There Are Empty Properties All Over The Place
It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “Valet attendants stand poised at the porte-cochere of the Ritz-Carlton’s first-ever condominium-only project as a doorman ushers visitors toward the marble lobby. Pathways wind through the manicured lawn and gardens, just steps from a new stretch of downtown Baltimore’s waterfront promenade. The builders can only hope their buyers will be as ready.”
“Sherrie Timmes has a contract on a two-bedroom Ritz condo. She and her husband decided to sell a house in Clarksville and move downtown. The couple put the Clarksville home on the market but has had no acceptable offers. Even so, Timmes said, she is not worried.”
“‘Worse-case scenario is we’ll have a house in the country and a house in the city,’ she said.”
“Sales prices for single-family homes in Massachusetts fell sharply in April, accelerating a decline that is now in its third year, according to Warren Group data. In some cases, said Art Foley, owner of Century 21 Annex Realty in Quincy, sellers are even asking for a lower price than they believe the property is worth, in a bid to stir buyer interest.”
“‘We’ve lived with this for a while now, and I think sellers are understanding better’ that they need to cut prices, said Foley.”
“Last week, Florida International University, crippled by yet another round of budget cuts, indicated that the school would offer no more majors in industrial and systems engineering. ”We’ve gone from cutting the flesh to cutting the bone. But this is amputation,’ lamented Bruce Hauptli, chairman of the FIU faculty senate.”
“Hauptli doubts there’ll be an exodus — thanks to the housing crisis. Florida professors might be unhappy working in a state that’s disinvesting in education. But they can’t leave. They can’t sell their houses.”
“House prices are falling £160 A DAY in the biggest drop for 17 years. The average price tumbled 2.5 per cent - nearly £5,000 - last month, according to Nationwide. Economist Howard Archer said…a large number of buyers having to remortgage at higher rates this year.”
“This could lead to a sharp increase in the number of people forced to make ‘distressed’ sales. ‘Those people who took out 100 per cent or even 100 per cent plus mortgages within the past 18 months or so at the tail end of the market boom are particularly vulnerable.’”
“Short-term speculators who last year borrowed to invest in new ‘high-end’ suburbs and apartment blocks in Ho Chi Minh City are rushing to sell off these properties after banks raised interest rates sharply. The distress selling is also having the effect of pricking the property price bubble that built up since the middle of last year.”
“Prices have plunged by even half in some places. Many speculators are advertising at the original prices they paid, or even lower. A real estate agent in District 7 said many of his clients were trying to sell their apartments, where registration cards - that confers the right to buy an apartment once construction is finished - cost VND300 million ($18,579) last year.”
“Some were willing to sell at cost price and even offered discounts of up to VND50 million ($3,095) for immediate payment, he added.”
“The cost of land in high-end housing projects in District 7 has plummeted to VND45-50 million ($2800 - 3100) per square meter, down from almost VND90 million ($5,573) last year. The situation is so gloomy that some investors who paid deposits for property in under-construction projects have decided to forgo their advances of up to 10 percent of the final price to avoid further losses.”
“Torontonians were treated to an unusual sight yesterday as a tracked excavator officially began demolition for the 80-storey 1 Bloor condominium and hotel development. Yet it may also mark the end of an era.”
“Individual projects are having a tougher time as a huge number of developers - 148 in the high-rise market, compete for buyers. Brad Lamb, one of the city’s most prominent real estate agents, has noticed the pinch. ‘Of what we expected to sell in a month,’ he said, ‘we are now selling half. … We’ve come down to earth.’”
“In it’s obsession with property prices and housing affordability, Sydney has overlooked a startling fact: the city is awash with empty buildings. The number of unoccupied residential dwellings in Sydney counted by census workers in 2006 was 122,211, with the highest number found in the inner city. That does not include the thousands of empty warehouses, pubs, churches and shops.”
“‘It’s an amazing figure, isn’t it? It begs analysis,’ said Col James, the director of the Ian Buchan Fell Housing Research Centre, in the University of Sydney’s architecture faculty. ‘The numbers would be swelling now there are more mortgage defaulters,’ he said. ‘There are empty properties all over the place if you know how to look for them.’”
“Northwest Arkansas‘ code officers are struggling to keep the grass cut at empty houses that are cluttering neighborhoods during the downturn in home sales and rash of foreclosures.”
“The report shows more than 27,000 empty lots in active subdivisions in Benton and Washington counties, and another 18,000 lots approved for development. In addition to the empty lots, Bentonville has the second-largest inventory of vacant residential construction - 372 houses - in Northwest Arkansas.”
“‘There’s no question it’s a problem,’ Bentonville code enforcement officer Marvin Saunders said. ‘The economic conditions are such that folks just walked off and left.’”
“In a recent interview with U.S. News, ZipRealty CEO Pat Lashinsky predicted that Seattle’s so-far resilient housing market would suffer big losses relatively soon. What makes you think the Seattle housing market is going to crash?”
“‘In Seattle, if you look at it right now, on a year-over-year basis, you will see that inventory levels [of unsold homes] are up between 45 and 50 percent. And in the price report that just came out-it would say that prices are down in Seattle by 4 percent. This is exactly what we saw in the rest of the country six to nine months ago.’”
“‘And so you get into this scenario where buyers don’t buy, because they have too many choices and they are trying to get a good value, and sellers are trying to hold on to their value. So now, nobody buys a home today, and then more homes go on the market tomorrow. And then all of a sudden, people have to sell or foreclosures come in. And all of a sudden it pops because everyone is competing against a significantly lower price.’”
“The John Ross condominiums have sweeping views, an elegant shape that inspires architectural envy, and a whole lot of unsold units. To date, just 177 of its 303 units have attracted buyers.”
“According to the Regional MLS, there have been just 138 new units sold in the downtown area so far this year. At the John Ross, sales peaked at 40 in April 2007 and fell quickly to zero by November, according to county records.”
“Today, Portland has about 2,500 unsold condominiums, a figure that includes developers’ inventories and another 1,000 ‘phantom units,’ which refers to condominiums bought by investors who intended to turn a quick profit and who apparently are holding out for the market to return.”
“Gene Grant, a real estate attorney, said foreclosures are inevitable. ‘It’s grim,’ he said.”
“Not surprisingly, one local lender said it isn’t writing any new condo loans. ‘My very best customers wouldn’t ask me. That’s why they’re our very best customers. They don’t sell ice to Eskimos,’ said Nelda Scott Newton, VP for Wells Fargo Real Estate Group.”
“More than a few analysts and economists have been singing the lyrics to ‘A Cockeyed Optimist’ these days.”
“‘I could say life is just a bowl of Jello
And appear more intelligent and smart,
But I’m stuck like a dope with a thing called hope,
And I can’t get it out of my heart!’”
“And so some in that chorus were belting out the news of a uptick in new single-family home sales in April, to an annual rate of 526,000 from 509,000 in March as a sign that somehow the worst decline in housing activity since the Great Depression was close to an end.”
“Of course, this pace was still down 42% from a year ago and 62% from the peak. But these cockeyed optimists continue to clutch at the feeblest of straws.”
“Ian Shepherdson of High Frequency Economics points out the 17,000 increase was far smaller than the margin of error. Moreover, this year’s extremely early Easter boosted April’s total at the expense of March’s.”
“‘Taking the two months together, sales in March and April were 11.7% lower than in January and February, and inventory rose to an average of 10.9 months of current sales compared to 9.8 months,’ Shepherdson writes. ‘There’s no relief in sight.’”
“Sign of a great deal to be had, or a property in a great deal of physical distress? Both, it seems, as foreclosures climb to record levels in the Inland Empire - a stark reality that has local government scrambling to reduce the inevitable blight that comes with vacant, unmaintained properties.”
“It’s more than an aesthetic problem. Vacant, run-down properties become breeding grounds for crime and can dramatically lower already deflating property values throughout a neighborhood. That, in turn, can spur more foreclosures, more empty properties. Clearly, something has to give.”
“The failure of the housing market in 21st century America is that it has become too clinical. Houses became spreadsheets, not homes. The ideals of George Bailey’s fabled Building and Loan vanished as the American dream became a high-risk mutual fund.”
“Fining lenders won’t change that, but it might help protect what little remaining sense of community we have. And if it convinces banks to exercise a little more discretion during the next housing boom, all the better.”
“In that regard, it’s rather simple: You break it. You own it. You maintain it.”
“This column will challenge how most of you view your houses. So let me begin with the most-provocative comment: In general, I think it’s a good thing that house prices are falling.”
“I honestly believe lower house prices will strengthen the national economy in the long term. And, much as the Great Depression helped people understand the risk of stock-market investing, I’m hopeful that what might be the worst national housing market since the Depression will force people to rethink the value of owning a house.”
“For decades, a hoax has been perpetrated on Americans by a greedy, or naive, residential real estate industry. It’s the notion that your house is an investment, a retirement nest egg.”
“So why is it good that house prices are falling? Well, first-time buyers and anyone trading up can now buy a house for a smaller down payment and lower mortgage than this time last year. And I’m not talking about a pittance, either.”
“For every $5,000 you reduce the price of a house, you can cut your down payment by $1,000, and your monthly mortgage by about $25 for a 30-year fixed mortgage at 5.75 percent. In eight months, a married couple buying a house will have more money to either save or spend than they will get from President George W. Bush’s tax rebate.”
“And the couple will continue to save $300 every year. Now, that’s a stimulus package!”
“If you did the prudent thing, you didn’t rely on your house to fund your retirement. But I know reality is far different. Most homeowners are counting on their houses to fund their golden years. And that’s the attitude I hope will change with falling house prices.”
“Even if you believe your house is an investment, you need to understand that it’s highly illiquid. And if your house is your primary investment, you’re facing huge risk from lack of diversification.”
“My hope is that with house prices falling, people will realize they need to invest their cash in assets that have a credible value and can be bought or sold in an instant. Most importantly, buy a house sensibly, understanding that its true value is psychological, social and emotional - not financial.”
Another great week folks. My thanks to those who support this blog. Please check back this weekend!
You’re welcome Ben. I just sent you a modest donation. Keep up the good work!
Cool! A journalistic nomad who shoots from the hip, aka “endangered species.”
Jack Naudi’s Biography
08/05/2050
Jack Naudi is a nomad. Since graduating from Northern Illinois University in 1980 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he’s worked for nine different newspapers and lived in nine cities in five states. He’s been a business reporter at the Post-Dispatch since March 2003, and claims to want to stick around a while.
“My very best customers wouldn’t ask me. That’s why they’re our best customers. They don’t sell ice to Eskimos.”
Lady WTH does that mean exactly? Oh, before whether they were developers or speculators you couldn’t bust out the application fast enough but now that there are 1,000 “phantom units” you’d appreciate it if they had the good taste and judgement not to even bring it up?
Sure. You weren’t part of the problem.
“‘I could say life is just a bowl of Jello
And appear more intelligent and smart,
But I’m stuck like a dope with a thing called hope,
And I can’t get it out of my heart!’”
Here’s another song from South Pacific that some analysts, economists, builders, relators and FBs are singing:
Most people live on a lonely island,
Lost in the middle of a foggy sea.
Most people long for another island,
One where they know they will like to be.
Bali Ha’i may call you,
Any night, any day,
In your heart, you’ll hear it call you:
“Come away…Come away.”
Bali Ha’i will whisper
In the wind of the sea:
“Here am I, your special island!
Come to me, come to me!”
Your own special hopes,
Your own special dreams,
Bloom on the hillside
And shine in the streams.
If you try, you’ll find me
Where the sky meets the sea.
“Here am I your special island
Come to me, Come to me.”
Bali Ha’i,
Bali Ha’i,
Bali Ha’i!
Someday you’ll see me floatin’ in the sunshine,
My head stickin’ out from a low fluin’ cloud,
You’ll hear me call you,
Singin’ through the sunshine,
Sweet and clear as can be:
“Come to me, here am I, come to me.”
If you try, you’ll find me
Where the sky meets the sea.
“Here am I your special island
Come to me, Come to me.”
Bali Ha’i,
Bali Ha’i,
Bali Ha’i!
I’m gonna wash that home right outta my hair…
Good on JP
on=one
Just how over is the housing game, you ask?
“This game’s in the refrigerator: the door is closed, the lights are out, the eggs are cooling, the butter’s getting hard, and the Jell-O’s jigglin’!”
Chick Hearn
…and send it on its way.
And one for a Realtor ™
Some enchanted showing,
You may find a buyer
You may find a buyer
Who can get a loan…
LOL!
LOL
(everyone sing!) There is nothing like a home, nothing in this world, there is nothing you can own that is anything like a home.
“Double Nester”
“‘Worse-case scenario is we’ll have a house in the country and a house in the city,’ she said.”
Isn’t she secure in her ignorance! The worst-case scenario is that one or both of them loses a job, or they face uninsured medical costs or one of the other financial experiences now euphemistically referred to as a “challenge,” and then they lose both houses.
Personally I don’t have a problem with the basic concept. PROVIDED you have a ‘modest’ flat in the city and then motor off to your country estate for weekEND?
It’s a lifestyle I’ve advocated for my youngest daughter and her husband and they at least are feigning interest? I said, look, who has time during the week for anything other than take-out and netflix? Mon. thru Fri it’s a place where pizza boxes and dirty laundry pile up. Why make a big thing of it?
For young career people why is that such a bad option? But when it becomes a matter of “acquiring” ever more real estate… then it’s a problem!
Never know, she might be loaded.
Mike
“‘Worse-case scenario is we’ll have a house in the country and a house in the city,’ she said.”
Gawd this statement drips with arrogance. Lady, worst case scenario is you get to lose a place in the country and a place in the city. Who is her husband , Reginald Van Pelt ?
Is there a homestead/homeowner’s exemption in Baltimore? If so, I hope one of their neighbors rats them out so they can have the pleasure of paying their fair share of the coming property tax tsunami - when no one can see right now - because its hidden behind the foreclosure, auto loan, and credit card tsunamis.
Who is her husband , Reginald Van Pelt ?
Or J.D. Gotrocks perhaps. What’s her point, if they ‘are’ loaded just keep both houses no need to sell. On the other hand she sounds like a pretentious snot wanna be and wants to sound like it’s no big deal for a newspaper article. You know,the my car had a flat so I bought a new one type. Yea,Yea,Yea I’m impressed.
“people will realize they need to invest their cash in assets that have a credible value and can be bought or sold in an instant”
I keep my cash invested in Beer and Vodka.
Don’t piss away your savings.
That’s why I don’t drink light beer, it always ends up on the ceiling.
Makes you see double and think you’re single…
“Most homeowners are counting on their houses to fund their golden years.”
They have too, as many of them will have already “borrowed” and spent all of the money from their 401Ks using the new “borrow from your 401K” credit cards. Now the lender you screw can be yourself!
I wonder who is going to buy them unless we boost our birthrate exponentially or open the floodgates to immigration.
They won’t sit on the shelf forever gathering dust.
Prices will fall all the way to the point where buying them makes good financial sense for someone… And whoever wants property will take what they want.
open the floodgates to immigration………ding. ding. ding. ding!! We have a winner.
Zero Population Growth…..don’t have children, ladies, that’s bad….. have a “career”. Stop killing the planet. Be responsible. Blah. Blah. Blah.
Now, the ponzi-scheme Social Security System is lacking a new generation of payers. Where will they come from???
………………….open the floodgates to immigration.
That is why no politician or public servant in this or coming administrations will do anything to “arrest” this problem. They are the new us.
If you think about who was buying CDO’s, I bet some of ‘our’ retirement money (401K, 401A, IRA, etc.) was involved.
What a perfect scam. The ULTIMATE loop. Draining the host.
Hey what’s that mark on my arm, oh sh*t.
Mike
speaking of empty houses, and soon-to-be empty houses . . . .
ran over to the nearby Dollar Tree (Citrus Heights, CA) for a few large paper towel rolls & overheard the store manager conversing w/customer about his mortgage situation; manager pays $2,200 a month. “well now, small store managers must do OK on the payscale”, was my sarcastic private thought on the matter. spousal income probably helps the budget, but then he goes on to say . . . . he is looking at a short sale.
A-HAAAA!! of course, the customer in response mentions he buys houses, (how convenient) and asks if the manager has any equity?
didnt really catch his reply but the overagressive “customer” kept browbeating the manager for financial details. by then the poor mgnr was embarrassed to say more & ducked into the back stockroom.
I headed for the register poste haste, feeling sick to my stomach like watching a hyena circling a weak animal.
Seems the days of shame at disclosing one’s failures are passe’ and now it’s accepted custom to garner sympathy fom complete strangers.
I tell man, it reall harshed my buzz!
gotta go. solar hot tub perfection awaits.
everyone have a good weekend
I love stories like these. Has this already been a weekend topic of sorts?
I know a looooooot of people have overheard these types of conversations (I know I have) and I absolutely salivate over them.
I lo-o-o-o-o-o-ove the Dollar Tree. Great deals. As long as you shop carefully. Oh, and stay out of the path of the screaming rugrats charging around the store.
And don’t buy anything meant for going in your mouth. I’ve had bad luck with toothpaste and crackers. (Not at the same time.)
Check for the “Made in China” label.
Of course, it is difficult these days as manufacturers seem to be able to get by with “distributed by …” without giving where the product is made.
For instance, it is difficult or impossible to tell where the concentrate comes from that is used in apple juice that is made from concentrate. The vast majority of apple juice concentrate used in the USA today comes from China.
I have seen bubble gum packaged to appeal to small children that has the “Made in China” label (observed at Cracker Barrel Restaurant). Are parents really OK with their children consuming these products? Of course, we all know the FDA is watching closely.
Refrain in Saigon, circa 1968: Me no V.C.
Refrain in Ho Chi Minh City, circa 2008: Me no V.C. (venture capitalist)
“Short-term speculators who last year borrowed to invest in new ‘high-end’ suburbs and apartment blocks in Ho Chi Minh City are rushing to sell off these properties after banks raised interest rates sharply. The distress selling is also having the effect of pricking the property price bubble that built up since the middle of last year.”
“Prices have plunged by even half in some places. Many speculators are advertising at the original prices they paid, or even lower. A real estate agent in District 7 said many of his clients were trying to sell their apartments, where registration cards - that confers the right to buy an apartment once construction is finished - cost VND300 million ($18,579) last year.”
Bad Aladinsane, Bad Aladinsane,
You should know better than that!
JK!
I LMAO.
Mike
Speculators dinky-dao numbah ten thou.
As most of you day-trading investors know, there’s almost nowhere for a simple person to invest and stay ahead of the burden of monetary inflation. I know many people who think their 401K’s are growing, but in many cases, over a period of time, they rarely make much over the true effects of inflation.
I’ve always made more money investing locally than nationally or internationally. Yes, I’m a goldbug and have “profited” from the rise in gold’s price, but I never want to make money with gold, I just want to secure that wealth. Gold shouldn’t really return a profit, it should hopefully just protect the value of the dollars spent. I’m not a fan of gold’s increasing prices in the past 5 years, regardless of what goldbugs want others to believe.
In recent years, I’ve done fairly well investing in local businesses I can monitor. Business I’d shop or use. I invested in a small landscaping service that focused on low prices for basic needs. Even in this recessionary environment, many homeowners around me still want basic services. We’re still making a profit, and last year I received more than 30% on my initial investment 3 years ago. This year, even with gas prices, I should still see a 15-20% return.
I invested in a vegan restaurant in a hip area. The kids seem to still have money to blow, even the poor vegan kids. The restaurant brought me a 40% return on investment in year #1, and has stood around 25% since then. This year they’re making more money than ever, because more of those crazy kids are going vegan. Can’t beat that. If only I could convince them to stay open until 2am so that the drunk kids could eat (big demand, no supply).
I’ve also invested in other local businesses where I have a relationship with the business owner and know that they’re more focused on long term customer service and not a quick buck. Yes, I’ve lost some money when businesses tank, but I have still stayed ahead of the market in almost every way. My worst losses are consistently at Prosper.com, where I think I’ve lost every dollar loaned out.
have any good links on becoming a private lender ?
tia
How can a business tank when you provide good customer service? Not bloody likely; I gather that’s your point here.
I thought his point was that if you’re willing to take on the high risk of betting on small companies in narrow markets, high gains are possible..
Quick oil change station preferably without the franchise costs. Cash cow and people in suburbia can not (or will not) change their own oil and dispose of the old oil. As long as we are dependant on the combustible engine the oil needs to be changed.
I thought only certain models of Ford had combustible engines.
“House prices are falling £160 A DAY in the biggest drop for 17 years. The average price tumbled 2.5 per cent - nearly £5,000 - last month, according to Nationwide.
Not only is renting smarting than buying, you can stay in a nice hotel for less than the cost of owning! That’s almost $10k/month! Once you include the mortgage, taxes, and insurance… I’m trying to think of a hotel in London I couldn’t stay in that wouldn’t be cheaper for a nice room. I’m sure there is a more expensive penthouse.
Got Popcorn?
Neil
I stayed at the Seneca Hotel in Chicago, a very nice apartment building (circa 1924) converted to a hotel. Loved it. They told my their monthly rates for a HUGE one bedroom (separate big living room, dining room, kitchen) is around $3000 per month. I have friends living 3 blocks away in Old Town that own one bedroom condos costing them almost 40% more.
And the hotel changes your linens and towels, vacuums and steams the carpets regularly, and even turns the dishwasher on. Nice. About ready to pull a Charles Mingus and move in myself.
Neil,
That is so funny! I can see the “bloody” commericals on the telly already! LOL!
You can have your own doorman to carry the bloody baggage out! No more running ’round to the bleeding market, WE’LL bring it TO YOU!
Must we always be reminded of Iraq?
“In that regard, it’s rather simple: You break it. You own it. You maintain it.”
But Grandpa insists “we need to be there for 100 years”…
What a delusional Napoleon type.
100 years might be doable.. Of the 200,000 stationed in former trouble spots around the world, about 115,000 military personnel are in Japan/Germany.. and it’s been over 60 years since we ‘broke’ them.
I’ve done my patriotic duty. Are you ready to accept deployment orders?
I’d want to do the right thing. If called, do you think I should accept?
Do you have the fortitude?
hmm.. do i have fortitude?
Well, I dunno.. If willingness to do the right thing can be considered courageous, then i guess so.
So tell me… Is it right to obey the call or not?
The answer should be a no brainer to someone who has done their “patriotic duty”.. After all, who would know better?
“Must we always be reminded of Iraq?”
Until all of our military people are out of there, Yes!
How big can the market be for half million dollar condos in Baltimore? Not very big, I’d guess.
It is a very poor city. Last number I heard was about $33k for the average household income. The Wire is not far off.
” The Wire is not far off.”
Marlo Stanfield can buy one. Maybe Clay Davis too.
Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiite
“‘I could say life is just a bowl of Jello
And appear more intelligent and smart,
But I’m stuck like a dope with a thing called hope,
And I can’t get it out of my heart!’”
Some things in Life are Bad,
They can really make you Mad,
Other things just make you Swear and Curse,
When you’re chewing on Life’s Gristle,
Don’t Grumble,
Give a Whistle,
And this’ll help things turn out for the Best….
lol. Thanks for nothing, now I’ll have that damn song in my head all weekend.
Quoting Brad Lamb from the Toronto article:
“It was ridiculous,” he said of last year’s condo market. “… Nobody in our industry thought it could last.”
Is that what you were telling people a year ago, Mr. Lamb?
I am glad to finally see some signs of sanity in Toronto. Anyone want to bet on how much of a white elephant this 80-storey tower will be by the time it’s completed in 2011?
As long as the CMHC requires SKIN IN THE GAME, and reverts the silly 40-year mortgage experiment back to 25 (or preferably 15) the market should see sanity again.
Afterall, that’s what the CMHC is for…to save people from THEMSELVES. People sometimes NEED a bloody babysitter; they never grow up.
the US is a looking glass into the future of Canada - one year into the future. CMHC has the Canadian market totally contained - for another year at least. Question how does CMHC differ from Fanny Mae, Freddy Mac?
I agree. Real estate agents are scum. Telling ppl buy now or be priced out forever and what a great investment it is, and behind their backs laughing at the suckers whose lives they destroyed to obtain a commission. I actually know some that would tell ppl real estate never goes down and this area will always be immune, and then privately tell me why in the hell would anyone pay these stupid prices.
AdaminToronto,
any effect on cottage country yet? I’m renting a place near Muskoka in August on a lake…same place I rented last summer. Totally beautiful place, but the asking prices for cottages were nuts.
As far as I can tell prices for anything lakefront are still ridiculous, especially for timeshares. I’ve never understood paying that much for a place you get to see 2-3 weeks per year if you’re lucky. People whose families bought those places 30-40 years ago have it made. Otherwise it is a far better deal to rent a place for a week, there are some nice places which are very reasonable (moreso outside Muskoka).
I have heard that boat traffic on the Trent system is way down from a few years ago.
“Northwest Arkansas‘ code officers are struggling to keep the grass cut at empty houses that are cluttering neighborhoods during the downturn in home sales and rash of foreclosures.”
Oh my, looks like too many suckers bought off on Erik Estrada’s bubbly real estate TV infomercials. Let the law suits begin.
Gettin a jump on the “local market observations” for the weekend.
For my zip, 8 transactions for 4 weeks 4/11/08 to 5/9/08
In order (oldest to most recent):
$226K, prior purchase $160K 2003
$230K, prior purchase $160K 2005 (this one is highly suspect as a deed from 2004 was not paid off until the most recent transaction.)
$189K, post foreclosure. Prior loan: 80/20s for $260K, May 2006. Taken Dec 2007. (Same person bough another property the prior day for $278L. Also lost to foreclosure Dec 2007)
$370K, post foreclosure. Prior owners owed as little As $220K in 2001 when they bought, but got hit by 2 separate $40K civil judgements in mid-2006 and refi’ed the house to $322K. Then they took out a $150K second in Jan 2007. HSBC (holder of the second) took it Jan 2008.
$223K, Bought for $180K mid 2004.
$172K, bought for $109K in 2001.
$171K. Post foreclosure. Bought 3/31 with 80/20s totalling $255K. 3rd for $9K March 2007. Taken by the lender Dec 2007.
$158K. Post foreclosure. Bought for $118K May 2000.
Refi’s:
119K June 2001
$120K Sept 2002
$191K June 2005
$233K May 2006, CITIMortgage who ate the loss.
So, of the 8, 4 were post foreclosures. 1 questionable transactions, and the 3 others had not been bought or refi-ed since 2004 or before.
Some of these trasnactions show me how far we’ve come, and others show me how far we still have to go.
“‘And so you get into this scenario where buyers don’t buy, because they have too many choices and they are trying to get a good value, and sellers are trying to hold on to their value. So now, nobody buys a home today, and then more homes go on the market tomorrow. And then all of a sudden, people have to sell or foreclosures come in. And all of a sudden it pops because everyone is competing against a significantly lower price.’”
I like this explanation and am hoping that’s what’s going on in Colorado and I’ll soon be able to see a HUGE cloud to the east of me and hear this giant whooshing sound…
I’m gonna get the camp lounger out and go sit in the yard, facing east…oh yeah, and a good Polygamy Porter Ale…
A good Polygamy Ale?
lol
In the same vein as bayareagal’s being handy with a song here’s another good Dire Straits one:
(should be the FB F’d flippers’ anthem)
The Bug
well it’s a strange old game - you learn it slow
one step forward and it’s back to go
you’re standing on the throttle
you’re standing on the brakes
in the groove ’til you make a mistake
sometimes you’re the windshield
sometimes you’re the bug
sometimes it all comes together baby
sometimes you’re a fool in love
sometimes you’re the louisville slugger
sometimes you’re the ball
sometimes it all comes together baby
sometimes you’re going to lose it all
you gotta know happy - you gotta know glad
because you’re gonna know lonely
and you’re gonna know bad
when you’re rippin’ and a ridin’
and you’re coming on strong
you start slippin’ and slidin’
and it all goes wrong because
sometimes you’re the windshield
sometimes you’re the bug
sometimes it all comes together baby
sometimes you’re a fool in love
sometimes you’re the louisville slugger baby
sometimes you’re the ball
sometimes it all comes together baby
sometimes you’re going to lose it all
one day you got the glory
one day you got none
one day you’re a diamond
and then you’re a stone
everything can change
in the blink of an eye
so let the good times roll
before we say goodbye, because
sometimes you’re the windshield
sometimes you’re the bug
sometimes it all comes together baby
sometimes you’re a fool in love
sometimes you’re the louisville slugger baby
sometimes you’re the ball
sometimes it all comes together baby
sometimes you’re going to lose it all
holy,
Clap, clap, clap. Take a bow. Great song.
A U.S. regulatory probe into potential oil-market trading abuses is focusing on possible short-term manipulation of benchmark crude prices and the use of information related to important oil storage tanks to influence prices, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
In other words, ANOTHER Wall Street market is totally rigged.
They should investigate the gold market as vigorously where only 8 players hold the largest short positions.
GATA.org is slowly exposing the scam.
There’s no reason to panic..
Although commodities are highly liquid it should still require several hours.. maybe even days for a bubble to deflate. Just make sure your broker is on speed-dial.
This is pure BS. Congress is desperately trying to look like they’re “doing something”. They’re closing the barn doors when those horses ran off a long, long time ago.
Perhaps they haven’t noticed that the dollar has crashed. Yes, “crashed”. God I wish the media would talk about the US currency crisis in realistic terms instead of platitudes like “temporary weakness”. Bah. The dollar has officially shat the bed, and the monkeys in Congress are scratching their heads trying to figure out why prices of internationally scarce commodities are rising. Retards. No one of course likes to mention that it’s still cheaper here than it’s been for years in Europe.
Speculative activity is a red herring. Sure it exists — but contrary to where fingers are pointing it’s a very, very small part of price increases. A positive indicator of a speculative market is an increase in sales volume. (ie: During the housing bubble, the builders were selling houses as fast as they possibly could). If oil was a pure speculative bubble, we’d see an increase in sales volume — but in fact we’re seeing the opposite. We’ve got declining volumes and increasing prices, and that kids is good old fashioned scarcity and competition for limited resources. Besides, if you price oil in Euros the price isn’t going up much at all.
Perhaps the US should start a regulatory probe into the Federal Reserve, the US banking system, and the Bear Stearns bailout.
“‘It’s an amazing figure, isn’t it? It begs analysis,’ said Col James, the director of the Ian Buchan Fell Housing Research Centre, in the University of Sydney’s architecture faculty. ‘The numbers would be swelling now there are more mortgage defaulters,’ he said. ‘There are empty properties all over the place if you know how to look for them.’”
Are Sydney and San Diego sister cities?
PB,
Are you going to meet Ben next weekend?
“Today, Portland has about 2,500 unsold condominiums, a figure that includes developers’ inventories and another 1,000 ‘phantom units,’ which refers to condominiums bought by investors who intended to turn a quick profit and who apparently are holding out for the market to return.”
“Gene Grant, a real estate attorney, said foreclosures are inevitable. ‘It’s grim,’ he said.”
Many beautiful empty lofts in Portland. Who would have thought it?
Cali and FLA. we are gonna mimic your price depreciation soon.
The problem with the so called Pearl district lofts in Portland is they are built on the old rail yards. Well the rail yards went away but the train didn’t, and it blows its horn extremely loudly at all hours of the night.
A town full of service workers with $500,000, Sub prime .1000Sq Ft. lofts. We all know how this ends.
What was once $500,000 now becomes $150,000.
Mark my words. Supply meets Demand. Simple economics.