The Societal Bent Toward Over-Leveraging In California
The Times Herald reports from California. “The median home price in Vallejo dropped about 21 percent in December over December 2006, said Solano Association of Realtors president Lori Collins. Benicia’s median home prices fell even more dramatically during that same period - slipping about 54 percent, she said.”
“But what is bad news for home sellers may be good news for the economy in general, said Collins and Alan Schwartzman of Benicia’s Advance Mortgage. ‘We are seeing more buyers out there, and they’re making offers,’ Collins said. ‘Maybe it’s a sign that they’re not going to continue waiting.’”
“But home prices will likely continue sliding south for a while longer, Schwartzman said. ‘The rate of decrease will slow, and the combination of (the tax incentives and new federal mortgage lending limits) will work synergistically to help many people nationwide to improve their financial situation,’ Schwartzman.”
“Though the housing crisis is unlikely to make an immediate reversal, the stimulus package ‘may, if not prevent a classically defined recession, may at least help support a very mild and short-lived recession,’ Schwartzman said.”
The Recordnet. “Thieves have been systematically stripping fixtures from one of the largest homes in the county since the residents left and security guards were pulled by its county landlords several months ago.”
“The sprawling, Mexican-style home - between 7,300 to 8,700 square feet, based on building permits - sits on almost five acres at a rural crossroads in the eastern section of San Joaquin County. It includes a large, custom-designed indoor pool filled with murky green water, three kitchens and seven bathrooms.”
“‘It’s sad that every time somebody drives by, they take a chunk of the house with them. To me, it’s just sad that there’s another house being screwed up,’ said Sherry Williamson, one of those neighbors.”
“She drives by the house several times a day and often sees unfamiliar trucks in the driveway. When her suspicions have been raised, she calls the Sheriff’s Office.”
“‘I’ve talked to everybody that would listen to me. You can’t get anybody to board these houses up,’ she said, referring to other abandoned homes in the area that are becoming an increasing problem as owners run into financial problems and just walk away.”
“Environmental Health’s Alan Biedermann has seen a sharp increase in problem homes that are damaged. Many are way beyond repair and must be demolished, he said.”
“‘Stealing is becoming way more common. We’ve got five properties in that area alone that we’re dealing with now,’ said Biedermann.”
“About every six months, he takes demolition contractors on a tour of abandoned homes so they can bid on deconstructing the property. Typically, five to 10 contractors are interested in the work. On last summer’s tour, they visited 17 homes.”
“Last week on his most recent tour Biedermann led 30 contractors through 32 homes slated for the wrecking ball. ‘It’s going to probably get worse before it gets better,’ he said.”
The Fresno Bee. “Fresno’s most vulnerable neighborhoods have been hit hardest by the mortgage crisis, a Bee analysis of housing data shows. Already there are signs that a torrent of foreclosures could trigger more crime and decay in the city’s struggling core.”
“Foreclosures rose rapidly in Fresno County in 2007, with lenders repossessing more than 1,500 properties — a 405% increase from the previous year, according to RealtyTrac.”
“Nearly every community is affected. In Selma, Clovis, Kerman and other cities, hundreds of families have been uprooted, leaving vacant homes in their wake. Many of the lost homes are in new subdivisions on the fringes of Clovis and Fresno, particularly in the southeast, west and northwest parts of Fresno.”
“The ‘real scary part’ of the failed mortgages is what will happen to the neighbors, said David Mendoza, executive director of the Community Housing Council of Fresno. ‘Long term, you’re looking at a domino effect,’ he said. ‘You have blighted homes. Then a loss of tax revenue … and after that, more crime — drug use, burglary … graffiti.’”
“Isaias Mendez lives in central Fresno, across the street from another foreclosure house where homeless people have slept. Mendez warns his three children to stay away from the house. ‘A lot of people sleep in there,’ he said. ‘They keep breaking windows at all hours of the night and making a lot of noise.’”
“Chen Zheng, who owns the house next door, is building a concrete wall to keep burglars out. He said his home was burglarized eight times last summer.”
“Bill Pfeif, who is trying to sell about 300 foreclosure homes in the Fresno area, said many of them had been neglected for at least eight months by the time he took over. Residents stop taking care of homes once they stop making payments.”
“He doesn’t dispute that run-down buildings hurt adjacent property values. Still, he criticized the city for enforcing property codes, saying it’s simply done to generate revenue for the city.”
“‘The only thing they’re doing is punishing the banks, which have already lost a ton of money,’ he said.”
“Gerardo Campos owns three rental properties in the area. Campos said he is interested in buying the house for investment purposes. ‘They want too much,’ he said. ‘They want $189,000, but I think it’s worth $100,000.’”
“Mendez bought his house two years ago after moving from Minnesota. He regrets the decision. He doesn’t know who will move into the vacant homes next door and across the street. He doesn’t want to wait around to find out.”
“‘If I rented, I’d leave,’ he said. ‘Now that I own, I have to stay.’”
The County Sun. “The mortgage crisis is affecting residents nationwide, but it may be most pressing in California, specifically the Inland Empire. On Saturday, some homeowners went to Ontario’s Loveland Community Church on Inland Empire Boulevard for answers.”
“Ontario Mayor Paul Leon said he was familiar with the situation that homeowners face. He shared a story about a friend who approached him four years ago and tried to get him to take out a loan.”
“The friend told Leon that he would be able to pay back the loan in four years, and that all the costs would be recouped in that time.”
“‘That was what people were being told by people they trusted,’ Leon told the audience. ‘This was my own friend. Well, let me tell you, right now I’d be moving out with nowhere to go.’”
The Voice of San Diego. “In the year since national spotlights became trained on problems affiliated with subprime mortgages, some pundits and analysts have made ’subprime’ synonymous with the entire crisis in the economy, the housing market and a lot of other, sometimes unrelated, issues.”
“But growth in late payments and foreclosures among other loans in San Diego County speaks to a problem that is far from contained to subprime, analysts caution.”
“Between November 2006 and November 2007, according to FirstAmerican Loan Performance…signs of distress increased among the other 87 percent of outstanding loans in the county, those prime loans restricted to borrowers with very good credit.”
“‘That’s the part we are all watching,’ said Mark Carrington, director of analytical sales and support at First American LoanPerformance. ‘The subprime, that’s to be expected. What we’re watching is the prime delinquencies beginning to increase.’”
“While just 0.44 percent of the prime loans outstanding in the county had late payments for at least 60 days in November 2006, the share of prime loans in that situation had tripled to 1.54 percent by November 2007.”
“Just 0.14 percent of prime loans were in foreclosure or bank-owned in November 2006. But by November 2007, that share had jumped to 0.57 percent.”
“To the extent that growing late payments and delinquencies on the prime side represent a greater problem than many in the region have acknowledged, the societal bent toward over-leveraging and burdensome debt aren’t restricted to any certain socioeconomic status, said Jim Bliesner, who fights foreclosure as the chairman of the City-County Reinvestment Task Force.”
“‘It’s about people’s over-extended financial situations, the heavy burden that comes with delinquent debt,’ he said. ‘And its escalation with those penalties that end up on people’s doorsteps. There’s a whole lot of trip wires out there in the economic landscape that when people are stable and growing, we don’t see.’”
“Joseph Galascione is president of ERA Metro Realty, which published a report last month observing a growth in the number of loans outstanding in North San Diego County that the firm would consider a high risk for foreclosure.”
“Interestingly enough, in this last report for the first time, the number of resets or potential foreclosures in North County outnumbered the South Bay, Galascione said. ‘(So far) South Bay has just been riddled with foreclosures and North County has been able to survive.’”
The Daily Pilot. “Pete Zehnder and Steve Jones want so badly to see the Westside redeveloped that they’d give housing away there for free. And for six months this year, they plan to do exactly that.”
“The owners of Bettershelter, a Costa Mesa developer that builds affordable housing, opened a condominium complex called 1.7 Ocean last summer on Bernard Street. Zehnder and Jones sold the first 10 units in the complex easily, but with the housing market dragging, they’ve come up with a special incentive to lure buyers to the last two.”
“The program, known as ‘Live Free,’ allows residents to move into the two-bedroom units and not pay a penny for the first six months.”
“The bungalows are priced at $519,000 each, the lowest price in the complex, but for that first half-year, the Bettershelter owners will foot the entire bill using the money they made off the previous 10 sales.”
“Overall, the owners hope to target first-time home buyers at 1.7 Ocean — and they want to take some of the stigma off the Westside, an area often associated through the years with crime and poverty.”
“‘Everyone reads so much negative press [about the housing market] that they’re scared to come out,’ Zehnder said. ‘They feel they should not be in the market at this time. We want to tell people it’s a very smart time to be in the market.’”
‘The sprawling, Mexican-style home - between 7,300 to 8,700 square feet, based on building permits…includes a large, custom-designed indoor pool filled with murky green water, three kitchens and seven bathrooms. Last week on his most recent tour Biedermann led 30 contractors through 32 homes slated for the wrecking ball.’
For those who used to ask if oilpatch subdivisions were really bulldozed in the 80’s, I think it is getting easier to understand.
In the mid-80s, one could buy a really nice property in the oil patch country of W. Colorado for 100k. I’m talking horse properties with nice custom homes. I know, cause I bought one and looked at tons of them. Exxon left the oil-shale business and the entire economy collapsed overnight, and I do mean collapsed.
Just FYI, my property was near Glenwood Springs, where comparable places are now selling for 700k+. I go back for a visit and one can almost see the houses levitating, floating in the air, they’re so bubbly. If I still owned one, I’d put tiedowns on it, like they do trailers in windy country. Everyone there pretends they’re a bit closer to Aspen than they really are.
I was part of the Parachute crew, but hadn’t bought a house there yet when they closed up shop. The government was the plug puller. They promised a subsidy and then pulled out. Exxon kissed goodbye to $400M they put up. What a lesson in naive extrapolation.
Homes being deconstructed. I really wish these nimrods would speak English. Let’s just call it what it is, demolished.
As for these homes getting the kiss from the demo ball, well, let’s just say another prophecy made by this blog that is fulfilled.
Say, speaking of prophecies, do any of you guys know where the next bubble is? I wanna get mine and get out before everyone else. Sarcasm off!
Next bubble: Alternative Energy. All ABOARD!
alt energy is as good a guess as any.
i’m thinking it’s possible we see uranium miners and wanna be miners (junior exploration companies w/out production) reignite in the next 24 months and make the last runup look like a molehill in comparison. but it’s pure speculation right now.
I think that you are onto something there, the old Uranium mining here in Colorado is starting up again. They are cleaning up a mine and doing more exploration as well.
It’s a stretch to call it a “prophesy” when we were all just stating that the law of gravity must eventually kick in.
Solar, ethanol, wind, biomass; Help me out here San Diego fans - hehehehehehe
Next Bubble: Funereal Services– High growth forecasts with guaranteed, captive market.
“‘The only thing they’re doing is punishing the banks, which have already lost a ton of money,’ he said.”
Oh, my golly, Ben. That is so sad. I wish you wouldn’t torment us with these grief-causing stories. Because this situation is, like, as sad as those pretty clowns painted on velvet pictures, with the tear trickling sadly down their sad cheek and you just want to cry and cry when you see it.
HAHAHAHAHA! Ooops. I guess not.
Poor bankers…especially the ones in New York City, who have driven up property prices in Manhattan to the point where nobody scoffs at $1300 per square foot…
Are you a soccer ball, by any chance?
That’s not an instance of ‘non sequitur’–I just re-watched ‘Cast Away’ on Saturday and cried my bum off, so the soccer ball is on my mind.
Well, okay, it is a non sequitur. But those bankers on NY do in fact suck.
ot, but i thought it was a volleyball….most modern soccer balls are pentagons and hexagons, like the buckminsterfullerines
Oh, gosh–maybe it was a volleyball. Sports is not my strong suite. In college I always just shouted encouragement for whoever team player was cute, and ignored those stupid colored and numbered shirt things everyone was wearing. I believe I started at least 4 good brawls that way.
My point is, though, that if Wilson is a VOLLEYBALL that that changes EVERYTHING!
They’re not making anymore Volleyballs - get one before they go up in price.
“‘That’s the part we are all watching,’ said Mark Carrington, director of analytical sales and support at First American LoanPerformance. ‘The subprime, that’s to be expected. What we’re watching is the prime delinquencies beginning to increase.’”
Many long-time posters on this blog have maintained unwavering predictions that the lending problems are not contained to subprime.
Simply stated, no matter how good a household’s credit history, it is entirely possible to grant them a loan at a sufficiently high multiple of their permanent income to make repayment highly unlikely.
Glad to hear that First American is keeping a watchful eye on this unfolding situation that many who post here have been predicting would play out all along.
Exactly. I was in San Diego this past wknd and picked up one of those “Dream Houses” magazines for the area…you know, the one with $12 million dollar estates, etc….there were so many mortgage company ads in the damn thing! And ALL of them were hyping ‘creative’ lending.
Speaking of creative Lending, I was wondering if anyone can tell me where the 2.5 - 3X Annual income for housing price came from?
I know it’s a time tested guidline for whether or not someone is likely to be able to repay a loan…..but WHY? How did they arrive at that figure?
Are there some stats somewhere I can point to to give people some hard evidence as to why the 3X annual income is a valid rule?
That seems to be a sticking point in a number of discussions I have had - people just don’t believe it - new paradigm, “it’s different here”, all that stinking horsesh1t.
I want to be able to point to a chart or something that says something like “in 1985, 70% of mortgages for amounts greater than 3X annual income defaulted” or something like that?
Any heal greatly appreciated - I’m trying to keep my brotherin CA from making a big mistake….
Thanks!
It’s called common sense affordability factors. IT’S WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD!! Do the f-n math. You don’t need no stinkin’ chart or historical evidence. I’ll tell you what, the next time someone questions it, ask them how they plan on affording anything more than 3x income.
This stuff isn’t linear. After a certain point, every extra dollar one makes can be applied to a mortgage payment. If I pay $5000 on food per year and then my salary goes up 10-fold, I don’t think my grocery bill will be $50,000. The more one makes, the more disposable income they have, which if they like, they can dispose of on a mortgage payment.
Here is a link to a scholary article that discusses the historical basis for the various income guidelines:
http://www.urbancentre.utoronto.ca/pdfs/researchassociates/Hulchanski_Concept-H-Affd_H.pdf
“A household is said to have a housing affordability problem, in most formulations of the term, when it pays more than a certain percentage of its income to
obtain adequate and appropriate housing.
The ‘affordability’ aspect of this formulation of the housing problem has its roots in 19th century studies of household budgets and in the commonly used turn-of-the-century
expression ‘one week’s pay for one month’s rent’. During this century a housing expenditure-to-income ratio began to be used by mortgage lenders and, in recent decades,
as part of the selection criteria by private sector landlords in North America . . . Through the decades the housing expenditure-to-income ‘rule of thumb’ deemed to be an appropriate indicator of ability to pay gradually
shifted upward.”
Oops - heal = help. But healing works too….
Hi,
Let me repost from the previous California post. I asked a similar question but with a different bent.
1. The rule of 3x income is cited, but also 28% of income. I just ran some calcs. Imagine a family with income of $100k. So, they should buy a $300k house according to 3x. Assume 20% down, so a $240k mortgage. The PI on a $240k 30yr mortgage at 7% is $1600. Insurance, lets say $50 per month. Property tax, let’s say $312 (1.25% California normal). Sum is $1959. That’s only 24% of $8333 which is $100k/12.
So, the 3x rule and the 28% rule are not necessarily compatible. 3x rule is even more conservative.
2. Let’s consider this $100k family again. Some promotions, stock options, etc and now they make $200k. But, not all expenses double accordingly. I know plenty of $150k+ guys who live beneath their means.
Let’s assume that the $100k family pays 30% of income in taxes. So they have $70k, out of which they spend $24K to buy this $300k home. That leaves $46k for other living.
Now they move to $200k. Still 30% for taxes (maybe more but it’s close enough.). Net is $140k. Minus $46k for other living, heck let’s splurge and make it $60k. That leaves $80k for PITI. $6667 per month.
A $1m home with 20% down gives a $5322 payment. Plus insurance, and $1k per month prop tax. This adds up to $6414, we even have some margin.
This is how someone can buy a house of 5x income, with PITI of 38% of income, without too much financial stress.
People who prefer to rent would obviously not do this. But someone who prefers to own could do so without committing financial suicide at 5x salary.
You have neglected important parts of the calculation.
The new Lexus
The increase in property taxes
the necessary trip to Hawaii, Indonesia or ?
The cost of education
the special assessment fees
It is financial suicide. A new roof, underinsured in accident, an injury on the job. where are the reserves?
There is one scenario where the numbers work. There are thousands of scenarios that cause failure.
Perhaps it’s financial suicide if you are undisciplined. SiO2’s post is well-taken — there are lot of fixed costs that do not increase when your salary doubles from 100K to 200K, which, for certain people, makes it acceptable and not financial suicide to use a higher multiple “rule of thumb”
Household making $200K/year is the exception (less than 2% of household in America).
Your scenario with my addition
1. $6414 per month (~$80K per year) leaving $60K
2. 2 lease cars $1000/mo leaving $48K
3. 2 kids in private school ($30K/year) leaving $18K left
4. don’t forget to save up for Harvard ($45K/year)
A DINK? why piss away your money on an overprice stucco box. A couple can vacation 2 to 3 months per year in luxury by renting.
Cinch
2 lease cars. totally unnecessary. we have two cars, sub $30k each, paid in cash. With care a car will last a long time.
Property tax. I included that in the calculation.
Private school. That’s part of why one buys the more expensive house, to avoid that expense.
Harvard - use some accounting tricks to keep income $200k are not the norm in USA. It’s not uncommon in Silicon Valley. Engineers with 10 years experience make $100k. Two of them married = $200k.
I am aware that the median household income in Santa Clara County is $80k. These people should not buy $1m homes. But, the fact that many people live on $80k income supports my analysis that a $200k income can support a $1m home. With discipline of course. I see this all the time. But obviously some $200k families cannot manage this.
PS, Hoz, you said:
It is financial suicide. A new roof, underinsured in accident, an injury on the job. where are the reserves?
A new roof is $20k. Not a big problem for a $200k family. I know this sounds elitist but I cannot think of a better way to put it.
An uninsured accident. Well that’s why people buy insurance. Same for injury on the job, there’s disability insurance. Also life insurance in case the primary earner dies. So I guess I should add these to the analysis.
anyhow thanks for the civil debate.
I do not think it is income. Or primeness.
Was chatting with one of the managers here at my company last week. He bought a new house in 2006 and had toruble selling his old. Eventually sold for less than he wanted, forcing him to refi the new house to an amount higher than he intended (less than 20% down).
He is saying that people just need to buckle down and pay… not walk away.
I ask, if the house next to yours sells for half what you owe… you could walk away, wait a few years, then buy an identicale house for half the monthly payment. Are you telling me you are going to keep paying double?
He hemmed and hawed and ended up at teh conclusion that the bank should be willing to let him drop the amount he owes to market rate without him haiving to walk away. Sort of a work-out/bankrupcty change that some politicians have been pushing.
In short, the answer was no. He would not keep paying 2x if they started going for that much less.
This is a guy with good income that can easily make the payments. At some point it becomes, I can pay, but why should I?
I forgot to spell out the point. It is all about how far upside down they are.
I personally think that if you cannot prove a major job loss or other major catastrophe (illness, death of spouse, etc.) bankruptcy should ALWAYS remain on your credit report.
Hey, if you rob a 7-11 and make away with as little as $100, that is going to follow you for life. Why should walking away from hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt be any different? You stole from someone else. Period.
Yea, but if you rob a 7-11, generally the clerk isn’t in on the deal. In the case of the housing bubble, the people that walk away and lied on their application should go to jail, and anyone who aided in the paperwork to enable the loan should go down too.
I’m not saying that the mortgage brokers should be held blameless. On the contrary they should go to jail, lose their license, be fined or all of the above IF it can be proven that they either lied or knew that the borrower was lying.
But anyone that walks away once, is just as likely to do it again if they crap out in their future property gambles, and lenders have every right to build that into their risk formula.
I have to call BS on this one. The moral standard should prevent someone from walking away. But we allow businesses to claim bankruptcy, and then “restructure”. Corporations are persons legally. Rent “The Corporation”. It is a fabulous DVD. My point is until we treat businesses the same as REAL people we should be happy that they (FB’s) are sticking it to the banks. They made it soooo easy to screw them over, it has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. I’ve read a lot of jealous statements about repossessing boob jobs, etc. and I am a little jealous that the $ came so easy to “them” and they were able to play so endlessly… until now- we are at the end. At least we are not dealing with losing our roof, family, credit, vehicles, self-respect (which they should have lost years ago). They are paying for it now, although the MSM is “symPATHETIC” it does nothing to help them.
My popcorn is still on the stove, we are just getting started! Got butter? They need the lubricant at this point in more ways than one…
I’m with you. The first raids on the pension funds did it for me… it’s been a YOYO seven years (You’re On Your Own). Me personally, I’m trying to pay mine off - only a job loss x 2 would prevent me from doing that. So far, so good.
Not sure where my first post went, but…
I personally think that if you cannot prove a major job loss or other major catastrophe (illness, death of spouse, etc.) bankruptcy should ALWAYS remain on your credit report.
Hey, if you rob a 7-11 and make away with as little as $100, that is going to follow you for life. Why should walking away from hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt be any different? You stole from someone else. Period.
Patience grasshopper.
In short, the answer was no. He would not keep paying 2x if they started going for that much less.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj-1b1Yvep8
Reality starts to sink in?
“Simply stated, no matter how good a household’s credit history, it is entirely possible to grant them a loan at a sufficiently high multiple of their permanent income to make repayment highly unlikely.”
I still believe there will be a very high rate of defaults for all types of loans issued in San Diego County during the few years surrounding the peak of the bubble, irrespective of the supposed credit-worthiness of the borrower at the time, because most borrowed more than they will be able to repay (too many multiples of income) and the unwillingness to repay debt on a significantly depreciating asset even if feasible.
I think there might be a couple of reasons why defaults for non-subprime loans have been less so far, but would like to see numbers:
1) Did non-subprime borrowers borrow fewer multiples of income than sub-prime borrowers (but still too many)?
2) Is better access to more credit for prime borrowers merely delaying their day of reckoning (ability to buy time until other sources of credit are also tapped out)?
I think the prime is delayed for a few reasons.
1) Better initial teaser rates. My sub-prime SIL got a loan that started at 8% and can jump to 12%. Why keep paying the mortgage when rent is so much less. She is walking before her reset is even here.
If prime got better initial teaser rates, they may still be in-line with rent. They may ride all the way to the initial reset.
2) Easier to refi. If thier teaser rate was ending, they had a better shot of refi-ing into another teaser rate. Sub-prime got cut off fall of 2006, but prime could still do 100% refi until August.
3) A lot of prime came in with larger down payments. It will take longer to get upside down.
4) If you are already sub-prime, you care less about the credit score hit. If you are prime, you will wait to be a little more upside down before walking.
It is coming.
There were a lot of prime folks that chose ARMS anyway because it was lower interest rates and cheaper payments during the teaser rate. Alot of them figured they had high FICOs and the market always goes up, so they would easily be able to refi later. And IMHO, they are the folks that will not just walk, but run when they are very upside down, even if they can make the payments.
Sorry, I don’t see it. I am a prime borrower that took out an ARM with a 4.375% teaser rate in 2004. While I hope to refi at some point (though I don’t need to anytime soon because the 1st adjustment will be negligible if the Fed keeps rates where they are), because my income has gone up by 60% since 2004, I will be able to afford the payments easily for the life of the loan (even at the lifetime cap of 9.375%). I really like our house and it suits us well, but more than that, even if we go upside down, I can’t see torpedoing our FICO to become a renter again with no hope of becoming a homeowner for a number of years after that. So, I just don’t see most prime borrowers walking away just because they become upside down.
Um, not all those prime people have incomes going up 60%. You’re really not a normal example.
Ah, but by are they crazy asserted that people would walk away even if they could afford the payments. Certainly, if people cannot afford the payments (which I think is significantly less likely to be the case with prime borrowers), they may walk away. But if people can afford the payments, I don’t see them enduring the hassles associated with moving, becoming a renter again, destroying credit scores, etc.
RE: What we’re watching is the prime delinquencies beginning to increase.’
Intro story with Charles Gibson on ABC News tonight was how the bank’s were jacking credit card rates to recover sagging revenue from other divisions.
Fookin’ fools…
How to save the collapsing consumber and throw gasoline on the fire of having people pay on their CC’s and walking from their mortgages.
No words can describe the utter contempt I have for the moneychangers.
hd,
Their business model is falling apart rapidly and they are desperate. Skinning their customers alive is the end of the game.
This just happened to a friend. I just got off the phone with him. His FICO score went down 1 point and they used this excuse to jack his rates up from 12 to 25%. Our discussion was about what he had to do to file BK. I imagine a lot of people are going to do this. I told him - GO AHEAD! Screw the banks. They made bad loans so now the CC customer pays? Nope. They are going to get screwed even more now. Just walk away. $25k should sting a little.
Those higher cc rates will help stop consumer spending cold. Consumer budgets are stretched thin, so thin that salaries seem to cover housing, transport, and food - but most purchases beyond that seem to require credit cards. So, while staples might not be affected the malls are going to suffer bigtime.
Pay them off. I had a Sears card for more than 20 years but I think Citibank bought their credit operation a few years ago (I think, could be BofA?).
Anyway, I asked them last year why my rate was 28%. Lots of discussion, they felt my CC balances were too high. But they were the only one I owed and it was like 10% of my credit limit. Car paid for, far above median income, high IRA balances, home worth 6-8 times what I owed on it. Not one credit blemish in more than 10 years. I told them either drop the rate or I’d close the card. After 20 years. They refused to drop the rate, I paid off the balance the next month, closed the card. So much for them.
Citibank runs Searscard now.
something tells me chronic cc users could care less if their rates went up, that won’t stop them, I doubt many even know what their APR is right now. If you were smart enough to know your rates, you would be smart enough not to buy overpriced junk on credit in the first place.
I’ll be honest - I don’t know the rate on most of my cards either. It doesn’t much matter since I pay them off every month. I choose my cards by the size of the kickback. Gotta love that cash back - it really adds up!
“Benicia’s median home prices fell even more dramatically during that same period - slipping about 54 percent, she said.”
So here’s my question: We said that prices had to fall about 50%, but is it safe to say now that prices will fall 50% in “prime” areas only, whereas outlying areas will fall more, like maybe 70%? I’ve heard that some areas in Stockton have already fallen 70%.
I was stunned by the Benicia stat, too. That is a very nice area. I am in San Diego, but try to visit Benecia’s shopping district every time I’m in the Bay Area. Very charming.
The Benicia numbers were skewed by Lennar bailing out of a apt>condo conversion deal (The Highlands) that they failed to get done in time. That is prior to reality setting in.
They auctioned off the last 45 of those units in November and many closed in December.
This naturally drug the median down substantially for the month given the small number of overall sales.
It also completely hosed anyone that had already purchased in the complex of course.
Benicia is the only town is Solano county that isn’t BADLY swirling the bowl AFAIK. Vallejo, Vacaville, Fairfield and Suisun are swimming in foreclosures and prices are dropping like a rock.
Prices will fall to zero in many areas. Lots of areas end up with zero value. See Detroit MI, Flint MI, Camden & Newark NJ, North Philly.
Tax burden and oversupply will make values negative.
Figure the IE will have a good bit of that. Edges of San Diego County. Basically all the desert areas.
Anything that is really far from employment centers.
So a drop of 100%.
Whatever.
i’m wondering if this is reflected in the case-shiller or is it really a reflection of the product mix that is clearing right now.
Well i dunno so much about the West Side of costa mesa, but i know the east side, 92627, median is down 40% from this time last year. according to OC Register numbers. Ouch…
Hey neighbor, 92626 here off Harbor / Adams
Who here read the Sunday funnies yesterday? The Bizarro World strip was really funny. It featured a young couple riding into the Tunnel of Love in a little boat thingie. Then it showed them coming out the other end, this time tugging the boat, which was piled high with 4 kids, a car, a bunch of furniture, and a house. There was a stick of dynamite strapped to the side of the house. Am I wrong to laugh at anxiety that is so pernicious as to sprout up even on the comics page?
I missed that one, V, but I too think that the comics are like a barometer of the times. A couple of years ago Cathy was out shopping for a house, and totally freaked out by prices. I remember that one because I was going through the same thing. Only, Cathy bought and I didn’t.
So we can expect episodes with Cathy being an upside down FB?
J6P is waking up and becoming skeptical of housing. It sucks to be a salesperson when J6P doubts your product. Alas, most J6P’s are still gung-ho for housing. So we have a long way to go… look at the January sales rates. Not exactly too hot.
Got popcorn?
Neil
It’s no surprise to see what’s going on in Fresno and the rest of the San Joaquin Valley and the best thing that could happen for the area is to let the market crash back down to levels that are supported by income.
It’s funny how the article concentrates on the poorer areas, but take a look on realtytrac and you’ll see pre-foreclosures, auctions, and bank-owned homes across the whole metro area.
supported by income.
A bit dated but here ya go:
September 6, 2006 — It was a disturbing study released last year showing Fresno with the nation’s highest concentration of poverty. At 43.5%, Fresno leads the nation in the percentage of poor residents living in areas of concentrated poverty. The national average is only 10.3%.
Does Tough Shed™ even have a payment plan?
Central California is Grapes of Wrath, revisited.
You can feel the bad juju building, just doing a drive by, of Fresno.
OT, but since this is the Cally thread:
http://www.coonsgallery.com
Beautiful stuff…
Every time i’m somewhere either barely in, or way in the backcountry, I see the same things that Ansel Adams saw, that John Muir wrote about, and Norman Clyde climbed to, and not a thing has changed, things remain the same, in a world bent on change.
Come into the mountains and get their glad tidings…
I’m planning on visiting my friend in Stockton for some wine tasting in Lodi or Napa should I pack a bullet proof vest and borrow a piece ? LoL?
“The program, known as ‘Live Free,’ allows residents to move into the two-bedroom units and not pay a penny for the first six months.”
“The bungalows are priced at $519,000 each.
Live Free? Come on guys what a load of crap! We have a local builder doing the same thing except they will pay your mortgage for 12 months. Trying to lure in some more suckers. I’m sure some fools will step up.
Methinks this is the slimiest was of selling a $100,000 condo for $470,000 adjusting for 6 months of free living that I’ve ever seen. And the reporter doesn’t even call them out, selling a 1 bathroom/1 garage unit for half a million freakin’ dollars in a bad area. Shameful
How many will live free 6 months, then live free another 6 months waiting for the sherif to show up.
Yep, half a million buck mini-homes for the middle class!
The problem is that the people that actually have the income to buy these mini-boxes are families earning $150K a year, and so the question is, and has always been, why would someone live in a toolbox, in a bad neighborhood, and in a imploding housing market if they make that much a year. I’d rather rent in Laguna or Dana Point with that income.
These people just don’t get it. The people that have to live in those neighborhoods are people that can afford to rent there, and nowhere else Geez, get the prices to $150,000 and up, and then you will get the people that rent there to buy there. If you make $150k, the last thing you want to worry about is crime and crappy areas of the OC. I agree that $150k is not what it used to be, but I know for a fact that you can live real well if you rent in a great area while still having plenty to save on a monthly basis, and be debt free. You would not catch me dead buying a $500k tinbox in a crappy neighborhood.
But how else are the nice builders supposed to make a profit after paying way too much for the land?
“The program, known as “Live Free,” allows residents to move into the two-bedroom units and not pay a penny for the first six months. The bungalows are priced at $519,000 each — the lowest price in the complex — but for that first half-year, the Bettershelter owners will foot the entire bill using the money they made off the previous 10 sales. If the customer prefers, Bettershelter can also use the money to drive interest rates down or put it in a rebate check.”
That is a scam! $519,000 for affordable bungaloo condos! In that area of CM ! U can walk a couple blocks west or south from that development and get into the CM apt immigrant ’slum zone’. Also that complex is right off busy harbor blvd and almost at end of 55 fwy exit, a busy crowded traffic zone. Imagine zip 92627 west side not CM’s best area , though it would be better than 90 % of LA . This WSide immigrant apt/trailer park district might be ragged by S OC standards but compared to much of LA or IE it fares OK (I,ve seen a lot worse).
$519,000 affordable? For a squat bungalo/condo in a questionable part of CM?
U can now get a 2/1 freestanding though small starter home , 800-1000 sq ft with 5500 sq ft lot, in still respectablely kept up Lakewood, LA county(just north of long beach) for $400,000, though it might be an REO fixer.
But live there rent free for 6 months and then default, and you get a total of 18 months free accomodation.
combination of (the tax incentives and new federal mortgage lending limits) will work synergistically to help many people nationwide to improve their financial situation,’ Schwartzman.”
‘Synergistically’… Oh jezz been to the old buzz word bucket, and a made up one at that.
Yeah. I thought “synergy” was deleted from the corporate jargon lexicon with the collapse of the dot-com bubble. I used to work in tech, and would hear it all the time: “Why did we buy this company?” “For the synergies.”
‘The rate of decrease will slow
ROTFLMAO
The charts show just the opposite. All of the western markets are conjoined and falling together due to all the flipping. Click on my name to see my latest article. This has only begun.
Got popcorn?
Neil
While munching on some pistachios and drinking a lienie’s, I realized that this esteemed gentlemen may be correct. As volume of transactions approaches zero “the rate of decrease slows”.
Hoz,
Ahhh… its a limit problem.
As Realtor ™ income goes to zero
d(Price)/d(time) goes to zero a time also goes to infinity.
Got popcorn?
Neil
I reached my limit. Now I shall have to introduce new friends.
http://www.thefunnystuff.net/viewmovie.php?id=657
Everyone reads so much negative press [about the housing market] that they’re scared to come out,’ Zehnder said. ‘They feel they should not be in the market at this time. We want to tell people it’s a very smart time to be in the market.’”
Can we say this clown is a falling knife pitcher?
falling knife pitcher
I’ll file that in my compendium of HBB witticisms…
Psychology changing?
Anecdotal. I was listening to the Ed Schultz show today and Ara Hovnanian was on. Shortly afterward, a single mother of 4 called to say she was barely hanging on to their home that she “had giving everything to own.”
She had been in the construction industry and was laid off. She was now in the engineering/architectural consulting field. Her final comment was along the lines of “once I sell this place, I’ll never, ever buy another house.” I believe she was in NV.
RE: Her final comment was along the lines of “once I sell this place, I’ll never, ever buy another house.
The new paradigm as a result of employment instablity caused by the globalism.
Instant mobility is now the new measure of wealth.
Those of us in South Florida can take solace that California is even more strange than here. $519,000 for an “affordable” bungalow, wow. And I would guess that 1.7 Ocean is nowhere near the ocean, just as places here in Florida called “marina” this or “bay” that are nowhere near any navigable water.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the complex were 1.7 miles from the nearest saltwater.
And the Westside of Costa Mesa is not, repeat not, the nicest place in the world, “Newport Beach adjacent” or not.
1.7 miles is still “beach front”, they are probably 5-10miles from the beach.
Westside CM isn’t that bad unless you’re scared of Mexicans, but generally there are some very decent parts of it. Granted, it’s not Eastside, but there are a lot worse ‘hoods in OC.
I’ve lived in both, and many other strange places. Take no solace, South Florida is vying for strangest place on earth. USA 1st prize every year is a given.
“Chen Zheng, who owns the house next door, is building a concrete wall to keep burglars out. He said his home was burglarized eight times last summer.”
Dude, 8 times in a couple of months? Better throw in an aligator infested moat, armed guards, and some razor wire.
And that was by his own kids!!
Even an eight foot block wall didn’t stop smash and grabs in Arizona.
ZAPPERS IN THE LINE!
Once every couple of weeks? Booby trap the place.
Place a job in the house. These people will avoid that house like the plague!
Ha ha. Staple job applications on the doors and windows.
“‘I’ve talked to everybody that would listen to me. You can’t get anybody to board these houses up,’ she said, referring to other abandoned homes in the area that are becoming an increasing problem as owners run into financial problems and just walk away.”
“Environmental Health’s Alan Biedermann has seen a sharp increase in problem homes that are damaged. Many are way beyond repair and must be demolished, he said.”
You gotta wonder if this isn’t one of the builder’s & bank’s main “strategies” for dealing with the massive oversupply problem: refuse to board up and maintain the abandoned REO houses, let crime and the elements take their natural course, then file homeowners insurance claims when they’re completely beyond repair.
Hmmmm… interesting.
Do boards really stop thieves?
Nope. Every property insurance policy requires the residence (or business) be ‘occupied’. If the property is ‘vacant and unoccupied’ for more than 30 days, the policy is voided. No coverage for fire, vandalism, water damage, etc…
“Chen Zheng, who owns the house next door, is building a concrete wall to keep burglars out. He said his home was burglarized eight times last summer.”
Great Wall Of Fresno
G*ddamn you Mongorians!
LOL. “Sweet n’ sour pork so hot and sticky, Mongorians stick righta to the wall and scream ‘Whoooo-oooo’.”
Wow, the news just gets better as the day ends. Once again things are starting to unravel faster.
O/T: Today at the grocery store I overheard a lady talking to another lady about getting a good deal on a foreclosure. She’d been renting and then surreptitiously found the bank was getting ready to take over the property and evict her. She bid on the property but the bid was not accepted. In the conversation I heard her say that she found a good deal for her on the web site: movoto.com. I went home and googled the site and viola was I surprised. As I said before early last year there were a lot of RE signs out and then most disappeared, as if the RE industry here in Salinas was conspiring to hide what was going on in the RE industry to keep pricing up. Well, just google the site and see how many listings appear for Salinas; suspicions confirmed.
>> Campos said he is interested in buying the house for investment purposes. ‘They want too much,’ he said. ‘They want $189,000, but I think it’s worth $100,000.’
I can top that. An 800sf house across the street from me (Lehigh Valley, PA) has been vacant for 3+ years and needs serious work– paint, carpentry, insulation. The owner says she’ll never rent it again because she had so many problems w/ the last tenant. She would be willing to sell it, but she thinks it’s worth at least $250,000. Highest offer so far? $50,000.
It’s becoming a real eye-sore.
A lot of newbie landlords are finding out that renting houses isn’t the road to riches after all.
She may be more motivated to sell if she was taxed as if it was worth $250k.
“Many of the lost homes are in new subdivisions on the fringes of Clovis and Fresno, particularly in the southeast, west and northwest parts of Fresno.”
These areas are as overbuilt, as anywhere else in California. A good percentage of the houses weren’t sold and the ones that were, probably weren’t, as it turns out.
The Great Era of Over-Leveraging!
circa 2008-2014
This is the great era of over leveraging collapse. August 2007 to ?
Agree. The over leveraging started in the 80s when Reagan decided that the way to a prosperous America was by flooding the economy with cheap money and making it easier to borrow large sums of money cheaply.
There were mini-busts, but those were dealt with through cheaper money and lowering lending standards.
August 07, the unwind began.
Reagan? We should not talk politics here, but your facts are biased and 100% wrong.
Volker was in charge of the money supply in the 80s (Carter’s man). His job was to kill inflation (20%) and cheap money was exactly the opposite of what he did.
I agree with Darrell about the start date.
Volker changed the Federal Reserve policy that allowed the formation of bubbles. The first casualty was the S&L crisis. Seen how much of your taxes are going to pay off the Resolution Trust?
“…The chartering of federally regulated S&Ls accelerated rapidly with the Garn - St Germain Depository Institutions Act of 1982, which was designed to make S&Ls more competitive and more solvent….”
Check your history again.
Now for the rest of the story: Donald Regan (Merrill Lynch) who was sec of treasury looked arround and saw that all the wealth was being made in real estate. He figured that if they killed real estate that the money would flow to the stock market. He got with Nancy to get Ronald to go along. Rostenkowski (Ways and means chairman), Matsui, and Thomas (ranking member) killed the goose by completely changing the depreciation rules, Not alowing passive losses to offset ordinary income. When the value of the depreciable assets dropped, the s&ls and banks would have to come up with more capital. When they couldn’t, the Feds took over and fire sold the assets. Voelker had only a small say.The party was killed and thats why we have passive/active rules in the tax code today.
The unwind began July 2005.
The Greatest Era of Over Leveraging Collapse.
2007-2014
“He doesn’t dispute that run-down buildings hurt adjacent property values. Still, he criticized the city for enforcing property codes, saying it’s simply done to generate revenue for the city.”
“‘The only thing they’re doing is punishing the banks, which have already lost a ton of money,’ he said.”
*SOB* Those poor b-b-b-banks!!
How horribly unfair of the city to do that to them! First, their wonderful new Affordability Products are “taken advantage of” by those “ruthless” borrowers. Then those nasty GSEs refused to buy their toxic MBS/CDO crap (though this is changing soon). Now, the cities want them to actually maintain REO properties so they don’t become crackhouses, homeless shelters and mosquito breeding grounds.
How HORRIBLE!! *Sob*. Those banksters might even have to give up a yacht or two if this trend continues.
California grocer Trader Joes raised the prices on 200 different items last week.
Big Deal?
I went to two Trader Joes today.
I bought $150.00 worth of nuts and dried fruit.
No Snacks.
I told my cashier I was getting ready for 300 days of food.
She said that the stores just raised the prices on 200 different items.
I used my ATM and I feel dirty.
A bird just flew in my house.
H crashed his head on the glass,
and flew out.
Just tighly grasp the latest BLS ‘core’ CPI report in your hands and repeat after me: “There is no inflation, there is no inflation, there is…”
Two things struck me, last time I was at Trader Joe’s…
Prices had increased, and food selection from overseas had decreased.
Hey Ouro, wish I could do that (buy in bulk, not crash into the glass) - no place to buy it. I always thought T. Joe’s was a Cally biz, but the coffee my friend sent from there says MA.
They’re all over. DC, Vegas. (Not boulder tho, which I find strange.)
JP. Colorado has some funny law about not selling wine in grocery stores.
It is weird though.
TJ’s does not ship.
Losty-
I was thinking about selling Trader Joes Gift bags.
Frugal Sue’s Emergency 300 Day Food Supply.
Nuts, Grains, Dried Fruits and some Crackers.
$600.00
Set it up so the advertising comes out just before the $600 rebates!
Let me see if I understand what our clowns in the government want me to do. They are going to send me $1200 to help stimulate the eCONomy ($300 x 4 of us). So, they want me to give up my paid for car. They want me to go down to our local WeSCREWU fancy car dealership. They want me to use the $1200 as a downpayment and then be saddled with some high car payment to get some shiny bucket of bolts for around $50K so I can be a knife catcher, but save WeSCREWU’s bottom line and some used car salesman’s job. Is that right? If so, I will pass, save the $1200 for children’s college fund, and keep driving my paid for car. It gets me around and I don’t care to impress the schlubs around this town.
mine’s going straight to student loans.
You get more $600 each adult and $300 each child unless you make too much.
http://promo.realestate.yahoo.com/americas-most-miserable-cities.html
Our favorite town of Stockton is near the top.
Sorry if this is already posted.
Six Major Banks to Unveil Plan to Halt Foreclosures
http://www.cnbc.com/id/23115224
‘a program to identify seriously delinquent borrowers and halt any foreclosure process while they try to work out a new payment scheme, sources familiar with the plan said’.
‘Payment scheme’… I love the use of the word scheme. That’s what they do best, until they don’t.
The threat of mass jingle mail is a great motivator.
Kamahousie?
Probably a “pay until you die” mortgage plan. You can pay us $1K, 1.5K, or 2k a month until you croak but you can never purchase it outright.
Keep them in their overpriced houses, paying as much as possible for as long as possible.
It won’t help. It will just give people longer time to live rent free between default and the sheriff showing up.
If they don’t foreclose, they don’t have to recognize the losses on the loans, which would raise capital requirement issues. The new “payment terms” will have no basis in reality and as long as the accounting firms and the FDIC (who will be told to acquiesce) go along, the banks can pretend all is well and hope that things will “turn around” in a few years.
I have a simple question for the banks – “Are the loan amounts on the properties you have loaned against in excess of the current market values?”. If so you should write down your mortgage portfolio to the current value of the properties (of course this will NEVER happen, but it should). This happens automatically in a foreclosure sale.
This is what they are afraid of – having to realize the losses on the bad loans – and why this has been proposed.
“A rolling loan gathers no loss.”
As more debtors go into default the lender need to adjust Allowance for Losses account. As that account increases the banks becomes more risky and as of a result the fed will demand higher reserves.
I’m wondering….if this is a “Sweet” deal in the end and since it targets FB’s that are 90 days or more late, it may trigger people that kept their payments in good standing to not pay in order to get the same sweet deal.
It’s going to get uglier….
I seems to me this will keep housing prices inflated for longer. It will lessen supply (not as many foreclosures coming on the market) and will keep people tied to depreciated houses that aren’t worth what their loan value is. How is this supposed to be good for anybody?
Reading these CA threads each night is pretty sobering - those declines are building tons of momentum in a very short time. Once those prices swamp each successive tier of FB the next tier up will threaten to bolt. The logical conclusion is that every single mortgage holder would, at some hypothetical point, need or demand a rework.
Can the system endure the reworking of every single existing mortgage loan? Ha! Plus the outright owners out there can help kill the comps if things get too out of hand.
I agree, were turning into Japan faster than it takes to cook Sushi.
Antitrust violation. Their effort to keep collateral overvalued. They should be sued for treble damages.
“We want to tell people it’s a very smart time to be in the market.”
At least they were honest and refused to say “[I]t is a very smart time to be in the market.” I “want to” tell ppl Im rich and decided to retire today, accompanied by my smart, model girlfriend with a great personality who loves me for me.
“Six Major Banks to Unveil Plan to Halt Foreclosures”
If this is true they haven’t learned a thing from the MSM articles digested by Ben today. All they can do is buy some time to protect their job. Credit debit outstanding is going to swamp the boat they are in by May. Just wait until CC defaults hit, auto’s have to be repo’d, and all those buy now pay later plans have to be written off the books at Home Depo, furniture companies, circuit city, best buys.
Hey, I just hear Kudlow having to admit ‘RECESSION’.
Those folks will be hounded by collectors with threats of lawsuits for a long time to come.
The 21% drop in Vallejo isn’t even close to the bottom yet the realtors are acting like this could be it because some sales are picking up.
The median list price was $369,000 as of February 1 and there were 1096 homes on the market with a market time of 128 days.
You can rent a house in Vallejo for around $1000 a month (in some cases) so the rent vs. own ratio is still too far off.
In 2005, 70% of the homes were purchased with ARMs (the majority were interest-only.)
In Vallejo, prices will go down to the low $200,000s (at least.)
Just watching larry Kudlow. He’s an ass. Interrupts anyone that discusses current data that points to a recession. I mean these guys can’t get a point across becuase Larry just won’t let them speak. He then shuts up when a analyst is bullish on the economy.
Why do I even watch CNBC.
Larry follows Chris Matthews’s interview methodology. They both like to hear themselves talk. Their guest is just a foil for them, and in their minds the guest has absolutely nothing important to say.
Their guest is just a foil for them, and in their minds the guest has absolutely nothing important to say.”
That’s like me! Except, of course, my office guests really are stupid.
test
Tomorrow at the Hudson Institute in Washington.
Check out the panel
The subprime mortgage crisis is now generating problems for highly-rated bond insurers, with potential costs to U.S. municipalities and other bond issuers. This panel will discuss the future roles of structured finance, the credit rating agencies, and bond insurers, in the mortgage markets and the financial system. What should regulators and legislators do, if anything?
Panelists:
James Chanos: Managing Partner, Kynikos Associates, L.P.
William Ackman: Managing Member, Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P.
Sean Egan: Founding Principal, Egan-Jones Ratings Co.
Ed Grebeck: CEO, Tempus Advisors
Joseph Mason: Professor, Drexel University
http://www.hudson.org/index.cfm?fuseacti….
Where’s Jimmy The Greek?
A list of some of the more notable “short sellers” of modern times. I wonder if they are meeting with the idea of setting up a massive muni short?
I have some questions about the “wrecking ball final solution”. First, who gets to decide that a house is too far gone for repair, and ready to be demolished. Second, who pays for the demolition? Third, after the house is gone, does the mortgage holder (probably a bank) have to write down the value of the house to the value of an empty lot?
Given the convoluted ownership of houses these days, the demolution option seems like it would be pretty complicated. Anyone have details on how it works?
There is a Trader Joe’s in Albuquerque also. One would never guess it was a CA company by visiting the store that is here.
“One would never guess it was a CA company…” Don’t understand what you mean.
Oh, what he means is that there’s isn’t someone greeting them at the door singing Koombayah. Man oh man, people sure have some bizarre ideas about California.
The funny ideas about CA are hilarious particularly when you consider few are native Californians.
You’re going to have to build houses from now on like the computer scientist’s house in the movie Demon Seed where windows have steel shutters that come down out of header pockets, if you want to so much as make a milk/bread run in the morning.
Or those post-apocalyptic plays where you park the beater in the run down garage up the block, trudge quietly into the tenement that inside is a mansion.
Don’t think I haven’t thought of Plan C: the house on hydraulic automotive lifts that disappears into a hole in the ground, with a carpet of sod that slides back over it.
Funny, but there are places in the world where this is the standard. Guatemala for one, but there are others. Every house on the street is just a door in a broken glass topped wall. They all look relatively the same. Some more peeling paint than others. The notion is that bandits from out of town will not know which houses have the wealth because nothing is comparable from the outside. One house could have half the block inside, or could be just two rooms. They make up for this with blandness with gorgeous courtyards in the middle of it all.
It might be a good idea to print these off and have them available in open houses along with the realtor’s hype sheet:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/11/hot-ingredient-of-the-mom_n_86042.html
“‘If I rented, I’d leave,’ he said. ‘Now that I own, I have to stay.’”
I see Fresno is back to the old Fresno I used to visit years ago from time to time. In fact, I’m guessing the whole Central Valley is.
The Trader Joes in Albuquerque has no reference to California in it. Wow, Uncle Shrub is sending me $1800 of made up money. I am not spending it the way they want. It will go to savings of some form.
The most moral thing you can do with that money is to give it to someone that the government thinks is “too rich” to deserve it.
“While just 0.44 percent of the prime loans outstanding in the county had late payments for at least 60 days in November 2006, the share of prime loans in that situation had tripled to 1.54 percent by November 2007.”
I remember people like Ben Stein and Steve Forbes reassuring us in mid 2007 that 98.5% of mortgages are paid on time: don’t worry, be happy.
Now, not even 98.5% of prime mortgages are paid on time.
ot: AIG I thought they were previously declared wonderful
GE next to get hit ?
“Though the housing crisis is unlikely to make an immediate reversal, the stimulus package ‘may, if not prevent a classically defined recession, may at least help support a very mild and short-lived recession,’ Schwartzman said.”
These guys give up just a little bit of ground every single week.
Darn.
ok, it’s kind of happening at my work.
?
huge IT project is being put on hold.
employees are asked to look around.
may not be a pinkie. but not a pretty scene.
In a way, our bosses are trying to move us to different projects with some success
kind of depressing to work or to concentrate.
started thinking about 4$ wraps or 7$ burgers and settling for wraps.
obviously the greedy and fraudsters to blame.
thank god, i m still a bay area renter.