Leading Sellers Through Reality Therapy
The News & Observer reports from North Carolina. “When flames destroyed Tricia Warner-Peterson and Scott K. Peterson’s dream home in January…the neighbors stood and watched as 61 Shepherd Drive burned. It was another in a long string of disturbing incidents that have them worried about the value of their homes in a small Johnston County subdivision. The charred house is now boarded up with plywood, spray-painted with expletives. Laundry, which Warner-Peterson chucked out of the house’s windows, is strewn across the lawn.”
“And a broken toilet bowl in which the Petersons once planted pansies adorns the porch. ‘I feel like I’ve moved to a third-world country,’ said Kristine Ryan, who lives across the street.”
“Although the Petersons have not made mortgage payments since July, they technically still own the house. Until the drawn-out foreclosure process ends, there’s little anyone can do to stop them from treating the property however they wish.”
“It’s an extreme example of what can happen to neighborhoods as the tide of foreclosures rises across the state. ‘We cannot sell our homes,’ said Ryan, who moved to the subdivision from Boston a year ago with her husband. ‘We cannot leave.’”
“Warner-Peterson, who grew up in Cumberland County, blames herself for falling behind on mortgage payments. She said she receives treatment for her bipolar disorder with some symptoms of schizophrenia.”
“‘A lot of this has to do with my illness,’ she said. ‘Sometimes it’s spend, spend, spend without a whole lot of thought.’”
“In April, they bought a new home in the Cottonwood Forest subdivision at McGee’s Crossroads for $186,000 with add-ons such as an insulated garage. They also invested about $10,000 in other upgrades, including hardwood floors and a Jacuzzi.”
“‘I’ve always handled our money,’ Warner-Peterson said. ‘Most of the time that goes pretty well. … This is just the time it all went south.’”
“The Jan. 9 fire, which started around the Peterson’s Christmas tree, is still under investigation. The Petersons said the insurance company thinks the fire was ’suspicious.’”
“Neighbors say the Petersons’ actions have turned them into prisoners in their own neighborhood. Another home in the subdivision has been for sale since last spring. ‘People drive in, stare and drive out,’ said Kristine Ryan. ‘It’s a freak show,’ Mike Ryan added.”
The Carroboro Citizen from North Carolina. “As the subprime mortgage crisis morphed into a debt crisis and led to a slowdown in housing markets across the country, many here were optimistic that the area would once again be insulated from the fallout. But the optimism that the local market would ride out the storm unscathed has waned.”
“Even the most upbeat realtors will acknowledge some pain. Many are leading sellers through what Weaver Street Realty’s Gary Phillips describes as ‘reality therapy,’ telling them to expect much more time on the market and a more modest assessment of the return one can expect.”
“The worst of the impact is being felt by homebuilders, especially mid-sized builders who have been riding the housing boom in Chatham County. Nick Tennyson, executive VP of Home Builders Association of Durham, Orange and Chatham counties, said that the slowdown has created a large inventory of homes. Spec house builders…are finding more and more of their cash tied up and are having to make large monthly payments on homes they’d hoped to have sold by now.”
“Making that worse, he said, is that the glut is being seen in larger homes. ‘How many people want something priced $750,000 to $800,000? The pool of buyers is not as deep.’”
“Michael Chandler, a local custom builder, said local builders are seeing a lot of clients adjusting their timetables. ‘Many are not motivated to get started,’ he said. ‘There’s a loss of urgency in buyers.’ The media has fueled the sense, he said, that it’s an ‘ultimate buyer’s market.’”
“Builders around here have gotten a bit unaccustomed to having clients balk at prices, Chandler said. ‘It used to be you’d say, ‘Here’s what it’s going to cost.’ Now we’re being pressured on price.’”
“Phillips said the spec builders are feeling the squeeze. ‘There’s way too much inventory,’ he said. ‘Cash has become king in a way we haven’t seen in a long time.’”
The Free Lance Star from Virginia. “Sluggish sales at the Cobblestone Square condominium complex have led the developers of that project to sell what’s left to be built to an apartment developer. The partners, which include K. Hovnanian Homes and Garrett Development Corp., are under contract to sell the rest of the development to JLB Partners, an apartment builder.”
“Chris Waller, VP of Garrett Development, said JLB’s apartments will attract high-end renters. Waller said JLB will likely charge about $1,250 a month for a 1,000-square-foot unit. A letter to current condo owners calls the new concept a ‘luxury rental community.’”
“Jonathan Franklin, who moved to Cobblestone with his wife in October, doesn’t take much comfort in that description. ‘They’re just playing semantic games,’ he said.”
“When he moved into his unit last June, condominium owner Ben Maxwell said, ‘We were under the impression that this was going to be a three- to four-year project. Three to four years from now, it’s going to be a completely different real-estate market. You would think that one of the largest home builders in the country would understand this is a cycle.’”
The Falls Church News Press from Virginia. “There are no cars are parked in the driveways of many new subdivision cul-de-sacs. ‘For Sale’ signs litter the yards in outlying areas of Fairfax and Prince William County.”
“Some new developments appear to be ghost towns. No children ride their bikes down the sidewalks — instead there are moving trucks loading up personal belongings as families wipe away tears and kiss their dream homes good-bye. The foreclosure epidemic has struck and its effects ripple across the area.”
“Virginia ranks 24th in the nation in rate of foreclosure. In Northern Virginia, hardest hit areas include Prince William County, where some newly built neighborhoods are mostly made up of foreclosure homes.”
“The cause of foreclosures can be attributed to more than one factor, says Stephen Fuller, professor of public policy and director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University, and member of the Governor’s Advisory Board of Economists.”
“‘Foreclosures are caused by a combination of several things,’ says Fuller. ‘Liberal lending policies, people thought they would enjoy price appreciation in ’03 and ’05 and later refinance. The market cooled off in ’06, housing prices decreased and the mortgage was more than the house was valued. They couldn’t refinance because their income hadn’t changed. In some cases, the rates tripled. People had no money in the house, so why not just walk away?’”
“Fuller says that some people were not in the right financial position to be purchasing a home. ‘The American dream is to own a home, but in reality, some people should just have been renters,’ Fuller explains.”
The Washington Post. “A multi-house auction at Walter E. Washington Convention Center (was) fueled by the skyrocketing numbers of local foreclosures, and it fulfilled some hopes and deferred others, as more than 200 homes went on the block.”
“While tuxedo-clad auctioneer Mark Buleziuk chattered rapid-fire prices and the public address system blared the ’80s hit ‘Living in America,’ several thousand people bid on ramblers, townhouses, condominiums, bungalows and McMansions in the District, Maryland and Virginia.”
“All the homes had been foreclosed on and were owned by banks trying to recoup some of their losses, according to Real Estate Disposition, which ran the auction.”
“‘It’s clear by what’s out there in the media that there is a high rate of foreclosure,’ said Mary Clare Quella, associate general counsel for the auction firm. ‘Lenders do have large portfolios in foreclosed homes.’”
“Investors Leon Segears and Joyce Palmer, who buy, rehab and sell homes for a living, had targeted five dwellings in the auction catalog but managed the winning bid on only one. The three-story rowhouse on Madison Street NW had been valued at $398,000. The starting bid was $149,000. The partners’ winning bid was about $275,000.”
“The two said later that they had calculated how much each house would cost to renovate, how much they could later sell it for and how much they were prepared to spend. They said that despite the mortgage crisis, there was money to be made by the disciplined investor.”
“‘We don’t get emotional,’ Palmer said. ‘If the numbers work, we do it. If the numbers don’t work, we don’t do it.’”
The Daily Times. “Delmarva’s real estate roller coaster can’t go any further downhill, according to some local housing experts. But it remains a mystery when and if an upswing in home sales will kick in.”
“‘I think we’ve already hit the bottom, and most of the buyers know it,’ said Kevin Decker, a Realtor in Ocean City.” “In Worcester County, there are about 2,400 properties for sale. Of those, 2,000 are in Ocean City, said Rick Meehan, the resort’s mayor and a real estate agent.”
“‘It’s a buyer’s market,’ he said. ‘I know it sounds like a cliché, but it’s a fact. I think a lot of people have held back, waiting to see what’s going to happen.’”
“On Delmarva, new homes sales fell 9 percent between October and November last year, and new construction is down 24 percent from a year ago, according to Bill McCain, an appraiser in Salisbury.”
“McCain said the Shore’s housing market will yield minimal sales for the rest of 2008, especially for expensive single-family homes and condominiums. It might be another decade, he said, before we’re back to peak pricing in that market.”
“‘There are less purchasers out there who can afford these high-end properties,’ he said. ‘Add to that the fact that the lending community is much tighter, much more cautious in making loans.’”
“‘Some sub-prime lenders were aggressively lending in a rising real estate market,’ he said. ‘They got away from some of the fundamentals of good lending practices. There were loans being made at ratios of 100 percent of equity, or 120 percent, which is a very, very high-risk practice.’”
“As the market begins to level off, many property owners are finding themselves upside-down — owing more on the home than its assessed value. It’s created a mountain of foreclosures in a short time. Maryland’s foreclosure rate exploded from 715 at the end of 2006 to 9,772 a year later, according to RealtyTrac.”
“The combination of a lagging economy, an over-stocked housing market and the troubled lending industry has created what McCain calls ‘a bit of the perfect storm.’ ‘It’s these negatives occurring simultaneously,’ he said. ‘Are we in a recession? If we’re not in one, we’re close to one.’”
The Press of Atlantic City from New Jersey. “There’s no sign of bottoming out as New Jersey and the nation continue to witness an upswing in foreclosure activity.”
“While the vast majority of homes in foreclosure filings are worth less than $1 million, some properties in the region’s wealthier enclaves are in the beginning of the foreclosure process or have been sold.”
“One Longport property, just off the John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge, is assessed at $1.2 million and started the foreclosure process in November. A two-story Beach Haven home assessed at $1.05 million was sold for $1.2 million three months ago.”
“The Garden State had 5,598 properties in foreclosure filings in February, ranking it 13th nationwide, where overall foreclosure filings totaled 223,651 properties. In Cape May County, 95 properties were involved in foreclosure activity in February 2008, up from 71 properties in February 2007.”
“‘It’s people who weren’t experienced and they decided to jump in late to the housing market,’ said foreclosure attorney Brett Wiltsey, who has represented lending institutions against delinquent county homeowners. ‘Then the market changed on them.’”
“Watchdog group New Jersey Citizen Action estimates one in five New Jersey subprime loans could default by the end of 2009.”
“‘It is impossible to buy a toaster that has a one-in-five chance of bursting into flames and burning down your house,’ said Phyllis Salowe-Kaye, New Jersey Citizen Action executive director. ‘But it is possible to purchase a mortgage with a one-in-five chance of putting a family out of their house and into the street.’”
The WP article reminds me that there are still a lot of fools out there a little to eager to get into the market.
The Gazette
‘The number of foreclosures in Maryland jumped from 3,681 in January to 4,016 in February, according to RealtyTrac.’
‘Foreclosures in Frederick County fell last month to 152 from 202 in January, but the numbers are far above those of a year ago. In January 2007, the county saw 34 foreclosures, followed by 18 the next month.’
The WP article reminds me that there are still a lot of fools out there a little to eager to get into the market.
That was evident in Ralphs posting on this blog earlier this week about the great deal on the home he bought.
In fact he mentioned his loss was only short term. People just do not understand basic finance and that home prices just do not keep going up and up. People have this attitude that a bigger house is better and that the price will recover in the next few years. They are in for a financial shock of their lives!!
“They said that despite the mortgage crisis, there was money to be made by the disciplined investor.”
Reminds me of a lot of comments made by shills whenever the stock market is declining. ‘Be selective, you will win.’ Bull. The correct advice would be, ‘Be short, you will win.’ Since we can’t directly short houses, we do the best we can by just not owning any. I agree with the FB (i mean Fuzzy Bear, not the usual FB), that those who are counting on a recovery in a few years are likely to experience a disappointment.
I couldn’t help wondering exactly how many properties they do now own, if they are investors. Evidently they mean to rent them rather than flip them, I would think.
“‘I’ve always handled our money,’ Warner-Peterson said. ‘Most of the time that goes pretty well. … This is just the time it all went south.’”
Nice. Just let the psycho paranoid bipolar shop-a-holic handle the family finances. Great. Is that a caricature of America for the past several years?
“She said she receives treatment for her bipolar disorder with some symptoms of schizophrenia. A lot of this has to do with my illness,’ she said. ‘Sometimes it’s spend, spend, spend without a whole lot of thought.’”
Any psychiatrists out there? I know they recently decided ulcers were caused by contagious bacteria. Any possibility we have had an epidemic of bi-polar disorder in the U.S.?
And what’s the next phase?
Political incorrectness alert. In general, people don’t act stupid because they’re mentally ill, they act mentally ill because they’re stupid. Inability to properly process and act upon inputs causes people to give up. People go mental because the benefits exceed the costs. (The first place to start solving the problem is exercise and an improved diet.)
Hear, hear on the exercise and improved diet, Paul. Which reminds me of yet another story from the life of Slim…
Had a friend who was dating a psychiatrist who worked for the Veterans Administration. Dr. Ed knew a thing or two about nutrition, and he was quite frustrated with the VA. Seems that the VA’s treatment paradigm didn’t recognize the existence of nutrition.
But there were cases were his nutritional knowledge was allowed to shine. Like the case of the patient who chucked a water pitcher at Dr. Ed when he first saw the patient in his hospital room. Dr. Ed diagnosed a profound Vitamin B deficiency and ordered a series of injections.
A few weeks later, a guy showed up in Dr. Ed’s office. He asked, “Are you Dr. Ed?”
Truth be told, Dr. Ed didn’t recognize him. He didn’t look like any of Dr. Ed’s psychiatric patients. And then the guy started telling Dr. Ed about how they first met. He went on to thank Dr. Ed for his helpful treatment.
Um, no dude. There are lots of very real mental problems. Depression, schizophrenia, post traumatic stress disorder, bipolar (formerly called manic-depressive) to name a few.
And if you think depression is caused primarily by people acting stupid, and that it can be avoided by diet and exercise, may you never be clinically depressed.
Dudette, who said anything about it not being real? The question is what got you there and what do you do about it. Certain people are more inclined to mental problems than others, just like certain people are more inclined to develop heart conditions. Everybody can use a little help, but people have to make an effort to improve their situation. It’s THEIR problem. The more we as a society say that, the fewer problems there will be. It doesn’t mean they don’t retain their civil rights. I’m offering a starting point. Or should none of them try to deal with or get out of their situation, and simply shift their problems to society as a whole?
Paul, Mentally ill people are ILL. That is why they are called mentally ill, not mentally stupid. The brain is a very sensitive organ, and like every other part of us, is prone to breaking down.
It is everyone’s problem if mentally ill people are untreated, because they can be dangerous. Unlike regular ill people, they are often unaware that they are ill and resist treatment. So, it’s not like you can just give them a lecture about personal responsibility or something.
I used to work in a psychiatric ward, and as much as I would like to say, “pull up your socks, Crazies”, I am aware, through experience, that it will not work.
Unlike you, though, I don’t mind being taxed for health care (and I am), so we are pretty different fish.
(When I said ILL, I meant it for emphasis, but I didn’t mean to shout. I think it looks like shouting, sorry.)
What’s more, proper diagnosis is essential to proper treatment. I had a friend who was diagnosed as bipolar after years of being under treatment for depression— it turns out she just had a stronger “down” cycle. Well, the drugs used for depression don’t address bipolar very well, hence the need for her proper diagnosis.
Last I heard, she’s doing much better. Except she’s missing the diversity of foodstuff avaiable in Oklahoma, where she is working as a science professor.
“Any possibility we have had an epidemic of bi-polar disorder in the U.S.?”
Yeah, maybe it’s a virus transmitted by contact with shopping bags and credit cards.
That truly is a symptom of bi-polar, like it or not. Extreme highs that induce a no inhibitions to purchasing to extreme lows of near suicidal. I am not defending this woman specifically, but don’t disbelieve that overspending cannot happen with bi-polar. My wife, a social worker, has seen bi-polars buy multiple cars in a day because they were feeling so good!
And what’s the next phase?
Jail! Arson is a very serious crime where in most states it’s punishment is many years in prison, bipolar or not!
Their Christmas tree was still up January 9. Of course it is a suspicious fire - that is one dry tree.
My attorney’s son was legitimately diagnosed as bipolar. He didn’t make it to his 22nd birthday. One night, so sick and tired of the pain the illness was causing himself and his family, he threw himself in front of a trolley.
These credit card hos who can’t stop spending are just using mental illness as an excuse. Maybe she thinks the sob story will garner her some debt forgiveness. If she’s so mentally ill, where’s the money coming from? Is she able to hold down a job?
I call BS. Please credit card hos, stop slandering the people who really are sick.
The story says they got the money to buy (downpayment?) from the husbands share of a sale in California. More equity bubble fallout.
I think it’s a crock. Seems like half the people you meet are “sick,” especially since the drugs for various diseases were marketed. My mother had all sorts of mental problems, exacerbated I think by the drugs she was given, but never ever did crap like this. These people lack character.
I think it’s a crock.
I think I agree with you in a lot of cases. One of my friends has a sister-in-law who has ‘chronic fatigue’, always whining about this and that, big waste of skin–I’ve met her, and she’s a big waste of a LOT of skin, Jeeze, Shamu’s little whale eyes would light up with desire to behold her–which makes her unable to perform the little tasks of life, such as do her own dishes, clean up her house, get the kids to school.
I say, she needs a good ass-kicking, although with the sheer size of the thing it would sure wear out the ass-kicker, unless you did it in shifts, like on a rotating schedule.
Its great that you are healthy, but many of us are not. I suffer from severe headaches and fatigue myself after a virus that almost killed me. I work 60+ hours a week. God forbid it worsens to the point I can no longer work and I have to hear healthy ppl tell me how lazy I am. Most ppl would prefer to be healthy.
I wasn’t talking about you, then. I said ‘in a lot of cases’, not ‘each and every case’.
I hope you get better, and soon.
Thanks. No worries. I have lots of guilt as my step-sister claimed to have Fibermyalga and everyone in the family talked about her behind her back, including myself. Now I have headaches and fatigue with no real diagnosis other than stemming from my earlier illness. It really sucks, and I no longer say anything about my step-sister.
No worries. You are one of my favorite commentators. I just wanted to share my insight on the issue. Ppl never understand when I cancel something saying I just dont feel well enough since I dont have a diagnosis of cancer or something they can clearly understand.
No doubt. I know three people who have gone on Mirapex for Restless Leg Syndrome - and yet they had no idea what they had until the ads started running. Speaking of running, I do strongly believe that regular exercise and proper nutrition can get rid of a lot of these “syndromes”, including ADD, ADHD.
Non clinical description of ADHD - childhood
‘I do strongly believe that regular exercise and proper nutrition can get rid of a lot of these “syndromes”, including ADD, ADHD.’
Why would I WANT to get rid of ADHD? It’s what allows me to eat like a horde of Vikings on the way to Rome and yet not get fat. And, as I have mentioned on this very blog, it’s what also enables me to do without that wasteful shutting-the-eyes and holding still thingie that all of you call ’sleep’. I just feel sorry for the teeming hordes of afflicted slow people. (I don’t express my pity overtly, however, because it seems to make them mad.)
You and me?
High five!!!
High five!!!
Let’s go High Ten! By using our toes, even, to fully express the exciting rewards of ADHD! And then let’s go play in the forest with torches and candy and frogs!
That would be a High Twenty, not a High Ten.
Oh well! Attention to detail and all that. That’s the blog motto, and that’s how they hand out badges and stuff.
After that, torches, candy and frog? I’m there!!!
‘That would be a High Twenty, not a High Ten.’
Oh, you and your ticky little attention to details. Anyway, you haven’t seen my feet, how do you know I haven’t shot off a bunch of toes, or otherwise lost a few carelessly, here and there, by accident?* In which case, it’d still potentially be a High Ten, depending on how many you have, or maybe a High Eleven or Twelve.
Oh, and there should be marshmellows, with the torches. Except let’s not yank them out of the bonfire and then whip them around in the air wildly, because that ends badly. I learned that recently.
* I haven’t lost any toes. I just can’t count combined digits, and refused to admit it because it made me feel dumb.
Restless Leg Syndrome is real - just ask my husband. He’s the one who got kicked in the middle of the night! That said, it’s often associated with low blood iron levels (thank you RLS Foundation!) and I’ve found that vitamins with iron really do the trick!
So why didn’t my doctor ever suggest this, hmmm? Seems like a low risk, low cost . . . never mind.
/physicians shilling for pharmaceutical companies? never!
Fascinating article in the Columbia Journalism which debunks the prevailing view that Americans are debt whores:
http://www.cjr.org/feature/red_ink_rising.php?page=1
Excerpt:
“And beyond sins of omission, business publications routinely transmitted an utterly bogus and credit-industry-sanctioned myth—that recent increases in consumer debt were due mostly to discretionary spending, as though American consumers in recent years spontaneously and for no reason other than some unspecified general cultural decline suddenly became profligate and undisciplined borrowers, mindlessly piling up debt for flat-screen TVs and other frivolous consumer items.
The Journal wrote this in 2002, in a typical example, which included an anecdote about a thirty-one-year-old Denver salesman:
Yet like many Americans Mr. Stouder doesn’t have any qualms about going deeper into debt, and his lenders are encouraging him to borrow… “I want to enjoy everything and not worry about cutting back,” says Mr. Stouder.
The twin myths of over-consumption and the immoral debtor, to use Elizabeth Warren’s phrases, have been debunked for years. Warren documents that the average American household today actually spends less than in the 1970s on clothing, food, and major appliances, and that, after paying for education, housing, insurance, and health care, it has less disposable income, even though the household now has two wage earners.”
Sorry, I am having trouble believing this as much as I respect Ms. Warren.
While her general concern may be true, the blunt truth is that if your best skill in life is competing with some Chinese dude, you must have roughly the same lifestyle. Most people haven’t come to terms with this fairly blunt truth since the 1970’s.
All the technology revolution has done is whipped the covers off.
I believe ALL these supposed problems are “disabilities” covered under the ADA. There is more money that goes out under ADA for Psycological problems than physical limitations. I suspect she gets a paycheck from Uncle Sam (us) or a former employer for her “condition”.
IF this is true, she doesn’t have to worry about her spending or behaviour, more money is coming her way.
Many nervous system and headache problems which are not easy to diagnose are routinely denied coverage. I used to think my step-sister who claimed to have Fibermyalga was faking until I had my own run in with health issues. It is not fun. For many it has destroyed their quality of life, and accusing them of lying or overstating their symptoms only adds to the misery. Some are faking. Many are not.
You note she has no problem listing all the “eligible” miseries. And I believe you are wrong. Most are faking, some are not.
The whole ADHA and HDA or whatever they are all are, PAY OUT Money to the Parents of children they claim have these disorders. It’s just like welfare increases for the higher number of dependents. You need more “disabilities”.
Most everyone has some issues. However, I don’t get to file a claim unless I can list the right ones.
a broken toilet bowl in which the Petersons once planted pansies adorns the porch.
WTF? It sounds like these people were always nightmare neighbors.
No, aimeejd, I grew up in NC, you’ve got it all wrong. If you have a broken toilet bowl in your front yard, people just think you’re uppity. Those people from Boston were thinking they would be living next to Andy and Aunt B. Ummm, not so much. Anyone besides me ever notice that no teenagers or minorities live in Mayberry? Everyone’s white, and kids immediately go from 8 years old to 35.
lol. I would like to see a new 2008 Mayberry. You would a couple of getto thugs, a few gays and a upper class white family that has a son that is planning on killing them. lol
This country keeps getting crazier.
Lane
LOL. My friend and I had this very discussion last night when we were watching the Andy Griffith Show on TV Land. Drunks are okay in Mayberry, but not blacks.
I think alot of shows back in the 50`s and 60`s were very segregated. I didn`t see any blacks on Giligan`s Island either. I grew up watching Good times not many whites on there and when they were they were goofy and made fun of, still loved the show and still watch it today at 42. My point was more about the news… last night news 2 guys killed a UNC student and one of the thugs killed a Duke grad student in jan. Next topic, church guy ripping people off, then the new gay anti-bully law ( I`m not against it) just tired of hearing about it and someone killed this lady w/4 kids and on and on. Just want to make it clear I was not making a racist remark.
Regards,
Lane
Yeah. a good toilet bowl with pansies would have been kitschy and eclectic, a sort of chic nouveau pauvre, but a broken toilet bowl? Now that’s just plain bad.
chic nouveau pauvre? Well, thanks for the heads up BackToTheBank! I guess it’s the Missouri hick in me showing through that I didn’t recognize a toilet bowl full of flowers on the front porch as the sign of sophistication and tres elegance that it clearly is–I guess that’s just another reason I’m still stuck in bitter renter hell instead of owning next door to a charred shell like decent folk!
“And a broken toilet bowl in which the Petersons once planted pansies adorns the porch.
Which sat next to the refrigerator, beer keg and indoor love seat near the tire swing on the front porch. You can’t hide money, when you got it flaunt it!
That just sounds like more of that edgy urban living that we’re expected to pay top dollar for.
I plant something else in my toilet bowl and it don’t smell like flowers and roses
But you don’t do this on the front porch.
At least I hope not, right?
As one neighbor realizes that competition is getting stiff, he returns fire with a classic decapitated-VW-bug-on-cinder-blocks potato garden.
And another neighbor enters the fray with an array of garden flowers encircled by old tractor tires.
lol…is this something like the “old stove on the front porch” fad that was going around in the 90s? I never got that.
–
Reality in Realty is a tough therapy when people got conditioned to using homes and condos as CAN’T LOOSE investment vehicles (I am not talking about the legitimate rental market).
Jas
“‘We don’t get emotional,’ Palmer said. ‘If the numbers work, we do it. If the numbers don’t work, we don’t do it.’”
here’s a number for ya.. “2″ .. a likely number of years property prices continue to slide as inventory increases. I bet you didn’t plug that number into your foolproof formula.
“‘A lot of this has to do with my illness,’ she said. ‘Sometimes it’s spend, spend, spend without a whole lot of thought.’”
My sister was married to a bipolar guy for 10 years. He was perfectly normal when it came to money. I know people are different, but this strikes me as another excuse to do whatever you want, blame it on the mental illness.
Like the one guy said the other day, everybody has just got sick, lost a grandmother, etc.
Honest… I ran out of gas. I, I had a flat tire. I didn’t have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn’t come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts. IT WASN’T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD. -Jake Blues
Dog ate my homework…
Dog ate my grandmother.
My grandmother bit me while I was still in the womb.
It’s part of the victim mentality that has become pervasive in western society.
It’s just another excuse. Even if she is actually “bipolar”, that doesn’t mean she’s consistently worthless all the time. Which seems to be the case.
Laundry, which Warner-Peterson chucked out of the house’s windows, is strewn across the lawn.
C’mon now, the yard is STILL littered with laundry they threw out the windows? What kind of crap is that? Even so, I’d think the neighbourhood brigade even could get out at night and dispose of that stuff. These people sound like real trash to me; the mental illness is just a bonus.
As I said earlier, MENTAL ILLNESS, supposed or real is a payable entitlement under ADA and social security. If you can’t get a free government check from being a “minority” or a victim, then you can get one for being “disabled”.
I know a person who is labeled “bi-polar”. She functions just fine. She gets a SS check for her “condition”.
I can get a free government check for being a “minority”? Who knew–where do I sign up?
“‘A lot of this has to do with my illness,’ she said. ‘Sometimes it’s spend, spend, spend without a whole lot of thought.’”
She can’t just toss her hands up and say “well, sometimes this just happens, what can I do, I’m ill?” I mean, she could make arrangements, re-organize who is in charge of the finances, put in some safety precautions. She had fair warning that she could behave like this.
People who act like victims, in this way, make it harder for people who really are in trouble and do need help.
Slim checking in from Tucson. Yesterday evening, I had yet another real estate conversation with one of the neighbors.
Thanks to this blog, I have all sorts of fun statistics to toss into these conversations, and they generally go like this:
Neighbor: “So and so is really fixing up the place, and, when they put it on the market, they’ll be asking [insert wishing price here].”
Me: “Good luck with that. Did you know that there’s a year’s supply of inventory here now?”
“Well, they were told that the house is worth [insert lofty amount here].”
“The house is only worth what someone else is willing to pay. That’s how markets work.”
I can’t say that I’ve convinced a lot of people that things are as bad as they are, but let’s just say that a lot of Kool-Aid is still on the menu here.
OTOH, they are more willing to listen to Slim-the-Bear than they were in ‘06 or ‘07.
Same story here in Florida. Most of the “good deals” are from banks instead of FB’s. Occasionally you will find a seller who inherited a house or bought long ago and is retiring and *can* sell for the same price that banks have it at. In non bubble locations like NW Pennsylvania, owners usually have no trouble selling their house since it’s affordable with a good selection for under $50,000. It’s those costing over $100k that sit for a while.
“The two said later that they had calculated how much each house would cost to renovate, how much they could later sell it for and how much they were prepared to spend.
Do tell??
that’s the thing about fixer-uppers.. you got about 6 months tops to fix and dump it.. profit margin is slim at best, a likely money-loser if the schedule gets screwed up, and it doesn’t work at all unless there’s a normal, active selling market to take it off your hands.
Oh yeah I know all that - I watch Flip This House! lol
It did work when house prices were rapidly going up. Now it’s idiocy unless you just want one to live in and get a good deal from a bank foreclosure.
Flipping houses was prior to the bubble the domain of contractors who already worked in the field and professional (cashflow positive) landlords. It was what you did to keep your crews busy. These folks had inside advantages and lower overhead than the flippers ever even dreamed of. (and they knew what they were doing and what stuff costs)
These folks had inside advantages and lower overhead than the flippers ever even dreamed of. (and they knew what they were doing and what stuff costs)
Yes.
But the RE scaminars conveniently omitted those trivial considerations.
“‘I think we’ve already hit the bottom, and most of the buyers know it,’ said Kevin Decker, a Realtor in Ocean City.”
Then how come your sales are falling apart if buyers believe we’re at bottom? Just a note folks…. This dimwitted used house salesman hails from one of the most bubbly areas on the east coast. Anywhere near Rehoboth/Ocean City is so VASTLY overbuilt that it will take a CAT5 hurricane to right the ship.
We might hit bottom at the end of the year. I base this on a graph of ARM resets - 2008 will have a ton of them, but not so many 2009 and beyond.
Might take a bit longer if resisting sellers are able to hold on to some semblance of control. Once we hit bottom we should stay there for a good long time - maybe 10-20 years.
Longer. The damage takes a while to take hold. Higher price areas with stronger hands don’t feel the effects for a while. The lag is about two years.
Hence the normal 7 yrs or so these things take to happen.
Plus the congress is taking action that should drag things out even more.
The peak was in 2005 to 2007. It took almost 10 years for prices to peak so I can see it taking almost 10 years to bottom. So the bottom may be around 2015. Although 2-3 years before bottom, prices should be reasonably good to the point that it’s cheaper to own than rent in most locations. Buying now is catching a falling knife!
This chart from credit suisse suggests resets will be occurring until 2011 or so- the second hump is from option arms
http://wallstreetexaminer.com/blogs/winter/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/reset.PNG
“The American dream is to own a home, but in reality some people should just have been renters.”
No problem. Some people just WERE renters. Us, for instance. And many of us will wholly own homes in the future, as opposed to the dreamers who will be renting some bank’s money for years and years and years.
“She said she receives treatment for her bipolar disorder with some symptoms of schizophrenia…”And a broken toilet bowl in which the Petersons once planted pansies adorns the porch. ‘I feel like I’ve moved to a third-world country,’ said Kristine Ryan, who lives across the street.”
Just a few more examples explaining why I hate having bald monkey neighbors. My closest neighbors are frogs. Frogs are hardly ever crazy and/or stupid.
Yes, but all the wine and croissants . . . who can take that?
True, true–the little guys have a hard time pouring the wine, what with the lack of opposable thumbs on their little green hands. Also, they sometimes get stuck to the glass by their wee amphibious sucker pad thingies and I have to pop them off with a chopstick.
I guess it’s true–everyone has their cross to bear.
“‘I think we’ve already hit the bottom, and most of the buyers know it,’ said Kevin Decker, a Realtor in Ocean City.” “In Worcester County, there are about 2,400 properties for sale. Of those, 2,000 are in Ocean City, said Rick Meehan, the resort’s mayor and a real estate agent.”
The town has been been in denial in the past, and obviously still in denial. Here are numbers for Ocean City, sorry I don’t know how to use tinyurls. You can see 1700 properties on the MLS and 24 settlements last month, yeah we have hit the bottom with a 70 month supply LOL
http://coastalassociationofrealtors.com/statistics/2008-home-sales/caroccc0208.pdf
‘If the numbers work, we do it. If the numbers don’t work, we don’t do it.’”
The numbers would probably work a whole lot better if you weren’t being suckered at an auction. More Learning Annex graduates calling themselves “Investors”.
Get ready for a BIG Fed bail out of property within the next 6 months. This morning, the Fed (with a wink from government and SEC) used a method to save Bear Stearns (deeply in trouble because of sub-prime) which has not been used since the great depression. They used a bank shill (J.P Morgan) to hand money to Bear Stearns and guaranteed that if things didn’t work out, the Fed would cover J. P Morgan’s losses. Another sticking plaster on a crack in the dyke where each day another crack appears. When, oh, when will the average American wake up and realize that the Fed and the SEC, etc, are not there to protect them - they are there to protect the big money guys on Wall Street. The Financial Gangsters. We are fast becoming a joke in the world with our credibility rating catching up to Nigeria. Of course, the confetti dollar is now toast, never again to regain it’s position as a strong currency. When street vendors in Bolivia and the ticket sellers in India refuse to take dollars, it shows the way things are going. Just as the the British pound was worth $4 to 1 pound about 50 or 60 years ago and is now $2 to 1 pound, the dollar will continue to shrink in value as the corrupt entities in government, the SEC, the Fed, etc, keep the printing press operating 24/7.
Amen dude. One bailout after another. These gangsters can always count on the printing press to save them. This country, like its currency, is a JOKE.
And meanwhile President Bush is doing his softshoe routine and sounds like he is begging and pleading for us to believe that all is well, everything is under control and those stimulus checks will really give us the boost we need to avoid the recession we’re already in.
Yeah, like that 300 bucks is really going to help.
Those “stimulus checks” will do NOTHING to pull the USA out of trouble. Much of that money will go to pay off credit card bills which are being used to pay for gas and groceries and for many FB’s who are topping up their mortgage payments. I just don’t understand why ANYONE would bother listening to anything Bush has to say anymore. Mind blowing…
So it’s a good idea to convert your dollars into euros or pounds and put that money into stocks/funds/bonds? Or is it ok to invest dollars but into foreign stocks instead of American stocks?
What im hearing is America wants to inflate their way out of their debt and start fresh. They will screw all the savers and investors holding our treasury bonds and dollars. No one will want to invest American dollars again.
I’ve always acted on the premise that one should follow the money. I’ve used that approach even when finding a place to live. I would rather live near Beverly Hills than South Central or, if in London, Hampstead rather than Whitechapel. Even though I was born there. Use whatever combination you like.
As far as currency is concerned, the safe haven is probably the Swiss Franc. That’s where the corrupt money goes. Corrupt covering a lot of ground in this instance as it would include tax avoidance money as opposed to tax evasion money. Back in the early 60’s, I did some work for a film production company which had a very successful movie franchise that was bringing in millions. And I do mean millions. The check was given to me by the company accountant after I finished my contract and I noticed it was a bank in Switzerland. Being young and dumb (in my 20’s) I deposited it in my local bank in London. Little did I know that the producer had nearly all of his money in Switzerland and, not being financially savvy, I didn’t know all I had to do was jump on a plane, fly there are cash the check. Instead, I ended up paying (in those days when in the UK you could pay 90% tax) 70% tax on the amount. My first experience at following the money.
In a mess such as we are seeing now, very few if any know the outcome. The Financial Gangsters of Wall Street are liars. The President is a liar. His financial advisor is one of the Financial Gangster Godfather’s of Wall Street (Paulson) and will do anything to save the Wall Street families. Bernanke I feel sorry for in a way. He is a victim of a con man called Mr. Magoo (aka Alan Greenspan). Then there are the so called “experts” on Comedy Shows like the CNBC Business Hour. Most are no better than people like Ben Stein - the actor who plays at being a financial genius. Even PBS misleads by having programs which include that clown who keeps telling everyone to buy property because that’s how he became rich. Had you followed his advice you would now be in deep Crapville. If you go into your bank, you will probably see a guy behind a big desk with a brass plaque stating” Financial Advisor. Chances are he was selling used cars a few years ago. We know most of the mortgage brokers were. The realtors are clones who have been trained like performing seals to quote the same old mantra, “Now is a good time to buy.” They are about as close to the Stepford Wives as you can get. Even gold is being manipulated just like oil. One thing is ALWAYS certain. The Piper will get paid.
So…..until the muddy waters clear, the only place to be is where the powerful put their money. Switzerland. As for 98% of the US population - tough sh*t. You are going to pay the bill via devalued currency and taxes.
hmm, that is interesting. I just read that the US $ dipped below the Swiss Franc today.
Having a Swiss bank account sounds very evil and glamourous. Is it easy to get one, or do you have to have a million dollars, or something?
Breton Woods fixed the value of the pound sterling at $4.03USD but the devaluation of 1949 set the value at $2.80 which stuck until 1967 when a second devaluation cut the value to $2.40.
Neighbors say the Petersons’ actions have turned them into prisoners in their own neighborhood.
OK, morons, get off you fat a$$e$ and pick up the laundry on the lawn. Paint the offensive graffiti. Throw the toilet bowl in the dumpster. Put out some effort, for Gawd’s sake.
Anyone taking bets that sometime in the near future we will be reading about the lavish bonuses Bear Sterns will pay it’s executives for saving the company ?
Is anyone on this house bubble blog buying a house? Are you getting a good deal in a non bubble location on a sub $50k house? Or are you catching a falling knife and don’t care or refuse to believe it?
If one wanted to buy a house, what states would be OK to buy a house today or this year? So far I have Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virgina, parts of the midwest.
Indiana, NE section.
LOL very funny. fuzzybear
You could buy a house in Southeast Pennsylvania this year if you want to ride down the market.
Or, maybe some desperate soul will accept a lowball and you’ll do OK. But prices are still inflated in the PHL metro.
Here’s my guess on the JPM deal to save Bear w FED help.
JPM will take everything of value out of Bear Sterns and replace it with all of their garbage. Then they will let the FED, ie you and me, take over the garbage of both companies.
Time to bring in the Fema trailers!
“March 14 (Bloomberg) — The collapse of the subprime mortgage market will lead to record losses for insurance companies, overtaking Hurricane Katrina, the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.
The amount of asset writedowns and credit losses reported by the industry has reached at least $38 billion, just short of the $41.1 billion in claims from Katrina, which killed more than 1,500 people and left more than half of New Orleans homeless in 2005, data compiled by Bloomberg show.”
http://tinyurl.com/yu647v
McGee’s Crossing is a pisshole outside of Benson, which is an even bigger pisshole.
Well its three o’clock. The PPT is going to need a double dose of Kool Aid to do its job today.
“‘It is impossible to buy a toaster that has a one-in-five chance of bursting into flames and burning down your house,’ said Phyllis Salowe-Kaye, New Jersey Citizen Action executive director.
How long did you look for this magic toaster? How many toaster ovens does it take to get out of a mortgagte?
Just takes one defective toaster, if you picked the right one, and then you can set the house on fire and be done with it.
Phyllis’ analogy is a bad one though. The loans these people got were just not suitable for the buyers, and they should have seen that if they hadn’t been ignorant or too lazy to read the paperwork.
Instead of saying it’s any other product “like a toaster”, we should say these loans for those people are like I bought a toaster for another inappropriate use, to heat my whole house all winter long — so what are the odds that I might, just might, burn out that toaster looooong before March arrives?
B… b… but, the salesman TOLD me I could heat my home with that toaster! Never mind all the paperswork and warnings on the box saying not to use it for that. Who’s at fault? Uh, besides me the stupid one, that is.
I think we could save a lot of time by simply hitting those 20% of buyers with a toaster. Is what I’m getting from this.
“The Falls Church News Press from Virginia. “There are no cars are Quite parked in the driveways of many new subdivision cul-de-sacs. ‘For Sale’ signs litter the yards in outlying areas of Fairfax and Prince William County.””
Huh, no mention of the crackdown on illegals?
“Waller said JLB will likely charge about $1,250 a month for a 1,000-square-foot unit. A letter to current condo owners calls the new concept a ‘luxury rental community.’”
I thought maybe the housing bust would mean that I would not have to hear the word “luxury” for a little while. Now it’s invading rentals? Oh boy.
I don’t know why this bothers me so much, but I am bored of “luxury”. No more luxury. Bring on the frugal, bring on the cheapskates, bring on the rock-bottom, two-bit misers.
Comment by ella:
“I thought maybe the housing bust would mean that I would not have to hear the word “luxury” for a little while.”
Agreed, or that all-time over-used phase of South Florida - “world-class”.
“phrase” not “phase
Hi people of course you think you know it all will guess what?!YOU DONT!I am her daughter.The neighbor from boston our always in our back yard and throwing rocks at our dogs because they were anoyed of the barking!Well guess what dogs bark! We talk, birds churp,ducks quack! It’s natural.So we called the cops and told them they were trespassing and they did’t do crap!My mom may be bipolar but she still loves us yeah okay she might go off the deep end but that does’nt change that she’s her.Every on has somthing wrong with them no one’s perfect.Like me I am adopted because my mother was kidnaped and forced meth and then she had me and I have Ceral Palsy but still doesn’t mean she doesn’t love me.Mommy can’t help that she has illness.If you were the one who’s house burned you would try to find surived object’s.I you would please please think about what I said!
hey you piece of sh!t back the bank back off if you knew how my dad is with money you would want my mom to hold it ya’ll just dont get it she is the way she is cause god made her that way and as said in the atical incorrectly she does not spend spend spend we use stuff till it is worn out our clothes till have hole’s in it when we grow out or them we stretch them and she is not phsyco she mentally ill /\ss h0[e