theory, this St. Joseph is supposed to direct someone to buy an insanely overpriced POS that will ultimately lead to said buyer’s financial ruin? Some saint, sounds more like robin hood, or even satan? Two words : RAGING F***ING MORONS. Sorry that was three. I wonder if there’s a statue I can plant on greedy seller that will make him/her drop their price to whatever my little heart desires.
I wonder if there’s a statue I can plant on greedy seller that will make him/her drop their price to whatever my little heart desires.
We can come up with a design for one and market it to fencesitters and homebuying vultures of all stripes. We’ll call it the St. Ben (Jones).
I think that it’s called the St. Joshua tree statue, but you don’t bury it into his backyard… more like his backside.
NR
Too bad Reg Manning isn’t still with us to design a logo like this one.
Whoops, I meant this one.
lmao….. beautiful……
Make sure it’s made in China with toxic materials.
The California housing market is at a standstill, buyers have just stopped looking period for houses. Sellers are holding steadfast to their asking prices, but having no luck. The longer the standoff between the buyers and sellers — the deeper the house price cuts will need to be to sell their houses. I have a friend that put off moving out of state because he wasn’t getting anywhere near his asking price but now it seems that his change of plans will get him an even lower house price when the market starts up in about two years. So he was better off just taking the lower price and moving on with his life in another state.
Hey! The (Sunnyvale, CA) house across the street just sold for $1.1Million! The last house to sell on this block was a similar 4/3 that went 4 months ago for $1.4 Million.
So the prices have dropped 300K in 6 months, at least on my block.
I really didn’t expect this house to go for over a Million.
It is a little “different here” compated to Sacramento, etc, for one reason. At some prices, these houses will sell. People really do want to live in Silicon Valley (the Peninsula, not the East Bay). So, priced low enough *someone* will buy it.
But some piece of desert in Central CA, or a Sacremento condo complex? Those houses may never sell at any price.
These houses seemed to be priced OK at 325K or so when I bought mine 17 years ago (and paid it off 2 years ago). So, considering wage inflation, etc, they’ll probably settle down again at 700K, which is where they would have been naturally after that time with inflation factored in.
I just got word that at Lincoln Crossing (large development near Sacramento) the forclosure rate is now above 8%. This area still has a lot of new houses for sale. Sacramento is swimming in a pool of pain.
As Neil would say, I am sitting back with my bag of popcorn and enjoying the show. Sounds cruel?
They will be bulldozering some of those houses, mark my words!
I don’t agree. I live in Silicon Valley and SFH were selling on average for around $300-400k in 2002. I don’t think 3% inflation over 5 years brings them up to the $700k you are touting.
I do agree that houses here are still selling though. I’m not seeing much of a downturn, however I do see ‘price reduced’ signs — that doesn’t make them affordable yet though.
Perhaps! I really don’t care what price they end up in. I just think that this area may be a bit better off because, at *some price* there’s a buyer. Even this basic fact isn’t a given in every area.
(And I’m not just saying that because I live here! I have property in Central Florida, too. And, if I wanted to sell it, I’m not sure I could find a buyer anytime soon. There’s a development down the road from me where half the houses are vacant.)
BTW: In my area, houses were selling for $800K in 2002.
I went back to 1989, where my house really did cost $325, and calculated up from there at the wage-inflation rate to get a ballbark bottom.
Don’t forget, the 700K I calcuated is still 400K LOWER than these houses are going for today, given the $1.1Million sale this past week! That’s a big ouch for people who bought hoping to refinance, or need to sell after a couple of years.
Reality check: In the middle of the range you reference would be a unit priced at $350k by the market. Give that five years of 3%+ inflation and it should reach near $420k. We need at least 3-5 years more of this stagnation pattern to make a mark, and nearly a decade of that to get to the expected 40-50% correction.
I just got this postcard in the mail today:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2138/1880528120_a24f59a70c_b.jpg
So it sold for 100K more than asking. What the agent isn’t saying is that the sale before this one was for $1.4Million, so prices really are dropping!
Even though this is my block, I’ll be the first to say these houses shouldn’t be priced at more than 500K.
Don’t forget, in this neigborhood, unlike those ruled by a Fascist HOA, you can have a basketball hoop on your garage! (see photo). That’s not permitted in, (for example) Celebration, Florida.
There’s no HOAs for almost all of the SFH here. And there’s purple houses, houses with “art” in the front yard, people with boats in their lawn, folks with Ham Radio antennas, etc. And this area’s holding out better than the HOA infested areas. (Which were supposed to “protect property values”)
(I thought the forsale signs would be first, but apparently the divorces are happening first. Huge increase just this year.)
Marriages that are arrangements of convenience in pursuit of a lifestyle cannot overcome financial stress.
It will be interesting to see what happens to the divorce rate, because divorces lead to additional “sales at market.” On one hand, couples may stay together realizing neither can make it on their own. On the other hand, once it becomes culturally acceptable to walk away, people may decide to ditch the underwater house and spouse at the same time.
From a real estate point of view, it means more houses are needed for split families. (LOL).
Yes, more demand for shelter, but more affordable and not necessarily houses. When my parents broke up my mom with three kids ended up in a 2 bedroom rental duplex. When she finally did buy a home it was a very small one. You don’t increase your prosperity by splitting up.
Ain’t that the truth. The usual result for the custodial parent is poverty.
gator
from a person who has been through the divorce process, I understand yer comment about the custodial parent living in poverty post-divorce. Divorce definately affects everyone. Some in different ways. I just want to add more info to yer statement from a father;
I’d rather live in poverty WITH my children than live in luxury WITHOUT them. There is one simple fact about divorce regarding children; absentee parents can never regain the precious time lost over the years. Can you ever duplicate the first day of school? First bike ride? Prom date?? No, of course not.
And, not trying to turn this into a divorce rant but coming from a father who has been through hell, I can say with certainty that the “poverty stricken” custodial parent has the entire resources & support of free legal help, from state and federal agencies to pursue their monetary claims.
What govt agencies provide FREE help for the non-custodial parent in forcing the custodial parent to allow visitation? In fact, when was the last time a mother, who denied visitation, was carted off to jail?!? Exactly !
You can always pay money due later but you cant recoup lost time as the children grow up.
(A fact that mean-spirited mothers use as leverage for revenge.)
apologies for the length of this reply - but it is a subject near & dear to me.
Marriages that are arrangements of convenience
LOL. Only somebody who has never been married would ever consider such an arrangement a “convenience.”
LOL! It reminds me of a Simpsons episode where Abe Simpson finds his long lost brother living a polygamous life (15 wives) on a south seas island. Abe remarks that his brother that he must get a lot of sex, to which his brother replies: “I said 15 wives, not girlfriends!”
I remember that scene well. And the 15 wives all giggled at that reply.
Marriages that are arrangements of convenience in pursuit of a lifestyle cannot overcome financial stress.
Any marriage can be rocked by financial stress, doesn’t have to be one ‘of convenience.’ Recessions or personal downturns, BK’s, etc, the divorce rate goes way up. That’s just humanity being human.
Considering how it’s usually the WIFE that drives the marriage into bankruptcy, divorce may be a good idea! As long as hubby isn’t foolish enough to repeat his mistake.
Remember how wife + Suzanne talked husband into buying home he couldn’t afford!
Mani/pedi, facial, hair, day spa, shoes, clothes, handbags, stylin’ auto, pilates, the list goes on…
…because they are afraid that if they don’t look like a Victoria’s Secret model, their husbands will leave them for 24- y.o. arm candy.
RE: …because they are afraid that if they don’t look like a Victoria’s Secret model, their husbands will leave them for 24- y.o. arm candy.
Not so…
Subject: How To Make Her Happy
How to Make a Woman Happy
It’s not difficult to make a woman happy.. A man only needs to be:
1. A friend
2. A companion
3. A lover
4. A brother
5. A father
6. A master
7. A chef
8. An electrician
9. A carpenter
10. A plumber
11. A mechanic
12. A decorator
13. A stylist
14. A sexologist
15. A gynaecologist
16. A psychologist
17. A pest exterminator
18. A psychiatrist
19. A healer
20. A good listener
21. An organizer
22. A good father
23. Very clean
24. Sympathetic
25. Athletic
26. Warm
27. Attentive
28. Gallant
29. Intelligent
30. Funny
31. Creative
32. Tender
33. Strong
34. Understanding
35. Tolerant
36. Prudent
37. Ambitious
38. Capable
39. Courageous
40. Determined
41. True
42. Dependable
43. Passionate
44. Compassionate
WITHOUT FORGETTING TO:
45. Give her compliments regularly
46. Love shopping
47. Be honest
48. Be very rich
49. Not stress her out
50. Not look at other girls
AND AT THE SAME TIME, YOU MUST ALSO:
51. Give her lots of attention, but expect little yourself
52. Give her lots of time, especially time for herself
53. Give her lots of space, never worrying about where she goes
IT IS VERY IMPORTANT:
54. Never to forget:
* birthdays
* anniversaries
* arrangements she makes
HOW TO MAKE A MAN HAPPY
1. Show up naked
2. Bring food
That’s why you choice your wife well. I don’t care what anyone says, 9 times out of 10 women run the whole thing financially into the sh!tter, especially these days.
Hey, that’s not always true! My husband is the spend-thrift in the family; I’m always talking him out of unnecessary purchases. As long as guys (and their egos) fall for high-maintenance trophy wifes, than they get what they deserve. Remember, peroxide and silicone are fatal to your mental health.
Not saying there aren’t idiotic guys out there too these days, but I’d say the original ‘’shallowness’ came from women. If there are shallow guys, they’re probably manginas looking to loufa themselves into female acceptance so to speak, and that entails a lot of buying shit to impress women.
True is, who’s know for being ‘cheap’ and being accused of being ‘cheap’. Yup, always the guy. “What a ‘cheap’ guy. He’s so ‘cheap’.” Pre-date that ‘cheap’ about 40 or 50 years and what you’re looking at is a financially responsible 1950s’ kind of old-school republican votin’ dude. Advertizing demonizes ‘cheap’ men and has been for the past 40 years and now the average pussy worshipping male has been refactored into and consumer driven drone wage slave to get laid. So everytime you see a ’shallow’ guy, he’s more than likely just a stupid pussy-worshipping mangina that’s learned from experience that getting laid entails looking the part, regardless of whether it involves heavy financing, doesn’t matter, 95% of women won’t drop their drawers for him unless he’s looking the part of the $30,000 millionaire.
Yes that is true but if you look at the motives for the marriage and whether they are mainly regarding finances. Remember at the end of the 70’s the wife joined the work force.
How many families are duel income now?
I think about it cause my friend recently got his masters degree, he is getting married and we worry that the wife to be. Was looking mainly at his future earnings ability. If thats a major reason for the marriage what happens when you take it away
Dual incomes merely diluted wages for men, that’s why two incomes are now needed. The funny thing about that though is in a lot of cases wifey still dreams about an early retirement, not realizing that her elder sisters helped create a situation in which she now HAS to work. So all feminists got out of that was to dilute wages for men (the traditional breadwinners) and at the same time taking another 8 hours plus out of a woman’s day to deal with the children she wants and if she hires someone to watch them a significant portion of her salary goes to child-care. Gotta love it. LOL
Yeah, so she and hubby buy the house SHE wants based on their two salaries because she’s now an equal marriage partner (actually more equal), they buy the megahouse, then she decides to have a kid and either stay home or pay an exhorbitant amount for child care leaving the guy to carry the burden which then goes on the credit cards and then he starts looking at ways to invest in real estate to make up the difference and pay off the HELOC. LOL
Then they get in an argument over the $6,500 used boat he boat to get away from her on the weekends and totally overlook the $350,000 house and luxury minivan she NEEDED. LOL
I agree that the influx of so many women diluted men’s wages.
…not realizing that her elder sisters helped create a situation in which she now HAS to work.
I also believe that the feminists’ objective to free women from “house-slavery” just transferred our burden to another arena - the workplace. (In 1969 a lot of women may have chosen to get jobs outside the home, but in 2007, it’s a necessity for most women to be wage earners.)
9 times out of 10 women run the whole thing financially into the sh!tter,
I don’t know about this one though. I learned to be really careful with my money after seeing two of my female friends exploited financially, in the one case, and outright robbed in the other. The first by her husband, whose Brooks Brothers charge she was paying long after they divorced, and the other a young woman who naively opened a joint bank account with her boyfriend.
I think that 2-breadwinner homes merely cause prices to double. I don’t agree that it’s the Husband who has to work.
Isn’t it a shame that the Woman’s Lib movement didn’t get true equality–where there’s one primary breadwinner in each family, but split evenly between households where the husband works, and households where the wife works?
Its funny there is this other forum I read, and a poster their talks about how he work part time from the home office and takes care of his three girls. The wife is the bread winner. he related the story of how he was at the super market and with the three little girls.
A woman with a baby said “its harder then your wife makes it look huh?”
He replied that he was a house husband and he does it all day. The lady got shocked and defesive and said “well at least my husband works and isnt a bum”
His little daughter said “no my daddy works he is a writer and he would notice if one of us was eating something we found in our daipper”
The mom looked down and found her little baby was happily eating Sh!T with the all the enthusiasm a baby could.
When I was in college I pointed out that I thought women were foolish to want both a high career and then childern. One classmate got mad and said why cant she have the BMW with the child seat in the back
I told her well if you want that more than sleep okay
“I think that 2-breadwinner homes merely cause prices to double. I don’t agree that it’s the Husband who has to work.
Isn’t it a shame that the Woman’s Lib movement didn’t get true equality–where there’s one primary breadwinner in each family, but split evenly between households where the husband works, and households where the wife works?”
It’s called “my money is my money and his money is OUR money.”
Shit, I dated a pharmacist years ago that was into mega-homes and all the other ‘accesories’, then she figured she’d ‘work part time’ if we got married and had a kid. Yeah, ok, I’m going to pay for the house of her choosing, the car of her choosing (all of it she chose while working). LOL Get real.
RE: Marriages that are arrangements of convenience in pursuit of a lifestyle cannot overcome financial stress.
Ben should be copyrighting all these wise words to live by.
“‘I can’t explain the feelings running through my veins right now,’ Ray Dawkins, a Brooklyn homeowner who says he was duped into a risky mortgage, told Crain’s.”
Let me take a stab: Anger?
If he has any self awareness at all, the anger is probably supplemented by a healthy dose of embarassment/humiliation.
If his livelihood is related to the housing industry, fear could be right up there too.
If he has any self awareness at all, the anger is probably supplemented by a healthy dose of embarassment/humiliation.
Given that he’s crying to a newspaper reporter, I would say that the embarrassment and humiliation haven’t sunk in yet.
Lynn, Lynn, the city of sin - you’ll never go out the way you came in.
(an oldie but a goody about Sharon Cooper’s town). I don’t get the “you need to fall behind before we can help you thing”. Seems pretty stupid to me.
They want to make sure you are in distress before they start looking into your case. If you’re willing to take the hit to your credit report that falling behind will give you they’re willing to start working with you. Otherwise folks like me could give them a call and “work something out”.
The lenders want the borrower to bleed-out as much money as possible. Reducing the interest rate will reduce the money flowgoing into the lender’s coffers.
The lenders have an incentive to lower the rates only when the FB stops paying altogether.
It shows they have skin in the game; they’re making an effort to fail.
I thought loan companies were contacting their customers and offering to help work out their payments with them - this aimed at people who ARE keeping up with their payments, nothing to do with falling behind. Countrywide offered this 2 weeks ago. I sincerely hope she was given correct info.
RE: Lynn, Lynn, the city of sin
Smack addicts doin’ a lot of burgleries and home invasions in Marblehead & Swampscot.
The yacht clubbers are surrounded!
Looks like Ohio has a great “opportunity!”
http://www.newsnet5.com/money/14508725/detail.html
Speaking of Ohio, here’s a scary story from BBC Newson Cleveland’s foreclosure mess. Warning - the one chart is NOT PC!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7070935.stm
What’s with the color coding of 57% to 100% subprime loans in an area? Shouldn’t that be broken up a bit?
Cleveland Rocks! In foreclosures that is…
Got popcorn?
Neil
It’s…it’s…it’s almost like there’s a correlation between shady mortgage loans and foreclosures!
You know, if they can stop the vandalism they can sell the right to remove recyclable materials in exchange for the removal of the entire building, filling in the hole, shaving down the foundation to a foot below grade, and finishing with a foot of topsoil. As long as the demand for materials abroad is high enough, and the location is close enough to a navigable body of water, it could work.
Give it 15 years. Then it will all be done via manual labor because fuel will cost too much, just like the Chinese built everything in the 1950s by hand.
That’s going around Detroit here too, including the town where I work.
Detroit has been doing something similar for quite a while. A vacant lot with grass & weeds on it is still better than a semi-abandoned meth lab or boarded-up dilapidated wreck of a house.
that dumb bush. he is so greedy for oil profits, he is going to starve us and shut down christmas. everytime i go to the grocery store prices are just going up. and now just at the christmas shopping season, gas prices are going up too.
and people keep asking, why is no one buying houses. they figured out how much it really cost to live in a “dream home” tax cuts alone wont save the housing market. reagan havent came back to life. tax cuts for the rich dont go down. it goes into peoples pockets!
I was shocked at the prices of apples in the grocery store, especilly since they’re now in season. $2 a pound! They used to be something like 75 cents/pound.
I got some apples a week ago for 37cents a pound so I guess I should be happy .
Has anyone notice that restaurants are giving smaller portions of meat ? Ordered a corn beef sandwich the other day and I got half the amount of meat they usually put on it .Cutting portions is one way to fight the higher food costs .
Might also help the obesity problem…. 37 cents a pound for apples? wow. Prices in SoCal probably jacked up because of the fires…
Nobody gets obese from eating apples, probably the reverse would happen with all the fiber being ingested. The spiking prices of healthy foods will probably result in more obesity as increasingly poorer people pig out on the cheapest (calorie-dense, nutrient-low) foods.
My wife mentioned that a jumbo box of Cherrios that used to cost under $6.00 at sumes now goes for close to $8.
I make a point of mentioning this (inflation) at every social gathering I go to. People will quitely admit that they have noticed it too, but they almost seem ashamed to talk about it. Perhaps they are afraid that others will think that they are “poor” because they complain about food prices.
This may not be the most foolish remark on the site today but it does get points for effort!
Its ok, people. The ISM number is in and the recession is now officially over - Wow, that was close!
How about $43/square foot for a house that needs updating but is on a big lot in a very pretty part of town?
Now this is 1990 style stuff.
http://dallas.craigslist.org/rfs/469470411.html
That doesn’t look too bad. When someone writes “needs updating” I think 1950s-style furnishings but that’s pretty livable.
It looks like the previous occupants enjoyed their fireplace a bit too much, though.
The problem is, it’s in Texas!
Wow, what you can buy in Texas is unreal. If you put that house in Cupertino where I live you would get $1.5 Million.
Is that house in Dallas?
Actually, what’s available to buy in California is unreal.
I’m in awe over this gem:
“Great value in this 1974 home priced well below tax appraisal”
Its a POS at any price.
Marquis de Sade has nothing on Marquis de Sales…
“Mary Sonnett, manager of St. Francis de Sales shop, said she noticed that the sale of kits started to pick up last summer, just when the market started to turn sour. ‘We’ve shipped them everywhere, really,’ Lichius said. ‘Even overseas.’”
Mary Sonnet is going to hell for this.
“‘My credit was bad,’ John said. ‘I went to the mortgage company. I didn’t know the market was going to turn like it did. Even if it went up, I thought it would be by a hundred a month.’”
“The mortgage payment they could afford of $1,508 a month climbed to $2,115. ‘We got behind,’ Mary said. ‘We couldn’t keep up.’”
Little diddy about Mary & ‘John’
Troubled ex-American Dreamers
Life marches on…
hold on to the teaser as long as you ca-a-n
Changes going to come around real soon
Make you swimming in [ra]men
from Farm Aid to Home Aid?
You laugh. It’ll happen. Tom Petty will be supporting his home state of Florida on the stage.
“‘My credit was bad,’ John said. ‘I went to the mortgage company. I didn’t know the market was going to turn like it did. Even if it went up, I thought it would be by a hundred a month.’”
Another bury-your-head-in-the-sand FB. Do people really have NO idea about scale? Good Lord, it’s hundreds of dollars a month to borrow for a car. Did they really imagine their house payment would only go up a hundred bucks??!!
Yes. Welcome to the land of innumeracy. Percents should be mastered no later than 6th grade.
How many people do you know who really, really know that if an item increases in value by 100%, it is back to its old value after a reduction of 50% on the new value? Not they could figure it out with a calculator. They just know that is the relationship. If something that simple isn’t obvious to you, you don’t know anything meaningful about percents.
Making basic math skills a prerequisite for buying a house could be viewed by some as discriminatory nowadays.
Math eubonics?
Nah, math illiteracy knows no boundaries. It’s frighteningly universal.
I got a book called ‘Innumeracy’ last month at a yard sale.
It cost me fifty eleven cents.
tsk tsk tsk it isn’t the math my friends. Folks these days don’t mind going head over heels in debt because they KNOW “No one in America starves”. Somebody is going to bail them out with some program or another. Remember the rich plan ten years out; the poor to Saturday night.
I have a B.A. in Mathematics (and a Master’s degree in Computer Science). When I got my mortgage, I did the math with a calculator! If you’re not used to working with amortized loan calculations every day, the numbers may be non-intuitive even to a relatively “numerate” person.
BTW: That “someone” who will bail them out is YOU and ME aka “The Forgotten Man”.
It’s not too hard to do mortgage math in your head, even the amortization part, as long as you’re using round numbers.
Well, the fact that the sheep have never been able to figure out wnat they can afford is why the lenders had to do it . As far as I’m concerned the lenders breached their duty to really qualify the borrowers in this last lending cycle . The lenders are suppose to underwrite the loans so the final investor in the loan doesn’t lose money .Now investors don’t want to invest in loans and we have a tight money market, so see what fraud and breach of duty to underwrite loans does in the final analysis .
People are crazy if they think it should be up to the borrower to decide how much debt they can take on and its just a matter of the bank giving them a chance to prove themselves . As long as a borrower wants other peoples money to fund their dreams ,they have to qualify for God sakes .
You are giving the average guy too much credit (no pun intended). They are so mentally lazy (or stressed, to be fair in some cases) that they get someone selling them something to do the Grade 8 math for them.
Throughout history, con men, frauds, etc. have done well by and large because the populace involved in the mania could not do math, but did GREED really well.
It’s obvious every single day how innumerate most people are. Whether it’s “oh, I don’t care, it’s tax deductible so I’ll get it all back in my tax refund” or “if my mortgage goes up from 6% to 8%, that means my payment increases by 2%, right?”, you do have to wonder what, if anything, these people learned in their math classes in school.
Mortgage tax deductions start to phase out anyway with incomes over $150K. So if they’re counting on a “tax deduction” you can be sure they’re not making enough to afford that 700K house when the teaser rate goes away.
“Do what you will, this world’s a fiction and is made up of contradiction.”
William Blake
na na na bop shewop shewop, na na na oh-oh yah….
“‘My credit was bad,’ John said. ‘I went to the mortgage company. I didn’t know the market was going to turn like it did. Even if it went up, I thought it would be by a hundred a month.’”
Your math is bad, too!
I do feel a little sorry for some of these folks. It’s possible the mortgage brokers took advantage of barely literate people.
It may be a good idea to let people who only own ONE property, lived in that property, and didn’t have a second mortgage or a HELOC, get some sort of a break (like treat all of these as “no recourse” so they can just hand the keys to the lender) just to give them the benefit of the doubt.
However, I’ve seen no “bailout” plan proposed by anyone that imposes these reasonable limitations and remedy. Most would merely prolong suffering.
Also, this guy did put a down payment down ,so it seems like he just wanted a home .
Your so right reuven that any bail out plan doesn’t seem to be a decerning one . There are some people who were serious good faith homeowners who could benefit from a little break ,and the lenders could benefit on their bottom line if they learn to decern what loans would qualify for that relief . Course the lenders need to set up qualifying for relief guidelines so they are not accused of discrimination .
Today’s Officer Of Loan (TOOL)
“Beth Ann Meehan, the mortgage loan officer at Pacific National, said that the national situation has not directly affected lending on Nantucket.”
D-Lichius Profits…
“Dave Lichius, owner of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Books and Gifts in Beaver, estimates he has sold nearly 4,000 plastic figurines of St. Joseph since a flustered real estate agent burst in the store a decade ago desperate to buy one of the figurines for a client.”
“‘This harried looking guy, a real estate agent, rushed in and said ‘I need a statue of St. Steven.’ He was frantic about it, you know,’ Lichius recalled. ‘I called around to some other shops to find out what this guy wanted. As it turned out it was St. Joseph the home seller. Since then we’ve sold quite a few. People come in and ask for them all the time.’”
Dave Lichius is going to hell too.
and, despite the temptation to joke about this, it’s very telling:
giselle bundchen will not longer accept payment in u.s. dollars. she wants euros for all future contracts. models are now focusing on the declining dollar.
She simply saw sharp curves that weren’t hers…
And yet another socially aware celebrity. Ugh.
I don’t think it has got a thing to do with social awareness. She simply likes money that stays valuable.
True, but who wants to depend on a fashion model’s financial acumen?
Giselle’s decision to be paid in euros could be a contrary indicator.
Here’s to hoping all of your assets are in good old Dollars Americano…
It was a joke.
I wonder if she actually knows what’s going on or if she’s just parroting what her manager told her.
Super hot looking woman and a financial wizard - what do you think the chances are?
“His clients, he said, aren’t limited to those with a Catholic background. He once sold several real estate kits to a Jewish rabbi who said he planned to distribute the statues among friends. ‘I guess when there’s a lot of money is concerned, the theological lines get blurred,’ Lichius said with a laugh.”
I absolutely don’t believe this. There’s no way that any Jewish person, regardless of how “traditionally observant” he or she is, would resort to idol worship to sell a house.
I think this story is באָבע מעשׂה (”Bubbe Meisa” a Grandmother’s tale) as we used to say in Brooklyn.
The Jewish rabbi is going to hell too, especially after God finds out he’s been dissing Jesus for years and now comes around looking to use a Catholic saint to do his bidding. Yup, definitely going to hell.
In a strange way, I agree! But I think the person selling these statues was just embellishing a story…
FWIW, I do know Protestants who also do the St. Joe thing. In theory they also don’t ask the saints for intercession (i.e. Idol worship). But I do find it hard to believe that a Rabbi would do this. OK, maybe a Reform Rabbi, but even that seems like a stretch.
Actually, burying the state of a saint upside down resembles an appeal to a demon more than an appeal to a saint. But that’s just me.
Side note: Google is going to make so much money off of its free phone software. Sounds like a recipie for huge profits…
Which part of Google’s business model do you not understand? Is it the part where Google makes huge sums of money by selling online advertising and that by providing a free platform for cell phone applications (that support Google’s advertising model), they are able to establish advertising dominance in a medium (mobile devices) that has much greater growth potential than Google’s mainstay, browser-based pc/web platform? Google is not a search engine, it is an advertising platform disguised as a search engine…
If your comment was spot on, I humbly apologize… if your comment was sarcastic, see my explanation above. My advice, seek “real” understanding, it is why most of us were drawn to this blog in the first place.
‘Google is not a search engine, it is an advertising platform disguised as a search engine…’
which is why google will fail.
I heard this one again from my cousins.
“Sellers are not going to lower their price. They will just be stubborn and hold out until they get the right offer, no matter how long.”
Well there is an ancillary to that, buyers can hold out a lot longer until they see prices they like. Here in NYC you can rent for about half the monthly mortgage for the same house. So there is nothing to push you to buy.
If the sellers want a staring contest with buyers, while they are stuck in their homes and can’t move, well, I’ll put my money on the buyers.
“‘Nobody wants to buy something for $500,000 when they think that if they wait a while they can get it for $450,000.”
Try $350,000. Maybe in a year or two, $250,000. What’s the opposite of “the sky’s the limit”?
“You can’t dig a hole deep enough”!
What’s the opposite of “the sky’s the limit”?
A bottom-less pit.
Rock bottom?
Service Sector Grew in Oct., Survey Says
http://tinyurl.com/2bfxzr
“The trend appears to be moderating, but the economy is hanging in better than we would have anticipated given what is happening in housing and credit markets,”
Amazing that this little tid-bit of less than stunning news bounces the Dow off the lows and sets it up for its usual 200 point late day surge. I guess the good news of a couple added jobs in the hair salon and janitorial services balances out the shocking bad news of trillion $ losses in the banks/financials.
Now stepping up to the plate, batting .0008, the Governor…
“Three months after Gov. Spitzer announced a $100 million program to save New Yorkers in danger of losing their homes due to the subprime mortgage crisis, only a single mortgage rescue is in the work.”
“It is estimated that by the end of the year, some 1,250 city residents will have lost their homes through foreclosure.”
The NAR is at it again:
Quick Take: Realtors Get Desperate
By Seth Jayson November 5, 2007
Want to know how bad things are in the housing industry? Look no further than this loony press release from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). It announces a nationwide advertising campaign designed to “counter recent negative housing reports in the media.” Does it feature a graph of sales trends? Inventory? Prices? Of course not. It’s a kid on a swing. (Awwww.)
This is a typical bromide from the trade group that brought us a never-ending supply of optimistic spin, encouraging people to buy homes as “investments,” no matter how over-inflated they were, no matter how bad the financing was. (Hey, you can’t blame them. They just want their 6% cut on the biggest financial transaction in your life.)
The trouble is, “negative” is simple reality. Inventory is way up, foreclosures are going through the roof, and prices are dropping at unprecedented rates. But they’re still not low enough to bring in buyers, as evidenced by the price-chopping from builders like Ryland Group (NYSE: RYL), D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI), KB Home (NYSE: KBH) and Hovnanian Enterprises (NYSE: HOV).
I doubt a picture of a kid on a swing will change that.
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2007/11/05/quick-take-realtors-get-desperate.aspx
“The Web site known as ‘the underground real estate agent kit,’ is just one site devoted to selling the statues and offers a free online home listing as well as testimonials from believers, including a bevy of real estate agents. Ordering is simply - and the number unforgettable - at (888) Bury-Joe.”
Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public…
H.L. Mencken