It’s Like Christmastime For Buyers
The Chicago Tribune reports from Illinois. “The number of homes sold in Illinois dropped dramatically in November while prices slid outside of the nine-county Chicago market, according to the monthly report by the Illinois Association of Realtors. Statewide, the median sale price was $193,000 for the month, down 3 percent from $199,000 a year ago, with a 20 percent drop in sales from last November.”
“Geoffrey J.D. Hewings of the University of Illinois, said slow job growth rate in Illinois is dragging on the economy and housing market. ‘It is hoped that the recent declines in interest rates may help stimulate the housing market. In the interim, consumer sentiment is moving to a cautious mode,’ he said.”
“With prices predicted to keep falling through the coming year or even longer, one might question the wisdom — even the sanity — of buying a home now when even better bargains probably await.”
“But people are buying. Armed with attractive mortgage interest rates and a bountiful supply of houses to choose from, some bargain-hunters say it is the time to act.”
“‘If you think there is blood in the streets, you want to be buying,’ said Vince Allegra, who in late November swooped in on a west suburban house that had languished on the market since spring.”
“Dickering with the relocation company that owned the house, he snagged it for $860,000 — less than the original list price of $1.1 million and even below the $950,000 it sold for in 2005, he said.”
“‘I still think the market will get worse before it will get better,’ said Allegra, a money manager for high-net-worth clients. Still, he said he believed the market was near enough to a bottom to make a deal worthwhile.”
The Gazette Extra from Wisconsin. “Darrell Pelikan knew his home value would go up in the town of Janesville’s reassessment this year. After all, the town hadn’t assessed the home in nine years. But he wasn’t expecting a 77 percent increase.”
“Pelikan was shocked to see the assessor, Associated Appraisal Consultants of Appleton, valued his 1,300-square-foot home at $193,000, up $84,000 from its assessed value in 1998 and up $82,000 from the price he paid for it in 2001.”
“‘It was outrageous, even at the prices real estate was going two or three years ago,’ Pelikan said.”
“Pelikan wasn’t the only one angry. Town clerk Andrea Peabody estimated a couple hundred residents showed up for the town’s open book session in November, and about 60 appeared before the town’s board of review a few weeks later.”
“Bruce Gurney was one of them. He went to the open book session to complain about his assessment rising 90 percent since it was built in 2000. His 1,092-square-foot home was assessed at $223,000. ‘That place was packed,’ he said of his trip to town hall. ‘I had to wait two hours.’”
“After the open book session, Associated Appraisal lowered the assessment to $188,000, Gurney said. The board of review declined to lower the assessment further.”
“Pelikan hired a private appraiser, Robert Kagel, who valued his home at $164,000. ‘There’s no way that I’m going to be able to sell this property at $193,000 or—anytime in the next few years—$177,000,’ Pelikan said.”
“Pelikan believes the assessor made his decision based on the inflated sale prices of homes in the last few years and didn’t take into account the current nationwide housing crisis. ‘Now with this subprime (mortgage collapse) and all this, things have to come down,’ he said.”
“But assessors can look only at sale prices from before Jan. 1 of the year of the assessment, said Joe Griesbach, president of Associated Appraisal. That means the company couldn’t look at any home sales after Jan. 1, 2007.”
The St Cloud Times from Minnesota. “It may not be as bad as it is on the coasts, but St. Cloud’s economy and housing market have taken a hit this year.”
“About 70 mortgage brokers are no longer operating. Foreclosures in area counties have dramatically increased in the last year. Builders’ and real estate agents’ business has slowed. Local financial counselors are twice as busy this year compared with last year.”
“At least one bankruptcy attorney has seen a 50 percent spike in business in the last year. And getting a loan is much harder than it used to be.”
“Rich MacDonald, an economics professor at St. Cloud State University, said markets need time to untie the knots. Another local economist, King Banaian, chairman of the economics department at St. Cloud State University, agreed.”
“‘The credit crisis has continued and will continue to rise over the next several months,’ he said.”
“Despite the gloomy prediction, local business leaders are keeping a positive outlook. Bankers and real estate agents say this is the best time to buy a home: prices and interest rates are low, and buyers have plenty of homes to choose from.”
“‘It’s like Christmastime out there for buyers,’ said John Pearson, an agent in St. Cloud.”
“Foreclosures are up 36 percent in Stearns and Benton counties — from 39 in November 2006 to 53 in November 2007. From November 2005 to November 2006, foreclosures more than doubled, from 14 to 39.”
“Housing starts in the six-city area are down 39 percent from November 2006 to November 2007. That slump followed a major hit from November 2005 to November 2006, when housing starts dropped 42 percent, from 893 to 522.”
“But that could reflect a correction in the market. Bonnie Moeller said it’s like the housing market was going 100 miles an hour, but now it’s going the speed limit. Moeller is the executive director of the Central Minnesota Builders Association.”
“Because of the downturn in the housing market, and because of the new requirements, many brokers or mortgage companies stopped operating. In St. Cloud, 70 mortgage brokers who had licenses before August no longer do. Now just 33 have active licenses, according to the Minnesota Department of Commerce. Before August, Minnesota had 4,000 licensed mortgage brokers, and now there are just over 1,200.”
“At Munson Mortgage, subprime mortgages — once 20 percent of its business — are no longer part of its portfolio. Stricter federal lending standards have affected his ability to make such loans.”
“‘I can’t make up my own rules,’ John Munson said.”
“At some local banks — such as Bremer, Liberty Savings Bank and ING Direct — leaders said they haven’t been hit hard by the crisis because they did not make subprime loans. ‘We make loans to people that can pay them back,’ said Brian Myres, head of Midwest operations for ING.”
hohoho
they just dropped 10k off the short sale in my hood
we had no action like that in the early 90’s
house has upgraded windows,siding etc……. in 22151
The one thing I’ve been noticing about short sales is that many of them are on houses bought in the last 2-3 years. Banks have them priced way above houses that were bought 5-10 years ago and have more equity to work with. I’ve seen lots of houses that are now in short sale and when you look at the price reduction history, they went down and down, until the bank ok’d a short sale and then the prices jumped $30-75k again. What’s with that? Anyone that pays the banks short sales prices on houses bought ‘04-07 are definitely going to get burned on the way down.
I know a couple doing a short sale. They paid 250K in 2005. It’s listed at 175K. Similar homes sold recently for 160K They’ve had offers from 100 to 130K. Every time they get an offer, they submit it to the lender for approval. Listed price is a conversational piece. Homedebtors have no control over price.
“Bankers and real estate agents say this is the best time to buy a home: prices and interest rates are low, and buyers have plenty of homes to choose from”
Cut, paste and attach journalism. When will this end? As of today, I have cancelled all subscriptions to paper newspapers and magazines, I am now 100% electronic…2008 is the year old media died for me.
Check out this piece:
http://money.cnn.com/2007/12/28/news/economy/housing_forecasts/index.htm?postversion=2007122811
It seems more than one economist and realtor will have to start acknowledging the egg on their face.
“Abusive lending” Is that when some guy beats you up, and forces you to borrow money??
I have to wonder how many millions of Real Estate Agents, Mortgage Brokers and others in the industry are living off of Credit Cards until the market comes back around.
I think an honest days work would be beneath a lot of these people, plus so many seem to be all about keeping up appearances of how well they are doing.
They are probably budgeting their credit limits like responsible people do their savings.
Having 8 months expenses left in Credit Card limits, but if they cut back on the cell phone plan, cancel the gym membership, and a few other cut backs and they might be able to squeeze out 9 months, which would put them well into closing time on all of those Spring/Early Summer sales and commissions. Just in a nick of time to get back to normal, with noone being any wiser.
They will probably get to sit in their Bankruptcy Lawyers office with some of their past clients. How Ironic.
I think you are right.Most of these people have not worked an honest day in their lives.Credit card debt is skyrocketing.Rob peter to pay paul.It is very easy to get credit cards these days.
Doesn’t the amount of outstanding US credit card debt exceed the spending in the Iraq war?
Regardless of how you feel about the Iraq war, this shows how America is over! You would think during war time people woule be willing to sacrifice and save. No! They want to spend money they don’t have on plasma TVs and Hummers.
Think how much better off we’d be if Americans invested their money in American industry these past 5 years.
(And, maybe, if we didn’t have this War On Savings, and interest rates weren’t so low, Americans would buy US Savings Bonds, too!)
I think an honest days work would be beneath a lot of these people, plus so many seem to be all about keeping up appearances of how well they are doing.
The number of people in the US who understand that most successful people WORK HARD is miniscule!
Most people believe that successful people have “lucked out” or had a “big break” and that all they need to do is to find the secret or a Carlton Sheets get-rich-quick tape and they, too, can do it!
If, instead, they just started WORKING HARD they may find success, but that’s not the American Way!
“If, instead, they just started WORKING HARD they may find success, but that’s not the American Way!”
Well said Reuven. I think far too many people feel they deserve the finer things in life, just because. They have no intentions of really working for those finer things. They don’t realize that many of the people that they see that have those things have worked long and hard to achieve that level of success(or their Grandparents or Parents did.)
I think that those that worked hard enough to achieve a high level of success realize how hard it is to truly get ahead. They are much more likely to realize that as hard as it was to achieve that success and wealth, to lose it or to treat it casually would be a mistake. They have far too much of their blood, sweat and tears invested to let it slip away.
To those that did happen to get lucky, be in the right place at the right time, knew the right person, didn’t let a little thing like morals or ethics get in their way-just don’t seem to realize that easy come easy go is a saying that has been around for a long, long time.
The few people that I knew in the Mortgage business, that were peddling the life destroying Toxic Mortgages, all seemed to really believe that they were the smart ones. They were the New Financial Gurus, and that only a fool would actually pay principle on a mortgage.
I doubt that most of these people will land on their feet, because they all seemed to blow the money as soon as they got it. They were young, they were hip, they often had “Summer Colds”, and they were always willing to let you know that they made $20,000 last month and only worked two weeks.
Easy come, easy go. Just like the Homes to those that should have never been able to finance a home.
Unfortunately, the people that will truly pay the price for this whole fiasco will probably be those that had the least to do with it. And those that had their hands all over it will most likely walk away with some good memories or a bunch of ill gotten gains.
Well, it doesn’t help when people brag about foreseeing the RE bubble in 2005/2006 (no duh) and selling for big bucks and now renting and laughing all the way to the bank. Sounds like alot of people were willing to cash in for a quick buck which merely aided and abetted the bubble madness. Some of us realized the prices in our neighborhood were ridiculously high, but made the choice to stay put, because it’s where we choose to live! Oh, yes, I’m one of those spoiled Californians, eh?
“Bankers and real estate agents say this is the best time to buy a home: prices and interest rates are low, and buyers have plenty of homes to choose from”
In St. Cloud, Minnesota. WTF? Maybe St. Cloud is the new Manhattan. What does St. Cloud and Manhattan have in common? Give up? NYCityBoy has been inebriated in both cities on many occasions. That is where the similarities end. Maybe St. Cloud will be a commuter haven for the Twin Cities. Bwahahaha. I remember St. Cloud, when I was sober, as a really little college city. These clowns are just flat out kidding themselves.
Crispy
Congrats on going papeless media. Good luck getting the mag/paper subscriber depts to leave you alone. You’ll continue to get solicitations to renew for the next … oh I dunno …. 200 years !?!?
AND yer name has been passed to endless mailing lists. The moment you express interest in a product is one trigger . . . when someone actually sends in a payment, its like putting chum in the water for sharks; the floodgates open & yer personal info gets massive attn.
(Thats why I been saying for years people oughta rise up & copyright their names. Everytime someone’s unique personal data gets used/accessed, they get a royalty payment. That alone would eliminate 99% of junkmail).
Don’t get your legal advice from random folks on the Internet but:
1. You can’t copyright your name
2. You can trademark it, but only if it’s used for specific commercial (trade or service) purposes.
Talk to your lawyer if you’re serious. I don’t think a trademark will offer much protection against junk mail.
you know, that is a great freaking idea…i’m suing Capital one…I’m tired of them wanting to know what’s in my wallet…
I bet everyone here has been solicited by these Pr*cks at least 10 times in the last year for a BS credit card…for those of you that have them, don’t worry, that company’s going bankrupt soon…you may not have to pay them back…i just read that Wall street securitized CC debt as well…this party is just getting started…
crush
Now here is an idea. Start making mailboxes pay-per-deposit. Add a 10 cent tax to all commercial postage. Anyone wanting to solicit me with junk mail, 10 cents gets deposited into my account….would be at least a dollar a day and fair compensation for me to retrieve and deposit to my trash can.
THAT IS GENIUS…UNADULTERATED GENIUS…I’M going to tell my postman next time i see him…no crap, unless he pays…i like it!
MD you’re brilliant…now, how come i don’t think it’s gonna work? oh, that’s right it’s the US post office…they probably get a kickback?
crush
. ‘We make loans to people that can pay them back,’ said Brian Myres, head of Midwest operations for ING.”
______________________________________________________
Oh you mean those Alt-A and Prime pay option ARMS and 2/28 ARMS, yeah…I hear those are great.
2/28 ARMS, yes. Pay option, no. I don’t think ING ever offered those. Their rates were also not teaser rates; they were set roughly for the index at the time, which was admittedly low, but the adjustments are not horrendous because their margins above the index were not high (2.xx% instead of 5% or more).
Case in point: 5/1 with ING that we have now. Start at 3.99% for five yeers. Then it floats based on 1-year AMT, which if it floats freely now would reset at 5.7%. Not so bad.
“Dickering with the relocation company that owned the house, he snagged it for $860,000 — less than the original list price of $1.1 million and even below the $950,000 it sold for in 2005, he said.”
Saving a perceived $240,000, and making it look like you are a big-time fisherman, capable of hooking the big one?
Priceless!
Then the guy goes on to say:
“‘I still think the market will get worse before it will get better,’ said Allegra, a money manager for high-net-worth clients. Still, he said he believed the market was near enough to a bottom to make a deal worthwhile.”
Hmm. This “money manager for-high-net worth clients” thinks the market’s going to get worse, yet he jumps in to catch a falling knife at roughly a 2004 price.
Now that’s using the ol’ melon.
– Judge Smales
“You’ll get nothing and like it”
“But assessors can look only at sale prices from before Jan. 1 of the year of the assessment, said Joe Griesbach, president of Associated Appraisal. That means the company couldn’t look at any home sales after Jan. 1, 2007.”
Wait until the assessments after 07 & 08. There won’t be any houses out there to justify raising assessment values.
Let the lawsuits begin
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former First Republic Bank shareholders sued Merrill Lynch & Co (MER.N) on Friday accusing the Wall Street investment bank and brokerage of hiding billions of dollars of losses related to subprime mortgages while the companies’ merger was pending.
Tort-sure lawyers will bring this country to it’s knees…
In this case I’m happy to have the lawyers investigate what Merrill Lynch did and didn’t know while it was pumping sunshine to investors. It’s clear our government won’t go after the criminals who profited from these crimes. I’ll take a world full of greedy lawyers over a world full of greedy CEO’s with no oversight or fear of prosecution.
Both sides will be fighting over the carcass of what’s left, a bleached skeleton, with a little bit of marrow left in the bones.
The main purpose of lawyers in these sorts of cases is to bayonet the wounded. Not much substantial will be accomplished, but the pain for all parties will be increase. I approve.
–
“Dickering with the relocation company that owned the house, he snagged it for $860,000 — less than the original list price of $1.1 million and even below the $950,000 it sold for in 2005, he said.”
“‘I still think the market will get worse before it will get better,’ said Allegra, a money manager for high-net-worth clients. Still, he said he believed the market was near enough to a bottom to make a deal worthwhile.”
Is this guy a dope or what. Does anyone want to bet that many of his “high-net-worth clients” will have a lot lower net-worth in few years?
Jas
–
When “is the best time to buy a home?”
When “bankers and real estate agents say this is the” worst “time to buy a home”: “prices” are still too high “and interest rates are” going to go lower, “and buyers” will “have plenty” more “homes to choose from.”
Just the other side of promoters’ coin.
Jas
I get pretty excited when I see the after christmas sales offering 3% discounts
We’re starting to see prices here in Florida many of my friends and family thought they would never see again. Unfortunately, many of them bought at the peak and are saddled with overwhelming debt. Some of them are broke and broken.
“We’re starting to see prices here in Florida many of my friends and family thought they would never see again.”
Do you mean prices that they “hoped” they would never see again?
Did anybody just see Peter Schiff on F-cked News Channel? The actions and comments of the rest of the panel are embarrassing. It is amazing how anybody that looks honestly at a situation must be ridiculed and written off as a “doomsayer”.
When is it the best time to buy stocks? When all of these stuffed-shirts think it’s an awful time to buy stocks. Charles Payne is saying DOW to 16,000. This is the same concept Jas. If Charles Payne is saying “buy buy buy” then I am staying the f— away.
Jas,
that really made me think…you know, that thought might be key…the bubble finally burst because the people buying the securitizations finally realized that they were actually F’d Investors (FI)…the same goes for the housing market…joe 6 pac on 15 Jul 07, became self aware…he was indeed an FB
This all boils down to trust…we have a moral hazzard
No trust in banks
No trust in Realtors…or their grocery clerk appraisers
ZERO trust in media
No trust in brokers
No trust in Moody’s, etc
No trust in govt to uphold the law: illegals, mortgage rules/liar loans, fraud in RE, etc
We have alot of reparations to make before this thing ever gets back to normal
I still trust in God…so the hell with the above…god helps those that help themselves (not sheeple/lemmings).
crush
–
“This all boils down to trust…we have a moral hazzard.”
Amen.
Sounds like my grandparents generation with the trust issue. Especially after the Depression.
“Pelikan was shocked to see the assessor, Associated Appraisal Consultants of Appleton, valued his 1,300-square-foot home at $193,000, up $84,000 from its assessed value in 1998 and up $82,000 from the price he paid for it in 2001.”
“‘It was outrageous, even at the prices real estate was going two or three years ago,’ Pelikan said.”
“Pelikan wasn’t the only one angry. Town clerk Andrea Peabody estimated a couple hundred residents showed up for the town’s open book session in November, and about 60 appeared before the town’s board of review a few weeks later.”
The beginnings of a good old fashioned early 1930’s tax-revolt…
This makes me sick. It interesting to see the discrepancies between what people brag to friends that their house is worth and what they whine about in the tax assessor’s office. You got what you wanted sheeple. Pay the piper. Stop your damn whining. The fact that you didnt know what you wanted is of no concern to me.
maybe they don’t want useless gov programs- my county has a dept of womens affairs and one for “aging”
seems folks got those items handled previously w/o gov programs
I’ll have my pitchfork in hand http://www.fcta.org
They are not arguing for less government waste. They are arguing that they should pay less taxes in relationship to their neighbors. More sick, twisted bs.
But they live in “The Big Appleton”. The dimwitted assessor probably confused it with Manhattan. Bwahaha.
In Maricopa County, AZ, the County Assessor sends you a nice letter telling you how much they’ve assessed your home for. You can contest it, but if you do, they add verbiage that says they can assess it even higher.
IMO it’s just another example of having to “Feed the Bulldog” aka federal, state, & local governments. Just think about all the new taxes that they’re going to have to generate to keep their budgets growing.
In AZ we now have “portable” photo radar that they can legally move anywhere they want all in the guise of making it safer for everyone.
My opinion is that it will help push more into foreclosure so I am in favor of it. Not because I’m a monster, but because I believe its in the nation’s best interest to be back at normal levels. If someone has to bear the burden, I am ok with it being those that over-leveraged, and those that supplied them with funny money.
The Gazette Extra from Wisconsin. “Darrell Pelikan knew his home value would go up in the town of Janesville’s reassessment this year. After all, the town hadn’t assessed the home in nine years. But he wasn’t expecting a 77 percent increase.”
The greedy local governments “Tax Bubble” strikes. Get ready for the BITE in “it’s different here” locals.
HELLooooo Wisconsin
Most municpalities have a real problem. Almost all state,city,county and town employees are unionized. They work under union contracts and are guaruanteed wages. Layoffs are possible, but only the newest and cheapest are layed off. Zero % raises are rare, almost unheard of. If wage deflation is on the horizen and tax revolts are a given, I see tremendous civil service unrest. Powerful munipal unions are political powerhouses i.e. teachers and police unions. Should be interesting, to say the least.
The posts that Ben put up a few days ago concerning the decline in Sales Tax Revenue really brought this home. Governments are built on growth even more than the regular economy. Like you said Government workers aren’t generally affected by salary freezes, cut benefits, reduced pensions or other cuts experienced by those paying their salaries.
IF, this is just a brief blip in the crazy way markets and the economy work, then we will all be fine. But if we are truly moving into a new reality, where others aren’t willing to finance our over-consumption….well Civil Unrest will only be the start of our problems.
I haven’t looked at our Country’s latest credit card statement, since our last credit limit increase…what was it 15 or 20 trillion? And who do we call for a credit line increase?
““About 70 mortgage brokers are no longer operating.”
That probably because they were nothing but shell corporations, with no real assets and whose only money was borrowed from others. They probably did not even own their own offices and equipment but rented them. All the money they made went out as salaries, bonuses and dividends to the owners, so when they could no longer borrow or sell off the loans they issued they simply folded since the corporation itself was really not worth anything and so it was no real lose to close it.
The smart owners and employees squirreled away their profits from the good years, the dumb ones invested it in Real Estate and are now upside down. The really smart ones have started new businesses involved in foreclosure to make money off all the bad loans they previously issued.
‘We make loans to people that can pay them back,’ said Brian Myres, head of Midwest operations for ING.”
Oh!
What implications is he making about the other bankers?
he’s ly ING
crush
“‘The oft-quoted economist has predicted that the country is 12 to 18 months away from a ‘normal’ housing market in which sales are growing and prices are stable or rising.
Still, Naroff bought a house two months ago. He says his decision made good economic sense to him despite what has been called the worst housing market since the Depression.”
(From the second Chicago Tribune article.)
Good luck with that, Joel. Did you decide that becoming a FB would give you more credibility with the media? That is probably correct. Geez.
So ING Direct comes out of this okay? I didn’t know they were a “local” bank, thought it was just an online entity. I park money there on and off..
“At some local banks — such as Bremer, Liberty Savings Bank and ING Direct — leaders said they haven’t been hit hard by the crisis because they did not make subprime loans. ‘We make loans to people that can pay them back,’ said Brian Myres, head of Midwest operations for ING.”
This is kind of silly.
If ING made loans to people who find themselves significantly underwater, they’ll be tempted to walk too, assuming it’s a non-recourse state. Why would you pay the mortgage on a house now worth 75-100k less and dropping, when you could walk, and buy a similar house for much less? This will eventually become clear to lots of folks who are not “subprime”. BOA’s Lewis has been fretting about this…saying his models never anticipated folks continuing to pay their credit cards while walking away from underwater houses.
But hey, we’re working from a new economic paradigm.
RE short sales
does the new BK law kick in here ?
how about the 1099 exclusion congress just passed- do you need certain income level etc ?
tia
“how about the 1099 exclusion congress just passed- do you need certain income level etc ?”
The proper name for that (now law) is “The Deadbeat Specuvestors Tax Relief Act of 2007″.
The wording of the law also excluded the very real income (that Hillary called “phantom income”) on forgiven debt from all other income determination. It could have at least kicked people into AMT, deduction phaseouts, etc.
So these Deadbeat Specuvestors are getting TWO gifts from the American Taxpayer–not having to pay taxes on pehaps 100K or more of income, and not being in the higher tax brackets/AMT/deduction phaseouts associated with it.
I feel, as a Taxpayer with zero debt (and a two 100% paid up properties), like I’ve been raped.
Now now, Sarah Miller.
The Gov’t will need to reverse course and make the forgiven debt taxable income to act as a deterrent from people walking away from their underwater homes in mass. Can’t wait for the public service announcement commercials on TV with some catchy jingle, “Mr. 1099 is mean, Mr. 1099 is green”.
“‘It’s like Christmastime out there for buyers,’ said John Pearson, an agent in St. Cloud.”
True. Ppl are drunk, pissed and saying stupid cht to me. Just like Christmas at my house.
OT alert
how about when the public works bonanza fades
iraq-katrina- and all the spendaholic jazz of recent years
Not judging any of it ,but the spending only stimulates for 3-4 years then - kerplop
“‘If you think there is blood in the streets, you want to be buying,’ said Vince Allegra, who in late November swooped in on a west suburban house that had languished on the market since spring.”
Hi my name is Vince, and I’m an EFF’d buyer.
HI VINCE
crush
If a few percent off on houses that double or tripled in price in the last 5 years is blood in the streets, how would this loser describe what we are in store for in 2008 and 2009?
Fools were buying on the way up, and fools are buying on the way down. How can anyone be so stupid? Doesn`t it bother them that they are going to loose money?
I’ll buy when Vince’s blood swells the red tide.
NICE…
BTW can you believe the next passage:
“‘I still think the market will get worse before it will get better,’ said Allegra, a money manager for high-net-worth clients. Still, he said he believed the market was near enough to a bottom to make a deal worthwhile.”
WTFO…what’s he going to do when his high net worth clients (BTW rich people aren’t that freaking stupid to trust this FB) read this article about how he “invests for the future,” knowing that he’s buying at 3-4x median nat avg (house price) on what was arguably of the biggest asset bubbles in history, knowingly, and just as it is getting SERIOUSLY started…
I take back my previous post…he’s not an FB, he’s quite possibly, the stupidest person we’ve seen here…BTW now I know how some of these CEOs we’ve been hearing about come to be…
crush
Money manager is vince’s 2nd career. His first career was being a realtwhore
Dummie that I am and because I am not a home owner (and will never be a home owner because I’ve looked behind the curtain and seen who’s pulling the levers) I never really thought about yet another government “hidden agenda”. Not a bad chess move on the governments part. Big, big property tax increases. Joe Sixpack gets screwed once again with yet another “hidden agenda.” Probably yet another reason we didn’t hear politicians stepping up to the plate and issusing stern warnings when the bubble was inflating waaaaay beyond common sense. Many years ago, I started to educate myself about moves local, state and federal governments made and looked for the “hidden agenda” behind the moves. About 30 years go, I mentioned to a close friend that I couldn’t believe the size of the fine I got for a simple traffic offence (a rolling stop). He laughed and said, “That’s not a fine. That’s a hidden tax. When they want more money and they know people will complain, they increase things like traffic fines or parking fines. They are just taxation without representation.”
Another reason to stay out of the property market.
Query: if higher taxes and negative appreciation cause millions to lose their homes and not be able to get back into the game, resulting in prices falling below historical norms, didnt they screw up? I would think they (meaning state and local governments), as well as realtors and brokers, would have been better off with 5% appreciation per year. Didnt they miss the bigger picture? I, think that the real culprits were those that profited from the wall street securitization trusts. Make 10 million a year for a few years and then retire. State and local governments were complacent as their revenue stream kicked up a few notches, but they certainly werent calling the shots. Wall Street and the feds ran this show, tossed in with a few secret handshakes from the bush administration.
There’s money to be made by the police force in ticketing those going over the speed limit and those not wearing their seat belts. I’m seeing more police cars with the speed gun on the side of busy streets in our city. Previously, the unwritten rule seemed like maximum limit to pull someone over used to be five over but I’m even more cautious now with staying within the limit bc money is tight everywhere.
That’s easy money to be made. It’s worse for those pulled over who do not know English and you’ve got a dishonest cop abusing his powers.
I’m not so sure Chicago cops are out there trying to raise revenue. That’s what red light cameras are for (Daley said so himself). Over the past few years, the Chicago Police have been spending a lot of effort trying to break up gangs and one of their tactics (again, city officials have stated this) is to respond to a gang-related shooting by blanketing strategic locations with cops and to pull over lots of people for the next week or two. For some odd reason, this has been very effective. If some sort of big mass murder doesn’t happen this weekend, Chicago will close the year with the fewest murders since 1965 and the 4th straight year under 500.
I live and work downtown and I see idiot drivers doing $$$ things in front of cops constantly. If they were really in revenue-collecting mode, I’d think the cops would be all over that.
I saw today that of the 2 categories of crime that went up in 2007 in Chicago, 1 was arson. Made me chuckle and think back to a couple months ago on the HBB.
Anybody hear from TXchick? You make it through the night? sorry about the measles…? That’s just un-fun…good luck, and speedy recovery…anti-HB style
crush
“Bruce Gurney was one of them. He went to the open book session to complain about his assessment rising 90 percent since it was built in 2000. His 1,092-square-foot home was assessed at $223,000. ‘That place was packed,’ he said of his trip to town hall. ‘I had to wait two hours.’”
“After the open book session, Associated Appraisal lowered the assessment to $188,000, Gurney said. The board of review declined to lower the assessment further.”
“Pelikan hired a private appraiser, Robert Kagel, who valued his home at $164,000. ‘There’s no way that I’m going to be able to sell this property at $193,000 or—anytime in the next few years—$177,000,’ Pelikan said.”
I have to agree with the owner - $223,000 assessment is way too high. Even $164,000 is too high, unless he’s on at least an acre, and nothing is selling for assessed value.
Median house price for 2006 in Janesville was $132,000. 30% of Rock County mortgages are considered subprime and Janesville is going through a lot of foreclosures.
“But that could reflect a correction in the market. Bonnie Moeller said it’s like the housing market was going 100 miles an hour, but now it’s going the speed limit. Moeller is the executive director of the Central Minnesota Builders Association.”
Mole, thank you for that…we are all, now, much more stupid for having been put through that senseless statement…
crush
You know what, I just realized…maybe she’s not stupid…maybe, she’s just trying to clear her conscience…any shrinks here…
Maybe, she’s saying, look:
Fact 1: Speeding is breaking the law
Fact 2. The housing market was speeding
Fact 3: Everyone in the housing market process was speeding/breaking the law (We all know the culuprits…banks/Realhos/appraisers/fraudsters, blah blah)
Now, we don’t speed, cuz, well everyone got caught, now we’re gonna be nice, and well, follow the law, cuz, well, we don’t want to lose our license(s)…oh, and can i maybe keep my job?
what would the freud dude say?
crush
“Bonnie Moeller said it’s like the housing market was going 100 miles an hour, but now it’s going the speed limit.”
Bonnie, I would liken the housing market to a late model Buick, sitting by the side of a desert road with the hood up, steam rising, doing 0 miles an hour. Next to it stainds a bloated, middle-aged, big-haired, golden sport coat wearing Realtor attempting to flag down anyone passing.
I drive on by…
much better image than what i had in mind…
Christmastime for buyers? WTF
I want a decent house for 2x my income. Maybe 3x if it’s in a good location, has a good floor plan, and a swimming pool.
And as for tax appraisals… the city should be forced to buy a house for a quarter mil if that’s the appraised value they put on it!
“Payonk said her company probably will pull back many incentives after the Super Bowl on Feb. 3, which is traditionally the start of the spring home selling season. She expects that other builders are similarly minded.”
Good luck with that.
there they go again…yeah, that’s it new NAR strategy (wait old), flog and scare the buyer…suzzane i resarched this, or, you’ll be priced out forever, or, hey when you wake up from that superbowl hangover it’ll be too late…yeah, how bout’ who will blink first, me, or your power bill?
crush-ed
I agree with Anon:11:47:14
I want a house for 2.5 x median income, 3 if it’s a great house with acre of land.
All this talk and emotional blabbering - WISE UP. Never believe phrases like ‘blood in the street’, ’snatching a deal’.
DO THE MATH. Prices are up in the stratosphere and they will fall so hard you will feel like a F*CKING IDIOT if you buy now.
That is one of my favorite comments that I’ve seen in a long time. Well said!
They LIED to me about my mortgage, and yes, oh sure, I went along with their lies so I could get a bigger and better home. But now, its George Bush’s fault!!! Everything that goes bad for me is his fault!
Waahhhhhh!
But it IS his fault, he’s the DECIDER, and he decided that this was an ownership society. Of course, he never mentioned who/whom the owners were….
Bankers and estate agents always say ‘now is a great time to buy’…it is all a load of baloney. Wait until the estate agents are broke, and then buy their houses off them…that will be the moment when the market is perfect for buyers…long way down yet….no sympathy for the liars who created the frenzy that caused the mess that exists now….if an estate agent becomes unemployed, it is good for consumers because one less liar is out of the market place, telling lies to the general public:)