People Are Really Banking On Future Appreciation
The Denver Post reports from Colorado. “Unable to sell her Aurora town home for what she owes on it, Judith Smith is looking for someone to take over her mortgage. Three years ago, Smith said, townhomes like hers sold for $140,000 and up, but a nearby foreclosure is on the market for $99,000. Even if she could sell for the $115,000 she owes on her mortgage, Smith said she wouldn’t be able to cover the $6,900 in commissions to agents on each side of a sale.”
“‘”I’m very interested in selling and moving,’ Smith said. ‘But factoring in the Realtor’s commission, I am pretty much out of the ballpark.’”
“Smith’s predicament is becoming more common as falling home values make it increasingly difficult for home owners to sell without bringing money to the table.”
“The number of homes in the seven-county metro area sold for less than $100,000 has increased dramatically over the past three years, as the real estate market has struggled and foreclosures have soared. In 2005, 355 homes sold for less than $100,000. So far this year, there have been 2,015, with almost 90 percent of them in foreclosure.”
“Investors are able to buy homes that sold for $140,000 two years ago for $55,000 now, said Charles Roberts, a broker with who has sold about 45 homes for less than $100,000 in the last 12 months. ‘Prices have collapsed 40 to 50 percent, sometimes 60 percent,’ he said. ‘Every single closing I’ve had, the banks have lost between $60,000 to $80,000.’”
“‘The cash flow is just extraordinary,’ Roberts said. ‘People are really banking on future appreciation as the market corrects.’”
The Deseret News from Utah. “Like a growing number of Utahns these days, she is struggling to keep her house. She is also among the many who feel a sense of shame to find themselves in such a perilous position, so much so that she asked that her identity not be revealed. A Salt Lake resident, she paid her bills and worked hard, spending 14 years in the retail business so that she could buy a home.”
“But her fortunes changed due to some serious health problems, and she was swept into a scam. She fell behind on her mortgage payments and soon was at risk of losing her home to foreclosure.”
“‘I got so far behind on my house because I couldn’t afford it,’ she said. ‘It got so bad that I was getting phone calls from creditors, so I went and filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy.’”
“Utah built its way to the nation’s second-fastest rate of housing-unit growth in 2007, according to census estimates released Thursday. The housing growth came before the current mortgage crisis hit full stride.”
“‘We have really gone in the tank since then,’ said James Wood, director of the University of Utah’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research. New building permits in major cities since 2007 are down about 60 percent.”
“‘We’ve really fallen off the edge in the last nine months,’ Wood said. ‘The last three quarters have been the three worst consecutive quarters - ever’ for housing growth in Utah.”
“Taz Biesinger, executive VP of the Utah Home Builders Association, said it may take 10 years for home construction to reach the 2007 levels - ‘if we ever get there again.’”
“He said the ‘artificial’ demand came from ‘investors who thought they were going to flip homes’ by buying them at low prices, improving them and reselling them. Some of the ‘artificial’ demand also was due to ‘exotic mortgages that helped some people qualify for mortgages who probably shouldn’t have.’”
“Wood said that more than 50,000 high-risk subprime mortgages were issued in Utah between 2004 and 2007. ‘A good deal of those people would not qualify (for mortgages) in past markets,’ he said.”
The East Valley Tribune from Arizona. “A high concentration of foreclosures continued to pull home prices down last month across the Valley’s existing home market, according to the latest Arizona State University report.”
“Foreclosure activity represented 42 percent, or 3,470, of the 8,165 transactions that took place last month.”
“‘The lower median price is being impacted by several forces including the large number of vacant homes, especially in certain neighborhoods,’ said Jay Butler, director of realty studies at ASU’s Morrison School of Management and Agribusiness at the Polytechnic campus. ‘Further, the capital is available for lower-priced housing, but lacking in the higher-priced housing market.’”
“For the traditional sales market, the Valley median price was $200,750, while the foreclosed properties had a median price of $159,205, according to the latest Arizona State University report. That compares with $218,000 and $169,890 last month, and $270,000 and $220,075 in July 2007.”
“The median price, including foreclosures, in Scottsdale was $450,000, compared to $501,135 in June and $595,500 in July 2007. The prevalence of foreclosures is hurting the market, said Janine Brown, president of the Scottsdale Area Association of Realtors.”
“‘I don’t think that we have seen that type of number for a while,’ she said. ‘Even with the tick back in our median price, we had a huge tip up in 2005. It’s kind of hard if you have a really nice house and you want $250,000 for it and the guy next door let his go on short sale for $175,000. That’s going to affect your home price.’”
The News Herald from Arizona. “Talking to some executives at Lake Havasu City’s community banks, you get the feeling they’re in the business of lending optimism as well as money. ‘People, business, really need some good news,’ Ralph Tapscott, CEO of Mohave State Bank, said.”
“He thinks he has some. Housing inventories are down, and sales are up in the hard-hit Las Vegas market.”
“But the fallout from the mortgage crisis caused both residential and commercial construction to slow, or in some cases come to a halt, and that has been a hit to the community banks, which did a lot of construction lending. ‘They were probably financing the strip mall or the restaurant that was going along with (the booming housing market). That’s pretty much across the state,’ said Tanya Wheeless, CEO of the Arizona Bankers Association.”
“Until August 2007, Horizon Community Bank, then in business for five years, had never held a loan that was 30 days or more past due, said CEO Dennis Van. By November, more delinquencies began to crop up, he said.”
“In February, Horizon’s leadership made the decision to set aside $1.1 million in reserves for potential losses, Van said. ‘We’re by far not hurting. We’ve changed our focus. We’ve changed our focus from bucking and kicking to maybe working out more loans,’ Van said.”
“Van said sometimes that expertise means knowing when to discourage a customer. ‘We don’t want to help our customers hurt themselves. For our perspective, saying ‘no’ is a good thing in this environment,’ he said.”
“In spite of the obvious challenges the current economy has posed for local banks, their top executives convey a sense of groundedness, almost as if they’re relieved the high-flying days over.”
“‘I think everybody needed to catch their breath,’ Van said. ‘I think prices needed to adjust. This is our own catch-our-breath period.’”
The Review Journal from Nevada. “Home sales are making a comeback in Las Vegas and inventory has been reduced to about an eight-month supply, but prices continue their free fall from a year ago, a strong signal that the housing market has yet to enter recovery.”
“SalesTraq reported 3,173 existing home closings in July, a 56.5 percent increase from the same month a year ago and the highest monthly total since September 2006. However, 61 percent of those sales were bank-owned homes with a median price of $193,000, dragging the overall median existing home price down 23.9 percent from a year ago to $210,000.”
“New home sales slumped to just 731 in July, down 57.5 percent from July 2007. For the year, new home sales have fallen 47.9 percent to 6,248 units. Median prices fell 20.4 percent to $262,185.”
“‘It’s getting depressing out there,’ SalesTraq President Larry Murphy said. ‘I’ve got people coming to me for a job, or asking if I know of any jobs. I’ve got people sending me résumés every week.’”
“The number of foreclosures edged up to 2,281 in July, up 8.4 percent from June, according to SalesTraq.”
“Foreclosure sales in Las Vegas were about 85 percent of the number of new foreclosures. That’s one benchmark for recovery, Murphy said. ‘When we get to the point where the banks are selling more than they acquire, then and only then will we be in a recovery mode,’ he said.”
In Business Las Vegas from Nevada. “In the past three months, Las Vegas has averaged more than 2,600 closings a month. ‘A lot of people are asking, ‘When do we hit the bottom?’ said Steve Bottfeld, executive VP of Marketing Solutions. ‘The answer is we have already hit it and are just scudding along it.’”
“Reducing the supply of existing homes is crucial to the recovery of the new-home market, which continues to slump. July’s 731 sales were the fewest in any month this decade and were down 58 percent from July 2007, Murphy said.”
“New-home sales have surpassed 1,000 only one month this year, in March.’
“Builders continued to drop prices in July with new homes going for a median price of $252,990, about $2,300 less than the end of the second quarter. The price is nearly 20 percent below July 2007’s $314,993.”
“The new and mid-rise condo market had its weakest month of the year in July with 73 closings. That’s the fewest since 61 in December. The median price for all new homes in July, including condos, fell to $262,185, the lowest it’s been this year. That’s a drop of nearly $8,000 from June.”
“The Meridian, a luxury condominium property just east of the Strip, owes approximately $568,000 in taxes for operating an illegal hotel, according to preliminary results of an audit by Clark County’s business license department.”
“County officials knew about the informal hotel operation since its beginning, claims Michael Mackenzie, who helped run it. And the county had agreed to tolerate it on the condition the Meridian eventually went through the required procedures, according to Mackenzie, who was voted off the Meridian homeowners board this week.”
“The county Wednesday flatly denied Mackenzie’s version of events. ‘The first time that we became aware of an issue of short-term rentals happening at the property was this spring, when we started getting inquiries’ from the media and Meridian owners, county spokeswoman Stacey Welling said.”
“Mackenzie, who does not personally own a Meridian unit, is a vice president of American Invsco, the Chicago-based company that converted the Meridian from apartments to condos in 2005.”
“Angry owners of units at the financially troubled Meridian turned Mackenzie out of office on Monday night. Many believe he misled them on the hotel, which he helped launch in summer 2007. The Meridian is now taking steps to legally reopen the hotel.”
“When the Meridian’s hotel ceased, the well went dry for unit owners who were leasing out their units through a rental program affiliated with American Invsco. They have received no rent checks since June. Many unit owners counted on the rental income to cover the cost of their Meridian mortgages.”
“About 80 of the 678 units at the upscale property are now in foreclosure, Mackenzie estimated Monday. He said he was ‘bitter’ toward Kathleen Mannix, the owner who went to the county and the Review-Journal in spring. Unlike most unit owners, Mannix lives year-round at the Meridian and paid in full for her modest studio.”
“About 400 of the Meridian’s estimated 450 owners are in some degree of financial distress ‘now or soon,’ according to Scott Oelke, a real estate agent who owns a unit at the Meridian.”
“‘Today we take the HOA (homeowners association) for ourselves,’ owner Frank Taddeo, a local resident, shouted at an informal meeting of owners on Monday afternoon. Many had flown in from out of town to attend.”
“Welling could not say when the county’s audit of Meridian’s unremitted room taxes will be ready. But when the audit — which is looking for missed taxes from June 2007 through June 2008 — is complete, Welling said the county licensing department has 30 days in which to bill the final amount to Meridian by Executive Location, which is the entity that has applied for the transient lodging status required to run a hotel.”
“Taddeo, to applause, said that investors ‘deserve all the goodies, not American Invsco.’”
‘In spite of the obvious challenges the current economy has posed for local banks, their top executives convey a sense of groundedness, almost as if they’re relieved the high-flying days over. ‘I think everybody needed to catch their breath,’ Van said. ‘I think prices needed to adjust. This is our own catch-our-breath period.’
Readers at the HBB Forum have been able to follow the crash going on in Mohave County, in the N AZ thread. I expect you’ll be hearing more from that area soon.
Meanwhile, where are our Vegas trolls? I have one goodie for them:
‘Traffic at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas fell 8.6 percent in July to about 3.9 million arrivals and departures. The decline reflects an ongoing trend in Las Vegas tourism due to a rocky national economy and high oil prices that make it more difficult to travel. The latest dip at McCarran, which is the largest since February 2002, marks the ninth consecutive month of declining airline visits, including a slight increase in February due to an extra day thanks to leap year.’
‘A 17.3 percent decline for Phoenix-based US Airways was the biggest drop among the top five McCarran airlines. US Airways has been slashing capacity for months in an effort to stabilize sagging finances. Delta traffic was down 12.7 percent in July and United was down 8.9 percent.’
‘July was also a slow month at Terminal 2, where most direct international flights arrive and depart.’
Go ahead and try to pick the bottom in Vegas, but I try to avoid avalanches.
‘In spite of the obvious challenges the current economy has posed for local banks, their top executives convey a sense of groundedness, almost as if they’re relieved the high-flying days over.”
I think bankers, especially small bankers, understand what this means to them. When the smoke clears, if they are still standing, they are in a much better position than 2003 - 2006. Small banks were getting squeezed out of the market by the securitization process and the giant lenders. Some realized that they could not compete and did less business. Some realized that they could not compete and went into risky areas such as construction loans and home equity loans.
Banks are lending money right now. Banks with strong balance sheets, that is. They are lending to qualified borrowers and can be very selective to whom they lend. The borrower just has to prove that they really don’t need the money. That sounds like the 1950s. Doesn’t it?
The banks that should be in the best shape right now are the private banks that maintained conservative banking principles. They were not forced to attend the orgy by their shareholders and Wall Street. They are in a huge minority but they are out there. The responsible are being rewarded. The irresponsible are being eaten. If the government would just get out of the way, the market would do a very good job of reasserting order.
Las Vegas Troll Alert .
Gaming Revenue for Clark County June , 2008 was $806,097,333. UP +2.1% from June 2007. How should I interpret that fact?
I also consider total employment more relevant that the unemployment statistic. Employed people rent and buy houses, and Total Employment for July, 2008 was 917,400 versus 920,400 in July 2007. A loss of 3,000 is not a crash.
Finally, if HBB if we can all accept the “holy grail” of real estate
“Location, Location, Location”, I propose that the foreclosure houses that are 20, 30, 40 miles out from the major employers (hotels on the strip) are more likely to increase the foreclosure totals when gasoline is $4.00 a gallon. It would seem to me if you are employed, and need housing, you would probably consider a house with a shorter distance to work and less drive time than one further out. And with a limited budget, you might even opt for a smaller, less expensive house close in over a larger house further away.
It might not be Hillary, but at least I don’t need to have my staff get back to you on how many houses I own !!!
Instead of relying upon numbers that tell exactly what you want to believe, why not take a road trip and talk to the cabbies, the dealers, the pit bosses, the hookers, et al?
How reliable is the 2.1% annual increase in gross gaming revenue? I don’t follow this data series so I don’t know if it is subject to large revisions. Even if accurate, a 2.1% increase in gross revenue won’t comes close to covering increased costs from June 2007 to June 2008 (labor, food, electricity for all of those lights), and implies that casino owners are making less money this year than last. On top of that, many of the hotels and casinos invested $billions on expansion over the past few years in anticipation of a fast growing gambling market. Without fast growth (and 2.1% is negative real growth) they are going to be hurting and will very likely need to ‘right-size’ their operations.
“I also consider total employment more relevant that the unemployment statistic. Employed people rent and buy houses, and Total Employment for July, 2008 was 917,400 versus 920,400 in July 2007. A loss of 3,000 is not a crash.”
It is if 50,000 people moved to Vegas in that time period looking for work. It is if there has been a major shift from well paid construction jobs to poorly paid service sector jobs. It is if a bunch of those jobs used to be 40+ hours a week and had health insurance and are now less than 30 hours a week and don’t have health insurance.
Just like a previous poster pointed out, the increase in revenue isn’t so pretty if it doesn’t cover inflation leading to increased profits, or if it is not close to the increase expected by business owners when they planned their expansions.
Details matter.
Go ahead and try to pick the bottom in Vegas, but I try to avoid avalanches.
Troll Boy David Cee is picking his bottom, all right.
Friggin Vegas airport…
I went through there recently. Very family unfriendly. Wander with your 1-year-old too close to their little slot machine areas (which are right at the gates in the terminal areas BTW) and some mean old b#tch in a uniform yells at you.
One of those things I’m thankful for: that I don’t live in Vegas.
IIRC, you have to walk through a slot machine are to get to baggage claim. I suppose that the aisle area leading to baggage claim is considered a “non gaming” zone, but it sure feels like a casino when walking to baggage claim.
What a surreal place to raise a family: its infernally hot most of the year, billboards on the freeway recruiting anyone who wishes to start in a porn flick (for a whopping $500 pay), most of the jobs are related to the vice industry, or are dependent on it.
I remember a news report I saw many years, on 60 Minutes or something similar.
It chronicled the life of what appeared to be an all American family. Dad worked at a bank branch office (some sort of manager). His wife was in her early thirties and was real looker. Two kids. A McMansion (before McMansions were the rage). Anyway, mom’s job was as a chorus girl in one of those generic stage shows (a la Folies Bergere). Her lament: she was starting to get too old and was in danger of loosing her very good paying job of prancing onstage topless. So she was spending countless hours working out trying to save her figure, but father time won’t take no for an answer. So she’s considering becoming a card dealer, which according to the news story is a common job change for washed up nudies. I guess drunks will blow their money faster if the dealer is a babe.
Now that’s the surreal life.
The bottom is zero. Zero value ghost towns. Kind of like the hills have eyes kind of areas.
The area can hardly support the population it already has and not many industries or people want to live/work in such a harsh desert environment.
The value of vegas was it was cheap and isolated. With all the over building… its a mess.
Heck, the value might be slightly less than zero if stuff needs to get torn down and as it brings more crime to the region.
Viva Las Vegas, no?
“New home sales slumped to just 731 in July, down 57.5 percent from July 2007. For the year, new home sales have fallen 47.9 percent to 6,248 units. Median prices fell 20.4 percent to $262,185.”
“‘It’s getting depressing out there,’ SalesTraq President Larry Murphy said. ‘I’ve got people coming to me for a job, or asking if I know of any jobs. I’ve got people sending me résumés every week.’”
Job applications at The Bunny Ranch must be reaching all-time highs.
But there are less johns with money, which means the hookers will get a financial screwing rather than the old fashioned type.
Maybe some of them are real estate agents and play the part, so a customer can just say bl*w me.
recently heard that the Attendance/participation #s were way down at The Bunny Ranch.
Guess spendable fun money is getting tight.
There are so many things we could say about this indirect affect of the Bubble..
Isn’t the bunny ranch in Carson City? I’m forever getting them confused. The nearest brothel to Vegas is 50 miles away by city statute. But Christ, the flyers for hookers are everywhere on the strip. They even took to printing out business cards and weaving them into the chainlink fences that are surrounding construction sites, etc. Crazy.
You are correct as the The Moonlight Bunny Ranch is near Carson City.
The Chicken Ranch is in Pahrump about an hours drive from the Strip.
Clark County and the city of Las Vegas are craking down on the flyer guys with so-so success.
Mile High club endures crash landing…
“Investors are able to buy homes that sold for $140,000 two years ago for $55,000 now, said Charles Roberts, a broker with who has sold about 45 homes for less than $100,000 in the last 12 months. ‘Prices have collapsed 40 to 50 percent, sometimes 60 percent,’ he said. ‘Every single closing I’ve had, the banks have lost between $60,000 to $80,000.’”
“‘Every single closing I’ve had, the banks have lost between $60,000 to $80,000.’”
And that lost money isn’t likely to come back.
Note the role of specuvestors here. On one hand were seeing mounting admissions that specuvestors helped cause this mess - yet who is buying today? Specuvestors.
Who cares what is selling - a sustainble recovery certainly won’t be lead by MORE speculation.
And this was Denver, which peaked way before anywhere else and wasn’t nearly as overbuilt, as say Las Vegas is presently?
Houses in Vegas could be under $50k, in 2009.
By now many people readily accept that 2005-7 vintage buyers are up a creek. What will really shock them, however, is when they see 2008-9 buyers fail - that will truly be unnerving.
This morning I was looking through New York magazine. An apartment in the Financial District is listed for $2.35 million. But you can rent it for $8,000 per month. But not to worry, what is happening in California and Las Vegas won’t happen here. All places should sell for 300 months of equivalent rent. No problemo!
“… yet who is buying today? Specuvestors.”
I don’t care what their motives are, I only care that there are buyers out there willing to commit their money to the system. The more of their money they commit, the less we taxpayers will have to.
You’re only describing round two. The specuvestors of today are getting their money from where exactly? Some new source that didn’t exist last year? Cash?
Knife catchers - all of them.
That’s exactly right. Houses aren’t “investments”. They are places to live. The speculation game is a fundamental absurdity, and this bubble isn’t dead until speculation is flippers are dead. How many people are paying taxes and mortgages on properties they will never live in?
It’s like following strangers around in a grocery store, grabbing stuff they are about to place into their carts, and trying to profit from selling them stuff that should only be a transaction between the food shopper and the grocery store.
“It looks like Mrs. Jones has cornered the milk refrigerator, adding a $1 per gallon ‘flipping fee’ for her service.”
That’s a great idea!
“Flip this Milk” is the new wave of the future!
Hillary Clinton-Dow Jones 2012: Don’t catch a falling knife!
It’s interesting you say that Edgewater John- that the people buying are the speculators.
I’m finding that to be true in downtown Chicago. Take a look at the sales records for The Sterling at 345 N. LaSalle in River North. It is an American Invsco conversion (surprise! Just like the Meridian in the article above) and has seen enormous numbers of foreclosures.
Some units that sold in 2005 for $800,000 are now listed by the bank for $375,000.
Who is buying them?
The same names are listed as buyers on multiple units in the sales records. Speculators are buying multiple foreclosures in the building.
Is this “normal” demand?
Not even close.
I don’t begrudge investors- as there will be fortunes made in this housing bust. But it’s way too early in the game.
We’ll see the bottom when even the speculators are too afraid to buy.
This has struck me too. Most forclosure sales seem to be going to speculators who plan to rent for a few years and then sell for a make a big profit. They will find that renting them out don’t cash-flow while prices remain depressed by landlords trying to get out from under their operating burdens. The cost and difficulty of maintaining single family rental homes will gradually become clear and these spec houses will be back on the market in a couple of years at even lower prices. The price adjustment is a long-long way from over.
What I would look to to mark the bottom is a recovery in final demand. That is, famlies buying becasue it is almost as cheap as renting in homes in which they plan to live for at least five years and build equity by paying down their morgtage.
What novel idea!
‘Prices have collapsed 40 to 50 percent, sometimes 60 percent,’ he said.
Get used to it. Prices in most parts of California will be down at least 60% from the top once the dust settles. By 2011, we will be seeing prices back to 2000 and 2001 levels–in nominal terms. Most people are clueless about how far prices are going to drop as the phony economy collapses.
Keep the popcorn popping,
Red Baron
Here is an example of what lies in store for California. This example is from Merced:
In her windowless city office, she takes a call from a man in Seattle who is interested in a 1947 home in bad repair in a bad neighborhood, but which has a large yard for his dogs.
In November 2005, the house sold for $126,000. The bank, which took it back last spring, is asking $59,000. The Seattle man offers $40,000.
The mayor says the lender is not desperate enough to take that big a haircut. “Not going to happen,” she says. “Not this year.” She laughs. “Call me in January and I’ll let you know.”
The Seattle guy should call back in January and offer $25,000–I bet the bank will be glad to take it.
Keep the popcorn popping,
Red Baron
Yeah, that dude with the dogs sounds hilarious. He wants to buy a run down house in a run down part of town with a big yard for his dogs.
Does this not sound a little suspicious?
Merced probably hoped to attract productive families - and now they’re only getting offers from “Crazy Larry” - who sounds as if he could be the next Unabomber or Chuck Manson or anything in between.
In all fairness, though, he’s probably paying cash!
“…who sounds as if he could be the next Unabomber or Chuck Manson or anything in between…”
or Michael Vick.
“Even if she could sell for the $115,000 she owes on her mortgage, Smith said she wouldn’t be able to cover the $6,900 in commissions to agents on each side of a sale.”
There’s never been a better time to get rid of these blood suckers from both sides of the transaction.
Relax and learn to love the NAR.
The NAR is the taxpayer’s friend. The NAR is spending their own money for ads to convince knifecatchers to commit increasingly scarce money to the system, thus keeping the system alive.
As Bobby Knight said, “lay back and enjoy it”.
People will continue to buy and sell homes regardless of whether the NAR exists, or not.
But…but…I don’t understand. Suzanne specifically told Ms. Smith that real estate only goes up, buy now or be priced out forever, and home ownership was the key to getting your Girl Power on. Not so much, evidently.
Actually, if she cut the fat out of her budget, or even made a budget, and put double or triple the principal payments on her mortgage each month ( come up with an extra $100 by giving up cigarettes or booze, perhaps ), she could pay that down to $90,000 in a few years. If she just sucks it up, she may survive and wind up with good credit after all is said and done. I’ve seen people go bankrupt over $7000 in cc bills. Pathetic. They can be paid off if you try hard enough.
The Meridian & American Invsco
Did I read that correctly? 400 of 450 owners are distressed?
Sounds like the last thing LV needs are more hotel rooms. One would think the established hoteliers/casinos would pressure the local pols not to allow Meridian to function as a hotel. Those owners are toast.
And every owner that is toasted through default foreclosure is removing capable demand from the supply and demand equation for at least seven years. More and more homes will become pure unoccupied maintenance, mortgage, and taxation liabilities.
This is exactly how Detroit was destroyed in the 1960s and 1970s. Now the whole nation is trying the no money down Detroit experiment.
Who knew that Wile E. Coyote was really just the entire state of Utah?
“‘We’ve really fallen off the edge in the last nine months,’ Wood said. ‘The last three quarters have been the three worst consecutive quarters - ever’ for housing growth in Utah.”
Wile E. Coyote cartoons used to make me crazy. We didn’t have a teevee growing up, so when we went to so see the cousins in the ‘big city’, like Payson, Utarr, or else Provo, Utarr, I would watch their teevees with delighted and complete absorption, using the lovely flickering bright screen to wash scriptures and righteous admonitions from my mind.
I just wanted to see the poor hard-working coyote get some satisfaction and reward. I YEARNED to see, just once, Wile E. float down from the sky in an improbably tiny parachute or rocket or something and land on the roadrunner like a ton of fookin’ bricks.
Then it would be like this: the roadrunner does not get away, but screams and beeps and shouts and flails to no avail. What?! Wile E is entirely astonished that at long last the hateful A.C.M.E. company has produced a product that has not maimed and/or killed him, but casts aside his puzzled wonderment in the fascination and hurly-burly of the moment, which is, HE HAS CAUGHT THAT DA*MN ROADRUNNER! Hooray! Oh, at long last! Here it is in his paws, struggling futilely and beeping away! If his furry mom was still alive, and not a long time in her grave (another victim of shoddy products from the A.C.M.E. Co., LLC) he would call her up and rejoice! Maybe even share! As it is, he hopes she is looking down happily from Long-suffering Coyote Heaven. Now Wile looks down at the struggling roadrunner. It is a cartoon, yes, but he knows it will taste simply delicious. Look at the fear in the beady little avian eyes! Now he must decide, shall he savor the moment at leisure, pose for photos, things like that, or shall he do this otherwise? He’s a coyote, after all, a species not noted for long-term patience. Also, he hasn’t eaten in 15 years–been so busy and single-mindedly focused on his nemesis– and his stomach hurts. The rumbling of his stomach settles the matter. He bites the roadrunner’s head off with a single crisp snap. The silly feathered blue head bounces away across the hard rock of the mesa, a last, fading, sorry little ‘beep’ drifting up from the yellow beak. The eyes dim, consciousness fades…it is done.
You know what? This is making me hungry. I’ll finish the story later, after I go eat something. (Not a roadrunner. A bagel, maybe.) Meanwhile, let’s all consider, how would the roadrunner be best prepared? I say, grilled slowly with rosemary sprigs over mesquite, a fresh herb rub tidily applied, maybe some giblet gravy, all coyotes like gravy, some nice fresh bread…and of course save the bones for stock and just nibbling pleasureably on, later, by the fire.
“’I’m very interested in selling and moving,’ Smith said. ‘But factoring in the Realtor’s commission, I am pretty much out of the ballpark.’”
Using baseball analogy just get some balls and walk.
rob
“Faith never makes a confession.”
Henry David Thoreau
“For the traditional sales market, the Valley median price was $200,750, while the foreclosed properties had a median price of $159,205, according to the latest Arizona State University report. That compares with $218,000 and $169,890 last month, and $270,000 and $220,075 in July 2007.”
“The median price, including foreclosures, in Scottsdale was $450,000, compared to $501,135 in June and $595,500 in July 2007. The prevalence of foreclosures is hurting the market, said Janine Brown, president of the Scottsdale Area Association of Realtors.”
Surprised no one commented on these figures. It seems the article is intentionally omitting the percentage drops and not mentioning the severity of this drop. We’ve been seeing pretty consistent 2-4% per month drops for the last year in Phoenix from all the reports I’ve seen. But this indicated an 8% month-over-month drop from June to July, and that’s only the traditional sales, doesn’t even include the foreclosures. And 10% month-over-month in Scottsdale.
Doesn’t this make July EASILY the worst month so far of this decline?
“The prevalence of foreclosures is hurting the market, said Janine Brown, president of the Scottsdale Area Association of Realtors.”
Sigh. No, Janine, foreclosures ARE the market. Once again, these people are treating foreclosures as if they are some unrelated force causing what would be an otherwise normal market to be acting irrationally. Or at least that’s how I’m perceiving her comment.
Foreclosures are the effect, Janine, not the cause.