April 30, 2008

It Is What Markets Do

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Realty Check, “I went up to Capitol Hill this morning because about 1,200 members of the National Association of Home Builders are taking their annual day of action up here. It couldn’t be more timely, as several bills are working their way through Congress to help builders and borrowers alike and to right the housing market.”

“I have to say I was a little curious as to how the builders would be received, given their bold move in February, when the association cut off all PAC money to Congressional members.”

“On the hill this morning, I asked NAHB Chairman and CEO Jerry Howard if he felt at all strange coming back up here to ask for help, after his association had made such a brash move. ‘The bottom line is–our members have felt that over the course of the last 4 or 5 years – Congress had totally ignored the housing industry …finally our guys said ‘enough is enough’ - they’re not doing anything for housing–why should we play the game if they’re not going to be playing the game,’ Howard said, pretty brashly himself.”

“And without my prompting: ‘We think we have access just by virtue of the fact that we are 15 percent of the GDP–we think that gives us access. This was our way of saying ‘we need more than access, we need action across a whole range of issues.’”

“What about the quid pro quo, I asked? ‘There is no quid pro quo,’ he argues. ‘There is the housing industry and there are a multitude of actions Congress can take to show their interest in the housing sector–they hadn’t done anything.’”

The Denver Post. “Protesters in pink pig suits hammed it up Tuesday morning outside the headquarters of MDC Holdings to oppose tax breaks for homebuilders. About 20 protesters demonstrated against the inclusion of tax relief for the industry within the Foreclosure Prevention Act, legislation initially intended to help struggling home owners.”

“The protesters also have targeted Toll Brothers, Lennar, KB Home and other large builders and plan a protest in Washington, D.C., as the House takes up the legislation, said Jacob Hay, a spokesman for the Laborers’ International Union of North America, which organized the action.”

“‘They are being greedy,’ Hay said. ‘They helped cause the mortgage crisis, and now they are going to Congress asking for a bailout.’”

“Reckless lending and building practices contributed to a housing bust that has cost the nation more than 350,000 construction jobs since 2007 and put 3 million homeowners at risk of foreclosure, Hay said.”

“HomeAmerican Mortgage, MDC’s lending arm, boosted the number of subprime loans it originated from 746 in 2005 to 2,233 in 2006, a 199 percent jump. During the same period, prime loans increased only 3.6 percent to 9,809.”

The Tampa Tribune. “Three new reports paint a gloomy picture of the Tampa Bay area’s housing market and signal more pain may be on the way for home sellers. Prices are down, sales are down and foreclosures are up.”

“‘If sellers remain stubborn on price, it will delay the recovery in home sales,’ said Chris Lafakis, an economist who covers Florida for Moody’s Economy.com.”

“Meanwhile, another report shows homeowners continue to have trouble paying their mortgages in Florida, where foreclosure filings nearly tripled compared with 2007, according to RealtyTrac.”

“Tampa Bay builders started construction on 1,277 single-family starts during the first quarter of 2008, down 43 percent from 2,240 homes during the same quarter last year. Single-family inventory, which comprises units under construction, finished vacant units and model homes, totaled 6,556 units at the end of the first quarter of 2008.”

“Even though the reports look gloomy, Lafakis said the bad news is needed. ‘It’s bad,’ he said. ‘But we just need to take our medicine and start recovering.’”

The BBC News. “House prices in the UK have recorded their first annual fall for 12 years, according to the Nationwide. Nationwide said the price falls reflected a weakening market which had been hit by ‘poor affordability and tighter financial market conditions.’”

“David Blanchflower, a member of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee which sets interest rates, said in a speech on Tuesday that house prices could fall by 30% over the next few years if interest rates were not cut.”

“He added: ‘I am not suggesting that such a drop will necessarily occur, but it may. Cutting interest rates now may help to prevent such a dramatic fall.’”

“But the fall in prices, down 1.8% over three months compared with the previous quarter, will be welcomed by some new buyers who have seen prices rocket up by 45% in the past five years.”

“‘Prices have been rising consistently in the last four of five years, so a bit of a fall is due. It is what markets do,’ said Peter Rollings, managing director of Marsh and Parsons Estate Agents.”

The Daily Mail. “A three million pound housing estate has been fenced off after all 20 properties failed to sell in two years. The three and four bedroom houses were on the market priced between £119,950 and £137,5000 but all are still empty.”

“And instead of being full of families, a six-foot barbed wire fence has been erected around the estate following attacks by vandals.”

“Natalie Hudson, 25, who lives nearby said: ‘They should knock them all down. All the kids smash the windows, and it’s been like that for about two years. They are an eyesore now, and just like shoe boxes. They stopped even putting glass back in the windows.’”

The Guardian. “Inside Track, the company that spearheaded the buy-to-let investment boom, is to go into administration. The demise of the firm, which once promised to show customers ‘how you could give up work and be a property millionaire instead,’ comes as buy-to-let mortgages dry up amid tumbling values for British new-build flats, Spanish apartments and Florida homes.”

“Inside Track blames the credit crunch for its collapse as banks tighten up on buy-to-let lending, effectively ending 100% loans. Profits for the group three years ago were as high as £12m, but internal management accounts for the nine months to January 31 this year show income of just £239,000, with a £97,000 loss in January alone.”

“Inside Track Seminars was set up in 2002. It specialised in holding ‘free workshops’ …lasting about two hours, these painted a world where anyone could become a ‘property millionaire.’ But it was a model that depended on a rising housing market.”

“Founder Jim Moore, who spoke at the early seminars before moving to Spain, told prospective investors they could ’start from scratch, live on easy street instead of struggling for a living.’

The Calgary Herald. “Alberta led the country with the biggest drop in resale housing activity in the first quarter of this year. The Canadian Real Estate Association says MLS sales in the province were down 30.5 per cent compared with the first quarter of 2007, new listings increased by 36.2 per cent.”

“As for sales, the data show it was the third consecutive quarterly decline since activity peaked in the second quarter last year. CREA president Cal Lindberg said it’s important to remember 2007 was a record year for MLS sales in Canada.”

“Marc Pinsonneault, senior economist with National Bank of Canada, said: ‘The upshot is that the seller’s market that had prevailed until the first half of 2007 has since clearly turned into a buyer’s market.’”

“‘Resale housing activity is trending lower in the four most active provinces,’ said CREA chief economist Gregory Klump. ‘Housing markets are becoming more balanced and price gains are becoming more modest as a result. This trend is forecast to continue as rising mortgage carrying costs and property taxes erode affordability.’”

From CBC.com. “Calgary’s rental vacancy rate has climbed to almost four per cent, in part due to the slow sales of both new and converted condos, says a group that represents landlords.”

“Almost 40 per cent of new condominium units built last year, as well as condo conversions that did not sell, are now being rented out, said Gerry Baxter, executive director of the Calgary Apartment Association.”

“‘The market is really restabilized and you know, right now it’s like a balanced market,’ said Baxter.”

The LA Times. “As foreclosures surge, lenders might be forced to acknowledge that far more of the mortgages they sold to investors were never written properly in the first place. That’s one analyst’s conclusion from the latest earnings disaster at Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation’s biggest mortgage lender.”

“One item that caught the eye of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. analyst Frederick Cannon was a $456-million provision to buy back flawed loans from the pools of home loans that backed mortgage-based securities.”

“Most of the sub-prime and other higher-risk loans that helped stoke the housing boom were put in those pools. As of March 31, the company had set aside $1 billion to buy back such botched loans, up from $430 million a year earlier.”

“At the peak of the housing boom, the company was lending $30 billion to $50 billion a month in new mortgages — many of them, like those throughout the industry, based on misstated earnings of borrowers.”

“‘So when they set aside $1 billion that’s a day’s worth of funding,’ said Robert Simpson, CEO of Investors Mortgage Asset Recovery Co. ‘I’m not sure that addresses what the real problem may be.’”

The Columbus Dispatch. “The cold wind blowing off Lake Erie was nothing compared to the frosty reception awaiting National City Corp. directors at the troubled bank’s annual shareholders meeting yesterday.”

“The bank, facing millions in losses from high-risk mortgages, accepted a $7 billion bailout last week led by New York firm Corsair Capital. The group will buy new National City stock for $5, further depressing share prices that have declined 80 percent since July. In the past four months, the stock’s dividend has dropped from 41 cents to a penny.”

“‘This is not the way you are supposed to run a bank,’ shareholder Howard A. Kline, 75, said after the meeting. Kline said he’s lost thousands of dollars on his National City stock. ‘It’s probably not going to be in my lifetime that the stock gets back to where it was,’ he said.”

“Kline said when he was younger, getting a home loan from National City was difficult. But in the past 10 years, management lowered lending standards to issue more high-risk, high-fee loans to people with poor credit.”

“Tom Gray of Concord, Ohio, blamed the bank’s move into subprime lending on former CEO David A. Daberko, who retired last year. He gave credit to Peter Raskind, who was named CEO in July and chairman in December, for facing the hostile crowd.”

“‘I think the music has stopped, and he’s standing there with no chair,’ said Gray, a 67-year-old former employee of the company.”

“One shareholder, speaking remotely from an auditorium separate from Raskind, scolded board members for failing to oversee Daberko, Raskind and other top officers.”

“‘This is a 163-year-old company and in three short years it was practically destroyed,’ said the shareholder, who didn’t give his name. ‘Managers didn’t have the foggiest idea what they were doing and the board stood by. Current top management is not going to get any smarter. Care to comment?’ he said to loud applause.”

The New York Times. “In early February, Congress gave beleaguered mortgage borrowers a rare cause for celebration. As part of the economic stimulus package, it passed rules intended to make it easier and less expensive for people to take out hefty loans in the nation’s costliest housing markets.”

“Instead, the effort to make it easier to get jumbo mortgages — loans over $417,000 — has yielded frustration and disillusionment.”

“Since the rules took effect April 1, many prospective borrowers and their mortgage brokers say the new loans are either not available or the rates are far higher than they expected. Relief, they say, has been replaced by grief.”

“The program ‘is so much of a failure that it’s really unbelievable,’ said Daniel M. Shlufman, president of the FCMC Mortgage Corporation. Mr. Shlufman likened Congress’s effort to ‘coming up with a vaccine to a terrible disease, and then not giving it to people, or making it too expensive.’”

“‘It’s a complete joke,’ said Jose Lemus, president of a mortgage brokerage firm in Santa Ana, Calif. He said a buyer in Southern California looking to borrow $417,000 would pay an interest rate of 5.75 percent, while someone borrowing slightly more for a conforming jumbo loan would pay an interest rate of 6.99 percent.”

“For a jumbo loan that is not conforming, the rate could be as low as 7.35 percent for someone with excellent credit, Mr. Lemus said, but the rate for someone with average credit could be as high as 9 percent. ‘It’s getting harder by the day,’ Mr. Lemus said.”

“An influential trade group of the nation’s largest financial institutions, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, recently made a key decision that some critics say has kept those rates from dropping. The association decided that loans above $417,000 — even those jumbo loans now considered by law as conforming — would not be eligible to participate in the ‘to be announced’ market.”

“Sean Davy, a managing director at the trade association, said that lumping the new loans in with the smaller conforming ones could have created enough uncertainty and instability to drive up rates on the conventional loans.”

“Some prospective borrowers, like Nathan Menaged, 29, are skeptical that things will change. Mr. Menaged, a marketing consultant, owes about $574,000 on his Brooklyn home. He makes monthly payments of $4,000.”

“‘I thought I had some good possibilities for getting into something more comfortable,’ Mr. Menaged said of the new rules, which he has been tracking with great hope since January. But the interest rates on them remain prohibitively high. If rates had fallen as he expected, he hoped to lower his monthly payments by $1,000 — money he wanted to pay for his daughter’s tuition.”

“‘It’s frustrating and it could become desperate if I don’t find an alternative in the near future,’ he said.”




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130 Comments »

Comment by Ben Jones
2008-04-30 11:29:44

‘Conforming loans carry a lower interest rate in part because lenders can package and sell those loans as mortgage-backed securities directly to either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac or to private investors who know that the housing finance agencies can buy them later. And some of those loans can be sold even before they are finalized because they qualify for the ‘to be announced’ market that allows fixed-rate mortgage-backed securities to be traded freely as interchangeable commodities.’

‘Because the rates have not fallen as Mr. Lemus and his customers had hoped, he has not processed a single loan under the new rules.’

Sorry Lemus, looks like the market is rejecting this paper. Fact is the GSE’s have to borrow this money and the markets know these prices are too high, IMO. Get out the resume and start looking at something besides the ’selling each other houses’ thing.

Comment by txchick57
2008-04-30 11:52:36

Be sure and see the Sedona realtor comments I put in the bits and buckets. That clown back in 1993 was constantly warning sellers to lower their prices if they wanted to sell (I got his dead tree newsletter back then). This hostile attitude toward buyers, who hold all the cards in this market now, just befuddles me.

Comment by exeter
2008-04-30 12:01:53

“This hostile attitude toward buyers, who hold all the cards in this market now, just befuddles me.”

Not me. It’s quite simple. Those who had sense enough not to commit financial suicide circa 2001-2007 are armed with facts that get between sellers and their fantasy wallet.

Comment by txchick57
2008-04-30 12:05:56

But realtors need transactions to make money. And yet they seem to be hostile toward the people who can make that happen.

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Comment by exeter
2008-04-30 12:08:53

But the tens of thousands of newly minted realtards juiced up on their own drug. There is much more than a paycheck in play for them.

 
Comment by Ben Jones
2008-04-30 12:15:13

‘Arizona’s peak housing market, in terms of sales and prices occurred July 2005- January of 2006 (about the same for the Verde Valley). A normal supply for the Phoenix area is about 30,000 homes. Currently, there are about 55,000 homes on the market in the phoenix area, 20,000 of which are currently vacant and unoccupied. Pollack estimates that currently, 106,000 homeowners and investors in the phoenix area are upside down in their homes, owing more on them than they are currently worth.’

‘There is only one factor which will matter in the 2008 Phoenix real estate market, Inventory and how much additional inventory debuts on the market in the coming year…The same can be said for the Sedona / Verde Valley real estate market.’

‘Due to the great amount of speculation which occurred during the boom years, additional inventory for Phoenix in 2008 is a completely unknown amount. Pollack estimates that the Phoenix area in 2008 could have anywhere from 30-50,000 extra housing units floating about in the market. Currently, the Phoenix Metro area has a 14 month supply of homes, which means it will take a over a year to sell all the homes currently on the market today (Sedona and the Verde Valley currently have a 23 month supply).’

‘Residential raw land prices have plunged on the peripheries of Phoenix. In fact, a few of the panel members said their companies were valuing some of their raw land holdings at zero dollars…because it will cost more dollars to develop the raw land than the individual lots can be sold for.’

Actually, last I heard the Verde Valley has a 3.5 year supply and Sedona’s raw land in sales was basically infinite.

 
Comment by JP
2008-04-30 12:22:41

But realtors need transactions to make money. And yet they seem to be hostile toward the people who can make that happen.

I have posted on this issue before, and I am equally befuddled. My conclusion is that: makes you aggressive, and continued hunger makes you stupid.

Eventually, some used-house salesman is going to come upon the brilliant idea that he should cater to buyers and then will make a fortune in commissions. His friends will see the strategy and copy it.

This assumes that they don’t all die of hunger first.

 
Comment by WhatOnceWas
2008-04-30 12:23:22

” Phoenix Metro area has a 14 month supply of homes, which means it will take a over a year to sell all the homes currently on the market today ”

Also based on the fact that not one more single house comes on the market…LoL , that probably won’t happen.

 
Comment by aqius
2008-04-30 12:42:52

realtors are pissed & hostile now because they are no longer in control of the transactions, and have gone from egotistical arrogance to insulting and goading potential clients into action.

only when they finally admit and accept that the last 6 years of real estate run-up was not normal & not ‘business as usual’, will they return to having the necessary polite & courteous attitude to their walking paychecks ….er I mean, buyers. but dont hold yer breathe waiting for it to happen soon.

example; I called yesterday inquiring about a repo house listed online, and got a hostile, surly agent with a curt attitude.

(if he had keep a civil tongue in his head he might have gotten to the point in my inquiry where I was considering purchasing THREE investment residences, but his hostility had me ending the convo. and of course the properties listed had the requisite ‘multiple offers’. HA … HA HAHAH>. yeah right. thats why they have been on market for 6 months AND remain so weeks later? liars !!! they just WILL NOT stop playing the same rigged game that got them into this mess, even when the public is aware of the deception.)

translation; the agents are pissed as hell they are no longer making huge commish off $300,00 units. now they HAVE to deal with the ‘bottom feeders’ offering much lower bids, with subsequent pay cuts IF the deal goes through. more work for less pay! oh well, they ought to just be thankful that they HAVE a white collar job, but it’ll take a few years of basic cable & folgers coffee for those egos to simmah down.

 
Comment by txchick57
2008-04-30 12:50:58

My friend today was called by a realtor about a house he looked at on Sunday. 600K in a Dallas exurb (don’t even get me started on that). The bitch called him and tried to goad him into a bidding war saying there were already two offers on the house. He started to hem and haw and then I removed the telephone receiver from his hand and replaced it in the cradle.

 
Comment by Lost In Utah
2008-04-30 13:03:09

That’s the way to deal with them, just hang up.

I wanted to buy a beautiful custom house in Colorado on 12 acres a couple of years ago, asking was $370k. I went and looked at it with the house salesperson. While looking around, I noticed a plaque with a PhD in Psychology. The place had minimal furnishings. I deduced it was a second home or spec home owned by a fairly affluent person. I asked the realtor, she wouldn’t tell me anything, nothing. I later talked to her about an offer of $280k, the place had been on the market for a year at that point, sitting empty. She was insulted and said she’d present a verbal offer, but she knew they wouldn’t take it. Nope, they’re insulted. I dropped it. I’m sure she talked to them, but she probably advised them against my offer.

I noticed an ad on Craigslist a few months ago, this is now about 2 years later, the couple had dropped the price to 250 and were doing a FSBO. Still no takers (it was kind of a white elephant, a straw bale in a more redneck area).

She cost herself and her sellers a sale. She prevented me from possibly getting into something I’d regret, though it was my kind of place. I’ll wait and watch it go down even more. She still sends me flyers advertising her POS overpriced houses. Attitude seems to be a requirement to pass the RE test.

 
Comment by jbunniii
2008-04-30 13:26:51

But the tens of thousands of newly minted realtards juiced up on their own drug. There is much more than a paycheck in play for them.

They drank their own urine!!

 
Comment by phillygal
2008-04-30 14:03:57

My conclusion is that: hunger makes you aggressive, and continued hunger makes you stupid.

How about stupidly aggressive?

The other day I saw a realtor guy I know at the local coffeeshop. I was trying to get to my car before he saw me, no luck. He noticed me, waved - and pounced! I had just gotten a polite “Hi REaltorman, how’s (wife)-” out my lips, when he told me about two units he had in a community he’d shown me a year or two ago.

I was being diplomatic but he just wouldn’t let up until I inched my way to my vehicle, squeezed in the door and slammed it shut. It’s a shame, I know his wife, she’s a nice lady.

 
Comment by bicoastal
2008-04-30 14:05:55

(it was kind of a white elephant, a straw bale in a more redneck area).

A straw bale house is so cool. One of my friends built one in New Mexico and he really loves it. I hope the house gets cheap enough for you to buy it.

 
Comment by txchick57
2008-04-30 14:42:31

Give me the listing. Seriously.

 
Comment by exeter
2008-04-30 15:40:34

I’d give ‘em a nickel for it.

 
 
 
Comment by Fuzzy Bear
2008-04-30 13:28:50

But realtors need transactions to make money. And yet they seem to be hostile toward the people who can make that happen.

That is a result of the boom era where the realtor was a mere order taker and did little to drum up business. The realization in todays market still has not hit home for the realtor who is still in denial. Then again, look at the educational levels of realtors whereas most only have a high school education.

 
Comment by Catherine
2008-04-30 13:54:27

We’ve been looking, semi-seriously at half a dozen places in Sedona. One realtor wrote me, “I don’t know why you won’t make an offer, it’s a great time to buy!”…um…seriously, this realtor hasn’t had a sell in two years. You’d think she’d wax my floors and wash my car twice a day to get an offer. I said I MAY consider an offer on one property, at about a 40% discount off the insane price. With many conditions. She said “they’d be insulted…he’s a doctor you know!”….
Ok, be an insulted doctor with no offers.
It’s hilarious.

Comment by NYCityBoy
2008-04-30 14:19:06

“seriously, this realtor hasn’t had a sell in two years. You’d think she’d wax my floors and wash my car twice a day to get an offer.”

She wouldn’t be waxing my floor. And I don’t own a car so she would be waxing twice as much.

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Comment by txchick57
2008-04-30 14:35:56

in time or square feet?

 
Comment by NYCityBoy
2008-04-30 15:19:14

Both!!!

 
 
 
Comment by bicoastal
2008-04-30 14:01:02

“This hostile attitude toward buyers, who hold all the cards in this market now, just befuddles me.”

I think it is a sad fact of human nature that people dislike those who see through them, the ones they cannot fool. Buyers these days are not chumps. Realtors don’t like to be vulnerable, found out. They’re like a student who came to dislike my husband because he was the only person who, while out walking our dog early in the morning, saw her doing the Walk of Shame.

Comment by NYCityBoy
2008-04-30 14:21:02

“Buyers these days are not chumps.”

Buyers were never chumps. How can you get 100% or 125% financing and be considered a chump? And to top it off they are now holding out for government money. Sounds like the buyers were always right on top of it.

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Comment by bicoastal
2008-04-30 15:11:54

“Buyers were never chumps. How can you get 100% or 125% financing and be considered a chump?”

How could you sign your mortgage papers without reading them, and not be a chump? How could you vastly overpay for a plywood shack 60 miles from where you work, and not be a chump? Unlike most of y’all, I still have some crumbs of sympathy for these folks, too (there but for the grace of God go I) but still. Most of ‘em are chumps.

 
Comment by NYCityBoy
2008-04-30 15:25:47

I still disagree. They were predatory borrowers.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by wjk
2008-04-30 11:34:11

According to the spreadsheets at the NewYorkFed site, 89% of all Alt-A mortgages (a market that is a step above the subprime market and is 50% bigger than the subprime market) are now underwater, meaning that the owners owe more than the house is worth! Wow! 89% of people with above-subprime mortgages owe more than the house is worth! And looking at my watch to get the correct time, by this time it’s probably all of them that are upside down!

Comment by Arizona Slim
2008-04-30 11:44:05

About the “more than 350,000 construction jobs” lost since ‘07: How many of them had been held by illegal immigrants?

Comment by turnoutthelights
2008-04-30 12:13:47

Slim, my guess is 50%. And since most were paid cash, their job really didn’t exist, did it?

Comment by llking
2008-04-30 12:57:21

there was an article on LasVegasNow reporter interviewing as many unemployed construction workers as possible. His finding was that 60-80% are illegal immigrants. Some are or already have gone back to Mexico.

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Comment by az_owner
2008-04-30 13:00:34

50%????

Try more like 99% of the semi- and unskilled labor positions.

Everyone except the guy who sat in the truck yakking on the cell phone with the AC running was a “guest worker” in the Phoenix building boom.

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Comment by turnoutthelights
2008-04-30 13:08:30

I live in the Central Valley, az. just seemed like around 50% or so as I watched job sites. As it is today though, almost nobody is working houses - the economic hole runs all the way to the border.

 
Comment by DinOR
2008-04-30 14:04:11

az_owner,

In the eyes of the “big shot builder” knocking down serious money like that they were ALL “guest workers”! Nothing pleases me more than to know these clowns will be forced into what little if any honest work they can find!

 
 
Comment by Vancouver realtor
2008-05-01 11:55:44

That is true. I am working as a Vancouver real estate agent so I have quite good survey about construction here in Canada. Immigrants were never such a big problem in Canada so maybe my point of view is different. But just try to imagine if all of them are gone and new construction boom will begin. Who is going to work for that money?

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Comment by caveat_emptor
2008-04-30 11:56:51

Got a link? That’s an amazing stat, if true.

 
Comment by hondje
2008-04-30 13:07:15

wjk,

Do you have a link to the spreadsheets at the NYFed site?

Thanks!

Comment by Jay_Huhman
2008-04-30 17:52:42

I could not fin the 89% number. Here is the link for Dec 2007 national figures: http://www.newyorkfed.org/regional/subprime.html

 
 
Comment by taxmeupthebooty
2008-04-30 15:13:57

WTF ???!!!!
repeat WTF ??? !!!
89%

 
 
Comment by EmperorNorton_II
2008-04-30 11:42:06

Day of the living dead…

“I went up to Capitol Hill this morning because about 1,200 members of the National Association of Home Builders are taking their annual day of action up here.”

Comment by aqius
2008-04-30 12:54:32

prior comment;
**** “I went up to Capitol Hill this morning because about 1,200 members of the National Association of Home Builders are taking their annual day of action up here.” ****

oh, thats just GREAT! that means DC had an additional 1,200 Ford F350 Dually Diesels clogging their streets, 1,200 more styrofoam coffee cups littering the gutters (w/cigarette butts), and 1,200 less Best Western rooms available as they all had to take their ’secretaries’ w/em on the bidness trip. on the company tab, of course.

cue the cell phone good ol boy group pics by the reflecting pool for the wife. and notify local EMS to be on alert for large influx of gut busting foul mouthed type-A high blood pressure heart attack candidates haunting the strip clubs after putting in a strenous 2 hrs browbeating anyone in earshot.

Comment by Lost In Utah
2008-04-30 13:17:20

So…aquis, you saying you don’t like these guys? LOL

Comment by DinOR
2008-04-30 14:09:17

aqius,

Well said! Besides, what could we as taxpayers POSSIBLY do for them that we haven’t already? You got’ yer MID, Cap Gains Exemption, prop. tax write off, new PMI write off etc. etc. We’ve done ‘nothing’ for them for the last 4 or 5 years? Can you think of any group that’s gotten MORE!?

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Comment by Gulfstream-sitter
2008-04-30 14:13:28

LOL……..pretty much describes every one of these “Masters of their own Little Universe (in their minds…)”

Bummer for them, that politicians “won’t stay bought”…..they are like a boat; a “Hole in the water you keep pouring money into”

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Comment by kevintx
2008-04-30 14:04:51

funny, day of action indeed. Congress has done nothing for the housing industry? Give me a break.

 
 
 
Comment by EmperorNorton_II
2008-04-30 11:44:30

Pigs protesting pork barrel political payoffs…

Priceless~

“Protesters in pink pig suits hammed it up Tuesday morning outside the headquarters of MDC Holdings to oppose tax breaks for homebuilders. About 20 protesters demonstrated against the inclusion of tax relief for the industry within the Foreclosure Prevention Act, legislation initially intended to help struggling home owners.”

Comment by DinOR
2008-04-30 14:12:12

Emperor,

I really have to applaud it! As bloggers we’ve definitely raised awareness but these guys are giving the “movement” a real world presence. I say more power to them! :)

 
 
Comment by jjinla
2008-04-30 11:44:35

“… Nathan Menaged, 29… hoped to lower his monthly payments by $1,000 — money he wanted to pay for his daughter’s tuition. It could become desperate if I don’t find an alternative in the near future,’ he said.”

Perish the thought! Public school for his kid?? Gasp!

Comment by mgnyc99
2008-04-30 11:53:23

Typical brooklyn yuppie bullshit

Comment by spike66
2008-04-30 12:27:50

“It could become desperate…”

Nope, desperate is no food, no water, bad health. You, schmuck, are just a disappointed wannabe.

Comment by DinOR
2008-04-30 14:17:03

spike66,

Well that and the fact that it’s something he probably should have thought about before signing on the dotted line? What have we here said for so long? Sure home ownership ‘can’ be a good thing but not when it comes at the expense of all of the other facets of your financial life!

If you’re starving your retirement accounts, putting nothing in savings and haven’t been out to eat for 6 months ( let alone taken a vacation ) then no, no, it isn’t worth it.

How many times have we said that?

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Comment by aNYCdj
2008-04-30 11:59:15

I’ll bet he has a guvmint job so there is no OT or advancement

Comment by Central Valley Guy
2008-04-30 12:20:44

A government job as a marketing manager (which it mentioned in the story)? That would kind of surprise me.

Comment by aNYCdj
2008-04-30 12:30:37

He could be marketing Electronic debit cards or formerly called food stamps to the under served population.

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Comment by aimeejd
2008-04-30 12:37:02

Don’t you know? Anything bad MUST somehow be the “gubmint’s” fault?

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Comment by Lost In Utah
2008-04-30 11:47:09

Interesting bunch of articles. The composite feeling for me is that things are falling apart, reminds me of the classic WB Yeats poem:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart;
the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.

Comment by Thomas
2008-04-30 12:56:55

And what rough beast, its time come ’round at last,
Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?

Comment by Hoz
2008-04-30 13:16:10

Surely some revelation is at hand

Comment by Faster Pussycat, Sell Sell
2008-04-30 13:26:51

Death by chocolate?

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Comment by Hoz
2008-04-30 14:02:41

I would like to die with a Toblerone in my mouth and one in my hand!

The chocolate cartel should be broken up! Forget about oil and grain cartels, the real pain is in chocolate. Waxy Hershey, Cadbuy’s has turned white, blech.

 
Comment by grubner
2008-04-30 15:03:07

I would like to die with a Toblerone in my mouth, a cigarette in my other hand and a cup of coffee on by my side.

I have long ago forsworn two of three.

 
Comment by Faster Pussycat, Sell Sell
2008-04-30 15:15:20

Your wish is my command: Scharffen Berger.

 
Comment by sagesse
2008-04-30 15:26:15

And Dove uses artificial flavor to compensate for lack of cocoa.

 
Comment by txchick57
2008-04-30 15:49:18

Meh. I’m surprised at you. No Vrhlona Equtorale?

 
Comment by Faster Pussycat, Sell Sell
2008-04-30 16:20:14

Yeah, I like that too but the supply is erratic. You need a failsafe fall back too. :-)

La maison du chocolat and Pierre Marcolini require full scale mortgages though.

 
Comment by txchick57
2008-04-30 18:21:44

Yes, I have the MDC book. Also Pierre Herme PH10 en Francais if you please. It isn’t enough just to bake, one must also be required to translate the recipe into Engilsh.

 
Comment by Faster Pussycat, Sell Sell
2008-04-30 18:39:09

I can translate the French for you, if you need any help.

And my translation of Italian cookbooks is good enough for cooking purposes if not terribly idiomatic.

 
 
 
 
Comment by spike66
2008-04-30 15:03:29

I’ll trade you Yeats for Auden:

I sit in one of the dives
On Fifty-second Street
Uncertain and afraid
As the clever hopes expire
Of a low dishonest decade:
Waves of anger and fear
Circulate over the bright
And darkened lands of the earth,
Obsessing our private lives;
The unmentionable odour of debt
Offends the September night.

Auden said death, not debt,but you get the drift.

Comment by Lost In Utah
2008-04-30 17:05:55

Spike, to H-E-doublehockeysticks with both of ‘em - you should see the piece of dino bone I found today!!!! What was the name of that auction place you mentioned the other day???

Comment by spike66
2008-04-30 20:21:20

Lost,
this is from Bloomberg re coprawhatever…why not contact them and see what they have to say about dino bones, let alone old sh22t?
Coprolite comes cheaper than other dinosaur fossils.
“Most people think of dino dung and think, `Why would I want to have that on my shelf?”’ said Thomas Lindgren, the Bonhams specialist in charge of the natural history sale. On the plus side, Lindgren said, the dung “no longer smells.’’
The seller is a Utah private collector who found the 5- and 7-inch, 2-pound specimens in the Morrison Formation, a layer of sedimentary rock dating back 150 million years, spanning several Western states and known for dinosaur fossils. To the untrained eye, coprolite resembles an ordinary rock.
“The appeal is that it’s from a dinosaur,’’ Lindgren said. “This is one of those items that strikes a curious nerve. It’s just a great conversation piece.’’

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Comment by Mo Money
2008-04-30 11:48:36

‘We think we have access just by virtue of the fact that we are 15 percent of the GDP–we think that gives us access. This was our way of saying ‘we need more than access, we need action across a whole range of issues.’”

Ah the delusions of grandeur and self importance. Had we not had an easy credit and bubble environment you would have never reached and should NOT have reached 15% of GDP. Congress spent 7 years looking the other way while you earned a fortune and you’re complaining the party ended ? Go away Frat boys and get real jobs.

Comment by exeter
2008-04-30 12:06:47

Those entrusted to run the country over the bubble years will forever be known as the most incompetent group of elected officials in history.

 
Comment by Ben Jones
2008-04-30 12:08:46

These guys have lost their minds. We have record vacancies, foreclosures, existing inventory, new inventory, homeownership rates and probably second homes. The tax code is already geared toward a housing bubble and he wants them to do something! Use more houses damn you!

Comment by turnoutthelights
2008-04-30 12:17:52

Like the commerical: “It’s my money and I want it!”
Poor bastards are acting like junkies when the dope runs out.

Comment by NoSingleOne
2008-04-30 14:49:55

They’re not poor bastards…they’re rich bastards.

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Comment by Mo Money
2008-04-30 12:20:14

1. Mortgage Interest Deduction up to 1 million so you can buy 2nd and third homes
2. Rental Property Depreciation and many other deductions.
3. $250/$500K 1 time Exemption on sale of home
4. Loan Points Deductible

What the hell else do these guys expect Congress to do ?

Comment by DinOR
2008-04-30 14:24:35

Mo Money,

(1) time Exemption?!

Try every other year! You only need “reside” ( which means have the renter leave the electric bill in your name ) for 2 years and a day before you qualify for the exemption. The problem with being “out west” is that people commute INSANE distances so just about anything is believable?

I can’t tell you how many people I knew that owned 5 homes and planned on selling one every 2 years. But you’re absolutely right. We’re just fresh out of hoops to jump through for these guys and as Ben points out, they’re so twisted and stupid they can’t even see it.

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Comment by Steve W
2008-04-30 12:24:31

“These guys have lost their minds.”

My thoughts exactly after reading the tripe spewing out of the collective mouths from the above links. Panic is settling in.

Comment by grumpy realist
2008-04-30 20:09:20

I think the next step is “government mandated price supports” for real estate.

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Comment by phillygal
2008-04-30 12:53:56

The NAHB is so yesterday. The National Association of Tent Makers will soon have all the clout on Capitol Hill.

Comment by Catherine
2008-04-30 13:56:12

good one…lol

 
Comment by Gulfstream-sitter
2008-04-30 14:22:39

I’m waiting for the Fibre Box Association to start a low-cost housing initiative.
Especially when you consider that your typical fibre board box has more national and international quality control standards than your typical McCrapbox house, circa 2000-2007.

 
 
Comment by joeyinCalif
2008-04-30 15:35:44

The NAHB figured they’d just cut off PAC money.. show ‘em who’s boss. Now, hat in hand, they come back begging.

this is gonna be fun to watch.. trying to imagine the degree of pain they will suffer will be an underestimate.. predicting the suprising directions from which it will come will be futile.. hell hath no fury like a politician scorned.

 
 
Comment by pressboardbox
2008-04-30 11:49:04

I just turned on the tv and saw Cramer jerking himself senseless about how high stocks were going to go. Is it possible to completely bypass reality for the sake of everyone’s gluttony and greed?

Comment by Ed G
2008-04-30 12:07:06

This is the same guy who pretty much said Bear Stearns was fine and wasn’t going to go bankrupt the Friday before they bought out for a song.

 
Comment by NoSingleOne
2008-04-30 13:00:34

Let the weak minds start their stock frenzy all over again…it’ll keep the commodities bubble from going haywire like the rest of the investment market.

I think there really is no safe place for money these days except in mattresses…but then Uncle Fed is reaching into that stash too with the rampant inflation. We need to have a serious stock AND commodities crash (just like we did in housing) to start seeing some much needed price deflation.

Comment by formerlahomeowner
2008-04-30 13:54:27

Why don’t we just nuke the entire globe if that’s what you want. You have to learn to play the game and stick with your guns. Asking for everything to crash is not the solution.

Disclaimer - I sold my house and invested in commodities/agriculture. It was just luck, no analysis required. So let them all crash.

Comment by bicoastal
2008-04-30 14:11:02

Why don’t we just nuke the entire globe if that’s what you want…

No one likes us, I don’t know why
We may not be perfect, but heaven knows we try,
But all around, even our old friends put us down,
Let’s drop the big one and see what happens…

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Comment by DinOR
2008-04-30 14:29:45

Wow! ( There’s a blast from the past, huh? )

How long has it been since any of you have seen a post like that? In case he hasn’t heard what was dropped ( through none of our… doing ) was an “anti-personnel bomb”. It killed all of the borrowers and lenders but left the homes standing. ( Although that can be arranged as well )

 
Comment by spike66
2008-04-30 16:20:48

Nice one. bicoastal, always loved Randy Newman.

 
 
Comment by NoSingleOne
2008-04-30 14:56:30

What’s wrong with having a REAL economy based on actual production of something of value, and not a fake economy based on Wall St.’s equity bubbles and endless speculation?

I hate to break it to you, but if Wall St. collapses, the world will not end. Putting patches on everything is just prolonging the pain for everyone and shifting the burden onto the next generations.

Sometimes you have to tear down a rotting house to the foundation in order to be able to put up one that is liveable.

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Comment by NoSingleOne
2008-04-30 15:39:13

Asking for everything to crash is not the solution.

Actually, from what I’ve read, it is the solution. Why do you think the Fed got so much flak for bailing out Bear Stearns? Letting the market correct itself is exactly what is needed here.

If you truly believe in free markets, then stop privatizing profits and socializing risk. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

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Comment by Ouro Verde
2008-04-30 11:50:52

“Tom Gray of Concord, Ohio, blamed the bank’s move into subprime lending on former CEO David A. Daberko, who retired last year.”

I bet this Daberko retired with a fat wallet, and all the fees went to his pension.

 
Comment by joeyinCalif
2008-04-30 11:57:21

“He added: ‘I am not suggesting that such a drop [house prices by 30%] will necessarily occur, but it may. Cutting interest rates now may help to prevent such a dramatic fall.’”

Yoo Hoo! Mr. Blanchflower! Over here.. here.. Across the Pond!

uh..we just tried that and it won’t work. You are doomed.

 
Comment by WT Economist
2008-04-30 12:00:00

“‘It’s frustrating and it could become desperate if I don’t find an alternative in the near future,’ he said.”

If Brooklyites with $575K mortgages are becomming desperate, how about those who bought for $1 million and have $900K mortgages? They aren’t any richer, they just bought later.

Comment by mgnyc99
2008-04-30 12:09:55

hey wt according to brownstoner everyone has a 3 million dollar home and has millions saved to avert any downturn or possible unemployment

the attitude of some of these brownstone bk types is nauseating

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2008-04-30 12:01:55

Is this “what markets do” when hints of a pause in further rate cuts are dropped?

Comment by txchick57
2008-04-30 12:03:18

Hey, don’t hate on that! Mama needs a new pair of shoes.

Comment by Faster Pussycat, Sell Sell
2008-04-30 12:31:50

Yeah, what she said.

Don’t be a hat3r!!!

 
Comment by Hoz
2008-04-30 13:21:52

This is bling day!

Bling, bling 13000, then poof the magic draws out the worst and everybody in the industry is caught like mice in cheesy traps. As the guillotine falls slicing open the wallets letting the dollars and Yen and Euros come tumbling into the hands that deserve them, a pitiless moan ekes from the streets of New York, “my god what have we done”.

 
Comment by Kim
2008-04-30 14:25:28

“Mama needs a new pair of shoes.”

I heard you’re putting diamonds on the soles of those shoes.

Thanks for the tip on SKF… donation is on its way to http://www.assisi.org/

Comment by txchick57
2008-04-30 14:29:22

thank you! The good juju will help you in the markets too.

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Comment by WT Economist
2008-04-30 12:11:37

You mean they aren’t going to zero?

 
Comment by tuxedo_junction
2008-04-30 12:51:43

I think the market was looking for a pause. No change in Fed Funds rate plus non-negative GDP could be viewed as “all economic problems are now behind us.” I think the cut reminded equity investors that the problems are just beginning to show up. When I was a lad construction (all kinds) and automotive manufacturing made up half of the economy. Say it’s now 35-40%. Still, with the decline in these two sectors the US can’t be doing well. Add in the huge amount of debt that’s not fully collectible plus higher commodity prices, then a severe recession is plausible (though not probable) to me.

 
Comment by Hoz
2008-04-30 13:51:56

No this is what markets do when the country has a good fiscal policy and does not rely on monetary policy alone.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=%5EBVSP

Comment by formerlahomeowner
2008-04-30 14:21:56

I hear ya. The US is not the center of the financial/economic universe anymore. Gotta go where the opportunities are.

Funny that not too long ago, Brazil and Latin America is like smallpox or ebola.

 
 
 
Comment by EmperorNorton_II
2008-04-30 12:07:03

Concentration Estate Camps

“A three million pound housing estate has been fenced off after all 20 properties failed to sell in two years. The three and four bedroom houses were on the market priced between £119,950 and £137,5000 but all are still empty.”

“And instead of being full of families, a six-foot barbed wire fence has been erected around the estate following attacks by vandals.”

Comment by Arizona Slim
2008-04-30 12:37:29

Take away the fencing, and the place still looks like a gulag.

 
 
Comment by yogurt
2008-04-30 12:37:09

“Marc Pinsonneault, senior economist with National Bank of Canada, said: ‘The upshot is that the seller’s market that had prevailed until the first half of 2007 has since clearly turned into a buyer’s market.’”

No it hasn’t. It won’t turn into a buyer’s market until buying is cheaper than renting. That’s when the buyer is getting a better deal from the sale than the seller.

 
Comment by snake charmer
2008-04-30 12:38:54

“Tampa Bay builders started construction on 1,277 single-family starts during the first quarter of 2008, down 43 percent from 2,240 homes during the same quarter last year.”
__________________________________

That would be 1,277 more than we need.

Comment by palmetto
2008-04-30 13:07:15

Testify, snake charmer. I just drove by Centex’s Hawk’s Point down here in Ruskin, which I’m sure is listed in that statistic. Buildin’, buildin’, buildin’. Not to mention two, count ‘em, TWO commercial developments practically side by side on Rte. 41. I’m pukin’ green, I’m tellin’ ya. And if you’re ever down this way, drive Apollo Beach Blvd. from one end to the other. It’s one of the sickest things you’ll ever see. Faux Key West style houses all jammed in next to each other and an entire row of fifteen tacky fourplex to condo conversions with two freestanding garages in front of each fourplex unit. Waterfront! BOO-YAH! But dang, I wouldn’t try to park in those garages, I’d have to be a contortionist.

 
 
Comment by housing hanky panky
2008-04-30 12:42:23

THAT ROSE, FANNIE MAE…… HOUSING BUBBLE parody

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7dq9pB_Tz8

Comment by Hoz
2008-04-30 13:07:52

I hope you switched to Mitsubishi bank.

Comment by housing hanky panky
2008-04-30 13:26:20

Hi there Hoz

how have you been?

Comment by Hoz
2008-04-30 13:43:31

I am on my mean and nasty pills. Come on since I recommended MTU the stock is up 37%. I told you to go there. But mais non you stuck with Sealy. Alas I despair for my Australian buddies.

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Comment by Muggy
2008-04-30 13:13:13

Do any of you Tampa Bay peeps live in the old NE? My friend is buying there and I am considering it. I have a feeling it might but a bit “edgy” for my tastes. I don’t really need a craftsman.

Comment by Muggy
2008-04-30 13:15:12

sorry, “but” should be “be”

 
 
Comment by Fuzzy Bear
2008-04-30 13:21:54

“‘If sellers remain stubborn on price, it will delay the recovery in home sales,’ said Chris Lafakis, an economist who covers Florida for Moody’s Economy.com.”

Part of the problem in the Tampa Bay area is the refusal of the homeowner to accept that home prices have declined. Inventory is climbing, foreclosures are increasing, unemployment is increasing, credit is tighting and inflation is sky high. What part of this economic picture do the sellers not understand? I think part of the problem is that the homeowner has drank the cool-aid by means of the advertisments that now is not a good time to buy, but a great time to buy. Therefore the homeowner based on these type of advertisments thinks their overpriced property will sell because it is a gret time to buy.

A typical example of a Tampa Bay homeowner was a young individual who I talked to last night at a local store. He and his wife want to buy a bigger place, but need to seel their house first. He paid $130K in 2000, received an appraisal for 289K two years ago, but now the property is worth about $150-$160k max. Add in his heloc that he maxed out and he owes $235K, thus being upside down.

Comment by bluprint
2008-04-30 14:12:14

The upside to this whole housing “debacle”, are these great stories. The stupidity of people never ceases to amaze me…

I mean, that guy thought it would be a good idea to take a bunch of money against his house. Lol.

 
Comment by Karen
2008-04-30 14:28:49

I remember back in the early part of the boom a lot of people were big into doing upgrades. Seemed like everyone was getting new kitchens, and wondering what luxury counter top to install. I’ve been wondering how those people are faring. Back in the days of the boom, updates must have added value. But with things going bust, those upgrades may lose value pretty quickly.

Also, it seems like people who did too much to their homes risk making their homes less appealing to most people. When I look at a home with an expensive new kitchen update, it’s usually a big minus because odds are it’s not my taste. When we sold our home, we didn’t do any updates. We sold it with the same old carpet. The same old kitchen. And I think that may have made it more appealing. The person who bought it looked at it as a blank slate they could work with.

Comment by DinOR
2008-04-30 14:44:11

….And, “if” you find a “blank slate” please let me know?

Exactly. Even if it WERE precisely to my liking, I’d simply use it for good ideas and then replicate it elsewhere for a fraction of what knucklehead paid as things ramped up! But that isn’t in keeping with “Cargo-ism” because everyone during the boom was being told you HAD to have it if you expected to “fetch top dollar” as that’s what the ’smart money’ was doing! That way the realtor used YOU to do the work and then THEY could jack up the price for THEIR commission.

My simple rule remains, don’t buy anything bought, built or re-fi’d during the boom. There’s just too many expectations built in?

Remodel the kitchen and it will pay for your kid’s college!

Comment by NoVa Sideliner
2008-05-01 12:24:17

Remodel the kitchen and it will pay for your kid’s college!

Or don’t remodel, and you’re able to pay for TWO kids’ college!

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Comment by measton
2008-04-30 13:25:16
 
Comment by need 2 leave ca
2008-04-30 13:35:34

I just had an observation/question. We have seen a lot of sob stories regarding people on some form of disability payments (and very low). What in the heck makes them think they are entitled to a big house with payments far exceeding their limited income (goes for anyone on limited income). These people (and not making judgment on whatever disability) should be minimizing living expenses, whether living with relatives, shared housing, etc. I just don’t get where people who don’t have $10 think they are entitled to some $500K property. My mind is just boggled at the thought. Some were taken advantage of, I agree. But many should have had enough judgment to know this sounds too good to be true.

Comment by NotInMontana
2008-04-30 14:07:56

People on SSD qualify for subsidies too. Section 8 might be not appealing in the cities but it’s not a bad deal here, just normal to middlin’ neighborhoods.

 
 
Comment by MacAttack
2008-04-30 13:35:53

Wow, here I thought Canada was special. Guess not.

 
Comment by need 2 leave ca
2008-04-30 13:37:17

Protesters in pink pig suits hammed it up Tuesday morning

Wish we would have had some big pits dug for these posers, a couple of apples to cram in their fat mouths, and plenty of charcoal. Can you say LUAU?

 
Comment by need 2 leave ca
2008-04-30 13:41:00

Protesters in pink pig suits hammed it up Tuesday morning

Reminds me of when I was visiting India. There was an open field. There was a cow on the right, a pig on the left, and a fire burning between. How I wanted to merge the three and have a BBQ.

 
Comment by need 2 leave ca
2008-04-30 13:43:33

As foreclosures surge, lenders might be forced to acknowledge that far more of the mortgages they sold to investors were never written properly in the first place.

MIGHT? MIGHT? MIGHT? The biggest moron should have been able to figure this out.

 
Comment by need 2 leave ca
2008-04-30 13:50:52

Perish the thought! Public school for his kid?? Gasp

Maybe Pubic school would be better for the daughter of this kind of an idiot?

 
Comment by renting till 2010
2008-04-30 14:54:35

I’ve been a lurker for a few years now. I truly appreciate this blog & all of the time & effort that Ben puts into it everyday. Things have definitely picked up steam in the last 6 months & it all seems to be unfolding exactly like everyone has said it would. So I am very confident that prices will continue to go down to where they should be.

However, I was curious if anyone has any insight on the last downturn and if some of the higher end neighborhoods were not as affected. For example, did prices in Beverly Hills go down that much or is there enough money per capita to support those prices. I have my eye on Hancock Park & it just doesn’t seem to budge, in fact it seems like prices are still going up. Do places like this come down last or is there enough money keeping it afloat to where it will just maintain and ride it out unscathed.

 
Comment by Olympiagal
2008-04-30 15:15:47

Mr. Menaged said of the new rules, which he has been tracking with great hope since January. But the interest rates on them remain prohibitively high. If rates had fallen as he expected, he hoped to lower his monthly payments by $1,000 — money he wanted to pay for his daughter’s tuition.”

“‘It’s frustrating and it could become desperate if I don’t find an alternative in the near future,’ he said.”

Oh, I just had a wild thought–maybe the daughter should apply for scholarships and/or grants and/or work her way through school, you know, get a JOB?! I had no help from my parents at ALL for college. A scholarship and 3 part time jobs for most of it. And yet I turned out to be this paragon of radiant health, responsibility, and civic-mindedness you see, or hear, before you. That, with the merry spitefulness and schadenfreude.

 
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