It’s Truly Last Man Standing In California
The Daily Press reports from California. “Nearly three in four local homes sold in April were foreclosures, as prices of existing homes dipped 2.6 percent for the month, according to a new report. Among the 3,400 existing homes currently for sale in the Victor Valley, 279 homes sold in April, a 23 percent jump from March, according to Victor Valley MLS data complied by Larry Trombley of Century 21 Rose Realty.”
“Economist Al Gobar, who said people who are buying mistakenly believe prices have hit bottom. ‘I’m not sure the bottom is all that close,’ said Gobar. ‘I think with low interest rates and prices coming down people are coming back into the market, but I’m personally not convinced you’re going to get the best prices now.’”
“Also skeptical of whether this spring boom will continue is Jose Palafox, registered investment advisor with Starfox Financial Services. ‘As an investor I think real estate investments might be flat for a while.’”
“Palafox advised real estate investment if you make at least a 20 percent down payment to buy, an important cushion in case of market downturn so buyers would still have some equity. ‘Two years ago during the credit bubble if you were breathing you’d get a loan,’ he said. ‘Now there are more parameters. We’ve been telling our clients for two years real estate is a bad time, but you do need to find the right time for something to invest in.’”
“Though foreclosures may continue, according to Steve Johnson, director of Southern California for Metrostudy, prices are low in the Victor Valley, and it’s a good time to buy a house to live in rather than invest on.”
“Johnson thinks this buying season will wind down earlier than normal this summer. ‘I really don’t think the residential economy has legs to sustain a longer run, especially since the Inland Empire has seen 20,000 jobs lost relative to last year.’”
“From what she sees on the ground Caroll Yule, president of the Victor Valley Association of Realtors, thinks that the Victor Valley housing market is rebounding.”
“‘We’re very excited by the report, it couldn’t have gotten worse,’ said Yule. ‘It reflects what we are all feeling, activity has picked up. The significant problem of finding loans for buyers is keeping us from having a normal market … People were making good money in the credit bubble so nobody was worried and they kept making undocumented loans more and more casually.’”
From The Sun. “After weeks of being put through financial stress, PFF Bancorp’s stock got a reprieve Monday when Los Angeles investment banker B. Riley & Co. upgraded the stock to ‘neutral’ from ’sell.’”
“‘I don’t think there’s a whole lot further down the stock can go,” said Joseph Gladue, the analyst who made the upgrade on the Rancho Cucamonga-based bank’s stock. ‘Obviously, there’s still a risk. A stock in trouble can still go to zero.’”
“His choice of words - ‘in trouble’ - could be an understatement.”
“The market capitalization of the bank has fallen to $36.65 million in the past month. The stock closed at $1.62, which is more than 95 percent lower than it was valued in mid-2006.”
“Investors lost millions over the last month after PFF’s stock price started plunging because the bank announced it expects to report one of its largest-ever quarterly losses, totaling $159 million for its fourth quarter ending March 31.”
“PFF has also disclosed plans to restructure a $44 million loan with an unidentified commercial bank that it couldn’t repay by an April 30 deadline - an event that could have led to a default.”
“The bank also said a provision for loan and lease losses of $196 million is expected in the quarter. This provision is related to real-estate loans in the greater Inland Empire.”
The North County Times. “North County’s housing market continued to deteriorate in April, though at a much slower pace than in previous months. However, a tower of foreclosures still looms and threatens to send the market tumbling further, analysts say.”
“Though the median price ticked up slightly from March, that increase was probably the result of larger homes selling, because the median price per square footage dropped substantially —- 3 percent in one month to $247 per square foot, down 20.8 percent from a year ago, HomeDex reported.”
“It is possible for the median to increase while property values are declining.”
“April represented the strongest month for North County’s housing market so far this year, based on sales data. The greater numbers were driven by sales in Oceanside and Escondido, North County’s epicenters of foreclosure.”
“For example, Oceanside’s 92057 ZIP code, the northwest portion of the city, has led North County in foreclosure numbers. Its sales in April doubled from a year ago, from 30 to 60, and posted the most April sales of any North County ZIP code.”
“Of those sales, about 65 percent were bank-owned foreclosures. And roughly 10 percent were short sales.”
“‘If it’s not already here, I think hard-hit areas will be foreclosure-based. Foreclosures will not be the only thing on the market, but they will be the only thing selling,’ said Jim Klinge, a real estate agent based in Carlsbad. ‘If you’re a regular seller, there’s no way to compete. You can, but you have to drive the price down faster than the banks are, and most sellers are very resistant to that.’”
“‘Foreclosures are going up at a more and more rapid pace,’ said Christopher Thornberg, an economist with Beacon Economics. ‘We’re in the midst of this nasty little feedback cycle that keeps pushing things down, down, down. There’s nothing to indicate things are turning around.’”
“On the other side of the coin, some real estate agents see a nascent recovery in the housing market. ‘I’ve been saying for a few months now that we bottomed out toward the end of last year,’ said Jerry Kalman, a real estate agent specializing in Fallbrook.”
“But Kalman acknowledged that the looming foreclosures could mean turbulent times ahead. ‘It (foreclosure sales) has been putting downward pressure on prices, and I think it will continue to create a lower bottom in the market,’ Kalman said. ‘They haven’t gone away, for sure.’”
“North County’s housing market has frozen to the point where one builder is resorting to a sales promotion usually seen on late-night infomercials: buy one, get one free.”
“Starting this week, Michael Crews Development, a home builder based in Escondido, will toss in a free home with the purchase of another.”
“But wait, there’s more. The 4,000 square-foot homes in San Pasqual Valley include six-car garages and pools. With the purchase of a $1,599,900 home in San Pasqual comes a free $400,000, 2,000 square-foot home in downtown Escondido.”
“Some housing analysts wrote off the promotion as a gimmick. ‘It sounds like a certain degree of desperation to me,’ said James Hamilton, an economics professor at UC San Diego. ‘It’s a very unique situation where somebody might want to have two residences. But that’s targeting such a specialized market, and maybe that’s what they’re going for.’”
“Between the downtown Escondido project and the San Pasqual subdivision, Michael Crews Development has sold one house since January 2007.”
“Mark Connal, sales director for Michael Crews, said there is no desperation in the promotion and it is simply a way to try to sell two homes at once in a down market. ‘We’re saying we’re here to make deals. Would we have done this four years ago? No, they would have sold right away,’ Connal said. ‘It’s an effort to be realistic and move product.’”
“Still, the buy-one-get-one promotion is unprecedented, said Tracey Seslen, a real estate professor at the University of Southern California.”
“‘Builders and banks are getting desperate. They don’t want to have that inventory on their books for any amount of time,’ Seslen said. ‘The goal is just to sell, because having a house sell for $100,000 is $100,000 more than they would have otherwise.’”
“Connal said the free home deal is not subsidized by raising the price on the high-end homes in San Pasqual Valley. The last Michael Crews-built home in the gated community sold in December 2006 for $1.64 million —- without the free condo.”
The Recordnet. “Under different circumstances, David Coon wouldn’t mind checking in for jury duty. The Mantecan said he might even find it interesting if he wasn’t also trying to keep his small business afloat in hard times.”
“Summoned recently to the San Joaquin County Superior Court in downtown Stockton, Coon told a judge he couldn’t afford to be away from his family business, Covan Home Systems, more than a few days. His firm wires homes for alarms and sound systems.”
“‘If I had jury duty for the next couple of weeks, it would probably be our undoing,’ Coon said. ‘That’s how critical it is.’”
“He’s not alone. Attorneys who work at the downtown Stockton courthouse and rely on local residents to decide court cases say more potential jurors these days are begging out of their duty. They tell heartrending woes of losing their jobs and they fear home foreclosures.”
“This year, about 800 San Joaquin County homeowners each month received foreclosure notices. Attorneys describe jurors as the canary in the coal mine of the local economy, offering a glimpse into the tough times people are experiencing these days.”
“Ask San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Mark Ott, who recently picked a jury for a 21/2-month murder trial. Several people cited what Ott called ‘eye-opening’ financial hardships. That is a marked change from a trial just six months earlier, he said.”
“‘You think in your mind there’s no recession,’ Ott said. ‘Yeah, right.’”
“‘Times are tough,’ said Sam Behar, the San Joaquin County Deputy Public Defender, referring to the recent jury picked for his client’s trial. ‘You heard one story after the other. They said, ‘I just got a job, and if I sit here, I’ll lose it.’ Some people said they’re already losing their houses.’”
“For his part, Coon was quickly excused from jury duty…in the trial expected to run about 11 days. Coon has watched many competitors go out of business recently because so few new homes are going up.”
“‘It’s truly last man standing,’ Coon said. He doesn’t fear losing his own home, but he’s hopeful the economy will take an upturn in coming months.”
The Mercury News. “More than 1,000 California properties went up for sale in foreclosure auctions each weekday in April, a foreclosure data company said Tuesday. Last month’s foreclosure auction sales totaled 22,838 statewide, according to ForeclosureRadar. That’s an average of 1,038 sales for each business day in April, said company president Sean O’Toole.”
“In Santa Clara County, 500 properties were offered at foreclosure auctions in April, up 47 percent from March 2008, and up 585 percent from April 2007.”
“O’Toole said despite the fact that lenders are frequently offering big discounts at the courthouse-steps auctions, 98 percent of foreclosed properties in April failed to find buyers at auction, so the lenders had to take ownership.”
“Statewide, the average discount offered at auction was 25 percent off the value of the mortgage being foreclosed upon.”
The East Bay Business Times. “Lenders are adding foreclosed homes to the inventory of homes on their books 1.36 times faster than they can sell them, according to ForeclosureRadar.”
“Contra Costa County saw 1,793 notices of default in April, up 11 percent compared with March and a jump of 283 percent compared with April 2007. Alameda County, meanwhile, saw 1,506 notices of default, about flat compared with March but up 213 percent compared with March 2007.”
“‘We expected a significant increase in auction sales based on previous default patterns,’ said O’Toole. ‘Unfortunately the continued increase in defaults tell us that the worst is still ahead.’”
“More than 1,000 California properties went up for sale in foreclosure auctions each weekday in April, a foreclosure data company said Tuesday. Last month’s foreclosure auction sales totaled 22,838 statewide, according to ForeclosureRadar. That’s an average of 1,038 sales for each business day in April, said company president Sean O’Toole.”
Still not there yet…
I made an offer on a Ryan home. It was listed at 488K and my shortsale offer to the bank was 230K. The bank has now come back with 335K which it says is the appraised price. The houses in this Martinsburg, WV neighborhood have sold in the range 222K to 285K in the past 30-40 days. How do I convince the bank that appraisal price is not what houses sell for? And what do you suggest should be a reasonable offer to counter. I feel 250K tops.
Help please. The house is around 4000sq. ft. of 3 finished levels and the realtor in between says that since the house is new, has bump outs and the bank paid 488K, 335 is the lowest they can go.
just say no
will be more… for less… later.
Next!!
“From what she sees on the ground Caroll Yule, president of the Victor Valley Association of Realtors, thinks that the Victor Valley housing market is rebounding
You can hire Spielberg and Dryfess, spread twinkle lights from one end of old George AFB to the other end and play weird music all night long.
“They” might come but even those kind of Aliens aren’t DUMB ENOUGH to BUT in Victor Valley Caroll
Yikes “BUY”…for dumb here
“From what she sees on the ground Caroll Yule, president of the Victor Valley Association of Realtors, thinks that the Victor Valley housing market is rebounding.”
Somebody throw a treat to the trained seal !
Let them try to sell it at that price. Come back with your original offer again in 6 weeks.
My preferred method is to tell them: Glad you think you can sell it at that price, because I’m thinking that my current offer is already too high.
It puts them on notice that you are going to lower your offer next time.
Ug. I just saw that you are talking about West Virginia. (Is there even a martinsburg in CA?)
In that case, just walk. Declines in WV are just beginning! (I’m in the DC area.)
Bank will go as low as they have to go to sell the house. Patience is the key right now. Let the banks sweat it out for another couple of months and come back sightly lower than your previous offer.
It’s all about who’s best interest it is. Do you HAVE to buy that house? NO! Dose the bank HAVE to sell that house? YES! Now ask yourself “who’s best interest was that again”?
realtor in between says that since the house is new, has bump outs and the bank paid 488K, 335 is the lowest they can go.
Translation: “Blah Blah Blah..”
First, I don’t know anything about your market…but I will say this…
1.) You sound emotionally involved, don’t be…
2.) Unless the Realtor is receiving a W-2 at the end of the year from the bank he doesn’t have a clue about what the bank will do…why? because the person he is is getting his information from within the bank doesn’t know on a day to day basis yesterdays taboo could be today’s order of business
3.) Why chase your tail trying to convince the bank of anything the longer they can string you along they feel the more you will pay eventually…
4.) Offer what it’s worth, give a deadline for response, if it doesn’t work go look at the R.E.O. down the block and make an offer on that one for less then what you offered on the one you liked…
A reasonable counter-offer is what you feel it’s worth if you feel it’s worth 250k and want to offer that then offer it…if they don’t take it fine…in a few months they’ll call and see if your still interested tell them yes at $200k or less…
People need to understand that the banks are not the ones in control…they have to get rid of that stuff and they can only be coy for so long…someone posted here that one should be interested when they offer free shipping…he’s right…
The trouble is, the average ‘guy’ doesn’t know sh-t, and is relying on the realtwhores. Poor bastards!! hehehehehehe
When selling in a down market take the first offer and move on.
When buying in a down market, NEVER..NEVER..NEVER take the first offer.
I don’t know why or when people lost the will to get the best price. When I was a kid learned early on from a used car salesman that owned and antique store that the quoted price is never the drop dead price from a salesman. The price is always marked up so people can feel good about negotiating a deal. Somewhere along the line sheeple starting paying the first price and low and behold…Apple seems to always have a supply problem that perpetually keeps prices high for the sheeple to pay. SUCKERS.
Anytime anyone tells you it’s the “lowest they can go”, hold out your hand and say “thanks, but no thanks”. Also there seems to be a hint of desperation/panic coming from your post. C’mon!! Snap out of it!! it’s not even vulture time yet. You want to be caught up in the knife-catcher stupidity that’s unfoilding right now? Remember, your the one wearing the JT strap-on, which means you will get what you want or else!
yah really need 4,000 sq feet? as mom says: it’s not a deal if you don’t need it.
Offer $244k. If the bank is right and the house is worth more, then someone else will buy it. If you are right, then the bank will sit there for a while before calling you back.
Hmmm, whats the interest rate? I assume you are going for 15-30 year fixed. A 30 year mortgage at 3-4% you could go up some on the price. Zero down. Why should you assume the risk (ahhh, fact) of price drops?
Tell them the house has cooties….this is your final offer
I’m having trouble wrapping my brain around a six-figure house in West Virginia, let alone one “appraised” at $300k+.
IMO…the worst thing to do is fall in love with that house. Just go back and offer a couple thousand more. The appraised value is full retail price. That house is distressed, ie: probably has unknown plumbing and electrical problems that the bank cannot disclose since they do not know about, the landscaping is not tip top shape, use your imagination!
Don’t fall in love…this is business! There will be other homes, homes are like the city bus. If you miss one, there will be another down the road in ten minutes.
The appraised value is probably last year’s retail price. The fact that the bank uses the appraised price as what “they can’t go below” indicates that they are lying about what they can and cannot do. The fact that you made an offer on a house that you did not reasearch indicates that you are in a hurry to hurt yourself.
Appraisals don’t mean nothin’. Appraised by who? go back with data showing a) the trend of prices dropping (and continuing to drop) and b) what equivalent houses in the area have sold for within a month (don’t look at the offered selling prices, all of which should be labeled “wishful thinking by twerps who don’t want to admit reality.”)
Yeah, and walk. Tell them politely that it’s too bad that the two of you weren’t able to come to an agreement, and if in the future they’re ever interested at discussing a sale at your offered price or less, they should contact you. Then out the door you go.
The only way to deal with these people is to hit them hard enough in the face with the reality that their so-called “firm price-below-which-we-cannot-go” is so much vaporware.
Keep offering $230K. Attach back up data to prove that it is the correct price. I would be as bold as countering a $229K, $228K, and so forth!
If $250K is your tops, then be sure not to expose it until at least the third counter.
How do I convince the bank that appraisal price is not what houses sell for?
They already know it.. Why do people think banks are stupid when it comes to money..
oops! Because they acted really stupid for the last few years?
Well, anyway.. times have changed. Banks are now the sharpest crayon in the box, except for us patient and astute investors, that is.
You cannot soften up the bank with some logical argument and drive down their asking prices. But you can contribute by pulling that offer and letting time and the laws of economics work their magic.
Or, forget the fact that you are one of the very few qualified buyers still in existance.. and be a wuss.. and overpay for that dream home. It’ll make no difference to the market, which is destined to fall all the way to the bottom.
4,000 square feet of house? How big is your family? With energy costs going into the stratosphere, do you really want to heat and cool that monster?
Lose the emotional attachment. It’s just a place to live.
Why would any house in WV cost over $300K much less $400K? That is one of the poorest states in the country.
He’s in the far eastern panhandle of WV, which is actually part of the D.C. exurbs now. Big runup and now just a matter of how big the rundown.
As other people said, you seem emotionally involved, and that’s bad for you (financially). The market in general has no place to go but down, and banks are not yet desperate enough to give good deals. You’re not getting a good enough deal to be a potential knife catcher, and the banks are playing dirty anyway. Personally I wouldn’t even think of trying to buy now; there’s just too much downside, and too much underhandedness going on.
Walk away, wait it out, my advice.
I mostly agree with the others, but how have you run comps that agree with your assessment that others have sold in that price window in the last 30-40 days?
Have you forwarded your comp sheet to them? If you haven’t run one (and don’t want a realtor involved), call a title company and have them run a “trio” on the property. I think they’ll do it free if you suggest you might run some biz through them one day.
If not, email me at junkinthetrunk@earthlink.net and I can run them for you. (I’m in Portland but can run this info on any house in the country).
Give the bank’s REO manager your number and tell him to give you a call if he changes his mind.
“Palafox advised real estate investment if you make at least a 20 percent down payment to buy, an important cushion in case of market downturn so buyers would still have some equity.”
Jose Palafox is a registered investment advisor. They would still have some equity if the market turn south? Bawahahaha
Cinch
California really sounds like it is falling apart. How many people live in the IE, and will they go west toward the coast to compete with the roving gangs of San Diego and LA or roam east scavenging for food and water?
I wonder if it would be possible to install drawbridges on I-8, I-10, and I-40?
This downturn is going to end very badly for Southern Cal…the signs are already here…
When the gangs don’t have food look out! California increases in 20 billion dollar deficit and growing ever month would not make me sleep good at night. Can Arnold keep every neighborhood safe? We will see.
No…he cannot, he’s not doing it now…
You’re spot on in your assesment, combine that with the layoffs of city, county, and state worker to come, that have already been signaled as coming down the pipe and it gets scary…real quick..
Arnold only protects people in the movies.
Despite the best efforts of the gun grabbers and their ass-kissing govt cohorts, we still have our guns and outnumber the gangsters 1000 to one or so.
In the words of the Governator, “No problemo.”
3/4 of the CA budgetis education and healthcare.
We need tort reform to drop malpractice insurance and slice upto 20% from medical costs.
We need to dump the teachers pensions. No one else gets them, why govt. workers?
Then start demanding people show valid ID to get a job, get state paid medical care, or any other govt. program.
Problem solved.
Maybe people from the IE, end up driving old jalopies to Arkansas and Oklahoma in search of work?
Tom Joad is back…….this time with a tan.
LOL. What will the title of the books be?
The Reverse Dust Bowl?
The Wrath of Grapes?
The Big Down
Eden of the East, Arkansas
Little House on the Prairie?
I like “The Wrath of Grapes.”
San Diego is not like Los Angeles in terms of gangs thankfully. The numbers and impact are far less, thankfully, probably not much different than Las Vegas or Phoenix.
During the late 90’s into the early years of this decade, there were a sizable number of people working in San Diego County that moved to Riverside County in search of cheaper housing. In the past few years, there seems to have been a gradual shift back. Southbound traffic on the 15 freeway in the mornings does not appear to be as heavy as it was 4 or 5 years ago.
In the longer term, I think higher gas prices will be a bigger factor in this reversal than relative housing prices in the two areas. People were willing to put up with the longer commute when housing in Riverside County was much cheaper and gas was cheap. Judging from the amount of weekend traffic into San Diego County, those that moved to Riverside County still found that most of the things they liked to do in their spare time were still in San Diego.
Short of jobs that pay enough relocating to Riverside County, I expect it will be a tough sell to get people in San Diego County to move to Riverside County. And for those jobs that might relocate from coastal areas to the I.E., why not just relocate into Nevada or Arizona where the climate isn’t that much different, but the cost structure is lower (and the air quality much better)?
Greg, is the I-15 traffic really getting lighter? My radio alarm goes off at 5:45 every weekday morning and the first thing I usually hear is that the traffic on the 15 is already bad. Add in a few accidents…I really don’t understand how people can do this commute every day. I settled for a small, older house in metro San Diego and am so glad I did. I have to commute the 8 but due to flex time the traffic on that is a relative breeeeeeze! (Just finished reading the story about Rod Luck and KUSI. Sorry!)
“Greg, is the I-15 traffic really getting lighter?”
As odd as it may seem, I think it is. I’ve been making the commute south from RB in the mornings on the 15/163 for about a decade, after work. At 6, the traffic is almost always moving at least at the speed limit. When I used to get off work at 6:30 four or five years ago, there were always several miles of backups at that time. More recently, when I ‘ve occasionally had to stay late, until 6:30 or occasionally 7:30, the number of miles of backups and the degree of slowly was less than experienced routinely at 630 in the first few years of the decade. You might also remember that a year or two ago they instituted minimum monthly fees for FasTrak because usage had dropped. I think that drop in usage is directly related to reduced traffic, not because fees had gone higher which they hadn’t. If traffic is flowing well enough in the “regular” lanes, why pay the extra fee to use the HOV lanes as a solo driver? Traffic is still heavy on the 15, but it does overall seem just a little lighter over the past 2 or 3 years. I’d be interested to know if traffic studies show something similar.
Most of the jobs are in the UTC area, whereas RB is a residential area. People drive north on the 15 from UTC to RB at night. That’s why you don’t get a lot of traffic.
Oh, never mind, “after work” is in the morning for you. Sorry, my bad.
“Most of the jobs are in the UTC area, whereas RB is a residential area. People drive north on the 15 from UTC to RB at night.”
Office park development continues in the RB area. In terms of jobs, it’s not nearly on par with UTC. However the northbound “reverse” commute on the 15 to RB in the morning has gotten heavier over time.
You’ve been watching too many ‘Mad Max’ movies. The IE will economically someday start to resemble the shanty towns of West Virginny and Pennsyltucky than the tenements of the Bronx or Baltimore.
But do they play harmonicas in the IE? Will they still call it empire? And is it black and white there?
Mariachis. Not black and white, brown and tan.
The cities have jobs, the rust belt doesn’t. I said the IE will *economically* resemble the rust belt states. I wasn’t knocking anyone’s ethnicity.
No Harmonicas, but Gone with the Wind was tested there. The I.E. is still considered the test area for the majority of the U.S. (Family Values.)
As part of the group that helped to revive the I.E. 33 years ago, via I.E. Magazine. I must tell you that the I.E. has a very deep and rich history. (I grew up there and I can spell, and I can practice law.)
At the turn of the last century, (1900) Riverside was the richest city in the U.S. per. capita. Wealthy Philadelphians’ wintered therein and grew oranges and lemons. (look it up).
Now it is a desireable place to live because of the family values etc. Be not so harsh on that which you may not know.
You are dreaming. I.E. is a craphole now. All the gangs got pushed from the L.A. and O.C. ghettos to the I.E. during the buy anything with walls years. As told to me by a cop after the third attempted robbery…it is going to get worse before it gets better.
Family values my arse, the parents are too busy commuting to know or care what their kids are doing. And the only Orange trees left are there for identity purpose’s, not agriculture use.
Hi jnelson:
The IE is two things:
1. A desert
2. Far away
I don’t know who was there during the gold rush and shortly after, but it’s not any more desirable today than Phoenix. Prices are still too high “therein”.
Is that IE as in: Individually Emaciated ?
lol… raise the drawbridge and start boiling that oil az
California is not falling apart any more than Arizona is. I’ve been to Arizona. You guys have worse gangs than us, mainly because you have a higher percentage of illegal aliens. The state barely controls environmental violations, and there’s even less water out there than there is here. You see, when the going gets tough, all the pussies move out of California and go to places like Arizona. Meanwhile, the fittest stay here and buy cheap property.
Buying cheap property in Calif is a good idea, but why must one stay there while awaiting it? OK, you are staying there cause you work there. Others might be doing their waiting somewhere else!
Living where? The desert? Earning what? Peanuts? Doing what? Nothing? Thought so.
Oh sorry, you’re az_lender. I thought you were that annoying CA hater az_owner. Please disregard my comment, then.
“Arizona. Meanwhile, the fittest stay here and buy cheap property.”
Speaking of the fittest:
The LA ghettos are the proving grounds for the darwinian survival of the fittest. Played out in constant ‘nature red in tooth and claw’ real time scenarios. Who has the best quickest refexes to evade whizzing bullets, quick nimble resourceful mind for evading life and death situations, and being the biggest baddest most tattoed SOB are sterling attributes to survive the LA jungle. What they refer as Darwins natural selection.
Being handy with knives is a great survival asset as well.
What was it that ‘Snake’ said in Escape from LA or NY ? My brain hurts. Help me out folks!
“California really sounds like it is falling apart. How many people live in the IE, and will they go west toward the coast to compete with the roving gangs of San Diego and LA or roam east scavenging for food and water?”
With all those foreclosures in the IE i would imagine there will be a reverse migration of IE lowlife back to LA from whence they had originally had migrated from. There are daily stories of gang shootings, cop-gang shootouts, isolated murders, ect which the LA rag takes in stride as it is so commonplace here in LA that it dosen’t merit a couple paragraphs. I am sure we will get 150% increase in crime here in LA even as the LAPD says the crime rate is down, which is pure prop BS . Property crime for sure will skyrocket to epic proportions. Easiest thing for a gangsta to do is steal a car in LA.
Roving east for food and water?? East of IE it is 100% dry barren desert except if u mean’t coachella valley and palm springs area.
IE hoodlum scum prefer migrating west toward the friendly illegal- alien sanctuary confines of LA
BTW: Is is a fact that illegals and gangstas reside in the same inner LA slummy districts, often in the same derelict tenement/apt tracts. Both have same problem: keeping low and out of sight, hence the name lowriders.
We’ve only seen the subprime mess. Haven’t had the Alt-A and other crap loans default yet. Better deals to come next year and into 2010. A few short sales, bank REOs are even starting to show up in Laguna Beach, an area that peaked in 2007.
Looking at the Federal reserve mortgage map, we may not have seen the last of Sub prime in California. As of January, 43.7% of sup-prime ARMS reset in the next 12 months. Over 52% have had a late payment in the last 12 months.
Looking at Alt A, they account for more loans, but only 3.7% reset in the next few months- either they have already reset or will do so more than 12 months from now.
Cheack out the map here: http://www.newyorkfed.org/mortgagemaps/
Someone with more mortgage knowledge would have more insight into the data.
The tricky part on the Alt A loans is the option ARM. People paying on the low option payment are going negative a lot faster till they hit the debt cap.
When they reset they have to service the principle on the loans.
So, the Alt A doomsday clock will hit earlier then the chart predicts.
The other minor notes: the banks are booking all those option ARMs as being fully serviced including principle on the loan. Not sure when all those time bombs will go off.
Second bank thingy. Not sure when banks book the losses on a loan. I believe it is when they actually sell a property. Its possible some of the banks taking bigger losses now will be in better shape because they are selling the collateral at a higher price. banks like CFC, that are sitting on 2Billion and counting of REO, will be far worse off.
I think some of the big banks, C and CFC are mortally woulnded. So, instead of eating the losses now, they are going to slow bleed to death while stealing money in golden parachutes.
“I believe it is when they actually sell a property.”
That goes a long way towards explaining why there are so many vacant homes dotting the landscape at the moment. Banks would rather hold on to falling knife assets forever than to have to realize losses that would sink the balance sheet upon price dicsovery.
Some nasty someone needs to file an involuntary bankruptcy petition against Countrywide, WaMu, and a few others, and see if he can bring on the Apocalypse.
How much you wanna bet when the resets happen, the “media” will get blamed for the worsening economic downturn?
Most of the option ARMS are due to reset by 2012, but they will likely be tripped early by neg-am limits and walk-aways. Look up Ivy Zelman’s “Mortgage Liquidity du Jour:
Underestimated No More”, page 47. It came out about a year ago, but is still the best data I know of.
“Economist Al Gobar, who said people who are buying mistakenly believe prices have hit bottom. ‘I’m not sure the bottom is all that close,’
I’m seeing this with a few people I know who seem convinced that somehow, it’s a great time to buy because the prices are lower. Lower meaning less than last year, but still not enough to make that much of a difference. People are stupid when it comes to making important, life-changing decisions…as in not really researching the market that much when spending 650k on a house. I’d bet that most people who buy homes probably spend more time studying shoe prices and getting a better deal on them then real estate.
sorry about that… must turn quotes off…
“But wait, there’s more. The 4,000 square-foot homes in San Pasqual Valley include six-car garages and pools. With the purchase of a $1,599,900 home in San Pasqual comes a free $400,000, 2,000 square-foot home in downtown Escondido.”
I’ll wait until they offer free shipping!
Well they do offer 90 days interest free…
sheesh…only 6 garages..the damned Bentley would have to sit in the sun
The significant problem of finding loans for buyers is keeping us from having a normal market … People were making good money in the credit bubble so nobody was worried and they kept making undocumented loans more and more casually.
Listen, doucherocket, the PRESENCE of those casual loans is what kept you from having a normal market since 2002. Now that underwriting is coming back in, the crashed out ruins of your RE market is the reversion back towards a normal market.
When rent and income ratios are restored, then you will have a chance at a return to a normal market.
wow- I was not aware that the market of the last few years was normal. Arent’s loans supposed to be hard to get? I remember in the mid-eighties how challenging it was for my parents to get a loan on $56k house northern Cal. Back then, they didn’t just rubber stamp the loan docs.
Yeah, I caught that too. Typical used-home salesperson, which is to say a well dressed, uneducated IDIOT in a fancy car. You could explain market fundamentals until you’re blue in the face to that bag and she’d just stand there giving you the Forrest Gump!
There’s no such thing as a “normal” market. There’s bull markets, bear markets, transitional markets, volatile markets ……
Seems to me we’re in the early phases of a severe bear market.
doucherocket?
perhaps douche”bag” is too female?
nah, doucherocket is the name for her joshua tree
“PFF has also disclosed plans to restructure a $44 million loan with an unidentified commercial bank that it couldn’t repay by an April 30 deadline - an event that could have led to a default.”
“The bank also said a provision for loan and lease losses of $196 million is expected in the quarter. This provision is related to real-estate loans in the greater Inland Empire.”
___________________________________________________________
PFF Bank’s saga is no different than every other bank in the country that couldn’t make money the old fashioned way, honestly.
But worry not, the FDIC has your back, with enough insurance money to cover losses for 1.22% of all deposits…
I sure would like to know the identity of that comercial bank.
BTW, I’m intrigued by WM breaking through resistance at 10 today rather convincingly. We could have some interesting news in the next few days.
Slightly OT but I emailed the San Diego County Accessor and he actually called me and said my information is going to help him make predictions and change his mind on some things. He had an aweful quote in the SD Tribune last week.
He’s switching fortune tellers….the one he was using was paid for by the REIC
Cool. See, HBBers can make a difference. I am proud of Markmax33.
‘As an investor I think real estate investments might be flat for a while.’”
In San Jose the buyers are still trained to offer full price and overbid for properties, they think they’re getting a steal if they knock 10 grand off list price. If buyers would wise up and start counting all the for sale signs and stop listening to NAR agents maybe we’d start seeing some meaningful drops around here.
somebody please outlaw the damn italics !
something is broke. it appears that all the comments are publishing as italics. Let’s see what happens with this one…
Prices are down in San Jose, Mo Money. Where are you getting your data?
According to Zillow, San Jose is down 7.6% over the past year. According to DataQuick, San Jose medians are down 20-30% in almost all zip codes.
“Nearly three in four local homes sold in April were foreclosures, as prices of existing homes dipped 2.6 percent for the month, according to a new report. Among the 3,400 existing homes currently for sale in the Victor Valley, 279 homes sold in April, a 23 percent jump from March, according to Victor Valley MLS data complied by Larry Trombley of Century 21 Rose Realty.”
What a bunch of pathetic knifecatchers! Don’t these people realize that today’s REO is the NOD from 6-8 months past? In the zipcode I track the 3 month rolling average of NODs for April is 211% of what it was in October!!!
Last man standing? Will there be any?
What do people do in Victor Valley to justify prices? Are there jobs there are do people commute to LA or IE? I drove through Victorville once (right after the base closed) and it reminded me of one of the circles of hell in Dante’s Inferno. It made Fresno look nice. Perhaps they have spruced up the area?
Live in Victorville or exfoliate my sack with a cheese grater……hmmmmm, where’s the cheese grater?
Bwwwaaahhhhaaa
I think in some of these dismal outlying areas people confused large square footage with penis size.
Yo, Ex, we must be on the same wavelength….
Roy Rogers and Trigger are still there…..not sure if Mr Rogers is there also….raises the values
oops…my bad….checked the Rogers web site….even they bailed out in 2003, and relocated to Branson, MO.
Even the Roadrunners bugged out Victor Valley for Happy Trails
Roy Rogers is in Branson? Gosh, nothing is sacred any more. I wonder if they come to listen to him sing or to watch him play with Trigger.
Couple decades ago when I was in the Navy and the ship was in the yards of Long Beach, my then FIL came and visited. We went to Disneyland, the beaches, Hollywood, Sea World, etc. On the drive back to NE he stopped into the Roy Rodegers/Dale Evans museum. When he got home, he had to call and tell me that was the highlight if his trip.
Go figure.
It made Fresno look nice.
HAHAHA. Poor Fresno.
At least you can grow something in Fresno.
“What do people do in Victor Valley to justify prices? Are there jobs there are do people commute to LA or IE? I drove through Victorville once (right after the base closed) and it reminded me of one of the circles of hell in Dante’s Inferno. It made Fresno look nice. Perhaps they have spruced up the area?”
I can tell you some things about victorville/victor valley. There isn’t any high paying job sectors at all, maybe a few independent garages, motor shops, small warehouses, a couple light manufactering/machining establishents. The rest of it is all retail ,malls, and housing. Once stopped off the 15 at bear valley blvd, the main drag, back in mid 2007. There was a ton of traffic going thru there but i cannot figure out where all those folks were going to or from. They all looked frazzed out as if they were on edge, probably because 95% of them were in hugh debt with their overpriced RE purchases and crappy low paying retail or service jobs. The entire town was running on debt and fumes at peak of hi-desert bubble insanity back in 2005-2007. Victor valley was and is a classic desert boom and bust community like large parts of the IE .
No the area has not spruced up. They just built more new crappy malls and more housing, which they keep extending further out into the desert. It all looks nice when fresh and new but in a couple years reverts to yet another raggedly depressed desert burg.
Victor valley will become a virtual ghostown community by end of 2009, with large sections like Mad max/road warrier.
They are all frazzled because they all drive 100 mile commutes per day. When South-Central imploded in the 90’s, many went to Victorville for a more peaceful life, but old habits die hard and the lifestyle came with them.
One example that comes readily to mind is the billing clerk at my doctor in downtown LA. She drives in from Apple Valley daily and has been doing so for at least 10 years.
Since the peace dividend commuters are absolutely the only thing going in that market.
BTW, my numbers aren’t regarding Victorville, I’m sure it’s worse there. I was merely pointing out the fact that those who spout happy gas at the increase in sales and those who buy based on aforementioned happy gas are in for a reaming.
Ex?
Nothing personal but I call BS on that one. No way anyone can make that commute for over 10 years. That is freaking nuts!!
Yeah…even Nurse Rachette couldn’t handle that drive for 10 years…and she was really crazy
No BS. I also knew a guy who lived out there and commuted in, via Palmdale no less, to S.E. Rykoff in downtown LA. Surprise, surpise, he had a heart attack and croaked, but he did that drive for the 3 years I knew him before his ticker went out.
People from outside socal just don’t understand how nuts it’s become over the last 20 years.
Also, I can give numerous examples of similar commutes from the AV. There are plenty of folks driving to LAX area or points further south to aerospace jobs that have moved over the years. Heck, there’s even commuter buses running from Palmdale to Century City every day.
No BS there…my mailmain has made a similliar trip for years…and the gas prices now are crippling him…he’s about to max out the credit cards and dig in his savings to keep on pace…he has 7 years to go for retirement…I don’t think he’s going to make it…
Yep, knew one that made the VictorVille commute to LAX area. Even bought a hybrid to help the cost. Only made it a year before they quit.
New another one that made the commute from Temecula to LAX area job. Fell asleep at the wheel and died on the early morning commute. Was in his small, save on gas, commuter car. Planned for the cost of gas, but not the lost sleep. Left a wife and kid.
You should suggest that he find a tenant for the house he owns, then rent something for himself closer to work. The added cost of the rental will probably be less than the gas, and he can save himself a lot of stress.
Good advice…i’ll pass it along
“‘We’re very excited by the report, it couldn’t have gotten worse,’ said Yule. ‘It reflects what we are all feeling, activity has picked up. The significant problem of finding loans for buyers is keeping us from having a normal market … People were making good money in the credit bubble so nobody was worried and they kept making undocumented loans more and more casually.’”
The problem is people weren’t and still aren’t making enough to buy those houses. The widespread use of undocumented loans merely masked that problem. Insufficient incomes were and are the main problem, not loan types and terms.
“‘We’re very excited by the report, it couldn’t have gotten worse,’ said Yule.”
Um, yes, it can get worse. And it will.
It amazes me how people do not understand how it could get worse. When was the last prolonged investment contraction? It wasn’t the 2002 recession, it was back during the ‘peace dividend’ recession. Ugh…
I’m an optimist, but not when I’ve already seen Toto sucked up in the funnel cloud…
Got Popcorn?
Neil
Why do people get so stuck? Mailman could probably transfer anywhere in the country or at least have several options. He doesn’t realize that every year he continues to make that commute he is greatly diminishing the quality of his future retirement. It is just too killer on the mind, body and soul to make that commute.
I don’t mean to threadjack the Cali thread, but I just gotta share this story from the Florida condominium where I am a semi-contented renter. I thought I’d read some pretty good horror tales of bitter FBs on the blog, but this one takes the cake. ROTFLMAO! A week or so ago, the property manager was telling me about some of the places that were in foreclosure in this complex, which was built during the 1970s and units sold for about $30,000.00. There are a number of owners here who are original buyers, mostly retired folks and some middle class folks close to retiring. The place is OK, nothing special, it has a pool, small clubhouse and barbeque area. The walls are kind of thin and the plumbing kicks up occasionally. The main draw is that it is waterfront, on a major canal that goes out to Tampa Bay and it has boat slips, so a number of owners bought here so they could also have a place to park their watercraft. During the bubble, this place did have its share of speculation and prices topped $250,000 for some of the townhouse units. The 2 BRs topped out at about $200,000, if the buyer was really stupid and desperate. Some were.
So the property manager is telling me about some of the places in foreclosure or close to it and pointing to this one and that one. She mentioned that the association was getting stiffed big time by a some of the owners, who weren’t paying their fees, but renting their places out without consent from the association, so the association has had to file on these places. So this evening, just before sundown, I see four Mexican or Cental American laborers cross the parking lot in single file with little sacks thrown over one shoulder, looking like they were coming home from work. They climb up one flight to one of the units the property manager had pointed out to me as being in foreclosure, unlocked the door and entered one behind the other single file, and shut the door behind them. I about messed myself. The units are 2 BR, so I guess they live 2 to a bedroom, which is not too bad. I figure the FB owner is getting about $1,000 or $1,200 per month, which is the off season rate, so they’re splitting that four ways, which is not too bad when you think about it. Probably paying cash. But I’ll bet the owner hasn’t told them the place is in foreclosure. I’m figuring the owner is killing two birds with one stone, collecting some “free” money ahead of foreclosure while shooting the bird at the association. That oughta be interesting when the association’s and bank’s representatives confront these fellows. Aiiiiiiyeeeee! ROTFLMAO!
You should tell the guys about the foreclosure. They’re probably illegal, so they won’t have any recourse when they get the shaft. On the other hand, since they’re illegal already, it won’t be hard for them to get away with whatever revenge they will have time to plan against their LL.
I doubt if they’ll have time to exact any revenge, if they’re illegal. They’ll probably just skiddoo. I doubt if the LL cares what happens, probably has a deposit and everything. I’m going to talk to the manager tomorrow to see if she’s aware, but I’m betting that’s one of the units she was referring to when she said places were being rented without consent of the board. It’s actually the beginning of harvest season for some crops around here, like tomatos, so we do have a lot of guest workers in town at the moment, more than usual.
Como se dice “foreclosure”?
“‘Foreclosures are going up at a more and more rapid pace,’ said Christopher Thornberg, an economist with Beacon Economics. ‘We’re in the midst of this nasty little feedback cycle that keeps pushing things down, down, down. There’s nothing to indicate things are turning around.’”
I guess by implication, used home sales peoples’ opinions amount to nothing:
“On the other side of the coin, some real estate agents see a nascent recovery in the housing market. ‘I’ve been saying for a few months now that we bottomed out toward the end of last year,’ said Jerry Kalman, a real estate agent specializing in Fallbrook.”
If he keeps saying that for the next five years, he might eventually be right.
‘I’ve been saying for a few months now that we bottomed out toward the end of last year,’ said Jerry Kalman, a real estate agent specializing in Fallbrook.”
Yawn. The turn around is always in about six months. At first it was “2nd half of the year.” Now its ‘toward the end of the year.’ Soon it will be spring 2009… etc. See the pattern? No variation! The recovery is always just around the corner.
Not this time. The mania was huge this time.
Got Popcorn?
Neil
“But wait, there’s more. The 4,000 square-foot homes in San Pasqual Valley include six-car garages and pools. With the purchase of a $1,599,900 home in San Pasqual comes a free $400,000, 2,000 square-foot home in downtown Escondido.”
“Some housing analysts wrote off the promotion as a gimmick. ‘It sounds like a certain degree of desperation to me,’ said James Hamilton, an economics professor at UC San Diego.”
It sounds to me like a marriage of desperation and stupidity. How many rich guys would rather purchase two falling knives than just one?
P.S. For a rough estimate of how far below $1.6 m the actual market value of a 4,000 sq ft home in San Pasqual Valley has fallen, divide the actual current market value of a “$400,000 2,000 sq ft home” in Escondido by $1.6 m and multiply the result by 100 (to get a percentage).
That is certainly stupid. You can buy a similar mansion in San Jose Silvercreek golf course for that price.
For those who are not familiar with SD County, San Pasqual Valley was ground zero for the devastating Witch Creek Fire which hit last October.
I think throwing in a house worth 400k as a incentive to buy another house far exceeds the car incentives they were giving away for a while .
Just for starters ,how much money will the potential buyer of the house be required to put down if a 400k house is thrown into the deal ? Certain people could perceive this house incentive as the same as 400k in cash ,or cash back fraud .
Damn ,I remember we use to joke years ago about how the sellers will have to give away houses or give two for one deals and now it’s actually happening .
Yeah, but it’s not a real toofer, since you have to overpay for the 1st house in order to get the second. Here’s my question: If you default on house 1, can the bank repo house 2, which was “free”?
That’s a great question.
Okay, okay. Time to give the report here in So Cal. For those who know, hang in for a sec. My BIL bought my house 2 years ago. Well, well, well. Now it has been on the market for 26 days with a 10K loss. Here’s the kicker. He is putting his harley up for sale, which he purchased several years ago with a HELOC from his previous house. This thing has got to be nice because he has driven it maybe 100 miles in all that time. Has a bad knee and get this, couldn’t pass the motorcycle test.
I love this guy, but the story keeps getting weider and weider by the moment.
OT, got stimulated from Uncle Georgie today. I think I will take it all out of the bank and stock up on rice. HAHAHA!
What did your uncle do to you, Dan?
Gas prices are hitting home in my hood. For some reason, our neighbors have not yet received their stimulus check, and hit us up for $100 in gas money with a promise to repay it when stimulus comes through. I am guessing the effect of a tiny cash stimulus is more than fully offset by the countervailing effect of a huge drop in the dollar and commensurate rise in gasoline prices on most U.S. households.
Geez, waitasecond there, PB…
I thought everybody down there San Diego way out in those ‘burbs was doing far too well to receive a stimulus check.
What happened to all the wealthy residents of the Land of Milk & Honey?
I bet you no one up here in SF, Berkeley or Marin, nor any of these other fancy places ’round the Alt-A Bay Area receives a stimulus check.
Their stated income would just be too high to receive anything, right?
Folks next door are not wealthy, and have a young family. They were coping alright until a rapid series of FFR cuts drove the dollar through the floor and gasoline prices through the roof. Thanks to rampant energy price inflation, our family just opened our own very local version of the TAF. Too bad young families cannot borrow from the Fed at the special low interest rates only available to Wall Street investment banks with toxic subprime debt to offer as collateral.
My $600 went right to the strip club and beer, it sure stimulated my package.
How could he not pass the motorcycle test, he could have taken the riding class to furfil the actual DMV driving test (which is almost impossible to pass on today’s bikes). The DMV gives you a 6 ft diamerter circle and you have to drive around it without putting your foot down, not an easy thing to acomplish on a 500 pound motorcycle with a terrible turning radius, anything over 1100cc forget it. Just take the riding class 4 weekends and then the written test.
My mom’s friend has a daughter who bought a mansion in Thousand oaks. She got canned from working at Countryfried, so she got a gig downtown at wellsfargo. she can’t sell her mansion and she rents an apartment downtown. Now the apartment is in foreclosure. I am so confused, why is her mansion empty?
Do I really need a shotgun?
Prices in South Central just took a major notch down, foreclosure inventory has been building up but the sellers (the lenders) as a group have been trying to keep prices in the 250K range, closer to 200K for real crap. However, I just received an automatic email containing a bunch of houses priced under 200K, some at 150K. They were selling at 80-90K in 1999, so I guess we don’t have that much far to go, unless of course they overshoot to the downside
LAIG!!!
Long time no see! Welcome back into the fold.
Happy to see that someone’s happy to see me!
“..in South Central” & “…unless of course they overshoot”
How does one relate these two to: Location,! Location!, Location! ?
“Overshoot” in South LA means you empty two magazines.
Hmmm, I haven’t seen that yet…under 200k that is…might be time to fire up the MLS…
Oh, you can bet we’re gonna overshoot.
Wait until you see the write-downs coming at the end of this quarter.
We may need to make a new word for ‘loss’- just for this occasion.
Hi Auction Heaven, I was just thinking about you the other day, as it turns out 2007 was just about on the mark, wasn’t it?
Yep, looks like overshoot to me to Auction Heaven .
Well, there’s good news, and bad news.
The bad news is there’s a lot more bad news coming.
The good news is you didn’t buy yet.
Good to see you, too.
I have good news and bad news.
The bad news is that there will be more writedowns, and they will probably turn out to be larger than expected, given all the premature bottom calling that has recently been underway.
The good news is that the U.S. stock market always goes up
OT, but the Fed has more conundra than you can shake a stick
at, including the eCONoganda-induced sort.
Fed looks at ways to fight asset bubbles
Bank considers change to Greenspan doctrine - 23:56
Fed ready to boost size of credit auctions
Trying to fight fire with fire is a doomed strategy. My neighbors cannot afford to put gasoline into their tanks to drive to work, but Wall Street’s Megabank, Inc will get to borrow lots more dough at below-market rates to blow ever-bigger speculative bubbles in food, energy, or even houses as they see fit.
“The US Federal Reserve is reconsidering the way it deals with asset price bubbles in the wake of the housing and credit bust, in a move that could see the central bank using regulation – or even interest rates – to fight unjustified increases.”
The funny thing is, that is EXACTLY what China was doing 2 years ago. Just think, if we try real hard one day we might be as good as China.
LOL
Thank you, Financial Times, for the revisionist account of central banking history. Do you think their financial journalists have a clue where and when the practice of “leaning into the wind” originated?
The Fed has long stood out among central banks as the least willing to embrace the idea that it should “lean against the wind” when asset prices are rising rapidly.
I count 137 foreclosures for April, just for Maricopa county AZ.
3.8 million people.
36 per million.
1000 per day for CA?
34 million in CA….
only 29 per million…. Slackers.
For May we are running 179 per day.
As recenlty as December it was only 84 per day.
Darrell:
Next time you see az_owner, will you give her tell her what you just told us? She seems to think California is faring worse than Arizona.
I pulled this while responding to a story about how great sales are now in AZ!
http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2008/05/13/20080513biz-resales0514-on.html
You just can’t make this up….
“said Lee McPheters, director of ASU’s JPMorgan Chase Economic Outlook Center.
‘Let’s redefine good. Good means it could be worse,’ ”
http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2008/05/14/20080514biz-forecast0514.html
I live about 3/4 mile from the San Pasqual Development. There are approximately 8 fair to middlin view lots overlooking San Pasqual Valley about 3/4 complete. They are classic ugly overdone McMansions. Michael Crews has sold three of these I think but that was the first phase. He has several projects that were completed last year in bad parts of Escondido asking extreme prices. I almost fell over laughing when I saw the 2 for one ad. Last year across the street from his development on Midway I think there was a Police Standoff involving a hostage in some of the worst apartments in Escondido. Crews has so much inventory available that is just sitting for at least a year or more. I do not know how he can pay bills.
An interesting anecdote from the streets…I was in line at the CVS in San Pedro yesterday, and the well-dressed, heavy makeup wearing woman (so I could tell she was a realtor
) behind me received a phone call. She answered the call saying “This is Sally…” Turns out the call is from someone asking about a house she has for sale. She quickly got into her real-estate mode and said “I’m Sal, the Real Estate Gal and I’m a First-Time Home Buyer Specialist!” She gave the typical speech about it being a great time to buy and interest rates are low etc…but the most interesting part was that she then asked the person on the phone about their FICO scores and said that the banks were being really “mean” and “nasty” about requiring very high credit scores. The person on the other end must have said their credit was not good, because she then got very serious and said they should consider working with someone to get their credit scores up. At that point Sal the Real Estate Gal did not even seem interested in this person anymore and abruptly ended the call.