People Were Going Crazy
It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “There is no shadow inventory; there is no bank conspiracy; there are no houses waiting like vine-ripened tomatoes for the moment to be plucked, says a recent report from ForeclosureRadar. Thousands of adjustable loans will reset in 2010 and 2011, leading another possible wave of foreclosures. In recent months, banks have been moving slowly to foreclose on some delinquent properties, leading to speculation that they may get organized and foreclose on them all at once some time in the future. But ForeclosureRadar’s report argued that Congress and the president will push banks into finding creative ways to prevent foreclosures.”
“‘You can’t have the snake swallow the whole egg,’ said Mark Goldman, an instructor at San Diego State University. ‘If the banks foreclose all at once, there will be oversupply.’”
“People who watch housing prices have predicted for months that another deluge of foreclosed homes would soon hit the market – once again crushing Sacramento-area property values. But the flood of bank repos hasn’t materialized. Market watchers also see banks slowly dribbling out their supply of repossessed homes. ‘From all appearances, it does look like they’re managing it better,’ said Charlene Singley, president of the Sacramento Association of Realtors.”
“Fewer repo listings this year brought another phenomenon not seen since the boom: bidding wars. The phenomenon so frustrated state employee Lauri Lathrop that she finally bought a new house in Elk Grove in September. ‘I was putting in offers $15,000 above the asking price, and I was getting outbid,’ she said Thursday. ‘I saw this new house and nobody could outbid me. It was like it was mine,’ she said.”
“Marc Zandi, chief economist of MoodysEconomy.com, is the latest to push for an extension of the $8,000 tax credit. Zandi wants to see the credit extended to next June to all buyers except the very wealthy. Zandi’s concerned that rising unemployment and foreclosures still represent major drags on the market.”
“Congress should set aside a specific amount of money for the tax credit, and then tell home buyers to literally come and get it on a ‘first-come, first-serve basis.’ While that may be needed in some markets that are just flat on their backs, I wonder what kind of impact that would have in traditionally high-priced areas like Boston.”
“The selection of middle market, starter homes has never been great around here. Anyone who has tried looking for a home in the Boston area in the $300,000 range and below in the past eight or nine years will tell you that.”
“In Massachusetts, the unemployment rate continues to rise, now reaching the highest level since 1976. The payroll employment figures we were seeing in late spring and early summer showing job losses had bottom out are probably in error and we have probably been losing jobs all throughout the summer.”
“Alan Clayton Matthews, an economist at Northeastern University: ‘Now it appear MA has not turned the corner we are still in a decline still in a recession and indeed we are probably doing worst than the rest of the nation. In this recession virtually every state is doing poorly so there is no where to go to find a job, and many households are tied here because of the housing market so instead of people migrating to find new work you see unemployment continuing to rise here.”
“In Idaho and the nation we simply built too many houses, and there are few incentives for any more purchases. The most recent NAR report on housing prices for the Boise-Nampa Metropolitan Statistical Area show current prices 22 percent below 2007 levels. This compares with a national average drop of 20 percent. The housing market is in these woes for the simple reason that supply exceeds demand. Like any market, the laws of supply and demand apply to houses. The demand side of the housing market is particularly dependent on income levels.”
“Many other determinants of demand — the total amount consumers want to buy at any price level — must be considered. Two important factors beyond the price of a good are income levels and expectations. Both current income levels and expectations for future growth are way down.”
“In effort to spur residential housing demand, two U.S. senators announced this week new legislation that would extended the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers passed earlier this year along with other economic stimulus plans. The new legislation would also raise the income limit to qualify from the current $150,000 for a married couple to $300,000. It’s hard to think of many households earning $300,000 a year that don’t already own a home.”
“But regardless, high unemployment and an economy in recession mean demand for homes just isn’t there. Tax incentives for first-time buyers do little to affect the income factor of demand. The housing market needs an economic recovery.”
“Josh Thomas is losing a good job. The 25-year-old Naples father of one, whose wife works full time at Schweitzer Resort, is among 93 people who will be out of work when Welco Lumber Co. closes by the end of the year. ‘It’s gonna be hard because there ain’t much in Bonners anymore and I don’t want to move. I’ve lived here my whole life,’ Thomas said. ‘I’ll probably have to go somewhere out of town (for work).’”
“‘There’s already been so many blows in the forest products industry,’ said Kathryn Tacke, regional economist for the Idaho Department of Labor in Coeur d’Alene. ‘Things don’t look very good. It’s very unlikely we’ll probably see U.S. housing starts increasing. They will remain low.’”
“Utah’s economy has lost 51,500 jobs — 4.1 percent of the state’s employment base of about 1. 2 million — in the year that ended in September, the state said Thursday ‘This recession we’re in was caused by a housing bubble, and these things take a long time to work themselves out,’ said Utah Department of Workforce Services economist Lecia Langston.”
“Nevada’s unemployment rate reached 13 percent in August, up from 7 percent a year earlier and the highest since record keeping began in 1976, according to the state employment department. It hit a low of 4.2 percent during 2006, when the median price for a single-family home in the Las Vegas area peaked at $315,000.”
“The state’s most populated region, the Las Vegas area, needs 126,000 new jobs to bring unemployment down by half and reduce residential vacancy rates, according to Jeremy Aguero, principal analyst at Applied Analysis. The median price of a single-family home in Las Vegas dropped 29 percent to $138,000 in September from a year earlier, according to the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors. At the same time, sales of those homes rose almost 21 percent from a year earlier, partly because of federal tax-credits for first- time buyers, the group said.”
‘”‘Rising sales are one sign that we’ll approach some type of bottom over the next year,’ said Aguero. ‘Even so, the solution to our problem is going to be in creating jobs. This recovery will be measured in years, not months.’”
“Dee Montano, a substitute teacher, said her family was pushed to the brink of foreclosure in September after her husband lost his job as a construction superintendent and the couple missed four months of payments on a $320,000 mortgage. ‘Honestly, I don’t see the economy making a quick rebound anytime soon,’ she said. ‘Everybody is holding their breath, waiting for the worst to happen.’”
“Bruce Dahlin lost his $50,000-a-year job as a graphic designer in January. He says he has four months to find full-time work before losing his four-bedroom Las Vegas house to foreclosure. ‘It’s been rough,’ Dahlin said. ‘I’m living day by day. If I don’t get hired full-time, that’s it.’”
“Minnesota is not out of the foreclosure woods yet. Pre-foreclosure notices — often a precursor to a lender repossessing a home — have been on the rise in the state this year.”
“‘Short sales are selling so infrequently that everyone is losing a very real opportunity to save houses from foreclosure,’ said Aaron Dickinson, a real estate agent in Plymouth. ‘If these things could be handled in a more efficient manner, it would do everyone a lot of good. 2009 was the year of the foreclosure. In order to stabilize housing, 2010 must become the year of the short sale.’”
“Fewer buyers will be able to afford the typical Sydney family home thanks to the recent price spurt, according to the head of the real estate researcher Residex, John Edwards. Funding the typical $599,000 house now requires 42.2 per cent of the typical $87,700 gross household income, but a rise of 1 per cent in interest rates will put the requirement at 46.3 per cent.”
“The interest rate increase that followed this week’s Reserve Bank decision to raise rates by 0.25 of a percentage point might slow the market slightly, Mr Edwards said. ”While it is not very popular, it is necessary that our markets are kept within constraints, so that a market bubble and a double-dip recession are avoided. Housing affordability in Sydney has become much more difficult.”’
“Resale prices at less than the last sale price continue to be recorded across Sydney, including a $1.8 million Newport house that had sold two years earlier at $2.1 million. In Mount Druitt a four-bedroom house sold for $389,000 in 2006 fetched $297,000 at its auction last weekend a price drop of 24 per cent. An apartment in York Street, Sydney, that sold in 2002 for $500,000 has been sold for $470,000, a 6 per cent price fall.”
“An economist at Australian Property Monitors, Matthew Bell, does not expect property price falls to be broad-based. ‘I see the Sydney market having a slight pull back in demand, but investors filling that hole to a large extent and prices continuing broadly upwards.”’
“A Naples homeowner who inflated her income to buy her house. A Naples man who hid a criminal conviction in his application to become a mortgage broker. And a group of Lee County men who repeatedly bribed a bank employee with $100 bills. Those were the allegations outlined in indictments handed out against 10 people, who were among 14 indicted late Wednesday as part of a federal investigation.”
“The charges listed in Wednesday’s indictments ranged from frauds and swindles, to mail fraud, mortgage or credit application fraud, and wire fraud. The 14 indicted include: Wayne F. Rice…a licensed mortgage broker who worked in Naples in 2006 after, authorities allege, submitted a bogus mortgage broker application hiding a conviction. He also is charged with providing false information on a loan application.”
“Mauricio Higa, Alfredo Cassis and Said Cassis…are accused of repeatedly bribing SunTrust bank employee Carlos Perez with $100 bills to add names of mortgage applicants to bank accounts in a case. They also are accused of providing false information about down payments, income, addresses, and bogus payroll documents to mislead the bank.”
“Debra Landberg of Naples, who is accused of filling out a mortgage application and claiming to have $353,209.09 in her bank account, which had only $13.57, and in another, saying she had $177,655.58 when she really had $957.18.”
“Brett Brown, president of the Naples Area Board of Realtors, said there were deals that certainly set off red flags during the housing boom in 2004 and 2005. He said he’s become aware of California companies making unrealistic guarantees of rental income and convincing buyers to pay more than homes were worth in a scheme to collect kickbacks at closing. ‘Those are the deals you walk away from,’ he said.”
“Some of the agents who got involved in fraud had licenses but were not Realtors, who agree to follow a code of ethics, Brown pointed out. He said the fraud is troubling to those who follow and abide by the rules. Documents are scrutinized to look at homeowners’ promises, salaries, and other information. ‘You find not only do they not have the money today, they never had it,’ he added.”
“March 2007 was a lucky month and $880,000 a lucky number for Jorge Valls and Luisa Jimenez.Valls sold a Versailles home for an $880,000 profit within hours of buying it. Jimenez made $882,000 on a Versailles home sale within a day of purchase. Buyers Pablo Aponte-Torres and Ericson Perez, though, got more than they bargained for.”
“According to federal charges unsealed this week, the two lied on mortgage documents to secure generous home loans in the tony State Road 7 community, leaving lender Washington Mutual Bank high and dry when they defaulted.”
“Both are among a group of eight men and women, including a mortgage broker and title agent, facing up to 30 years in prison and $1 million in fines for their role in a Versailles home-flipping scheme. At the heart of indictments brought by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida is a so-called ’straw buyer’ strategy. Homes targeted by the group went into foreclosure within a year.”
“Charged are mortgage broker Rony Alberto Aguilar-Hecker and Reinaldo Perez-Sanchez, co-managers of Premiere Mortgage Funding Inc. in Miami; title agent Idalmis Arias and buyers Fabio Salazar, Roger Omar Nunez-Murillo, Juan Carlos Lopez, Aponte-Torres and Perez. For instance, Perez said he had monthly earnings of $49,000 from Celltown Inc., though he did not work there. Salazar said he was an international accountant with monthly earnings of $46,000; the indictment says he did not have the job or the money. Nunez-Murillo said on loan documents that he is a radiologist with income of $60,000 a month; the indictment alleges he is not a physician.”
“Within one day - sometimes just hours - another recruited buyer would snap up the house for hundreds of thousands of dollars above the first sales price. Some of the flips happened so fast that the home was being sold to a second buyer before the first buyer had ownership.”
“In February 2005, Randy Gerlick of Parkland, Florida, put a 20 percent deposit on a $700,000 condo at the Las Olas Beach Club in Fort Lauderdale. Two years later, he sold the unit for $1.1 million, receiving a check for $315,000 after paying fees. He never set foot in the condo.”
“Then he heard about the Trump International Hotel & Tower Fort Lauderdale, a luxury 298-unit development on the beach. Gerlick put down a 20 percent deposit, or $122,000, for a unit. As a token of the deal, he got a silver Tiffany & Co. key chain engraved with the Trump International logo and his unit number, 1009. ‘Trump seemed like a natural next step,’ Gerlick said in a telephone interview. ‘It was like, how can you lose with his name on it?’”
“On May 13, the Trump International’s developer…sent Gerlick a letter giving him until May 29 to obtain financing or lose his deposit. The letter said the hotel portion of the property wouldn’t open if less than 50 percent of condo buyers completed their purchases. It also noted that the Trump affiliation was in jeopardy under an agreement that allowed the New York developer to withdraw his name from the project. Gerlick’s lawyer filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit seeking deposit refunds from seven defendants.”
“On Sept. 30, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a developer, reversing a lower court ruling that awarded a deposit refund under the Interstate Land Sales Act. ‘All bubbles eventually burst, as this one did,’ the three-judge panel said in its opinion. ‘The bigger the bubble, the bigger the pop. The bigger the pop, the bigger the losses. And the bigger the losses, the more likely litigation will ensue.’”
“Robert Cooper, an attorney in Aventura, said he represented clients who sued to buy condos, which they claimed had been sold out from under them — after they signed a contract — to people who offered a higher price. ‘This was not a normal real estate market,’ Cooper said. ‘People were going crazy.’”
“Luxury developers with grand plans swarmed the Florida Keys during the real estate boom, paying big bucks to gobble up campgrounds, trailer parks, marinas, mom-and-pop motels - even renowned Holiday Isle and its World Famous Tiki Bar. Many Keys’ residents became alarmed that their ‘Mayberry-by-the-Sea’ was heading toward extinction. Then came the real estate and credit crash. From Key Largo to Key West, at least 18 pricey projects screeched to a halt in 2007 and 2008.”
“‘It doesn’t feel like the rich people are taking over any more,’ said Shawn Wilson, a Realtor at Prudential Keyside Properties. ‘Everybody’s broke.’”
“It left scars, too. Properties that housed residents and tourists are now bulldozed and empty, marked by chain link fences and ‘keep out’ signs. In the last seven years, developers have collectively borrowed nearly $1 billion for at least 18 upscale Keys’ projects that ran into severe financial problems, according to public records and information provided by the developers.”
“‘The rat bastards bought up our property and took our affordable housing,’ said backcountry fishing guide Capt. Dennis Robinson.”
“In Marathon, Virginia-based developer L.M. Sandler & Son evicted 90 mobile homeowners at Gulfstream Trailer Park and invited high-end buyers to parties to see their planned Marlin Bay Yacht Club with $1.6 million to $4 million townhomes, private marina, clubhouse, pool and observation tower. As part of the deal, they agreed to build some affordable housing. The first 13 of 84 townhomes were built, but only two sold. Construction was halted in May 2008 and nobody knows when - or if - it will resume.”
“‘They were greedy,’ said Muffett Barth, who lives with her dog Lucky and refused to sell her quaint bayfront home even though developers included her property in the initial footprint of the project.”
“‘You can’t bust into the Keys, saying, ‘I’m a big shot and everyone has got to move,’ she said.”
“‘You can’t have the snake swallow the whole egg,’ said Mark Goldman, an instructor at San Diego State University. ‘If the banks foreclose all at once, there will be oversupply.’”
Isn’t that how snakes eat?
Wouldn’t it be better to get all of the foreclosures done at once and move on?
Isn’t that how snakes eat?
You beat me to it. I was gonna complain about that inaccuracy.
Although I do like the ’snake’ as a metaphor for banks. That’s very appropriate.
Egg snake
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLk4rsCNFFU
That proves that Goldman doesn’t know his metaphors very well.
There is something obscenely gratifying about watching that video; maybe I just have a dirty mind…
Wow..that’s worse than Oly attacking a rib-eye roast.
Find one where the snake swallows the “ELEPHANT under the rug” and Mr. Bear will be truly amazed!
Wow..that’s worse than Oly attacking a rib-eye roast.
Well, I don’t know about that. When I meet an good rib-eye it can get pretty unseemly in a very short time.
Why, this snake just sort of delicately licks that egg a bit!
When I meet a good thick rib-eye steak, all charred up on the outside and deliciously pink and tender on the inside, why, my joy knows no bounds. I become noisy and enthusiastic. Whoops and hollers and squeals and bounding up and down and so forth. Plus the twirling and singing.
Did this snake twirl and sing?
No, it didn’t. I deplore that lack of gusto.
Another difference is that I chew now and then, unlike this snake. Although, like the snake, my eyes get glassy and unfocused and I don’t pay attention to anything else. Also my jaws don’t open that wide. Close, though…
…Hey, tell you what! I’ll videotape my next ribeye episode and post it on youtube! Please be careful, though. I don’t want you to faint or have ‘an episode’ or anything.
Have you seen the photo of the python in the everglades splitting in half cause he got the crocodile first, and it was a bit to much for his girth?
Both died.
Testy!
Have you seen the photo of the python in the everglades splitting in half cause he got the crocodile first, and it was a bit to much for his girth?
Both died.
Maybe it was worth it.
pigman snake (sort of…use your imagination, folks!)
Professor Goldman needs to wander over to the zoology dept. @ San Diego State and watch a few snakes eat - maybe they’ll let him put the little mouse in the cage w/ the snake. Are they all that mentally challenged or is it just the ones stupid enough to talk to the press?
Silly Professor Goldman, (How apropos is that name, Hwy wonders if he’s tenured?) I certain tht he meant to say:
“‘You can’t have the snake swallow the whole x12 egg’s & the box they come in,’
In keeping with the themes of snakes swallowing and rat bastards, below I repost the link to my slideshow of a Texas rat snake eating a rat (fell out of a tree in our back yard one night last April). Some of you my not have seen it.
after the w-s: flickr.com/photos/26352634@N05/sets/72157617535193294/show/
I think there should be a special place in RE / developer hell for the rat bastards that displace trailer parks, rv parks, mom and pop motels etc. to put in luxury developments that fail.
On Water St. in Rockport TX on Aransas Bay, there used to be a well-kept little RV park inhabited largely by geezer fishermen on long-term leases. They fished and barbecued and sat around in lawn chairs drinking beer out of cans while they watched the clouds over the bay - the geezer fisherman’s dream retirement. A developer bought the RV park - probably for quite a bit, since it was waterfront income producing property. He subdivided for a little “beach development” with a Celebration FL look. I think he built and sold two houses, one to a relative, and and has 6 lots sitting empty. Rat bastard.
Hay cuidado - I saw that series of photos last spring. Awesomely grotesque.
My exploding boa/gator confrontation is to be found at youtube if you do a search for “Python Swallows Alligotor Explodes”. It’s gross. Evidently a large python was set free somewhere in the Everglades and thought he could swallow a mighty alligator.
Yeah, that a super video! Thanks for reposting.
I saved the link when you first posted, but I can’t recall where I saved it.
Awesomely grotesque to watch too. I am glad it was a rat rather than a bird. That would have been harder to watch.
Speaking of birds, we have noticed the last few days hardly any birds at our feeders. We have 5 sunflower / safflower feeders, 3 thistle feeders, a hummingbird feeder (in season now), and 4 bird baths - normally, we refresh all daily.
For a few days, we’ve only seen a few birds, as opposed to our usual abundance. We thought that maybe it was because of having had rain after 2 years of drought - thought those ungrateful little freeloaders were abandoning us.
Last evening we learned the reason. Sitting on a big tree branch about 20 feet up, was a barred owl. Huge. The bird guide says 21 inches length. Its head was around the size of a softball, perhaps a bit bigger. We had an unobscured view through living room window. It was looking right at us as we sat on the floor with the binoculars. I moved over to the storm door to get a view without screening and then it looked straight at me. Unblinking. I presume it fixes its attention where it perceives movement. Later, its gaze was fixed on our “mint farm” - a pallet covered with pots of mint. We thought it might have caught the motion of a lizard that lives there.
It was exciting. I hope he moves on before long though, so we get our usual birds back.
Here’s the lizard (I hope he survived being under the owl’s gaze) meditating on a piece of yard art.
after the w-s : flickr.com/photos/26352634@N05/4017963364/in/set-72157622475343249/
Must be owl season. I hear one outside my window, at night-how quaint!
On Water St. in Rockport TX on Aransas Bay, there used to be a well-kept little RV park inhabited largely by geezer fishermen … A developer bought the RV park … I think he built and sold two houses, one to a relative, and and has 6 lots sitting empty.Rat bastard.
Oh, if only we could see what he looks like while going through a snake…
*wistful sigh *
We won’t see it, because we’ll be in a different level of hell from the RE / developers.
Well we can take a fieldtrip, I hope.
- the geezer fisherman’s dream retirement
I know a few of those guys. Used to be cute in HS. Not so much now, but they do love their fishin.
Well a cute geezer guy fisherman would be kind of a waste, wouldn’t it?
Hahaaha! Funny!
Except for to mermaids. I was thinking about them today, because the rains are finally here. Goody!
I used to see that all the time when I worked at an all you can eat buffet.
Does anybody have a video of the cat drinking the whole swimming pool?
There is also a video of a big boa that had tried to eat an alligator somewhere in the Everglades and had exploded. The footage is on Youtube somewhere. Just put in a search with the phrase “boa tries to swallow gator” and it should come up. The worst ever. Neither one survived the experience, by the way.
There is also a video of a big boa that had tried to eat an alligator
I want to see the one where the feather boa tries to eat the stripper.
LOL
Verry funny.
He obviously hasn’t seen the Animal Channel. Or anything at all related to nature.
It’s like getting papercuts. Just grab a knife and slash your wrists. Get it over with.
From the original post:
“Some of the agents who got involved in fraud had licenses but were not Realtors, who agree to follow a code of ethics, Brown pointed out. He said the fraud is troubling to those who follow and abide by the rules. Documents are scrutinized to look at homeowners’ promises, salaries, and other information. ‘You find not only do they not have the money today, they never had it,’ he added.”
Oh, for Pete’s sake. The vaunted code of ethics. We know how much that matters.
“‘The rat bastards bought up our property and took our affordable housing,’ said backcountry fishing guide Capt. Dennis Robinson.”
“Marlin Bay Yacht Club with $1.6 million to $4 million townhomes, private marina, clubhouse, pool and observation tower. As part of the deal, they agreed to build some affordable housing. The first 13 of 84 townhomes were built, but only two sold. Construction was halted in May 2008 and nobody knows when - or if - it will resume.”
Don’t worry Capt. Dennis, the rat bastards are broke(it was borrowed in the first place), they stunk up the place and left. They don’t stand a snow balls chance in hell of completing these over blown over priced dumps. Hold your course, those days are gone, and ain’t coming back.
Amen!
The rat bastards bought up our property
I’m glad the Keys is being relieved of its rat bastard problem. Austin’s rat bastard infestation has eased a little since a few years ago, but there still are plenty that need to be flushed out.
“Some of the agents who got involved in fraud had licenses but were not Realtors, who agree to follow a code of ethics, Brown pointed out.
Code of ethics? Ethics??? Did this guy actually and for really combine the two–’Realtors’ plus ‘code of ethics’ in the very same sentence?!? With a straight face?
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH!
*gasp, gasp *
AHAHAHAHAHAAHAH!
Can’t breathe! Swallowed tongue! Help! Help! My head’s about to a’splode!
made me think of my “business ethics” class i had to take in college…it was taught by an attorney. he also taught my “logic” class and once said “i’m gonna teach you how to win and argument whether you are right or not”.
“it’s a big ole goofy world” by John Prine.
Sophistry has been around awhile.
I hold the winning hand if we’re pulling out the stories on the laughability of colleges teaching ethics. Not gonna write it up now, cause it’s long, late in the day so no one would read it, and perhaps TMI as well.
But know that it is the winner regardless.
Not gonna write it up now, cause it’s long, late in the day so no one would read it, and perhaps TMI as well.
But know that it is the winner regardless.
Well, it’s 8:33 pee emm and the rains have arrived, for sure this time. So I want to read it! Mr. Winner Regardless!
Me too. I like to read- the truer the better.
Well, the world is crazy, the march toward the inevetable 8k extension continues, wall street gets record bonuses, forclosures are drying up and the recession is over, right?
Tell that to everyone I work with facing -another- minimum wage month. I give up, I’m not fighting it anymore, I’m sick of slaving away till 9PM 6 days a week for nothing, only to miss my 5 month old son growing up. I’m tired of wishing I had a government job like my wife (teacher making 40K off 180 days a year with full benefits and a retirement package). I registered myself for a full load of classes in January to finish up college, I’ll be teaching in 2 years or so, enjoying everything that comes along with it.
The wife asked if I am crazy giving up such a goodl paid job, I replied that i’m not the one who decided to give up my pay. The car biz is torched, I can either starve for a few years or make a change. I was 2 years from having enough cash to start a store of my own, but at this income rate it’ll never happen. If I become a teacher I can still save up and try my business idea out in a few more years… 5 years from today maybe??? And if it never happens I still get my weekends and holidays off, vacations and summer, a decent paycheck, free medical, and time to spend with my son. Sounds win/win to me.
If you can’t beat em join em.
Teaching jobs aren’t exactly plentiful right now. Also, it’s pretty funny to hear a car salesman talk down on lowly teachers and say things like “if you can’t beat em join em.” Teachers don’t have much to complain about in terms of compensation (most make a lot more than the 40k you mentioned) but it isn’t the sort of job that car salesman and realtors should go into because it has become more difficult to make six figures conning people out of hard-earned money. God help your students if you actually become a teacher.
My mother taught public school for 22 years. She’s very quick to call BS on anyone who says that the teacher’s workday ends at 3 p.m.
Mom used to correct papers well into the evening. And that was just correcting papers. She also had to do lesson plans, grades, memos, and meetings. Lots of meetings. (Mom was a department head.)
As for those summers off, hah! Mom was forever taking this, that, and the other professional development course.
Boy, every teacher I know doesn’t do any of that. They are always thanking God they have summer off, or two weeks at Christmas, or spring break, or the numerous four day weekends for important “holidays” like Columbus Day and President’s Day.
Also, not many teachers work Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, July 4th, etc. like I do. So I don’t have any sympathy when they complain about their jobs.
And the development classes are a joke. They only take them to get their pay bumps. A friend earned a Masters over a summer on the Internet for his pay bump. One summer for a Masters. Gimme a break.
Please don’t paint all teachers with the same brush. My husband’s complaints have never been about the kids he teaches, just the attitudes of their parents, and the crap that comes with adminstrators setting up their littl fiefdoms.
Well now that we have that whole ‘no student left behind’, the testing that teachers used to spend hours doing, xeroxing from books, etc. Bill Bennet- remember him, used to work for ETS, Education Testing systems (or such) was majorly pro privatization of schools, got tapped to be the education czar, then suddenly the ETS went from a multi million dollar corp to a Billion +++ corp because now it is mandatory that teachers use the $15.oo per student tests only they provide. So, teachers pay is tied to how well students are graded (not learning). It has been a major slog against public education for over 30 yrs,thank you ronnie r.
Teachers-80% of them are terrific and deserve to be honored/respected/paid well, especially with all they have to deal with, bratty-entitled students, even brattier-more entitled adults, and then bureaucracy.
It is in the corporate interest to get privatization of schools into the hands of ETS and so forth. Remember when books weren’t nearly as expensive as they are now?
Holy MOly.
Actually, I think you will find that the same textbooks are approximately the same price as they have always been, inflation adjusted. It’s the new texts with all the side bars and endless color plates that are expensive. Of course we couldn’t expect the teacher to use the same math book forever could we? I mean, don’t topics like math go out of date?
/sarcasm off
It IS a very hard job, from seeing what my daughter goes through.
I’m sure she’s smarter than the future math teachers my son has classes with.
One public school in our town has 30 kindergardeners to a teacher and its not a shortage of teachers so much as a shortage of money.
I can see school districts having to cut back as well in a few years.
Now if only the school districts could get rid of the incompetent teachers, the schools might actually improve some.
“I’ll be teaching in 2 years or so”
You need to be careful with this. Many districts are letting fully certified, experienced teachers (in core subject areas) go, so this may not be an easy path. A large chunk of teachers survived this year because of the CRA. It’s not the fall-back industry it used to be.
On a personal note, I get a substantial dose of schadenfreude from people that think teachers are stupid during booms, and clever during busts and then want to teach. It’s not like anyone just ‘found out’ what teachers’ work conditions are like. You say “summer’s off” like you never knew!
However, Temporal, I will not be mean, and suggest this: be a high school biology teacher. Every year 2nd and 3rd year teachers go off to med school after padding their resumes by teaching in “tough” schools. If I had to pick one grade level/content area as the highest turnover/best opportunity, high school bio is it.
Under Obamacare they won’t be making the big $ in medicine anymore unless they are a death squad member. Bring back Kivorkian.
Please come back in two years and tell us all about your new teaching job. I sincerely doubt that you will be able to convince anyone to hire you. By two years from now there will be a huge glut of people who had long productive careers after college and became teachers in areas close to the ones from which they were laid off. And there will be a nearly infinite supply of outstanding young people fresh out of school who will be much more able to convince a school principal that they always wanted to teach, love kids, and are eager for all the challenges and hard work. Oh, and then you can get behind the teachers who are currently being laid off because of funding. In two years, the stimulous money that is keeping at least some of them employed will be used up.
You let the tiniest hint that you are in it for the money, the benefits and the vacation and they will dump you on your butt by the side of the road.
I’ll let you know how it goes. I’m putting a response to all of this in todays bits bucket…
I was down at Port Aransas last year and was shocked to see a house for sale at the $700k range. It wasn’t even on the beach.
Port Aransas
Did you see the Newport Beach and Golf Homes & Arnold Palmer designed golf course outside Port Aransas? Last I drove through a year or so ago, they were just marking out the lots. The lots were so small that my friend insisted they were for trailers. I argued that developers don’t put in that kind of golf course to create a trailer park. The conception is that the community will be pedestrian and golf cart friendly. I wonder if they’ve built any homes yet, or gone broke? Besides being way late to the party, the place didn’t “fit” the island. Also arguably an environmental disaster, despite some supposedly marvelous dune-stabilizing technology.
http://www.newportbeachandgolf.com/home.html
’supposedly marvelous dune-stabilizing technology’
In the gulf? Thanks for the laugh!
Well, yeah, Ben.
You think that there might be a flaw in the plan for the Arnold Palmer designed golf course - with fairways planted on / amidst the native dunes of a barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico?
Wind and water will reclaim it all.
‘the plan for the Arnold Palmer designed golf course’
I see this enough to think that there must be a vault where AP put thousands of golf course designs back for future generations. I imagine he sat around in his underwear, drinking tequila, with a dartboard saying, “and the 17th hole HERE, and the bar HERE.”
thousands of golf course designs
Ha ha ha. Well, but in how many cases could a storm give you Arnold Palmer designed fairways amid native dunes in your own front yard? Well, since they’re zero lot line … your new front yard where the street used to be.
I used to live on a barrier island in Texas. The storms could give you a new set of dunes and course layouts every month! BTW, there is a reason the locals call it “Port A.”
Ble?
LOL
goodone hip.
Only problem with the plan is that school districts from Maine to California are going broke, laying off, not hiring etc. Teaching jobs most places have multiple applicants for each job.
Despite always having had well paying jobs in the private sector, advanced degrees and accredations, I have tried for several years to get on with the gvmt., just for the job and retirement income security, never with any success. I think that deal is either you know someone, or ocassionally you win the lottery. Not likely for most of us.
I’ve delt with a number of IRS people and other gvmt regulatory types and always found myself thinking, how the hell did that guy/gal ever get that job. Very few bright bulbs on that tree.
FLASHING LIGHT ALERT:
Very few bright bulbs on that tree.
And Bright Bulbs are told to get lost in this economy.
My wife is a teacher/administrator….she has a mtg next week with a big time lawyer about his kid….”..expect to spend the whole day on this matter, and I will be bringing my court reporter to take notes..”
My daughters’ best friend is a 1st grade teacher at an inner school in Baltimore….this Monday she colasphed at her school with flu. Ambulance took her to hospital.
My wife at night (special ed), emails, does prepand final reports, talks with younger teachers that are in tears…yea an easy job!
Our of our kids and the spouse both teach at the HS level.
After a decade they both still love what they do and never consider themselves overworked. They LOVE the summer off, plus all the other holidays and “teacher work days” (LOL).
They’ve both seen layoffs in their respective schools so I concur that unless this economy turns around no newbies need apply.
Except with that type of attitude, no one will hire you.
If by some chance you do make it through the program and get hired, I hope you are nowhere near my daughter’s school district.
you took my words wrong badcat…
I’m not sure how things got so twisted (maybe in the frustration I was trying to express?). I’m not ready to rest on my laurels and make minimum wage (assuming I have a job). I need to make a change so I’m making one. I was on track to be a teacher before circumstance led me to this career. I will be a great teacher.
‘There is no shadow inventory; there is no bank conspiracy; there are no houses waiting like vine-ripened tomatoes for the moment to be plucked, says a recent report from ForeclosureRadar. Thousands of adjustable loans will reset in 2010 and 2011, leading another possible wave of foreclosures. In recent months, banks have been moving slowly to foreclose on some delinquent properties, leading to speculation that they may get organized and foreclose on them all at once some time in the future.
…
But ForeclosureRadar’s report argued that Congress and the president will push banks into finding creative ways to prevent foreclosures.
That’s where Goldman and Lynn Reaser, an economist at Point Loma-Nazarene University, respectfully disagree.
“The increase in the jobless rate to high levels is still a considerable risk to the housing market,” Reaser said. “And we probably will see foreclosures rising or staying at very high levels throughout 2010. That will keep somewhat of a dampening on the market.”‘
The ForeclosureRadar people work off a different definition of shadow inventory than I do. So far as I am concerned, a home occupied by a delinquent borrower represents a dead loan walking, and hence should be counted in shadow inventory. The ForeclosureRadar people seem to take more of a cargo cultist perspective, assuming the Obamanites and / or the Demoratic Congress will rescue almost everyone who is currently on the path to foreclosure.
“The ForeclosureRadar people seem to take more of a cargo cultist perspective, assuming the Obamanites and / or the Demoratic Congress will rescue almost everyone who is currently on the path to foreclosure.”
Yes, it is wonderful when all the cumbersome laws that bound and constrained us before, can be just swept away in convenient popular consensus.
The rule of law? No longer applies.
The Constitution? Into the garbage.
Actions have consequences? Not around here.
Truths that are self-evident? Forget them.
We are now in the fabulous, glorious days of Federal Print and Rescue. Personal responsibility is dead. Long live Big Brother!
There were TWO inserts in the Loveland paper today listiing Larimer countyforeclosure notices. The Candy Crapping Unicorn must be constipated or something.
“The ForeclosureRadar people work off a different definition of shadow inventory than I do.”
Well, the “vine-ripened tomatoes (waiting) to be plucked” metaphor doesn’t work at all. All too many foreclosures are more like rotten decaying fruit on its way to be rendered into the soil.
Regardless, if you count all the houses in Illinois two-year-long foreclosure process as “shadow inventory”… there is a lot of fine compost coming down the pipe.
Not to mention — would not the ForeclosureRadar people have a little self-serving interest in promoting the idea that there WON’T be a slew of new foreclosures, thus driving up their business? (”Get ‘em while they’re hot!”)
“There is no shadow inventory; there is no bank conspiracy; there are no houses waiting like vine-ripened tomatoes for the moment to be plucked, says a recent report from ForeclosureRadar.”
——
I call BULLSHIT! I’m located in Scottsdale, AZ and there are 12 properties that have gone back to the bank between April - June of 2009 and have been abandoned for what appears to be close to a year. In all 12 situations they are homes that I (as a first time home buyer) are very interested in & in each case they went to foreclose, back to the lender and have yet to go on the market. This is after searching through more than 200+ properties that we’ve looked at that we put in the “yeah we wouldn’t mind living here” category within 4 nearby zipcodes (85260, 85259, 85255 & 85054) of N. Scottsdale.
Sure we’ve seen some that have gone on the market soon after going back to the lender, but this has been rare in terms of what we’ve seen first hand on the street. This is once again just a push to ring the dinner bell for inexperienced foreclosure vultures to place multiple bids on the limited supply of REO’s before the $8,000 tax credit.
Personally we feel that the $8,000 tax credit will be extended (or even increased) once it expires and we’re going to wait this one out even further. The dead cat bounce has yet to happen and quite honestly once the Temps reach 110 degrees in the AZ area next summer there will be an even better market with less buyers and more inventory to choose from.
“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”
- Jean Jacques Rousseau
I should also point out that we’re only looking at home $350,000 or less (i.e. FHA range) and still see a lot of homes that we would consider part of the “Shadow Inventory”. That doesn’t even account for homes that have not even gone back to the bank just yet. That tidal wave in the distance will far out pace the inventory that we’ve seen the last 18 months.
I’m waiting and looking too. Although I prefer Scottsdale in the zip codes you mention, I’m also looking in Ahwatukee. I’m finding some interesting SFHs for sale on Zillow that are in the $185k range. My places of interest are west of 44th street around Ray Rd and all the way to Desert Foothills blvd.
I think in next summer I will see a couple of houses around $150k in that little region.
If my net worth stays above the current level I may do a cash purchase.
“Marc Zandi, chief economist of MoodysEconomy.com, is the latest to push for an extension of the $8,000 tax credit. Zandi wants to see the credit extended to next June to all buyers except the very wealthy. Zandi’s concerned that rising unemployment and foreclosures still represent major drags on the market.”
Communist.
I just don’t understand how the guy decides each morning if he’s going to be a cheerleader or a doomsayer that day?
His life must be confusing, living with all those contradictions and all.
How do you spell what I hear: (paper dollars making the sound of coin) $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ ChaaaaChinnggggggggggggggg!
I believe this Zandi was McCain’s adviser during the election.
Zandi is such a tool I can’t believe anyone listens to him.
‘From all appearances, it does look like they’re managing it better,’ said Charlene Singley, president of the Sacramento Association of Realtors.”
From all appearances, it looks like collusion to artificially restrict supply and keep home prices at unaffordable levels.
How did a similar plan work out for the Hunt brothers when they tried to corner the silver market?
If people keep talking like this, I’m going to start thinking the banks are talking to each other about how many each can try to sell in each area and that sounds like an antitrust violation to me. Like OPEC nations allocating a limited amount of oil they want to supply to the market each year.
Of course, you have to find someone to enforce it…
Polly,
You are the one with the legal training, not I. So far as I am aware, there is no international law which prevents OPEC from colluding as a cartel to manipulate oil prices. I am less clear whether central banks are legally allowed to collude on prices (e.g., interest rates like the LIBOR) in the international arena, though the prima facie empirical evidence that this happens seems fairly compelling.
However, on the domestic front, it is another story:
Identifying Price-Fixing Activities: Price fixing generally involves any agreement between competitors to tamper with prices or price levels, or terms and conditions of sale (e.g., interest rates for consumer credit), for commodities or services. Generally speaking, price fixing involves an agreement by two or more competing producers of a specific commodity, or competing providers of a particular service, in a defined geographic area, to raise, set or maintain prices for their goods or services. It may take place at either the wholesale or retail level and, although it need not involve every competitor in a particular market, it usually involves most of the competitors in the particular market.
…
Who said anything about prosecuting OPEC? I just used them as an example of a group getting together to decide how much of something they wanted to put on the market and divying up that amount into shares. Sovreign nations are not subject the internal laws of a different country.
You have a rather casual way of dealing with all legal issues. Like your implication from last weekend that setting up a system that likely to result in a bubble in certain sucurities prices could be prosecuted as securities fraud (absurd, any securities regulation written that loosely would be unconstitutionally vague). If you don’t know anything about the subject at all, lay off.
“You have a rather casual way of dealing with all legal issues.”
That’s your gig, not mine. I only practice vigilanty legalism when I suspect the PTB are abdicating their duty to uphold the law of the land. But I have no time or interest in doing a careful job.
“If you don’t know anything about the subject at all, lay off.”
OK, Polly, from now on I will lay off and leave it up to the experts, just as you suggest (not)…
Prof is being feisty! Now I know where to come for humor..late evenings.
I really do think casual is the way to go for non-lawyers when discussing legal issues. If I saw a man getting stabbed in the back with a knife, I would have no idea whether the perpetrator was technically committing murder, manslaughter or self defense. However, I certainly would suspect that perhaps a serious crime had been committed, and would hope that if I called attention to the crime in an appropriate fashion, that society would respond with an attempt to restore justice.
So it goes when I suspect high crimes in finance. I don’t claim to know what constitutes a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. But I most certainly am interested in making sure that something which takes the appearance of a violation is thoroughly investigated, rather than ignored.
And if my posts here occasionally reveal that I happen to not know what I am talking about on a particular subject, I humbly apologize for my lack of omniscience. But please try to remember that this is a blog, and I am not claiming any expertise in securities law. When I post on subjects of which I am ignorant, I always try to employ the Socratic method (ask a question) rather than pretend to know all the answers.
That said, I suggest those who think they know better than me try to stay on topic and explain what is wrong with what I said, rather than making vaguely disparaging attempts to personally discredit me.
“…So far as I am aware, there is no international law which prevents OPEC from colluding as a cartel to manipulate oil prices.”
Geez Mr. Bear, you usually are far more inclusive that that! (Hwy wonders if only OPEC is in the “oil bidness” of manipulation)
So far as I am aware, there is no international law . . .
There, fixed it for you.
There is one general law against international cartels…..its called war.
Ok, here is the part I don’t get. Let us assume that there is collusion and there is a cartel that works to keep inventory off the market. Would it not be like a cartel, in that it would be in each individuals best interest to cheat? If I were one of the smaller players, I’d be very tempted to carefully prepare, and then suddenly dump all of my inventory on the market, befor the cartel could respond, in hopes that I could get my price before the glut hits.
Am I missing something?
“‘You can’t have the snake swallow the whole egg,’ said Mark Goldman, an instructor at San Diego State University. ‘If the banks foreclose all at once, there will be oversupply.’”
Apparently, snakes are entirely capable of swallowing both sheep and people (not sure about sheeple, though).
Wow.
Ummm…thanks for the links. I think?
And here I’ve been looking for an x-ray image of a snake swallowing lightbulbs.
I tried to find one of a snake swallowing a UHS, to no avail…
do share as soon as you find one
lol
Boston is dead in the water. I watch listings pretty carefully, and there hasn’t been any movement in a few weeks (no signed offers, P&Ss). We’ve been in decline since at least 2003, but I’ve never seen it like this.
My parents (central MA) just forwarded an email from an agent touting sales up 84% and prices up 11%. The devil is in the details… total number of houses sold in this marvelous quarter? Six.
Lies, damn lies, and statistics.
MGIC posts 9th straight loss
By Don Walker of the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Oct. 16, 2009 7:14 a.m.
MGIC Investment Corp., (MTG) reported its ninth straight quarterly loss on Friday as homeowners continued to struggle to meet their mortgage payments.
The Milwaukee-based company, the nation’s largest mortgage insurer, said its third-quarter loss ballooned to $517.8 million, or $4.17 a share, from a loss of $115.4 million, or 93 cents, a year ago.
This isn’t going to end well folks
http://tinyurl.com/yfqhsgy
““Robert Cooper, an attorney in Aventura, said he represented clients who sued to buy condos, which they claimed had been sold out from under them — after they signed a contract — to people who offered a higher price. ‘This was not a normal real estate market,’ Cooper said. ‘People were going crazy.’””
Crazy. I thought the proper term was ’savy’.
“You can’t have the snake swallow the whole egg,’ said Mark Goldman, an instructor at San Diego State University.”
This guy must have just attended a conference where Snaith was the keynote.
“Muffett Barth”
This is the most stunning name I have encountered on this blog.
My US Senator’s name is Mike Crapo.
In case nobody believes me. http://crapo.senate.gov/
He pronounces it “cray-poe”.
pronounces it “cray-poe”
Well, he shows a modicum of intelligence anyway.
Well Boehner -phonetically spelled is pronounced Boner.
And Kyl phonetically is Kill cause if it was with an E then it would be phonetically KILE . So instead of changing their names so as not to confuse people into making jokes of them and
” Their policies”…
What about that KYL guy. kill as in kill anything he doesn’t agree with, which is everything. Creepy john bircher.
You sure, Muggy? The bar is pretty high for that. “Banga” is only the latest.
I always very much enjoy reading about ‘Dick Gaylord’, the Realtor president of some Florida association or other.
Yes, really! That’s his real name!
“You sure, Muggy?”
Yes.
Muffy!?!?!
I want to thank wmbz and Prof Bear for their tireless posting of interesting news links for the rest of us to natter on about.
+1
(Hwy throws back a “shot” in agreement to Ben’s HBB poet: lavi d)
(Hwy throws back a “shot” in agreement to Ben’s HBB poet: lavi d)
Hwy, unlike our esteemed pres, I’m going to have to politely decline that sobriquet - it rightfully belongs to Oly.
I am just the resident smart-ass.
But thanks for thinking of me.
Poets come in all stripes…just like a naked zebra…
It’s a disease. Hopefully there is some social and entertainment value involved, though…
Well there goes all the jobs for the locals, and with no place park to hook up for the night… well …lets go to the next town and spend money there.
——————————————————————–
In Key Largo, developers of Playa Cristal Resort bought the popular American Outdoors RV Park, with ambitious plans in 2006 to turn the land with 154 RV hookups into a condo-hotel with 92 upscale units, a restaurant and lounge built in a style “reminiscent of the Hemingway era in Cuba.” Price: $690,000 to $4 million per unit.
The developers, Cortex Living Resort, demolished the park, but all they have to show for the resort is a fading sign off U.S. 1 that says “The Pearl of Key Largo.” The property is now embroiled in a $40 million foreclosure lawsuit.
“Dee Montano, a substitute teacher, said her family was pushed to the brink of foreclosure in September after her husband lost his job as a construction superintendent and the couple missed four months of payments on a $320,000 mortgage. ‘Honestly, I don’t see the economy making a quick rebound anytime soon,’ she said. ‘Everybody is holding their breath, waiting for the worst to happen.’”
Not to beat the dead horse, but this is the crux of the problem, a substitute teacher and a construction worker buying a $320,000 house. It doesn’t compute. The debt service and taxes on that kind of property would be a huge stretch for a full time teacher and a construction worker in the best of times. But for a part time teacher, and someone in a cyclical industry, its a disaster looking for a place to happen.
I have long been employed in professional level jobs, earning in the low 90th percentile of household income, and I sweated a $100K mortgage. Granted, I am ultra conservative and may have missed the joys of the McMansion, and 5000 sq. ft. of house on 7,000 ft of land, but I’ve never had to particularly worry about the downturns.
“Not to beat the dead horse, but this is the crux of the problem, a substitute teacher and a construction worker buying a $320,000 house.”
And “professional economists” won’t discuss this publicly either.
Tax incentives for first-time buyers do little to affect the income factor of demand. The housing market needs an economic recovery.
My local paper does get things right from time to time.
I think the biggest unexplored story in the Boise housing area is the impact of out-of-state speculators buying every house the developers could build during the bubble. IIUC these speculators defaulted en masse and there aren’t enough local people to buy up those houses now.
“IIUC these speculators defaulted en masse and there aren’t enough local people to buy up those houses now.”
Mark to market prices on those homes might attract families to move there, but the banking regulators don’t believe in market forces.
I say hurray for Muffy Barth–
who held her ground and saved her hearth from “gentrifying” twits with dough who told her that she’d have to go,
so wealthy types could moor their yachts and put in granite countertops.
Said Muffy,”You can go to hell, this is my home and I won’t sell.
Go stuff it where the moon don’t shine, you may have yours, but I GOT MINE!”
Handy tip:
It’s never a good idea to antagonize ornery old wimmin who name their dog, “Lucky.”
It’s never a good idea to antagonize ornery old wimmin who name their dog, “Lucky.”
Priceless, ahansen!
Also it’s unwise to antagonize ornery old coots like me who name their cat “Fluffy Pumpkin”.
How about “Meowser” and Lacy”? What? I should’ve give ‘em manly cat names like “Clawster” or “Flannel” ??
I had a cat named Pumpkin also Dennis.
name their cat “Fluffy Pumpkin”.
Nuh uhh! Really?! HAHAHAHAHA! That’s cute.
Normally I’ve named cats normal names like Larry or Katie.
In 1998 a stray orange Maine Coon kitten started showing up in my backyard. I made friends with him as is my wont. When he would sit there he was a ball of bright orange fluff. Not knowing his name, I told him that he looked like a fluffy pumpkin. Later on I asked him the question you should never put to a stray cat: “so who do you belong to?” By the time I realized that he was MY cat I had been referring to him as Fluffy Pumpkin for weeks.
He dropped dead suddenly of cardiac arrest last year. I miss him.
When my niece was a little girl, my SIL actually made her a little pumpkin Halloween costume. The cubby body of her pumpkin outfit went from her tiny legs to her neck and she had a funny stovepipe hat over her head with tiny eyeholes. She was cute and everyone from her neighborhood to my brothers corporation either saw, saw photos or her about “the pumpkin” and the nickname stuck.
Years passed and the little pumpkin grew and developed, babysat for friends, neighbors and became more and more popular. Pumpkin was on the HS Swimming Team and just got her drivers license when she stopped off and poked her head in to pick up my brother and me at a guys party in a local bar restuarant. Neither of us saw her until a mighty cheer of “Pumpkin..Pumpkin” from young and old went up from 120-150 guys.
The Pumpkin politely smiled, bowed and waved to all her friends and admirers and when the noise slowed down, my brother stood, raised his hands and said in a stern voice. “That’s MY 17 year old Daughter and I’ll strangle the next guy that calls her Pumpkin.”
We had to stay an extra hour as the laughter and Pumpkin cheers…were just to funny.
Is it two weeks in a row now with no bank closings?
Another tough Sunday morning for bad chile. Isn’t bad chile the one who carves a notch into his chair arm or something every time a bank fails?
That would be me.
And I gots me one! We’re at 99 after this Friday.
“Is it two weeks in a row now with no bank closings?”
Yeah…but you should see the shadow inventory
Nope they closed one here in CA
NEW YORK – Regulators shut down San Joaquin Bank in California on Friday, marking the 99th failure this year of a federally insured bank.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of San Joaquin Bank, based in Bakersfield, Calif. It had $775 million in assets and $631 million in deposits as of Sept. 29.
Nothing is moving in my zip, n chicago, including prices. I have no idea were the reos are there have been hundreds of foreclosures in my zip but few reos. I know of one development that was forclosed on two years ago and just sits with the starting at 500k sign rotting out front.
I looked at several lake front condos this summer. One short sale went under contract but has not sold, the rest are rented. What a cluster f.
How does one justify paying 320K for what is probably an average house. I don’t get it. If you built the house yourself it would probably cost 100K in materials. It is a little stupid house on a small patch of land.
This must be the same line of thinking that a car salesman gave me once. He says, hey don’t think about the price…think about what the monthly payment will be. People must look at one another and go, well…if you work and I work we can make that 2600 payment….we can do it.
What has become of our society that we will die working to pay for a larger house than we need. We are willing to sacrifice precious time with friends and family so that we can afford the dumbass house.
I just don’t get it. When you start adding it all up…the principal and interest payment, the insurance, the taxes, the PMI insurance, the maintenance.
Lets get something very straight. You don’t own the dumbass house. The bank does. All you own is an OPTION….and option to sell it IF you can sell it and pay off the loan. If you can’t do that then you LOSE the house and all you put into it if you ever fall on hard times…if you start missing payments.
Its a damn house not your firstborn child.
“How does one justify paying 320K for what is probably an average house. I don’t get it.”
The Fed has signaled that they are going to prop up the value of housing, and many people (including, presumably, those who are currently buying) believe they will succeed in their efforts.
UHS laugh of the week.
http://icanhascheezburger.com/2009/10/16/funny-pictures-agent-lied-to-us/
.
I don’t get it.
2 ducks sitting in a puddle of water?
Yeah… hilarious
“How does one justify paying 320K for what is probably an average house. I don’t get it.”
This is an absurd.
Idaho Unemployment Trends - September 2009
Idaho Unemployment Trends Visualized as a Heat Map:
Idaho Unemployment in September 2009 (BLS data)
http://www.localetrends.com/st/id_idaho_unemployment.php?MAP_TYPE=curr_ue
versus Idaho Unemployment Levels 1 year ago
http://www.localetrends.com/st/id_idaho_unemployment.php?MAP_TYPE=m12_ue