The Housing Bubble

The Bradenton Herald reports from Florida. “Thomas Wilson strolls through his Stoneybrook at Heritage Harbour neighborhood, pointing out the subtle signs of financial fallout. Windows with views of empty rooms. Weeds sprouting through once well-manicured lawns. Small, bright orange stickers on front doors, the tell-tale sign that the houses have been abandoned.”

“Just on Wilson’s street, Stone Harbour Loop, 16 foreclosure actions were filed last year. In the first three months of 2008, seven more were filed.”

“He’s angered by the aggressive lending and poor oversight that have landed thousands of families in the same predicament. ‘It’s just terrible what they’re doing to people here,’ Wilson says. ‘They’re killing America and they don’t even know what they’re doing.’”

“He and his wife closed on their $522,500 home in December 2005. Five months later, they were sued for foreclosure and are still fighting to save their home. Wilson, who is not currently making payments on the loan, acknowledges that the couple should have looked at the loan documents more carefully.”

“‘I didn’t read the papers,’ Wilson said.”

“‘I’m not trying to weasel out of anything. If I owe you $530,000 I’m going to pay it,’ says Wilson. ‘Make this loan work with $2,500 (payments) like you initially said. And everyone walks away a winner. If you can’t do that, let us out.’”

“Leslie McHugh and her husband, Sean, bought their 2,200-square-foot home on 123rd Place East in River Plantation about a month ago for $195,000. It was a steal, considering the previous owners had purchased the home for $358,000 less than three years ago, according to Manatee County property records.”

“Still, Leslie McHugh realizes that can cut both ways, depending on how long it takes stability to return to the neighborhood.”

“‘At this point, it hasn’t affected us because we got a great deal,’ she says. ‘But I guess when we go to sell our house, they factor in your neighbors’ homes to determine the value. I kind of feel we’re at the bottom of how bad it’s going to be.’”

“As far as Wilson is concerned, it couldn’t get much worse. ‘If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn’t be here,’ Wilson says.”

From CBS 4.com. “If you’re one of the thousands of South Florida residents who have bought a house in the past few years, a new study shows homeowners who bought their homes recently are most likely ‘upside down’ in their mortgages.”

“The study, from Zillow, showed homeowners who bought a house in the last year run a 71% chance your mortgage is upside down. If your home was bought in the last two years, the likelihood of your mortgage being upside down jumps to 77%.”

“But Joseph Castaneda, of Home Appraisals, Inc, believes the Zillow numbers may be underestimating the drop by counting only what is sold. ‘We’ve experienced a 20% drop in values over the past year. So if someone put down 20% or less, that equity has been wiped away,’ Castaneda away.”

“For homeowners like Adele Booza of Cutler Bay, the real estate collapse has forced her to make some difficult decisions. She and her husband were planning to move to South Carolina in November and put their home on the market.”

“The home sat on the market for four months and in that time, ‘No one came to see the house, ever. I was very surprised. Even in my listings that I had put up, I’d put the house was on the news and I though for sure I was going to get calls, and nothing,’ Adele said.”

“The news for sellers may not be improving much, as both appraisers CBS4 spoke with believe bigger price drops are on the horizon. For example, banks and developers are putting up homes for $80,000 that might be exactly the same as your home that should be worth $200,000, which is great news for buyers, but horrible news for owners.”

Nightly Business Report. “JEFF YASTINE, NBR CORRESPONDENT: ‘If the economic earthquake that’s hit the U.S. residential real estate market has an epicenter, it’s probably here — Cape Coral, Florida, which lies on the state’s west coast near Ft. Myers.’”

“Median sale prices are off more than 25 percent in the past two years. Realtor and market analyst Annette Barbaccia says the discounts of many individual properties are even more extreme. ‘We recently sold a house for $100,000 that is a year old. The owner paid $240,000 for it and the new owners got a great windfall.’”

The Miami Herald. “The hard numbers were sobering. It wasn’t just the stats — like 85 percent of our population can’t afford the area’s median-priced home — that were tough to swallow in the 82-page Workforce Housing Needs Assessment put out by FIU’s Metropolitan Center and released by the Greater Miami Chamber last week.”

“It was the projections, too. There were lots of tables but the bottom line is we’re a low-wage, service-oriented economy, and in 2015 we will still be one.”

“Yet we have luxury high-rise after luxury high-rise and more coming on line.”

The Orlando Sentinel. “The mantra is clear: Live where you work. Work where you play. Planners hope neighborhoods mixing homes and businesses are a solution for a Central Florida population expected to double to more than 7 million by 2050.”

“But newly converted urban dwellers, drawn from the suburbs by the allure of night life and amenities just a short jaunt away, are realizing city life comes at a price.”

“Their urban utopia can be a noisy place. Longtime residents are lodging complaints about the increase in traffic and noise. ‘One man’s wonderful music is another man’s absolute annoyance,’ said Mount Dora Mayor Melissa DeMarco.”

“Carrie and Karl Stairs, who live with their children in a historic building near the West End Trading Co. in Sanford, one of the clubs cited, say they are putting their home on the market because of all the changes.”

“Music from West End toned down after the arrests, but Stairs said there are still problems with traffic and patrons being loud and obnoxious after leaving. ‘The direction Sanford wants to go with their night life is one we don’t want to stick around for,’ Carrie Stairs said.”

The News Journal. “Like other types of property in the Daytona Beach area, beachside homes and condominiums experienced slower sales last year as the economy sputtered and adjustable-rate mortgages grew more expensive and harder to get.”

“Joe Palmer, a broker in Ormond Beach, isn’t hopeful. He characterized the local market as a ‘long roller-coaster ride down into hell’ with out-of-town buyers still reluctant to make a commitment because of the unsettled economy.”

“‘Unless they’re buying a primary residence, they’re very, very gun-shy,’ he said.”

“In late 2006, Palmer and a business partner tried selling fractional ownership shares in a cottage in Ormond-by-the-Sea but couldn’t find any buyers for monthly shares costing $20,000 to $30,000 each. Instead, they’re renting out the property in an effort to cover some of their carrying charges.”

“‘There are so many condo hotel units on the market, and some of them are only $60,000,’ he said. ‘That makes it hard to sell a traditional beachside home.’”

“William London, a Gainesville-based loan officer, said he chose an oceanfront home in Wilbur-by-the-Sea as a future retirement spot precisely because the area is relatively quiet and unpretentious.”

“‘I’m sure I have the smallest, ugliest house on the ocean,’ he said, referring to a two-bedroom, 1,100-square foot home he bought last month for $795,000, a markdown from an original asking price of $1.5 million. The sale price for the 63-year-old pink bungalow tucked into a 50-foot-wide lot also was $171,728 below its Volusia County tax assessment of $966,728.”

“Actually, London and his wife will continue spending many of their weekends in a much larger Harbor Village condo in Ponce Inlet they share with London’s brother. The Wilbur house will be rented out for the summer season, and the Londons will use it only during off-season periods. In 10 years or so, the couple hopes to retire to Wilbur.”

“London sold property in the Washington, D.C., area for 25 years, and continues to follow the real estate market in his banking job. He said soft real estate cycles tend to last five to seven years, so he thinks area prices will stay flat or decline for a few more years. At least 60 units in his Harbor Village complex are for sale, he noted, and some have been on the market for more than a year.”

“However, he decided to buy property this year because the Wilbur house had been deeply discounted by a new owner who wanted to liquidate an inheritance. ‘It was an opportunity that was too good to pass up,’ London said. ‘As that adage goes, they’re not making any more oceanfront.’”