July 4, 2008

Walking Away Is Embarrassing, But Staying Is Stupid

The Sacramento Bee reports from California. “It’s the question faced by thousands making peak 2005 loan payments on a home with 2008 values: Should I stay or should I go? In Antelope, Randy Fatius has had it. He says he’s walking away from the 1,200-square-foot house he bought in October 2005. Fatius made his last payment in March. Until April, he had never missed a payment.”

“‘I thought that was the best I could do with the situation,’ Fatius says.”

“The three-bedroom, two-bath home he bought for $312,000 with no money down is now worth $184,000, according to Zillow. But a slightly smaller house near him is listed at $125,000 and has been on the market for 119 days. Within a mile, he counts nearly 80 homes owned by banks or in varying states of foreclosure.”

“Walking away is embarrassing, Fatius admits. But staying is ’stupid,’ he says.”

“‘I crunched the numbers and it floored me,’ he says. He figures he’s lost around $200,000 in less than three years and that ‘it would take me 17 years to get back the value I’ve lost.’”

“He knows what he’s in for. ‘My credit score is going to tank,’ he says. But he thinks the penalty isn’t as bad as owning a house whose value has dropped so far below what he owes.”

“This was the first home Fatius bought. ‘I don’t think I’ll ever buy a house again,’ he says.”

“And, finally, don’t start in with him about standard advice to call his lender for help. He did, he says, and got no help that could have made much of a difference.”

“Looking back almost three years after buying, Fatius says, ‘I had a gut feeling from the beginning I shouldn’t have done it. I’ve felt it the whole time.’”

“Sacramento County has had almost 9,400 foreclosures so far this year.”

“Corner by corner, the gradual metamorphosis of Sacramento’s core continues to unfold, much as it has for the past decade. Downtown isn’t immune to market forces. Projects opening now were mostly started during the real estate boom - and were too far along to stop when the bottom fell out. Housing has been particularly hard hit.”

“Downtown developers say they’ve had to heavily discount their product to move it, and they’re making little, if any, profit these days.”

“‘This is a depression in real estate; everybody who was really flying high isn’t anymore,’ said developer Mark Friedman, who has sold 12 of his 26 Sutter Brownstones in midtown.”

The Mercury News. “Santa Clara County just closed a third straight year of slower growth in property values, Assessor Larry Stone said Thursday, as plunging starter-home prices undercut a booming market for commercial and industrial buildings.”

“Jef Tyler and his pregnant wife got a notice indicating the assessed value on the townhouse they bought two years ago in San Jose’s Japantown was being dropped $47,000 to $539,000. The declining value has forced them to delay their plans to trade up to a bigger home to make way for the baby.”

“Although Jef Tyler expects the tax break to be small, he said it’s at least a silver lining. ‘I guess it’s better than just saying, ‘Gee, we lost $40,000 on our house.’ Maybe we can get an extra tank of gas, or a half-tank.’”

The Bay Area Newsgroup. “AmeriDream Inc., a buyer assistance program…is now under fire in the U.S. Senate and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which is proposing to get rid of the nonprofits - mainly AmeriDream and Nehemiah Corp. - that use money from the seller to pay FHA down payments or closing costs.”

“Jason Ellis bought a home in Tracy with AmeriDream, after looking for more than five years. The sole breadwinner in a family of four, he said, ‘There was no way we were going to be able to save 25 percent for a down payment. That would be $80,000 to $90,000 on a $300,000 house.’”

“Ellis said that his rent was rising so fast, from $1,400 to $1,800, he figured he should buy. ‘Rents were really getting out of hand,’ he said. ‘We were at the mercy of our landlord’s finances.’”

“They found one that was affordable, a four-bedroom house just under 2,000 square feet for $300,000. Ellis was able to put 3 percent down by liquidating his 401k, and used AmeriDream to pay 3 percent towards closing costs.”

“A few years ago Ellis said he was approved for a $750,000 house, an amount he said he could never afford. ‘The minimum payment was more than I made a month before taxes,’ he said.”

“Other loan agents promised up to $100,000 in cash-back financing. ‘We could have gone with a couple of brokers a few years ago who promised us the big dream but we would probably be in default right now,’ Hamilton said.”

The Recordnet. “William McClamy, with a family of 10 that includes a grandchild, is in a world of hurt and frustration as he has wrestled futilely to get a home mortgage loan modified so he and his family can stay in their Tracy home.”

‘He contacted the lender, Countrywide, when his adjustable-rate mortgage payment was about to jump $1,200 a month to $4,100 and was told the company couldn’t help, because he wasn’t behind on payments yet.”

“Seven months ago, he was in trouble and couldn’t make full payments and was passed from one Countrywide staffer to another to another. Still, nothing happened, he said. ‘We’re in limbo,’ he said. ‘We’re looking at foreclosure at any time now. They ignored us. They don’t care.’”

The St Helena Star. “At 55 percent, Napa County has suffered the sharpest decline in home prices among nine Bay Area counties. Notice of Trustee sales for the county rocketed to 359 in 2007 - three times what they were a year earlier, and five times what they were in 2000.”

“The 704 Notices of Default issued last year more than doubled the number issued in 2006 and were more than three times the total for the year 2000. So far this year, the numbers in both cases are on track to far exceed ‘07 totals.”

“To the south, both Napa and American Canyon are reeling. Stan Brody of Burlingame-based U.S. Mortgage Corporation, talked about a Web site he accessed listing 18 ‘comps’ in American Canyon.”

“‘They were all new homes built from 2002 on,’ he said. ‘Among them were three sales, 10 were bank-owned, the others were short sales.’”

“Just over the Lake County line to the north, a Hidden Valley Lake real estate broker’s ad states that out of 134 homes listed for sale, 42 are below $250,000, 28 are foreclosures and 15 are short sales.”

“No place has been more affected than San Joaquin County, said Brody, where 1,600 homes have been foreclosed upon and 22,000 are in one stage or another of default. ‘In Stockton, we closed escrow for $197,000 on a property that sold previously for $550,000,’ he added.”

“Still, the Upper Valley is not totally immune from the effects of the massive downturn. ‘Any kind of a decline is a shock to sellers here,’ added Skip Lane of Town and Country Real Estate. ‘They just assume that prices will go up and they haven’t in the past year or so.’”

“Home sales in the Upvalley are affected by stock market fluctuations, said Brody. ‘Well, guess what. The stock market has this whole fear thing going, too,’ he said.”

“Brody believes that modifications by lending institutions providing some form of mortgage relief may ultimately be the only way out of the real estate mess.”

“‘Right now, you have Senator (Christopher J.) Dodd who wants to put out $200 million for foreclosure counseling,’ Brody added. ‘My question is, what are you going to counsel these people on? How to pack boxes so they can move out for the foreclosure sale?’”

New Times SLO. “Like a series of beached whales, each more decayed and skeletal than the one before, the buildings line the hillside behind Broad Street in SLO. Torn plastic building wrap flaps in the breeze and an incomplete wire fence dissuades, but does not prevent, would-be trespassers from exploring the buildings.”

“City documents show the project on Rockview Place, which began in 2005, was envisioned as nine condos that would fetch as much as $6 million when sold.”

“But running into foundation problems, among other concerns, work on the steep hillside project was stop-and-go for most of its history and for the past year work has entirely ceased. Now it’s been formally declared ‘abandoned’ by city planners.”

“‘We’ve asked that he put in fencing and that he keep a daily log showing that he’s at the site and that he’s keeping the vagrants out,’ said Tim Girvin, SLO’s chief building official. ‘You’ve got an unprotected structure there; you don’t want people coming in and setting fires to warm themselves, or doing something else that results in the place burning down.’”

“For now, Girvin said, the developer has been responding to most city requests, but has emphasized that no significant work can happen until he gets new funding.”

“‘The problem is, it’s trying to get blood out of a turnip,’ Girvin said. ‘How can you put these financial requirements out on a project where the guy’s got no money to move forward?’”

“So for now, he said, while the city could legally seek to have the project razed, instead officials are waiting for the results of…court actions. ‘We’re kind of treading water,’ Girvin acknowledged.”

The Daily Bulletin. “It’s a buyer’s market out there. Real estate agent Javier Sanchez has had a 1,400-square-foot Montclair home on the market for just a week, and already he has had several offers.”

“Sanchez said the owner of the house, a short-sale, had enough equity in the home to lower the price to $245,000, but he’s going to walk away with nothing. Sanchez said he’s seen a lot of changes in the market, with people struggling to pay their mortgages.”

“‘Most people are are pulling the equity from their home to make those payments but in the end they can barely afford it,’ he said.”

“Sanchez said there are 120 houses within a two-mile radius of the Camarena property with owners who are 90 days behind on their mortgage payments. There are 17 other houses with mortgages that are 120 days past due and will be repossessed within the next 30 days.”

“In the past 12 months, Sanchez said, 102 homes have been repossessed within two miles of the home.”

“‘(The former homeowners’) mortgages were too high, they got tied up in the middle of the sub-prime loans, and they just didn’t have their equity to fall (back) on,’ he said.”

“The glut of short-sale and foreclosed homes is making this the ideal time to buy, some experts say. For those looking to unload property, a little patience is probably in order.”

“‘Those who are trying to sell their home with equity can’t because there are already too many homes in the market,’ Sanchez said. ‘My advice to them is stay in their home until the market gets better.’”

The Press Enterprise. “A Beverly Hills home builder has purchased 163 finished residential lots in Victorville…from Pulte Homes Inc, in hopes that the High Desert residential market will rebound during the next few years.”

“Similar land sales have become common in the High Desert recently, according to one home builder familiar with the market. Rollie Heschong, founder and president of High Desert Homes in Joshua Tree, said lack of business caused him last fall to shut down the company temporarily.”

“‘In a year or two I think High Desert might come back, but for now the ’spec’ housing market up here has dried up,’ said Heschong, who now builds custom homes.”

“Kennedy Wilson Residential plans to develop their new lots after the housing market turns around or sell them to another home builder if the market is still stagnant three years from now, said managing director Eric Taylor.”

“Cost of the land, in the Cypress Pointe community about a half-mile from Interstate 15, was not disclosed.”

The Berkeley Daily Planet. “Berkeley City Council members seem to think that there’s an infinite demand for brand new condo bunkers, despite numerous warnings over the years about the housing bubble.”

“New condos seem to have hit a wall. Two massive projects opened around the beginning of this year, both on ‘transit corridors.’ During construction, a large sign announced that 1801 Shattuck would be condominiums. The website still boasts that it will be ‘the first major Condo development in the Gourmet Ghetto in over a decade.’”

“The project opened without fanfare in early spring-as rentals. The apartments are being advertised with great enthusiasm: ‘1 Month FREE-HURRY-Rent Special! Hurry Ends Sunday!’ (This ad has been running for weeks, so I surmise that the special offer expires on Sunday and is revived on Monday).”

“The project at 2700 San Pablo is another story. Newspaper ads for the condos began in December 2007 with a catchy new project name.When I attended an open house tour, only two units seemed to be complete.”

“In late February 2008, mechanics’ liens against the property began appearing at the Alameda County Recorder’s Office, eventually totaling 49 liens filed. The amount still owed to contractors is approximately $1,036,468.”

“The two completed units at 2700 San Pablo, 210 and 406, were advertised vigorously until early May, when advertising ceased. Number of condominium sales recorded: Zero. On June 2 a Notice of Default was filed at the Recorder’s Office. The construction loan of approximately $9.5 million appears to be in arrears.”

“Why are the councilmembers so condo-crazed? All I can figure is that they are following their leader, Mayor Bates, whose campaign contributors include a long list of developers (and their wives and employees). It is rumored that the only job Bates has ever held other than politician was-commercial real estate broker.”




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115 Comments »

Comment by Ben Jones
2008-07-04 08:34:37

‘In Stockton, we closed escrow for $197,000 on a property that sold previously for $550,000′

And we were told prices are sticky on the way down…

Comment by MontereyJack
2008-07-04 09:36:51

Well, they have been a bit more sticky for mid and high-end houses per piggington.com (San Diego). He’s got a bunch of nice graphs broken out by price:

http://piggington.com/april_caseshiller_index

Here in Monterey the low end (Seaside/Salinas) has crashed hard, with one-time $500K houses going for $200K now, but the better areas are still asking 75% to 100% of peak bubble prices. (Not selling though…)

 
 
Comment by NoSingleOne
2008-07-04 08:50:07

“Walking Away Is Embarrassing, But Staying Is Stupid”

More proof that owning a house is like being in a relationship. Breaking up is hard to do, but some marriages just aren’t worth the pain.

Comment by Lost In Utah
2008-07-04 08:56:04

maybe because we get into houses and relationships based on our emotions…

well shoots, if we didn’t, probably very few people would get married - and it’s looking like that will soon apply to buying houses.

Comment by Olympiagal
2008-07-04 11:29:49

Oh, I was gonna tell you, losty. I say ’shoots’ all the time now.

Comment by Lost In Utah
2008-07-04 17:07:00

Well, shoots, Oly, geezlouse, don’t know what to say, shoots…

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Comment by NoSingleOne
2008-07-04 12:44:07

we get into houses and relationships based on our emotions…

Ha, spoken like a true woman! We men get into relationships out of lust, an inability to cook, and laziness. ;)

Comment by Olympiagal
2008-07-04 14:28:26

‘We men get into relationships out of lust, an inability to cook, and laziness.’

Goodness! So do some women. Except I’m a good cook.

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Comment by holytrainwreck
2008-07-04 16:01:16

Thank God.

 
 
Comment by Lost In Utah
2008-07-04 17:05:52

Well, shoots, what can I say to that? :)

Guess I’m a goner, hate to cook.

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Comment by BanteringBear
2008-07-04 17:13:11

Not a deal breaker. Many of us men love to cook. :)

 
Comment by Lost In Utah
2008-07-04 17:25:30

Actually, I take that back, I can cook some things really well, like cowdog coffee…

2 parts water to 1 part coffee, take it off just as it boils, don’t drain the grinds, just drink em. Add a shot of whiskey, makes you howl.

I’m also really good at making cheese sandwiches:

2 parts bread to 1 part cheese, slap together, eat whole.

And hows about this (getting gourmet here):

Prickley pear delight: Stab prickley pear meat with stick, twist off, build fire, burn off prickles, eat.

There’s more, maybe I should do a cookbook???

 
Comment by BanteringBear
2008-07-04 18:49:34

LOL. Holy smokes, you really were raised by wild animals - that’s quite a diet!

 
Comment by Lost In Utah
2008-07-04 19:17:43

No, Bear, I found out last night that I was raised by COWS - explains the vegetarianism…it was a huge enlightenment - SleepnginSeattle figured it out.

 
Comment by BanteringBear
2008-07-04 20:36:51

Cows!? Must have been bulls, rodeo bulls. They’re rough and tumble and they taught you how to make that howlin’ coffee. And the cheese, they got it from their wives. It’s making sense now. I just didn’t know they ate cacti…

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by spike66
2008-07-04 08:58:04

“‘Right now, you have Senator (Christopher J.) Dodd who wants to put out $200 million for foreclosure counseling,’ Brody added. ‘My question is, what are you going to counsel these people on? How to pack boxes so they can move out for the foreclosure sale?’”

Truer words never spoken.

Comment by iftheshoefits
2008-07-04 10:56:25

No need to counsel on how to strip a property bare before you walk away. Seems as if everyone figured that out just fine on their own.

We Americans truly are a resourceful bunch…

 
Comment by Joelawyer
2008-07-04 11:18:10

Senator Dodd just wants to provide cover for his and his fellow Senators acceptance of bribes in the form or extremely favorable mortgages.

Plain old bribery.

Is it true that over 30 current Senators had loans through CW?

Now wonder they keep their mortgage data secret…

 
Comment by pismoclam
2008-07-04 17:14:35

Sens Dodd, Conrad and Pelosi’s son got sweetheart low interest loans from Countrywide. The caca also goes to the heads of Fannie Mae and Mac. Don’t talk to me about HAL you scumbag liberals.

 
 
Comment by evildoc
2008-07-04 09:00:57

Ahhhh where to start…

—“Ellis said that his rent was rising so fast, from $1,400 to $1,800, he figured he should buy. ‘Rents were really getting out of hand,’ he said. ‘We were at the mercy of our landlord’s finances.’”

“They found one that was affordable, a four-bedroom house just under 2,000 square feet for $300,000. Ellis was able to put 3 percent down by liquidating his 401k, and used AmeriDream to pay 3 percent towards closing costs.”—–

Nothing new to this crowd, i know, but let’ see…

Could not possibly afford the 3% down without… liquidating (liquidating at 9000 bucks?) his 401k.

Nice American Dream.

Comment by Ben Jones
2008-07-04 09:10:41

Right, and as we see from the psychology of the first FB, what is the likely result when this couple find themselves upside down?

Comment by txchick57
2008-07-04 09:35:15

Interesting, while these idiots are being spat out one end of the tunnel, I’m thinking about entering the other end with checkbook in hand. Starting to feel the house want thing.

Comment by mikey
2008-07-04 09:53:21

The Press Enterprise. “A Beverly Hills home builder has purchased 163 finished residential lots in Victorville…from Pulte Homes Inc, in hopes that the High Desert residential market will rebound during the next few years.”

“Similar land sales have become common in the High Desert recently, according to one home builder familiar with the market. Rollie Heschong, founder and president of High Desert Homes in Joshua Tree, said lack of business caused him last fall to shut down the company temporarily.”

“‘In a year or two I think High Desert might come back, but for now the ’spec’ housing market up here has dried up,’ said Heschong, who now builds custom homes.”

Oh yeah?..You’ll SEE Roy Rogers and Trigger ride again on the Happy Trails from Apple Valley BEFORE you see that lil partner :)

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Comment by fries with that?
2008-07-04 11:28:33

This is going to sound strange. But I see where our pal Ellis is coming from. I recently received a flyer from my apartment management company about the great deal they had negotiated with a cable TV provider, and how tenants could take advantage by signing up for service before the end of the month.

I save money, in part, by not availing myself of luxuries like cable TV. However, just as I was about to toss the flyer, I noticed at the bottom it said that residents who didn’t take the deal now would have it added to their leases when they renewed them. Mandatory cable TV!

Ellis acted the way he did because he saw, correctly in my opinion, that landlords could take him for everything he had. The problem was his foolish reaction (now the bank will take him for everything he has).

Comment by AnonyRuss
2008-07-04 16:21:37

“Mandatory cable TV!
Ellis acted the way he did because he saw, correctly in my opinion, that landlords could take him for everything he had. The problem was his foolish reaction (now the bank will take him for everything he has).”

Vote with your feet. You (and possibly Ellis) provide something valuable to the landlord, a regular stream of income. If paying like clockwork is not good enough, then leave. Large corporate complexes often do not fully appreciate their responsible residents. In my experience, mom and pop situations (sfhs, small buildings) very much appreciate a solid citizen who can toss a check in the mail a week early. Just steer clear of FBs/accidental landlords. It takes work, but it is worth the effort.

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Comment by mort_fin
2008-07-04 10:00:11

You know there’s something really bizzarre about this Ameridream example. The guy uses 3% of his own funds, and then gets 3% from Ameridream (who always 3% PLUS a fee from the seller for a 3% “gift”) to cover “closing costs.” But FHA ALLOWS the seller to contribute up to 6% for closing costs, without laundering the money through a fee charging non-profit, so long as the borrower is kicking in 3% from their own funds. So what in hell did the buyer and seller get in return for paying a fee to Ameridream????? They could have done this transaction without any non-profit involvement at all, as it is described in the article. 3% from the borrower, and 3% closing cost help from the seller. Wel within FHA guidelines.

 
Comment by Joe
2008-07-04 13:25:16

This guy deserves the crappy retirement he’s going to have.

Liquidated his 401(k) to buy a house? Moron.

Comment by combotechie
2008-07-04 16:07:35

I’m greatful for his sacrifice.

 
 
Comment by holytrainwreck
2008-07-04 16:05:07

You got to admit that there were WORSE idiots than this…at least he put SOME skin into the game, and refused to do the option ARM cashback at close Casey Serin drugs…and he did have rent at 1800.

 
 
Comment by NoSingleOne
2008-07-04 09:02:18

“Ellis said that his rent was rising so fast, from $1,400 to $1,800, he figured he should buy. ‘Rents were really getting out of hand,’ he said. ‘We were at the mercy of our landlord’s finances.’”

…and now you’re at the mercy of the bank. At least with the landlord and his crappy lease, you could always move.

“They found one that was affordable, a four-bedroom house just under 2,000 square feet for $300,000. Ellis was able to put 3 percent down by liquidating his 401k, and used AmeriDream to pay 3 percent towards closing costs.”

…and now you have your retirement money locked in a depreciating asset that is probably already underwater.

“A few years ago Ellis said he was approved for a $750,000 house, an amount he said he could never afford. ‘The minimum payment was more than I made a month before taxes,’ he said.”

You’re not a strawberry picker by any chance, are you?

 
Comment by BanteringBear
2008-07-04 09:03:33

“Jef Tyler and his pregnant wife got a notice indicating the assessed value on the townhouse they bought two years ago in San Jose’s Japantown was being dropped $47,000 to $539,000. The declining value has forced them to delay their plans to trade up to a bigger home to make way for the baby.”

A $540k townhome which isn’t even large enough for them to raise a child in? HA! What a joke! These people are idiots!

Comment by NoSingleOne
2008-07-04 09:17:49

B-b-b-but BB, they got to live in San Jose’s fabulous Japantown!!!

Wouldn’t you sell your firstborn for a chance to do that?

Comment by Lost In Utah
2008-07-04 09:46:46

Hey, Bear’s Akita is probably the equivalent of having 2 kids, mass-wise, anyway - and I’m wondering, Bear, do you have a huge place?

Somehow I suspect Bear has more sense.

And I was doing the math (took me awhile), but Bear’s dog is the equivalent of 2.5 of mine, maybe even 3 if I throw the fat Beagle out of the equation.

Comment by BanteringBear
2008-07-04 10:30:25

LOL @ Lost. My house is larger than I need; a 1650 square foot 1 1/2 story. I could honestly do with 900 square feet. Heck, I could live in a tent. It’s the outdoors which are important to me (acreage with wilderness close by). I’ve often thought about moving to Alaska, buying 5 acres, and building my own place while I live in said tent. I’m a free spirit kind o’ guy.

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Comment by NoSingleOne
2008-07-04 12:40:10

Don’t be like that kid from “Into the Wild”. At least bring some bug spray, and some bear spray for that matter…and a satellite phone!

 
Comment by BanteringBear
2008-07-04 13:22:11

Never seen “Into the Wild”, so I don’t know about that “kid”. But this adult goes into everything well prepared. And my bear spray of choice is hot lead if catch my drift. I’m not going to try to fend off a thousand pound brown bear with a fragrance.

 
Comment by Lost In Utah
2008-07-04 17:11:28

Just wondering, why would a bear need bear spray? Is is kind of like a woodchuck chucking wood…???

And if the fragrance were right, you could fend off about anything, if you get my drift… :)

 
Comment by BanteringBear
2008-07-04 17:27:42

“Just wondering, why would a bear need bear spray? Is is kind of like a woodchuck chucking wood…???”

Kind of a family thing, like trying to introduce a stray duckling to a new mother and her ducklings. Things get ugly real quick.

“And if the fragrance were right, you could fend off about anything, if you get my drift…”

Hahaha. I’m not sure I could live with myself in such case.

 
Comment by Lost In Utah
2008-07-04 17:38:03

Bear, Into the Wild was a book by John Krakauer about a kid who went into the wilds of Alaska and ended up dying, he was totally unprepared and starving and eventually tried to hike out, couldn’t cross some river, but there was a ford nearby, that sort of inanity. It was a sad story, but also very stupid. Krakauer managed to sensationalize the whole thing and they made a movie out of it.

 
Comment by BanteringBear
2008-07-04 20:52:56

“Into the Wild was a book by John Krakauer about a kid who went into the wilds of Alaska and ended up dying…”

Hmmm, haven’t read it. I did read “Into Thin Air” by Krakauer. (I think that’s what it was called). At any rate, was the kid related to that bozo who thought he could go to Alaska and live in the bears’ migratory path? It didn’t end well for that poor misguided sap either. I recall reading an article a while back, and his last conversation with his bear kin went something like this:

poor sap: Well hello my furry buddy, what brings you to my tent this late evening”

large male grizzly (at a decibel approaching that of a 747, and two feet from poor sap’s face no less): RRRRRA AAAAAAAAHHHHHRRRRR!!!

poor sap: did you just eat some huckleberries?

large grizzly: RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRHRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

poor sap: b b b b bbbut I thought we were friends! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!

 
 
Comment by AnonyRuss
2008-07-04 16:24:11

Heads up if the akita makes a plaintive wail. Or heads off.

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Comment by Lost In Utah
2008-07-04 17:43:31

My brother and I went up into the Wind River Range in Wyoming last summer to backpack, he took his two dogs. The locals all told us the dogs were more of an attraction to grizzlies than a deterrent.

So…my very brave and intelligent brother called the trip off. I think he was afraid of the Griz, and maybe rightly so.

We ended up in Glacier, where there’re TONS of griz. There, he got too close to a moose trying to photograph her and got rushed. I laughed my ass off. He was p*ssed and got very wet.

 
Comment by Lost In Utah
2008-07-04 17:44:46

Whoops, that didn’t come out right. :)

 
Comment by Lost In Utah
2008-07-04 17:46:21

Nor did that, jeez, I’m gonna quit while I’m ahead… :)

 
Comment by BanteringBear
2008-07-04 18:53:48

Akita’s were bear hunting dogs. My boy’ll protect me, and I him. There’s nothing we can’t conquer, the two of us. That’s a good boy! (giving him a firm pat)

 
Comment by Lost In Utah
2008-07-04 19:19:40

Yeah, I saw that look he gave you (right, sure boss, bears, uhhuh, the two of us together, eh?…).

 
 
 
 
Comment by Faster Pussycat, Sell Sell
2008-07-04 09:29:09

They’re all bandying about $500K as if it were chump change.

Bet you they’ve never even written a check for $10K in their lives.

 
Comment by SaladSD
2008-07-04 10:05:27

Childhood obesity must start at birth now. These newborn babies must be as big as a barn. What is it with these couples who immediately have to “trade up” for a new baby? What a crock.

 
Comment by Frank Giovinazzi
2008-07-04 17:51:12

I think of townhouses as the original condos — a way for developers to crowd more units into less space. You always feel like you have to walk sideways in a townhouse, which is often nothing more than a glorified apartment with the square footage carved up between three floors — which means steep stairs and no Lebensraum in the living room. Oh yeah, and no windows on either side, unless you have one of the overpimped END UNITs.

 
 
Comment by PeonInChief
2008-07-04 09:17:46

Oh, yeah, downtown Sacramento is the hip, urban place to be. Somehow I don’t think so. It’s a perfectly decent government town, but it has no features to recommend it, egregiously hot summers, and is too close to the Bay Area to have any substantial cultural life. Our city mothers and fathers think we’re going to be another Portland (Sacramento’s city manager is from Portland and actually lives there most of the time), but the only connection we really have with Portland is that so many Sacramentans move there.

Comment by hip in zilker
2008-07-04 10:20:59

“Sacramento’s city manager is from Portland and actually lives there most of the time”

That doesn’t sound good for Sacramento somehow…

 
Comment by Jerry D
2008-07-04 12:56:45

Middle class in California is really hurting in many ways. No sale taxes in Oregon is a little “help” for them as well as clean, pretty state. Not seeing pot holes, trask along roads doesn’t help the pocket book but you definitely feel better.

 
 
Comment by We Rent!
2008-07-04 09:30:28

“Most people are are pulling the equity from their home to make those payments…”

Somebody please explain what this means. Using a HELOC to pay the mortgage? Is that like borrowing from your credit card to be able to make the minimum payment?

Comment by Faster Pussycat, Sell Sell
2008-07-04 09:33:47

Pretty much.

 
 
Comment by BeantownRenter
2008-07-04 09:31:51

“The declining value has forced them to delay their plans to trade up to a bigger home to make way for the baby.”

I never understand this. My gf and I have a five month old and live in the same apartment we lived in before. Besides a few toys lying around, our amount of space hasn’t been severely impacted.

And we’re walking distance to the grocery store, the pharmacy, the pediatrician, the bank, about 12 restaurants, and many liquor stores. If we were to buy, we’d have to move out to the burbs…. we’d be forced to drive EVERYWHERE and we’d spend an extra two hours each in our car.

Tell me… is our baby having a better life with sane parents and a little less space? We think so.

Comment by Tim
2008-07-04 11:34:54

I never understood that either. Most babies I know are attached to their parents or care givers most of the time. I have not known of one that needed its own wing of the house or private time away from the rest of the family.

 
Comment by holytrainwreck
2008-07-04 16:07:27

And many liquor stores? Why did you mention liquor stores ;)

Comment by beantown renter
2008-07-05 09:25:02

well, when you put the baby to bed you have to have a couple of cocktails! of course!

 
 
 
Comment by Wickedheart
2008-07-04 09:32:32

“‘Most people are are pulling the equity from their home to make those payments but in the end they can barely afford it,’ he said.”

Only slightly dumber than buying a Hummer with your equity. At least the Hummer could provide a roof over your head.

Comment by BanteringBear
2008-07-04 09:49:04

You can live in your car, but you can’t drive your house!

Comment by pismoclam
2008-07-04 17:23:51

Where do I get the bumper sticker that reads, ‘If you lived in your car, you would be home now.’ ? hehehehehehehe

 
 
Comment by reuven avram
2008-07-04 10:23:58

An the funny thing is people didn’t even by real Hummers! They got these H2s and H3s that are essentially consumer-grade minivans with fancy bodies.

These aren’t what soldiers drive around in Iraq.

Comment by Ben Jones
2008-07-04 10:36:00

‘These aren’t what soldiers drive around in Iraq.’

I got to talk with a marine in 2004 who had been a H-1 repair specialist in Iraq. Summary; expensive deathtraps that break down constantly.

Comment by iftheshoefits
2008-07-04 11:06:08

But that just made the H-1’s that much more “edgy”!

I wonder, is there snobbery amongst the Hummer set, from those that own the “authentic” models? I’ve always thought that those who bought the later consumerized versions would be looked on as pikers. But I have no way of knowing.

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Comment by reuven avram
2008-07-04 11:16:10

Here’s the thing…if you have to drive your Hummer (or even your H2) as your primary car you can’t afford it!

Only folks who can afford to keep it in a garage, on their large estate, and take it out for fun on Sunday mornings, or an occasional off-road romp are the people who can really afford one!

I used to crack up when I say people parking their H2s at the grocery store, etc. (I’m seeing fewer of them these days, though)

And the H3 is even more ridiculous. It makes the following statement:

“I’m the type of person who thinks having a Hummer is a status symbol that will make me seem important, but I can’t afford a real one”

 
 
Comment by holytrainwreck
2008-07-04 16:10:22

Would Jeeps be better, perhaps?

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Comment by Lost In Utah
2008-07-04 17:15:01

I’ve mentioned this before, but a significant portion of the 4X4 trails around Moab and other points west can’t be run by Hummers, too wide for the trail. Picture narrow trails with rocks or cliff on one or both sides. The vehicle of choice is a Jeep or Toyota.

 
Comment by NotInMontana
2008-07-04 18:24:37

BAck in the 70s when all that 4×4 jeepin’ started becoming popular, it was kinda funny to be up in the woods in someone’s Blazer only to encounter someone in a VW or Delta 88 flying along just as well.

 
Comment by Lost In Utah
2008-07-04 19:24:26

I went into Beef Basin in Utah, very remote, 4×4 (tho not so much now, they fixed the road), driving my former vehicle (a Toyota 4Runner) was really feeling proud that I’d made it way back in there, had to ford several streams, high clearance rocks, steep grades, etc. when I came upon an old hippy dude in an older even more hippy VW van.

“Like wow, cool back in here, isn’t it? Had a cougar walking around my van last night.”

He said he used to play with Deep Purple. I thought he was lying but found out later he wasn’t, lives n Moab. Smoke on the water…

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by Faster Pussycat, Sell Sell
2008-07-04 09:32:46

“Although Jef Tyler expects the tax break to be small, he said it’s at least a silver lining. ‘I guess it’s better than just saying, ‘Gee, we lost $40,000 on our house.’ Maybe we can get an extra tank of gas, or a half-tank.’”

That $40K would’ve bought you all the gas you ever needed for the next 5-10 years.

Grade A moron.

Comment by walt526
2008-07-04 11:05:54

He was probably referring to the marginal change in his property tax bill. Although ~1% of $47,000 would be about $470/yr.

Comment by Faster Pussycat, Sell Sell
2008-07-04 11:56:09

Yes, I know what he was talking about.

However, the whole point is total costs not marginal costs.

People are morons.

 
 
 
Comment by Wilson
2008-07-04 09:33:23

Is anyone knowledgeable about the ongoings of West LA, specifically Brentwood & Pacific Palisades? Are prices getting crushed yet? Or is there just no sales volume yet?

Thanks!

 
Comment by A.B. Dada
2008-07-04 09:35:32

Some corrections to the lying shills who wrote the original articles:

In Antelope, Randy Fatius has had it. He says he’s walking away from the 1,200-square-foot house he bought in October 2005. He did not buy the house, he mortgaged it.

“This was the first home Fatius bought. ‘I don’t think I’ll ever buy a house again,’ he says.” Since you never bought one yet, why not try it when you can pay 100% down?

Jef Tyler and his pregnant wife got a notice indicating the assessed value on the townhouse they bought two years ago in San Jose’s Japantown was being dropped $47,000 to $539,000. They did not buy the house, the bank did and is loaning it to them at a nice interest rate.

Jason Ellis bought a home in Tracy with AmeriDream, after looking for more than five years. Jason Ellis bought nothing, but AmeriDream helped a bank buy a home that Jason lived in.

In all of these situations, we have a real buyer: the bank or the investors who put the money up. In the past 2 weeks, I have come to realize the obvious: when a secured-asset lender buys an item to sell it back to the borrower, the lender is doing so because they feel they have enough equity in the property to protect themselves fully in case of default, and they’ll make killer money not just on the interest rate of the loan, but on the many loans they were able to whip up out of thin air due to the money multiplier effect, the bedroom of fractional reserve banking.

Since the bank is the primary owner of the property, in some cases owning 100% of the share of the property value, the borrower really is under no moral requirement to stick around at all. The bank took a risk, not the borrower. The bank owns the property, not the borrower.

The borrower should walk.

Real homeowners have the title to their home, free and clear, and only rent their property from the county and city. Real homeowners don’t have a mortgage. Real homeowners don’t worry about the value of their home if they’re not selling, except to battle the property tax-charging criminals.

Real homeowners can’t be foreclosed on.

Comment by Ken Best
2008-07-04 10:09:41

So where is our property tax going? Enriching public “officials” of course:

http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/02/pf/retirement/vallejo.moneymag/index.htm?postversion=2008060305

But the real nail in Vallejo’s coffin was the city’s labor costs. Under the current labor agreement, the average police officer walking the beat in Vallejo will be paid $122,000 this year before overtime, according to city documents. An average sergeant will make $151,000; a captain, $231,000. The average firefighter, meanwhile, will bring in $130,000 before overtime.

That’s just the salaries, though. The final budget-crusher was the city’s pension plan. Thanks to retroactive benefit enhancements approved by the city council in 2000, police officers and firefighters can now retire at age 50 and receive an annual pension equal to 90% of their final pay (assuming 30 years on the job), an amount that gets increased every year to help keep pace with inflation. The old plan had given the workers a pension equal to 60% of their final pay at age 50.

So a Vallejo police sergeant making $150,000 a year can now retire at age 50 and receive an annual pension of $135,000, increased each year for inflation. To put that amount in context, you would need to amass a retirement nest egg equal to about $3.5 million to produce a similar retirement income on your own.

Comment by Mole Man
2008-07-04 13:43:16

It was a nice racket while it lasted. In some cases such as Vallejo there seems to be some possibility of RICO convictions. Whatever happens the amounts pensioners actually receive will probably end up being a matter for the courts to decide. Cough, please.

 
 
Comment by reuven avram
2008-07-04 10:35:47

Well, maybe you should get behind my “Defense of Homeowners” law. Congress should pass a law that states:

“No legislation shall refer to anyone as a Homeowner whose ownership equity in a property is below 50%”

Write to your local rep today!

In more serious matters, I’m using my day off to write letters to all the folks who voted “no” on the Barney-Chris trial vote, and to my local rep.

I’m suggesting that they should

1. The “Deadbeat Specuvestors Tax Forgiveness Act of 2007″ (already law) should be amended to that the amount of forgive debt be subtracted from the $500,000 lifetime cap-gains exclusion already in place.

2. Anyone receiving a cram-down from any future legislation (like Frank-Dodd), should not be eligible for the $500,000 lifetime cap-gains exclusion

3. Initiate an investigation against Chris Dodd, and call for his censure and removal from office, for his involvement with mortgage companies and his conflict of interest.

Comment by Real Estate Refugee
2008-07-04 15:21:16

2. Anyone receiving a cram-down from any future legislation (like Frank-Dodd), should not be eligible for the $500,000 lifetime cap-gains exclusion

Uh, it’s not a lifetime thing, it’s an every two years thing ($500,000 for married couples; $250,000 for single people).
Every two years on your principal residence.

Worked well for me 2002 - 2006. Sell - Buy - Sell - Buy - Sell - Rent. None of the profit taxable. Ah, the glory years.

 
 
Comment by holytrainwreck
2008-07-04 16:13:13

Well, I guess you can’t be a REAL homeowner until you hold that mortgage-burning party!

 
 
Comment by reuven avram
2008-07-04 10:06:24

This asswipe cracks me up:


“‘I crunched the numbers and it floored me,’ he says. He figures he’s lost around $200,000 in less than three years and that ‘it would take me 17 years to get back the value I’ve lost.’”

As we’ve mentioned here before, it seems that the members of this peculiar class of people who were trying to seek status and wealth without working for it are just as happy bragging about how much they “lost” as they were talking about their gains. As if he ever had $200,000 in the first place to lose. This no-money-down how-much-a-month guy probably never saved a penny in his life.

In fact, the article implies he only stopped making the payments because the houses near him started selling for 65% less, not that he couldn’t afford to carry out his contractual obligation.

“He knows what he’s in for. ‘My credit score is going to tank,’ he says. But he thinks the penalty isn’t as bad as owning a house whose value has dropped so far below what he owes.”

He just feels like a sucker, so he’s going to stop paying.

For those of you here who have never seen Sacramento, it’s very likely that many houses will effectively be worth zero, because there will be no buyers at any price. They built way too much there. My sister-in-law lives there, and runs a business that has many clients of modest means. I’ve gone to events she sponsors and all everyone talks about is houses, houses, houses. A significant portion of people owned an “investment” house, and the ones that didn’t HELOC’d a car, Hummer, etc.

Comment by walt526
2008-07-04 11:18:36

I’ve been living in the Sacramento area for about 6 years (3 in Davis, 3 in Arden-Arcade), and I concur. It’s amazing how much they overbuilt in such a short period of time.

The exurbs are completely toast. Yuba City, Marysville, Auburn… with $200/bbl oil, no one is going to want to commute 50+ miles each way. The only thing that relatively close suburbs have going for them (Davis, Elk Grove, Roseville/Rocklin) is their relative superiority of public schools over Sacramento Unified, et al. But based on local incomes, prices still have to come down another 30-50% before it will make sense to buy.

I don’t understand the draw of living in downtown Sacramento. It’s a sty and expensive as hell. I pay $900/month for 2bd/2ba 1100sqft top-floor apartment in a quiet neighborhood. 10-15 minute drive with traffic to get downtown. A friend of friend pays $1600/month to live in a 1bd/1ba loft that’s always noisy at night because of neighboring bars. I can see the excitement of living downtown where things are actually exciting, but there is NOTHING worth doing in downtown Sacramento.

Comment by PeonInChief
2008-07-04 11:25:55

People who like to party (if such can be done in Sacramento) don’t want to have to drive home.

Comment by REhobbyist
2008-07-04 13:58:50

This morning I went to see a newly-listed bank-owned house in Sacramento. Someone “paid” $500K for it in 2005. The bank wants $319. It was not a nice house - they’ll be lucky if they get $270 for it. But people are buying these houses near downtown and thinking that they are getting a bargain. My guess is that Sacramento will fall another 25% by next year. Those who wait to buy will be well rewarded.

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Comment by reuven avram
2008-07-04 14:46:40

“Well rewarded”? With a house in Sacramento? That’s not a reward.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by reuven avram
2008-07-04 10:11:38

“They found one that was affordable, a four-bedroom house just under 2,000 square feet for $300,000. Ellis was able to put 3 percent down by liquidating his 401k, and used AmeriDream to pay 3 percent towards closing costs.”

Great! Another dickwad who liquidated a judgment-proof asset. Did the good folks at AmeriDream advise him to do that?

It pisses me off because they’re just going to have to tax other people more to make sure that Ellis has enough money to live on when he retires.

Comment by WhatOnceWas
2008-07-04 19:47:58

” It pisses me off because they’re just going to have to tax other people more to make sure that Ellis has enough money to live on when he retires”

Not to worry at the rate we’re going in another 10 years I expect SS BK on the agenda…

 
 
Comment by combotechie
2008-07-04 10:15:45

“Looking back almost three years after buying, Fatius says,’I had a gut feeling from the beginning I shouldn’t have done it. I’ve felt it the whole time.’”

” …a gut feeling …”

Andy grove: “Dig deep into the data, then go with you gut.”

The lesson here, IMO, is to listen to your gut. Your gut feeling is the wisdom of your inner self trying to tell you something.

 
Comment by bill in Maryland
2008-07-04 10:24:32

Stay or go? - GO!

The California house I bought in 1990 for $96,600 (and another $2,000 for xeroscape landscape), I sold for $79,900 in 1996. Today onn Zillow the peak value of that house was $254,000. Now its Zillow value today is $179,000. This is an annual appreciation of 3.4% (from $98,600) but the maintenance costs would reduce the real appreciation to perhaps 2% annually. Series EE bonds appreciated 4% annually since 1990. Gulp!

 
Comment by Olympiagal
2008-07-04 10:57:24

“Why are the councilmembers so condo-crazed? All I can figure is that they are following their leader, Mayor Bates, whose campaign contributors include a long list of developers (and their wives and employees). It is rumored that the only job Bates has ever held other than politician was-commercial real estate broker.”

I HATE it when realt-whores get themselves into elected office. And they do it so often, too. Here in Thurston co. we’ve got Jon Halvorsen, the former mayor of the town to the west of Olympia, Lacey, or as I like to term it; ‘Vomitville’ (miiiillllllllllles of pavement, stripmalls and McCrapdivisions) who is now running for county commissioner. This beachball with little legs and a beard has the hearty endorsement of the Olympia Master Builders and other assorted ilk…I wonder why?
Even worse is when you get the nasty wretches sitting on planning commissions, appointed task-forces, etc; sneaking in as ‘citizen representatives’. They usually already have a recognized ‘realt-whore representative’, so they get two slime-balls pushing their agenda for the price of one. They’re a festering bunch. I hate them.
One of the problems around here is that the tree-huggers are often disorganized and/or credulous. Not me. I’m a sneaky, suspicious, and organized tree-hugger.* Someone has to do it, right?

*Okay, I’m not really organized. But I could be. So bite me!

Comment by iftheshoefits
2008-07-04 11:16:01

Halvorsen? Sounds as if his family is originally from Utarrr with that name. Any chance?

And how do the tree-huggers in the PNW figure out which trees to hug? You’ve got so many of them, I don’t know how you choose.

Comment by Olympiagal
2008-07-04 11:39:11

‘And how do the tree-huggers in the PNW figure out which trees to hug? You’ve got so many of them, I don’t know how you choose.’

I hug on a rotating schedule kind of thing, along with more huggage alloted per specific tree species, also depending which are my favorites and/or which trees I know well.*
See, I don’t just see a tree and run right up and hug it like some sort of vegetal harlot, I like to get to know the tree first, find out if we have things in common. Such as: do we both like trees? Okay, then, how about frogs? Are we both fond of frogs? Poetry? Rain? These are the important things.

*See? I AM organized.

Comment by pismoclam
2008-07-04 17:32:40

I love to hug 35-25-35 trees. Blond,red head, or brunet doesn’t matter. hehehehehehe

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Comment by sfv_hopeful
2008-07-07 10:11:55

“vegetal harlot”

HAHA… this one made me spew some coffee

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Comment by Olympiagal
2008-07-04 11:54:59

‘Halvorsen? Sounds as if his family is originally from Utarrr with that name. Any chance?’

Interesting you should say that, shoe. It’s true, in the small town I grew up in Utarr there was a preponderance of German/ Baltic region type of names and often a certain similarity of appearance. It was a very little town.
Here in Thurston there is a similar kind of geneology thingie, as a lot of the earlier settlers came from Sweden, Denmark, etc. In Rochester (a little town down south) they have Swede Days, and then there’s Poulsbo up north where they celebrate the Julfest. There’s TONS of people named ‘Ostgaard’, ‘Auslander’, and so forth all over the place…it’s all interesting. When I first got here I complained mightily to my mom about my dumb old pioneer ancestors who stopped in UTARR, for heaven’s sakes, when if they’d just kept on going for a few more little tiny states I woulda got to grow up HERE. Stupid ancestors—yeah, let’s follow Horndog Joe the Profit into the blazing desert, because that’s a GREAT place for sea-faring high-strung albinos to set up home.

Comment by iftheshoefits
2008-07-04 12:44:56

So he’s probably from another group, not the Utarr clan. With all that development attitude he’s cut from the same cloth though.

I’ve always been amazed how many Utah names are three syllable and end in -sen or -son.

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Comment by spike66
2008-07-04 12:48:17

“sea-faring high-strung albinos ”

Why Oly, you’ve just described me perfectly. Have we met?

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Comment by Olympiagal
2008-07-04 14:35:45

Jeeze, I don’t know. Maybe we’re even related. The whole ’sacking and plundering’ thing. Course, that was olden times. Nowadays all those Swedes are pansies, mincing around being civilized and peaceful and things. It makes me mad. Really mad! Super mad!!! Where’s my horned helmet?! I’ve had enough a this!

 
Comment by aqius
2008-07-04 18:20:57

last time i saw a horned helmet it was on a little bitty black guy who was all shrivelled up like a raisin … but boy did he have an imaginative personality! made me laugh often. and the chicks really dug him.

relative of yours, perhaps?

 
 
Comment by Hazard
2008-07-04 19:16:49

Sounds like Kentucky, 5mil people, 7 last names.

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Comment by Mole Man
2008-07-04 13:56:52

The corruption thing is gross, but the policy is actually in line with public demands. There is a strong pro-business constituency that does not want the council standing in the way of developers building what is permitted. Also, small house Berkeley is filled up, but lots of people still want to live and work there. The mutually agreed solution is to build up density around the major corridors.

Everyone knew this was going to be hard. The first developers to build major multiunit buildings since who knows when were considered partly insane, but they made good money and idiot speculators followed in their path. The later developers “snapped up” lots in lesser areas like that one along San Pablo and built “luxury” units with granite and stainless steel and all the rest and tried to sell them in a downturn to the same market that had skeptically and slowly bought into much more conservatively built and priced units in the past. What we are seeing is speculative developers hitting a wall that their bankers should have placed much more realistically. I’m simplifying, there were some luxury lofts and other foolishness that sold well, but mostly the market was staid until it blew up at the end.

Even with the icky corruption the Berkeley council approving what people dreamed up is commendable. Remember that this is radical territory where even now there is frenzied mayhem going on in reaction to a plan to replace a recent grove of trees with a much needed building. Normally these people can’t stop saying no to Capitalists, so in a way this whole scenario is kind of unreal.

 
 
Comment by simiwatch
2008-07-04 11:07:08

William McClamy,
“Seven months ago, he was in trouble and couldn’t make full payments and was passed from one Countrywide staffer to another to another. Still, nothing happened, he said. ‘We’re in limbo,’ he said. ‘We’re looking at foreclosure at any time now. They ignored us. They don’t care.’”

I would like to add: Mr. McClamy, can I call you Bill? Countrywide does care: Countrywide on behalf of their investors cares about getting PAID the amount you OWE.

 
Comment by Hailey
2008-07-04 11:11:26

I think my last post got eaten. Forgive me if this shows up twice.

OT, but we live in Elizabeth, CO. Basically, country and cows. There is a higher-end builder here who is selling houses at largely inflated prices. Their ranch, although a good size in sq ft., was selling for $750K - in Elizabeth!! Waaaay too much.

Anyways, we had looked at it about 6 months ago or so, just to see it and filled out one of those Contact Us cards. So, they called us yesterday and said that they dropped the price from $750 to $650 (100K!) if we were still interested. Also, they said that they will no longer be keeping their sales office staffed so if we wanted to see it or talk, we’d have to make an appointment.

I know our community (a different builder) just lowered the base price of all their houses by $30K recently as well.

I just thought that was interesting since these are some of the nicer houses/builders.

Comment by Hailey
2008-07-04 11:14:02

But even at $650, the house still wasn’t worth it. Above all else, the floorplan layout was just terrible. And for such a large house it had such a miserably small kitchen. :-/

 
 
Comment by simiwatch
2008-07-04 11:29:12

Look at a chart showing Switzerland’s illegal immigrating problem and then put it over a chart of Switzerland’s pollution and crime.

See any correlation?

Comment by Faster Pussycat, Sell Sell
2008-07-04 12:33:03

Correlation does not imply causality, or is that too much for your puny mind to understand?

Comment by NoSingleOne
2008-07-04 12:50:39

I noticed a decrease in the amount of salmon swimming upstream occurred at the same time that Ambac stock went down. Are you trying to say that those aren’t related either?

 
Comment by CrackerJim
2008-07-04 17:11:39

“Correlation does not imply causality, or is that too much for your puny mind to understand?”

Perhaps the causality is difficult to directly link, but that sure as hell is the way to bet. The “puny mind” is one that refuses to accommodate any reasonings that contradict PC.

 
Comment by simiwatch
2008-07-04 21:54:41

Live there then talk to me. Or you can read a book and be a expert. Asshole.

 
Comment by simiwatch
2008-07-04 21:57:13

Faster Pussycat:

A foot is traveling at a high rate of speed towards your ass:

What does this impy?

 
 
 
Comment by Little Al
2008-07-04 12:01:16

“Sanchez said the owner of the house, a short-sale, had enough equity in the home to lower the price to $245,000, but he’s going to walk away with nothing. Sanchez said he’s seen a lot of changes in the market, with people struggling to pay their mortgages.”

That’s a great price right now for Montclair. No wonder there are multiple offers, but prices like that are scaring millions of people in the LA basin

Comment by REhobbyist
2008-07-04 14:07:23

A relative-in-law has one year to go on an adjustable rate, interest only mortgage he got in 2004. He asked me for advice recently (for the first time ever), and I told him to walk next year. He won’t be able to afford the reset, and even his current payment is substantially less than renting a similar place in Los Angeles. So I don’t agree with Sanchez’ statement that “he’s going to walk away with nothing.” The FBs in LA have been getting away with the equivalent of cheap rent for several years now, while looking down their noses at real renters.

Comment by jbunniii
2008-07-04 14:45:05

Not to mention, he’ll have walked away without having to repay $100k or more of his mortgage - an extremely generous gift that will not even be taxed.

 
 
 
Comment by Chucky
2008-07-04 13:05:15

“Jef Tyler and his pregnant wife………… The declining value has forced them to delay their plans to trade up to a bigger home to make way for the baby.”

Jef, you are a moron! Please learn some basic economics before your kid reaches the age of reason.

Comment by holytrainwreck
2008-07-04 16:25:13

As in, think before getting the wife knocked up, and, why the hell do you need to “trade up” when you’re just having one kidlet?

 
 
Comment by Rbarber
2008-07-07 14:26:37

But J Tyler’s misfortune is another man’s opportunity. Properties in the same favorable area of San Jose are now reaching reasonable prices. I currently RENT right there, and MY wife is expecting.

Another new family like mine can actually afford to own in the area by taking advantage of some good REO property discounts over there. At least there’s some correction in the market, and homes seen in recent years as ‘unobtainable’ are now somewhat realistic.

 
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