A Long Way To Go In California
The Contra Costa Times reports from California. “A grass-roots effort aimed at curbing the massive home foreclosures in East County, as well as across the nation, spurred nearly 1,000 people to show up at a town-hall meeting at an Antioch church. ‘There are 10,000 homes in Contra Costa County that are owned by the banks. There are another 8,000 homes in Contra Costa County that are in one stage or another in foreclosure,’ said Catherine Kutsuris, director of the Contra Costa Department of Conservation and Development. ‘This is not an acceptable situation for us.’”
“The latest report of the State Foreclosure Prevention Working Group, for the period from January through May, found that nearly eight out of 10 seriously delinquent homeowners were not on track for any modification. According to the report, ‘the mortgage industry’s failure to develop systematic approaches to prevent foreclosures has only spurred declines in property values and further increased expected losses on mortgage loan portfolios.’”
“‘It’s like in medieval times, where the kings are in their castles and the subjects are outside trying to get a crust of bread,’ attendee Mary Rabon said.”
The Los Altos Town Crier. “California Association of Realtors President William Brown met with Silicon Valley Association of Realtors’ leaders to discuss the economic crisis and the state trade association’s response. Brown said the state realtor group is now offering Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) to members. The tactics program teaches real estate agents how to handle sales and dispositions of distressed properties – short sales, foreclosures and REOs . The association plans to continue offering the courses in 2009, Brown said.”
“‘If we don’t get banks to lend money again, we will be in dire straits. We need to provide more liquidity to the market,’ Brown said. ‘The bottom line is, things still need to be addressed. Indications are this problem is going to be with us for a while.’”
“A total of 7,271 new and resale houses and condominiums closed escrow in the nine-county Bay Area in September, up 45 percent from September 2007, according to DataQuick. The increase was due to home sales up in the inland areas hit hard by foreclosures. Last month the median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Bay Area was $400,000, down a record 36 percent from $625,000 in September 2007, according to DataQuick.”
“Nearly 42 percent of all existing homes sold across the Bay Area last month were foreclosed at some point within the year, up from 36.1 percent in August and 6.9 percent a year ago. In Santa Clara, 30.5 percent of home sales were foreclosure resales.”
“DataQuick reported the typical monthly mortgage payment Bay Area buyers committed to was $1,890 last month, down from $2,121 the previous month and from $3,171 a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, current payments are 27.3 percent below typical payments in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. They are 45.3 percent below the current cycle’s peak in June 2006.”
The Sacramento Bee. “Is Sacramento’s woeful housing market bottoming out? The answer isn’t immediately clear. The bursting of the housing bubble caused considerable harm to the economy in Sacramento and across the state. As home values plunged, equity ‘extractions’fell by 34 percent last year in Sacramento, according to MDA DataQuick. That took $2.1 billion out of the region’s economy. Unemployment rates – 7.4 percent in Sacramento, 7.7 percent for the state – are at their highest in 12 years.”
“A big question mark is whether Sacramento should brace for another wave of foreclosures. Cathy Shosenburg of Citrus Heights said she’s in danger of losing her home after the monthly payment on her negative-amortization loan doubled last spring, to about $2,500. ‘I know there’s a lot of people in this position,’ she said.”
The Times Delta. “Last fall, Julie Sampson called 25 mortgage brokers in search of someone who would refinance her adjustable-rate mortgage. Not one was able to help her. For Sampson, it’s far from what she envisioned when she first saw her dream home east of Visalia in 2005. She balked when she first saw the adjustable interest rate and the steep terms to her loan. But her mortgage broker reassured her, saying that by the time the loan was due to reset, she would be able to refinance into a fixed-interest loan.”
‘The mortgage industry was booming. Refinancing was easy. There was no reason for Sampson to think she would be stuck with a high-interest loan. ‘My broker made an appointment with me in two years to refinance into a fixed-interest loan,’ she said. ‘The credit crunch happened two months before my loan was due to reset to a higher rate.’”
From Reuters. “Just a few years ago, Kristin and her husband Mike Bertrand were confident they owned their own piece of the American dream. They pulled in $140,000 (84,580 pounds) a year, owned a house, two cars, a telescope and other gadgets, and had season tickets to Disneyland for their two kids. But since they lost their home in May, the Bertrands live in a sparsely furnished rental in Thousand Oaks, California, and have cut expenses to the bone.”
“They’ve sold Kristin’s set of wedding rings, given up a car and the Disneyland passes to get back on their feet. ‘It’s going to be a lean holiday for us,’ said Kristin, who said the family has put plans to visit relatives in Idaho on the back burner. ‘I think this year we need to lay low.’”
The Ventura County Star. “About 650 people registered for the 10th annual State of the State Conference at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills. The conversation inevitably turned to the economy. ‘We clearly are going into a more severe contraction of economic activity,’ said Ross DeVol, director of regional economics for the Milken Institute. ‘We have really fallen off a cliff.’”
“DeVol was part of a panel that discussed the real estate market in California, a group that was asked if it saw any bottom to the market in sight. DeVol’s simple answer was ‘no.’ ‘Capitalism goes through this every once in awhile,’ he said. ‘We go through the excesses, and we have to clean them out. And this one is going to be costly to clean out.’”
“Bobby Turner, managing partner with Canyon Capital Advisors LLC, said he expected to see home prices drop another 20 percent. ‘We have a long way to go before we bring home ownership back to affordability,’ he said.”
“How long will it last? That’s what was discussed during the 2008 Inland Empire Economic Forecast Conference held at the National Orange Show Events Center in San Bernardino on Wednesday. The bursting real-estate bubble will continue feeding thousands of foreclosures into the Inland Empire’s housing market for another two or three years, according to Christopher Thornberg, founder of San Rafael-based Beacon Economics.”
“‘The wealth is disappearing,’ he said about inflated home prices. ‘That money was never there in the first place.’”
“Never mind those plunging prices homeowners have suffered since 2006 - Thornberg is predicting residential real-estate owners nationwide will collectively lose another $15 trillion over next year. That’s good for home shoppers sitting on the sidelines, says Johannes Moenius, business and economics professor at the University of Redlands.”
“The biggest Inland Empire price drops are happening in lower-income neighborhoods and high-unemployment areas - regions where home prices jumped four times their 1998 values, Moenius said.”
“University of Redlands President Stuart Dorsey, who is a former chief economist for the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, said the government’s intervention in the financial markets have a ‘limited ability’ to prop up the system. ‘What’s going to happen in the next few years is important,’ Dorsey said about the two-county region. ‘How we come out of this - how we’re steered and in what direction - will determine how we go into the next couple of decades.’”
The Press Enterprise. “Thornberg said there are no quick fixes because an entire country was living on people who were dreaming about wealth and trying to make it come true on credit. They looked at the paper profits from their homes or stock portfolios and felt like millionaires. ‘We’re at the back-end of a 15-year consumer party,’ Thornberg said. ‘This country is now carrying a massive debt load. Why did we do it? It’s because we wanted to feel rich.’”
The Voice of San Diego. “August home prices in San Diego County fell 25.8 percent from the previous year, a record annual decline, according to the newest Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index. Prices declined 32.8 percent from the peak in November 2005. August was the 28th straight month in which prices were lower than the month before.”
“In the second quarter of 2005, the best boom-time quarter, 4,662 new homes sold in the region. Last quarter represents an 89 percent decline from that level. Russ Valone, MarketPointe’s president, said he never expected to see sales drop below the 1,000 level. But now three of the last four quarters have shown sales rates below that line.”
“‘We’ve got a slog to go here,’ said Mark Goldman, mortgage broker and real estate professor at San Diego State University. ‘There’s also an emotional malaise that’s going on right now,’ he said. ‘There are millionaires who are just staying home. Go to a shopping center, take a look around. There’s a lot fewer buyers. Car lots are closing up. People are just buying less and less stuff. Can it get worse? Yes it can, but the world hasn’t ended. It’s going to change significantly. There’s going to be a bleeding off of all that consumption. You can’t put all the stuff on the credit card anymore and pay for it by refinancing your house.’”
The Union Tribune. “On La Jolla’s trendy Girard Avenue, the era of $75 lace panties is coming to an end. On La Jolla’s trendy Girard Avenue, the era of $75 lace panties is coming to an end. Neroli Lingerie’s owner, Ceslie Rossi, is closing shop because sales no longer support the 1,200-square-foot boutique’s $7,000-per-month rent.”
“‘It’s been touch-and-go for a year now, and then in September the bottom fell out – no one was spending,’ said Rossi, who this month liquidated her lingerie inventory in a going-out-of-business sale. ‘I can’t handle the stress anymore. When my art-gallery neighbor sells one painting for $20,000, they are OK, but panties – even expensive panties – is another matter.’”
The Orange County Business Journal. “Irvine-based homebuilder Standard Pacific Corp….reported (a) third-quarter net loss of $369 million, more than three times the $119 million loss reported a year earlier. Write-downs of unsold homes, land and other charges made up $368 million of the loss. Standard Pacific builds homes in some of the hardest hit housing markets, including California, Arizona, Nevada and Florida. Southern California, Arizona and Florida led the price declines with drops of about 25% each from a year earlier.”
“‘Housing market conditions deteriorated further during the quarter as the growing level of foreclosure inventory combined with the tumultuous global financial markets, worsening economic conditions and record low consumer confidence further undermined the already weak housing market,’ CEO Jeffrey Peterson said. ‘It does not appear at this time that the earlier efforts by the federal government to stabilize the housing market across the country has had any meaningful impact.’”
“Standard Pacific has a market value of about $210 million, down 95% from its peak during the height of the housing boom in 2005.”
The Orange County Register. “Newport Beach City Councilman Steve Rosansky, a real estate broker who is up for re-election next week, signed loan documents agreeing to live in a now-rundown house as his ‘principal residence’ for at least a year, records show, but never moved in, according to neighbors. The councilman declined to explain the discrepancy, but real estate experts say it is common for buyers to sign ‘principal residency’ clauses on income properties to obtain lower interest rates.”
“Although it is fraudulent to sign documents saying you will live in a property and then rent it instead, lenders rarely checked that during the years of the real estate housing boom and the Register could find no recent examples of local prosecution on such grounds.”
“Neighbor Melissa Chong, who has lived next door to the property for a decade, said she has never seen Rosansky spend a single night there, and that the property is uninhabitable because of its poor condition. ‘It’s been vacant since he bought it,’ Chong said. ‘It’s never been able to be lived in.’”
“Rosansky purchased the house in the Newport Shores area in April 2004. Rosansky’s $440,000 loan to acquire the property came from Riverside-based Provident Savings Bank. The deed says that the loan will go into default if the borrower intentionally makes inaccurate statements, including ‘representations concerning borrower’s occupancy of the property as borrower’s principal residence.’”
The Kansas City Star. “A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted 17 people in an alleged $12.6 million mortgage-fraud scheme that targeted upscale neighborhoods in Raymore and Lee’s Summit. The scheme purportedly paid $2.3 million in kickbacks to home buyers through shell companies the defendants established. The real estate agent and the builder also allegedly profited from the scheme, authorities said.”
“The buyers purportedly obtained loans by providing false information to lenders and then bought 25 homes at inflated prices in the Raintree and Belmont Farms subdivisions in Lee’s Summit and the Eagle Glen subdivision in Raymore. Real estate agent Angela R. Clark…from Lee’s Summit…and Jerome Shade Howard, 39, of Anaheim, Calif., purportedly sought potential buyers. Howard also supplied false Social Security numbers that some buyers used to obtain loans, the indictment alleged.”
“According to the indictment, defendants secured a $603,000 mortgage in July 2006 for the purchase of a home in Belmont Farms at 509 Southeast Snaffle Bit Court. After subtracting his building costs and profits from the mortgage payout, Raymore builder Jerry Emerick allegedly paid a $114,000 kickback to a shell company controlled by Howard, the purchaser, and $30,000 in real estate fees.”
“But while the home’s 2008 market value is listed at $625,000, according to county tax records, it sold in August for $290,000. Another nearby home identified in the indictment had the same issue. Its 2008 market value is listed on county records at $520,000, but it sold in February for $248,000.”
“Although the scheme may have artificially inflated area property values at first, U.S. Attorney John Wood noted that many of the 25 houses now are vacant and in foreclosure, thus depressing values.”
“Others indicted Wednesday were: James F. Simpson, 39, of Lee’s Summit; Ronald E. Brown Jr., 39, of Gladstone; Enrico J. McClain, 36, of Kansas City; Daryle A. Edwards, 37, and Leon T. Jones. 42, of Olathe; Willie Charles Cadenhead Jr., 38, of Grandview; Gerald D. Williams, 47, and his wife, Judith E. Williams, 47, of Omaha, Neb.; Michael Conrad Smith, 47, of Lancaster, Calif.; Cheryl Ann Romero, 50, of Santa Fe Springs, Calif., Anahit Nshanian, 29, of Long Beach, Calif.; Mark Whitney Jackson, 48, of Woodland Hills, Calif.; and Steven M. Salas, 35, of Hacienda Heights, Calif.”
California should have an Anti Gravity Working Group.
Newton’s Law is busy taking down the Big Apple, that ought to keep it busy for awhile.
Layoffs Sweep From Wall St. Across New York Area
A broad array of businesses across the New York region have begun eliminating jobs by the thousands as the pain of the financial crisis spreads well beyond Wall Street.
Companies as varied as Yahoo, American Express, Time Inc. and Swissport Cargo Services at Kennedy International Airport say they are preparing to lay off employees, including online ad sales representatives, magazine editors and baggage handlers, in the coming weeks.
Law firms are shrinking and publishing companies, which employ about 54,000 people in the city, announced layoffs of about 880 employees this week. Other service businesses, like consulting, catering and tourism, are almost certain to follow suit, said James Brown, who analyzes the city’s job market for the New York State Department of Labor.
But, but, but, we have a “diversified” economy.
BWAHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
William Tell meets Ichabod Crane. Let the arrows fly.
The headlines in the local papers today were about Jersey City falling. You should see the dumbasses that were buying into that nonsense. One building that, surprisingly, hasn’t sold out yet, is at $599,000 for a 1 bedroom. It’s $799,000 for a 2 bedroom. It’s $899,000 to live in a 3 bedroom. They pointed out that Jersey City is “Wall Street West”. That is hilarious.
Another headline shouted that prices are falling in Westchester. But I thought everybody wanted to live in Westchester. Bwahahaha. Keep the good times coming. Karma for everybody at the table. I’m buying.
No kidding. I have a friend in Morro Bay with a law degree from Berkeley who has invented a power-generation scheme that violates conservation of energy. This is how he’s going to get rich. In his prototype, the energy input comes from an air blower that requires 1300W, and the output comes from a generator that yields 60 W. His explanation is that there are equipment mismatches in the prototype. Yeah, that’s probably where some of the losses come from. In his thinking, gravity (yes, gravity) is going to turn the 1300 W into several MW. Yawn.
If your friend is like most of these types, he’s actually inventing a way to part fools from their money. Soon he will be looking for investors…
“Although it is fraudulent to sign documents saying you will live in a property and then rent it instead, lenders rarely checked that during the years of the real estate housing boom and the Register could find no recent examples of local prosecution on such grounds.”
I read somewheres that the FBI is so overloaded looking for terrorists that they don’t spend any time looking for these scofflaws and hucksters. It’s not a lack of will to throw them behind bars, it’s a lack of manpower.
I’ve tried reporting such things to the local County Assessor’s office. You’d think that since rentals are taxed at a higher rate, that they’d be happy to take my report. But you would be wrong. I had to cajole the lady in to hearing what I had to say.
In Prop 13 California, there’s only a trivial $7K “homeowner’s exemption” for property tax, so there’s little to attract the attention of an assessor.
Here in Idaho it’s different. The homeowner’s exemption is $100K. On a typical $250K house that knocks your tax basis down to $150 yielding a small $1,500 property tax bill.
We ought to increase the Prop 13 exemption in Ca as well. Looks like ‘Mr. Market’ is working! Prices going down. But, Obama is going to screw it up with bail outs for the unworthy losers. Any time the government gets its hands in something it’s bad. Remember when the IRS took over the Bunny Ranch? They couldn’t even make money running a brothel and selling booze. Nuff said.
My lender filled out the paperwork as “owner occupied” despite the fact I had told them I was buying as an investment. I later corrected it by filling out the proper forms with the tax board.
One would think that the bank would do some checking in this vein.
Last year there was a front page news article about the FBI cracking down on underage internet porn. The top 3 priorities of the FBI as of sept 2007 were 1 counter terrorism, 2 counter insurgency, and 3 underage internet port. In other words, while mortgage fraudsters were making off with trillions and setting up a collapse of the world’s banking system; this is what the FBI was doing.
1) harrass muslims, especially if they posed a threat to the powers in office
2) harrass americans in general, especially if they posed a threat to the powers in office
3) If there was someone who was a threat, subpoena their computer and look for naked pictures. If you cant get your enemies for any other crime, get them for looking at pictures; or at least having the pictures on the computer.
Um, I’m pretty sure that most people don’t have any child porn on their computer.
They may not right now, but after they’re confiscated there’s no telling what will appear on it. How on earth do you prove that the FBI or whoever snatches your PC didn’t put the smut on it? It’s the perfect frame.
There should be a date stamp on it.
That all sounds barely legal to me.
If hardly anyone has these photos on thier computers, then why did the FBI make it their #3 priority. Note that they werent going after the producers of the photos, nor the distributors of the photos, nor were they looking for people who paid money for the photos, just having them on the computer. So the person wouldnt have produced the photos or given any monetary compensation to the people who did. In some cases, someone mistypes a web address and goes to an unintended site, and the photos stay in the cache. If the FBI was really intent on “saving the children” why arent they going after the producers or the people who were sending money to the producers?
The purpose is to get at the producers by grilling the consumers.
Also, I don’t think it’s priority #3 because of its prevalence, but rather because of its heinousness.
David
Point taken re FBI priorties being skewed.
But in my mind, preventing child abuse comes under heading of “national security.”
Sexual exploitation of kids, wherever they live. makes many stomachs curdle with revulsion.
Where are all the poachers turned gamekeepers? They should hire the same schmucks who sold the fraudulent loans and let them work at minimum wage plus a week off their sentences for every other liar they help prosecute…
“Thornberg said there are no quick fixes because an entire country was living on people who were dreaming about wealth and trying to make it come true on credit. They looked at the paper profits from their homes or stock portfolios and felt like millionaires. ‘We’re at the back-end of a 15-year consumer party,’ Thornberg said. ‘This country is now carrying a massive debt load. Why did we do it? It’s because we wanted to feel rich.’”
Brother Thornberg, one does not speak ill of ‘real Americans’ in public. President W said that it is our patriotic duty to spend our way out of this crisis, and I’ll have none of this liberal claptrap polluting the minds of our young’uns!
whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/12/20061220-1.htm
“The unemployment rate has remained low, at 4.5 percent. A recent report on retail sales shows a strong beginning to the holiday shopping season across the country — and I encourage you all to go shopping more.”
The decider.
Now that’s leadership!
Eisenhower was talking that way in 1958. But 1958 was a mild recession year, and the Federal budget was more or less in balance.
“I ask your continued participation and confidence in the American economy”
W,
Thursday, Sep. 20, 2001 Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People, Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People
While Georgie Porgie was busy eavesdropping on soldiers during phone sex, he completely missed out on this whole “impending disaster” thing. You can’t exactly blame him for that, can you? Phone sex first, main street second. That’s what I always say.
Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie
Kissed Wall St. and made them cry
When the boys came out to pray
Georgie Porgie ran away.
‘Capitalism goes through this every once in awhile,’ he said. ‘We go through the excesses, and we have to clean them out. And this one is going to be costly to clean out.’”
And wouldn’t it be nice if we let it go “through this every once and a while”. Capitolism?!! Give me a friggin’ break! I wonder if these morons have any idea the unintended catastrophic consequences of these bailouts and the like. Inflation is the least of our worries. My wife said she overheard someone telling someone else not to worry about their credit card debt because the govt is going to make the evil banks write down the balances. I hadn’t heard of this until I turned on C(ommunist) N(ews) N(etwork) today and bam, there it was being hailed as a good idea. What the heck?!! You tell me, with bailouts, principle writedowns, and credit card forgiveness rumors running amuck, how many people do you think are going to feel impelled to make their payments this winter? I smell a meltdown like we never imagined.
“The latest report of the State Foreclosure Prevention Working Group, for the period from January through May, found that nearly eight out of 10 seriously delinquent homeowners were not on track for any modification. According to the report, ‘the mortgage industry’s failure to develop systematic approaches to prevent foreclosures has only spurred declines in property values and further increased expected losses on mortgage loan portfolios.’”
With the announcement that 3m will be helped by bailout-funded loan modifications, what can the eight out of 10 seriously delinquent homeowners do to get to the front of the bailout money line?
PB,
But the statement highlights a great point. The entire “mortgage industry” ( there’s a laugh, “industry” ) was geared solely for the origination of loans. It’s only obvious that that there was little or no thought given to dealing with a set back of ‘any’ kind?
I recall reading back in 2006 that 80% of all mortgages in the state of CA were less than 2 years old! ( That didn’t concern anyone? ) My question all along “to the industry” has been, when profits and commissions were there for the taking, you guys had absolutely NO problems cranking this pulp out? Now that they’re imploding… you’re “overwhelmed”! Should anyone be surprised this inability to service their OWN product is resulting in ever lower home values?
Well what kind of cr@p is that?
It’s really worse than your post suggests, as not only was the subprime industry geared solely for the origination of loans, but it was also geared to collapse when the cycle turned. How do you get non-existent companies to modify loans?
I think in part the lending industry has been waiting for bail-outs
rather than on their own providing loan modifications . You have these crazy ” MBS loan trenches” fighting with each other over a conflict of interest ,along with the credit default swap conflict of interest . Something has to be wrong with a investment instrument whereby the same group in the same investment are in conflict of interest on modification verses foreclosure .
I think if the truth be know ,some of these Mortgage Back Securities could be rendered voidable or defective because of
the way they were set up . Than you look at all the side bets that were placed on these instruments ,and you really get a feel for just how much the crazy casino relied on real estate going up .
HW,
No doubt it’s become as screwy as the day is long, all I’m saying is if the lien holder isn’t getting payments… send out the kit! Regular mail if they prefer.
This way they can go to the PTB and say, “Look, we sent out a “Mod Package” on 3/08, 6/08 and 9/08 with NO response! What more do you expect us to do!?”
And then deal with like adults. ( Speaking of which… )
Are you talking about the same adults who bought the $75 panties and then the bottom fell out?
These workouts usually apply to actual owner-occupied homes. So right off the bat, the large # of speculator homes gets taken off.
PB, SMF,
Right on both accounts! I don’t suppose we’ll be getting the former CEO of “Own It.com” to be rolling up his sleeves any time soon? We’ll find huge swaths of subdivisions that appear to have no other purpose than to be flipped endlessly.
Stop talking, DinOr. Only the government can be blamed for foreclosures, don’t you know that? The mortgage industry is a lamb and a joy to be with — You are just a turd.
Big V,
Whether or not I agree with everyone else on this board, I don’t treat other posters disrespectfully. I expect the same. That’s twice from you. ( Lay off the sauce a little, o.k? )
DinOr,
I believe Big V was kidding. Although I could be wrong on this.
Just joshing, DinOr.
Either way I don’t appreciate it.
Well, if you’d had a pair of $75 panties “dropped” in your face, I’m sure you’d appreciate it.
And just wait until more insurance companies start holding out their hands for bail-out funds…..oh, and then we got the credit card default crisis coming up shortly, gotta prop them guys up. Yep, you FB’s just keep waiting for yours……and waiting, and waiting, and waiting……..
The credit card bailout is the most egregious of them all. These jerks were sending millions upon millions of unsolicited offers out to any deadbeat with a pulse. Maybe even without a pulse. They pushed credit on anybody that would take it. They also bought off congress to get the bankruptcy laws changed in their favor. And even after all of that bullshot, they are still thinking their worthless butts should get bailed out. This has really become a disgraced nation.
I have a friend in IT who works for…the Fed, for God’s sake…and who says their retirement money is invested in some kind of contracts guaranteed by a suite of…insurance companies, for God’s sake. Yup, either the Treasury bails out the insurance companies, or you have the irony of a bunch of employees of the Federal Reserve Bank losing their pensions.
“Newport Beach City Councilman Steve Rosansky, a real estate broker who is up for re-election next week, signed loan documents agreeing to live in a now-rundown house as his ‘principal residence’ for at least a year, records show, but never moved in, according to neighbors. The councilman declined to explain the discrepancy, but real estate experts say it is common for buyers to sign ‘principal residency’ clauses on income properties to obtain lower interest rates.”
“The deed says that the loan will go into default if the borrower intentionally makes inaccurate statements, including ‘representations concerning borrower’s occupancy of the property as borrower’s principal residence.’”
————————————————————————–
Steve did’nt have an explanation for the “descrepancy”? Is this one of those mortgage fraud cases where the lender can sue for performance? (Don’t hold your breath!)
Chillin’,
It will be an uphill defense. Especially when you’ve got a neighbor that claims she’s never seen you spend the night there? Once! All that aside, what was Steve thinking? He bought this dump in 2004 and evidently hasn’t done a thing with it.
What was the strategy again, were there other loans taken out against it, was this an equity skimming operation?
“It is common for councilmembers to ‘lie’ in order to get what they want, even though it’s illegal.”
‘On La Jolla’s trendy Girard Avenue, the era of $75 lace panties is coming to an end.
“‘It’s been touch-and-go for a year now, and then in September the bottom fell out…”‘
FPSS, there is your cue…
Maybe they can open a doggie spa, pirate memorabilia and do-it-yourself candle shop instead. You know, thrice the profitability in the cost of one space…
Oh no! the panties fell down; no, the bottoms spilled out; no, no, the panties came down.
Wait, isn’t that a good thing? ***insert cheesy p*rn music***
BWAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
The Union Tribune. “On La Jolla’s trendy Girard Avenue, the era of $75 lace panties is coming to an end. On La Jolla’s trendy Girard Avenue, the era of $75 lace panties is coming to an end. Neroli Lingerie’s owner, Ceslie Rossi, is closing shop because sales no longer support the 1,200-square-foot boutique’s $7,000-per-month rent.
When the bottoms fall out of $75 lace panties demand, you KNOW America is in trouble
if a 1200sqft costs 7000/month. and a 1sqft panties cost $75, is it cheaper to buy or own?
Nobody Expects the Panty Devolution!
I wonder how many paintings the art-gallery neighbor is selling for $20,000? Probably not enough to pay all their overhead and the $7000/month rent.
In this market given the choice of using $20,000 for paying the mortgage, paying down stock margin debt, buying Exxon stock at 4 times earnings, or buying a painting; i think the painting can wait.
PB, I’m an alumni of UCSD (John Muir College ‘91 & SOM ‘96) and miss La Jolla, by the way. I used to love riding my bike down Torrey Pines Rd, up to the cross on Mt. Soledad and then back up SIO to campus, followed by swimming in the cove to the bouy and back again when I was training for triathlons.
Now I hear the hill is sliding onto I-5 and that rogue seals, great white sharks and killer squid are patrolling the beaches due to global warming. Are the mansions still holding their “value”?
I take the lace panties story as a negative indicator for the value of coastal mansions.
We can observe that the landscape was denuded after the panties come off?
Once lace panties go down, the upscale shopping sector is f….d.
Whether or not the result of global warming, that IS pretty alarming! When I was stationed there in the mid/late 80’s the most “hazardous” thing was a drunk sailor would wash up on shore?
I never swam out that far but I can’t recall a single shark sighting? Pretty weird.
The idiots in the UK just had a global warming meeting in London. Almost cancelled because of SNOW storm. hehehehehehe
You ara an alumna. You got a mouse in your pocket?
No, but he does have a pair of $75 panties round his ankles.
Target boxer brief six pack for ladies. $5.99
75 bucks for one lousy pair of skivvies? Yeesh!
I though they were lace panties at first but they turned out to be cobwebs.
They can’t be very substanial if the bottom fell out.
Given the growth of American bottoms, they’d have to be pretty substantial for a bottom not to fall out.
That particular model of underwear came equipped with a special bottom that would fall out at precisely the most opportune moment. It was designed by an HBB JT-Affairs engineer who wanted to make sure that FBs would be prepared for their screwing when the time came.
So I guess the time has come.
I made a funny that didn’t show up. I think you all should check back later for it. hehe
I’ve spent more for the wife (CosiBella I think was the brand). Worth every penny from my perspective! (and for her they are much more comfortable than Victoria’s Secret crap).
No woman is that good in bed.
At 75 bucks, they come pre-bunched.
Awww! You beat me to it.
Yeah. Nobody likes lace panties more than me, but 75$ a pair??!! That is completely absurd. I often get my lace panties at Ross Dress for Less. They have just what I want–colorful, trashy, flimsy lingerie with tassles and bows and gew-gaws and sparkles, for a couple bucks. I love trashy lingerie, yes, and I also love keeping more of my money. Or else, when I feel sedate and/or know no one will but me will be viewing my bum that day, I wear tidy whitey grandma panties I get at Target in packets, also for a couple bucks.
75 dollars is ridiculous. As if having paid that much will make your bum look 75 bucks cuter. This just makes me mad. I have viewed many another stupid boutique with weary tolerance, but this panty outrage makes me cranky. I guess…I guess it gets my panties in a bunch! Hahahahaha! That’s funny!
75 dollars is ridiculous. As if having paid that much will make your bum look 75 bucks cuter.
Of course the real reason we wear underwear is because of that nasty orifice in the rear!
C’mon, like you never enjoyed a bit of “backdoor action” in your life!
“with weary tolerance”
So I ask you, what aspect of the bubble doesn’t that describe?
Well I guess it’s gettin’ serious now? ( Now that people are getting laid off.. ) Looks like Ross Dress for Less will be getting a lot more crowded.
Knowing how mant panties some girls buy, at $75 a hit…there must have been a lot more little Gold Plated Butts out there than I imagined
Going cheap is better, they are not supposed to stay on very long anyway….assuming you have a gentleman nearby who would rather see you with them off…..
A wise one once said here (forgive me I forget the name) “If it flies, floats, or fornicates, rent it”. $75 panties sound like rentals to me.
I can’t believe it took till half way through the posts to speak to this bubble…
$75.oo lace panties.
Why do I miss all the bubbles…haha
Or“‘It’s been touch-and-go for a year
Touch n go…
I so want to say something…
$75.00 LACE panties.
Wonder how much cotton ones cost.
“Never mind those plunging prices homeowners have suffered since 2006 - Thornberg is predicting residential real-estate owners nationwide will collectively lose another $15 trillion over next year. That’s good for home shoppers sitting on the sidelines, says Johannes Moenius, business and economics professor at the University of Redlands.”
OMG — the guy really said that a $15 trillion dollar loss will be good for somebody? Does he realize this is more than 1-year’s worth of GDP down the real estate rat hole?
How much do you think Japan lost when its real estate bubble popped? I can only venture to guess it has exceeded one year’s worth of their GDP. Was it good for somebody then? Carry traders have had a field day for the last decade. Maybe it will be our turn soon.
Well, hasn’t the premise that declining RE values would be good for us HBBer’s been at the heart of our whole discussion? If deflation is just an upward resetting of the value of USD cash, then those holding the cash will individually profit. I’m not saying the other dislocations will necessarily be easy to live with.
Speaking of fraudsters, you all need to read this story. Sorry for the long link.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aGYlBrRCgtq0&refer=home
Her dad’s got a point about one thing. She was likely one of thousands pulling this kind of s***. Is it too late to expand the death penalty? I have no words….
The death penalty should be given to whomever made up all the names in that story. Mozzarella? Grim? Forrest Barbie?
Multiply this story by the tens of thousands.
Too many parasites - we need a civil war so we can exterminate most of them.
[Holding the Holy Hand Grenades of Antioch]
King Arthur: How does it… um… how does it work?
Sir Lancelot: I know not, my liege.
King Arthur: Consult the Book of Armaments.
===============================================
“A grass-roots effort aimed at curbing the massive home foreclosures in East County, as well as across the nation, spurred nearly 1,000 people to show up at a town-hall meeting at an Antioch church. ‘There are 10,000 homes in Contra Costa County that are owned by the banks. There are another 8,000 homes in Contra Costa County that are in one stage or another in foreclosure,’ said Catherine Kutsuris, director of the Contra Costa Department of Conservation and Development. ‘This is not an acceptable situation for us.’”
Yes, yes, “It’s like in medieval times” LOL!
Perhaps a few lashes with the cat o’ nine tails will bring obedience to these lowly serfs! ( Christ, get a grip lady )
However, the point stands, 8 out of 10 “seriously delinquent” borrowers aren’t “on track” with a work-out or plan or anything? That’s pretty serious. The ‘least’ these lenders/servicers should be doing is sending out “Loan Mod Kits” with tons of forms for these people to fill out along with a “Know Your Rights” pamphlet.
Make it arduous enough that those that can’t be bothered with collecting documents and filling it out can have their foreclosure process “fast tracked”. I mean, we SENT you the forms ( without being asked ) and had them mostly filled in, then asked for a current pay-stub and tax returns, but you couldn’t be bothered. Sorry f@cker, don’t concern yourself with what the “bail-out picture” looks like ( you won’t be seeing it )
…said Catherine Kutsuris, director of the Contra Costa Department of Conservation and Development.
Conservation and Development? Does she try to conserve her dignity while catering to developers? Talk about bipolar.
“‘It’s like in medieval times, where the kings are in their castles and the subjects are outside trying to get a crust of bread,’ attendee Mary Rabon said.”
I’ll bet two years ago Mary was seeing herself more as a king than a subject. Let her eat cake.
Let them eat Upper Crust…
Those subjects will forever be known as born and bread dopes.
“‘It’s like in medieval times, where the kings are in their castles and the subjects are outside trying to get a crust of bread,’ attendee Mary Rabon said.”
Like holding onto a $300k house you never paid for is the same as begging scraps?
manraygun,
Don’t know how many times I’ve said the real “draw” to The Boom was that it held the promise that ‘every’ man become a king! When we were kids, how many of us knew somebody that had maid service?
I knew one person, and she was my great aunt.
I just think it’s ridiculous to compare people who are getting thrown out of houses they never paid for with people who are begging for scraps of food to survive.
You don’t need to own a house to survive. I’ve been downright prosperous during my renting years.
I think soon people are going to wake up and realize that jobs are way more important than houses. Too bad that CONgress can’t figure that one out.
climber,
And I’ve said as much as well. True, it’s annoying to me that it’s taken ” a month of Sundays” for the correction to gain traction here in the PNW but my bottom fishing excursions aren’t what’s really important here?
An… “estate” fitting of a man of my stature will fall into my lap at the right price complete with guest house, pool and ’suitable’ horse arena soon enough. Sure, it’s easy to get frustrated with entrenched sellers ( but let’s keep this in perspective..! )
You don’t need to own a house to survive. I’ve been downright prosperous during my renting years.
Yeah - true here, too. I’m not good at renting because my standards in abode, I think,are too high and it drives me nuts that landlords don’t want to take care of the nice buildings they have.
That said, renting has
a) Made us debt free, thanks to a bubble premium that paid off the last of student loans
b) gave us the cash to buy nice furniture, which was lacking as every spare dime went to some house project or other
c) allowed us to focus on DH’s job, my very tiny business, and our kids
d)get a space that is more than we could “afford” and a much shorter commute on top of it all
If I could get the right combo of space, price, and landlord I’d be content to let them throw away $10K at time on building maintenance.
Let her have a free pair of $75.00 lace panties…..
The California median household price is now down 47%, but in my little town of Eureka, the current median price ($296,500) is comparable to the statewide average and only down 15% from the peak. How can Humboldt county be that desirable? Why aren’t prices cratering here like everywhere else? It is ridiculous–a place that hasn’t grown in population since the 1960s where the median household income is only $41,000–I don’t get it!
Anthony,
You seem like a smart fellow.
The Mexican mafia is grinding out profits of 200 to 1, growing herb in the Sierra, and as they have peons doing the work for next-to-nothing, the profits for the growers up your way might just be a crummy 25 to 1.
Why else would house values be staying up, up there?
Yep, Lad, you’re right…the dope is definitely a good part of it. Also, Humboldt county is famous for “old money.” Also, a sizable number of people living here are descendants from the “original” landowners/ranchers in the 1800s…and many people, besides owning thousands of acres of land, also in modern times have speculated in real estate. I believe the figure is somewhere around 30% of all county homeowners own second homes/investment properties elsewhere in the county. Lucky for me, many of these same people don’t make much money so hopefully they’ll be selling those extra homes and help the market collapse.
When mary jane loses her illegality is when houses will sell for a song up there in the back of beyond.
not gonna happen
Eureka is going down, down, down, in a ring of fi-re, in a ring of fire.
I dream of moving to Humboldt County sometimes. It seems like a nice place to escape the future craziness of peak oil, hyperinflation, and general economic problems. But Humboldt has its own set of problems, including pot growing as mentioned. The people are so unsophisticated compared to the city. It seems like so many people are addicted to alchohol, pot, or meth. Maybe thats just what I see as a tourist. I do like how there are so many people concerned about the environment.
I think alot of the high prices are due to vacation homes and investment homes. In an economic downturn, alot of people are gonna have to let their 2nd homes go.
If its any consolation, prices in the desireable areas down south have not fallen much at all either. Cities like San Francsico, Berkeley, Lafayette, Marin County, are only down 5% to 15% depending on who you believe. The countywide statistics are pulled down by the less desireable areas.
Check what’s being grown in them there hills. It’s
more than trees.
You need lots of foreclosures to get severe price declines in a short period of time. You don’t seem to have that mojo working for you in Eureka.
According to Foreclosure Radar, there are only 20 foreclosures in the whole 95501 zip code…..
That is true about the foreclosures…very few of them and 95501 is the poorest zipcode (Eureka only has two). Foreclosures that I’ve seen below the comps are promptly bought by investors (usually REALTORS) and then sold for many tens of thousands more in usually a short time. It is like a time warp…behavior is similar to what I saw in Visalia in 2005, but there are simply fewer people able to get loans. I’m worried that if price declines don’t happen soon–as they have elsewhere—the Congress’ plan to essentially prop up housing will go into overdrive and prevent the much-needed falls here.
How can Humboldt county be that desirable?
Ever lived in Fresno, Bakersfield, Corona, Chula Vista, Sacramento, Atascadero, Victorville, Ridgecrest, Redding, Merced, Dos Palos, Tracy, Shall I go on?
Is this like a 5 $ shake? It might be worth it to ask the SO :-), for once to do an outrageous $ purchase.
——————
On La Jolla’s trendy Girard Avenue, the era of $75 lace panties is coming to an end. Neroli Lingerie’s owner, Ceslie Rossi, is closing shop because sales no longer support the 1,200-square-foot boutique’s $7,000-per-month rent.”
Talk about being in the Rossi…
“DataQuick reported the typical monthly mortgage payment Bay Area buyers committed to was $1,890 last month, down from $2,121 the previous month and from $3,171 a year ago.”
$1281 per month of previously “free” money gone.
“As home values plunged, equity ‘extractions’fell by 34 percent last year in Sacramento, according to MDA DataQuick. That took $2.1 billion out of the region’s economy.”
$2.1B of previously “free” money gone.
sleepless,
Agreed, extracting equity ( that never really existed in the 1st place can’t be good long term ) but I find the typical mort. payment #’s ‘very’ encouraging. The decline in payments is $15,372 per year being spent back into the economy, not to some lender like a virgin sacrifice.
You had to suspect this would materialize at some point? Just think of it, America rediscovering their paycheck!
I guess I read that monthly payment a different way. I see it as $1281 that they never had as evidenced by the move down to a level that, on average, they DO have.
I don’t see it as $1281 that still exists to be spent elsewhere. Am I looking at this wrong?
BTW, that decrease in spending by 40% and 34%, respectively, mirrors the drop in “demand” in sales volumes from the peak, depending on region…
sleepless,
Probably true in some cases, but likely as not a lot of people that made the property ladder top heavy ( didn’t belong there to begin with? )
If we’ve a prayer to salvage our economy the consumer will need, 1) lower home prices 2) lower gas prices and 3) a modicum of his/her paycheck left at the end of the month.
I don’t know that we’ll get it evenly across the board or that we’ll get it at all, but clearly we’ve seen that $3,000-$4,000 a month PITI *won’t cut it? More disposable income, more light at the end of the tunnel.
I’ve been lurkingg on this blog for close to 4 years now.
I get super angry when sheeple now start saying they knew all along that housing would collapse.
4 years ago there were very few of us around.
Check out this classic from only 2 years ago.
Laffer(who was Reagan’s guru) is ridiculing Peter Schiff. This really is one gor your archives Ben.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU6PamCQ6zw
Yes, I remember that interview. Did Laffer ever renounce his error?
Roidy
Here’s a current revisit of that incidient on a talk show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3WjgKUf-kA
To me these scam real estate kick back deals are a serious crime . Not only did these bogus deals set incorrect comps for the neighborhood ,the
crimes set up bogus property taxes for the neighborhood . You add to that all the false demand from unqualified buyers trying to make a quick buck, or not be priced out forever, and you had a false value market .
If Justice was a issue ,you would have to say that the entire real estate and lending industry ,including the Wall Street market makers with all their side bets, were responsible for one of the biggest leverage scams in history . Because the crimes were so big and affected so many people the Powers are taking the position that this criminal Ponzi -scheme is to big to bring to justice and the criminals get bail outs instead . Sure they will prosecute some cash-back fraudsters who haven’t left the County already ,but the extend of the crimes go from the front lines all the way to the top of the scheme ladder.
The Government Bail Out of one of the biggest scams in history is not only a violation of criminal due process ,but it’s a violation against innocent parties that are forced to pay for the damage . I often think of how many people who never had anything to do with the stock market in 1929 loss their life savings or farms because of the fall out .
At this point I’m just prepared for any kind of government interference
that one could imagine . Like everybody else on this blog I’m trying to figure out how to best protect my life savings and look for opportunity ,but I have a lot of fears regarding the price that will be paid for this
crazy World-wide bubble of all bubbles . It was very easy to predict that the Banks would want to horde the billions they were given . It’s interesting now to hear main stream media discuss issues this blog has been talking about for years .I’m really open to the fact that anything could happen at this point ,including new laws that in effect make Justice or Contract Law a joke . In the final analysis ,I’m not as bad off as some people are with this melt-down ,(in part because I have always been prudent ),so, I’m grateful for that because I’m seeing a lot of misery daily now. A friend of mind who is only 60 just told me last night he found out he has a brain tumor and the doctor immediately told him he could not drive anymore . So, we can all be happy if we have health,
in spite of any financial set backs that anyone has to endure .Sorry for the long post .
HW,
And that’s exactly the jam the gov. is in. How do you bail out AIG or whoever ( and then start putting them in jail? ) One of the ( now very obvious fears ) bubble bloggers have had is that there simply weren’t enough us to matter?
That’s the language I’ve heard over and over again. “C’mon, you guys got all this dough up front and had your good time with it and now… we need it back. You know there’s no free lunch so let’s just be adult about this, o.k? You had fun with the jet-ski for awhile, didn’t you?”
Or am I just getting it all wrong? Sorry to hear about your friend.
Ten minutes left till close. Stand back! Its gonna blow!
Holy declining sales Batman!
The realtors are going para-military on us?
====================================================
“California Association of Realtors President William Brown met with Silicon Valley Association of Realtors’ leaders to discuss the economic crisis and the state trade association’s response. Brown said the state realtor group is now offering Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) to members. The tactics program teaches real estate agents how to handle sales and dispositions of distressed properties – short sales, foreclosures and REOs . The association plans to continue offering the courses in 2009, Brown said.”
Will they wear fatigues or is fatigue a prerequisite for the program?
I think it’s great that the head realtors are realizing the only way to make money is to sell courses to other realtors on how to make money on foreclosures.
Of course, they’re right. With almost half the sales in Cali coming from foreclosed houses, they better get on the bandwagon!
When they start running adds saying “Why pay too much for a house? Ask your local Realtor about buying a foreclosed property!” nation wide, it’ll bring a tear to my eye.
sfbb,
My eyes are welling up too but my problem is that it’s a mindset and approach that will allow realtors to make money on the way UP ( as well as the way DOWN )
I have a real problem with that. Besides, what IS IT exactly that so many damn realtwhores have invested that would have them clinging to this ailing market like it was the Holy Grail? They paid $400 to take a test. That’s it. Even if they own a “firm”, the avg. dry cleaner has more invested.
Again, what is it that they refuse to let go of? Oh… easy money.
The state realtor group is now offering Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) to members.
Oh, please.
One other thing this country has a surplus of is lame-ass puerile military metaphors. Usually highly correlated with inflated egos, gross stupidity, arrogance and incompetence, vid The War on Terror, War on Drugs, etc.
If ‘going to war’ is your meme for dealing with difficult situations, you need to get your head out of comic books and grow the F up.
Hi All:
Let’s meet up at LJ Quinn’s Lighthouse Pub in Oakland on Saturday, November 8th at 7 PM. I will make reservations if you guys RSVP to BigVHBB at gmail dot com.
Address:
51 Embarcadero Cv
Oakland, CA 94606
Phone Number:
(510) 536-2050
Website:
quinnslighthouse dot com
See you guys,
Big V
On La Jolla’s trendy Girard Avenue, the era of $75 lace panties is coming to an end. Neroli Lingerie’s owner, Ceslie Rossi, is closing shop because sales no longer support the 1,200-square-foot boutique’s $7,000-per-month rent.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I don’t think people truly understand the magnitude of this venerable institution closing down. Ms. Rossi and I both sit on the La Jolla Committee for proper undergarments. As you can see in other parts of San Diego, there is a crisis of improperly fitted bra wearing women walking the streets. We believe racks should be on the top shelf, not on lower shelves. As for those who go without undergarments completely, the Committee vehemently believes that headlights showing should only be used to describe cars. The public safety and hygiene implications cannot be ignored any longer. To help Ms. Rossi with her lease payments, I have teamed up with the local brazilian wax store next door to put on a “wash and wax” fundraiser this saturday in La Jolla.
Don’t get your knickers in a knot about it.
What an asinine statement. Attendee Mary Rabon, I don’t know you, but I know people like you. You knowingly and willingly borrowed more money than you would ever be able to pay back, threw some ridiculous sum at some ridiculous seller to gain temporary possession of their old house, and spent a few years of your life driving around in a BMW and wearing a smug look on your face. Now, all the sudden, once the obvious and inevitable end of your little sham materializes, you are a freaking subject trying to get some crust? The bank (whom you are ripping off for probably hundreds of thousands of dollars) is a freaking king? GETOUTAHERE!
The only “kings” in this story are the people who sold their houses at the top and kept their profits. Everyone else is just another asce-hat.
God give me the power to accept the things I cannot change.
Like when the “bottom” falls out of the $75 panties?
From Reuters. “Just a few years ago, Kristin and her husband Mike Bertrand were confident they owned their own piece of the American dream. They pulled in $140,000 (84,580 pounds) a year, owned a house, two cars, a telescope and other gadgets, and had season tickets to Disneyland for their two kids. But since they lost their home in May, the Bertrands live in a sparsely furnished rental in Thousand Oaks, California, and have cut expenses to the bone.”
“They’ve sold Kristin’s set of wedding rings, given up a car and the Disneyland passes to get back on their feet. ‘It’s going to be a lean holiday for us,’ said Kristin, who said the family has put plans to visit relatives in Idaho on the back burner. ‘I think this year we need to lay low.’”
But what happened to the TELESCOPE!!!! I bet that is what pushed them over the edge. Can we get a bailout for telescope manufactures?
The good news is that telescopes are very cheap nowadays, thanks to Taiwan and China. You can get a very good 5 inch aperture makutsov-cassegranian on an very high quality mount for a 1k dollars. Or you can get a 8 inch schmidt-cassegranian on a high quality computerized mount for barely 2k. Remember that telescopes are mostly metal, high quality glass and ABS. They can last over 100 years if you don’t misuse them.
And the Taiwanese and chinese instiments are now sturdier than the US made ones, go figure.
Don’t get me wrong. I like stars and love a wide varity of “heavenly bodies” It’s just that I don’t have the time, interest or inclination to invest 1-2k into a decorative 3 legged balcony ornament to impress the tourists and check out the babe sunning herself across the valley.
Those pretty rocks, planets and the assorted associated flying debis up there have been zooming for years and I enjoy the mystery from a distance.
Besides, if a rogue star decides to drop upon my head, I don’t want to see it coming…I enjoy cheap suprises
An unrealtoR came by the other day wanting to give me his card and a pad of writing paper (in hopes of getting me to buy a house through him). As a duck, I consider myself to be above that sort of thing. Have you ever noticed that no ducks are real-estate agents? I think that really says something.
“The credit crunch happened two month before my loan was due to reset…….”
Missed it by THAT much……..
Where’s my shoe phone?
$75 panties? Isn’t that a sign of the apocalypse?
“‘If we don’t get banks to lend money again, we will be in dire straits. We need to provide more liquidity to the market,’ Brown said. ‘The bottom line is, things still need to be addressed. Indications are this problem is going to be with us for a while.’”
Mr. Brown was misquoted. What he actually said was, “If we don’t get banks to lend money stupidly again, we will be in dire straits.”
Don’t worry Mr. Brown, your government is working day and night trying to figure out how to do just that….
No kidding, if the agents are pointing to rising sales volume then that’s proof that there’s credit being extended - even today.
But like you said, that’s not nearly good enough.
Nothing’s nearly as good enough as the dropped panties! It’s been all downsized from there, and the downsizing means that the bottoms are gonna sag from now on, doesn’t it?
“Just a few years ago, Kristin and her husband Mike Bertrand … owned a house, two cars, a telescope and other gadgets …. But since they lost their home in May, the Bertrands live in a sparsely furnished rental in Thousand Oaks, California, and have cut expenses to the bone.”
I live down the street from their rental, and I bought that telescope for a song at their moving sale back in May. I’ve been using it to watch Mike putter around his yard in his $75 panties.
Luv,
Jen
Well, as long as the bottom hasn’t dropped out the panties, sounds like you’re doing real good, innit?
It might interest you guys to know that banks are trying to create a system to forgive/ reduce credit card debt. When I first said that banks would have to do that about 2 years ago, many thought I was nuts. So I guess the 2005 bill was a bad idea. Whocudhadnode!!
I am sorry that I cannot post the link from yahoo finance because I am using my iPhone.. cut and paste issues. But yes, even I use the iPhone, unless google and Chinese OEM manufacturers link up.
I wonder if I can charge up a bunch buying gold, negotiate the balance down then sell enough gold to pay it off and keep the difference.
I would say a decent car might be more useful. It is quite easy to get very good and fuel efficient 2 year old Asian cars for under 10k. I susoect that even new cars may go down even more.
How about reduce the interest rate to 3-5% and have more applied each month to the actual paying down of the debt
Or forgive 50% and lower your credit limit 50%
that will have to happen..eventually. There is no real option.. we live at a rather peculiar confluence of events and trends.
The clock struck midnight on this Tinkerbell Story…
“They’ve sold Kristin’s set of wedding rings, given up a car and the Disneyland passes to get back on their feet. ‘It’s going to be a lean holiday for us,’ said Kristin, who said the family has put plans to visit relatives in Idaho on the back burner. ‘I think this year we need to lay low.’”
Yawn. Giving up amusement parks, jewelry,cars?
It’s not a story until they start boiling their shoes to soften the leather.
$625,000 in Humboldt
http://tinyurl.com/5vrp4y
Madness continues up there!
Lordy, they are asking $625,000 and it’s got a blue tarp for a roof.
For that price please tell me that the foliage is really some
outstanding weed.