Land Is A Liability In California
The North County Times reports from California. “Homeowners in the new Shady Grove subdivision said Friday they were concerned that their upscale houses will plummet in value if the developer of the neighborhood is allowed to shrink the size of most of the homes that are still in the planning stages. Meanwhile, real estate industry analysts said the decision by KB Home to downsize the Shady Grove houses is just the latest example of a regional trend.”
“Shady Grove resident Mickie St. Pierre said that the 3,285-square-foot home she and her husband bought there cost more than $700,000 last year. After extensive upgrades, she estimated it would now be worth about $1 million, if the market recovered to where it was before the downturn.”
“While it is uncertain what effect the smaller houses would have on the value of existing homes in the development, St. Pierre said she cringes when she thinks about it.”
“‘You’re talking about homes right around the corner that would go for $300,000 or $400,000, so (ours) would probably go down into the $700,000s or $800,000s,’ she said. ‘It’s a huge loss.’”
“Nicole Dennison, president of the Shady Grove Homeowners Association, said she and her husband bought their ‘dream home’ at the hillside development last year, and that they were dismayed by the builder’s plans for plainer, cheaper homes.”
“‘I’d love to see KB Home stick it out and keep offering the original models they advertised,’ Dennison said. ‘I understand that it’s business, but they’ll cut the legs out from under the homeowners. (The owners) will never recoup what they’ve put into these houses.’”
“Alan Nevin, an analyst for real estate tracking firm MarketPointe, said Friday that the Shady Grove case ‘is not isolated at all.’ ‘We’re seeing it throughout Southern California, primarily in areas where the homes that were being built were much larger than the homes throughout the general neighborhood,’ Nevin said.”
“‘The reality is that firms like KB Home will probably wind up building those new (smaller) homes and making little, if any, profit, just to use up the lots,’ said Nevin. ‘In the world of publicly held builders, land is a liability, not an asset, so they try to remove themselves from heavy lot positions, and one of the ways they can do that is by downsizing their homes.’”
“‘Shortly after we moved in, they dropped the price of the homes, and we understood that. It was a hard pill to swallow, but that was the market,’ said St. Pierre. ‘The homes they’re proposing to put in, they’re all just boxes. They don’t have anything to offer as far as character or design.’”
“‘We’d like to see the values of our homes increase when the market increases, and not decrease because of KB Home’s decision to change the demographics of this community,’ she said. ‘We’ve all put a lot of money into our brand new homes —- for most everyone here, the investment is over a million dollars, and to turn more than 60 percent of this community into $300,000 homes … is not right, it’s not fair.’”
The Daily Pilot. “Bettershelter, a Costa Mesa developer dedicated to building affordable housing, opened the 1.7 Ocean condominium complex last summer on the Westside to help revitalize a sometimes blighted area. The first 10 units sold within a few months, but the last two, which are mostly identical to the others, have yet to change hands.”
“Earlier this year, bettershelter owners Steve Jones and Pete Zehnder advertised a ‘Live Free’ package in which residents could purchase the condominiums for $519,000 each and pay nothing for the first six months.”
“That offer got a few interested callers but no buyers — so, this week, bettershelter slashed the price to $499,000 and offered an additional $10,000 incentive for people who purchase the condos before April 15.”
“Zehnder said he suspects many people are waiting for the costs to bottom out. ‘I think they [home buyers] have a tendency to wait a little bit,’ he said. ‘These people are not experts. None of us are experts. But it’s a shame, because there’s really great deals out there and people sit on the sidelines, and by the time they decide to make their decision, everyone else is making a decision already.’”
“Jones, the association’s president, noted that a number of people have capitalized recently on falling home prices, even in such wealthy neighborhoods as Mesa Verde, and that he intended the latest discount at 1.7 Ocean to lure those who still needed an extra incentive.”
“‘That sort of deal would not have existed a year ago,’ Jones said.”
The Desert Sun. “The 48 homes sold last month are more than monthly sales the city (of Indio) has recorded in recent months, according to DataQuick. DataQuick’s analysis of the local housing market also reveals a total of 570 new and resale homes were sold valleywide last month. That’s down 29.6 percent from the same month last year but consistent with the past several months of desert sales.”
“The median price for the valley was $350,000 in February. In Indio, the median was $268,000 - a decline of 27 percent from the year before. The median price per square foot in the city was $156. Valleywide, it was $204.”
“With about 1,100 homes in foreclosure in Cathedral City limits, officials are considering implementing an ordinance requiring abandoned properties to be registered with the city and maintained.”
“The topic has brought Cathedral City’s Code Enforcement staff a barrage of complaints about abandoned homes and swimming pools, according to the report.”
“‘This can’t hurt us,’ Mayor Kathy DeRosa said about the ordinance. ‘I think this can help us to preserve and protect property values (for) those who have been able to keep their homes.’”
“‘This is something that’s going to continue as more properties go into foreclosure,’ Art Gregoire, a Realtor in Cathedral City, said Monday. ‘With the increasing numbers, something has to be done.’”
The Bakersfield Californian. “Leticia Avila’s blood pressure plummeted when she saw what partyers had done to her south Bakersfield home. The scene was all the more shocking to Avila because she had put the home up for sale only about a month before, and was living just a few blocks away when police and neighbors say a large, unruly party broke out at the house.”
“By the time police arrived to break it up, a young man had been beaten unconscious and two others were badly hurt. ‘It can’t continue like this,’ she said.”
“What’s new, local authorities and real estate people say, is that the troubled housing market has widened the selection of empty homes, and so the parties are taking place in nicer, larger homes in more affluent neighborhoods.”
“Other than keeping up lawns, making sure the property is secure and checking up on the home in person or through contacts with neighbors, real estate agents say there is little they can do to keep out partyers.”
“‘Every time I hear it on the news, I have to listen for the address to be sure it’s not one of our properties,’ said Janet Staat-Goedhart, a property manager at Karpe Real Estate.”
“Ultimately the owner of a property — a mortgage lender, in some cases — is responsible for what happens there, including making sure it does not become a nuisance.”
“Avila, owner of the home on Yellow Rose Court, said the efforts to date have been insufficient. Some of her frustration stems from the fact that she and her husband spent $650 and four days cleaning up the house after receiving a written warning from a city code enforcement officer that she had 48 hours to repair the property or face a fine.”
“She thinks the people who attend the parties, or their parents, should be forced to pay for the damage. She also wants the police to do more to catch the trespassers.”
“‘In a while,’ she said, partygoers ‘are going to do bigger things.’”
The Contra Costa Times. “Earlier this year, Eight Orchids was marketed as an upscale, Asian-influenced part of the revitalization of Oakland’s Chinatown. Developed by BayRock Residential, the 157-condominium project, priced the 770- to 1,645-square-feet homes starting at $550,888.”
“Now the developer will start auctioning 41 of those condominiums at $245,000 on Sunday.”
“In the 94607 ZIP code, four new homes sold ranging from a low of $374,000 to a high of $518,000, each most likely condominiums, according to DataQuick. On Trulia.com, a one-bedroom, one-bath resale condominium at Eight Orchids had an asking price of $349,888.”
“‘If these were exceptional properties in an exceptional location they would be selling like hotcakes,’ said DataQuick analyst Andrew LePage. ‘Although not much is selling like hotcakes these days.’”
The Sacramento Bee. “Less than a year ago when the first big foreclosed-home auction came to Sacramento’s Cal Expo, hundreds of bidders registered to buy 107 houses. Now, whenever Irvine auction giant Real Estate Disposition Corp. comes to town, there are almost four times that many.”
“Bidders will have a crack at 397 homes. And that’s just the Sacramento region. In total, more than 1,500 houses in Sacramento, Stockton, Merced, Fresno, San Jose and Oakland will go up for auction in April and early May.”
“That’s not the only distressed home auction in town next month. Auctioneers from Beverly Hills-based Kennedy Wilson will take bids for an Elk Grove condominium conversion project.”
“In November the auctioneer sold 34 units in the project. On April 20, it will sell 36 more in downtown Sacramento. Minimum selling prices at the former apartment complex that converted to condos at the height of the housing boom in 2005 – and priced units as high as $261,000 – are $85,000 to $145,000, says Kennedy Wilson.”
“What’s it all mean for the market? Experts talk about a forest fire clearing out the underbrush so the green grass of a healthier market can reappear. This is the forest fire.”
The Eureka Reporter. “The Humboldt County housing affordability index released by the Humboldt Association of Realtors this week, shows steady gains in the number of local residents who can afford to buy a home.”
“‘The figures just released for January 2008 show the highest percentages since May of 05,’ reported HAR President Tom Hiller.”
“According to an HAR news release, ‘The recent slowdown in the real estate market has created more buying strength for our local market. Those adjustments include steady inventory, softer prices and very good interest rates.’”
The LA Downtown News. “There have been a couple of articles in another publication during the last few weeks that have questioned the viability of the Downtown Los Angeles renaissance and housing market. We think that it is important to get all the facts out there and create a balanced picture of Downtown.”
“The real estate fundamentals of Downtown L.A. are impressive and bode well for our real estate values.”
“Downtown that is no longer a ‘9 to 5′ place…Babies and dogs are being walked by new residents on the streets of all our Downtown neighborhoods, creating a wonderful sense of community.”
“Eight thousand residential units have been built since the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance was passed and another 8,000 are being built now. We have been giving housing tours of Downtown twice every month for the last six years. We continue to be filled to capacity with more than 50 people per tour.”
“Has the market slowed for all of residential real estate during the last year? Yes. Are we doomed to a catastrophic decline in value in Downtown Los Angeles? No.”
“We say that any person who is planning to spend the next five or 10 years in Downtown should consider buying now. Even if the market were to go down in the short term, we are confident that the value will return over time.”
“After all, God has stopped making land in Southern California.”
You gotta wonder how much anyone has upstairs who would pay 700K plus for something built by KB Homes. They’re pure junk.
“With about 1,100 homes in foreclosure in Cathedral City limits, officials are considering implementing an ordinance requiring abandoned properties to be registered with the city and maintained.”
“The topic has brought Cathedral City’s Code Enforcement staff a barrage of complaints about abandoned homes and swimming pools,
Mosquito problem big time with stagnate pools,fountains etc, West Nile virus.
Little tidbit, apparently the Mosquito Board is having problems here in the valley…one of the head honchos is being investigated for watching porn on work pc. Other probs as well.
And as for the Indio figures, it will always be higher because those figures contain Coachella further down valley as well. And that is much lower income zone.
Sorry, I’m not registering. I’m tossing the keys to the bank. Go to Germany/Switzerland to find the responsible parties! What a lame way to run things. Put government liens on the property? Who cares? It will be years til property values return. You can sell in five years when the tax defaulted sales occur. hehehehehehehe
Pure junk - and then they want you to believe they did $300K in upgrades. Oh yeah, and it’s worth a million “if the market recovers to where it was before the downturn”. Good luck w/ the recovery Mickie.
“Shady Grove resident Mickie St. Pierre said that the 3,285-square-foot home she and her husband bought there cost more than $700,000 last year. After extensive upgrades, she estimated it would now be worth about $1 million, if the market recovered to where it was before the downturn.”
“After extensive upgrades, she estimated it would now be worth about $1 million, if the market recovered to where it was before the downturn.”
And I estimate that I can sell my 97 BMW with 160,000 miles on it for $42,000 if the market for it recovers to where it was when it was new.
“And I estimate that I can sell my 97 BMW with 160,000 miles on it for $42,000 if the market for it recovers to where it was when it was new. ”
Remember, they’re not making 97 Bimmers anymore!
I’d love to have my old 1972 2002 back.
Yes, Mickie, and if I only had a yacht, I’d have a million dollars and a yacht, if I had a million dollars.
Oh WAAAAAAAAAA I am so tired of frick’in So. Cal WHINERS. What a class A loser paying THAT much for KB home. C’mon they build entry/second level homes for god’s sake. Whatever. If I never have to hear another whine from underwater, ‘victimized” California home owners it won’t be too soon. Sorry I just have no patience today……
where is “Shady Grove”? It says “San Diego” on the KB website, but is it in what people think of when they say “San Diego” or is it like Manteca calling itself the “Bay Area”
where is “Shady Grove”? It says “San Diego” on the KB website,
In Fallbrook, about 40 miles north of San Diego, rural area, lots of avocado trees, close to Lawrence Welk’s trailor park.
OK, now that you mention it, definately sounds like Mickie’s house is worth 1 million … zimbabwe dollars
These houses are NOT close to anything (except the hwy). Can you say bum F@%k Egypt! The closest ’store’ is a Mobil gas station mini mart. Oohh they’re close to the 15….the east side in the San Luis River flood plain I might add and…..
Exactly right. KB Homes are ugly McBoxes with usually zero lot zones. They bought for $700K and upgraded to $1 million. They must have undergone a lobectomy before the purchase.
Is a lobectomy like a two in one vasectomy and lobotomy procedure?
Lobectomy means surgical excision of a lobe - usually the lung due to lung cancer. I guess it also makes you spend way too much on a KB crap box.
Definition
A lobectomy is the removal of a lobe of one of the organs, usually referring to the brain, the lung, or the liver.
It is more radical form of brain surgery compared to lobotomy. Next time, consult a medical dictionary rather than a regular dictionary
Or, as in this case, a lobectomy may be performed on one’s retirement account.
Surgeons use -ectomy and -otomy interchangably. It’s practically a personal preference, and god help you if you take it upon yourself to ot an ect, or ect an ot usage.
‘The homes they’re proposing to put in, they’re all just boxes. They don’t have anything to offer as far as character or design.’”
And you are telling us that your home, a KB track home, is more than a box and has plenty of character??!!
*snicker*
‘We’ve all put a lot of money into our brand new homes —- for most everyone here, the investment is over a million dollars, and to turn more than 60 percent of this community into $300,000 homes … is not right, it’s not fair.’”
What’s not fair and not right is how someone who stupidly paid $1M for their brand-new McMansion is horrified at the thought of living next door to someone who only paid $300K for something that is marginally less nice, as if the new folks are bound to be trash. To me, this seems not just hopelessly snobbish but downright unamerican. On our street, there are houses appraised from between $100K and $1M (just got the annual Town Report which contains the List of Taxpayers for every property) and everyone gets along. Imagine how boring, how stultifying it would be to live in a place where everyone has the same income and everyone and is exactly alike.
I hear you, bicoastal. You should visit San Jose. I’ve never met such a lot of unjustified SNOBS in my life. San Jose is ugly, and being a hard-drive engineer or whatever is a good job, but it’s not like being the freaking CEO of McDonald’s. When I moved into my (previous) rental house in San Jose, my next-door neighboor actually told us we were transients and that we would be living underneath the bridge in a year. Well, joke’s on him. We’ve spent less $$ on rent since 2005 than what we would have lost in depreciation over the same period, and we’re only in the bottom of the 3rd inning.
Life lesson here - it really isn’t that hard to spot insecurity. What type of people would greet their neighbors by calling them transients? Insecure people, that’s who, and insecure for good reason.
You also may want to take a drive and mark down good bridges to live under, and provide him that list.
LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought varied architecture increased a neighborhood’s value. It certainly is nicer to look at (or can be).
I wonder how the families in the newer, smaller houses will feel when the 3000+ ft. behemoths are divvied up into four or five apartments. They might be the ones complaining in a few years.
Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes made of ticky-tacky, Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes, all the same. There’s a green one and a pink one And a blue one and a yellow one And they’re all made out of ticky-tacky And they all look just the same.
TXchick57
I totally agree with you.:)
Half this thread eviscerates St Pierre’s views, without considering the ultimate opportunity for schadenfreude.
If she doesn’t want ‘just boxes’ around the corner, presumably she would prefer to see the same 3,285 sqft design as her own home built offered by KB for 300-400K on one of those lots.
Or possibly she wouldn’t.
“‘We’d like to see the values of our homes increase when the market increases, and not decrease because of KB Home’s decision to change the demographics of this community,’ she said. ‘We’ve all put a lot of money into our brand new homes —- for most everyone here, the investment is over a million dollars, and to turn more than 60 percent of this community into $300,000 homes … is not right, it’s not fair.’”
These people make me sick.
First of all the term “investment” is used here. So this guy is whining that he “invested” something (probably not much–mostly leveraged), and oops! after he made the investment conditions changed and caused it to be worth less.
This happens to me every month when some of the stocks I hold lose value. And I’ve never complained to a newspaper reporter that, for example, my PG&E stock dropped 20% in 2008.
What do these people want? If they want to be big-boy investors, they need to be prepared to lose.
It’s going to take some time for it to sink in that RE is not a no-lose situation.
As far as the smaller product being built by KB, this is exactly the way it went down in the early 90’s. I remember a Standard Pacific development in East Orange by where I used to live go through this same process. Once the market turned and the 4000sqf, 700K didn’t attract a sniff, they swithed to the 2200sqft, 275K type and the homeowners freaked! End result? Just a lot of pissed off homeowners who lost tons of money.
If the banks go back to real underwriting standards, the people who can afford the smaller tract houses may be the exact economic compatriots of the people who over extended themselves into the million buck Mcmansion.
Talk about irony…
If KB homes is smart enough to make the smaller homes energy-efficient, smart, and green, they might do really well with savvy young buyers.
What’s neat about a loser stock is that you can still sell it fast if you want to be rid of it. My brokerage, Fidelity, has a one-second guarantee, for instance. I bet a lot of FB home”owners” wish they had that!
That’s why folks like you and I buy homes to *live in*, don’t consider them ATMs, and invest elsewhere.
And besides, those smaller houses will help to justify an actual community around the development. Without those “small-fry” homedebtors, there would be very little demand for all the public and private services that most people appreciate having nearby.
“‘We’d like to see the values of our homes increase when the market increases, and not decrease because of KB Home’s decision to change the demographics of this community,’ she said. ‘We’ve all put a lot of money into our brand new homes —- for most everyone here, the investment is over a million dollars, and to turn more than 60 percent of this community into $300,000 homes … is not right, it’s not fair.’”
KB Homes is not changing the demographics of the community. It’s FBs all the way down.
Someone should point out to this person that not all neighborhoods are identical once you go a couple of blocks. Around my area, you can drive one mile and see a 3:1 ratio in the price of the typical house. And this is an old, established set of neighborhoods.
This babe needs to face the fact that she paid way too much for her house, and yet not enough - if you want a neighborhood where everyone is above average and the folks you consider below you on the class scale are not allowed, you need to pay up for a gated community in Bel Air or Hope Ranch or someplace like that. You don’t get that sort of exclusivity from KB Homes in a cookie-cutter subdivision.
“We’ve all put a lot of money into our brand new homes —- for most everyone here, the investment is over a million dollars”
Translation: We bought the house for $650,000 (putting $30,000) down, and we are making neg-am payments, but the builder threw in $30,000 worth of upgrades and we painted the dining room mocha tan, so the house should be worth $1 million now.
,’ she said. ‘We’ve all put a lot of money into our brand new homes —- on dollars, … is not right, it’s not fair.’”
HEY!…Sometimes the MAGIC works and sometimes it DOESN’T…Big Spender
New spec home been sitting empty for a year at 529K. Went to auction last fall. It’s on the corner of a very busy street. The original address is “the busy street”. It goes off the market about a month ago. Just reappears with a new address (the side street) for 549K +20K.
You gotta love it, that should do it.
Hmmmm, if you sign a sales contract for a nonlegal address, is the contract enforceable?
Usually the contracts have, in addition to the street address, a “legal decription” that describes the parcel in surveyor’s terms. But the R-E agent may be committing a fraud here. If you’re the type of person who likes to stir the pot, write a physical letter to the state R-E licensing board.
“The real estate fundamentals of Downtown L.A. are impressive and bode well for our real estate values.”
“Downtown that is no longer a ‘9 to 5′ place…Babies and dogs are being walked by new residents on the streets of all our Downtown neighborhoods, creating a wonderful sense of community.”
That’s a contradiction. At those prices, the only people who can afford to live there are rich yuppies. It will take a decline to allow a variety of people to live there, other than the rich and the homeless, and create a community.
“The real estate fundamentals of Downtown L.A. are impressive and bode well for our real estate values.”
That article is pure 100% PR propaganda BS. It is nothing more than a booster PR sheet put out by a DWTN business booster firm. sort of a chamber of commerce thing. I know dwtn and it is not all the hype depicted in this article. There are not baby strollers, dog walkings, parents with young kids taking walks all over dwtn. LA Dwtn appeals mainly to young hip yuppish singles or childless partners/ couples, business executives, and bohemian artists.
A few parts of dwtn down may be walkable districts but many are not. Especially after dark LA dwtn streets become the haunts of assorted deranged characters, homeless, roaming illegals, cruising gangstas, taggers, ect. Not a place for young families with kids . Maybe for adventurous urban pioneers and alternate lifestyle persons.
With city/ state budget shortfalls there will be less gov’t support and services to provide the ample dwtn security apparatus (mainly more bicycle/sidewalk beat cops & abundant lighting 24/7) needed to make dwtn a completely safe walkable district. La Dwtn will become even less safe and more seedy than it is now.
Now if they lower condo prices by 50% then they would get a hugh influx of buyers and really liven up dwtn. Nothing like a hugh mass of responsible stable decent-income folks suddenly able to buy affordable condos in dwtn to really give LA Central City the critical mass ownership population base needed to enliven what is still a pretty dead part of LA.
LA condos get down to average $300,000 by year 2009, guaranteed.
We went to a restaurant in downtown LA about a month ago, when we were visiting the kids. At 8 o’clock at night, I saw no strollers, babies or dogs, but did see plenty of bums…I mean, homeless people warming their hands around trashcan fires. I saw people sitting on the curbs who looked like they were nodding out. I saw people reclining in packing crates and sprawled on filthy mattresses. My mouth was literally hanging open in shock at how bad it was down there (much worse than the Lower East Side of NYC, where I lived before it was fashionable). I hit the doorlock. It was so scuzzy, I thought the GPS on the rental car was broken! When we arrived at the restaurant, my husband (a notorious cheapskate) valet-parked the car (!!!), that’s how scary it was in downtown LA after dark.
But the food was good.
That’s because NYC has gotten hard on homeless people just flopping down on private property to sleep/excrement etc. LA is now the metropolis of the bums where charities go feed them, and the law is lenient on them.
Also, there’s the fact that sleeping on the streets in LA winter weather beats doing the same thing in NYC by a fair bit.
“Shady Grove resident Mickie St. Pierre said that the 3,285-square-foot home she and her husband bought there cost more than $700,000 last year. After extensive upgrades, she estimated it would now be worth about $1 million, if the market recovered to where it was before the downturn.”
If. If. If.
If I had magical wings I could fly to Heaven and steal valuable golden harps from inattentive angels. But see, I don’t. So I can’t.
On the other hand, it’s probably for the best, as I don’t know how to play a harp.
Olympiagal - I put a link in the bits bucket about books you might be interested in.
Thanks, Vermontergal, I’m going to go look right now. Is it about harps?
No, it’s hideously boring but it will prevent any future entrapments via overloaded bookshelves.
I read your post and I was just appalled. Part with ANY of my books?! Including Jane Eyre?! Any of the copies? No WAY. I will just risk it, and if it comes to the worst, I will merely gnaw a limb off to escape.
I laughed when I read of your passion for Jane Eyre. I too had a fancy for that moody ninny Heathcliff, when I was a hormone laden teen Olympiagal. Jeeze, if there was ever a poster-child for Zoloft, he’d be it.
But on the other other hand, I didn’t know how to drive a snowmobile the first time I got on one, I just ran over and pushed Little Al– who is my brother, so it was okay, and also there was snow to cushion his fall– pushed him off and got on and gunned the thing. Did ignorance stop me? By heckfire, NO! It was a glorious ride, right up until the goat shed. But my point is, perhaps playing harps is like riding snowmobiles; you just have to dive right on into the thing and see how it goes.
We have that in common as well OG. My first attempt at driving a snowmobile ended about 6 seconds later with a broken arm, 32 stitches, and my friend had a concussion that nearly killed him.
I was 6 YO. Drove it through a fence.
I was 16 or 17 and I was so drunk I was blinking in and out of existence, like a quasar.* One minute standing there laughing in a snowy Utah orchard, the next minute standing on Altair 4 in my festive pompon hat grandma knitted for me, still laughing. This helped me drive better, because I skipped the scary parts, except, of course, for the goat shed. I scared the crap out of the goat shed.
6 seconds later for you?! That’s a lot of damage for only 6 seconds. I feel respectful, and also relieved that you can still type. I got a few scrapes and some frozen goat poop on me, was the extent. It was a giant snowmobile, the size of a Cylon raider, except squarish, so it also survived and went on to provide about 2 more years of fun times.
Anyway, I went howling through the orchards, whooping, and narrowly missed about a million apple trees with pointy twigs at eye level, and the icy canal, and a road or two, and then headed back for the farm, guided by the bonfire which someone had considerately lit and which could have been viewed from Mars, and that was when I discovered that I didn’t know how to stop snowmobiles.
But, all’s well that ends well! Except for the goat shed.
* What’s a quasar? Is it like one of those subatomic fast-moving shooting through matter things? That’s what I meant.
What’s a quasar? Is it like one of those subatomic fast-moving shooting through matter things? That’s what I meant.
I think you mean “neutrino”.
Or quark, perhaps.
(Olympiagal; “Quasar” is a contraction of “Quasi-Stellar Radio Object”. Current consensus is that they’re super-massive Black Holes eating a lot of matter at the centre of extremely distant galaxies. About as far from subatomic as it’s possible to get.
)
hehehe … i’ll continue
If only Kate Moss just returns my emails
If only Warren Buffett will manage my 401k
If only my 98 toyota doesn’t suddenly need 400. for new tires …
Blah blah blah .. SOrry Mickie, your f-d
Slip Sliding Away
Bernanke’s Next Big Bail Out Plan
http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney03292008.html
Good read and a good exposure of what the Feds are up to .
8 ft ceilings may come back
DUCK !
You would never be able to invite your new friend, the tall basketball player over for dinner. Is that a deal breaker for those avidly watching March Madness?
HAR!
That was just tooooooooo funny - 8′ ceilings!
You’re killing me - thank goodness I follow the golden rule:
Avert eyes when engorging face - a real screen spewer!
Eye leaking, belly button popping, toe nail flying laughter!
Leigh
“After all, God has stopped making land in Southern California.”
I thought that such cliches were begining to fade from the lexicon. Especially when you are talking about a downtown. Evertime a new highrise is built new “land” is created. In fact, if you were to take the density of Manhattan, you could actually fit Manhattan in the area of LAX and El Segundo. Yet the population living in Manhattan alone is near the entire city of LA, all 498.3 square miles of it (Manhattan Island is 22.7 square miles) The stupidity of these statements astounds me, like the silly realtor the other day that said San Diego would only get more expensive from here because of its “Manhattanization” absurd.
They have this new thing where they tear down SHORT buildings (where single families used to live )and put up very TALL ones (which hold lots of people, cars and offices) in their place. They’ve only just begun to try this approach in Southern CA.
Except that people in So Cal are far less attracted to that sort of thing. The paradasie appeal starts to fade a little with each new high rise.
These things develop over time. West L.A. between Westwood and Santa Monica was once SFHs — now it’s almost completely apartments. Same with Wilshire Blvd. between Westwood and Beverly Hills: residential towers now. Even the close-in burbs of Glendale and Pasadena have sold out their former small-town atmosphere for low-rise condo developments and smaller “mixed-use” developments.
But they forgot what increased density would do to the traffic… and the limited subway and commuter rail lines barely make a dent. L.A. driving commuters have progressively adjusted themselves to 40-, then 60-, then 90-, 120-minute commutes as they went further afield for affordable housing — but in the end, they found themselves paying half a million bucks to live in the freakin’ desert and spend 3 hours out of every workday sitting in their cars.
“After all, God has stopped making land in Southern California.”
———————————————————————-
And He stopped making toxic mortgages too. Thank God!
–
God never stopped making stupid people! (It was part of brilliant Creation).
It is easy for stupid people to survive in CA than in North Dakota, I suppose.
Jas
“We say that any person who is planning to spend the next five or 10 years in Downtown should consider buying now. Even if the market were to go down in the short term, we are confident that the value will return over time.”
The value was never there in the first place. Most of those urban pioneers, especially the one with children, will be gone as soon as they can find a way out. Downtown LA is still a miserable place to live, shop, or even visit, and I see no way it can get any better. Building new sports arenas and hotels is not going to do it. Until they can get rid of the bums, drug pushers, illegals and other problems like bad air, lack of parking, dirt, noise, and decay, why would anyone want to live there? Even many of the office jobs have left downtown for other cities and states. The question about downtown LA is: Why?
I’ve also read somewhere that downtown LA is the mother-of-all-crossroads for SoCal fault lines.
“Zehnder said he suspects many people are waiting for the costs to bottom out. ‘I think they [home buyers] have a tendency to wait a little bit,’ he said. ‘These people are not experts. None of us are experts. But it’s a shame, because there’s really great deals out there and people sit on the sidelines, and by the time they decide to make their decision, everyone else is making a decision already.’”
______________________________________________________
Nothing like convoluted logic to start the weekend off right. If I’m not an expert and you’re not an expert and I can’t find anyone else out there who is an expert, how can I go on living my life without the availability of expertise to help guide it? I am at a loss as to how to make a decision, but if everyone else is in the same position, how could they have made a decision already? Aren’t decisions like appetites? Always another one around the corner…
“…and by the time they decide to make their decision, everyone else is making a decision already.”
retarded tautology
maybe if I decline to make a decision now, when I finally do…say…a year from now…there will be even better deals?? is that how it works you lunatic??
“everyone else is making a decision already”
Like the decision to rent, you bonehead?
“‘We’d like to see the values of our homes increase when the market increases, and not decrease because of KB Home’s decision to change the demographics of this community,’ she said. ‘We’ve all put a lot of money into our brand new homes —- for most everyone here, the investment is over a million dollars, and to turn more than 60 percent of this community into $300,000 homes … is not right, it’s not fair.’”
Whhaaaaaa?
Can someone esplane this to me?
That whole section makes my head hurt too much to decipher it.
It’s called the attitude of entitlement
“What’s new, local authorities and real estate people say, is that the troubled housing market has widened the selection of empty homes, and so the parties are taking place in nicer, larger homes in more affluent neighborhoods.”
RE investing is Risky Business. Sounds like a nice setup for a floating call girl ring.
Slightly OT: Best political humor heard in current election cycle (on NPR’s All Things Considered last night), regarding the D-ratic campaigners, who supposedly “… couldn’t manage a bordello in a gold rush.”
“We say that any person who is planning to spend the next five or 10 years in Downtown should consider buying now. Even if the market were to go down in the short term, we are confident that the value will return over time.”
Why? Let me guess: Cuz real estate always goes up, in the long run?
Well, that, and the fact that downtown LA is turning into an urban showplace rivaling the 8th Arrondissement, midtown Manhattan, and Hong Kong. Better get in early before investment bankers, movie stars and corporate execs buy up all those condos.
‘We’ve all put a lot of money into our brand new homes —- for most everyone here, the investment is over a million dollars, and to turn more than 60 percent of this community into $300,000 homes … is not right, it’s not fair.’”
Hey Mickie -
Wait and see the kind of mean and nasty unfairness that’s headed for your little world.
Try vagrants and gangs taking over the houses around you. Try parts of your neighborhood going up in flames in the middle of the night. Try putting your investment on the market only to discover the market isn’t there any more, not even for $100,000.
And now for the million $$$ question - who told you life would be fair?
Why for the love of God would you buy a new home for $700K that you had to make “improvements” to ? And what are these awesome touches you just had to have that I’m expected to pay an additional $300K for ? You want to have the best tile, carpet and fixtures money can buy, fine, but I’m not paying extra for your delusions of grandeur.
Better yet, rip all of your crap out of there so I can buy it bare bones, decorate it to my taste, and not have to pay property taxes on your sh@t.
But it gets worse. You know those $300k homes they’re building? What you say if I told you they’re really ony worth $150k? No need to cry now, there, there.
Yes 300 to 400k homes. Why, those families under normal lending standards would have to earn 100 to 150k to qualify for the mtg. What low lives!!!!! The horror.
(/Sarcasm)
“Has the market slowed for all of residential real estate during the last year? Yes. Are we doomed to a catastrophic decline in value in Downtown Los Angeles? No.”
You earned a score of 50% on this quiz, Ms. Schatz. The correct answer to question #2 was “Yes.”
Just spoke with my brother (who is a loan broker in Orange County).
- The ‘Jumbo’ loan is very little help and fb who waited for the goverment to move forward with raising the loan limit are screwed
- If you are self employed and can’t document income - forget it.
and the best for last….
- FHA does not limit ‘how many incomes’ that are used to qualify!
He just got approval for 3 mexican families too purchase an OC home together!
besides that there are very, very, very few self-employed people who can’t “document their incomes” — this was such a lie from the beginning. It was meant as a loan for people who were tax dodgers and wrote everything off. Not for fictional income. If you’ve got tax receipts you’ve got documentation.
“No Doc” loans were originally (back in the 70 and 80s) for people who wanted to appear like they were making *less* than they actually were, not more! Back in the day, to get one, you’d put down a larger down payment (30%) and pay slightly higher interest rate for one.
Those Mexican families might be a little disappointed when the neighbors turn them in for violating local zoning restrictions. I just hope we’ll have enough $$ in our budget to actually enforce the law on folk like that. How do they enforce such laws, anyway? Do they take the house and sell it?
I would imagine they’ll start enforcing that one about the same time they enforce laws for dogs peeing on fire hydrants and gang bangers playing their stereos too loud.
Well, a multifamily Mexican clan tried to move in to a house in my old neighborhood, and people just about had a coniption fit. I don’t know if it was because of law enforcement (responding to about 25 angry households), but “la familia” disappeared one day without a trace. They left most of their stuff behind, including the chickens. Of course, they were renters, so it might have just been the landlord kicking them out. I think the public will insist on maintaining their “single-family neighborhood” status, I’m just not sure if the cops will be able to afford it.
They left most of their stuff behind, including the chickens.
Practical folk…
Judging by the number of 30 somethings still living with mom and dad… Its not just the mexicans. I know quite a few Asian families who bought into homes with multiple incomes.
Got Popcorn?
Neil
I had a young man try to fill out an application for my rent house today. Before he got the application he told me that it was going to be him, his wife, his baby, toddler, his mother, father, and his mother’s two brothers. I’m sure I was slack jawed. 8 people in an 850 sqft 3 bedroom 1 bath home. I told him that he didn’t even need to bother, that I wouldn’t allow that many occupants. At the very least I’m sure it would be a fire code violation.
Not far from where I last lived in L.A., some neighbors tried get some enforcement on some simple black-letter zoning violations. The zoning department took no action for months — until one neighbor’s car was torched in retaliation for the complaints.
That’s what it took to get the bums thrown out.
‘We’ve all put a lot of money into our brand new homes —- for most everyone here, the investment is over a million dollars, and to turn more than 60 percent of this community into $300,000 homes … is not right, it’s not fair.’
Serves you right for being a speculator, which in my opinion, certainly describes anyone who buys a house in a half-built “community.” You gambled and lost.
Also, I noticed that the journalist was too lazy to correct this woman’s error. She claimed that the owners had each paid over a million dollars for their houses plus improvements, whereas in reality it was probably all borrowed money, so they haven’t actually lost any of their own.
Yea, and one other thing. The “little people” spending $300k today probably have to meet higher standards (i.e., income, job stability, etc.) than the crackpot speculators who have spent $1M.
“In the world of publicly held builders, land is a liability, not an asset, so they try to remove themselves from heavy lot positions, and one of the ways they can do that is by downsizing their homes.”
Well, KB is not the ONLY company currently showcasing hip, urban, edgy, and downsized housing options:
http://tinyurl.com/3488eq
“I think they [home buyers] have a tendency to wait a little bit,” he said. “These people are not experts. None of us are experts. But it’s a shame, because there’s really great deals out there and people sit on the sidelines, and by the time they decide to make their decision, everyone else is making a decision already.”
This is easily the most incoherent quote I’ve read this week, except for the stuff on that timecube guy’s website.
How can he claim it’s a great time to buy if he’s not an expert ? More circular reasoning from the short bus crowd.
” None of us are experts.”
= “None of us has a crystal ball”
= predictions are impossible, rational arguments are invalid, so make your important buying decisions based on emotions — fear, greed, and envy (and make it easy for salespeople manipulate you).
Be sure to follow the link to the Bakersfield story, where you can see photographs of the vacant house where the illegal party took place. It’s one of the ugliest houses I’ve ever seen. It should arguably be torn down.
“Blood and spray paint stained her upstairs bedroom. Beer bottles littered the kitchen. Her fence had been partially torn down and many of her windows shattered.”
Yeah, but how much of that was there before the party? She might as well make the claim that the whole house turned to a crap-box after the party and see if the insurance company will bite.
BTW, WTF is up with that poplar tree (or whatever) arch over the door? Cut that thing down, and your house will go up in value at least $5,000!
See if her insurance company will bite? How much you want to bet the insurance company has no idea the house is VACANT? Vacant houses, for good reason, cost more to insure.
No disclosure, cancelled insurance, no payout…
Philadelphia Will Suspend Foreclosures Starting in April
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN2833879020080328
Karl Marx would be proud Komrades, down with filthy capitalism when it doesn’t suit you !
50% down in Philly for a property? Or will it become a cash-only business?
cash and all you can carry out the door
Sheriff John Green said he would halt sales of foreclosed properties in April and would seek a court order extending a moratorium for an unspecified period.
His action follows a nonbinding resolution passed unanimously by the Philadelphia City Council on Thursday calling on Green to stop the sales to give borrowers more time to seek a settlement that would prevent them from losing their homes.
How is this legal? A nonbinding agreement passed by City Council and enforced by the local Sherrif? Sorry guys, but I get the feeling that the banks’ lawyers are gonna win out on this one.
Brothers, come back and pay your mortgage. We all love you here.
‘The homes they’re proposing to put in, they’re all just boxes. They don’t have anything to offer as far as character or design.’”
As opposed to the grotesque, shoddily-constructed faux-everything Garage Mahals that this harridan overpaid for by several hundred thousand dollars, that has all the charm and character of one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces.
You jest baaaaaaaaaaaaaaby!
Have you seen Saddam’s palaces?
Woohooooooooooo!
Bling!
Leigh:)
Pulling your toes -
We say that any person who is planning to spend the next five or 10 years in Downtown should consider buying now.
Downtown has to be the most speculatively overpriced part of the city. The housing is priced as though downtown were already thoroughly gentrified and had all the amenities that someone paying half a million bucks or more is going to demand, but in reality its offerings are pretty thin compared with most other urban cores in the USA or indeed the world. Maybe 20 years from now it will be the really happening dynamic place that its boosters claim it already is, but why pay top dollar to live there NOW?
“Shady Grove resident Mickie St. Pierre said that the 3,285-square-foot home she and her husband bought there cost more than $700,000 last year. After extensive upgrades, she estimated it would now be worth about $1 million, if the market recovered to where it was before the downturn.”
Man, would I love to see the expression on this greedhead’s face (to the extent that her Botox allows) when the realities of the 2009 housing market penetrates her desperate attempts at denial. A million dollars? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Try about half that, Mickie, and a lot less once the “new demographic” the HOA is up in arms about settles in.
“Oh Mickie you’re so blind, you’re so blind you blow my mind, hey Mickie!”
“‘You’re talking about homes right around the corner that would go for $300,000 or $400,000, so (ours) would probably go down into the $700,000s or $800,000s,’ she said. ‘It’s a huge loss.’”
Yeah, and just wait till their sons start Jonesing around your daughters….
This country needs to start paying less for land and more for the actual house. The best way to do this IMV is to start taxing land a lot more and completely stop taxing the actual improvements.
This is called the “split tax” and is a major component of Georgism.
Why did they have to spend 300k on new home improvements . Was that landscaping or upgraded flooring or what ?
You can just hear it now:
“You Girls stay away from those boys on the other side of the development in those awful $300K houses. They’re not our kind of people my dears.”
I’m sure a country song could be written about this.
“I’ll park ma tractor-trailer
In yer mansion drive-a-way”
HAR!
Keep the…er…females away - meeeeow.
Mama bear,
Leigh
‘We’ve all put a lot of money into our brand new homes —- for most everyone here, the investment is over a million dollars, and to turn more than 60 percent of this community into $300,000 homes … is not right, it’s not fair.’”
Ah, but here’s the rub: “expenditure” does not equal “investment.” And here’s the really funny part: your $700,000 homes are going to be turning into $300,000 homes in another 12-18 months.
How could the reporter print that w/o checking the facts? I agree with you–it’s very doubtful anyone here “invested” anything more than 30K or so.
The reporter should have printed that quote followed by “Our reporters investigation showed Mr. Howmuchamonth invested only 30,000, not $1M as claimed”
But it’s a shame, because there’s really great deals out there and people sit on the sidelines, and by the time they decide to make their decision, everyone else is making a decision already.’”
True enough. By the time this vulture decides its worth my time to take wing and drift on the thermals, picking out the choicest carrion, some knife-catcher will be making a decision to stick his head in the oven….
Classic!
ROTFL
I want to buy the twice foreclosed home!
With today’s short attention span, we’ll have knife catchers for most of the year… then panic!
Got Popcorn?
Neil
“Leticia Avila’s blood pressure plummeted when she saw what partyers had done to her south Bakersfield home.
Whatever talentless scribbler wrote this article appears ignorant of basic physiology. Normally one’s blood pressure soars, not plummets, when confronted by the trashing of their house.
Yea, I could sure use a trashing of my house then.
“is not right, it’s not fair. (the decision for KB to build smaller homes)”
No lady, I’ll tell you what’s not right or fair — hobags like you driving up the price of houses with your option ARM loans, making it unaffordable for guys like me. But you don’t hear me crying about it.
“wealthy neighborhoods as Mesa Verde” (Costa Mesa)
Last time I checked, Mesa Verde had houses that, in a normal market, would be owned by someone with a slightly higher than median income in OC. Wealthy my ass.
I agree - Mesa Verde is no more appealing than the average neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. It’s not even the nicest section of Costa Mesa, which wouldn’t be saying that much even if it were.
Yep, even the east side of CM used to be the area where folks who couldn’t afford Newport Beach went. But now, who can afford the east side even?
“With about 1,100 homes in foreclosure in Cathedral City limits, officials are considering implementing an ordinance requiring abandoned properties to be registered with the city and maintained.”
————————————-
While I have no sympathy for the FBs, this (run-down properties owned by negligent lenders) is a legitimate complaint.
I’ve suggested that cities maintain the properties and bill the lenders for all the costs AND monthly fines. The city should get first-lien position for the amounts owed them, and if the lenders are truly concerned about minimizing their losses, they can start expediting their foreclosure process and get those homes on the market. The city ought to auction them off at a public auction after 6 months, though, just because it’s not a good idea to have homes sitting around empty for that long.
Just wanted to point out that there is a way taxpayers can BENEFIT from the “foreclosure crisis” instead of making all the prudent & responsible people pay for the stupidity of foolish lenders and over-encumbered borrowers.
“Bettershelter, a Costa Mesa developer dedicated to building affordable housing, opened the 1.7 Ocean condominium complex last summer on the Westside to help revitalize a sometimes blighted area. The first 10 units sold within a few months, but the last two, which are mostly identical to the others, have yet to change hands.”
“Earlier this year, bettershelter owners Steve Jones and Pete Zehnder advertised a ‘Live Free’ package in which residents could purchase the condominiums for $519,000 each and pay nothing for the first six months.”
In what universe is $519,000 considered “affordable”? At the point it falls by half or more, it becomes within reach of someone making somewhat above the median income for the area. Calling it “affordable” at current asking prices is absurd. You’d die financially if you take the current “Live Free” package.
“Avila, owner of the home on Yellow Rose Court…and her husband spent $650 and four days cleaning up the house after receiving a written warning from a city code enforcement officer that she had 48 hours to repair the property or face a fine.”
“She thinks the people who attend the parties, or their parents, should be forced to pay for the damage. She also wants the police to do more to catch the trespassers.”
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!
Let me get this straight, Mrs. Avila. You want local law enforcement, who are facing deep budget cuts due to plummeting revenues from property taxes among other things, to take responsibility for guarding your vacant houses. Yes, I’m sure with the rising tide of violent crime and shrinking budgets, the cops, many of whom are shut out of affordable housing because of greedy sellers like you, will make it their top priority to catch teenage partiers at your…I repeat, YOUR vacant and unwatched house.
And why is your house vacant? Because it’s overpriced. If it was priced right, i.e. what a creditworthy buyer willing to pay, not at your 2005 greedhead entitlement price, IT WOULD HAVE AN OWNER-OCCUPANT IN IT! How do punk teens know it’s vacant? Because you and your husband haven’t bothered to keep it up, which sends out an open invitation to the criminal element and party animals.
Here’s a reality check, Mrs. Avila: the people who trashed your house will be back. Any hope you had of getting your wish price is as trashed as your house is going to be (yeah, they’re not finished - color your copper plumbing gone). So here’s the best option you’ve got: clean it up, live in it while it’s on the market, and price it to sell - fast, because things are only going to get uglier. Let a responsible owner-occupant take it off your hands. Until then, though, take responsibility for your own damned house.
“Downtown that is no longer a ‘9 to 5′ place…Babies and dogs are being walked by new residents on the streets of all our Downtown neighborhoods, creating a wonderful sense of community.”
Ah, yes. Mothers and their anchor babies, and welfare queens with their little meal tickets, amble liesurely, waving to the drug dealers walking their pit bulls. No, wait, they’re waving them over to make a deal…pay no heed to Suzanne in her fishnets on the street corner, or what that homeless couple is doing behind those bushes….
“Downtown that is no longer a ‘9 to 5′ place…Babies and dogs are being walked ”
Yah, I bet she walks her dog down there !!
“Bettershelter, a Costa Mesa developer dedicated to building affordable housing, opened the 1.7 Ocean condominium complex last summer on the Westside to help revitalize a sometimes blighted area.
“Earlier this year, bettershelter owners Steve Jones and Pete Zehnder advertised a ‘Live Free’ package in which residents could purchase the condominiums for $519,000 each and pay nothing for the first six months.”
I’m just struggling a little bit with the juxtaposition of “affordable housing” and “$519,000″ in the above. Maybe it’s just me. Perhaps I should contact my local real estate agent and get educated on the totally new logic model that real estate operates off…
If you saw my earlier post, I had the same thought. I just can’t get my mind around “$519,000″ and “affordable” for a condo. I wouldn’t have considered this affordable at the peak of the bubble, much less 2 1/2 years after the peak with prices down 25 percent and continuing to fall.
“she estimated it would now be worth about $1 million, if the market recovered to where it was before the downturn.”
——————————-
Lets all dream about how rich we would be if all of us had sold a house in 2005.
Is it even possible for every house in the U.S. to sell in one year?
I didn’t think so.
“‘We’d like to see the values of our homes increase when the market increases,”
————————————————————
Translation:
Oh God, please give me just one more bubble!
Sounds like another retirement dream dashed of selling the CA house for over a million and living like a king in a cheaper area.
There’s an old Yiddish saying: אויב די באבע וואלט געהאט ביצים, וואלט זי געוועזן א זיידע. (If my Grandmother had balls, she would have been my grandfather.)
And of course, that’s the second fallacy! If all these FBs were smart enough to realize it’s time to cash out, the bubble would have just started to pop faster. It doesn’t take too much competition–especially in housing development where there are many identical homes–to drive house prices down!
Do you guys think it’s worth it to pay $139k for a 700 sq ft house in PB, very close to a busy street?
PB = Pacific Beach (in San Diego)
$139k for a SHF in PB? Of course it would be worth it. It’s hard for me to believe there is a house priced that low at the beach in SD. Condos aren’t even priced that low. There are no condos in PB under 300k.
It’s the minimum bid for a house that’s finally going to auction. I was just checking to see I’m crazy, or if that’s a reasonable price. $200/sq ft. Busy street.
No.
Was that a serious question? Is anyone here considering buying property in 2008? I’m not condemning…I’m just surprised.
I purchased a home in 2007. It wasn’t as good of a deal as I wanted but it was one of the best deals I found in 8 months of searching. I didn’t buy it as an investment I bought it to live in, and I put about 35 percent down so if I need to take a bloodletting to get out of it I can.
And why not? $139k is a house payment well under a thousand a month even with zero down. It would pencil out great as an investment property. If you put down 20% your payment would be $684 a month.
Check the sales history. If it’s above the year 2000 price or year 2000 price of comparable properties, I’d be very cautious. Noise issues (busy street) may not bother you, but it will be an issue for potential buyers should you sell some day. PB is an area where opening the windows would provide enough cooling during much of the warm season, but that option goes away if you have to close the windows because of noise. As for the small size, I’ve seen smaller houses in San Diego that have been expanded by adding a second level and looked decent once it was done. This might be an option if the current size is an issue. With the current slow down in construction, you might be able to get this done at a reasonable price if you don’t mind a period of disruption.
Good advice, SD Greg.
—
“Bakersfield City Councilman David Couch asked police earlier this month what could be done to crack down on the parties. He has since become convinced that only more police staffing money will solve the problem.
““We’re going to have to respond with many more officers and do many more arrests, which I am perfectly fine with,” Couch said. “But we as the City Council and the elected body have to realize that this is going to cost us more money.””
Just as the revenues would be declining sharply. It is going to get ugly with increasing crime and declining tax-base.
Jas
“‘I’d love to see KB Home stick it out and keep offering the original models they advertised,’ Dennison said. ‘I understand that it’s business, but they’ll cut the legs out from under the homeowners. (The owners) will never recoup what they’ve put into these houses.’”
LOL. As if KB gives a crap what happens to the homeowners.
I also think these greedy-specuvestor-homeowners are wrong! While I doubt KBs strategy will help, building homes that people can actually afford and buy may actually help the neighborhood in the long run.
What has me laughing out loud is these homeowners! Just because they put 30K down on a home that they once imagined to be worth “A MILLION DOLLARS” they think they’re some upper-crust blue-blood priviliged class that don’t deserve to live near mere peasants in 300K houses!
What’s WRONG with America and Americans?
It’s back to the “Debt is Wealth” belief. That’s what’s wrong with Americans.
This woman should just sell her house for whatever she can get and move to a neighborhood where 300K houses are the high end, not the low end.
If the FB’s in this thread is any indication……lots.
“What has me laughing out loud is these homeowners! Just because they put 30K down on a home that they once imagined to be worth “A MILLION DOLLARS” they think they’re some upper-crust blue-blood priviliged class that don’t deserve to live near mere peasants in 300K houses!”
And that’s what they forget! Those who can truly afford a $1,000,000 house have no desire to live next door to interest only/option arm rifraff greed and debt riddled posers.
The people who will be moving into the 300k houses are ABOVE them, not below.
“After all, God has stopped making land in Southern California.”
And 20% down payment requirements will stop making greater fools.
After all, God has stopped making land in Southern California.”
And I figure at least 90% of it is the vast, barren, God-forsaken wasteland called the Mohave desert where you can drive for over 100 miles and not see a building. They could build for the next 200 years and not fill it up.
My god, such disgusting snobbery. I guess human nature never changes. It’ not like they were going to build low-income slum housing there. Is there really a class of yuppies that ONLY wants to live in a rich yuppie bubble? Are they that precious?
You really can’t call them “Yuppies”. The “up” stands for Upwardly Mobile. These folks are more like Downies, because they’ve started with zero savings and are headed for a net-worth of negative $200,000 or more.
Our previous home (4,000 sq ft-too large for my taste, these days), was in a PUD. The SUV moms didn’t want renters outside our yuppie housing, to be zoned for K-6 in our PUD. They were changing the zoning, and all h*ell was breaking loose.They didn’t want their brats to be around lower income kids. I told one SUV mom, if she didn’t marry her doc husband, she would be a renter. PUD people are egomanic, self important a-holes.
I’ve lived in “Garage Mahal” (McMansions) almost all my married life, and its a glorified townhouse lifestyle, no matter the size of the home, or the size and location of the lot. Levitt Town is what they are, just packaged for conformists in the modern age. That’s why we want older,more land, fruit trees, etc… If I get a purple or pink house in the area, so be it. It is bad taste, but its the price of individual freedom. Something fading in this country.
Agree!
We would rather rent for the rest of our lives than live in an HOA-controlled, pink/beige-stucco box with all our too-close neighbors peering into our yard and house from their second-story windows. Just creepy.
A paint color can be easily changed— a bad design, not so easily. And at least a strange house color indicates lack of obnoxious HOAs.
Monday should be very interesting…
UBS to lower auction-rate securities’ values
http://www.reuters.com/article/gc06/idUSN2931357120080329
UBS is expected to inform clients through their online statements shortly, the paper said. The markdowns, which the Swiss company began making on Friday, will range from a few percentage points to more than 20 percent, the Journal said, citing a UBS broker.
Some people are going to be very upset that their conservative investments are facing 20 pt hits on Monday.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23853323/
I heard that Pres. Bush refied the White House with a Option neg am ARM loan and it is about to reset. Bush is concerned because his broker told him that when the payment rises he could just refi the loan and pull out more equity. Unfortunatly Bear Sterns sold the note to China and they won’t let him REFI. A chinese offical was quoted as saying,
“We have lost enough money in the US and we need that big White House to control all our new holdings in New Aramecca”
When asked what is “New Aramecca” the Chinese offical said,
Well you know how the stadiums sell out the naming rights to their stadiums to companies such as Enron? Well Bush sold OPEC the naming rights to the United States before all these loans started defaulting. But we have agreed to honer the agreement Bush made to OPEC.