Bits Bucket And Craigslist Finds For June 13, 2008
Please post off-topic ideas, links and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
To donate by mail, or to otherwise contact this blogger, please send emails to: thehousingbubble@gmail.com
PayPal is a secure online payment method which accepts ALL major credit cards.
Links
-
November 2024 M T W T F S S « Sep 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Photo Submission: hbbphotos@gmail.com
View the HBB Photo Gallery *updated 4/13/2008
I get to start the Bits Bucket? Sweet! I knew being a night owl would pay off one day!
Good timing. This one in the Oregonian today. Another biz kept afloat by the mania goes bust.
Downturn tough for Portland mom-and-pops
“Her boom-to-bust story is about the kind of shop that falters in a downturn. Hello Portland sells lots of stuff people want — from $45 hip handbags to $25 “I might barf” baby onesies — but nothing anyone truly needs. More than that, it’s a story of a small merchant’s struggles, of the people left behind when a local store fails.”
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1213239329128610.xml&coll=7
Now, off to bed….again.
Awww… makes me feel so sorry for a mom-and-pop shop that sells overpriced crap.
Not.
The linked story is about a young woman who made money off of two booms and is now looking for new opportunities. Your predictable lack of pity lacks relevance.
“The linked story is about a young woman who made money off of two booms and is now looking for new opportunities. Your predictable lack of pity lacks relevance.”
Um, she can’t afford her $550,000 mortgage in a hipster town at a hipster store selling hipster baby clothes. This story tells us that the housing bubble is more than a housing issue; Americans have run out of pop culture and frontierism as reasons to prosper. Ruh-roh.
This is where we want to be, listening to Soulja Boy while buying Japanese play toys and hipster onesies?
I Think I’m Going to Barf.
perfectly said, muggy.
RE: This is where we want to be, listening to Soulja Boy while buying Japanese play toys and hipster onesies?
LMAO…Got’em right between the eyes, there Mugsy!
I have a free idea for our hipster friend, who has my permission to use this: a nice, painted sign for her store that reads
YOU BOOM IT, YOU BUST IT
There’s an underground mall in the mini-city of offices I work in (Crystal City, Arlington, Va.) - a lot of lunch places, most of which seem to do well. And there has been a lot more lunch+dinner places (out on the street) that seem to do okay, too (a lot of nearby hotel business, perhaps). It’s not a very residential area, and it’s kind of off the radar screen for dining, but it seems to do okay.
But - the retail shops are almost completely dependant on weekday lunch purchasing - and it’s such a hodgepodge of small off-brand clothiers, upscale watch shops, a puppet shop, a couple print/framing shops - I don’t see how they can survive. The shops almost always seem empty, or with one browser — even at lunch time. I’ll bet most of the places aren’t even open on Saturdays, much less Sundays.
I don’t know how a second-tier retail environment that relies on lunchtime crowd can survive, even in the good times - much less what’s ahead. (A good portion of military jobs are set to relocate out of Crystal City to some nearby bases in the next few years - although the proximity to the Pentagon and DC are still going to make this a reasonably-popular spot for defense-related industies.)
zpz,
I live in the DC area and am also fascinated by the phenomenon you describe. I live along the orange line corridor in Northern Virginia and notice many similar stores along Route 7, usually selling crappy plastic imports from China. It truly baffles me that such enterprises can survive in such high rent districts as Falls Church downtown (a town that increasingly considers itself the trendy cousin of Clarendon).
I would not be surprised if many of these stores are engaged in some sort of grey or black market activities to support themselves. Next time my fellow DC-ers drive by these stores, notice how much of the inventory is pressed up against the front window to impair the view to the interior…coincidence?
U.S. Asks the U.K. to Set Limits on Oil Speculation
By IAN TALLEY
June 13, 2008
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has been under increasing pressure by Congress to rein in speculation in the markets, which many believe has contributed to record-high oil and gasoline prices.
Many analysts and energy economists — including U.S Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson — continue to argue that a tight market, fears of geopolitical events that could disrupt supplies and a weak dollar are the primary factors.
If the IPE and NYMEX institute controls on oil futures trading, investors/speculators are just goind to place their orders at the new Dubai futures exchange.
Not to mention that speculators sell their contracts before expiration, or they would receive delivery of oil. Someone is receiving, and using, all the oil settled.
Oil Companies beware!
http://www.yahoo.com/s/899388
What is that useless video? Doesn’t even play on my browser. Something about “OPil-Water car”? Can you at least sum up the video, or maybe a text story, since what I see so far (i.e. nothing) doesn’t seem to be a worry to the oil firms!
“U.S. Asks the U.K. to Set Limits on Oil Speculation”
This highlights one of the big difficulties that the US government will have in forcing its will on the markets: Markets are not set in New York alone. Putting trading restrictions/regulations within the US might only serve to increase the speculative action happening in other countries, since oil is an internationally traded good. This will indeed be like pushing in on one side of a balloon.
I don’t trust, nor can I stand, Henry Paulson.
Will the Real Tax-and-Spender Please ’Fess Up?
With the general election in full gear, Senator John McCain has stepped up efforts to paint his rival, Senator Barack Obama, as what he calls a traditional Democratic tax-and-spend liberal…
In a study of the candidates’ plans made public Wednesday, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center concluded that in contrast to Mr. McCain, “Senator Obama offers much larger tax breaks to low- and middle-income taxpayers and would increase taxes on high-income taxpayers.”
The study said, “The largest tax cuts, as a share of income, would go to those at the bottom of the income distribution,” whereas “Senator McCain’s tax cuts would primarily benefit those with very high incomes.”
People who don’t make any money don’t pay any taxes, even under W! How could you possibly give them the biggest tax cuts? You can only give tax cuts to people who pay taxes and support America.
The irony is not lost on me.
Joe cheap chardonay is still trying to vote himself riches he does not and most likely will never posess though hope springs eternal.
reuven, the rich aren’t supporting America. They are raping it and pillaging it. And God forbid we raise the top tax rate from 36% to 39%, and the capital gains tax rate from 15% to 20%. Before you know it, Warren Buffet and the Walmart siblings will be digging through the garbage for food.
Warren Buffet does not pay taxes the way you do. That’s why his vehicle is structured as the insurance company.
Walmart will simply increase prices.
So, Evil, you think the status quo is groovy?
Congratulations. You’ve obviously taken advantage of our capitalist system nicely… Do you have a real job or do you trade paper for a living?
He’s right, it’s pretty disingenuous of Buffet to spend 30+ years building his firm to minimize taxes to the greatest extent possible and then claim that the rich pay too low a tax rate.
He’s mostly trying to raise the costs of his rivals who aren’t as well prepared to avoid taxes to the greatest extent possible. If taxes go up, but he can avoid them, and his rivals largely can’t he can now profitably write business they can’t. It’s always nice when the government hands you market share.
This isn’t that different than his derivative talk (rich coming from an insurance company that is entirely made up of derivatives). He didn’t like unregulated rivals cutting into his business.
I’m confused about your point. What does it have to do with the odd conception of cutting taxes for a person who doesn’t pay taxes to begin with?
Low income folks who don’t pay taxes now won’t be getting tax cuts. That’s not an odd conception, just common sense.
My point is that raising taxes on the wealthy (let’s say the the top 5%) seems like such an unfair idea to too many people. The top 20% own 80% of the wealth in this country. If we ever needed a redistribution plan, now is the time.
I am a liberal. I’m not against taxes. I’m not against a mildly progressive tax structure.
There are three things in Barack’s tax plan I object to:
1. Uncapping Payroll Tax (while leaving benefits capped), and not trying to make things fair by raising the retirement age a year or so
2. Increasing dividend tax. Why tax responsible frugal seniors who are having enough of a hard time on artificially low interest rates kept low to help specu-vestors
3. Bailouts for FBs. Don’t raise my taxes so Harry Houseflipper can stay in an overpriced house, while at the same time keeping housing unaffordable for honest people who don’t want to steal $200K from a bank.
My point is that raising taxes on the wealthy (let’s say the the top 5%) seems like such an unfair idea to too many people.
You know, it’s unfair how in schools the top students get the high grades! We should take some points of those top test papers and give them to the kids on the bottom.
Low income folks who don’t pay taxes now won’t be getting tax cuts. That’s not an odd conception, just common sense.
Wrong! Have you ever visited Barack’s web site? He has a plan:
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/economy/
Obama will create a new “Making Work Pay” tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. The “Making Work Pay” tax credit will completely eliminate income taxes for 10 million American
I don’t mind this plan. I’m a liberal. Just don’t give money to specu-vestors! That, and the uncapping of the payroll taxes are my objections to Obama
both these guys are godless communists. if they truly didn’t hate America with every fiber of their being, they would copy the exalted Saint Ronald Wilson Reagan, and make the top income tax bracket 50%.
In the first quarter of 2008, Long Island saw one notice of foreclosure filed for about every two houses sold — and this is not going to clear inventory fast enough to keep prices from sliding.
For the record, in Nassau and Suffolk Counties, there were 2,547 lis pendens filed and 4,437 sales, for a ratio of 0.57/1, according to the web site linked below.
In my town of Islip, there were 548 lis pendens filed, versus 601 sales — which means foreclosures are keeping up with sales, making a down the road price drop a certainty.
Long Island Lis Pendens-to-Sales Ratios
Wow, Islip and Babylon are getting hammered.
Foreclosure filings up 48%: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080613/foreclosure_rates.html
Happy Friday the 13th!
Foreclosures rise by 48%
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aA1ZBbzQ6gzA&refer=home
Here’s your accuweather update:
48% chance of a Black Friday
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVQKiqCZ9No
US foreclosure filings surge 48 percent in May
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080613/foreclosure_rates.html
Metropolitan areas in California and Florida accounted for nine of the top 10 areas with the highest rate of foreclosure. That list was led by Stockton, Calif. and the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area in Florida.
Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac monitors default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions. Nearly 74,000 properties were repossessed by lenders nationwide in May, while more than 58,000 received default notices, the company said.
In Nevada, one in every 118 households received a foreclosure-related notice last month, more than four times the national rate. In California, one in every 183 households faced foreclosure.
As Banks Shun Loans, Hedge Funds Move In
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/business/13hedge.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin
“Anybody who needs money is going to a hedge fund now,” said Matthew T. Hoffman, chief investment officer of Weston Capital Management, a fund of hedge funds in Westport, Conn. “These funds have been inundated with requests. The volume of requests has gone up probably five times.”
The hedge funds are hardly being generous. They often charge rates of as much as 3.2 percentage points more than bank rates.
It all comes back to plain, old fashioned usury! Why am I not surprised?
“The hedge funds are hardly being generous. They often charge rates of as much as 3.2 percentage points more than bank rates.”
I think we’re finally seeing an honest MARKET rate for interest.
Saudis plan a “major” boost in oil production. How major can it be? Worldwide there’s only a couple of million barrels over-capacity left.
http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=aoUVCUN5CZqk
Or, “[It's been reported that] worldwide there’s only a couple of million barrels over-capacity left.”
There’s reportin’. There’s analyzin’.
And there’s pumpin’.
Reminds me of those circles in whatever the class was, where some overlap and some don’t. Just consult the man behind the curtain.
I don’t believe any of these stats anymore.
Two year treasuries tanking. The consumer price report might be ugly.
http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=aoUVCUN5CZqk
This is bad?
The link looks exactly the same as the aforementioned Saudi oil production link, not a 2-yr Treasury news link. Did I miss something?
U.S. Airways next in bankruptcy court?
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/us-airways-cut-jobs-increase/story.aspx?guid=%7B4B55D4A0%2D28EE%2D4609%2DA2E7%2D9E1E63AC193D%7D
The other week when United and USAir met to possibly discuss a merge, my suspicious mind lead me to think that an understanding was reached that one of them would have to get run into the ground while the other would mop up the mess (get the good routes, gates, planes - but not the union contracts).
Their unions make a merger way too complicated, a BK at one might allow a de facto merger that would be somewhat easier to manage.
The airlines have already screwed their pilots, mechanics and stewardesses, and they even managed to grandfather the pain to their retired folks too. I will not shed a single tear for General Electric leasing who owns most of the nation’s fleet of jet aircraft, IIRC.
It was the unions screwed the airlines, not the other way around.
Truth be known, they screwed each other. But the suits are the only ones walking away with million dollar payouts.
That, and the FAA making the bar too low for someone to get into the airline business.
If memory serves correctly, it was the pilots screwing the stewardesses…
http://dailymail.com/News/NationandWorld/200805210222
Reverse mortgage bubble.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601213&sid=aN_oIWpG2GqE&refer=home
I’ll stand by my forecast that the reverse mortgage scam is the next feeding trough for the pigmen.
You heard it here first.
I agree: the parasites (Pig Men) will keep on taking money from everyone until they are stopped, probably with force.
The Pig Men better hope Alice Auma doesn’t give them the evil-eye.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Spirit_Movement
RE: Pigmen
Another mortgage fraud sand flea on the back of the camel.
Bastards seem to be getting bigger and bigger…
http://www.wtopnews.com/?sid=1421104&nid=25
Wells Fargo is pushing these products as aggressively as they used to push HELOCs.
We have the Canadian Home Income Plan here north of the border. I really despise the name. It’s in no way income, it’s debt. The commercials play up that you get tax free cash, as if they’ve found some magnificent loop hole in the tax system.
I would like to beg Ben’s forgiveness for ever having thought that the cost of “stuff” going up could somehow be related to inflation. Thanks to this blog (and the departed Friedman and von Mises, I now realize that such a thing is actually related to DEflation.
As is the price of “stuff” going down.
How could I have been such a fool! Mea Culpa etc.
This is a general plea for clemency from the rest of you guys too.
Come on. BIG HUG
“BIG HUG?”
You must have been in those special confessionals the priests were using in the 1970s.
To be forgiven of your sins, you don’t have to touch the priest. Nor he touch you.
Unless you’re a consenting adult.
Oh swell, now you tell me!
Realtors worldwide are all alike, even in the Gulf… Scam em for what you can get! The grocery prices sound good though.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/abu-dhabi-inflation-relative-concept/story.aspx?guid=%7B922573AC%2D8087%2D4BDB%2DB5AD%2D4D43289B9F79%7D
The grocery prices are great. I worked there. You can buy humongous Omani lobsters for a song, huge prawns, huge variety of cheeses and veggies. Great grocery selection and prices are in every Gulf oil-producing state except Oman, whose production is too small to hold up the economy, and presumably Iran.
For you Goldbugs.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/original-gold-uranium-bug-under/story.aspx?guid=%7BDA5F76E1%2D26B0%2D4048%2DACE1%2DFDDFA149298C%7D
We poor goldbugs must make do with a mere 30% return over the past 12 months on our physical gold…
The 3 oldest financial newsletters in the US are written by Harry Schultz (hsletter), Richard Russell (dowtheoryletters) and James Dines. They are all great commentators. Unfortunately, I missed Dines’ uranium call.
http://www.cxoadvisory.com/gurus/Russell/
My preference is for RR - he and Robert Kiyosaki have made me a bundle. My “major stupid misatkes” have occurred when I have not follwed their suggestions.
From RR DTL yesterday 6/12/08:
…To survive today in the investment business entrails [sic, although interesting] two considerations — first, you must not make any major stupid mistakes. Or let me put it this way, to make mistakes is human, we all make mistakes — but the disaster is to stay with your mistakes. Once you realize that you’ve made a mistake, you’ve got to reverse your position — get out and the quicker the better (”the first loss is the best loss”).
The second task in surviving is to be low on debt or preferably out of debt, and to own something of undisputed tangible value. Some of the items in the “eternal” value category are gold, silver, a home owned free and clear, a great work of art, a few gem-quality diamonds.
If you own a business during tough times, the secret is low overhead. High overhead during hard times will chew up any business and spit out the pieces. I consider debt a form of overhead. You find a way to service your debt or you’ll lose your business.
If you’re solid and solvent during tough times, you can remain on the compounding path. This entails holding good stocks, and reinvesting the dividends as they come through. Or you can take positions in bull markets on a timing basis. This entails buying stocks when the market is clearly oversold, and selling those stocks when the market becomes frothy.
Right now, as I see it, we’re pretty much on the sidelines and awaiting the next great buying opportunity. This means waiting for the next major oversold bottom. Where or when that bottom arrives is unknowable. What we do know (hopefully) is how to identify a major bottom when it finally arrives. In other words, to predict is impossible, to identify is possible, not easy — but certainly possible…
Foreclosure rates accelerating. No bottom in sight.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080613/foreclosure_rates.html
Foreclosures Rise 48% in May
As U.S. Housing Woes Deepen
WASHINGTON — The number of U.S. homeowners swept up in the housing crisis rose further last month, with foreclosure filings up nearly 50% from a year earlier, a foreclosure listing company said Friday.
Across the U.S., 261,255 homes received at least one foreclosure-related filing in May, up 48% from 176,137 a year earlier and up 7% from April, RealtyTrac Inc. said.
One in every 483 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing in May, the highest number since RealtyTrac started the report in 2005 and the second-straight monthly record. RealtyTrac monitors default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions.
Foreclosure filings increased in all but 10 states. Nevada, California, Arizona, Florida and Michigan had the highest statewide foreclosure rates.
Metropolitan areas in California and Florida accounted for nine of the top 10 areas with the highest rate of foreclosure. That list was led by Stockton, Calif. and the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area in Florida.
Nearly 74,000 properties were repossessed by lenders nationwide in May, while more than 58,000 received default notices, the Irvine, Calif.-based company said.
In Nevada, one in every 118 households received a foreclosure-related notice last month, more than four times the national rate. In California, one in every 183 households faced foreclosure.
looks like we are heading to a recovery anyday now
but it is still different here in nyc
And the FB bailout that Barack/Frank/Dodd wants will cost TRILLIONS! Just May alone: 261,255 homes. Let’s do the math to see how much it would cost to “keep these people in their homes,” as the Democrats call the house-price-fixing scam they’re trying to pull off…
Remember, if we want these people to “keep their homes” we have to give away enough so a tomato-picker can afford a $755,000 McMansion!
Let’s assume 100,000 giveaway for each one. (Forgive those second mortgages, cram down the principal, force the banks to lower the interest rates–all things that have been proposed!)
261155 * 100000 = 26,115,500,000.
Now lets add in the taxes on this forgiven debt that the rest of us will have to pay
+ 7,834,650,000 (30% of the giveaways they got, which won’t count as income.)
= 33,950,150,000
Ok! That’s May! Let’s do a whole year
* 12 = 407,401,800,000
I just want to point out the idiocy of wanting to bail out millions of Specu-Vestors! I know it’s hard to imagine that millions of people engaged in a crazy Ponzi scheme to get-rich-quick, but that’s what happened.
The best thing for America, and for affordable housing, it to let each house foreclose, tighten the lending standards of government backed mortgages to 20% down, and no more than 3x income, and watch house prices fall.
I seem to remember some Obama rhetoric re: not bailing out speculators somewhere. Can you calculate the price of keeping forces in Iraq for 100 more years and bombing Iran also? Thank you.
I vote your comment “OFF-TOPIC”
Can I get a +1?
It would be cool to allow voting on various qualities of posts & comments.
Wasting our tax dollars on fellow Americans vs. foreign oil cartels is not off-topic. I’d rather bail out a FB than invade yet another country “to prevent a war”.
Cowboy diplomacy sucks.
Until US uses its own oil resources it must secure its interests in other oil producing countries.
RE: Until US uses its own oil resources it must secure its interests in other oil producing countries.
Amazing how our Mid-East foreign policy and the real reason behind the Iraq War can be summed up in a single sentence.
It’s a fact. Facts are neuteral.
Speaking of Dodd, this was posted over on Russ Winter’s site this morning. I hope it gets some coverage from the MSM.
“Two influential US senators got “VIP” loans from a leading subprime mortgage lender that saved them tens of thousands of dollars, it was reported last night.
The Democratic pols, Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Kent Conrad of North Dakota, both received the highly favorable loans under the designation “Friend of Angelo,” a reference to embattled Countrywide head Angelo Mozilo, Condé Nast Portfolio reported.
Dodd is chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, while Conrad is chairman of the Budget Committee and a member of the Finance Committee. The two senators refinanced properties through the VIP program in 2003 and 2004, the report said.
But it wasn’t just them: “Others who received ‘FOA’ loans include Alphonso Jackson, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Bush who resigned in April, and Donna Shalala, who was secretary of Health and Human Services in the Clinton administration.”
http://tinyurl.com/3fs7zd
The good news…….it seems that our media friends are realizing the broader implications of this whole mess.
Better late than never, I guess.
And that (”…lettign housing prices fall.”) is what those in power will do everything to stop or drag out. They can’t prevent it, but they can do a huge amount of damage in the meantime (hyperinflation, etc.) while trashing the savers and those who were not scam artists in the Bubble.
I don’t understand how someone can constantly criticize bailing out FBs, and yet be consistently silent about bailing out banks that collected tremendous yield spreads lending to subprimers and Wall Street criminals who sold AAA rated toxic waste to their own grandmas.
It is not just the FB who is to blame for this mess.
Foreclosures Rise 48% in May as U.S. Bank Repossessions Double
By Bob Ivry
June 13 (Bloomberg) — Bank repossessions more than doubled in May and foreclosure filings rose 48 percent from a year earlier as previously foreclosed properties dragged down housing prices, RealtyTrac Inc. said in a report today.
…
“It’s definitely a different kind of market than what we got used to a couple years ago,” said Devin Reiss, owner of Realty 500 Reiss Corp. in Las Vegas. “We used to sell homes in a day. Now 50 percent of our sales are foreclosures.”
Foreclosures add to inventory and crowd out regular sales, Michelle Meyer and Ethan Harris, economists at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in New York, wrote in a report yesterday. Foreclosures will account for 30 percent of national home sales this year as 1.2 million foreclosed single-family homes will eventually enter the market, they said. They estimate that foreclosed properties, which typically sell for about 20 percent less than other homes, will depress home prices by 6 percent.
Feedback Loop
“The risk is that an adverse feedback loop will develop, in which problems in the housing market undercut the economy, causing even more stress in the housing and mortgage markets,” Meyer and Harris wrote.
Will develop?
Oh, it has already developed. Too bad it isn’t happening fast enough to keep their gnat-like attention spans riveted (and is further distorted by outright statisitcal manipulation).
>>”They estimate that foreclosed properties, which typically sell for about 20 percent less than other homes, will depress home prices by 6 percent.”
So comps that are 20% lower will result in comps that are only 6% lower. Are these people arithmetically challenged or do they just lie a lot?
“So comps that are 20% lower will result in comps that are only 6% lower. Are these people arithmetically challenged or do they just lie a lot?”
Yes and yes.
Ronin - where it really sucks, at least in my part of Florida, is that the tax assessors refuse to use what they call “distress” sale selling prices for comps. They use only “good” sales, which means they increasingly are reaching farther away in distance and farther back in time in order to hold onto unfairly high assessments.
I hope that every tax assessor in the state who has not already put into practice of using all sales, perhaps throwing out the low one and the high one, for assessments will be voted out of office.
Only in the modern, “post-mind” world can the inability to hand out huge loans on overpriced houses to people who cannot pay them off be considered a “problem.”
“It’s definitely a different kind of market…….” Devin Ress, 2008
“Where did all these Indians come from??????”
G.A. Custer, 6/25/1876
The number of U.S. homeowners swept up in the housing crisis rose further last month, with foreclosure filings up nearly 50% from a year earlier, a foreclosure listing company said Friday.
Why can’t any reporter be objective? People weren’t “swept up”! I managed to avoid that broom, and so did most of the people here.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121335000888571313.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news
Dutch Housing Bubble update:
The Dutch Housing Bubble is still alive and kicking, despite strongly increased inventory for sale and some other less than favourable economic conditions. There seems to be more competition between banks over rates on savings accounts (between 3.9 and 4.8% on internet savings accounts, if you shop around) but mortgage rates are still at rockbottom lows (e.g. below 5% for a 5-10 year fixed mortgage) and mortgage conditions are as easy as ever except for firsttime buyers.
I’m in a coastal / rural area with relavitely low population density. Massive developments like those in Florida have always been opposed here, but lately big apartment/condo complexes are appearing, most of all in or close to the few pieces of nature that still exist in the area. All this is extremely controversial with the locals, but hey - there is lots of money to be made for some people.
One new project with luxury condo’s (price range 400-800K, about 15-30x local income) was sold out within a few days of the official announcement; some people (mostly locals I am told) buy two or three condo’s at the time: you can never loose with RE investments! The banks are more than happy to lend millions to these speculators, even if they are not creditworthy at all. Officially these new developments target wealthy people who are returning to the area for retirement, but in reality I think it is 75% speculators. Most of the other complexes that were built over the last years are suspiciously dark at night.
Another sign of the times: a well-connected developer purchased 74 ha of farm land (current price EUR 3.50 per m2) and got permission to build luxury villas on the property. The land value will now magically multiply to at least EUR 350 per m2 (probably more because it is a luxury development), making the developer a cool 250M profit right away. And I guess they will make far more than that because all buyers have to purchase the home from them as well (and they only build very expensive stuff). I wonder how much this crook paid local politicians for the favor; he is so happy with the planning permission that he will pay for part of the road that connects the development to the local road system (yes, all these other costs are paid by local government).
Still many years to go before this historic bubble is over
I’m surprised Dutch lenders haven’t taken a cue from the turmoil in the US and tightened standards.
yes, clearly shows that the lenders are still in denial.
It ain’t over until the Fat Lady sings, and the theater for the Fat Lady is the EU housing market IMHO.
Very nice, informative, and complete! Thanks for the update forom your end of the bubble! But oh my — it looks like end days are near.
buy two or three condo’s at the time: you can never loose [sic] with RE investments!
Two or three at a time! That, to me, is one sign of overbuying. Dangerous overbuying. And once the frenzy reaches that point, it seems from past experience that it is only a matter of a couple of years, quite possibly less, before it suddenly peaks and then the bottom really falls out.
If I held a condo there, I’d be selling TODAY. But what do I know, eh?
Foreclosure crisis looming in western New York, experts say
http://democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080613/BUSINESS/806130351/1001
“We have a foreclosure crisis in this state,” said Ruhi Maker, an Empire Justice Center lawyer.
Maker said New York is one year behind hard-hit states such as California and Florida.
Not much real information in the article, but finally the rose colored glasses are being removed slowly.
I couldn’t agree more.
http://tampa.craigslist.org/apa/718072411.html
Palmy — slick. The “resistance.”
Is “rent to own” usually a scam? I’m starting to see that here.
End of the free trade era?
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a2TmFExZud8A&refer=home
Upside to this, maybe we’ll have less product flying/floating/trucking around the world that doesn’t need to. The green upside of buying local. Otherwise, more pain to the global economy.
Good morning Mr. Inflation. Who let you out of your cage?
The Fed did, thanks Ben!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
she lets me out for small feedings and to work more
life is good
last night i was working and i met a nice guy who has a huge problem. a 4k sq ft house in florida he cannot sell
too bad he was a nice guy
i told him my problem. i have cash and i can’t find yield
May I suggest Icelandic Bonds… ?
You can get around 8% on a 1 year cd in New Zealand, but at this point in the game, return of your capital is more important than return on your capital.
You should have told him that your biggest problem was that every time you went out you had to listen to guys pi$$ and moan about 4k houses they couldn’t sell in Florida. After that, excuse yourself to go to the bathroom and just walk out the door. Look back in the window and see if you can see him crying. I call this, “hit and run therapy”.
oh and i did not mention the 1.4 mil albatross he owns in staten island- with 8k in taxes yearly
he did mention that he has not had a day off in 9 weeks
I ran into a lady the other day who is working two jobs because she doesn’t want to lose her house. She’s exhausted. I told her to just walk away. Everyone’s doing it!! She said she was giving it some serious thought.
Ahh, the american dream! LOL
Have a good weekend,
Lane
RE: I ran into a lady the other day who is working two jobs because she doesn’t want to lose her house. She’s exhausted
She shoulda got married here in Mazzland.
Alimony for life!
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/06/13/the_chilling_effect_of_states_divorce_laws
Hd74 - that stuff ought to be a required course in college or even high school. First effect, it would change the negotiations. Second effect, the law/interpretations would change.
Does this come as a surprise to anyone?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121332396326070639.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
“Sen. Christopher Dodd, a top figure in Democrats’ response to the housing crisis, defended through a spokesman two mortgages he reportedly received under a special Countrywide Financial Corp. program that awarded preferential interest rates to people referred to as ‘friends’ of the company’s chairman and chief executive, Angelo Mozilo.”
“The news could cause headaches for the Connecticut senator, who is trying to negotiate housing legislation designed to deal with the foreclosure crisis. The final bill could include expanding a government program to insure up to $300 billion in refinanced home loans.”
Great news! I hope this makes people realize that the Democrats are just as dirty as everyone else.
Just as dirty, but not as organized.
Surprise?
Oh yeah, another greedy politian taking advantage of the system. It’s not even a Republican or Democratic thing, the vast majority of them are scum and they are only WIFM (Whats In It For Me).
How can you tell a politician’s lying? Their LIPS are moving!!!
more Friends of Angelo
“Dodd reportedly received two loans through the program in 2003 - $506,000 to refinance his Washington town house, and $275,042 to refinance a home in Connecticut. The more favorable terms saved him about $70,000, the report says. ”
It’s good to be the king!
Also Sen. Conrad, to save a measly 10k, now gets to see his name on the Mozillo wall of shame.
Didn’t I ask about this a week ago? I repeat my wish that the NYT or someone would investigate all the bailout pushers to see what dirt comes up. You know Dodd is just the tip of the iceberg
–
‘“The news could cause headaches for the Connecticut senator…”
No way. He is among the most faithful agents of Bankrupters and Fraudsters of New York City in the Senate. He is under no threat of any kind, IMO.
Jas
News from the Chicago area:
Don’t make a lowball. You may insult the seller, and besides, they can’t afford it:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestate/advice/chi-fri_local-scene_0613jun13,0,7093020.story
Jumbo loan limits are hindering “price acceleration”:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-fri-jumbo-loan-limitjun13,0,5265083.story
Whoa, good finds! There’s some good blood boiling quotes in those articles:
From the first: (lowball offers)
“We call a low offer a lowball but some of them are just plain stupid,” said John Santo, vice president and managing broker of Koenig & Strey GMAC Real Estate
And the second: (jumbo loans limits not raised in Chicago)
“We weren’t as reckless so we’re being punished,” said Hanna, who is also a managing partner at Prudential SourceOne Realty. “You’re rewarding the areas where there truly was a bubble.”
Chicago’s pain is coming this winter. They peddle “it’s different here” with the best of ‘em!
Right on, Edgewater! My blood was sure boiling.
I’m starting to see early evidence of the “Anger Stage” getting started here. Its going to be uggg-lee.
You think winter is when the fun happens, huh? Given how incredibly long these folks have held on to their denial, I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes until winter 2009/2010.
Yes, I kind of think this winter will be the collective turning point for our regional conscience - based on where we are at now in relation to those markets that have gone before us. This was only our second silent spring.
Also, food and fuel prices really add a new dynamic to the situation. The housing news they could rationalize well enough - but the commodity prices are undeniable. They push on them very much the same way that an unrelenting wind starts to get annoying if you’re out in it long enough.
Ha ha. Real estate professionals are trying to create fear and social anxiety in their would-be customers by instilling the terror of possibly insulting the seller.
The customer must tiptoe and approach hat-in-hand, lest the irritable buyer become offended. Why, the seller might even refuse to sell their house to this buyer!
I can’t believe that people still fall for this manipulative talk from real estate professionals.
Insult away. If the real estate professionals don’t like it they can always do something else. If the sellers don’t like it they can always not sell their house.
Eventually the RE agents will realize the power is in the buyer’s hands, and encourage the sellers to move to get deals done. Until then, few deals which means few commissions. This kind of article only hurts the RE agents and their clients.
Arrghhh!
“Someone has equity in the property. Why would he give it all up because the market has turned?”
Well, they might, just might, maybe, consider “giving it all up” so that they can sell the frikkin’ house!! Not give it up for fun, you idiot realtor; give it up so that they hit a price where a buyer actually closes on the deal. Jeez.
Seems like someone doesn’t understand the market.
CPI up!
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7BAA0B7528%2D6E79%2D438F%2D9488%2DD3F38BEC5B91%7D&siteid=mktw
–
Well within the Fed’s Controlled Inflation regime of 3% plus or minus 2%, i.e., in 1-5% Annual Rate range. The question is: Which side will it break? My bet is that it will break on the downside as the recession progresses.
Jas
In JJ’s world (Dynomite!)
Gas is $2.65 a gallon, if you know where to shop…
I thought he made his own gas…special deflationary recipe.
we will see … the EU newspapers are now openly writing about strongly increased inflation expectations. Currently the average is 3.6% in Europe, probably 3.9% next month and even some economists are now expecting an inflation rate of over 4% for the next few years. Wage demands are increasing every month, even 4% yearly increases are no longer accepted by some unions.
It is clear that the 4% ECB rate is getting WAY behind the curve; and as for the FED rate … with a plunging dollar there is no way their CPI can be less than in Europe.
“CPI up!” and wages are down.
Which is the plan. Gotta equalize the global labor pool somehow. Coming soon, mudhuts amid trash heaps, selling for only $200,000 in the bankrupt USA!
Exxon getting rid of 2200 retail stations - concentrating on just wholesaling.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/exxon-mobil-plans-shed-company-owned/story.aspx?guid=%7B3700FA46%2DA097%2D4E7E%2D83D4%2DD3C45650848F%7D
As gas prices rise, people will use less gas, buy fewer donuts and less coffee ect, which means these stations will become much less profitable.
These stations werent quite profitable for a while. I helped a buddy of my to crunch numbers on a package of -6- he was considering acquiring in NJ for a combined price of $700,000. Since early 2000 the average profit per gallon was less than 10c. Now it is closer to 7c.
Makes them a smaller target for the disgruntled public.
A 0.6% one-month increase in CPI occurs at an annualized rate of (1.006^12-1)*100 = 7.4 pct. This is a bit above the Fed’s preferred upper bound of 2 pct.
latest news
U.S CPI up 4.2% in past year; core CPI up 2.3%
ECONOMIC REPORT
CPI rises 0.6% on back of surging energy prices
Core rate up 0.2% on modest gains in costs of shelter
By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch
Last update: 8:31 a.m. EDT June 13, 2008
Comments: 17
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - U.S. consumer prices rose at the fastest pace in six months in May, bolstered by surging energy prices, the Labor Department reported Friday.
The seasonally adjusted consumer price index rose 0.6% in May, worse than the 0.5% gain expected by economists. The core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, rose 0.2% as expected.
The CPI rose 0.2% in April, and core prices were up 0.1%.
In May, energy prices rose 4.4% after seasonal adjustments, the biggest gain since November. Gasoline prices rose 5.7% after seasonal adjustments.
Food prices rose 0.3%, with beef prices up 1.5%, while dairy, pork and fruit prices fell.
The CPI is up 4.2% in the past year and has risen at a 4.9% annual pace over the past three months. Inflation has overtaken weak growth as the top concern for financial markets and for some officials at the Federal Reserve.
Sounds like a market rally in the cards for today.
Housing, It’ll Get Worse
http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/09/real_estate/worst_hit_markets_will_get_worse/index.htm?postversion=2008061215
RE: Housing, It’ll Get Worse
Gosh, darn there’s that HBB projected 50% value drop again.
OT a bit but here goes for all the National Health care cheerleaders;
From the Washington Post via MSNBC
‘Rags to riches’ through Medicare fraud
$105 million scam highlights growing problem for feds
MIAMI - All it took to bilk the federal government out of $105 million was a laptop computer.
From her Mediterranean-style townhouse, a high school dropout named Rita Campos Ramirez orchestrated what prosecutors call the largest health-care fraud by one person. Over nearly four years, she electronically submitted more than 140,000 Medicare claims for unnecessary equipment and services. She used the proceeds to finance big-ticket purchases, including two condominiums and a Mercedes-Benz.
Health-care experts say the simplicity of Campos Ramirez’s scheme underscores the scope of the growing fraud problem and the need to devote more resources to theft prevention. Law enforcement authorities estimate that health-care fraud costs taxpayers more than $60 billion each year.”
A few days ago, a poster was comparing the cost of administering Medicare versus the profit of private insurance. I wonder if this $60B in fraud is included on the expense side of the ledger. There is NO motivation on the part of government employees to make things work correctly; they get their pay and pension regardless.
That would actually go into only the denominator until they find out about it. Until you know about the fraud it is just an efficiently paid out claim.
So much for computers’ efficency argument in running any type of business.
Have you noticed that computers and their programs were sold to everyone in business as a means of lower costs and increasing efficiency?
Everywhere I look, it has only increased fraud. They have cut labor and replaced it with thinking on “automatic pilot” through software programs. This may work well for static situations like science and engineering. It doesn’t work on human populations.
People adjust to circumstances. Circumstances change especially in behavior.
“You reap what you sow”
I assure you, computerized programs for engineering do not involve “draw picture, hit go”. All they do is make it easier for the EITs to do damage…
As the person that started that thread, is it computerized programs and not people “asleep at the wheel” that may be the problem. I still say, that comparing “apples to apples”(both systems are computerized), SS’s costs and non-profit orientation is the difference between 66% of claims dollars vs 95% of claims dollars to break even.
You do not think fraud doesn’t exist in the private insurance market?
How naive we are!
I suspect that fraud is easier for private companies than govt agencies. Heck, I have yet to see a fed. agency deny access to records to their respective Inspector Generals, Attorney General’s office or the “Freedom of Information Act”. Though some have been able to postpone or kill investigations for fraud/other crimes for political reasons.
Private companies generally have to have “cause” to gain access to their records. This I suspect is why the govt. outsources activities to private companys for secrecy reasons and creditable deny ability of responsibility.
The equipment to counterfeit currency might have cost you hundreds of thousands of Dollars, 25 years ago…
Now most of it is available free, on your computer.
I think your last sentence should read…
This I suspect is why the govt. outsources activities to private companys for secrecy reasons and credit able deny ability response ability.
Would you consider yourself amen able?
I like how you break up words.
You do not think fraud doesn’t exist in the private insurance market? The other kind of private market insurance fraud consists of not paying valid claims + stonewalling the claimants indefinitely until they give up trying to collect what is contractually theirs. Any estimates on the total value of this scam?
If it wasn’t for fraud, the economy of Miami would cease to exist. I think I read recently that more that 1/2 of the health-care fraud for the entire country occurs in just Dade County. Here’s another one from today - $110 million.
http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/568442.html
The level of fraud is so high there, I can’t figure out why anyone would offer mortgages under any circumstances.
Maybe fraud is that famous “totally new economic model than any of us have ever experienced in the past” attributed to South Florida in that famed oft-mocked quote of 2005.
Let’s see - people in Florida committing medicare fraud, buying overpriced condos that are overpriced at least in part by genuine criminal fraud (and, also, just by simple speculation and greed). The whole Florida economy sounds like a snake eating its own tail, with some tourism and citrus production thrown in.
Can you really un-foreclose a house??
Looks like Wamu did that for a California State Congress women:
http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2008/jun/deadbeat-legislator-abuses-political-power
Sucks to be the guy that bought the foreclosure and fixed it up.
The outraged buyer insists on keeping the home and says he will file a lawsuit against Richardson and the lender.
I hope this guy logs on here.
I would like to contribute to his legal defense fund.
Count me in on that fund. Richardson is an embarrassment even to politicos, and that is saying a lot.
BTW, does anyone know Richardson’s email address. I think it is time I send her my thoughts on her recent shenanigans.
“But Richardson wanted the house back and she obviously utilized her political clout with the lender, Washington Mutual. In what experts unrelated to this case call a very strange action, the bank filed a letter of rescission of the foreclosure sale and demanded the new buyer return the keys. The outraged buyer insists on keeping the home and says he will file a lawsuit against Richardson and the lender. ”
Like a third world country were laws are just whatever the king says they should be depending on how he feels.
Why does she want that particular house back so bad?
That dude should check the walls and the floor boards - there might be something good stashed there.
She basically just got re-elected by winning the Democratic primary (in a very non-Republican district) and now considers herself the spokesmodel/heroine for FBs everywhere.
If I understand correctly, you can in CA on a tax sale. While not a lawyer or RE person, I have heard that the party in default on 5 years of taxes, can pay up and reclaim the property.
What a deal.
Sorry, one year window to pay 5 years worth of taxes.
I guess Realtors should be sure and tell their clients to avoid purchasing WAMU foreclosures, right?
How can you do that??? Once it’s sold on the court house steps, it should be too late and all over. I think that guy should hire a real estate attorney, WAMU can file whatever paperwork they want, it does not mean they have a legal ground to do so. PIGS
Yeah, but how much does it suck for him to have to pay a lawyer? Ugh.
Txchick, is that you?
http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2003-04-27-shareholders-davis_x.htm
Right on…you go Evelyn, you’re more effective than Crissy Cox
One can only wonder… if she had gotten a date with Sir Greenispent?
“…She divorced the three men she married — an accountant after 18 months, a stockbroker after two months and a retired economist after three years”
Ralph Nader would be proud!
I do not think so. From the article, “Dutch-born Holocaust survivor”. Maybe a tad to old, but there is nothing wrong with that!
LOL
Yeah, yeah I know
Came across some interesting info. It appears that there is a federal law, making it a crime for a credit card company..bank to release a social security number to an entity outside the United States. So, if you kniow someone who is in arrears in credit card payments and they get a call from an east indian, demanding payment, its illegal if that east indian person has a file with the social security number in it. I know that Capitol One uses east indians for collections……
Pray tell me, what’s an “east indian”?
This is one of those terms that pisses me off. Listen, there are 1.1 billion of us, and we come from a country called India. Not “East India”. Some doofus Spanish dude thought that he “discovered” India when he neither “discovered” the landmass nor was it “India”. And now we have to put up with this stupid label so we won’t be mistaken for a group (a much smaller group, I may add) of people who are often referred to by a label that is ours.
The correct term is Indian. An East Indian, presumably, is one from the Eastern states of India. You call me “east indian” and I will call you “alien american” (as opposed to “native american”). Fair?
or Italian guy… same difference
(I should remember, I saw his birthplace)
Dude, if something like that pisses you off I bet you stay mad most of the time. I`m a Dutch decendent living in the US and you can call me what you want. I`ll laugh, and say thats a good one! Thats better than the one I heard yesterday. I`m very confidant maybe thats why things like that don`t bother me too much.
Lane
Ha ha. Here is a person who chooses to be insulted by something never meant as an insult. And in his prickly objection to non-slurs he feels free to unabashedly slur other ethnics.
He wanted desperately to be taken seriously, but resulted in only being his own joke.
“He wanted desperately to be taken seriously, but resulted in only being his own joke.”
You know,I just read his objections again, and his post blows.
Suck wind, doofus.
Wow lots of geniuses here…
You don’t get the point. I don’t take it as an insult (and it is certainly not a derogatory term), rather a mix of words that don’t make sense to me. Don’t forget the term “African American” was picked by people as a preferred form to address them. Likewise…
I hadn’t heard of this nomenclature till 8 years ago, so let’s not call it standard. And yes I have been reading books/articles/newspapers for many years prior to that.
As for Terry’s equating east indians with bottom feeders… well what can I say? Ok so he’s not from Ohio - bfd - now where did you say the WMDs were?
I believe east indian is a level of society term…bottom feeders taking away American jobs. Also i find it surprising, that now, Capitol One makes them use an American first name to hide where the call is coming from…like they don’t have an accent!
I always laugh at that…….and they always seem to be from Ohio.
–
Are you going to change the nomenclature is use? Go ahead. It is not a derogatory term.
Jas
yensoy, if you recall, native Americans are called “Indians.” To me, the term “East Indian” is simply a way to differentiate from our native “Indians.”
Being lost and thinking you’re not can have huge ramifications if you start naming everything.
Taggart: [learning Bart is the new sheriff of Rock Ridge] Now if that don’t beat all. Here we take the good time and trouble to slaughter every last Indian in the West, and for what? So we can appoint a sheriff that’s blacker than any Indian. I AM depressed.
‘Scuse me while I whip this out…
Hey Lost,
) in a dino musem only today. I hope you will be required to watch Night at the Museum. (OK, it’s not the world’s greatest movie, but it’s relevant, and with enough drinks you may catch yourself having a few laughs.)
I saw your reply about working (and perhaps living
Hey, JP, if I move into the museum, I’m going to set up my tent in the middle of the floor and have a remote cam so people can watch any shenanigans …wait, that didn’t come off right…I mean, weird things after dark…shoot, I give up.
I already have an idea for a movie about ghosts…T-Rex ghosts (arrrrgh), Brontosaurus ghosts (stomp, stomp, stomp), Utahraptor ghosts (think Jurassic Park), well, you get the idea. I will need a large cast (mostly to be stomped and munched on, to have legs and arms ripped off and blood everywhere (fake, of course)), so am hoping to get the job and then will put out a cast call.
But this Night at the Museum thing sounds too scary for my sensitive sensibilities.
Fake blood? How boring.
I want the blood of a Realtor™ and decapitated heads of her entire brood.
Lighten up, Francis.
Spike, I’m confused, who’s Francis?
From the Bill Murray classic, Stripes. Francis is very touchy about his name. Very very irritable. Start the clip from youtube at 2:02. You’ll see. It’s all about the nomenclature.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyy5xZkwsMA
A quote from the film “Stripes”.
I was born in Indiana, and were many generations before me. (along with a few “foreigners” from far away places like Ohio and Illinois) Does this make me Indian? I always state my race as Native American (as I was born in USA), even though my family carries many Scotch-Irish, English and German surnames. I’m so confused.
As someone married to a Native American, living in Indian Country with lots of Indian in-laws who call each other Indians as Native American is not a term they use among themselves, I end up having to use the ridiculous term India Indians when talking about my Asian Subcontinental friends at work.
I can’t win.
LOL, yensoy.
It’s pretty easy to tell which posters on this blog hold a valid passport, isn’t it.
Last week, a house on a lake down the road from me, had a pic in the paper showing it as a new listing. I sent an email to the real estate company, noting , that the house sold in Feb of 2006, for 317k, came back on the market in Mar of 2006 at 450k, reduced in 2007 to 393k, now, new listing at 395k. I pointed out that the house had been on the market for over 730 days, knowing that the mls rewinds to zero. I just stated that it was basically a truth in advertising problem. Wow, did I get a reaction. It seems my original email was passed on up the ladder, to the broker/owner.He personally wrote me back…but leaving all the attached internal emails. First one- who is this guy and how does he have this info? second one I think hes targeted so and so…third, so what do you want me to do about this?..the last being from the owner explaining that days on market info belongs to only mls subscribers and this info is not for buyers, nor is it given to buyers. Geez, thay must be getting paranoid. In the Eagle River area, we now have over 550 homes over 300k and by register of deeds reports, sales are 3-7 a week. Mostly second home mcmansions on water. Add to that about 150 condos above 300k.
Why would anyone buy a condo in the Northwoods? The whole point is peace and quiet, not being on top of your neighbors. From my casual observations from my summer trips, it appears that there are a ton of these condo developments that are not selling. Some of them are going for over $300,000! For a vacation condo!
Your right
Why would anyone buy a condo in the northwoods. One example of the peace and quit, as described by a local realtor is a complex on duck lake. First the lake is about 250 acres..although attached to the chain…boat traffic is terrible. Around the lake, there are about four of these mega complexes.
76 units and down. Noise and dirty water. The lakes a dump.
Asking 479k. Its a joke. Condos hve never been a big item in this area and the sales of these or lack of sales proves this. I just don’t see how they can invest the money to build these, without doing their homework. Our motel…occupancy rate is 32%, so what happpened last fall, a guy from green bay builds another one…half the restuarants a in this area are for sale…this guy is adding a 300 seat restaurant to the motel…and..he gets the city to foot the bill for infastructure…its a joke!
We just finalized our plans for a trip in August to St. Germain. I guess I’ll get to see it first hand. I remember when northern Wisconsin was just little fishing cottages and supper clubs. The influx of the lakefront McMansion is not pretty.
It’s obvious to me Terry, that your ability to recognize the same house from different newspaper ads, or recognize it on the MLS as the same house is a supernatural ability. That you are chosing to use this supernatural ability for evil, to undermine the monopoly on information of RE agents is unconscionable. Please use this, dare I say, mystical ability to recognize things over time for good only.
Wow - I can’t believe they sent you such a paper-trail !!!
I’d be sure to send a copy to whoever eventually buys the place - with your name/contact info crossed out, of course.
Terry - what’s your take on the state of the market on the Manitowish chain? Last time I looked prices were holding steady but that can’t last much longer; I suspect a lot of the cabins are owned by FBs from MN and (mostly) IL who HELOCed their way into lakefront properties.
I’d love to get a link to somewhere that will tell me when these get foreclosed, but so far I haven’t found anything for Vilas county.
I think Manitowish Waters is about the same as here in Eagle River. If you want to keep up on forclosures, go online and order a copy of the vilas county news review. Either the online format or the paper itself. The news review posts all county forclosures as filed, per week. If you want a complete list, going back a few months, for auction now, you actually have to visit the courthouse and check the bulleting board postings. In my earlier post, the news review posts all real estate transactions over 10k, weekly. So each week, you gain some insight to whats selling and where. The sales price isnt listed, but the transfer tax is. Easy to compute numbers.Now, when you find the right property, go to the courthouse, treasurers office and get the taxes based on the adress. Then look at the assesment ratio for the town and the towns tax rate. Then go down to the register of deeds office and using the tax key number, look up any existing mortgages or encumberances. Look closely at the dates on the mortgages. The date will give you an approximate last sale time frame, unless its a refinance or equity. The property history is all there, all you have to do is ask the clerk to help. No fees unless you want a copy. Remember, its open records to the public. ok, youve done your cost research, now go to the zoning office and check to see if the septic system has been replaced or pumped lately…if it hasnt, you bet on transfer an inspection will be required…seller should pay for a new one.
Same thing with a vacant lot…make sure it will accept a conventional system. Mound systems are really expensive and fail. By the way in the treasures office I also look at back taxes owed..its an indicator of financial problems. Finally, ask the realto, if not a forclosure, days on market.
Sounds like these folks are not supporters of McSame and his 100 year plan for their country:
“…The security agreement would provide a legal basis for the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq after the U.N. mandate expires at the end of this year. Failure to strike a deal would leave the future of the American military presence here to the next administration.
“…U.S. negotiators offered new proposals this week after Iraqi lawmakers expressed outrage over the direction of the negotiations, claiming that accepting the U.S. position would cement American military, political and economic domination of this country.”
Iraq PM: Security deal talks at ‘dead end’
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080613/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq
anybody who wants to learn how to daytrade, put SKF up on a 5 minute candlestick chart. Picture perfect long entry, then picture perfect short entry. Have taken $7 out of it in half an hour and done for the day.
I can see the reversal, but what about the beginning was good enough to get in??
gap down, mispriced
I played it overnight form Wednesday to Thursday shortly after open for about $4. Didn’t quite have the stones to push it to $7.
You still long on the index calls, Tx? I took my winnings off the table this morning. Decent profit from 1335 entry late yesterday to 1350 exit today. We’re looking a bit range-bound around 1350 and I’m not confident enough in which way it’s going to break from here to be in big.
yeah, I don’t have much money in them and am too lazy to trade in and out. I ’spec we’ll see another tank next week and I might get a few more. We need a better setup for shorting the fall
Yeah, I’d wish for another down leg to run another call round trip, but that feels a bit too much like playing uphill given where we all know this is eventually going to end up. For now I’m rooting from the sidelines for another sucker rally/sale on puts.
BTW, I should have said I played it (SKF) short overnight from Wednesday to Thursday.
Something about shorting an ultrashort makes me uncomfortable. I feel like I’m disappointing my high school English teacher. Kind of like an ultra double negative. That can’t be good.
You don’t need to short the SKF, just long the UYG.
Lol Gritty.
“You don’t need to short the SKF, just long the UYG.”
True, in theory. But SKF seems more prone to inexplicable and sizable gaps that make for good entries and obvious exits. Maybe it’s just a mental thing with regards to multiple dollar swings in price. Maybe I just don’t like doing decimal mathematics past the tenths position when I’m daytrading.
I see the long, way outside the BB, but how do you spot the reversal? is it the mid-point and overbought indicators?
filled the gap, two sideways bars, bang, hit the first down one
got it, thanks!
Case for Abolishing the FHA and GSEs
As a former loan officer for over 4 years, most of which was spent in subprime, there were many interesting things I was privy to see. When it comes to quality loans, I believe subprime loans with full doc were better than what would be approved and called “prime” by the FHA.
The biggest differences one would notice underwriting Subprime vs. Prime/FHA was that we would not be able to write a loan to a subprime borrower if the DTI Ratio (debt to income ratio) was over 50%. The max DTI that FHA approves is actually as high as 65%. There is never a scenario where it is feasible to pay that much of one’s monthly income servicing debt.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/81166-case-for-abolishing-the-fha-and-gses?source=yahoo
Per the Wall Street Journal, rising prosperity and wages in low-wage countries, rising shipping cost, and a falling dollar mean goods can be produced cheaper in the U.S. As a result, the movement of manufacturing employment overseas has slowed, perhaps stopped.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121331934552070357.html?mod=todays_us_nonsub_page_one
What this means is the decline in our standard of living may occur in a less devastating way — higher prices relative to wages, rather than mass unemployment and Great Depression II. We’ll be working, but we won’t be able to buy as much, because we’ll have to produce what we buy and then some.
Of course, our local Congressman here in NYC still believes America can afford to import.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/12/national/main4174889.shtml
“A New York congressman has introduced a bill that would create 1,000 new visa slots for foreign fashion models. Democrat Anthony Weiner said the measure would boost New York’s fashion industry.”
“Not everybody is hot for Weiner’s bill. ‘Forget trying to bring in new meat,’ ex-supermodel Janice Dickinson told the Daily News. ‘Let’s divvy it up between the Americans on American soil, please.’”
And to think, I thought American girls is what we would end up exporting, because it’s the only thing we have the foreigners with money want, and that is up to international quality standards!
Pretty clear that ole’ Anthony is trying to get some action for his weiner.
He’s already occupied
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/01/huma_likes_weiner.html
I think he is better off shooting for one of those foreign models myself. She reminds me of a character from my daughters Nemo movie, I can’t put my finger on which one though. I’m always suspicious when a woman is described in terms of being “vogue” and other such stuff. Isn’t that kind of like saying she has a good personality or something along those lines? Funny article though, I like the “waxing” line.
Upon review it looks like she worked for “vogue” and is descibed as “classy”. I stand by my earlier comments nonetheless.
WT Economist,
Now if we can only get rid of the computers and I-phone/blackberries/TVs.
As predicted here, older people getting back into the workforce (from W. Colorado, gjsentinel dot com):
Phil Lihan, director of the Grand Junction Senior Community Service Employment Program that helps train and place older workers, said his organization has experienced an influx in seniors wanting to enter the program as more jobs have become available. Most are either in the “gray area” of 55 to 59 years old and can’t qualify for government benefits, he said, or they can’t support themselves with the benefits they receive. Colorado is the only state that allows seniors to claim senior benefits at 60 years old, he said.
“You know, $600 or $800 a month is not enough, especially in this area,” Lihan said. “It’s like they’re retired, but they don’t get to be retired.”
Mesa County experienced one of the highest increases in workers 55 years old or older between 2001 and 2004, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s last report on older workers in Colorado. Twenty percent of its workers were in that age range in 2001. By 2004, workers 55 and older made up 29 percent of Mesa County’s workforce.
Wayne Dillon, 66, of Palisade drives more than 3,000 miles a month as a delivery specialist for Bookcliff Auto Parts, where he has worked full-time for nine months.
Betty Osborne, 55, gained computer training through the SCSEP and has been applying for clerical work. Osborne said she has not had as much luck because she is applying for specific clerical duties, but she said she has seen a large increase in the number of retail and food service work targeting experienced, older workers.
“They want people with experience,” Osborne said. “Thing about experience is you have to go in it to get it.”
Lihan added that employers recognize the dedication of senior workers who need the job to survive and not just for the summer months.
Workers 55 years old or older had a, 11.9 percent turnover rate for 2007 in Mesa County, while teenaged workers 14 to 18 years old had a 34.1 percent turnover rate, according to the Census Bureau.
Hey, maybe I can get these older folks to star in my dino ghosts epic movie, they probably can’t run as fast…better pray and all that…whoops, I mean better PREY and all that…flippin’ keyboard…but they could pray, too, that would help the effect…
If you don’t have a clue what I’m talking about - well, I don’t, either (or you could look for my post above to clarify, but it’s all pretty much OT, unless you consider living in a museum to be part of the housing bubble effects, hmmm, guess it IS on topic after all).
“…….drives more than 3,000 miles a month, as a delivery specialist…….”
My dad did that part-time when he retired. Has a truck with a “1-800″ number on the back, for people to call in to report dangerous driving.
He got called on the carpet one day……..seems that someone called in and ratted him out for driving TOO SLOW, and blocking traffic. He was about eight different degrees of pi##ed.
Knowing how he drives, I just laughed.
Data on Housing Relief Questioned
“Banks and mortgage firms are providing questionable information about the number of subprime mortgage borrowers they are helping and the rate at which homeowners are falling into foreclosure, according to the top regulator for the nation’s largest banks.
Those details are crucial for regulators to gauge the severity of the housing crisis and evaluate the effectiveness of the steps lenders are taking to address the problems.
John C. Dugan, comptroller of the currency, which oversees national banks, said his agency found “significant limitations with the mortgage performance data reported by other organizations and trade associations…”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/12/AR2008061203784.html
I don’t know if this is a sign of real maliciousness, Hoz. The banks are famously behind in staff trained to handle the tsunami of foreclosures.
E Pluribus Urine.
eschew obfuscation? never….
The govt. is always giving out worthless statistics. They always have an excuse for the deficiencies of their numbers. (excludes this, excludes that, adds this…etc,etc…) Now companies that provide info to the govt. is doing the same thing and the govt. is pissed!
Turn about is fair play!
LOL
Part of the hope to stem foreclosures is to get people with adjusting loans (remember that tide of Option-ARM resets coming in?) into “low cost” fixed rate loans in order to stabilize the market. Well, how about those rates on 30 year fixed mortgages?
http://tinyurl.com/322blz
30 year fixed conforming loan rates are very near 3 year highs (about 6.3%), and jumbos….fugidaboudid: around 7.4%.
It’s interesting to note that just 5 years or so ago, rates below 8% would have been considered “good”.
AGC Flat Glass North America Inc. is laying off 209 employees at 17300 Silica Drive in Victorville on June 22.
Automotive Importing Manufacturing Inc. is closing down and laying off 144 employees at 3920 Security Park Drive in Rancho Cordova on June 23.
Ball Metal Food & Household Products is closing down and laying off 82 employees at 5650 E. Grace Place in Commerce on June 27.
Biosensors International is closing down and laying off 81 employees at 20280 Acacia St., Suite 300, in Newport Beach on July 1.
California Instruments (an Ametek company) is laying off 57 employees at 9689 Towne Centre Drive in San Diego on September 1.
GMAC LLC is closing down and laying off 53 employees at 1620 E. Roseville Parkway in Roseville on July 1.
Hyatt West Hollywood is laying off 69 employees at 8401 Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood on August 11.
Indalex Inc. is closing down and laying off 96 employees at 4555 North Star Way in Modesto on June 24.
Kindred Hospital is laying off 70 employees at 730 17th St. in Modesto on June 22.
New Line Cinema Corp. is laying off 219 employees at 116 N. Robertson Boulevard, #200, in Los Angeles; 66 employees at 825 N. San Vicente Blvd. in West Hollywood; and 10 employees at 9000 Sunset Boulevard, Suite 1200, in West Hollywood on June 27.
Oldcastle Precast is closing down and laying off 60 employees at 1925 A St. in La Verne on June 9.
Sam’s Club is closing down and laying off 163 employees at 4901 N. Santa Anita Blvd. in El Monte on June 22.
Stevens Creek - Buick Pontiac GMC is closing down and laying off 83 employees at 4201 Steven’s Creek Blvd. in Santa Clara on June 9.
Student Loan Xpress is closing down and laying off 112 employees at 12680 High Bluff Road in San Diego on June 9.
Symantec Corp. is laying off 77 employees at 350 Ellis St. in Mountain View on June 10.
Target is closing down and laying off 134 employees at 1881 W. Lincoln Ave. in Anaheim and closing down and laying off 188 employees at 1000 East Imperial Hwy. in La Habra on July 22.
Theravance Inc. is laying off 106 employees at 901 Gateway Blvd. in South San Francisco on June 21.
Transport Drivers Inc. is laying off 198 employees at 11991 Landon Drive in Mira Loma on June 28.
Valley Ford Lincoln Mercury is closing down and laying off 58 employees at 455 N. 11th Ave. in Hanford on June 14.
Wellpoint Inc. is laying off 158 employees at 5151B Camino Ruiz in Camarillo on June 20.
A mere bagatelle
I’ll believe in the revolution when I see a 2 for 1 barricade sale @ Target.
“With society and its public, there is no longer any other language than that of bombs, barricades, and all that follows.”
Antonin Artaud
It sounds like China’s economy will be almost as badly affected as the US, looking at the types of companies shutting down.
Oldcastle Precast is nationwide, does a large number of precast concrete water/wastewater civil structures (manholes, junction chambers, etc.) as well as precast concrete box buildings (12′ x 20′ type of size) for cell companies to use next to to towers.
That closing is a direct result of a slowing housing market…
Rising oil prices squeeze homebuilding sector
‘Unfortunately, I think we’ll be caught in a squeeze,’ says one top builder
LOS ANGELES - As if homebuilders didn’t have enough to worry about with plunging home prices and rising foreclosures, the surge in oil prices is driving up the cost of key construction materials and further eroding homebuyers’ confidence.
Prices have gone up for steel, aluminum, copper, concrete, brick, asphalt and plumbing fixtures, among other materials, and homebuilders are feeling pressure from suppliers to foot the bill. In sum, the wholesale cost of building materials for new home construction rose 3.4 percent overall in April from a year earlier, according to the Labor Department.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25125905/
So if the wholesale cost of building materials goes up 3.4% and building materials comprise 50% (at most) of the cost of a new home, this would simply translate into a 1.7% increase in the cost to build a home, IFFFF labor costs were constant. But clearly, labor costs are falling and falling hard.
Foreclosures up 48%, 35% in Michigan.
http://tinyurl.com/6fm75t
Yup, the stealors were right. The market is about to turn [down].
there not building any more $2 buck shotgun houses in Michigan.
but they are still serving up 2 buck chuck on Wall Street.
trademark it, underline it in red, photostat it, email it, hell you can even Craigslist it….its outa my hands.
Dodd:
http://www.redstate.com/stories/breaking_news/why_is_christopher_dodd_still_the_chairman_of_the_senate_banking_committee
from the article:”Why is Christopher Dodd accepting personal handouts from the mortgage-lending industry, while simultaneously pushing legislation to bail them out at the expense of everyone who plays by the rules?”
from MaxFactor for Swine: When your neck deep in the cookie jar, everything smells like pork.
If this is true,Dodd and Mozillo need to go to jail.
cry for argentina?
Argentina’s debt levels are now higher than they were when it crashed into the biggest sovereign debt default in history in 2001, and a worsening crisis of confidence in the government has brought the spectre of a new default closer, a report to be published next week says.
http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto061220081933104628
WOO HOO!
Don’t cry for me, Italian pension funds!
All those retards who loaned money to Argentina at 10-20 basis points over US treasuries for 10 years should be really proud right about now.
I met a friend at a popular new-age type coffee house this morning. She was in the dumps because she lost her job as a timeshare salesperson, has been living off credit cards for months and they are maxed out and she can’t afford the monthly payments, doesn’t have money for rent and utilities, and can’t sell her vast collection of antiques on Craigslist (her ace in the hole).
While I was able to lend her a little money for gas and food, we enjoyed a bit of a American-dream-gone-to-hell pity party. We talked about the subprime mess, the falling dollar, and how the IMF and the world bank were no doubt behind it all. We talked about the high cost of food, and how we’re paying twice the price at the gas pumps as we did last year, and how you can’t buy food in the grocery store without thinking it’s toxic and how magically this all seems to be dove-tailing into the end-of-the-world myths of 2012 and Revelations.
It wasn’t long before a young couple in tie-dyed garb walked up to us and told us that they couldn’t help but hear all our “negative thinking” which was “giving energy” to a “disaster consciousness” and that we had a “choice” of thinking positively or be “consumed by the darkness” and to “open ourselves to the light,” ad nauseum.
We rolled our eyes and got out of there, but not without telling the couple that they are “asleep at the wheel,” and if they don’t wake up soon, they will find themselves a slave to America’s debt. (Even tho I believe there’s something to be said for positive thinking!)
It seems there is a bit of brain-washing complacency going on with the hoi polloi in our society right now. Perhaps this is why so many people are not listening to the “danger ahead” warning signs I see everywhere.
There’s a tendency to compare what’s about to happen to the dud that was Y2K, and preparation hasn’t been our long suit lately, anyway.
Plenty of mellows are gonna get harshed…
y2k was a dud for one reason, programmers running around the world fixed the code. And those oldtimer programmers made a ton of money testing it and the East Indians got paid pennies writing the code.
There were still plenty of computer problems related to Y2K. They just didn’t take down the sysstem.
I’ve now talked to a half-dozen people who have houses on the market, one in Washington, one in Oregon (Bend), and the rest in Utah and Colorado, and I was surprised at how glum they all seemed. I was actually quite surprised at how they all mentioned the market was going to hell fast.
The one in Bend is a friend, she’s moved out here and we have had zero conversations about housing, but she mentioned it’s a crappy time to sell.
I think the word’s starting to spread.
Me, I’d rather be consumed by the darkness and at least have a flashlight of an idea as to what’s going on.
I met a friend at a popular new-age type coffee house this morning. She was in the dumps because she lost her job as a timeshare salesperson, has been living off credit cards for months and they are maxed out and she can’t afford the monthly payments, doesn’t have money for rent and utilities, and can’t sell her vast collection of antiques on Craigslist (her ace in the hole).
While I was able to lend her a little money for gas and food, we enjoyed a bit of a American-dream-gone-to-hell pity party. We talked about the subprime mess, the falling dollar, and how the IMF and the world bank were no doubt behind it all. We talked about the high cost of food, and how we’re paying twice the price at the gas pumps as we did last year, and how you can’t buy food in the grocery store without thinking it’s toxic and how magically this all seems to be dove-tailing into the end-of-the-world myths of 2012 and Revelations.
It wasn’t long before a young couple in tie-dyed garb walked up to us and told us that they couldn’t help but hear all our “negative thinking” which was “giving energy” to a “disaster consciousness” and that we had a “choice” of thinking positively or be “consumed by the darkness” and to “open ourselves to the light,” ad nauseum.
We rolled our eyes and got out of there, but not without telling the couple that they are “asleep at the wheel,” and if they don’t wake up soon, they will find themselves a slave to America’s debt. I reminded them that the dollar has lost 50% of its buying power since “The Secret” came out. (Even tho I believe there’s something to be said for positive thinking!)
It seems there is a bit of brain-washing complacency going on with the hoi polloi in our society right now. Perhaps this is why so many people are not listening to the “danger ahead” warning signs I see everywhere.
oops - sorry for the double post!
June 13 (Bloomberg) — China’s government, which invests up to a third of its $1.68 trillion in currency reserves in Treasuries, is “not smart” to invest in U.S. debt and should seek higher returns, a former legislator said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601009&sid=az.moYIdDgYo&refer=bond
euro cracking:
Notes printed in Berlin have more currency for bank customers who fear a ‘value crisis’
Ordinary Germans have begun to reject euro bank notes with serial numbers from Italy, Spain, Greece and Portugal, raising concerns that public support for monetary union may be waning in the eurozone’s anchor country.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/06/13/cneuro113.xml
Central banks may face revolt here and in Europe.
A buddy of mine sent this - gave me a chuckle:
“One weapon in our arsenal which we haven’t played yet, and maybe should at some point, is a general agricultural strike. If farmers only planted half their crops, they’d get more than double the price, because then there would be a real global food shortage, unlike the fake global oil shortage. We could call the cartel OFUC (Organization of Food Underproducing Countries). I think the name would be on many lips when dire times came.”
Your friend is sick, I like it!
yeah, starve the masses for lithium…
strategic agriculture strike sounds a lot like strategic rice reserves.
Countrywide’s Many “Friends”
http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/top-5/2008/06/12/Countrywide-Loan-Scandal
Government suspends property-flipping rule
Friday June 13, 3:33 pm ET
Bush administration suspends property-flipping rule to aid housing market
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080613/foreclosures_flipping_restriction.html?.v=1
Let’s Not Get Carried Away Here
“Inflation fears returned to the financial markets this week, as both Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and ECB President Trichet toughened up their rhetoric a notch or two. A front page story on this week’s Wall Street Journal also highlighted the growing global inflation risks.
For all the rhetoric, we believe little has changed. Bernanke and Trichet are doing exactly what any good central banker should do, taking a tough stance against inflation. But other than ratcheting up the Fed’s Open Mouth Policy, we see little direct impact on interest rates. Quite simply, the Fed is not nearly as far behind the curve as many people think they are….”
Weekly Economic Financial Commentary June 13, 2008
Wachovia Bank
I receive their reports weekly (6 -8 pg pdf) and the reports are so accurate, that it makes me want to close out my short position. One stupid mistake in buying Golden West and Wachovia is a walking wounded.
This is OT, but Des Moines is now under voluntary evacuation orders, and the Cedar River has not crested in Cedar Rapids yet. More storms are expected,and the Mississippi River is overflowing its banks in some areas.
Iowa is in serious trouble.
My sister is in Iowa. I’m on standby to go get her and her family.
NBC’s Tim Russert dies of apparent heart attack
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080613/ap_on_en_tv/obit_russert
Wow, he wasn’t too old.
“Anthropologists opine that the average life span of a person living in the wild (smoking or non smoking section) is 35 years.” He far out lived the expectations of someone living in the wild.
Old-school style. That’s the way our fathers and grandfathers went out. I have a feeling Russert was 100% into his work and didn’t look to his health much. Working out daily does eat into your time.
Just a guess.
my grandpa went out smoking cigars, drinking 3 fingers brown, and playing gin rummy for a nickel a point and a dollar a box in the Oak CLiff Country Club, just south of big D back in 77.
I hope to go out in similiar fashion. Jeez, I liked Ruserts delivery too. But in the office getting pumped up? my blood dont boil that hot.
Warren Buffett was asked what words he would like written on his tombstone.
His response: “Damn, he was old!”
One more not-so-subtle reminder to stop and stick your nose into your rose bushes every morning. Thank you, Tim.
Apparently he’d just put his father in a rest home last week, but had recently seen his son graduate from college, returned from a trip to Italy with the wife. There is indeed more to life than sitting in front of a computer screen typing out invective…. I’m outta here.
Have a good weekend, all.
a
Santa Cruz Mortgage files for bankruptcy
Santa Cruz Mortgage, which closed in October after being caught up in the credit crunch, has filed a bankruptcy petition in federal court in San Jose.
…
No one bid on a home at 340 Arthur Road in Watsonville priced at $350,000, so it was sold back to the lender at that price. It had been purchased in 2005 and assessed by the county at more than $676,000.
…
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/business/ci_9573297
I haven’t heard a lot about CO market recently. My last impression of the Denver market was that (no surprise), there was overbuilding, mass foreclosures, and home price slides, etc. Is this the same story in other CO markets like CO Springs?
I can’t figure out the CO market, quite honestly. While the boom was happening, our neighborhood (NW suburb of Denver) was pretty cold. Houses stayed on the market for many months before they sold, and we’ve seen little price appreciation since 2001.
So far in 2008, two houses on our street (only one block long) have gone on the market, and both went under contract within a week or two. The first one held, and the price was good. The second one just recently went under contract, so don’t know if it’s a solid buyer yet.
Go figure?
Bill
FHA Lifts Waiting Period, Extends Insurance Coverage
http://www.cnbc.com/id/25146122
thats like your girlfriend in college, when shes late, and waiting for the results in the bathroom.
the waiting period.