Local Market Observations!
What do you see in your housing market this weekend? Lower prices? “A slowing housing market has led the Blaine County Assessor’s Office to reduce 2007 property valuations in several areas, County Assessor Valdi Pace told the Blaine County Commission Tuesday. County appraiser Mickey Dalin told the commission that without exception he is seeing softening property values in the south-county town.”
“‘I have no areas that are increasing,’ he said. ‘The lots in Bellevue are going down dramatically.’”
“Taney County has not escaped the nationwide downturn in the housing industry. The number of homes that were repossessed or subject to bankruptcy increased from 58 in 2006 to 124 in 2007, Taney County Assessor James Strahan said.”
“‘We have argued with the (state tax commission) that everything is not as rosy as everyone has presumed,’ Strahan said. ‘The entire state is a black rose - Taney County is a bright red rose in the housing industry. This is not so, and it can be proven through statistics in that (report).’”
Owner stress? “When L. J. Jensen purchased a home in Port Aransas five years ago, he wanted a place that would be his island retreat. But after seeing its new appraised value last week, he has put his retreat home up for sale.”
“‘I protested last year and settled on an appraisal of $171,706, although I believe even that value was inflated,’ Jensen said. ‘Now the property is appraised at $341,190, a doubling of value. This appraisal has priced me out of my island home.’”
Or foreclosures? “Cleveland’s Regional Economic Development Director Chris Warren says lenders are selling off their worst properties to wholesalers. The wholesalers then resell the houses any way they can.”
“Realtor Gary Kotlarsic lives in Cleveland’s Slavic Village neighborhood, an area with one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country. He says houses next door are going for virtually nothing, so he and his neighbors can’t get anything close to what they originally paid for their own houses.”
“James Odell Barnes says he’s helping investors buy 100 bank-owned properties a week in Cleveland and Detroit. ‘There’s either gotta be people like us, me and my investors, or you’re going to have to have a whole lot more bulldozers bulldozing these houses’ he said.”
Builder problems? “Only 272 lots were proposed during the first quarter this year, compared with 2,147 proposed during the same period of 2007, according to the Greenville County Planning Commission.”
“‘We’ve had national builders stop developing in Greenville. They had a lot of subdivisions that were in the development stage. They put them (lots) on the market to let local developers buy them up,’ said John Owings, the county’s manager of current planning.”
“At one point there were at least 10 national homebuilders developing in the Greenville area. Five either left or announced they were leaving in 2007, Owings said, but most didn’t cease operations until the fourth quarter. They left about 20 subdivisions in various stages of development.”
“So far this year, 60 properties are in foreclosure in Grand County, surpassing the number for all of 2007. Grand County has been a place primed for speculative building.”
“‘If it’s a builder, a lot of builders are walking away,’ said Judith Graham of Graham Mortgage in Winter Park.”
“Poor planning and money managing, for example, may lead to unfinished projects. ‘I know a number of cases like that in Grand County,’ she said.”
“Or, there may have been an inflated value when the speculative builder acquired a loan. ‘I’ve seen that happen, too,’ she said.”
Questionable statistics? “One sign of the Valley’s troubled housing market is the growing incidence of lenders assuming ownership of homes. Ironically, the increasing number of those transactions has led to a false perception that the real-estate market may be showing signs of recovery.”
“The confusion stems from a report on April home sales by Jay Butler, director of real-estate studies at Arizona State University.”
“Butler’s report does not differentiate between ‘trustee sales,’ in which banks take over properties from borrowers in default, and routine home resales. More than one-third of the sales reported by Butler for April, or 2,025 of the 5,585 total, were trustee sales.”
“When real-estate consultant Scott Smith saw Butler’s latest report, Smith said he knew something was wrong with the numbers. Smith, who owns a real-estate services firm and tracks area home sales ‘on a daily basis,’ said Butler’s April sales figures were simply too high.”
“‘After checking the data several times . . . there is no doubt that Mr. Butler made a big mistake,’ Smith said.”
“Butler said he agrees that trustee sales should not be lumped in with routine resales and would be reported separately from now on. Until recently, Butler said, trustee sales represented a very small portion of overall sales activity and often involved an actual sale, such as at a foreclosure auction, which is why he has always included them.”
“The market has changed so rapidly, he said, that the methodology he once relied on for accurate sales data suddenly has become obsolete.”
‘More than one-third of the sales reported by Butler for April, or 2,025 of the 5,585 total, were trustee sales.’
As I mentioned before, I attended several trustee ’sales’ in the past couple of weeks, and 9 out of 10 are postponed. This is getting serious. I estimate there are hundreds of local properties currently in ownership limbo; no one is making payments, the lenders are stalling.
Yesterday I found that article saying houses in Orlando were going over a year of no payments and still not foreclosed. And the Nevada report with Countrywide not replying to short sale offers for months, which is basically saying no to all offers. IMO, the trend is clear; the foreclosure market has completely broken down. It is impossible to know how bad things really are. And as the Florida post quoted this morning, the vulture funds are waiting for bank regulators to crack down. Hoo boy, is this getting messy.
So how long do you think this will delay the correction by?
The correction is on, IMO. Will it be measurably slowed or made worse is the question. There must be a reason this is happening. Are the lenders staving off their own default? Are the regulators allowing this to go on? And I think it is happening to a lesser degree in California, for some reason. I hear lenders are offering higher commissions in So Cal to realtors on REO deals, yet here in Arizona, they are walking away from short sales and telling the stiffed brokers to go ahead and sue!
This has all popped up this spring, and adds a new dimension to this bizarre situation.
I’m guessing the bank’s inaction on short sales has to do with their desperate attempts to conceal from their own headquarters as well as the investing public the full extent of their mortgage-related losses (and notice I don’t limit the discussion to subprime losses). Also, I’m guessing they simply don’t have the staff to process all those short sale requests.
Bottom line: Despite hopeful Realtor happy-talk of a few more sales and more “traffic”, the true housing-bubble bloodbath hasn’t even begun to play out yet.
Pass the popcorn, Neil.
“So how long do you think this will delay the correction by?”
The credit pipe is clogged, which is the major difference from past RE declines. Once the credit pipe is flowing free the knife catchers will re-appear with both hands ready!
Does anyone have some Ex-Lax? Or is Drano the proper remedy?
How about a powered auger?
I suspect the same kind of “interpretation” of statistics is going on here in the Sacramento/Stockton, where a bump in sales is being touted as a some sort of recovery signal by some of the local press and their REI “experts” — never mind that a large percentage of these sales are foreclosure-driven. We are told that “buyers are snapping up bargains” or some other such nonsense.
We weren’t just counting the sell when the lenders were selling the properties post-foreclousre. Jay Butler of ASU was counting when the lender bought the house AT the foreclosure auction.
“The confusion stems from a report on April home sales by Jay Butler, director of real-estate studies at Arizona State University.”
I wouldn’t recommend taking any class this guy teaches.
The Republic is giving this guy a pass. He says it took off recently. But these should have never been in the report. And I wonder if this other guy hadn’t caught it, would he have made the change? It all brings up the question, why would ASU not be objective?
Can we be sure it’s not standard practice to include foreclosures in NAR and OFHEO numbers? And wouldn’t Case-Schiller include foreclosures too since they track particular houses over time?
I was looking at the foreclosure auction notices in the Missoula Independent this week and was amazed how long the banks had been sitting on the properties. More than 2 years in one case.
I think things move faster in CA because of liability concerns. In the 1980s, S&Ls had lots of liability losses from their REOs, so bank insurers refused to cover the properties on the bank’s regular insurance policies. Squatter-caused fires, West Nile virus… there are lots of opportunities for liability claims by neighbors.
In San Diego, it seemed lenders were holding off more last year as they were pricing very high, and not even entertaining lowball offers.
Looks like their tactics changed, and they are now beginning to price rather aggressively.
Maybe the lenders are trying to spread things out and move one region at a time in order to take losses more gradually????
Not sure about short sales, but we are seeing more listings with, “don’t worry about the short sale, lender wants to SELL NOW and will look at all offers and respond promptly.”
No “bubble” in Washington County (St George, UT):
Per Terra Title.
Permits (Single family homes) pulled Jan-Mar 2005
1340
Permits (Single family homes) pulled Jan-Mar 2008
198
March has been the biggest month (for each year) for sales around here for the last five years. March of 2005 was the “peak” for home sales in this County. The sales numbers have been declining now for three straight years.
Per Southern Utah Title.
Single family home sales (includes FSBO) Mar 2005:
1230
Single family home sales (includes FSBO) Mar 2008:
372
Oh…and even with both feet on the brakes concerning local home building we are now heading close (a couple of months shy) to that three years of existing inventory “thingy”.
22151 w direct bus service to pentagon off 22% from peak
county not coughing up a dime in net assesments
In Mountain View/Sunnyvale - there are a ton of pre-foreclosures in the not so good zip codes, but nothing seems to be showing up/ reported about it - I wonder if the banks are delaying as much as possible in this area - and how long it will now take for everything to correct.
If anyone else has noticed this or something different in this area - I would really like to hear about it - my husband is getting restless with renting - 5 years now.
I’m own a house in 94087 (100% paid for!). There’s not a huge amount of inventory here, but some very suspicious sales of homes that just changed hands a few years ago and a lot of work was put in the home. I’d imagine some of these are distressed owners. Prices went up WAY to high here.
The only thing that will save this area is that, I think, at some price (50% off?) people will want these houses. It could be 50% off but it’s still a nice area… (Unlike Stockton/Gilroy/Sacremento where there will be homes that won’t sell at ANY price.)
Mt.View/Suunyvale are a couple of the stronger markets in the valley…I would suggest you look during the summer but keep your powder dry….If you are prepared Mentally & Financially I would wait until the fall to start making offers…
Hi scdave,
Do you track 95126 at all? If so, what’s the trend in that zip right now?
Thanks
Hi Lunar;
You are taliking “West San Jose”….Lots of 1940′-50’s product…Some of the streets have a mix of apartments and single family homes…I would stay away from those streets…I suggest you identify the streets that you like then do some research “By Foot” on your own…A Sunday early afternoon would be best…Walk up and down the street and find out (As Best You Can) if most on the street are “Owner Occupied”…With this area’s relationship to SJJC you want to be careful about moving into a neighborhood with a lot of single family rentals with students…Hope this helps..If not, be more specific about your question and I will try to help….
Sorry Lunar…After I posted I see you asked about the “Trend”
If the property is “Truly” in the Rose Garden, that market is very strong and I would not expect it to soften much….If your looking at some of the other area’s that I suggested above, they are having difficulties in that most are very small so they are first time home buyer product and that’s the product market that’s having the most difficulty…
Thanks. I went to an open house for a new listing on Emory last Sunday (central Rose Garden). It was an okay house but “prime” location. The house sold on Monday. It sounds like prime Rose Garden is still pretty stable.
Claire,
I’m up the road just a few miles from you. This is mainly guesswork, I’ll admit, but I’d guess that there’s been a slight increase in sales recently due to seasonal factors and maybe a few knifecatchers jumping in. Volume is down significantly over past years, and inventory is up. Nevertheless, I must say (anecdotally, and Jas Jain may bristle when I say this) I am seeing more “SOLD” signs and fewer “FOR SALE” signs at the moment than I’d like to be seeing, at least around PA, MP, LA, MV (I don’t get down into San Jose/Santa Clara/Sunnyvale all that much). I don’t think that’ll last, however. As in many locales, the first half of the year — and Spring in particular — generally seems to be much stronger sales- and price-wise than the second. And I’d certainly be willing to bet that prices next Spring will be lower than they are today.
Although the downward trend is here, things do seem to be moving agonizingly slowly right now, and it is frustrating. Lots of wishing prices out there, and at least a few folks still getting them (again, anecdotally). This is going to take a little while, so try to keep on being patient.
Also, from an admittedly cursory look at the numbers, San Mateo county seems to be falling much faster (so far) than (at least much of) Santa Clara county. Does anyone agree with that comment, and, if so, why do you think that is?
than (at least much of) Santa Clara county ??
Tooooo big of a county to just generalize but, if you are going to, I would say that “West” Santa Clara County is very strong…”East” and particular “South” are haveing lots of difficulty including many forclosures…
From the Boise area:
“High end housing development files bankruptcy”
“Developers say they are out of money - and blame the weak economy and an inability to complete home sales because of the mortgage crisis.”
http://www.ktvb.com/news/localnews/stories/ktvbn-may2308-hunters_point.20a26e2e.html
Here are a few anecdotes from the Boise area:
In my subdivision, there are 8 homes on the market and nothing has sold in months. Two other homes are in pre-foreclosure. In the immediate neighborhood where I walk my dog, I see little going on with the homes on the market- it’s dead.
A block from me is a new group of spec townhomes priced at $250k with the requisite stainless steel, granite, tile, etc. They originally started prepping the lots about 2 years ago, stopped, and then finally started on the houses this winter. Well, they are pretty much done and none have sold.
Up the street are several subs that finished building out at the height of the bubble- they are now filling up with foreclosures. Go to realtytrac and check out zip 83646- you’ll see how caught up Idaho was in the bubble.
From an article in this week’s Washington City Paper:
“…the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs decided to get serious about vacant houses.
In August, the DCRA conducted an unprecedented sweep, putting about 3,200 houses on the vacant list, including the Stillwells’. By comparison, the total number of houses declared vacant in 2006 was 800.
Once a property is identified as vacant, a higher rate kicks in: $5 for every $100 of assessed value—a rate the D.C. Council is considering doubling. Occupied houses, on the other hand, are taxed at 85 cents per $100. When DCRA came around, the Stillwells’ property was, indeed, vacant. The old owners had left; the Stillwells hadn’t yet bought the place.
By the time the new homeowners figured out the inflated tax bill had passed on to them, their mortgage company had already paid it and increased their payments by $2,000 a month.”
Majett insists a property is considered vacant only if it is no longer someone’s “place of abode” and if there’s “no intention of [anyone] ever returning.” Mail piling up, a lack of any blinds or curtains in the window, overgrown weeds—all are indications that a home’s gone vacant and can be taxed accordingly.
Every vacant property—even a $6 million mansion—is a “nuisance,” says Majett. Anything that goes wrong has to be attended to by the neighbors or the police: If someone enters without authorization, if the pipes burst, if rats find their way in—it’s a nuisance, he says.
ATLANTA:
Trouble continues for the builders of high-rise condos. Condo starts by Trump, Cousins, and others have been scrapped due to lack of financing. A project by local developer George Morgan near the Lindberg Marta station in Buckhead has been stopped after the steel went up for the first 4 floors.
Lots of turmoil for SFR builders too. Many are not paying subs, subs can’t pay for materials that have already gone into houses, and then builders who were still strong who have been paying their subs are being put in jeopardy because they are getting hit with liens for materials that their subs didn’t pay for. It’s a vicious cycle.
The latest soccer mom trend in Dunwoody is to bicycle on busy streets along with a whole herd of their small children. Toddlers get stuffed into one of those 2-wheel pull behind thingies. One mom yesterday was peddling long the sidewalk at wicked witch of the west speed (and with the same expression) while the poor tyke in the pull behind bounced around like a watermelon. Seems like child abuse to me.
No one is talking about a spring selling season anymore. Now they are talking about spring ’09
Glad to hear some people are biking in the South. I have heard attitudes towards cyclists in that area are poor. Hopefully that’ll improve. Too bad since the climate would make cycling viable for a long stretch of the year. (But of course we are afraid of sweat.)
“Glad to hear some people are biking…”
I just cranked out my daily 24-mi on my Litespeed Siena in a wind of NNE-12 G-22, and I’ll tell ‘ya it was hell on wheels. However, about one third of my ride was like Lance, 30-mi/hr+ for 8-miles!
What happened to the obligatory Chevy SLOBurban and the requisite daily $20 stop at the donut shop for an unhealthy dose of salt, fat and sugar?
In my rainy corner of SoCal, one house for sale languished about 6 months, the owners must have decided to stay put, the sign is down. The perpetual rental next door has been for sale and vacant about 5 months. Owners live in Las Vegas, where they moved in 2005. (Didn’t sell at the peak despite my advice…). Rumor has it their house will be liened on for non-payment of very modest HOA fees. Stupid RE agents won’t invest 100 bucks to hire a gardener to spiff up the backyard. Another neighbor’s house put on the market this week, asking $559K, a couple years ago these were selling as high as $650K. I doubt they can get more than $499K. Nothing selling here, move along.
In my rural corner of NorCal, nothing over 300K is selling, but half of the MLS is crowded with wishing prices over 500K. Some of these are “hobby ranches” that were bought near the peak for around 1Mil, but now get no offers at 700-800K.
On top of which, many local properties that went unsold last season are still lurking out there — by my count, about 60% of the number on the market right now. Some will have given up, others are resigned to foreclosure — but many of those will be back on the market later this year. Something’s gotta give.
Giacomo,
Where is your rural corner of NorCal? Would you mind giving a zip code?
Thank you.
Sierra foothills east of Sacramento is all I’d like to say. I suspect conditions are the same in nearby small towns, but my zipcode is a “secret” place where I will be buying when the time is right! For selfish reasons, I’m hoping for very slow growth in this area over the next several years — coming from a quality of life preference.
Giacomo,
I understand perfectly. I’ve been looking in the Sierra foothills myself. Pretty area, not too hot in the summer and not too cold in the winter.
Thank you for responding.
Pilot Hill, Auburn, Placerville, Shingle Springs…there are no secret areas of the Sierras anymore. I know, I grew up in them.
Of course it’s not really a “secret” area. But I want to be discrete, just because I don’t know which local realtors and sellers might read this blog. In a small town, one doesn’t want to create personal animosities….
Here in Hawaii inventory is up but prices are holding. There are some dutch auction type listings for the condohotels in Waikiki, lowering their prices 1K at a time lol from 350 to 280 at present. More foreclosures, more folks with a scowl on their faces, working more overtime and trading in their SUVs for Hondas.
Hawaii is always last to fall. We are in big, big, trouble. We are dependant on tourism and fly/ship everything in. Cost of living has always been astronomical. Stores and restaraunts are closing, people are doubling and tripling up in houses to pay their mortgages, crime is on the rise…
People here tend to be naive and relaxed. That is changing big time. If it weren’t for the huge military $ here we’d be in really big trouble (in more ways than one). There was an earthquake off the islands a while back that cut ALL power to the islands. Cell phone towers were dead within 20 min, radio stations were dead for an hour. Power was out from 24 hours to weeks in other remote places. If disaster strikes there is nowhere to go, and good luck communicating without a generator and a HAM radio.
Luckily my laptop has a battery and it’s own wireless, those were working just long enough for me to find out WTF happened (earthquake was off the Big Island, over 7.0).
Life here is so overrated. I’m sorry Hawaii but your aloha is gone.
My son grew up here and is now in LA. He said he feels safer there than he did in Waikiki.
Sad. By the time prices are at 1999 levels (and they will be), I’ll want to be gone. Right now we’re at about 2004 and up. There is a lot of “shame” here regarding foreclosure and people will do anything- collect cans, sell fruit, work a kajillion hours overtime to keep their piece of the aina.
Thank you for the Hawaii comments, bkiddo. My wife has this notion that Hawaii will be paradise - she has never been there. I have visited Hawaii 17 years ago, and I cannot describe the claustrophobia I felt versus the midwest. I certainly enjoyed the weather and ocean, but I am not so sure the small confines of islands is best for people like my wife and me whom are used to driving with “unlimited” access to land.
I never wanted to go to Hawaii but had to go last Nov. I have to admit I liked hanging out in Waikiki and flip-flopping around. I thought, I could do this. But I’d be drunk most the time probably. Not good!
“But I’d be drunk most the time probably. Not good!”
Hey, speak for yourself!
Wheatie, I can relate. Island Fever. It’s a form of claustrophobia lots of outsiders feel after awhile there. Beautiful place, but I’ve often wondered what people there would do if things went seriously south. You might be pretty stuck.
Is there such a thing as “weather heebeejeebees”? I remember visiting California and after 1 week of relentlessly continuous sunshine and bright blue sky kept wanting to duck under tables.
Funny! I attended U of SoCal (midwest boy) and my freshman year I started praying for rain, clouds–anything–for a change from the relentless sunny 80-degree days. It was monotonous.
Grumpy and Gadfly,
You just needed to come further north. You can get the rain, sun, fog and wind. Once in awhile we get thunder and lightening storms. Those are my favorite times. You can smell the lightening in the air.
Monotonous? After a while it gets oppressive because you know there will be no change. I’m back in the midwest, and really didn’t mind this last winter at all. Summer looks to be lots of fun.
Hawaii is the canary in the coalmine for the effects of skyrocketing energy prices. An economy heavily dependent on shipping or flying goods vast distances, and tourists flying from same — all of which requires disproportionate amounts of $130 oil. A very energy-intensive lifestyle.
Aloha left Hawaii a long time ago. I moved to the Big Island when I was a eight years old from New Jersey and I felt no Aloha there for the fourteen years that I lived there. The locals don’t take too kindly to people who they perceive as outsiders and their kids do harass the kids they think can take advantage of because white people are the minority in Hawaii. Theres a multitude of reasons for this like the overthrow of the monarchy a hundred years ago.I was happier in New Jersey where I wasn’t a target for reverse racism. I now have to take depression medication because of those a-holes. Hawaii is hyped up,I’ve seen more beautiful beaches in Mexico,Costa Rica,and the Carribean.
But everyone is in denial about the housing prices in Hawaii. Just check the comments in the Honolulu-Star bulletin. Some of the Real Estate Gurus think the prrice will go up in 2009. The developers built too many developments and the road construction on the big island has not been kept up by incompentent Hawaii county government.
It evening here, but if anyone goes back and looks at this thread, I want to throw in some thanks to all who commented quite accurately on Hawaii. I’ve been on the Hilo side of the Big Island about 6 years. Peak was July 2005 and nothing sold in my subdivision of about 50 houses in 2006. 2007/1Q08 was better as several that had been vacant about 2 years sold at big discounts. Food prices here are very high. I think that there is price gouging going on, especially at the small health food stores. Imported junk at Walmart still a good deal, though I hate to shop there. Tourism is way off, especially after losing 2 airlines (ATA and Aloha). The mom & pop vacation rentals are hurting - and every boom- built house is a vacation rental it seems. A friend told me that laborer’s wages are way down too. He was getting $35/hr to remove coqui frogs from trees, now has to compete with those who are hungry for work at $8/hr. If I wasn’t involved in a non-profit service I started, I’d be gone as fast as I could sell my house. It is definitely not paradise. It is hot 90 degrees and no a/c plus bugs, and a daily 60 mile commute.
And a late late note, tonight I was out and I swear I notice a different mood amongst the crowds. More pushy and rude, scowling. May as well be in LA.
“Stores and restaraunts are closing…crime is on the rise…”
Are we living in the same state? I have lived here my entire life. There is no evidence for what you are saying. Name one major restaurant or store that has closed on Oahu. When Roy’s in HK or Mai Tai Bar in Ala Moana closes, wake me up. As far as crime, violent crime is dropping. Property crime is higher but that has always been the case — people targeting tourists. Honolulu remains the safest major city in the country.
I don’t deny we are in for tough times, and those tough times are coming soon. But those tough times haven’t yet started. We are in the top of the first here, as you said Hawaii is behind as usual.
Shh don’t tell them that or everyone will want to come.
I’m surprised it took this long for someone to say it’s so great in Hawaii. My daughter is a waitress/student and two of the places she worked shut down due to lack of business. Starbucks all cut their hours way way back. Crime is on the rise. Violent crime, property crime. I read the paper and the police reports, work in a field connected to the courts and I can tell you for a fact that this is far from a safe place.
My father warned me about “polynesian paralysis”. It effects the body and mind. You can believe this place is perfect as long as it makes you happy. Been to the beach lately? Was your car broken into?
I have family on the North Shore and they tell me things are getting grim. More homeless, fewer jobs, etc.
I have a brother there since 1979 but he’s heavily inebriated on RE koolaide. IN 2005 he said he was gonna be a millionare (his words) and acting like a friggin’ genius (arrogant). In 2006, reality set in and said “prices will plateau” using some wacked out, weird hand movement.
I told him he better get to the psychiatrists office quickly.
“using some wacked out, weird hand movement”
Hey, Ex,that’s how the people talk over there, it’s from all the VOG in the air, don’t hold it against him.
“On the morning of February 8, 2000, Harry Kim, Director of Hawai`i County Civil Defense, asked radio stations on the Island of Hawai`i to broadcast a special message concerning the thick, acrid haze that had covered the southeastern part of the island for several days. Listeners were told that outdoor activities in parks might be canceled in affected areas and that schools might need to keep children indoors. People were also warned to be aware of respiratory problems, as these conditions could deteriorate more rapidly in areas of heavier haze. This choking haze was not caused by a forest fire or industrial pollution but by light winds blowing gas emissions from Kilauea Volcano into the area.”
http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs169-97/
http://www.azcentral.com/realestate/articles/0523biz-talker0524-ON.html#comments
“U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., with help from the left-leaning Center for Economic and Policy Research, introduced a bill earlier this week that would allow homeowners who default on their mortgages to remain in their homes by renting them from the lender indefinitely.
The mortgage lender could still resell the home, but the new buyer would have to agree to keep the previous owners as tenants for as long as they want to stay there. An independent appraiser would determine the price of rent.”
Here is a better idea. DON’T BUY when the payment is more than rent equivelant.
All this bill will do is make it much harder to get a loan! What next? A bill REQUIRING lenders to lend?
This is the most astounding thing I’ve ever read.
Why doesn’t he just go the extra step and have the government build apartments and houses for every one and assign people to them?
Don’t laugh, I would not be suprised to see that once the socialists take over the government.
This week I found out from some legislators that MT is no longer a non-disclosure state. The chief tax man changed it by administrative rule sometime in the last year or so. Now the sales price has to be on the realty transfer cert.
My legislator buddies (who are also realtors) are not too happy about it! LOL Now if we can only get the info online…
Wish Utah would follow suit. It gives the RE salespeople power they shouldn’t have when records aren’t public, no way to verify their so-called “facts.”
Hey Not — is this for real? Have you checked it out by going down to city hall? Tell me more!
Two legislator-realtors told me the same thing and I found it at the dept of Revenue site. It looks like it was changed in 2005 unless I’m reading it wrong.
No I haven’t gone and looked anything up yet. If I were looking for something I might.
I found it there, too. http://mt.gov/revenue/formsandresources/administrativerules/currentdeptrules/chapter20/Sub-Chap_02.doc
Interesting! I wonder if that is where the eppraisal.com numbers come from now — instead of from loan values. The recent prices on Realtor.com may also be real. If so, this is great news!!!
When I have a chance, I will go down and compare some eppraisal and realtor.com numbers on recent sales to ACTUAL SALES PRICE on the realty transfer certificate.
OMG, Not! This is great. Thanks much for chatting up the leg.
The fact that this has been true for almost 3 years really pisses me off. In spring 2006, I called the county to find out what a house I was looking at sold for, and the clerk said that was not public info. When I asked them to show me where non-disclosure is written in MT law, they promised to look it up and call me back but never did. Later, I called back and spoke to the office supervisor who confirmed that MT was a non-disclosure state but never got back to me about the details.
In spring 2007, I tried again. Got the same story — sales prices are not public info. Well, guess what? Whether from ignorance or whatever, Missoula County has given realtors an extra 3 years of non-disclosure.
And it’s not just the county. Again and again I’ve seen this on sites like Realtor.com and Zillow.
I have not seen this document at the Clerk and Recorders office, yet. I don’t if this information is public, it may not be. I will check Tuesday.
Great, Duane! Thanks. Will you post here? I will bookmark the page.
#*@#*, I don’t KNOW if this information is public. I will check Tuesday. Also, montages are on file at the Clerk and Recorders office. You can get a lot of information from them.
I know you don’t know whether MT selling prices are now public. I just wondered if when you go in on Tuesday, you’d post on this page to let us know what you find out.
Thanks to you, I did know about mortgages being public, and until today I thought that was how realtor.com and eppraisal.com were coming up with “sales” data for MT.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see what we find out. I will go to the Msla county recorders office as soon as I can, and I will let you know what I find by posting on this page.
Hey Montanans,
Better bag the party. We still live in a non-disclosure state.
Thanks to Dept of Revenue Director Dan Bucks, sales prices must now be written on the realty transfer certificate filed with the MT Dept of Revenue. But the realty transfer certificate is not public info.
“The legislature finds that the demands of individual privacy outweigh the merits of public disclosure.” http://law.justia.com/montana/codes/15/15-7-308.html
According to one of the property assessment experts at the Dept of Revenue, in the last 10 years, there have been some court cases challenging this, but the court has always upheld the Code. So, for prices to become public, the legislature would have to change the Code.
Even without disclosure, things are not looking too peachy in MT these days. According to the Missoula Org of Realtors, median prices in Missoula fell more than 6% in April and more than 3% in May, with volume down 17% in April and 31% in May (all figures are compared to same month last year). http://www.missoularealestate.com/index.php/fuseaction/market.main/ID/0d95f240
From northern Ohio suburb of Cleveland: Very few solds or pendings seen. Many homes for sale are vacant, increasing number are short sales or reo. Anyone buying houses “wholesale” in Cleveland is buying a future parking lot; cr@p houses in frightening neighborhoods. Urban and county population are both decreasing; municipal public school census was around 80,000 in 2000, predicting 40,000 or less in 2008-2009.
Still see many SUVs being driven; I believe many here dont have smaller cars nor can they afford to trade in what they have. Bank parking lot (100+) full all this week; had to wait 5 minutes for someone to pull out to get their spot. Always less than 30 cars normally. Teller says people are meeting up and carpooling, says will be putting up no parking signs shortly. Gas at 3.949 to 3.999…..maybe Im wrong about people accepting $4/gal.
First week back to work after brief retirement. New supervisor asked how long it took to get there; he says they have lost many people recently who had a long commute. Not a hybrid in the lot, but, SUV’s up the wazoo.
I’ll cop to having a grudge against SUVs. Ever since that early 90s Robert Altman film, The Player, with the film studio douchebag tooling around in his Range Rover, there’s been a snarkyness about SUVs that lodged in my craw. Now that the MSM has been announcing the death of SUVs they’re finally copping to their conspiciuous consumption/keeping up with Joneses attributes. For the past 5 years its been pretty obvious we were no longer going to enjoy cheap gas forever, but the music played on. Ford/GM made huge profits on large SUVs, which are built on truck platforms, thus the bad mileage and awkward handling. Just load ‘em up with geegaws for the kids (big & small) and they’ll rave about the safety (notwithstanding rollovers), and ability to peer over bushes at stop signs, and my favorite, that they’ll just slaughter any smaller vehicle on the road. Oh, goodie, such a Christian family value attitude. Add the fact that SUVs aren’t governed by carbon emission standards that passenger cars adhere to, AND the tax write-offs that dentists and plastic surgeons enjoyed on their Hummers used for bidness, and you have a trifecta. I do, though, have a bit of sympathy for the families (who couldn’t imagine fitting Joshua and Jennifer in a sedan cuz they have a soccer ball as big as a barn, and whoo hoo, those trips to Costco loading up on a year’s supply of salsa) who bought into the hoopla and now are stuck with a lumbering, gasoholic beast that they can’t afford to sell. That would truly suck.
I hear you regarding SUV rollovers. When bad winter weather hits I-25 here there are usually a few upside down SUV’s to be found in the median.
I hate it when I’m stuck having to park between two SUV gas guzzlers. Not only do they park too close to my spot but they also take up more of the road when it’s two lanes. There is no reason for anyone to own the gas guzzlers unless you are a home do-it yourselfer. Until these owners are forced to give up their cell phones or cable tv, I say bring the gas price increase on. Maximum pain is not yet felt for the majority of these owners.
Chevy SLOBurbans, TaWhores and Ford Excretions should have been banned long ago. I’ve asked countless owners why they NEED such a monstrosity. None have given a sane answer.
Diesel is at $5 per gallon around here, and I always chuckle when I see the huge Excursions rattling by. More and more for sale signs popping up. Not a good time to be selling such a thing.
Driving along the Mississippi Gulf coast I notice the few condo towers that were completed post Katrina are ghostly empty…all finished but no one home. One 2 mile area near Biloxi has 5 ‘multi-hundred’ type development apartments where 2 are done, 2 slowly being built,and one is cleared with the blue pipe but no progress for a few months now. The word on the street is who is going to live there? The FEMA money, jobs are gone mostly, and locals have found new homes last year..The 2 apt. complexes that are finished have maybe a dozen cars in the lot by the way. The only thing that makes sense is they got the fun money 2 years ago, and just now racing to the brick wall…no brakes. ….Oh yeah, next month hurricane season starts.
Here in Pullman, WA we finally seem to be feeling the bust. Inventory is double last year at this time (200), sales are down to 1 or 2 per week, but asking prices are only inching down slowly… And building permit numbers are actually higher than last year! The only think keeping the market going at all is speculation from WSU parents. At the upper end, $350k +, there are NO sales. Listings are “refreshed”, asking prices drop $5-10k, list with a new agent, advertise on craigslist (lotta luck selling a $450k home on Craigslist), etc… The kicker is that most of these high HBs bit off more than they can chew and are now trying to run for the exits.
As part of a major reorg at WSU, the university president has stated that we can expect zero faculty/staff growth over the next decade, so we are focusing best on how to shift existing resources around to meet student needs and research priorities. So much for growth to bail out the speculators and builders.
My local market: 30 homes on my SoCal block…6 of which are either foreclosed or headed there.
Property 1 & 2 - bought by “investor” who rented them out and then stopped paying the bank. Collected rent from his tenants right up until the day the bank came to toss them out. One tenant rewarded him with a trash-out (including smashing all the windows.) One of the houses still for sale, the other recently bought at auction and repaired. Expect to see “For Sale” sign any day now.
Property 3 - still for sale, has been for at least a year.
Property 4 - another trash-out. Don’t know the history but the bank has recently repaired the section of siding that was torn out. Spotted some flippers hovering around it the other day (heavy-set man, yapping on cell phone while young, weaselly dude took notes and followed him around as if on a leash.)
Property 5 - another “Investor” purchase that went bad. Tenants were good neighbors, shame to see them get booted. House recently sold at auction to realty company. Have seen would-be buyers over looking at it several times this weekend so far.
Property 6 - purchased by woman expecting to rent rooms out to children/others to cover mortgage. When that plan fell through, she refinanced the daylights out of the place and used the money to purchase somewhere else..then just walked away. House recently sold at auction to realty company who is now repairing damage.
I know most of the neighbors and these 6 properties were the “bad.” Everyone else is an owner/occupant and all bought prior to 2004. The worst has passed for us.
Was in a nearby town today talking to a local well-known businessman. We were remarking on the number of people out and about, way WAY more than usual, tourists. He commented that he feels this is the last hurrah, and people know it.
He told me we’re in for a hard hard time. He didn’t just mean his little town, either, he meant everyone. He’s well-known for his good attitude, but today he seemed very grim.
I brought home a RE magazine, thick as I’ve see it, everything way way out of range for any but the wealthy. Funny thing is, nothing’s selling.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch over in the beautiful little tourist towns of Ridgway and Ouray, Colorado:
“County faces perfect storm
As Board of County Commissioners Chairman Keith Meinert accurately states, a “perfect storm” is brewing here in Ouray County, a darkening confluence of high housing costs, lagging wage levels, and rising gas prices.
The increasingly difficult conditions affect not only the county, but the entirety of the local economy…
The median sale price for housing in Ouray is now $395,000, and so-called “affordable” housing here is priced between $220,000 and $275,000.
To afford even this below-market housing a household should earn between $72,000 and $77,000 per year. Only two positions in the county earn at least this much.
Not surprisingly, about a third of the county’s 67 employees live in Montrose or beyond. (One worker commutes from Ophir, while another comes all the way from Grand Junction.)
Comparisons with Montrose County pay scales indicate that Ouray County is slipping behind with many positions more than 10% below comparable Montrose salaries. The increase in commuting costs makes it even less competitive.”
http://tinyurl.com/4wdd6k
I live just a short drive from Ouray. In this county, we’ve had one sale so far this year. I think there are about 40 properties listed.
Rico?
Anecdotal: I was in Sedona a week ago (last Saturday) and it was a picture-perfect, warm and sunny day. That would typically bring everyone and their mothers to Sedona, but noooooo . . . .
I was able to drive down Oak Creek Canyon on 89A at a steady 40 mph. No RVs! There were a few cars parking along the road for West Fork and Slide Rock but nothing remarkable. Once we emerged into uptown Sedona there was the usual buzz of humanity, but much less than I’ve seen before. Sedona on a sunny weekend? Somethings going down.
One big positive, I didn’t see the usual carloads of Valley scumbugs who leave their Keystone Light and BudLite cans all over the side of the road.
I was in Sedona a couple of weeks ago, and I saw the same thing. Uptown is always a bottleneck, but it was slow and Oak Creek Canyon campsites were about half full, which is unheard of. Selling each other over-priced houses isn’t much to base an economy on when gas is high and the economy is hurting. Oh well, I tried to warn them.
Still my No. 1 destination if I could ever find something that makes sense. Biggest mistake of my life was not buying there in 1994 when I had a chance.
Who/what are the Valley scumbags (non-Arizonan here)?
Thanks.
Everybody who lives in Phoenix and has roots in California
(disclaimer: that is my interpretation of “Valley scumbags”, as a Tucsonan)
OK, thanks! (It is my experience that people who claim to be Californians in AZ and other parts of the West are actually from the Rust Belt states, however, they claim to be Californians because most people cannot confirm whether that is true or not.)
Thank you again,
~Misstrial
Why would anyone from the Midwest want to claim being from California? I thought everyone outside of Cali thought of Cali people as intruders with money?
Q: Why would anyone from the Midwest want to claim being from California?
A: I stated Rust Belt states which are generally: Ohio, Illinois (I am excepting Chicago, even in CA, they have license plate froms that proudly proclaim their Chi-town status and/or Cubs fans)), Indiana, PA, also Michigan and Minnesota. These people claim to be former Californians when in fact they are not. They do this a lot in Santa Fe, NM. Maybe they lived in Cali for a year or so but that doesn’t make them Californians anymore than living for the same amount of time in Vermont would make me a Vermonter.
Falsely claiming to be a Californian can be compared to those who carry counterfeit Louis Vuitton bags: Appearances are everything.
Funny how the real expat Californians in Albuquerque and Austin do not have bad reputations.
Got a funny observation similar to wanting to the fit in crowd. This dumb broad, supposedly an acquaintance of inlaws is trying to sell her TRAILER for 175k in order to relocate to NC permanantly with her retarded offspring. She was up this weekend, car parked in gravel driveway with a NC plate on rear of car and a personal plate on the front that said “North Carolina Native”. lmao…. Unfawking believable. I asked MIL if she was a native of this area and she said she was born, raised, married and raised family here. This reminds me of all the sneaker wearing, eurotrash driving fools from NY/CT/NJ pathetically attempting to fit in in VT by registering their junk there. These dopes, even after supposedly being there for “years” always stand out. Always.
Mostly lowlifers (of no particular ethnicity) who should be partying in their apartment parking lot–not trashing Sedona’s roadways with their empties and staggering along the shoulder as they and their dozen rugrats head home.
These are the same lowlifers who get Slide Rock closed down at least once per summer (E.Coli, fecal coloform, etc.) because their nasty kids clamber over the rocks in their filthy diapers or mommy just tosses the dirties onto the slickrock. YUMM-MEEEE!!
BTW: it’s pretty obvious they’re from the Valley with their AZ tags and the deep-tinted windows on their sunbleached clunkers. [Yeah, I'm a NAz snob
]
I am sorry to read that is what’s happening in AZ.
Here in NM, what I’ve been seeing lately are men who do not go far enough off the public roads to pee.
Hey, send them up to Utarrr - it’s illegal to have tinted windows here and I’ve seen people busted for it even though they had out of state plates. Up here, the perception is that if your plates are tinted, you must be hiding something…
plates = windows
flippin’ keyboard
“The median sale price for housing in Ouray is now $395,000, and so-called “affordable” housing here is priced between $220,000 and $275,000.
To afford even this below-market housing a household should earn between $72,000 and $77,000 per year. Only two positions in the county earn at least this much.”
That’s not enough unless he’s talking about net income.
North County San Diego:
The poster child zips for foreclosure have seen increased sales, YOY. I’ve seen a few where you could get positive cash flow on some rentals. Some have gone for 2001/2002 prices.
OTOH, the higher-end areas have seen maybe 10-15% off.
What’s interesting is you can see the divergence even within a particular zip code. When looking at a “good” zip, you can see the lower-end homes within that zip have seen much bigger drops than the higher-end homes.
We went out to dinner at a Chili’s the other night, and it was PACKED. I asked the hostess if there was a fundraiser or something, and she replied that there was no event, but business has suddenly gotten very, very busy the past couple of weeks — she was surprised by the activity and didn’t know what was causing it.
The mall also has about the same number of people shopping as during the “good” times.
This seems similar to what Lost & others have been saying WRT lots of people spending money. I don’t get it.
When did those tax refunds start arriving?
Good point. I didn’t think of that.
Would these people actually take that money during a recession and just spend it so foolishly?
Nevermind, I just watched as people spent their home equity on such things. One would think people would have learned by now…
“One would think people would have learned by now…”
The stove wasn’t hot enough.
Just a note here from Oak Park, IL. We just have gone through our 3-year real estate assessments and supposedly the average is 18% UP from what it was back in 2005. Everyone’s pissed off. (My feeling is the 18% is a secondary problem, I’m still trying to convince the Powers That Be that my place isn’t commercial at a tax rate of 10%, hello?)
Given the weird mix of stuff around here, I could almost believe the quoted raise in appraisals. Old Soviet style apartments that went condo: listed at $400K. Everything else, especially the stuff in the historical districts–>holding firm or going UP.
I think parking and proximity to good schools is what’s driving everything here.
Hmm, a line got dropped from the above. “Old Soviet style apartments that went condo are hanging around at < $200K. Townhouses at $650+ are listed at $400K.”
Report from southern New Mexico (88007):
The luxury home market - those built within the past 3 years - has pretty much withered since cash-outs from out-of-state are no longer appearing in the numbers as in the past 7 years. The locals generally make anywhere from $5-$15/hour so the RE industry here is very dependent on luring buyers from the Northeast/Midwest. One way they do this is to trash-talk CA and NY on city data forum. 2 CA owners here that I talked to recently plan on selling and returning to SoCal.
So far, in my price range, I am seeing $75k - $100k price drops and that seems impressive until you find out from the sales history. One: the seller is asking $325k only paid $71k for the residence in 1997. Or, in another case, seller paid $39k in 1998 for a residence where they are now asking $209k :/
There was a flurry of building activity (builders believed RE happy talk and went out on a limb, gambled, and now the wait for buyers is on) from December to about 3 weeks ago and now that is gone. The homes have been built and are empty ($300k+ Santa Fe-style homes).
When I go out for routine shopping, the roads are about 1/2 the traffic as in the past - I assume that people are staying home. I am noticing a lot less Texas plates too (some El Pasoans have come here to shop because it is less like Mexico as opposed to El Paso).
The RE community has been panting for the day that a new brigade arrives at the local military base, however, the recent news is that 900 homes/townhomes/apts are being built on one base and housing for 10k on another and with gas here at $3.69-$3.71/GAL it is unlikely that they will want to commute over the St. Augustine Pass to Las Cruces.
Prices are coming down with distressed sellers advertising in the Sun-News, however, the homes are not worth what the asking prices are, imo (taking the poor infrastructure into account and the incompetent employees at local stores/institutions).
~Misstrial
My wife wanted to drive past her old house she had 7 years or so ago.
We are driving though the neighborhood, turn a corner and.. DANG!!! Wish I had my camera. It seemed EVERY house on the short street was for sale, with atleast 3 posted as foreclosures.
The shown for sale on Zillow just do not do it justice….
http://www.zillow.com/search/RealEstateSearch.htm?addrstrthood=75TH+ave&citystatezip=glendale+az#view=ver%3D1%26op%3Dsearch%26scen%3Ds1%26map%3D%28Aw%3AAN112229180%21As%3A33502825%21Ae%3AAN112225248%21An%3A33504301%29%26mode%3D%28zoom%3A17%21sortANdir%3Au%21sortANparam%3Ax17%29%26citystatezip%3Dglendale%20az%26addrstrthood%3D75TH%20ave%26loc%3Dmap
Started digging a little:
One of the foreclosures was the one listed at $127K on the end.
NovaStar was owed $168K + $42K. Origination June 06.
Taken last month:
http://156.42.40.50/UnOfficialDocs/pdf/20070426008.pdf
Here is one on the other side of the street (7736) which was taken by LaSalle bank last month.
http://156.42.40.50/UnOfficialDocs/pdf/20080362065.pdf
$155K + First Franklin had a 2nd for $39K. Originaltion? March 2007.
Same guy had a foreclosure in 2003 and a civil judgement against him in 2005 for $5K that has not been released. I thought subprime had been shut down pre-Mar, 2007.
The one at the other end of the 3 shown in Zillow (7747). Bought Feb 2006. Someone called BNC Mortgage owed $160K + Lehman Brothers Bank owed $40K on the second. Foreclosure is scheduled for June 6th.
http://156.42.40.50/UnOfficialDocs/pdf/20080206653.pdf
7731: bought in 2005 for $175K. MILA Inc DBA as Mortgage Investment Lending Association is loaned $140K + $35K.
Taken by an MBS in March.
http://156.42.40.50/UnOfficialDocs/pdf/20080296507.pdf
Looks like 7746 was bought in November 2004 for $115K, but refi-ed in 2006 to $145K. Medical lien was put on this property June 2007.
Taken by Option One Mortgage Oct 2007.
http://156.42.40.50/UnOfficialDocs/pdf/20071190488.pdf
There are only 16 houeses on that block. 7 houses changed hands since start of 2004. 4 bank owned and 1 scheduled for next month.
No wonder everyone else on the block is trying to sell!
Question: Looking in the Grand Junction and W. Colo. region at rentals. This includes Durango and Montrose areas. Am now seeing ads on Craigslist and in the papers for people desperately seeking rentals. The price of the rentals available seems to be going sky high, saw a house in Delta for 2k, unheard of price (normally 500 or so)!
Yet the RE for sale is just sitting, totally overpriced, nothing moving.
When can we expect to see rentals opening up in terms of availability and affordability in those areas? Any ideas? G. Junction is oilpatch, but the other areas aren’t. I’m baffled.
Dear Lost in Utah,
I’m from a small town near Grand Junction and I’ve been watching the housing market for several years. I think that what we’re seeing is the burst of the housing bubble against the backdrop of the energy boom. Oil patch can afford housing up to about $200,000, but not much higher with the tightened lending standards. Many builders built houses substantially above that value with speculative intent because “It’s different here!” Also oil patchers are no fools, why buy a house in a perceived softening market when renting makes more sense? So sales are flat, rentals are tight, and the builders keep building…. An interesting insight into this scenario is Weld County, Colorado which has the second highest number of drilling permits in the state, but also has a remarkable number of foreclosures!
I suspected oil patch…but not sure how the dynamics worked. It’s crazy. Thanks for the reply. I have family in Montrose and Junction both.
My sister is visiting us this Memorial Day weekend. We took a self-guided tour this morning of a tract home development (Avaron at Del Sur) located a few miles from our rental home. I pointed out to my sister the absence of evidence that the area is more than 30 pct occupied, including few cars parked by any of the homes, and little automotive or foot traffic through the area. It strongly resembles the faux community that Harrison Ford enters at the beginning of the new Indiana Jones flick (the town that turns out to be a test site for a nukular explosion). I am wondering who owns these places, which give the appearance of having never been occupied, and what is in it for the owners to keep these homes at prices they will never sell forever?
By the end of my tour, my sister was duly impressed with the amount of overbuilding at the $500,000+ price point in our zip code (92127 Rancho Bernardo West).
Avaron at Del Sur New Homes For Sale
August 29, 2006 in Uncategorized
Avaron is the most exclusive of Standard Pacifics 4 developments at Del Sur. Located in the western end of Rancho Bernardo (just south of the Crosby Estates), Avaron offers versions of three residences. Homes range in size from 3,951 square feet to 5,037 square feet and start at $1,424,900.
Apparently not all homes in this development are in the 3000 sq ft+ size range…
Here is one of these Avaron homes that came back on the market shortly after it was built (in 2007!). These homes were marketed new for well over $1m. Now they sit on the market forever at $590,000. That is some depreciation rate!
8359 Katherine Claire Ln San Diego, CA 92127
Price: $590,000
Beds: 4
Baths: 2.5
Sq. Ft.: 1,961
$/Sq. Ft.: $301
Lot Size: -
Lot: Up to and Including .25 Acres
PROPERTY TYPE: Single Family Detached, Fee Simple
YEAR BUILT: 2007
STORIES: 2 Story
SUBDIVISION: Del Sur-Bridgewalk
County: San Diego
MLS#: 081003546
Source: SANDICOR
Status: Active
On Redfin: 132 days
Unsold in 90+ days
Sold for $614K in Feb 2007, according to Redfin. It’s down, but still needs to go to around $300K-$350K, IMO.
2004 prices have arrived in Chicago NW subs, woohoo!
1201 TRACIE DR
LAKE ZURICH, IL 60047
MLS ID# 06865689
Current List Price: $335,000
Previous Sale Date: 06/24/2004
Previous Sale Price: $335,000
Crain’s said April sales for Chicagoland and Chicago proper were both down 30% y-o-y. So much for the spring selling season here. The IAR and CAR (Illinos and Chicago respectively) issued the same lame comments…diverse and healthy economy…no huge price run up…blah, blah.
Biked the Drive yesterday. A good crowd of cyclists were stopped at the site of The Spire taking pictures. They’re still working on the cassions/foundation. If they built the Brooklyn Bridge at that pace it still wouldn’t be open for traffic.
I bet the Spire opens its doors into the worst real-estate market on record as did the tallest of its day — the Empire State building.
Great–how many large phallic symbols can we litter the Midwest with?
(Has anyone ever seen the Capitol building in Lincoln, Nebraska? Talk about a late 19th-century architect with, um, ISSUES….)
Perhaps you’d prefer the “Vagina” Building on Michigan Ave. in Chicago?
For the record, the lights on the building do NOT change their color to red once a month.
Cost of gas affecting visitors to the NC outer banks (beaches) this weekend. Higher vacancy rates at the hotels and second home rentals.
http://www.charlotte.com/local_news/story/640656.html
Foreclosed house in New Jersey blows up. I’m guessing it’s copper thieves again…
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/05/blast_destroys_parsippany_hous.html
I was driving on the freeway west of Denver into Golden on Saturday afternoon. It was eerie, there were so few cars on the road. Westbound was nearly empty — just a few cars ahead of me about 1/2 mile or so. It stayed like this until I got into Golden. I can’t remember ever seeing so few people out on a weekend.
Friends who came over said the same thing about the freeway all the way from OK into Utah a week ago. They travel a lot, so they can compare, and they said it was way down.
Had to head north on I-5 in Washington state Saturday, from Olympia to Federal Way. Traffic was a nightmare. It was quite unappealing as I was hoping it would be light due to gas prices. It’s different here though, because everybody is rich and real estate only goes up.
I’ve done a little more sniffing around in the 90277 zip code. Found a place near one of my favorite haunts (Kincaid’s, at King Harbor). Zestimate is $671,000. Sold for $555,000 in 1987, 21 years ago. That is somewhere between a 0.85% and 0.9% annual appreciation! Just check price history of the area around 824 Camino Real in 90277. Sheesh!
90277 is a very good area, 50 weeks of good climate per year, proximity to high tech jobs in El Segundo, and the beach right nearby.
A house is certainly not an investment.