Blinded By The Allure Of Appreciation In California
The Voice of San Diego reports from California. “Lela Mazzeo rested an arm on a doorframe in the first home she ever owned and sighed. The two-story house on a large lot in Casa de Oro has been listed for sale for three months. The Mazzeos haven’t lived in it since 2003, when they bought and moved into a home in Imperial Beach. They kept the Casa de Oro house, renting it at first to friends and then to long-term tenants.”
“The last tenants moved out in December 2006, leaving the Mazzeos to 11 months and at least $75,000 of cleanup and renovating before they deemed it sellable. But even when they had tenants, the rent the house garnered — $2,000 to $2,100 — fell far short of the nearly $4,000 the Mazzeos paid each month on its mortgage and upkeep.”
“And since listing it for sale in November for $575,000, they’ve dropped the bottom of the asking price range to $499,000, less than they owe. They bought this house in 2001 and have accumulated four more properties, including the house in La Mesa where they live now.”
“‘It’s just a matter of how many we lose before we get to a place where we’re sound financially,’ James Mazzeo said as he waited for his appointment with a lender rep at a foreclosure clinic. ‘It’s been like a really long rollercoaster — just down. Just falling, falling, falling.’”
“While the Mazzeos say they’re not in danger of losing the home they live in with their two toddlers, they’re not sure how long they can hold onto this home in Casa de Oro, the two homes they own in Imperial Beach, and the condo in Oceanside. They admit they were blinded by the allure of appreciation. They speak frankly about their part in signing up for loans that were quite contingent on the market boom.”
“Even though the $500,000-range asking price is more than $200,000 more than they paid for it in 2001, selling it for that much wouldn’t let them break even, because of the repairs they’ve made and because they owe about $500,000 on it.”
“‘I don’t want to rent it back out and have it be a huge struggle for three or four years and get it back in bad shape again,’ she said. ‘We don’t want to throw good money after bad. When do you make the decision to say we have to cut our losses? Whatever we’re going to do, we want to do it now so we can just start digging ourselves back out.’”
The LA Daily News. “Foreclosures more than tripled last month in the San Fernando Valley, with the subprime loan crisis creeping into higher-priced neighborhoods, a research center said Wednesday.”
“‘It’s basically people who took out mortgages where they used a partial-pay option and now they are getting (interest rate) resets and can’t afford the new price,’ said Daniel Blake, the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center at California State University, Northridge director.”
“Jim Link, executive VP of the Southland Regional Association of Realtors, said its records show January sales of previously owned houses and condominiums fell 40 percent last month to 751 units, and the median price dropped 28 percent to $465,000.”
“The Realtor numbers include transactions from Toluca Lake to Calabasas. ‘I hate to say it: It’s the same old story. Nobody is doing anything,’ Link said.”
The Antelope Valley Press. “Sheriff’s deputies on Wednesday ousted a family of alleged ’squatters’ from a house in the community. Property owner Michele Hill said a woman and seven children broke in, changed the locks and set up house in a residence she was trying to sell.”
“‘We’re in a mess over here,’ Hill said. ‘I’m just sick about it.’”
“The house, reportedly valued at $800,000, went on the market in November, she said. Further inspection revealed that the ‘For Sale’ sign had been taken down and meters for water, power and gas had been manually overridden, she said.”
“‘They took the whole lock off (including the real estate agent’s lock box) and replaced it with another lock,’ Hill said. ‘These people are pros at this. … We can’t even think of things like this, and these people (apparently) do it all the time.’”
“‘The last time this happened we had a lot of complaints,’ said Sgt. Steve Sylvies of the Lancaster Sheriff Station’s Community Appreciation Project team, referring to a real estate downturn in the 1990s.”
“Bob Schack, president of the Greater Antelope Valley Association of Realtors, said in homes without utilities, squatters can be especially destructive. ‘They don’t have water. The don’t have electricity, so they don’t have toilets, and you can imagine …,’ he said.”
The Fresno Bee. “The Fresno Association of Realtors sampled 350 of the more than 600 cases in which lenders obtained houses through foreclosure in the fourth quarter of 2007. In 51% of those cases, homeowners had refinanced their loans, sometimes multiple times, or borrowed up to $250,000 against their equity, or both.”
“The findings are significant because they show that many families used their house as an ATM, said Don Scordino, association president. The average family refinanced or took cash out twice before losing the house, the study found.”
“‘A new kind of currency was created’ during the boom years, Scordino said. ‘People spent a lot of money they didn’t earn.’”
“Higher-income households often used the extra money for vacations, cars and real estate, and lower-income families used it to stay afloat, sometimes trying to save the very house they were borrowing against, said David Mendoza, executive director of a nonprofit counseling service for home buyers.”
“‘The low-income are scrambling to keep the house. The moderate-income homeowners are refinancing, letting the house go into foreclosure and getting toys out of it,’ Mendoza said.”
“‘We’re a country of consumers,’ said Michael Gilmore, owner of The Mortgage Professionals, a brokerage in Fresno.”
The Contra Costa Times. “Jo Schliesman logged 30 years in the escrow business before the real estate slump took its toll. Laid off last January, the Brentwood resident found another post in June — only to have her entire office close in November.”
“‘I don’t know where everybody went, if they have jobs or not,’ she said. ‘There’s no severance, nothing. They come in, and it’s ‘Bye, see you.’”
“Now looking to switch careers, Schliesman finds most places she applies are overwhelmed with applicants. ‘I have been basically living on my 401(k),’ she said.”
“‘They were people who never saw this happening,’ said Dee Dee Rayfield, a life and job skills coach who runs Job Club in Contra Costa. By the time they arrived in Job Club, some were in danger of losing their homes and cars, Rayfield said. ‘Even though they needed money, they don’t want to start at the bottom; so it was a real challenge to keep their spirits up. They were looking at the jobs out there and saying, ‘I can’t live on this.’”
The San Francisco Chronicle. “More than 100 laid-off workers from the mortgage industry packed into a Pleasant Hill classroom on Wednesday to hear advice about finding new jobs. In many cases, that may mean switching to new professions.”
“‘You are all here because your jobs are no longer there,’ said Marian Woodward, one of half a dozen speakers offering tips and inspiration at the free workshop.”
“‘It’s a shock when it happens to you,’ said Debra Miles of Oakley, who worked as a mortgage customer relationship specialist. She was laid off two times in 2007 - first from Wells Fargo’s subprime lending division, then a few months later from a Concord firm that went out of business.”
“Despite the long hours and high stress, she misses the field, Miles said. Her career goals now are simple: a full-time position with benefits. ‘When you apply for a job, you find 400 other applicants,’ she said.”
“Tracey Brown-Carter, business and economic development coordinator for the Workforce Development Board of Contra Costa County, said that between 1,000 and 1,600 East Bay mortgage workers were axed in 2007, accounting for about 85 percent of local layoffs.”
“One big challenge faced by laid-off mortgage workers is salary cuts, Brown-Carter said. The workers had positions such as loan processor, closer, funder and pricing specialist, averaging about $25 an hour, she said. Loan officers, who received commissions, often pulled in six-figure salaries.”
“Making that kind of money is no longer feasible for many, she said. ‘They’re used to living a certain lifestyle, collecting a certain wage; now they have to make that shift to the income they can command,’ Brown-Carter said.”
“‘I saw a lot of young people get into the business because they heard there was money to be made there,’ said Peggy Green of Oakland, who was laid off in November from First California Mortgage of Petaluma, for which she conducted training seminars for mortgage brokers. Those people were there to make money at all costs. Unfortunately, some of them were the bad ones we hear so much about now.’”
“After 15 years in the industry, Green said, now she is leaning toward job hunting in a different area. ‘It’s so negative in the mortgage industry now,’ she said. ‘It’s like ‘who went out of business today?’ If I could stand on my feet that long, I would become a grocery store cashier.’”
The LA Times. “When Little Tokyo Lofts opened in downtown a few years ago, they were billed as the antidote to suburban living. Press materials lured buyers by promising luxury lofts in an about-to-be-gentrified ‘vibrant neighborhood’ — which just happened to be at the edge of skid row.”
“And buyers bought the condos, near the corner of 5th and San Pedro streets, hoping that the upscale amenities that had surfaced in other parts of town would follow them there.”
“So when residents of Little Tokyo Lofts noticed a few months ago that a tenant would be moving into the long-vacant, ground-floor retail space of their building, they got excited and started wondering who it would be. A new restaurant or coffee shop? A dry cleaner?”
“Then they learned that the space was to be filled by a mental health service provider.”
“The new neighbor has met with protests from some loft dwellers, who argue that their neighborhood has more than enough social services centers aimed at the homeless population and that what they need is more stores and eateries.”
“‘I know where we live,’ said resident Matthew Heller, who was the first person to buy a unit when the building went condo. ‘I know the homeless people, and some are friends with me. I understand the neighborhood I’m not saying not in my backyard. I am saying my backyard is already so full.’”
“Inside the six-story building, units that sell for $400,000 to $1.2 million each boast ceilings that are 12, sometimes 30 feet high, original steel casement windows and designer kitchens outfitted with stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops.”
“Outside, the street life reflects the neighborhoods that the building abuts. A green podlike toilet, installed for the use of homeless people who linger nearby, sits at the corner of 5th and San Pedro. A number of homeless service providers are on the block to the south, including the Union Rescue Mission.”
“Steve Lee, landlord of Little Tokyo Lofts’ retail space, wasn’t surprised by the residents’ reaction. ‘If I was living upstairs, maybe I wouldn’t like it myself,’ he said. But he noted that the residents ‘have chosen a very, very challenging place to live.’”
“Lee said that in the current economic environment, places where there are not a critical mass of housing, such as the area around Little Tokyo Lofts, would suffer because they do not have a built-in infrastructure to support the residents.”
“‘Hopefully, it will get better before it gets worse,’ Lee said. ‘But I don’t think it’s going to be pretty, particularly at this location.’”
The County Sun. “Those densely packed townhomes at the northwest edge of Victoria Gardens are a notch down from ‘urban.’ But if 30 more years turns Rancho Cucamonga into the urban magnet experts are predicting it’ll be, the neighborhood will fit right in with West L.A. and Long Beach.”
“24-Seven and Three-65 - two adjacent townhome/flat projects by Shea Homes - crowd Cultural Center Drive and offer a downtown Pasadena-type lifestyle without the busy street traffic and noise.”
“Much of the project is yet to be built. In a busted housing market, only time will tell how fast these multi-family dwellings sell out and how long the builder takes to finish the projects.”
“Phil Apodaca, his wife and child moved into a 1,740-square-foot townhome in the Three-65 community for $485,000 in November. ‘My fiancee (at the time) really liked how close it is to the mall,’ he said.”
“Of course, Apodaca has his own reasons too. ‘The fact that you can walk to the restaurants, get drunk and not worry about getting a DUI,’ he said, chuckling. ‘I’m going over to (Victoria Gardens) more often than I would if I hadn’t bought here.’”
“You’ll find BMWs, Cadillac Escalades, and Mustangs parked on the street next to outside patios filled with brand new furniture.”
“Apodaca isn’t sure where his neighbors are from. ‘If they’re from L.A. and Orange County, but they can’t afford those prices, then this is the closest thing,’ he said. ‘I’ll probably live here two years and then use it as a rental property. If I get some good renters, I’ll keep it.’”
“Mike Diaz, senior planner with the city, said Shea Homes isn’t building the rest of the townhomes as fast as originally anticipated. ‘It seems to me they’ve slowed up a little bit,’ he said.”
“Apodaca said he knew his home’s value would only go south, given a bum housing market. Talk about a major drop. Shea Homes is now selling his same floorplan for about $415,000 - a 15 percent plunge for him.”
“With the market for homes sagging, prices might drop even more. Nineteen foreclosures lie within a half-mile radius of 24-Seven and Three-65 townhomes - but outside the townhome project - according to RealtyTrac.”
“Besides those houses, another five are up for auction, and 23 neighbors are defaulting on their mortgage payments.”
“‘I knew it would drop, but I didn’t know it’d drop that much, especially when the sales manager said they wouldn’t lower the prices,’ Apodaca said.”
“We don’t want to throw good money after bad. When do you make the decision to say we have to cut our losses?”
You will soon have plenty of company with this $64K (actually more $$) question.
“We don’t want to throw good money after bad. When do you make the decision to say we have to cut our losses?”
When they first asked themselves that question, was the answer to the question.
This is a classic case of throwing good money to bad area during the mania. I simply can’t get over the stupidity of people who think that they can live among the homeless in loft costing more than one million while out on the street there are homeless people. just crazy.
The LA Times. “When Little Tokyo Lofts opened in downtown a few years ago, they were billed as the antidote to suburban living. Press materials lured buyers by promising luxury lofts in an about-to-be-gentrified ‘vibrant neighborhood’ — which just happened to be at the edge of skid row.”
http://grandavenuecommittee.com/overview.html
Eli Broad of Kaufman & Broad (KB Homes)
Co-Chairman Grand Ave Project -Downtown Los Angeles
I assume they have broken ground on this nightmare. Anyone care to update us? Sometimes the website isn’t current.
You can put lipstick on a pig…
This is like:
“…If you build it, they will come!….”
It’s important to remember, however, that “A Field of Dreams” was just a movie.
Hm. “A vibrant new regional center.” I’ve been checking out some of the “vibrant” neighborhoods in my own sector, and I’ve apparently been using that word wrong all my life. “Vibrant” actually means “inhabited by a surplus of upended shopping carts, abandoned cardboard box huts, and people who spend the day asleep on the sidewalk and the night screaming at the sky.”
I went to see some LA lofts only because the prices were “low” (high 300s to low 500s) and the property taxes were less due to its being a historical building. The lofts themselves were teeny tiny concrete boxes, ugly ugly ugly, and the parking spaces they came with were a few blocks off-site–this in a rather scary neighborhood. Also, the HOAs were over $500. I realized then and there I would never ever live in a downtown loft, even if they were giving them away.
“‘The last time this happened we had a lot of complaints,’ said Sgt. Steve Sylvies of the Lancaster Sheriff Station’s Community Appreciation Project team, referring to a real estate downturn in the 1990s.”
_________________________________________
Deja Vu
..all over again!”
Yogi Bera
would that be treja vu?
“Sheriff’s deputies on Wednesday ousted a family of alleged ’squatters’ from a house in the community. Property owner Michele Hill said a woman and seven children broke in, changed the locks and set up house in a residence she was trying to sell.”
So, shouldn’t they be arresting these folks instead of sending them on to vandalize another property?
It’s not against the law…it’s called homesteading. Actually the lady with the seven kids is pretty smart. With the way the mortgages are sliced up it’s pretty much a sure thing that something is going to fall through the cracks.
why is it not breaking and entering?
I don’t recall all the nuances, or what needs to be done to make it a legal takeover but if it’s vacant at most what the lady did was trespass… Like I said I don’t recall all the nuances nor am I a lawyer but if I recall correctly, if you pay a certain amount of years in taxes and/or occupy the property for a certain amount of time you can petition the court for ownership. In all my years in real estate I may have met 5 people who claimed they have acquired real estate this way. Usually some deep in the “hood” shack or some land-locked rural piece of property. It’s not a technique for the meek…
I believe it falls under Eminent Domain and the time-frame is 7 years. Some neighbors back home used to use a strip of property adjacent to their home for a driveway. It was about 20 feet wide and 150 feet long. They did this for 30 years or so. Guess what? They now own that strip of land. They petitioned for legal ownership and got it. This is what scares me about owning land in a far off place.
Different animal, Lookup adverse possesion. The trick is to identify the property just before it goes to auction. Then all one needs to do is pay the back taxes and make beneficial use of the property. Downside? The owner of record can come along and evict you and take back the property and VIOLA, the back taxes are paid off, by you!
Actually, it’s adverse possession (eminent domain is when the government takes private property for a public use). The rules for it vary by state. In California, it takes five years and the person has to take open, hostile possession (hostile in the sense that they try to keep others off the property - not hostile in the sense of violence) and pay property taxes on the property during that time. Then they have to petition the court for ownership (and basically prove they met the elements). In some states, paying property taxes is not required, so adverse possession is a lot easier.
You can only take by adverse possession if you act “under color of right.” In other words, you have to have a reasonable belief that you actually own the land. Adverse possession comes up when adjacent property owners have mistaken beliefs about the property line. If one of the owners makes use of the adjoining property for a certain number of years, believing that it’s his, that owner gets good title even though a survey would show it wasn’t his land.
Squatters who simply seize property that clearly isn’t theirs, and can have no reasonable belief that they own it, never get good title. There’s no such thing as “squatters rights.”
So in summary:
1. If you are breaking and entering but stay a long time, it’s trespassing.
2. If you pay taxes while trespassing, it’s adverse possession.
I am a scientist by training. Legal stuff hurts my head and causes me to drink.
Overriding the meters is a prosecutable offense, theft of services.
She had a lease. It doesn’t actually matter if it’s phony or not. The owner would be forced to evict her. I actually think this lady may have grounds for civil action against both the owner and the sheriff.
What would stop an unscrupulous landlord from using this tactic to evict without notice, etc.? That’s why the process of eviction exists in the first place. For all we know this lady has been paying “rent” to some scammer. It happened last time down, it will certainly happen again.
I need to amend my statement above. Wifey just informed me that this squatter is an ex-con who was in violation of her parole. That’s why she got hauled off to jail.
I stand by my previous statement about needing to evict squatters though. These FBs just got lucky in that it was someone eminently arrestable who was their squatter.
Exactly. I thougt it was a bit unfair for everyone to assume that the lady was guilty. Anyone can write up a fake lease and take off with the cash. What I want to know is, if she has 7 kids, where’s the dad? I always wonder that when I read stories like this.
“where’s the dad?”
bawahahahaha, dad? I think you need to use the plural form of that word.
Okay, I will use the plural form of that word. Where are the dads?
Prison.
You had to ask, didn’t you?
Hoosier Daddy x 7
“Kids, now what do you say when you meet a strange man?”
“Are you my daddy?”
C’mon, that’s unrealistic. We have to keep that jail space open for people who smoke medicinal marijuana.
Indeed. Plus it’s a lot easier to catch the sick and dying medical marijuana patients who are often in wheelchairs and using walkers.
And once at the police station, lets hope they get dumped out of their chair to be sure they are really wheelchair bound.
I dunno. I used to live next door to some punk drug dealer kids, and they all had medical marijuana cards. You only have to be at least 14, I think, and you have to say that either have anxiety or insomnia. You probably also have to tip the doctor.
In all fairness — there is probably some overlap here. In fact, I’m willing to go out on a limb and say that squatters in most of these abandoned homes frequently use medicinal substances.
I’m going to beg to differ with you on this one. Too much work and conniving for a stoner.
No doubt, dude (insert sound of bong).
Blano,
Also insert sound of someone inhaling.
Governator: Not anymore……no room at the in…..hahahaha
The lady w/seven kids prolly gets enough gubment money she could buy the darn house if she wasn`t so busy spitting out kids and smoking crack.
Lane
Climber
This is California, tenants have all kinds of rights, even ones you didn’t rent too. Let me tell you a true story here. My parents have a small rental house. My parents have never been the greatest about being business like about their rental. Anyway, my Mom was all flustered because it had been maybe a week and she hadn’t rented the house yet. So this thing comes along and waves a bunch of cash in my Moms face and so she rents it the house. No backround check, no application nothing and my Mom knew better than that.
Dad: “Well, your Mom rented the house”
Me: OMG, she didn’t rent it to that red-headed thing!
Dad: Shut up!
I think the cash Mom got that day was it. I don’t think they paid a dime after that. They sold drugs and ran illegals out of the house. Police would do nothing. It took over 8 months and a lawyer to get rid of them. Have you ever seen the inside of a drop house? Not a pretty sight. There was 3 ft high pile of toilet paper next to the toliet. eeew
These kinds of people know exactly how to work the law. Do you know if the tenant hasn’t given you the keys back you have no right to possession of your own property even when they have already moved? Oh and you have to store all the garbage they leave behind.
“‘I knew it would drop, but I didn’t know it’d drop that much, especially when the sales manager said they wouldn’t lower the prices,’ Apodaca said.”
Well golly Gomer!…….these idiots deserve every bit of what they’re about to experience.
Well golly Gomer!…….these idiots deserve every bit of what they’re about to experience.
That’s true, but we mindful ones will still be the ones who will experience far worse.
In the past year, withdrawing my paycheck from my business’ account in cash gets harder and harder. In 2006, I could withdraw $8000 without a blink of an eye — usually a teller manager would just tap her access code in, and 5 minutes later I was out the door.
Then comes 2007, when $6000 needed a signature from the teller manager. Walk out in 10 minutes.
In later 2007, that number dropped to $4000 requiring a signature from the teller manager. Walk out in 10 minutes.
This week, I withdrew $3000 in cash, and the GM had to sign it — 25 minutes. This is at one of the largest banks in the Midwest (Chase). For a measly $3000. I keep asking for $500 bills (as a joke), and I think someday they may happen again.
I went to Citibank last month to pay off a balance I had charged the week before, about $12,000. I brought a CASHIER’S CHECK, and they needed two forms of ID and a manager’s approval. For a cashier’s check from Chase. To make a payment on a credit card. I couldn’t believe it.
Money is getting tight. I have friends who make 6 figures getting CLDs from Amex and Chase CCs. My friend with the Centurion black Amex was declined on a $50,000 purchase that he makes practically every month. Reason for decline? None. His business pulls in $60m annually, and they declined him for NO reason.
These idiots short selling and walking away are putting tons of pressure on the banks who have all these funny money multipliered loans out there.
I’m a gold guy. I have enough gold right now to last 10+ years without concern. If it drops in value, I’m still fine for half a decade. Yet I’ve been hoarding cash (dollars and euros mostly) like crazy, because the money multiplier effect destroys my money if I put it in ANY bank account. The banks just take it, and create credit that makes my dollars weak.
I purchased a new domain name today ( saverstrike.com — no site yet) to promote the idea of truly going on a hoarding spree. I can afford to hoard $50k, maybe $100k this year. I have friends who can do the same. If I could find just 10 people to hoard $20k outside of the banking industry, that’s $200k in hoarding, but it reduces the bank’s funny money by close to $2m (not quite that, but you get the point). That’s just 10 people.
Imaging if we get 10,000 people to do it. $2b ain’t chump change to remove from the banking industry’s greedy mitts. I’m a capitalist (of the anarcho- variety), but our market and banking industry is nowhere near capitalism. Mercantilism, yes.
It’s time for us savers to do the right thing: save, but not in a form the banks can use and abuse. People scream to me that hoarding means I am losing money due to monetary inflation; what they don’t see is that the act of putting money into ANY system (stocks, bonds, savings, CDs, money markets, etc) means you’re placing your money into the “trusted hands” of bankers who will find ways to multiply that money, and it’s value, down the toilet.
We need to remove their power by removing their reserves. Immediately. Get a paycheck? Cash it. Shove it into a fireproof safe behind your bookshelf. Buy euros and store those if you like. Every dollar, euro, yen or rupee you hoard can be up to 10 of those you keep out of the mercantilists’ hands.
Forget about losing value to inflation, because you’re extricating yourself from that mess. It is OUR money that is to “blame” for what the banks, and the Feds, do. If I use my own example and extrapolate, there are 1m savers in the country who truly understand saving. If we each took out $20k from the system, we’d win. $200b withdrawn from the bankers would show them who is boss, once and for all.
Join me.
Uhh….. huh?
Yeah… I second that. All I can figure out from this is AB’s saying that the economic multiplier effect that is at the underpinning of modern society needs to die because someone is taking disproportionate advantage of it. Or something. Collect shells guys so you can use them to buy fish when the bell rings in the morning. It will be the only buying opportunity of the day.
That actually makes sense. The only way we all don’t slave away solely for the profit of the bankers. Screw them. After being put into a bunch of ARS by a lying sack of s**t at BoA, I think burying it in the back yard is about the only option left.
Are you in S. IN? I’m trying to remember…
Are you in S. IN? I’m trying to remember…
A.B. Dada–and by the way, I agree with you. I think some day small town banks run by and for small towns will operate again. Until that happens I’m holding on to my own…
Back in the small town in Maine where I went to high school, there’s a small town bank.
Last time I visited (this past summer), about half the businesses that used to be in town were closed, things were generally looking pretty run-down, and a lot of people were having financial trouble - more than the usual in a grungy little town.
The bank? Now owns 5 buildings, 3 of which it built recently, and is now the largest (non-seasonal) employer in the town, maybe the whole county.
You can see clearly where all the money went.
I’m in Illinois, and I don’t hoard my money at home
As for the small city banks, no thanks. They’re all fraudsters, unless they have a 100% reserve ratio on demand deposits (none do).
I don’t need banks, I’ve realized in recent years. If anything, I use banks less and less. For the past 3 years, I’ve used my CC’s for the rewards points, which I have recently realized cost me more than they’re worth. I now barter with many local businesses (sometimes for cash, a few restaurants and convenience stores will take silver coins, and a bunch of other shops accept IOUs for services from my business). I even haggled a cash discount at Best Buy of all places, even though they’re corporate and national. I also haggled a cash discount at a large national grocery store (the manager laughed and said even HE prefers cash over credit).
Cash isn’t necessarily king, but it is a great way to stick it to the system. The more cash we truly withdraw from the system, the harder it is for the system. Remember, there are many supplies of money: M1, M2, M3, etc. Real cash is a TINY percentage of the overall supply of money, the rest being digital “on-paper” cash that is easily created out of the money multiplier effect (wiki that term).
If you go to this site, you see that M1 (”cash”) has not grown at all, but M2 and M3 have skyrocketed. That means on-paper “digital” money is growing like crazy, whereas cash isn’t. The Fed isn’t printing dollars, it is digitally creating them, along with the banks and their money multiplier fraud scheme.
By withdrawing cash, and hoarding it (not actively buying or investing with it), you’re hampering the banks’ ability to defraud the average citizen. $1 withdrawn kicks the banks in the gonads for $8-$10, maybe even more (no one knows the actual 2008 reserve ratio, it seems). So you take $1 out of the economy, the bank loses $10, that’s $11 GONE. You won’t see price inflation if we fight monetary inflation by removing the reserve currency, cash.
Yes, I love gold. I love silver. Yet I also love paper currency, hoarded, because it REALLY screws the banks and the politicians. The more we withdraw our savings and investments (especially investments!), the harder it is for them to create out of nothing, thereby devaluing that hoarded cash.
AB Dada, I think you mistake tighter banking regulations for something else. The PATRIOT Act hit banking in a big way. Anything over $3,000 in cash is considered a large cash transaction. If you deposit over $10,000 in cash you flag a SAR (suspicious activity report). What you are doing is probably flagging every automatic AML (anti-money laundering) program the bank has running. This is not something sinister at play, unless you consider tighter banking regulations as something sinister. You can trust me that the bank wishes they could go back to the old days when cashing your $8,000 check was no big deal.
Keep the withdrawal receipt. Otherwise, Cops will steal it under drug forfeiture/confiscation laws (aka as “my gun trumps your constitutional rights” law).
Why do you need to make such huge routine withdrawals of cash?
Bravo, I’ve got 10K on ice already, I’ll go get another 10K over the next week.
In this corner, at several millions of net worth, we have several individuals hoarding paper money.
And in this corner, we have the government and the fed with the ability to print money.
Place your bets gentlemen. And ladies too.
“we have several individuals hoarding paper money.”
I’m in that crowd and feel dirty when I spend my hoard.
Three months ago I bought anything I wanted, and now I’m budgeting!
Today was bad in the panic department. My broker assured me nobody will take my treasuries away. Instead of irrational exuberance it’s irrational panic.
And in this corner, we have the government and the fed with the ability to print money.
No, the government does NOT have the ability to print money easily. They can digitally create it on paper, but to physicall print new money happens very rarely.
First, the M1 money supply figure has been growing at a rate of 0% fairly recently, as shown by this chart. From 2005 to today, M1 has stayed the same, or even shrunk a little. In M1 terms, we’re experiencing monetary deflation since 2005. M1 is also a surprisingly small figure, hovering between $1T and $1.5T. Divided by US residents, you’re talking about a measly $4500 per capita, total. 300m residents x $4500 = M1 money supply. For 1% of the citizens to hold ALL currency, you’d need a whopping 3m people holding $450,000. Not possible. But a small percentage of people can make a BIG effect on monetary policy, even a number as small as 30,000 holding a small value such as $50,000 ($1.5 billion). Because of the money multiplier effect reduction of this, you’re talking about hitting banks and investment houses for nearly $15 billion in lost liquidity. Not a small figure of money, but a small figure of people. And 30,000 people is a number far fewer than much larger conspiracy theories are supported by, so I think it is doable. Imagine if 200,000 sickened Americans withdrew their savings, 401Ks, CDs, money markets, and investments? We’re talking deflation to the point of hardship for those who helped abuse those who support them.
I’m not looking to damage common citizens, just looking to see how the banks handle having the curtain pulled back a little. Every dollar you hoard is $10 the banks can’t profit from. I think it is a worthwhile cause — one that would teach average Americans that money is most valuable in your own paws, to be saved (hoarded), spent, or cycled through the economy as you see fit.
So in summary: You think that people hoarding money are going to have the upper hand over the government printing presses.
That’s one answer. There is another, of course.
I have one of my usual irrational questions. So, you are hording greenbacks. Fine, it’s a market, you are choosing to participate in the market by forgoing ongoing interest on your holdings. Your choice. Money (paper, shells, giant stone donuts, what you will) is a social construct. It has no inherent value. In fact its value depends on the existence of the banking structure you are working to bring down. By hording, you have, in essence traded your hours of labor for slips of funny smelling paper…which you proceed to bury under a loose block in the basement. If I print you some pretty slips of paper, will you come do some work around my yard?
This was actually part of the problem with the post bubble economy in Japan. The BoJ’s zero interest rate policy meant that banks were hardly paying any interest on savings accounts (0.0whatever was the probably high) so people figured they might as well keep their money in their wardrobes (tansu, thus the term tansu-yokin, or wardrobe account). They weren’t doing it out of some desire to get back at banks or something, just out of convenience. The train fare to the bank would probably cost more than like a months worth of interest for most households. Had an equally deleterious effect on the economy, of course. Look for this to happen here.
I think the best thing would be for us “savers” to simply take the next year off. Don’t pay taxes (by not working) and spend very little next year. Buy no new durable goods, etc.
Here here reuven!
That is an excellent idea. Why stop at durable goods? How about a barter strike where we don’t buy anything new, just trade the excess stuff.
I have another idea. I’ll make my money in the U.S. and spend it only overseas, preferably at a Duty Free store. Okay, I’m likin’ that idea even more.
Dear AB Daba:
I’d like to join you. Please tell me the address where you hoard your money so I can meet you there and fill out the membership application.
Thanks,
Big V
V thats funny. Got fives?
you guys do have to be kidding right? - I just imagine earthquake/fire/that Big V guy walking off with it all???
Hi A. B. Dada,
With ya all the way - with a couple of variables.
Fertile land, potable water, cigarrettes, dried beans, brown rice, solar panels, a goat or two, et caetera.
Full disclosure: We take out the max amount of $$ daily, for no fee, and put it in the…er…somewhere safe.
Thanks for the post!
Sincerly,
Leigh
Rats!! Forgot to say:
Firepower and arms to aim!
Leigh
“Of course, Apodaca has his own reasons too. ‘The fact that you can walk to the restaurants, get drunk and not worry about getting a DUI,’ he said, chuckling.
I see this guy getting drunk more or turning into a full blown alky.
Being able to walk home drunk is certainly a great reason to pay 485K for a place to live, isn’t it???
It was a huge selling (I mean renting) point for us.
Hey, the logic works for me.
You could hire a limo and driver on-demand for your entire lifetime for far less than that.
I’d rather spend 100K on a house and 385K on beer and limos but hey, that’s just me.
Wow, where can I donate to help out the poor Mazzeo family? I mean, I’ve been saving up some money to by my first house, but I could use that money to save *four* houses. Besides, they have *toddlers*. Think of the children.
Renting is okay for losers like me I guess, but children should have not only a primary residence but 4-5 extras just to be safe. I really hope my tax money can contribute to a foreclosure helpline for these poor, poor people who might have to have only one house!
Or maybe I can donate directly. After all, I’m sure these savvy investors could help me figure out what to do to increase my returns through real estate! Mindless optimism (followed by whining when things go bad). It’s the American Way!
The Mazzeos had to put their new book sale on hold….’How To Buy Lotza Houses With Lotza Easy Money Down and Get Rich Quick as a Bunny’
“The two-story house on a large lot in Casa de Oro — on the less expensive side of the La Mesa border”
I really love how The Voice Of San Diego put this one. “Less expensive side”, more like the bordering on the Spring Valley ghetto side.Yeah, they were some real savy investors. They bought in some of the least desirable areas in San Diego; Oceanside, Imperial Beach and the not so nice side of La Mesa. Some of the worst areas in San Diego had the most appreciation during the bubble and will suffer the most depreciation.
“They were looking at the jobs out there and saying, ‘I can’t live on this.’”
And therein lies the problem with the unemployment numbers (although we all know they’re BS). I don’t care if people are working. The point is made in the quote above. Without bubblicious housing equity to tap, folks can no longer service their debt.
Lower away Fed, it won’t make a damn bit of difference.
The only thing that bugged me about that statement is the fact that these uneducated, unskilled, untalented people have gotten to feel that they deserve an upper-crust income, and can’t even imagine living off of a typical salary. I can understand expecting to have a lifestyle that matches one’s level of education or talent or whatever, but people who graduate from high school and then become loan officers should consider themselves lucky. They ought to have saved quite a lot of $$ over the last few years, and should be prepared to live off of their savings while they make longer-term plans.
Big V, you’re starting to sound like a Republican.
and a smart one at that
“When do you make the decision to say we have to cut our losses?”
————————
When a cold, hard look at the numbers tells you to. Don’t try to bargain with them or deny what they reveal, just obey. More than likely for this guy the time to “cut losses” was before the venture ever began.
The sad truth is that for most people the safest long-term bet is a T-bill account paying inflation rates or less. In the very near future property speculation will be the domain of deep pocketed experts only.
Az, I just read about shorting treasuries.
I was at Montclair Plaza, a mall that is located near Victoria Gardens (Inland Empire, CA) last Saturday evening. I would say that about 10% of the stores are now closed (since xmas). Even Zales and Ben Bridge jewelry are gone. Macy’s had purchased Robinson’s May some time ago, and moved from one end of the mall into R-M’s location. So far, the former Macy’s at the other end of the mall is still empty.
I was in the newly updated Marina shopping center off of Admiralty called “The Waterside @ Marina del Rey”. I had not been there since before Christmas. Although vacancy is still relativly low (about 10%), I noticed Pier One and Cold Stone (along with 2-3 other mom and pop businesses) had vacated. Now, Pier 1 had been at this location for at least 10 yrs. And Cold Stone was brand new (about 12 mos). Retail CRE is going to get crushed here in SoCal.
San Diego residents need to take a trip to Fashion Valley Mall. My oh my, how things do change …
WHAT? Cold Stone left? Why, why, WHY?
Pier One is in some serious trouble. They are closing 100’s of stores. I think there will be a really nice brand new building in downtown Fort Worth for sale in a couple of years. Of course it may be forsale already…
Montclair Plaza has been circling the drain since Ontario Mills was built (back in 1996). OM is louder and uglier so it’s more attractive to the Ontario and Fontana gangs.
Victoria Gardens? I’m surprised that’s still around.
Victoria Gardens will be the only one left!!!!!
It has the Redneck equivalent of Mecca.
It has “Bass Pro Shop” the biggest baddest sport fishing and hunting store.
“Even though the $500,000-range asking price is more than $200,000 more than they paid for it in 2001, selling it for that much wouldn’t let them break even, because of the repairs they’ve made and because they owe about $500,000 on it.”
Like the baby bear’s porridge, their intellect is just right - not smart enough to stay out of trouble, and not dumb enough to lose it all. They are, I’m afraid, the median: Sucked up by the allure of free money (which they spent at will) with just the right amount of hubris not to recognize the contradictions of their lifestyle. Pogo is alive and well, folks.
The (probably apocryphal) way to trap some monkeys is pretty easy: you put some food in a jar, and the mouth of the jar is just big enough that the monkey can put his paw through. When the monkey grabs the food and makes a fist, he can’t get his paw out. He’ll just sit there, too greedy to let go.
The monkey doesn’t just sit there, he struts around, brandishes his jar-enclosed fist, and brags to all the other monkeys, “See what I have! See!”
How do you spend $300,000 on “repairs”? Even if they had the place bulldozed and rebuilt from scratch, and average-sized structure shouldn’t have cost that much.
Methinks the Mazzeo are holding back some key information (like how they spent their HELOC money on SUVs, boats, vacations, boob job, bling, etc.)
… and Starbucks.
A new kind of currency was created’ during the boom years, Scordino said. ‘People spent a lot of money they didn’t earn.’”
“Higher-income households often used the extra money for vacations, cars and real estate, and lower-income families used it to stay afloat, sometimes trying to save the very house they were borrowing against, said David Mendoza, executive director of a nonprofit counseling service for home buyers.”
“‘The low-income are scrambling to keep the house. The moderate-income homeowners are refinancing, letting the house go into foreclosure and getting toys out of it,’ Mendoza said.”
“‘We’re a country of consumers,’ said Michael Gilmore, owner of The Mortgage Professionals, a brokerage in Fresno.”
———————
Someone needs to read this into the Congressional Record, and make sure McCain, Hillary and Obama are there. One of these three will be “in charge” and unless they understand this side of the Housing Bubble - the reality of it all, they can only make things worse through any government action.
This is probably also why no matter what they do there will be a consumer-led recession with massive deflation in everything except food and raw energy. Hot tubs, 22″ rims and designer purses? 2 cents on the dollar.
They’re too busy asking Roger Clemens and his wife about taking HGH to investigate why the Debt Disaster is so massive. We have had how many hearings on steroids in baseball and how many on Mortgage Madness and the Housing Mania?
F–k every politician and the horse they rode in on.
NYC
It would be like the Oj simpson trial. The whole country would be glued to the tube. Panic would ensue. We doomers would tremble but maybe there would be a day we could buy a home with a single income.
It wasn’t a horse, it was a Goldman Sachs paid for limo.
“So when residents of Little Tokyo Lofts noticed a few months ago that a tenant would be moving into the long-vacant, ground-floor retail space of their building, they got excited and started wondering who it would be. A new restaurant or coffee shop? A dry cleaner?”
“Then they learned that the space was to be filled by a mental health service provider.”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
sorry
Too freakin’ funny. I can’t wait until someone tries to resell of those bad boys.
Urban Pioneers = arrows in back.
“Rectum? I nearly killed ‘em.”
“Rectum? I nearly killed ‘em.” …..Still a great line!:)
You just gotta love it. The irony of these ignorant snobs having the pleasure of having a mental health clinic as their new neighbors is just too delicious.
Well at least they can walk to treatment when they have their mental breakdown! Gee, how lucky can you get. haha
See? There’s a silver lining to every cloud. And besides, it should be easy for them to manipulate the clients downstairs into buying their properties when nobody else will. I’m sure Al Quaeda offers a course on “how to get mentally ill people to commit (financial) suicide for you”.
Or however you spell it.
Anyone with a pulse did get a mortgage:
-The homeless
-The prisoners
-The illegals
Did they forget the mentally ill people?
We know that a California disable woman bought a $100K BMW sport car. So the disables were in on it too.
(re Little Tokyo Lofts)
“units that sell for $400,000 to $1.2 million”
translates
“units that at one time sported asking prices of $400K to $1.2M”
“When Little Tokyo Lofts opened in downtown a few years ago, they were billed as the antidote to suburban living. Press materials lured buyers by promising luxury lofts in an about-to-be-gentrified ‘vibrant neighborhood’ ….”
Ironically, you could argue these buyers were mental believing that pitch. So, the neighborhood mental facility is fitting.
The mental institution was established when the place was built, they just now started informing the residents.
yipee! When is Purple Jello day!
The common thread through most of the stories I just read is the manic nature of California culture…it’s either on a real high or on it’s way down to a very low low.
It’s all about status and how to achieve it. People paying $575,000 to live in a neighborhood that anywhere else in the country would be considered blighted has never made any sense to me. I chose to get off the ride when every offer I made was trumped by a higher one or rejected because I actually expected the seller to fix their neglect or use. People are now upside down(manic) because they didn’t think about the longterm consequences of their financial decisions…oh well, I guess they should have seen it coming.
Why on earth would I pay $1.2 million to live in a condo where there are homeless and mentally ill people wandering around my front door? I don’t get it. I guess there must be something wrong with me…not.
Well, they figured in 4 years or so, someone would want to buy it for $1.5M. What’s so hard to understand?
Oh I don’t know…how about there were homeless people living on the streets in front of the building and and public toilet on the corner to keep the homeless people from using the gutter as their toilet. I myself would be a little skepical about future appreciation in a dumpy neighborhood like that.
So from that perspective..that’s what’s so hard to understand..
Wouldn’t a homeless toilet on the corner be considered “edgy” and therefore increase area values??
BWAHAHAHAHA! Thanks for the laugh, Blano.
I am so glad I’m not eating or drinking anything right now. My screen and keyboard would not survive.
My pleasure, palmy.
How nice that as a dinner guest that you can run out and use the homeless toilet instead of leaving a steamer on the griddle in the half-bath off the dining room! That has to count for a selling point.
Because they’re not building any more condos??? (sarcasm off)
“Why on earth would I pay $1.2 million to live in a condo where there are homeless and mentally ill people wandering around my front door?”
You just described San Francisco. And people pay a lot more than that to live here.
I was going to make the same comment until I saw yours. And here it’s not isolated to a few blocks near skid row….literally entire districts of the city are like this.
To ‘gaze upon the spectacle of human misery…’
‘They’re used to living a certain lifestyle, collecting a certain wage; now they have to make that shift to the income they can command,’ Brown-Carter said.”
‘They can command’… We may re-visit the old days( I hope) when your potential employer told you what they offered…Instead of listening to what a potential employee demands. Good, it’s about damn time! P.S. Ms. Brown-Cater BIOYA.
“After 15 years in the industry, Green said, now she is leaning toward job hunting in a different area. ‘It’s so negative in the mortgage industry now,’ she said. ‘It’s like ‘who went out of business today?’ If I could stand on my feet that long, I would become a grocery store cashier.’”
So, what you’re saying is, becoming a stripper is also out of the question?
– Judge Smales
“You’ll get nothing and like it”
Pole dancing might still be an option.
Nah, saturated market.
Sorry lady. All the grocery store cashier jobs are taken. They are of high value within the supermarket foodchain( pun intended). You may be able to apply for a bagging position, but you will be called to a series of interviews in order to weed out the 500 applicants for that one position.
Grocery Store Cashier? I think she is aiming way too high in this economy!
Yeah, sounds like she’s fat. A little starvation might be good for her, in that case.
Wait a minute. Cold Stone missing, fat women out of a job? I think there might be a connection.
“mortgage industry” sounds so silly to me. Remember when “Dow Jones Industrials” meant companies that were actually making something? (Other than just financial deals.) “Mortgage BIZ” I can handle. My own biz is certain not an industry nor any part of one. I lend money, and the rest of the work is mainly secretarial. No smokestacks.
“Inside the six-story building, units that sell for $400,000 to $1.2 million each boast ceilings that are 12, sometimes 30 feet high, original steel casement windows and designer kitchens outfitted with stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops.”
“Outside, the street life reflects the neighborhoods that the building abuts. A green podlike toilet, installed for the use of homeless people who linger nearby, sits at the corner of 5th and San Pedro. A number of homeless service providers are on the block to the south, including the Union Rescue Mission.”
400k-1.2 million to stare at an open toilet on the corner? Let’s add this to wikipedia under “stupidity”.
the residents ‘have chosen a very, very challenging place to live.’
This just made my day. The wanted a Starbucks but they got a nuthouse.
This reminds me of an acquaintance of mine that owned a condo right down by the Johnson Street Bridge in Victoria, B.C. The building was adjacent to the homeless shelter, and their unit was on the ground floor. These people bought some patio furniture and stupidly left it on their “patio”. The homeless folks were more than happy to make use of the nice wrought iron chairs, table, as well as the umbrella that would protect them from the elements as they chugged their cooking wine.
Whenever I would ask this guy how he liked his place, it was always “great! except for the homeless people”.
They wanted a Starbucks but got an outhouse next to a nuthouse.
I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that the Mazzeo’s never have been, and never will be, “sound financially.”
Oh yeah she was “sound financially” when she lucked out by buying a home right before the greatest housing bubble in American History, and yet she Fu$ked that up too !
Any wonder why most people who win the lotto blow it all away within a 5 year average!
You know, that’s a really great analogy.
Dude, if I won the lottery, I would totally spend it on stupid stuff. Big old house, new clothes, fancy vacation. Then I’d have to go back to working for chump change, but it sure would have been worth the ride.
I luv the story about Little Tokyo lofts. Funny has heck. And for the tenants, good luck on hoping for the neighborhood to improve. Your million dollar home appreciation greed got you in this mess. No sympathy for you at all.
I drove thru Little Tokyo recently and I was amazed by all the Asian immigrants hanging out on porches and the streets. Clotheslines and people everywhere.
I love privacy. I would freak.
So much great material in the Cali thread tonight……..where does one start???
I had the same thought. How can I possible come up with enough snarky comments for all of the deserving California FBs today?
Not only the thread, but the “Rich Dad Education in Detroit, Learn to Be Rich” ad I see on the homepage.
I love how the Realtor names continue to be so funny. Buy your Antelope Valley shack from Bob Schack!
Where is Big V to tell us how brilliant she is?
I don’t think that was her point. The emotional thing that came up with her was all the trash talk about women at various points. What’s your issue? Or are you comfortable with the calling people out by ID thing?
Right here, Left of your Behind.
“Then they learned that the space was to be filled by a mental health service provider.”
California always sounds so interesting when I read little tidbits like this. Imagine paying over half a million to have open mouthed droolers and chronic non-bathers as your permanent fixtures at the front door. Imagine living in your own personal George A. Romero style movie, with 50,000 extras, none of them friendly. Kind of like Hollywood, Ninth Circle of Hell, and Kampgrounds of America all rolled into one “experience”.
Interesting, yes, but I don’t think I’ll ever choose to live there.
Hey, just think of California as your older sibling. We try out stupid stuff so you don’t have to! ps. some of us stay on the sidelines and watch…
“Even though the $500,000-range asking price is more than $200,000 more than they paid for it in 2001, selling it for that much wouldn’t let them break even, because of the repairs they’ve made and because they owe about $500,000 on it.”
The demand side of the market does not care one iota about what selling price it will take for them to break even on all the repair work they have done or what they need to repay their loan in full. The demand side only cares about the fact that there are numerous comps priced far more attractively.
“But if 30 more years turns Rancho Cucamonga into the urban magnet experts are predicting it’ll be, the neighborhood will fit right in with West L.A. and Long Beach.”
To Rancho Cucamonga - I know West LA…West LA is a friend of mine. You, sir, are no West LA.
Seriously, the draw for RC is what…less driving time to Las Vegas? More smog?
Come on, play nice! In another 100 years Victorville and then Baker will be the hotspots.
OCDan, as I’ve said before, at least Baker has Bun Boy and The Mad Greek…and Barstow now has a Tommy’s. All of the things you need for a center of civilization.
Don’t forget about the World’s Largest Thermometer! (kind of a disappointment. I was hoping for mercury, only got digital.)
Bun Boy is now Big Boy.
Hot spots! I get it, ha, ha!
Mole Man,
Took me twice before I got the hot spot pun.
Yup..A surplus US Army tent on a 6×10 ft plot on the Victorville Narrows with a Joshua tree will once again be PRIME RE
God, I moved out of Rancho Cucamonga because it WAS getting too much like West L.A. and Long Beach. The only people who like it there are folks who don’t trust air they can’t see.
“‘We’re a country of consumers,’ said Michael Gilmore, owner of The Mortgage Professionals, a brokerage in Fresno.”
As Dean Wermer (sp?) from Animal House might say, “That just about sums up your sorry-a$$ existence here.”
I mena what else can we say? That statement by Gilmore sums up the whole stickin’, rotten, carcass. It encapsulates everything, greed, fraud, everything, I tell you.
Why?
Because if we these people weren’t connedsumers, we would not have had this problem. However, J6P wanted a new Hummer so he HELOC’d the house. Jane6P wanted some augmentation, so there is another HELOC. John6P wanted cash back so he could take the 4 rugrats and the wife on the Disney Cruise first class, so the fraud.
I think it was Palmetto several months ago who said it best. We saw the greatest creation of wealth in the history of the planet and instead of paying down or paying off debt, refurbishing or rebuilding, or even saving money, what did we do?
Yeah, that’s right, spent it all on more stinkin’ toys and took on even more debt. Crimineys and we wonder why the economy is toast.
As to AB’s comment about pulling the money out of the bank. I think I am all for that. Great idea. Even if I don’t go PM, I can still hoard the cash. Okay, so I have a lot in the 500-lb fire-proof safe. That’s okay, at least I have it. Not some stinkin’ banker who will lend it out 10 more times at outrageous interest and then tell me the bank went bellyup in another year.
Sadly (for the rest of the world) we are a very well armed swarm of locusts.
I don’t like this hoarding cash idea. What I’m agonna do, I’ma learn to can vegetables and smoke meat. Then I’ma withdraw all my money and spend it on building a smokehouse in my apartment building parking lot and buying tons of locally farmed meat and produce. I’ll smoke up a couple herds of hogs and can some of the vegetables/fruit and make that prison toilet hootch out of the rest–I think there are recipes on the Internet. I’ll get rid of all my furniture and build shelves so I can use my crapbox apartment as a root cellar. Then in the coming collapse, I’ll run a bodega where I barter food and alcohol to my neighbors for essentials like security, firewood, whale oil lamps–all the most coveted consumer items. It’s gonna take some effort now, but come the apocalypse I will be livin’ large.
“‘I knew it would drop, but I didn’t know it’d drop that much, especially when the sales manager said they wouldn’t lower the prices,’ Apodaca said.”
Ha! That’s a classic empty assurance, right up there with “I promise to be gentle.”
That’s what he gets for blindly trusting the people who made their money by selling him something.
“I promise to be gentle.”
I promise not to scream.
I always felt that ” I will only put the head in” or ” I promise to pull out” were better examples of promises that were not going to be kept.
Or how about “Let’s snuggle”?
But he noted that the residents ‘have chosen a very, very challenging place to live.’”
I used to live in LA (hence the pseudonym). Admittedly, I still yearn to live in a loft - as I am a 30-something male making a very comfortable living where I am rarely home. I never once considered living in downtown helL-A. I will move back to the midwest, pay 40% of the price, and not deal with the downtown LA issues.
“‘I saw a lot of young people get into the business because they heard there was money to be made there,’ said Peggy Green of Oakland, who was laid off in November from First California Mortgage of Petaluma, for which she conducted training seminars for mortgage brokers. Those people were there to make money at all costs. Unfortunately, some of them were the bad ones we hear so much about now.’”
I’m not sure if I’m interpreting this statement correctly, but it sounds like the finger has been pulled is now pointing at “all those bad young people”. Right. Young people are the culprits. Not their managers, directors, executives, and company presidents. It was the young. Eat them.
How much longer before the good people of California turn on their pissant ex-pat arty Austrian strongman leader, Black Vader?
He really needs to go back to the fantasy world of Hollywood…
Not yet - I still think he’s the best of a bad lot.
Face Jim D, we were had. The whole thing was rigged. Our Guvernator isn’t any better than what we had, in fact he is worse, much worse and an even bigger corporate whore than that @sshat Gray Davis was. The only thing that saved Cali was the housing bubble.
I grew up in the south and midwest but Southern California is my home. I’ve left Southern California six times since the early 1990s and come back seven because I simply have not found a better place to live. (Of course I sold my house in Nov, 2004 and rent for obvious reasons.) I can’t think of any place with greater opportunities and have not been to a place with a more entrepreneurial spirit, a more expansive sense of creativity, or a more steady supply of people who would pay $1M for a skid row loft. You can make some serious scratch off people like that!
” But even when they had tenants, the rent the house garnered — $2,000 to $2,100 — fell far short of the nearly $4,000 the Mazzeos paid each month on its mortgage and upkeep.”
That statement alone foretold the ending to this tale.
I remember just a couple of years ago, negative cash flow was “in”. Now everybody is embarassed.
“It’s just a matter of how many we lose before we get to a place where we’re sound financially,”
They are looking at this all wrong. They can’t lose something they never owned.
They need to adjust their thinking so as to look at this as buying some real estate calls.
They are just out of the money, and their contract expired, now they lose their deposit, which was the price of the option.
Oh man, where to begin???
There’s just no end to the stupidity, greed, and overall dumb-fuckedness of the Clownifornian crowd.
My old zip code 91316 Encino is getting BURNED as we speak… Prices are back to 2003-2004 levels, and falling. Just look at ziprealty and weep. Foreclosures and short sales for everyone!
Reading the media and listening to the realtwhores is the surest way to financial ruin. Stick to HBB and your own common sense. This thing is just getting started.
Dubya, save us!!!!!!!!!!! Governator, save us!!!!!!!!!!!
bwahahahahaha