The Housing Bubble

The Columbus Dispatch reports from Ohio. “The mortgage crisis has harmed virtually everyone, leaving a wake of foreclosures and falling property values that will ripple through neighborhoods for years to come. No longer is the problem confined to poor neighborhoods.”

“Rodney Young lives in a neighborhood on the city’s Far East Side, that contains several subdivisions where homes typically are valued at between $70,000 and $200,000. Young bought his home in 1997 for $74,500 and signed a fixed-rate mortgage that steadied his monthly house payment at about $700.”

“Like many other families, his was blitzed by advertisements from lenders to refinance. Young and his family had built up debt and decided to consolidate it into a refinanced loan. In 2006, Young signed a new loan with a beginning interest rate of 11.8 percent that could have climbed to nearly 18 percent.”

“They refinanced again in 2007. Now, their monthly payments could nearly double to $1,400. Young says he’s angry at mortgage lenders and himself. He’s angry for signing loans that may cause him to lose his home and eliminate any chance to move into a bigger one. ‘A lot of us were sold a dream,’ Young said, ‘and now we are living a nightmare.’”

“About three blocks from Young’s home, James Roy built his fiancee’s dream house, complete with vaulted ceilings, plush carpet and nearly every upgrade offered. The price: $178,000. Roy, however, had to pay only $1,000 out of pocket.”

“‘I figured the value was only going to get higher, so why not build the best house we could?’ Roy said. ‘It did seem a little too good to be true.’”

“Roy, who had a poor credit score at the time, soon learned that the two loans he signed to finance the home were anything but a dream. To avoid paying mortgage insurance, Roy received one loan that covered 80 percent of the borrowed amount, with an 8.5 percent adjustable interest rate that continued to climb to nearly 12 percent.”

“The second loan, covering 20 percent of what he borrowed, was fixed at an interest rate just above 11 percent. Roy’s monthly house payments rose from $1,400 to $1,600 after six months and were scheduled to climb higher.”

“He then looked to refinance late last year and was besieged by out-of-town lenders offering consolidation loans. One company appraised Roy’s home at $167,000. He eventually refinanced his loan with a fixed rate, but now Roy, who rolled other debt into the mortgage, has even bigger house payments on a home that has lost value.”

“‘I’ll take some of the blame for signing loans like that, but these companies are good at confusing people,’ Roy said. ‘They shouldn’t talk to people about ARMs and adjustable rates and all that. Just tell us the bottom line in dollars and cents. But they don’t do that, and now I’m stuck. A whole lot of us are stuck.’”

The Journal Sentinel from Wisconsin. “Foreclosures increased almost 45% in Milwaukee County during the first five months of the year compared with 2007, according to circuit court records. The entire seven-county Milwaukee area saw a nearly 40% year-to-date increase.”

“The spike in foreclosures ‘could be a signal that house prices started declining between six and 18 months ago,’ said Morris Davis, a professor of real estate and urban land economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.”

“He said there is a lag between when a person falls behind on mortgage payments and when a property is put into foreclosure by a lender. When people find they owe more on a house than it is worth, they are more likely to let a foreclosure proceed than to fight it, he said.”

“Mike Ruzicka, president of the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors in Wauwatosa, agrees that foreclosure activity probably will continue to increase into next year. That is because a number of adjustable rate mortgages are set to readjust this summer, which could make them less affordable to more people, he said.”

“He also said that with increasing foreclosures, it is becoming harder for agents to negotiate price concessions. When a buyer offers a bank less than the value of a loan for a property in foreclosure, the bank ‘wants to sell (the property), but they are being fairly stiff on bending on price concessions,’ he said.”

“It was much easier to get a price concession when banks were foreclosing on houses with loans of less than their value, he said.”

From Business North on Wisconsin. “Willard Ogren, president of Security State Bank in Iron River, said loan delinquencies are up from a year ago and banks’ net interest margins - the difference between the rates at which they lend money and have to pay for deposits - have been squeezed.”

“And that’s falling to their bottom lines. Financial results for many of the 49 community banks and largest credit unions in the region declined in 2007 from a year earlier.”

“Superior Choice Credit Union in Superior, one of the region’s largest with $144.9 million in loans and other assets at Dec. 31, is working its way through a far larger Florida participation loan pool that soured in the real estate bust.”

“Superior Choice took a $4.7 million charge for loan and lease losses during 2007 - up 10-fold from 2006.

“Gary Elliott, Superior Choice CEO, refused to discuss details of the 2007 losses and a pending lawsuit the credit union filed against a larger credit union in Fort Collins, CO. Norlarco Credit Union in Fort Collins arranged a construction loan pool for building upscale second homes in Florida in 2003 amid the real estate boom there.”

“The Norlarco saga has stoked new fuel on longstanding criticism commercial banks have aimed at credit unions that stray from the rationale for their state and federal income tax exemptions: providing credit and lower interest rates to people of modest means.”

“Kurt Bauer, CEO of the Wisconsin Bankers Association, said Superior Choice’s participation in risky, luxury home development in Florida, as well as small business lending on its home turf, stretches that mission to the breaking point.”

“‘This is a major loss for a $150 million institution,’ he said. ‘This is a credit union that engaged in suspect loans 1,500 miles from the shores of Lake Superior. What does that have to do with serving low to moderate income people?’”

The Star Tribune from Minnesota. “Drive west across the Ford Bridge and after a sweeping turn you’ll arrive at one of the gateways to Minneapolis. There’s a nice-looking luxury condo building at the first stoplight. But it exists only on a fabric advertising screen that’s attached to a tall chain-link fence.”

“The 46th & 46th Lofts project has been inactive since last year. Council Member Lisa Goodman, whose ward includes downtown, wants stiffer requirements for site maintenance before she’s willing to extend deadlines for any projects.”

“She’s irate over the condition of a half-dozen stalled sites downtown. The issue hits home for her because her condo building overlooks a site she describes as neglected.”

“One corner at S. 10th Street and Nicollet Mall draws particular ire from Goodman and others. The Nicollet, a 56-story condo tower, was to break ground there a year ago. A two-story building to be razed for the stalled project features windows that are broken or boarded, peeling window frames and graffiti.”

“‘The public asks me all the time, ‘Why isn’t the city doing something about this?’ Goodman said.”

“Back at the 46th & 46th Lofts, developer Don Gerberding said the project is the first of the firm’s numerous Minneapolis housing projects that has been so problematic. He said it’s the victim of a sour housing market, and that he understands neighborhood frustrations.”

“‘It’s unfortunate; I don’t have a magic wand. We’re faced with some economic times now where there aren’t some easy answers,’ he said.”

“Gerberding said he’s encouraged by neighborhood feedback not to cheapen the project in an effort to get it completed. And he said that despite prices of up to $650,000, the project reached 80 percent of the threshold set by lenders for pre-sold units before buyers began dropping out because they couldn’t sell their homes.”

“‘That’s a pretty good indication that the project has legs and will go,’ he said.”

“In large swaths of the Twin Cities and across the state, 40 percent of more than 50,000 subprime loans will jump to higher payments this year. Another 22 percent will reset after this year.”

“In Twin Cities suburbs, where home construction once boomed, hundreds of square miles are dotted with the homes of tens of thousands of subprime borrowers who will skid into higher monthly payments in 2008. Seventy-seven percent of such loans were taken out after 2004.”

“The figures include an estimated 70 percent of all Minnesota subprime mortgages and 95 percent of ‘Alt-A’ mortgages — home loans that didn’t require proof of income, demanded little or no money down or were otherwise unconventional.”

“In the universe of subprime loans, only about 59 percent of subprime loans were current, as of October 2007, the Fed study found. Almost 87 percent of Alt-A loans were current.”

“”Sharon Young, a homeowner on the East Side of St. Paul, and her husband were renters until they bought their first house three years ago. They bought an adjustable-rate mortgage that started with payments of $1,679 a month. In March 2007, the monthly payment was reset to $2,218.”

“The couple, with a combined gross income of $77,000, couldn’t manage the $539 monthly increase. ‘Our mortgage company refused to negotiate,’ she said.”

“Sharon said she quit making payments a year ago and expects to lose her home to foreclosure this summer or fall. Paying for food, utilities and other expenses demanded much of the extra $539 a month the mortgage lender demanded.”

“‘We rob Peter and Paul doesn’t get paid,’ she said.”

“Refinancing is out of the question. Young and her husband bought the house for $250,000. A recent appraisal put its value at $170,000. Young’s assessment of home ownership: ‘It was a disaster.’”

The Buffalo Reflex from Missouri. “If you’re looking for culprits in the current U.S. housing crisis, they aren’t hard to find because they encompass every segment of the subprime lending industry, according to Bill Monday, president of the O’Bannon Banking Co.”

“Speaking at the May 28 meeting of the Buffalo Rotary Club, Monday said companies gave housing loans to people who couldn’t afford them, and many consumers fraudulently misrepresented their stated incomes.”

“‘Many people received loans for more money than their houses were worth,’ he said.”

“‘It all started with greed on the part of lenders, builders, developers and others,’ Monday said. ‘This included the forgery of fraudulent documents, appraisal fraud and in some cases title companies just keeping the money instead of paying off the mortgage company. A lot of mortgage lenders’ underwriting practices became lax.’”

“Many lots were never built on and many houses were never completed. Foreclosures in April were up 65 percent over last April, Monday said.”

“Monday stressed that the southwest Missouri economy never reaches the extreme highs and lows that other parts of the country do, and this was the case with the housing crisis. Still, there has been a record number of foreclosures in Greene County in recent months, and property appraisals in Christian County are 33 percent lower than they were previously.”

“He said he foresees it taking several years to recover from the housing downturn - possibly longer than 2010. When high gas and food prices are added to the mix, ‘we are in a crisis like we haven’t seen before.’”

“Congress and the Bush administration are working on some possible solutions, which could include a possible bailout by taxpayers. He said this would be unfair to those who have done a good job of keeping up with their house payments over the years.”

“‘But if the government lets it crash, it could be a total disaster,’ he said.”

The St Charles Journal from Missouri. “A May 13 housing analysis by the St. Charles County Community Development Department shows foreclosures skyrocketed in 2007 across the country, affecting 875 properties.”

“That’s twice the number of properties affected by foreclosures in 2006, and nearly three times the number of properties affected by foreclosure in 2004 and 2005.”

“Citing the county housing report, Gary Podhorsky, community planning manager for St. Charles County, said while there were 634 foreclosure actions in the county in 2007, 875 properties were affected.”

“The discrepancy in number of properties and foreclosure actions is accounted for by multiple properties owned by a single person, most often a home builder, who loses multiple properties at a time.”

“Sales, too, have taken a hit in St. Charles County. Mark Stallmann, CEO of the St. Charles County Association of Realtors, said existing home sales were down in April to 405 from 485 over the same period a year ago.”

“From March 2007 to March of this year, a MarketGraphics report shows there were 2,770 closings on new single and multifamily homes, compared to 4,104 between July 2004 and July 2005, when the housing market was at its strongest.”

“Don Rogers, an agent in St. Charles and last year’s president of the Realtors association, says many folks are simply looking for a deal that is too good to pass up, recalling a property he showed last week in the $60,000 range that the buyers wanted for even cheaper.”

“‘We can always find something negative in everything we do,’ Rogers said of the rough appraisal the housing market has been receiving. However, he still says the market needs more absorption.”

“St. Charles Association of Realtors President Keith McCulloh said that he tries to remind people that with the big rises in the housing market in years past, ‘once we get to the top, we need to come down a little bit.’”