Years Of Appreciation Have Been Wiped Out In California
The San Francisco Chronicle reports from California. “Despite a brisk business in foreclosure sales, the Bay Area real estate market showed little sign of recovery as the summer selling season concluded, according to a real estate report. Although more existing single-family homes changed hands in the nine-county region in August compared with a year ago, 36.1 percent were foreclosures, according to MDA DataQuick.”
“All those bargain-priced bank-owned properties sent the median price plunging to $450,000 - the same level it was in May 2003.”
“‘For a healing housing market, you want to see sales (of resale homes) rise at the same time foreclosures are decreasing at the same time prices stay steady or go up,’ said Mark Hanson, a 20-year mortgage industry veteran based in Walnut Creek. ‘If you increase resales and foreclosures continue to go up, you’re not chewing through existing inventory.’”
“Data on defaults and the downward spiral in home prices seem to indicate that there’s no end in sight. ‘I’m hesitant to say we have any meaningful evidence the wave has passed,’ said Andrew LePage, a DataQuick analyst. In fact, he added, ‘Next year, we could see more prime and Alt-A (one step below prime) mortgages go bad.’”
The Marin Independent Journal. “The median price of a single-family home in Marin last month was $810,000, down from $1 million last year, and 181 single-family homes were sold - down from 201 in August 2007, MDA DataQuick reported. In July, the median single-family home price in Marin was $875,000, and 212 single-family homes were sold.”
“In Marin, foreclosure resales were 13.5 percent of total sales, up from 11 percent in July and 2.7 percent one year ago.”
“Realtor Katie Beacock, incoming president of Marin Association of Realtors, said last month’s figures show ‘we’ve hit a bump in the road’ of a long record of Marin home value appreciation. ‘We are on a roller coaster ride and we are not at the end,’ she said. ‘It’s too hard to tell whether we’ve reached the bottom or not.’”
The Mercury News. “The median house price in Santa Clara County plunged 26 percent last month compared with a year earlier, the county’s steepest decline on record. And for the first time since 2004, the median house price in the county slid under $600,000, according to MDA DataQuick. Houses sold in August went for a median price of $592,750, down from a hefty $805,000 in August 2007.”
“Last month, nearly 25 percent of resale transactions were homes that had previously been foreclosed upon, according to DataQuick. In August 2007, just under 2 percent of sales were past foreclosures.”
“The past week’s financial news may dampen some buyers’ enthusiasm — especially those in expensive neighborhoods, where home purchases are more frequently financed using proceeds from stock sales. ‘Up to now, I haven’t seen much change in high-end buyers and sellers, but now if their portfolios are in the toilet, how will that change things?’ said Dana Grover, a longtime San Jose appraiser of residential real estate.”
The Monterey County Herald. “Foreclosures dominated the real estate market in Monterey County last month, with foreclosed properties making up 63.1 percent of all homes sold. The median sales price for August was $299,000, according to DataQuick, down 48 percent from the same month last year.”
“‘Historically, we are always one of the least-affordable areas. We’re not on that list anymore,’ said Sandy Haney, CEO of the Monterey County Association of Realtors. ‘We’ve moved someplace that I didn’t think we’d ever go.’”
“‘I’m certain sellers aren’t thrilled to death,’ said Haney, ‘but we’ve got rid of the mindset of all that rapid appreciation.’”
“Chuck Cryder, a broker in Salinas, said his agents have seen lots of investors stepping up to take advantage of those prices. ‘Some of them are pretty savvy,’ Cryder said. ‘They realize this is their chance. They’re not going to get to buy property in Monterey County again.’”
“He debunked the myth that financial distress is behind all foreclosures. In some cases, he said, owners who owed more than their home was worth chose to walk away even if they could have made the payments.”
“Some cases he has seen firsthand, others he has heard about from other agents: An investor opting for foreclosure when his mortgage payment reached $3,500 on a property with rental income of $1,500; a guy who lost his house to foreclosure evicting his condo tenants so he could move in; families giving up on $500,000 mortgages and rebuying similar homes for $350,000 in their kid’s name.”
The Modesto Bee. “As usual, the housing meltdown was worst in the Northern San Joaquin Valley, according to MDA DataQuick. Stanislaus County median sales prices fell to $185,000 in August. That’s a one-year drop of 41.3 percent. It’s 53.3 percent below what homes were selling for at the building boom’s December 2005 peak.”
“Stanislaus prices haven’t been this low since the spring of 2002. Six years of appreciation have been wiped out.”
“The Northern San Joaquin Valley continues to be the fore- closure capital of the universe. During August alone, 867 Stanislaus homes were foreclosed on, costing lenders $284.4 million in unpaid debt, according to Foreclosure Radar.”
“Merced County homes sold for a median $150,000 in August. That’s down 47 percent in one year and 60.8 percent from the December 2005 peak. Merced prices haven’t been this low in seven years. Last month, 549 Merced homes were foreclosed on.”
“San Joaquin homes sold for a median $207,000 in August. That’s down 44.1 percent in one year and 54.8 percent from the November 2005 peak. San Joaquin prices also are back to summer of 2001 levels. Last month, 1,245 San Joaquin homes were lost to foreclosure, costing lenders $467.7 million.”
The Recordnet. “In a new ‘Labor Day Briefing for California,’ the Employment Development Department attributed the weakening of the state’s labor market to deepening problems in California’s troubled housing market and real estate banking sector, a weakening national economic, a spike in gas prices and rapidly rising food prices.”
“The loss of nearly 76,000 jobs over the year ending in July ended four years of near-continuous job growth in the state, the report said.”
“Since peak employment in housing-oriented industries in 2006, construction and financial activities sectors have lost a combined 204,700 jobs from February 2006 through July 2008, EDD said.”
“Most economists predict that California’s economy will continue to sputter and stall until the housing sector starts to turn around, the report said, and that’s not expected until the end of this year or early 2009 - ‘after the wave of home foreclosures abates and the stock of foreclosed homes on the market clears,’ it said.”
The Ventura County Star. “Carolyn Vang-Walker, assistant principal of Ventura Adult & Continuing Education, said adult students are seeking more computer training and healthcare skills, such as phlebotomy training. A lot of former Countrywide Financial Corp. employees have enrolled in the full-time vocational training program - many working on building new office skills.”
“‘They’re really having a difficult time,’ she said. ‘Many of them have mortgages on their homes that need to be paid. They went from having a nice income to having to start over again.’”
The LA Daily News. “The foreclosure rate in Los Angeles has surged by nearly 300 percent, with foreclosures on 1,700 apartment units and 9,100 houses and condos in the 18 months through June. Much of the foreclosure activity in the city is in South Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, according to the Los Angeles Housing Department. In addition, mortgages on more than 35,000 homes were in default - at risk for foreclosure.”
“In July, 844 Valley families lost their homes to foreclosure, while 1,509 got notices of default, according to the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center at California State University, Northridge.”
“In early July, city officials chastised Calabasas-based Countrywide Financial Corp. for offering $1,000 to relocate tenants in a foreclosed duplex in South Los Angeles. Rent-control laws require a foreclosing lender to pay a minimum of $6,810.”
“The company apologized to the tenants and halted the eviction letters, saying they were a result of a mix-up by a real estate agent working for the company.”
Since then, the Fair Housing Council has investigated two other complaints about Countrywide cash-for-keys offers or move-out notices to foreclosed renters. In one case, a single father of three said a real estate agent and telephone clerk representing Countrywide told him he had two days to move or his locks would be changed.”
“‘I was shocked,’ said Ely Quijascq, of Santa Clarita, who has since received a formal 60-day notice to vacate his rented town house. ‘I told him, ‘I have three kids; I don’t know what to do.’ I told him, ‘There’s no way I can get out so soon.’”
The Voice of San Diego. “Buyers looking for a deal on a foreclosure using one of these loans are encountering a tougher situation than they expected: banks turning down offer after offer. If banks have another offer from a buyer holding cash or even a typical loan, they are reluctant to approve offers from buyers using FHA or VA financing because the programs require sometimes significant fixes be done to the property before the sale closes.”
“‘You couple that with a bank that doesn’t really want to fix anything and you’ve got a situation where banks don’t want to sell to those buyers,’ said Gary Kent, a real estate broker who specializes in selling bank-owned homes.”
“The decision to buy a house should still be made extremely cautiously, said Erlinda Avena, CEO of the San Diego Home Loan and Education Center.”
“‘On the one hand, this is a buyer’s market, but on the other hand, you’re plagued with the continuous influence of defaults and foreclosure impacting not just individuals but the entire neighborhoods,’ she said. ‘You also have to be very prepared but being able to buy under the economic conditions. Are you going to have an income to support yourself and your mortgage in this topsy-turvy economy?’”
The Orange County Register. “In July 2007, Vijay and Supriti Soni of Corona del Mar paid $440,000 for a home in Santa Ana. Five weeks later, they resold the house to Javier Hernandez - the family gardener and handyman - for $660,000. That’s a 50 percent gain in 38 days - at a time when real estate prices in Santa Ana were plunging.”
“Records show that Washington Mutual, America’s largest savings and loan and one of its most precariously perched lending institutions, financed at least 43 mortgages worth $24.5 million on properties bought and sold by members of the Soni family since early 2007.”
“Of the 22 homes sold in that period, at least six have become problems for Washington Mutual.”
“Last month, District Attorney investigators raided the family’s homes and business offices. Now, prosecutors are investigating the Sonis and other members of their family for criminal behavior.”
“‘Unfortunately, we are back looking at these characters again,’ said Doug Brannan, the deputy Orange County District attorney who prosecuted the Sonis in 2003.”
“In mid-2007, WaMu’s then CEO, Kerry Killinger, boasted that his company had tightened lending standards to protect itself from the darkening real estate market.”
“‘It’s been over two years since we first began talking to you about housing prices becoming inflated and of the high risk of a slowdown in housing with price declines in some parts of the country,’ Killinger said during his July 2007 quarterly earnings call. ‘As a result, we started to take actions to minimize our exposure, including tightening our underwriting.”
“This summer, the bank reported a $4.8 billion loss in the first half of 2008 due mostly to souring home loans. On Sept. 11, the company ousted Killinger and said it was setting aside $4.5 billion for losses in the third quarter of this year.”
“Credit-rating agencies downgraded the bank’s bond rating to junk status. The stock sank to $2 on Sept. 15, from a high of $39.25 a year ago. Last week, the bank put itself up for sale.”
“Elijio Servin Rojas told The Register that he never made a down payment on the home he bought in November for $640,000 from Sushama Lohia. Records show he paid at least $64,200 before closing.”
“Servin Rojas said he was renting when Lohia persuaded him to buy last year. He said he has fallen behind on payments on the $575,800 mortgage from Washington Mutual. He received a notice of default in July.”
“‘I’m up against a wall,’ Servin Rojas, a tile worker who has been working only part time, said in Spanish. ‘They’re just going to take away our house.’”
HELOCalifornians borrowed so much from themselves after the perceived value of their turf shod up, but there’s a drought of money in which to pay it back forward.
Whoops.
“… but there’s a drought of money in which to pay it back foreward.”
It’s good to be king.
What’s it gonna be king?
Let suburbia rot on the vine and riot, or print like the dickens and hold off the riots for a wee bit longer…
decisions, decisions?
Think of all those still unpaid for consumer goods, sold and counted as corporate profits many, many quarters ago. If consumers can’t even finish paying for the transactions that “funded” yesterday’s profits - how can they possibly be expected to buy all the new goods that are absolutely being counted upon to fund next quarter’s profits?
They should be unloading the Christmas cargo about now.
Expect some terrific clearance sales as the season progresses. I might actually buy a T.V.
I’m sorry but the statistics Ben quoted are distorted by a change in the mix of homes sold. See Case-Shiller data for the city (SF) itself and there is almost no drop.
I’m sorry but the statistics Ben quoted are distorted by a change in the mix of homes sold.
But it is a permanent change. When all those now-purchased homes go back onto the market, it is going to be at prices well below the peak, because their cost base is so much lower.
So get used to the “change in the mix”, because it’s altering the price landscape forever.
48% down in monterey yoy.
So have the crazy used-home salesmen decided that it is still not a crash?
Apparently not:
‘Chuck Cryder, a broker in Salinas, said his agents have seen lots of investors stepping up to take advantage of those prices. ‘Some of them are pretty savvy,’ Cryder said. ‘They realize this is their chance. They’re not going to get to buy property in Monterey County again.’
You got me trembling in my boots that I’ll miss this once in a lifetime chance, Chuck. BTW, the article quotes him as saying he’s buying. Excellent!
I must not be “savvy” , I wouldn’t invest in Real Estate right now with all the normal laws of economics being changed on a daily basis by our fearless leaders.
The meaning of the word savvy is going to get a complete makeover before this thing is through.
savy=Joshua Tree
I think we can get it.
Got Popcorn?
Neil
Their chance to catch a falling knife backed up by an anvil. Be my guest!
I have a likely new client who is trumpeting the “once in a lifetime chance” — she will borrow $54.4K from me to buy a $68K 3BR/2BA built in 2004 (in FL) — bank has accepted her offer although they were asking $80K — she will pay 10% on 15-yr amortization — she expects to Rent It Out — the only reason I am falling for any of this is that I won’t mind too much if it ends up as a repo which I would then actually keep.
az_lender, a lot of people on here confuse you with az_owner. Hopefully you can help us remember you’re two different people, because the other guy has a totally different view than your reasonable, evidence-based posts.
Both of them are women, but other than that, you’re 100% correct.
Maine is moving into its cold season. Bet the weather is just gorgeous right now, but it will be a little less perfect in a few months.
Yes they are selling and bidding up foreclosures when they come to market. It’s those brokers pushing ‘affordable’ housing and putting people in loans to reset several years down the line. Just saw some more in this past week, no way are they making the pay needed to afford the new mortgage. Another told me that people locked out of the market are jumping in ‘before it goes back up’ or as an investment. The only way it becomes an investment is you buy it on an affordable loan (payment around $800/mo.) and then rent it out to two families for $1500/mo. The county doesn’t care one iota about what is going on, so there are no checks on the system; business as usual here folks.
Are there really a lot of families out there who are willing to double up just to provide landlords with their asking rents? Aren’t there a glut of empty housing units right now?
‘You got me trembling in my boots that I’ll miss this once in a lifetime chance, Chuck. BTW, the article quotes him as saying he’s buying. Excellent!’
You’re a Snarky Fearless Leader today. I like it.
It’s just a slaughter in Salinas, Greenfield, and the other inland areas. Salinas was seeing over 100 foreclosures a week for most of the summer. It’s also in the midst of a gang war, so you get flying bullets included in your low, low house price.
There’s starting to be some foreclosure pressure in the more upscale areas on the coast. There are a few popping up in Pacific Grove and Carmel, which was unheard of a year ago. I think there will be a big capitulation in those markets in mid-to-late 2009.
From the same Monterey Herald article, “With the exception of a slight decline in May, median prices have climbed steadily since the beginning of the year.”
Jeez, I must have missed that math class - I just can’t seem to find that steady climb in prices - or maybe it was english I missed, maybe it’s ‘climb’ that I don’t get, @ least I get the ’steady’ part.
Monterey County median sales prices*:
8/07 575,000
8/08 299,000
7/08 307,000
6/08 342,000
5/08 350,000
4/08 375,250
3/08 404,750
2/08 440,000
1/08 450,000
*source CAR & Monterey Herald
I think “yoy” has become an actual word now.
“The Marin Independent Journal. “The median price of a single-family home in Marin last month was $810,000, down from $1 million last year, and 181 single-family homes were sold - down from 201 in August 2007, MDA DataQuick reported. In July, the median single-family home price in Marin was $875,000, and 212 single-family homes were sold.”
I live in Marin, and I love how the IJ no longer shows the % change, I’m assuming to keep the Marin sheeple calm & collected. That’s a 19% drop in price from last year, an 8% drop from last month. Sales were down 10% versus last year and 15% from last month. Not pretty.
I hear Marin sheeple had the softest wool pulled over their eyes, Pashmina, but of course.
But those 300 thread count sheets come in pretty handy in making the new tent cities.
Anything less than 4-digit count sheets is simply out of the question, where are your manors?
But not ugly enough yet…
But when are th prices going to drop in Los Altos/Mountain View - they are still drinking the koolaid! And now with the governement interventions they are probably working in a house price appreciation argument for this area!!!
When will I ever get a chance to buy here!!!!!
Patience
All good things come to those that wait. The bottom is years away.
Buying a home right now, is like chaining yourself to the deck of the Titanic.
(oh look over there… pretty iceberg off port bow)
How will the resulting inflation from latest gov buy-out reflect on home prices though? If dollars will become “like confetti” as professed by Schiller last night.
Last crisis:
Problem was obvious to smart people by 1985.
Sheeple clued in circa 1987.
RTC formed in 1989.
Price declines from 1990-1996.
This crisis is a bit larger so it’s moving a little faster but not by much.
Er…, the problem was obvious to us on the board here in 1996-97 (late 2001 at the very latest, and only to the most optimistic). Never mind the gathering hadn’t yet been provided a forum for our schadenfreude.
Sheep tuned in around 2006; the smarter ones listened.
RTC formed, Massachusetts votes Yes on 1, in November 2008.
Price declines from 2006 to 2018. Prices skitter and bounce along the bottom from 2018 to around 2033.
Naah, you had a double dip.
You didn’t anticipate them doing something as dumb as slashing rates to 1%, did you?
I didn’t think so.
Neither did anyone rational I knew. It was pretty clear how it’d play out after that.
I see the goofus stuff as a continuum that stretched from 1995-2006, so already that was around twice as long as S&L Bubble I.
Rates cut to 1% was just gasoline on the embers of 2001 (embers which included the deflation of the Internet bubble) to stoke house bubble back to vitality.
Anticipation of a 1% rate is a shaggy dog.
I’m just sayin’ that aside from recognition-to-RTC being about the same in length, that Bubble II is twice as large, that’s all.
Bee-yatch, by your asinine logic, this dates back to 1983.
In the immortal words of Brahms to a critic, “any ass can see that!”
To explain in in slow kindergarten terms that even you can understand, “interest rates can only go from 18% to 1% once.”
Capisce, paisano?
What are you talking about. These were two separate RE bubbles–one commercial ‘82-’86–and one residential ‘95-’06.
I say only that because the latter is so much bigger that it has farther and longer to fall. I don’t buy the argument it’s going quicker.
‘Bee-yatch, by your asinine logic, this dates back to 1983.
In the immortal words of Brahms to a critic, “any ass can see that!”
Wow. You’re an even MORE Snarky Leader today. And I like it.
You should really see me in a bad mood! As odd as it sounds, I’m a sparkly person. Not snarky, sparkly.
I just like people to get their facts right, and appreciate food, wine, literature, music, art and music.
We can even disagree about taste. And I even provide the food and wine gratis.
Is this too much to ask?
Not to me FPSS.
When I make it out to your city, can I beg a dinner from you?
FPSS,
Heading for Palo Alto on your trip out to CA?
I will be there circa Sep 28th.
I think I’m in Mountainview but I’ll have a car, and I know how to get to Shallow Alto.
I think you will get your chance. The gov intervention was for Paulson and his Goldman Sachs gang. Some of that 700 billion will be to make GS and Bank of America solvent and let the chips fall where they may for the rest of us. So much of the paper floating around allegedly backed by real estate is worthless.
‘On the one hand, this is a buyer’s market, but on the other hand, you’re plagued with the continuous influence of defaults and foreclosure impacting not just individuals but the entire neighborhoods,’ she said. ‘You also have to be very prepared but being able to buy under the economic conditions. Are you going to have an income to support yourself and your mortgage in this topsy-turvy economy?’”
Continuous defaults and foreclosures… have an income…topsy-turvy economy. And this defines a buyer’s market? Doing a Franklin analysis, this is reason to sell.
Buy now or pay less tomorrow. hmm?
I’d rather pick strawberries than bottoms. Of course if I pick bottoms, I may end up picking strawberries.
Bottoms - strawberries, what to do?
I like strawberries with whipped cream - bottoms smell.
Leigh
I’d rather pick strawberries than bottoms. Of course if I pick bottoms, I may end up picking strawberries.
lol. Sad but true. We’re going to hit a paralized market during the cold months… Or, put another way, during the time of year when few buy anyway, they’re going to be trying to stimulate the market.
Sorry, but the little Dutch boy just ran off with the wooden shoed cutie. Its time to pack up to high ground, not play in the basement.
Got Popcorn?
Neil
I used to talk to a guy who said, “bottom pickers get smelly fingers.” Hard to forget that one!
“Elijio Servin Rojas told The Register that he never made a down payment on the home he bought in November for $640,000 from Sushama Lohia.
“Servin Rojas said he was renting when Lohia persuaded him to buy last year. He said he has fallen behind on payments on the $575,800 mortgage from Washington Mutual. He received a notice of default in July.”
“‘I’m up against a wall,’ Servin Rojas, a tile worker who has been working only part time, said in Spanish. ‘They’re just going to take away our house.’”
He never paid anything down, he gets to live in the house for 6 months free before they boot him. It was never his house and he didn’t come out too bad. No pity here.
And he doesn’t even speak English, so what does that tell you about his citizenship status?
$575,800 mortgage from Washington Mutual, and he speaks Spanish in an interview?
Heck, when we were making $160K/yr, a $360,000 mortgage (after a 25% down)scared the heebie jeebies out of us. When we sold 5 yrs. later,and paid it off, relief was sweet.
I’ll tell you, the illegals sure have a sense of entitlement. Not to mention being victim-crats. Truly pos.
But homeowners are victims…and we need to do whatever to keep them in their houses. Especially unreported is all the fraud homeowners are engaging in since the bubble burst: the stories of people buying similar homes for much less and then walking on their pre-existing obligations. However, the MSM and candidates still don’t get it.
Incidentally, a prediction that I’ve had for some time now came true: Monterey county’s median housing price has now fallen below that of lowly Humboldt county in the far NW part of the state. When will Marin and San Francisco county fall below Humboldt? It goes to show that this county is supported by very old money, drugs, and a seemingly endless wave of southern California speculators with deep pockets and stupidity.
Anthony,
The Mexican drug cartels can grow ganja down here, using Michoacan campesinos to do all the dirty work, and they make about a 200 to 1 profit for every Dollar invested, so your regular-white-guy growers up there must be making 25 to 1 profits.
Who says America isn’t entrepreneurial anymore?
Homeowners are being catered to because it is an election year. Once we pick a new Fuhrer and things settle down a bit, I’m just hoping that the big bailout takes second stage to the punishment and austerity phase that needs to happen.
Only in America can you borrow several hundred thousand dollars, not pay it back, and still be a victim.
Lol.
BUT ONLY if you’re a “single mom” or a disadvantaged minority. If you’re a businessman who steals less than your typical houseflipper does, it’s off to jail for you! (Look at Martha Stewart! Was what she did anywhere nearly as bad as what went on 10,000 times in Gilroy?)
I’m personally enjoying the empty, now traffic-free streets and stores with no lines! What a change from 2 years ago!
True! laivgirl
I was in OC 2 days ago - what a change - just some slowing between Culver & Jeffrey on the 405, 57, 55 were all good. 5 and 405 at the Y was soft and moving well both am and pm.
At SCP, with no effort, I got a prime parking space next to Nordstroms (Tiffany side), there were about 6 customers in Nordies Cosmetics; salespersons just standing around or cleaning off their counters. Few customers in the first floor.
No one in line at Sharkey’s in Quail Hill. Mothers in CM was the same as far as customer traffic.
All I could think of was “where has everybody gone??” - & “are these the people I see hauling East on the 10 through NM to TX/and beyond with trailers/moving trucks???”
~Misstrial
“are these the people I see hauling East on the 10 through NM to TX/and beyond with trailers/moving trucks???”
~Misstrial
To funny - er, well perhaps it’s a POV thingy.
We left NW FL in 6/07.
We are close with our neighbors.
The street name is Bahia Vista. Beautiful old oaks with spanish moss canopies. Lots of birch, magnolias old pines. Life on the bay is good and slow.
The day we packed the trucks (before U-Hall did the out of FL data) all the neighbors were crying, helping, giving us more stuff to load into the trucks! (Ya gotta love the south, generous to a fault, we didn’t need said stuff, but they felt obliged to provide a momento).
We still telephone every neighbor on our previous street, at least once a week, perhaps 15-16 good folk. (Or they call us).
My point…leaving neighbors.
It was not an easy decision for us, and the love is strong, yet we did so for we would be in a better place. (Another rant, for a later time).
Our neighbors now say we did the right thing (and they miss my cooking!) for things are far worse economically - on all levels - including crime.
O.K. Thanks to all who blog here, and thank you Ben for a seat your reading room.
Best Always,
Leigh
I was listening to the piano player at “Nordies” yesterday. The air was thick with pretenious a-holes. It was a great day for Gershwin, Arlen, and observing a circus of one up-s.
Enjoy the line-free shopping while you can; in a year or two many of these stores will be closed.
Now the Real Housewives of Orange County can shop even more !
Some California lawmakers are contemplating a law to ban foreclosures for owners who were victims of fraud:
http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2008/08/key_california_3.html
Good, that’s just about everybody who bought in the past decade.
But because they’re not getting paid back, the lenders (which might include Sovereign Wealth Funds) have learned not to lend credit to anyone again.
You really think the MAJORITY of FBs didn’t know EXACTLY what they were doing? I have a bridge in Alaska to sell you….
I do think the FB’s knew what they were doing.
“we’ve hit a bump in the road’ of a long record of Marin home value appreciation. ‘We are on a roller coaster ride”
gee, this genius is sure to help the Marin market…did i hit a pot hole, or am i getting taken for a wild ride…oh, that’s right, i’ve researched this!
crush
“The real question is not whether machines think but whether men do. The mystery which surrounds a thinking machine already surrounds a thinking man.”
B.F. Skinner
“Many people would sooner die than think. In fact, they do.”
–Bertrand Russell
Good old Bertrand! lol
Are houses being bought and sold or are households being bought and sold?
Am I being enslaved?
The government and anyone appointed as a government agent to act as a government offical are now my landlords? Hmm I thought that was silly talk?
Are the Chinese and the Arabs the private companies buying these auctioned properties?
Will they evict and displace, a.k.a. colonize US?
Love.
Who ordered Chinese take-out?
“Will they evict and displace, a.k.a. colonize US?”
Where will they get the trillions of dollars needed to “colonize” us with?
Oh, wait. They’ll probably use the same money we shipped to them over the years.
“Wisdom comes by disillusionment.”
George Santayana
Will the creditors (China et al) be better off throwing neutron bombs over all America, killing us all, and taking the real estate and resources or will they be better off by owning us and having us as consumers of their products?
I’m hoping on the latter. But I don’t think my question is ridiculous, and that is what frightens me.
I’ve been thinking along the same lines for around 2 years and have been increasing convinced of its plausibility ten or fifteen years down the road. (Not that my saying I’ve been thinking about it means anything; I’m an idiot.)
But I have more doubts than reasons to believe that would occur on a large enough scale to merit more than a blip much less widespread recognition.
A. Nobody really has 1 trillion dollars to spend on us, even collectively. Especially for suburban h-o-o-o-mes and empty luxury condos.
B. Even if they did, they’re wise enough to understand that they accepted most of our jobs–and because we no longer hold them we don’t have money anymore to pay for a house (then house prices continue to decline).
You guys sound just like people did in the ’80s. The answer is no. China can’t take us. As screwed up as things have gotten around here, it has always been a lot worse in China, and always will be, barring a full-on revolution.
“The loss of nearly 76,000 jobs over the year ending in July ended four years of near-continuous job growth in the state, the report said.”
- The real unemployment here in Ca is way higher than reported. I am in construction and we constantly have subs calling us for work or referals.
The real South Bay here in Manhattan Beach area has fallen as far as new construction. Our custom cabinets jobs in the 20k to 50k area are dead slow.
However, I have 6 jobs over 80k at present with 4 in the Pacific Palisades area. I have 1 job in Portugese Bend @ 163k. There are 3 more just over 60k in Santa Monica. Small jobs under 10k are common. The high end seems to be completely unfazed.
“The high end seems to be completely unfazed.”
This was the case in Newport Beach in the late 80’s and early-to-mid 90’s. Same with CDM and Laguna Beach. Some things never change.
~Misstrial
Hey, that is kinda interesting. Wonder it it will last, but maybe some high enders are will not be hurt at all by the economic downturn.
The prime resets haven’t hit yet. Save your money.
13% of the sales in Marin are “foreclosures”… another attempt by the local RE machine to deceive the public… I’m here to tell you that 75% (at least) of the transactions are distressed sales of some sort…. probably closer to 90%… of course, the average Joe doesn’t know about all the various forms of distressed sales, so 13% foreclosures sounds like it ain’t a big problem.. yea, right.. t’s a bloody meltdown… stick that where the sun doesn’t shine Leslie A-Young you piece of cow dung..
Oh yes, GG bridge jumping is picking up too.. wonder why ?.. it’s all a travesty..
I’m (well) beyond disgust with all of this and have had to push myself away from the computer and blogs for my sanity and peace of mind.. On that, Ben, not sure how you manage to hold it together reading all this BS day in and day out …. you see first hand the worst of the worst in this country… I wish you well …
As I posted on the Marin blog, I’ll take the gun holding bank robber coming through the front door looking for money any day and twice on Tuesdays over the out and out criminals associated with Real Estate, Mortgage Lending and Investment Banking.. the worst of the worst they represent to me.. yes, I know there are a sprinkle of honest ones amongst them, but they’ve collectively got lots of tears and blood on their hands and I’d like to see them all fry behind bars..
To me these properties are a good example of the kinds of stuff going on around Menlo-Atherton:
12 athlone ct
nice but plain 3/2 and 1324 postwar shack
updated with nice but barely luxury features
and 250 sq feet of master and some other stuff
pie shaped dead end lot
sold in 2000 for 499k, wow!
sold in 2003 for 730k, high for the area, smells like fraud
sold in 2005 for 960k
After festering on the market while listed for 850k, another big new high mark for the area, and it smells like a 110k cash out
now asking $1,050,000
and you better be pre-approved!!1
Compare that with well kept, tastefully but minimally updated nearly identical home on the busy street around the corner:
923 marsh road [zillow]
3/1 and 1070 sq ft
started out listed and 749k or something, then 699k, 649k, poof
sold 565k recently
With the markets still falling it looks like the most inflated price could still stand to go down by around 40% easily, and the lower price home likely has a ways to fall yet even though it set an exciting new low for the area and allowed a nice extended family to move in. Very nice people, these knife catchers. Whoever signed their name to the $960k price and did a cash out has put themselves in an interesting situation. If that place suddenly sells for $1,160k, more or less as happened the last two times, then I won’t know what to think.
How can the one house sell for twice as much as the other? It should sell for 20% more. There’s a reason it hasn’t sold yet. They just raised their price because they don’t understand the nature of the current bailouts. They will do nothing to prop up house prices.
Mole Man,
It smells fishy to me.
Well I have to share something interesting that I have noted. It seems that many of the bank owned properties for sale are not really bank owned but investor owned. I recently noticed a house get auctioned off for pennies on the dollar. Then the new owner immediately listed the home as a bank owned home. What he did not do is file or record the auction purchase price. There is no record of the purchase except through the auction info which is hard to get. If he sells the house claiming it is a bank owned, he will of course make incredible money because he is the realitor as well. Furthermore he screens his buyers before hand so that he does not have to deal with paying a buyers agent. This has got to be the reason so many bank owned homes are not selling with 2 agent houses involved. Furthermore this same agent does not accept a buyer with financing unless it is with his own lending connection and of course he makes money on that deal as well. Also, this is why these same bank owns if they don’t sell do not lower the price but instead move it off of the market for make overs. Also, this is why comps are not falling like they should be. Oh, and if there is no record of the purchase, I imagine that the taxes are not charged as well. So, this is a nitch that is actually screwing the general public who may have worked hard not taking ridiculous loans and saved up cash to buy a forclosure. They are not truely able to buy a foreclosure like the good old days. Before cash was king. I hate to say it but it is not. People are coming to the table with full cash offers with no contingencies only to lose out to a bidding war after the realitors stack up the offers. The same realitors who were flipping and pushing liar loans are now taking advantage of the system this way. I do hope that someone can do something about this. Correeect me if I am wrong with anything.
People are coming to the table with full cash offers with no contingencies only to lose out to a bidding war after the realitors stack up the offers. The same realitors who were flipping and pushing liar loans are now taking advantage of the system this way.
Yep, this is going on in Santa Barbara. Same situation occurred with some friends of mine.
“Correeect me if I am wrong with anything.”
There’s no “i” in realtor.
I just wrote another letter. So when do we march?
RE: Bailouts Are No Solution
Don’t be fooled again by Republican fear mongering. The recent anticapitalist bailouts have been pushed on the American people against our will, and they will only make matters worse. There is not a company on Earth that must be saved for the sake of the United States. All of these companies should be allowed to fail, and Congress should guarantee deposits and counterparty contracts only. All shareholders, bondholders, and executives should be left with nothing. Employees should be given extended unemployment benefits, as they will eventually find employment at any number of healthy companies left to compete for positions in the new marketplace.
Yes, mortgages will be hard to get, but that is as it should be, considering that real estate across the United States is still unaffordable. It should not be easy to obtain a loan that one cannot afford to repay. Eventually, house prices will stabilize at some reasonable number, and people will once again begin to make sound real estate purchases.
If Congress really wants to help Americans better afford the American Dream of home ownership, it should put a stop to offshoring, stop issuing new work visas to people who have no intention of becoming US citizens (such as the notorious H1-B visa), and start penalizing companies that hire illegal immigrants.
Thank you for thinking this through with a calm head. We do not want to repeat the mistake of trusting the Bush Administration to hand us a hurried “solution” to a problem that has not yet been seriously analyzed. We did that with Iraq, and you know what they say about people are fooled twice.
Don’t be fooled again by Republican fear mongering. The recent anticapitalist bailouts have been pushed on the American people against our will, and they will only make matters worse. There is not a company on Earth that must be saved for the sake of the United States. All of these companies should be allowed to fail, and Congress should guarantee deposits and counterparty contracts only. All shareholders, bondholders, and executives should be left with nothing. Employees should be given extended unemployment benefits, as they will eventually find employment at any number of healthy companies left to compete for positions in the new marketplace.
Yes, mortgages will be hard to get, but that is as it should be, considering that real estate across the United States is still unaffordable. It should not be easy to obtain a loan that one cannot afford to repay. Eventually, house prices will stabilize at some reasonable number, and people will once again begin to make sound real estate purchases.
If Congress really wants to help Americans better afford the American Dream of home ownership, it should put a stop to offshoring, stop issuing new work visas to people who have no intention of becoming US citizens (such as the notorious H1-B visa), and start penalizing companies that hire illegal immigrants.
Thank you for thinking this through with a calm head. We do not want to repeat the mistake of trusting the Bush Administration to hand us a hurried “solution” to a problem that has not yet been seriously analyzed. We did that with Iraq, and you know what they say about people who are fooled twice.
I like it Big V. As a responsible taxpayer who can afford to buy a home but refuses to buy into the (still wildly inflated) market until prices reach sustainable levels I will march with you. I suggest we do it before election day.
Re:
“A lot of former Countrywide Financial Corp. employees have enrolled in the full-time vocational training program - many working on building new office skills.”
I worked in that monster for 3 years, as an IT analyst. I’ve also worked for the other two big employers in Ventura County (there are 3 big employers and some scraps here). Countrywide employees were barely literate, had no discernable office skills as far as I could tell, no real computer skills, and a huge proportion had a “VP” somewhere in their title! They lived for years with a falsely inflated sense of economic worth and false sense of reality as their own company sold them its products and the entire bubble delusion. I wish them well, but don’t imagine most will find other jobs now outside the service industry. My hope is that some will blame Bu$hco and vote against McCain (and his economic brain, Phil Graham).
They lived for years with a falsely inflated sense of economic worth and false sense of reality as their own company sold them its products and the entire bubble delusion. I wish them well
I wish them a huge Joshua Tree up their poop-shoots.
What I like is the concept of giving Paulson unlimited power and no court can intervene. Does this smack of some kind of criminal act that is getting shoved down our throats under the guise of “emergency” again!!
One day you’ll “bend the knee ” acknowledging the cabal.
“Some cases he has seen firsthand, others he has heard about from other agents: An investor opting for foreclosure when his mortgage payment reached $3,500 on a property with rental income of $1,500; a guy who lost his house to foreclosure evicting his condo tenants so he could move in; families giving up on $500,000 mortgages and rebuying similar homes for $350,000 in their kid’s name.”
Your (future) tax dollars flushed down the toilet…
I’m sure a lot of this is going on.Why on earth these people don’t have to pay the difference on the sale is beyond me.It is all set up for the banks to take the losses and the owners to walk without paying off the bad loan.So if your house you bought w/ 100% financings drops in value you can give it back to the bank and never pay them a dime I guess.Something seems really strange about this.
Hi Folks,
Sorry for the political intrusion, but I am urging everyone who cares to write their senators and representatives with the following message:
We don’t accept this bailout measure the way it is structured. Paulson is “one of them” and being given $700 billion to spend any way he wants with no legal recourse over his decisions. This is blatantly unconstitutional in its very nature (Section 8).
The American taxpayer cannot accept bailing out wealthy bankers and investment banks because they carried out the largest financial swindle in history unless there are criminal proceedings and clawbacks of all forms of compensation including salaries, stocks options, and bonues for the past seven years. $10 billion of these funds must be set aside for criminal investigations and proceedings.
If you allow Bush and Paulson to steal one trillion dollars from us to pay off Wall Street, we will simply vote you out of office. You job is to protect us, the voters and owners of America. If you cannot do this, you will lose your job, no matter what.
End.
This, or something like this is the only thing Senators and Congressmen understand. “Asking”, “begging”, and “persuading” them is pointless since we don’t have the money (bribes) to go along with those tactics. They fear one thing the most, not getting re-elected.
Tell them. If you bail out Wall Street without justice, you will lose your job.
Wall Street has “made” hundreds of billions in bonuses and salary from this bubble. They knew what was going on. Washington was complicit and even shared the wealth through donations, bribes and preferential mortgages.
One lunatic (me) writing this message is worthless. If we can organize twenty million lunatics, we can bring these people to justice.
Unfortunately, you and I are in the minority:
57% of Public Favors Wall Street Bailout
http://people-press.org/report/452/public-favors-bailout
Of course, I also happen to believe in the “theories” of evolution and peak oil, so what do I know?