Bits Bucket For August 14, 2010
Post off-topic ideas, links and Craigslist finds here
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
To donate by mail, or to otherwise contact this blogger, please send emails to: thehousingbubble@gmail.com
PayPal is a secure online payment method which accepts ALL major credit cards.
Links
-
May 2024 M T W T F S S « Sep 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Photo Submission: hbbphotos@gmail.com
View the HBB Photo Gallery *updated 4/13/2008
The LA Times has a feature story today about a huge “planned community” that was established in 1958 and is today mostly a ghost town.
In 1958, Nathan Mendelsohn, a Columbia University sociology instructor turned developer, acquired 82,000 acres of desert in eastern Kern County, 100 miles from Los Angeles.
Mendelsohn called his vision California City and, despite the fact it was 10 miles from any highway, he believed it would become the state’s next metropolis. The next San Fernando Valley.
Today a mere 14,000 souls call California City home. Most are clustered at one end of the massive tract. It’s a sleepy outpost with its own school district and public bus service but no hotel or chain grocery. The police chief is also the director of parks and recreation, and the Rite Aid is the busiest place in town.
I had to look it up on a map. Good lord it’s north of Edwards AFB. What the heck was this guy thinking? Those platted streets and cul de sacs were laid out over 50years ago.
Doesn’t that phrase “a Columbia University sociology instructor turned developer” hint that this story isn’t going to end well?
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cal-city-20100814,0,2325763.story
Sounds like Columbia University law professor turned community organizer.
Columbia University guest lecturer. Nothing scholarly published, ever.
“What the heck was the guy thinking?”
He was thinking of the difference between the price of raw desert land (probably something like fifty-dollars an acre) and the price he would get if he could buy up 82,000 of these desolate acres and then subdivide them into plots and then sell off the plots piece-by-piece at much higher prices to schmucks who believe that no matter where the location happens to be, the price of real estate will always go up.
A winning formula that has proven to be very profitable for a developer … for a while.
Even at $50/acre, that’s $4.1 million - in 1958 dollars! Where is some pie-in-the-sky commie sociology prof going to come up with that much money in 1958 to purchase land in the Mojave desert?
It’s done piecemeal.
First, buy options on all 82,000 acres, then buy up a few of these acres, subdivide them and sell them off, then exercise some options and buy a few more acres using money from the previous sales to pay for them.
I remember for years California city being marketed on the TV, along with California Pines. When I say years I’m talking decades.
P.T. Barnum was absolutey correct.
Even though most of the subdivided plots don’t have buildings on them they still are owned by “investors” who years ago plopped down their money so’s to get in on the beginning of this highly promoted land rush into the desert.
I know a few people who bit into this scam. In the early days some of them would spend a weekend or two camping-out on their plots “enjoying” all the gifts the desert has to offer.
That got old very quickly. Soon their plans turned from actually building a house and living there to waiting until the price boomed so they could sell their plot off at a profit.
And waiting, and waiting, and waiting …
“First, buy options on all 82,000 acres, then buy up a few of these acres, subdivide them and sell them off…”
Then with all that money you buy Ohio, flip that and sell that off…
“And waiting, and waiting, and waiting …”
And they never got out of Casablanca. I wonder if any of the 14,000 current inhabitants are their descendants.
What brought you to Casablanca?
I came here for the waters.
Waters? What waters…we’re in the desert!
I guess I was misinformed….
Remember the endless 2am commercials w/ Eric Estrada peddling Oklahoma swampland?
Wonder how those “investors” panned out…..
‘Eric Estrada peddling Oklahoma swampland’
It was Arkansas, IIRC. They got hammered, but I can’t find anything about it on the intertubes anymore.
Apparently Estrada was a pitchman for scams all over the country. I found this by searching “erik estrada land scam”.
National Recreational Properties, Inc (NRPI) is in the business of selling property throughout the United States. NRPI advertises irresistibly priced land through infomercials hosted by Chuck Woolery and, former Chips star, Eric Estrada.
The corporate offices of National Recreational Properties Inc, headquartered in Irvine CA, are headed by Jeffrey Frieden and Robert Friedman. Some of NRPI’s ongoing and sold out lots include: Bella Vista in AR, Lake Shastina in CA, California City - in CA, Ocean Shores in WA, and Horseshoe Bay in TX.
I wanted to visit Austin, so I signed up to see a 100K lot on a golf course. Two sets of association dues, then membership dues. Golf fees.
I loved Austin. The bats under the bridge at night. 6th street. Duplexes under 100K. Airfare, hotel, transfers, with only me and two pretty salesgirls in a mini-van, partying at the property. AND, there was absolutely NO pressure!
Thanks Eric!
I
Same thing with Palm Coast in Florida. I remember going to some land presentation with my folks back in the 70’s (I was only 7-8 at the time), and they bought some swamp land for a couple grand at the time. I think they ended up donating the land to some charity back in the mid-90’s, but if they had held on to it another 5 years or so, it actually would have turned a profit for them.
This is the true “Joshua Tree Extension”.
We have this same thing all over Flordia. Abandoned subdivisions from decades ago, still abandoned, some with new crappy subdivisons adjacent. Google “Rotunda” in Florida.
State property values fall 3.1%
Big 2009 decline is better than U.S. average for year
By Jason Stein of the Journal Sentinel
Aug. 13, 2010
Madison — Shedding billions of dollars, Wisconsin property values last year fell 3.1% - their largest drop in at least a half century without accounting for inflation.
Homeowners in the state still fared better than those nationwide as they coped with a brutal downturn in the housing market that crippled the broader economy.
But to underscore the pain, the $16 billion drop in state property values shown in a state Department of Revenue report released Friday was only the third such dip in the state since 1959 - the earliest year provided by the state.
The other two decreases came in 2008, when
property values fell by 0.5%, and in 1986, when they declined just under 2%.
“Homeowners in the state still fared better than those nationwide…”
Oh Yeah…that distant gunfire doesn’t mean a round can’t hit you !
http://tinyurl.com/24p7otv
“Shedding billions of dollars, Wisconsin property values last year fell 3.1% - their largest drop in at least a half century without accounting for inflation.”
Not sure exactly what inflation was over the period in question, you can get the approximate real property value loss by adding inflation to the property value percentage decline. For instance, with 2% inflation, the real drop in Wisconsin property values would have been 5.1%.
“It’s different here!”
The guy was about 45 years ahead of his time.
“I had to look it up on a map. Good lord it’s north of Edwards AFB. What the heck was this guy thinking? Those platted streets and cul de sacs were laid out over 50years ago”
Maybe he wanted another insane asylum…patterned after Victorville and their old George AFB ?
or midway between Bakersfield and Barstow.
What the heck was this guy thinking? Those platted streets and cul de sacs were laid out over 50years ago……..
That would have been the beginning of the BABY BOOM and the expansion of families into the “suburbs”. Housing developments were getting started everywhere, and he was thinking he could get in on the “ground floor opportunity”.
I always was puzzeled by that expression. I guess it means you get in when the building is just getting started, but i’ve always seen the ground floor as the place everybody runs out of when the building catches fire.
Actually the baby boom was pretty much over by 1958….typically it’s considered the years 1946-1962 or thereabouts.
and the expansion of families into the “suburbs”. …………
Do you finish reading the sentence or are you just wanting to show some intellectual prowess?
The returning GI’s for the big war were buying HOUSES and starting families in a big way during this time frame. I suspect this was the major motive for this speculative investment.
Go check your facts.
Here. I did it for you. Go google “Suburb” and get a wikipedia quick reference:
Post-war years
While suburbs had originated far earlier; the suburban population in North America exploded during the post-World War II economic expansion. Returning veterans wishing to start a settled life moved in masse to the suburbs. Levittown developed as a major prototype of mass-produced housing. At the same time, African Americans were rapidly moving north for better jobs and educational opportunities than were available to them in the segregated South. Their arrival in Northern cities en masses – in addition to race riots in several large cities such as Detroit, Chicago, and Philadelphia – further stimulated white suburban migration.
De-investment in American cities was rampant during the time of mass suburbanization. Aging cities were left to fall apart, during the time when the country was experiencing tremendous prosperity. Industrial factories that were once the heart of the city were now being abandoned and jobs were shifting to the service sector jobs.[7]
In the U.S., 1950 was the first year that more people lived in suburbs than elsewhere.[8]
Re-read the last sentence. Twice if you need to.
That’s what was happening in 1950 and the following years.
It would be easy to conclude that the wave of the future was more suburban housing. And it has been.
Dio,
I’m not sure what you are so bothered about.
You wrote “That [1958] would have been the beginning of the BABY BOOM and the expansion of families into the “suburbs”.
We were discussing California City which started in 1958, fully TWELVE years after the baby boom and post-WWII suburban expansion began. Levittown NY was built between 1947 and 1951. My point was that this Mendelsohn guy was sort of late to the table. There are other points about him being daft, mostly having to do with the ample availability of inner LA suburbs in the 1960s and the incredible remoteness of California City from metro LA.
Remember, the fifties was the time of “higher, faster” (if not farther) development in aviation, and Edwards AFB was the center of that universe. We were all going to be flying in SSTs by 1970.
Think of it as “Titanium Valley”.
The launch of Sputnik in late 1957 (and the U-2s being downed by SAMs) reordered some priorities. X-20 and XB-70 cancelled, B-58 production terminated early…….those are just the one that come immediately to mind.
The guy wasn’t necessarily crazy, just a bad forecaster.
This reminds me of the all the luxury condoes that broke ground in 2006. As usual, the pipeline laggeth the trends…
Well, that town is desolate…hot…beige stucco on steriods…10,000 shrubs attached to 1 million plastic trash bags…hot…the modern upscale shopping center is filled with 97% 1970-1983 vehicles covered with bondo band-aids duct-taped tail lens & cracked windshields…the majority of these are usually parked on the SE section of the parking lot where the dive bar is located. I would say that it’s less desirable than Bakersfried, CA which is 48 miles due West cutting over the the last 10 miles of the Sierra Nevada range. They don’t have the pesticide perfume of Bakersfried, but they due get ALL the exhaust pollution of the south end of the San Jouquin valley, after its slice & diced by the Wind generators of Tehachapi.
I’d say this is a somewhat chronological order of retail sales for Cal-City:
1.Meth
2.Alcohol
3.cigarettes
4.tattoos
5.copy & fax supplies (for sending in parole & probation reports)
6.acetone
7.automatic recycle material machines (which is really the locals ATM)
8.diapers
9.potato chips
10.Hostess doughnuts (the expired dated ones are gone by 6:45am each day)
The Mojave CHP officers & Kern Sheriffs Deputy’s. are well versed on the “local” desert road geography. I believe they write more dui’s than all of Los Angeles each year.
HOWEVER, within a 20 mile radius there are actually quite a few good paying jobs being created.
1.Largest Wind generation plant in America just got going
2.Private Space Ship development over at Mojave Airport
3.BNSF trains from Bakersfried to the East Coast
4.Solar projects
But unfortunately for 99% of the residents of Cal-City, these jobs ALL require drug testing!
But if yeah like wide open vista’s & pollution enhanced sunsets, it is really really really really easy town to find a cheap cheap cheap rental!
Gee. It sounds like a great place if you have a “vision” of the future.
There’s plenty of cheap labor just lying about. I didn’t know such places existed in the US of A. It may even be competing with China and India for low-cost housing and labor. Why outsource? we’ve got a competitive environment in California.
The problems with any stimulus or government scheme to “prime the pump” is that the money runs out and there is nothing to keep it going or for Act II except more and more stimulus/debt. If there was real demand, you would not need the stimulus in the first place. With republicans expected to make gains in November, insane stimulus project (like the just passed $26 billion public union bailout or even more insane homeowner bailouts) will become more and more rare.
———————————
NY Times: Did the Stimulus Help?
The New York Times ^ | August 14, 2010 | By SEWELL CHAN
A new report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas finds that the $787 billion stimulus program probably fostered economic growth in the short run. But the study, by Jason L. Saving, a senior research economist, also concluded that there was no meaningful way to determine how the economy would have performed in the absence of the stimulus program. Moreover, Mr. Saving found that the stimulus program had worsened short-term fiscal pressures.
“Simply put, there’s no way to know how badly the economy would have performed in the absence of fiscal stimulus and no way to prove how many jobs would have existed without stimulus,” Mr. Saving wrote.
While the overall weight of the evidence suggests the stimulus plan has provided a short-term boost, it’s unclear exactly how large this boost has been. What is clear is that stimulus funds have exacerbated near-term fiscal imbalances.
Don’t know what choice we had in the matter. You have a bunch of elected guys making those calls and we all selected democrats. You select democrats and your going to get interventionist policy with socialist flavor.
My guess is a big chunk is just unemployment dollars.
Hard to see where the dollars went and amazing how quick they went. All I saw were little bits of road work all over the place and next to zero improvement. I mean nothing at all.
Wonder if they bought up a bunch of GM fleet vehicles or some such crap they didn’t need.
And like most of us expected here, the stimulus and gone and the economy is still in the crapper cept we need even higher taxes to handle that additional debt.
You select democrats and your going to get interventionist policy with socialist flavor.
My guess is a big chunk is just unemployment dollars.
Hard to see where the dollars went and amazing how quick they went.
Talk about a bunch of non-sequiturs. Unemployment benefits are probably the least ‘interventionist, socialist’ stimuli out there. They go to anyone, regardless of race, creed, or political standing, the only requirement being that you previously had a job and lost it through no fault of your own. You could take your benefits and donate them to the libertarian party if you like. But they are generally spent at private businesses, so of course you’re not going to ’see where it went’ like you’d see a new bridge or something. You see it by not seeing a bunch more businesses going under- which would result in more people unemployed, which continues the deflationary spiral. We learned these things already in the last great depression, but I guess some people have to learn the hard way. ‘Experience keeps a dear school, but some will learn in no other.’
“The problems with any stimulus or government scheme to “prime the pump” is that the money runs out and there is nothing to keep it going or for Act II except more and more stimulus/debt.”
“Priming the pump” does work if the citizens only lack jobs. Jobs in a blue collar economy is a reasonably easy fix. Expensive? Yes, a little.
Still, IMHO the stimulus did alleviate or mitigate some of the worst consequences of our collective stupidity.
Stimulus won’t fully work this time because of over-indebtedness, lack of relevant, salable employee skills, deleveraging, housing price declines, and so on. We are going to get the FED implementation of another wave of security buying and monetary policy initiatives that do not really correct any problems. Oh, and good luck to Bennie Bernanke selling the mortgage backed securities that the FED bought. Those are crap and will need to be sold at firesale prices! The current plan is to sell the MBSs and buy something else. This would be funny if it were not so tragic.
We will also not see another wave of USG money thrown at this mess. The reason appears to be that the USG is “tapped out”. Fear of a dollar crisis or something similar seems to be the reason. The USG claims that the taxpayers will not stand for another stimulus plan. Baloney! Taxpayer opposition never stopped them before.
Roidy
P.S. I have been on vacation for the past week. I went to the mountains of Virginia where it was cooler than in N. Louisiana. BTW, did anyone remember to feed Eddie while I was away? I had the kid next door feeding my dog, but he drew the line at feeding Eddie.
It was a down market week, so Eddie disappeared again.
The German economy grew respectably in the last quarter, after the Germans implemented serious public spending cuts and put constraints on EU stimulus and bailout spending, despite being under heavy pressure from the U.S. and other governments to do exactly the opposite.
I don’t think that that is actually true. The German government has only just recently been talking spending cuts and tax increases. Some of their more important cutbacks took place a few years before the recession when the retirement age was raised from 65 to 67 and many workers had no raises at all for a few years. These changes were made, in part, with the understanding that exports were crucial to the German economy. They were also a factor in the opposition of many German voters to bailing out Greece, where many workers retire at 60 or even younger.
Once the recession hit, the German government made use of an innovative alternative to unemployment benefits. Instead of factories laying off workers, they switched a larger number to three- or four-day work weeks, with corresponding cuts in pay. The government provided benefits which made up for part of the lost pay. In this way, the pain was shared by employee, employer and society at large. A major benefit of this arrangement, as opposed to layoffs, is that the workers were still workng a few days a week and keeping their skills sharp. Once demand returns, it will be possible for these manufacturers to increase production and return their workers to full-time schedules in a fairly smooth way.
What’s interesting about that arrangement is the practicality (or absence of ideology) of it. Some regulars on this blog might call it a hybrid of capitalism and socialism - using a government program to maintain the skills and abilities of companies and workers through the recession.
Germany still has way more public benefits that we do. Makes you wonder how they do it, since we all know public benefits destroy an economy.
High tax rates and high efficiencies in manufacturing. Pretty steep taxes for individuals - income, VAT, ’solidarity’ taxes, etc.
They don’t have to spend as much money on the military, they have us.
‘ “Simply put, there’s no way to know how badly the economy would have performed in the absence of fiscal stimulus and no way to prove how many jobs would have existed without stimulus,” Mr. Saving wrote.’
WHAT? That can’t be! I heard with my own ears The One telling everyone that three million jobs had been created or saved.
The NYT is seriously off the reservation on this one.
Not one of the stimuli passed or proposed will help stop the downward spiral of the economy. Incomes never rose in proportion to the price of energy, food, cars and real estate. Prices have to come down or incomes have to rise. TARP, son of TARP, Stimulus 1-? have done nothing but increase our debt and further enhance the likelihood of financial collapse. Throw in millions of illegal aliens and you have the makings of a nice third world status suppository.
This is the song that never ends.
Mortgage assistance group’s loan rates are low but take effort to get
By Kimberly Miller
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 7:56 p.m. Friday, Aug. 13, 2010
In addition to helping homeowners modify their loans, the Neighborhood Assistance Corp. of America will offer its own low-interest mortgages during its Aug. 27-30 West Palm Beach event.
The no-money-down, zero-closing-costs loans are meant for low- to moderate-income families, but come with caveats and application requirements that go beyond traditional mortgages. On Friday, the group’s website was advertising a 4 percent, 30-year fixed-rate mortgage.
To qualify for NACA’s guaranteed fixed interest rate of 1 percent below the prime marketplace, prospective borrowers must participate in workshops where they will be evaluated for their competency as homeowners.
A 2009 report from the conservative-leaning Capital Research Center says applicants may be required to show over a three-month period that they are able to save the difference between their current rent and their desired mortgage.
Consumers with poor credit may be asked to submit budgets showing they are changing spending patterns and have begun to repay delinquent loans.
“How long the process takes depends on the borrower,” the 2009 report says. “Those with a history of financial difficulty will face more scrutiny.”
Once granted a NACA loan, borrowers must pay a monthly $50 membership fee for between five and 10 years, and participate in at least five NACA activities each year.
Also, borrowers must live in the home they purchase. To ensure that happens, the group takes out a lien on the property for the life of the loan.
“Serious actions and remedies are in place to prevent the abuse of the NACA program,” the group’s website says.
NACA is most recently known for its nationwide blitz of loan modification programs.
But the organization’s 1988 founding was done in part to stabilize neighborhoods by giving families a chance to own their own homes.
“First and foremost, we’re a nonprofit mortgage broker,” said NACA spokesman Darren Duarte.
For more information about NACA’s event at the Palm Beach County Convention Center and to register, go to http://www.naca.com .
Of course it does not speak to the affordability issue…
Our current economy still seems to be predicated on the idea that everything can be solved with yet more loans.
he is a genius.
http://www.statesman.com/business/real-estate/unhappy-seller-sues-condo-auction-buyers-858849.html?srcTrk=RTR_729919
Lovely article! Imagine paying $63,000 for a condo that was overpriced at $132,000 in Austin!
Deflation can be wonderful!
When is $1,000,000 net worth going to be like $1,000,000 net worth in 1964 dollars?
$63,000 seems a good price for a place to live in Austin, probably somewhat less than 2x income for a lot of people. And it’s not a bad part of town - not too far from central Austin, 2 or 3 story multi-family housing with landscaping. I drive down Manchaca regularly and the housing and businesses in that area all look decent and kempt.
And given the way the investor is whining, it must have granite countertops!
Yes, but be wary of the “investment” value of the Condo. The article is about the seller SUING the CONDO ASSOCIATION. They must pay to defend themselves in court, even if they have done nothing wrong, which the most likely have not. This happens with condos everytime there is a crash. It ends up costing the remaining owners a bunch of money in useless litigation. Bye, bye, cash.
In this case, the seller is suing 15 buyers who bought at auction - saying essentially that the auction prices are no fair.
I don’t envy buyers trying to buy a condo and ending up in a lawsuit. With any luck, his case is so weak that the buyers won’t be out too much in legal fees. I doubt that he will be in the multi-family investment business long.
In a case like this he will be very lucky if the Judge does not make him pay the legal fees of the people he is suing. Talk about a nuisance lawsuit.
I didn’t read through the article. It just sounded so typical, but turns out it isn’t. This case should be thrown out on the face of it. Auctions are the prime example of Free Market enterprise. About as close as you can get. Unless the auction was somehow “closed” so that no public bids were capable of being generated, I don’t think the case stands a chance.
Unless this is California. Ninth District. They make up their own rules concerning Constitutional Law, and any other laws for that matter.
No recession here!?!
It’s getting rough in Wisconsin…the thugs are now robbing little old ladies at gunpoint in churches .
Robbers hold up Milwaukee church bingo hall
More than 100 players scramble as gunmen enter
By Jesse Garza of the Journal Sentinel
Aug. 13, 2010
Masked, armed robbers terrorized players at a south side bingo hall Friday night when they stormed into the hall and began demanding women’s purses at gunpoint, witnesses and police said…
“Everybody was jumping up and getting down under the tables,” said Carolyn Townsend, 75.
I’m suprised that there wasn’t a shotout with some granny who was packing heat.
http://tinyurl.com/25wjucm
“I’m surprised that there wasn’t a shotout with some granny packing heat.”
I believe Arizona just passed a law legalizing concealed weapons. I wonder how things would have turned out if these thugs tried robbing a room full of a hundred Arizonians.
combotechie
I knew Arizonians had it together.
mikey
Get John Grisham on speed dial. He could incorporate “The Great Granny Robbery” into one of his plots. (Tonight is “The Chamber” for our movie night.)
I’ve been listening to Financial Sense, and Jim and his guest smell a debt forgiveness for over leveraged homemoaners. Since the losses have alread occured, what’s the other way out? If I would have known… otoh, you have to look yourself in the mirror.
A shootout in a room full of people would end up being a lot more expensive than the couple thousand bucks they lost to the robbers. Unless everybody had really, really poor aim.
So they should have dialed 911, but told the cops not to bring their guns?
More than a 100 little old ladies…on their Bingo night?
No way in the world that mikey would mess with them.
I’m no fool!!
An old joke:
Q: How do you get an eighty year-old grandmother to say the F-word?
A: Yell out “Bingo!”
Bingo update
Sleep well America…
Milwaukee County
4 in custody in bingo robbery
Masked suspects took money from 5 at church hall
By John Diedrich of the Journal Sentinel
Aug. 14, 2010 4:44 p.m.
Milwaukee police have four people in custody in connection with an armed robbery of a church bingo game Friday night on the city’s south side, the department announced Saturday.
The Brackenridge Eagle is the kiddie train in San Antonio’s Brackenridge Park, a replica of an 1860s locomotive. In summer of 1970, the train was stopped by armed bandits in Wild West costume including eye masks and bandanas. The bandits collected wallets and jewelry from the passengers. They got away while the passengers waited for the ‘good guys’ to come, win a ’shoot-out,’ and return their stuff.
The passengers mainly thought it was staged - some thought it funny and some annoying. The driver saw that they had a real, loaded gun (.22) and radioed for help.
investor in multi-family properties:
“nyaa, nyaa, nyaa. I’m taking my ball and going home.”
The Idaho Statesman had an article about the local housing situation. The bust came to us later and it’s still here. The median price house in Ada county (metro Boise) is $160K and the median family income is $57K - a supportable ratio of 2.8. A family that makes the median income should be able to afford the median priced house.
In Hubble Homes’ Charter Pointe subdivision in South Boise, more than half of the homes listed for sale are bank-owned or “underwater,” meaning the property is worth less than the mortgage. Dairy cows wander in a nearby pen, and baling machines grind into the night.
“The neighbors aren’t used to living next to farming operations with manure and flies,” said Richard Murgoitio, who sold 70 acres to Hubble Homes Inc. in 2001 and would like to sell his remaining land to builders. “We’re hoping they take us all out, if the economy ever turns around.”
Linkey
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/08/14/1302722/treasure-valley-housing-downturn.html
Here’s a similar link but with a telling photo of Charter Pointe amidst the cows.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-12/foreclosure-crisis-spreads-across-u-s-as-defaults-jump-in-idaho-illinois.html
maybe I should buy a few lots and go into the compost business
My parents bought a house in 1968 in Fresno across the street from a four acre empty field. For ten years the field remained empty. The older residents said that years ago there was a turkey hatchery in that field. There was one interesting spot that was a hole in the ground to some basement. Definitely a hazard to the neighborhood kids, but this was all before the growth in lawyers.
In 1978 when the landowners sold out to section 8 apartments, the field was turned over by earthmovers. The earth no longer held down the decades-old turkey manure and it was very stinky for a few weeks until they landscaped the clapboard apartments. they built up.
That was the end of our idyllic neighborhood and it was when middle class turned to lower class. Peace and quiet neighbors for the majority were replaced by a majority of ne-er do wells, hookers, gangsters, and drug dealers. Thank you Lyndon Baines Johnson.
Nothing stays the same Bill.
My Dad dabbled in a little houses, RE and land in CA, FL, MN, and NC on the side. He did okay on most of his ventures and lucked out on others.
Thank you Disneyworld.
I don’t think LBJ was president in 1978.
Section 8 housing came about from the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974. IIRC Nixon had to deal with a Democrat majority in both houses at that time.
The Democrat Party controlled both the House and the Senate for 40 years up to the election of 1994. That takes it from the 1950s.
Nixon was as liberal as lbj. Both men cAused much dsestruction to this country.
The Democrat Party controlled both the House and the Senate for 40 years up to the election of 1994. That takes it from the 1950s.
Wow, their time in power strangely coincides with the greatest expansion of economic wealth, the middle class, and civil liberties in American history. Let’s hope that never happens again.
Yeah, the 1970’s sure were great for expansion of economic wealth! I’ll take two of those.
Yeah, the 1970’s sure were great for expansion of economic wealth
You are aware that GDP and household wealth both increased through the 70s, right?
Entirely due to inflation.
Yeah, J6P was seeing 5% pay raises/COLAs (given the following year). Too bad prices were going up 2-3% monthly.
I may exaggerate, but not by much.
Even in our “Top ten counties by income”, very few people were better off financially in 1981 than they were in 1972.
Entirely due to inflation.
GDP was ~3.8 trillion in 1970 and ~5.2 trillion in 1980- in 2000 dollars. Household wealth increased too, but I can’t presently find a chart of it adjusted for inflation.
The 70s were bad, but I suspect not nearly as bad as what we’re getting into now.
year 2000 dollars
“Nixon was as liberal as lbj. Both men cAused much dsestruction to this country.
Sure Eddie, On full moon nights, old paranoid Nixon, Mitchell and Eirlichman would all peace out around Dupont Circle, token on joints with Abby Hoffman singing, “Where have all the flowers gone?”
Yeah Sure, Tricky Dick was a real flamming commie librul Eddie, the way you try to re-write history.
Mikey, conservatives don’t institute wage and price controls. Nixon did.
“You are aware that GDP and household wealth both increased through the 70s, right?”
GDP and household wealth increase every year in Zimbabwe as well. Actually it increases every 20 minutes.
Increase in “wealth” due to runway inflation, as we had in the 70s does not mean people are better off. The 70s were not as bad financially as what Obama is bringing upon us, but it was up there.
Programs such as that came from LBJ’s “Great Society” and “War on Poverty” BS.
IIRC, when were LBJ was President, there were still a lot of Americans picking cotton by hand from dawn to dark, living in ancient sharecropper shacks, using unsanitary outhouses and being abused because a few other Americans fought change because change was not in their interests. These weren’t the slavery days but it wasn’t far removed from it in many states.
LBJ did try to stop that crap and attempted to bring a better life to the American people. The PTB fought him tooth and nail.
They still do.
Since LBJ’s “War on Poverty” - over 40 years old war, well over $1.5 Trillion of US taxpayer money was spent on housing assistance, food stamps, welfare, and education and other programs for the poor.
This was the least successful war in U.S. history.
Even in Vietnam we ultimately concluded we weren’t going to win and gave up. Why can’t we do the same with the War on Poverty?
Perpetual War on Poverty = millions of guaranteed Democrat voters. Every 2 years the campaign slogans go something like this:
Vote for the Republican and he will take away your food stamps, Section 8, WIC and every other freebie you now get. Vote for me, and I will give you even more freebies.
I’m old enough to remember the riots of the 60s and they weren’t all about the hippies or the Vietnam war.
So unless you have jobs for those people, cities will burn. But there’s the problem, isn’t it?
Practical Advice - Clean Up Your Financial House
The fetching Mrs Lip and I are in the process of buying the last house I’m ever going to live in. In the end we got a larger house, on a much larger lot, closer to town, and with SS/granite for $200 more a month. [Mrs Lip loves the kitchen]
Anyway, the title and mortgage company new rules are extremely detailed, require documentation for everything and generally drive you nuts while you’re in the process of providing the documentation that proves you can afford the mortgage. In other words, “they are over correcting” their requirements by a huge margin and many, many people will no longer be able to get a mortgage.
So who is going to buy all these vacant homes??? Only those people that have a squeaky clean financial history or those that already have the money in the bank.
My advice: Keep saving, pay off your debts and keep a record of everything that you do financially because they will want to see the documents before they lend you the money.
My guess is they will all be bundled up into 10,000 home MBS and sold to the chinese to get some of our US dollars back home.
I’ll admit I had very good credit till this happened…I used to work my azzzz off during December with holiday parties & NYE and use the money to fund my Ira, savings and pay off all my CC to zero and start the year off fresh…..
So who is going to buy all these vacant homes??? Only those people that have a squeaky clean financial history or those that already have the money in the bank.
Is it really real or really sort of real?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/14/business/14auto.html?hp
Detroit Goes From Gloom to Economic Bright Spot
…the gloom over the American auto industry is starting to lift.
Jobs are growing. Factory workers are anticipating their first healthy profit-sharing checks in years. Sales are rebounding, with the Commerce Department reporting Friday that automobiles were a bright spot in July’s mostly disappointing retail sales.
…the improving mood here reflects real changes in how Detroit is doing business — and a growing sense that the changes are turning the Big Three around, according to industry executives and analysts tracking the recovery.
Many of the excesses of the past — overproduction, bloated vehicle lineups, expensive rebates — are gone. All three carmakers have shed workers, plants and brands. And a new breed of top management — the three chief executives are outsiders to Detroit, as is the newly named G.M. chief executive — says it is determined to keep the Big Three lean, agile and focused on building better cars that earn a profit.
“What we’ve come out of this with,” said Sergio Marchionne, who runs both Chrysler and its Italian owner Fiat, “are much more rational, more grounded players making moves for the long term.”
Unfortunately, I think there are many buyers like myself who won’t go back to buying Detroit Three products until/unless they have a couple of bad experiences with an import nameplate. It was multiple bad experiences that drove us to the imports, and we’ve yet to be disappointed with them.
Cars are still way over priced. The auto makers are in big trouble going forward.
More mindful Midwestern Hoenig horse-sense sensibilities…
Dissenting KC Fed chief says interest rates too low for too long
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/08/13/2149021/kc-federal-reserve-president-rips.html#ixzz0wbPY0aRG
The Federal Reserve’s zero-interest-rate policy amounts to a “dangerous gamble” that may be holding back the recovery and risking a repeat of the financial crisis that put us here, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City said Friday.
Thomas Hoenig, who serves on the Federal Open Market Committee that sets interest rates, has dissented repeatedly this year against the Fed’s stand-pat rate policy that has kept rates at record lows for two years. His latest dissenting opinion came Tuesday when he broke from the Fed’s decision to take an unconventional step to strengthen the recovery by buying government bonds.
His remarks drew criticism for coming three days after the Fed policy meeting and adding to the difficulties that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke could face in maintaining his monetary policy.
Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Pierpont Securities in Stamford, Conn., called Hoenig’s speech “a scathing critique of monetary policy now and over the last 10 years.”
Hoenig said low interest rates and lax regulation during a deflation scare in 2003 helped bring about the debt-driven boom and subsequent financial collapse. And the Fed is risking a future crisis.
“If we again leave rates too low too long out of our uneasiness over the strength of the recovery and our intense desire to avoid recession at all costs, we are risking a repeat of past errors and the consequences they bring,” Hoenig said.
we are risking a repeat of past errors and the consequences they bring,” Hoenig said.
Raising rates too soon caused an extension of GD1. Which past mistakes is Hoenig referring to?
I agree with him on the lax regulation part, but it’s quite possible to have low rates and effective regulation at the same time. They aren’t mutually exclusive.
Hoenig’s re-fighting the economic war of 2003, he needs to realize we’re fighting the economic war of 1933.
Didn’t Hoenig’s predecessor, William Poole, make a similar statement last week? What’s in the water in St. Louis - is it some special mix of Missouri River water and Mississippi River water?
Here in flyover country Ohio the downward leg of the double dip is getting more evident every week. Traffic continues to match the downward trend of gas prices. Zillow prices continue to be 20-60K over actual selling price (house in development newly listed at 165K, Zillow 220K). Realtors now “listing” pre-forclosures with minimum information/no pictures/ no address, just street….”Owner is behind on his mortgage….make an offer before bank forecloses!” Foggy bottom critters crawling up out of the swamp to visit us for their bi annual feeding ; Obama’s 9th trip to Ohio, maybe this time to explain why he supports a mosque at ground zero, and,more likely, to check on his wealth redistribution operation. He cant help but notice the lush brush growth springing up around the newly plywood windowed houses in his demographic neighborhoods. Locusts, heat, humidity, few kids on the streets, eerie.
Obama’s 9th trip to Ohio, maybe this time to explain why he supports a mosque at ground zero, and,more likely, to check on his wealth redistribution operation.
You mean this wealth redistribution operation?
World’s rich got richer amid ‘09 recession: report
(Reuters) - The rich grew richer last year, even as the world endured the worst recession in decades.
In North America, the ranks of the rich rose 17 percent and their wealth grew 18 percent to $10.7 trillion.
The United States was home to the most millionaires in 2009 — 2.87 million — followed by Japan with 1.65 million, Germany with 861,000, and China with 477,000.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65L36T20100622
No, I mean the free meal stations where anyone 21 or younger gets meals…for free ( none out here in the nasty suburbs, keep workin’ kids), I mean the check for two months rent my co worker’s tenant got cut for attending a two hour “class”. I mean the millions to “community” health clinics….in the right community. The train wreck will happen, but not on Hussain’s watch if he can help it.
Carlos4, it’s not like that all over the country.
You’re obsessed. Mr. President is living in your skull…. rent free.
“You mean this wealth redistribution operation?
World’s rich got richer amid ‘09 recession: report”
Plenty of Limousine Communists among the world’s “richer”. I wonder how George Soros is making out these days? Oh, wait, he doesn’t count, he is doing God’s work.
“You mean this wealth redistribution operation?
World’s rich got richer amid ‘09 recession: report”
Plenty of CountryClubConservatives among the world’s “richer”. I wonder how Pat Roberston is making out these days? Oh, wait, he doesn’t count, he is doing God’s work.
See how that works HidingBoy?
Pat Robertson? That’s the best you can come up with?
BWAAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
He’s yours along with 30 years of failed Reaganomics.
You own it cupcake. All of it.
* ECONOMY
* AUGUST 11, 2010
Buyers’ Credit Lifts Home Prices, but Outlook Dims
By NICK TIMIRAOS
Home prices rose in two-thirds of U.S. metropolitan areas in the second quarter as the expiration of home-buyer tax credits spurred sales, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday.
Separately, the Obama administration said Wednesday it was making $3 billion in additional aid available to help unemployed homeowners avoid foreclosure, largely for a federal fund that provides grants to state housing agencies.
The median price of existing single-family homes increased in 100 of 155 metropolitan areas tracked by the trade group, compared with 26 markets that saw gains in the year-ago quarter.
The data are the latest sign that the federal tax credits helped stabilize home prices during the first half of the year, even in hard-hit markets in Florida and the Midwest.
But economists have warned that the gains could prove fleeting if a faltering economy saps demand and if the pace of foreclosures rises.
Signs of a slowing market are already evident. Newly signed contracts plunged in May and haven’t rebounded since. Those lower sales levels won’t be reflected until July because it takes one or two months for sales to close. As inventories of unsold homes rise, many economists see home prices declining later this year.
…
In some respects, it’s starting to look a lot like 1987 again! Is it too early to claim that junk bonds are the next to go parabolic in the Fed’s asset class bubble rotation?
On the other hand, perhaps with so much recent issuance of junk bonds, this asset class could qualify for a too-big-to-fail federal guarantee?
* MARKETS
* AUGUST 14, 2010
‘Junk’ Bonds Hit Record
Companies Rush to Issue Riskier Debt as Investors Look for Higher Returns
By MICHAEL ANEIRO
U.S. companies issued risky “junk” bonds at a record clip this week, taking advantage of keen investor appetite for returns amid declining interest rates and tepid stock markets.
The borrowing binge comes as the Federal Reserve keeps interest rates near zero and yields on U.S. government debt are near record lows. Those low rates have spread across a variety of markets, making it cheaper for companies with low credit ratings to borrow from investors.
JUNK
JUNK
JUNK
The Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C., is maintaining a policy of very low interest rates.
Corporate borrowers with less than investment-grade ratings sold $15.4 billion in junk bonds this week, a record total for a single week, according to data provider Dealogic. The month-to-date total, $21.1 billion, is especially high for August, typically a quiet month that has seen an average of just $6.5 billion in issuance over the past decade.
For the year, the volume of U.S. junk bonds has exceeded $155 billion, 80% higher than in the year-ago period and easily on pace to surpass the record $163.6 billion total for 2009.
Investors have been snapping up the new non-investment-grade bonds, having grown frustrated with stocks and with the meager yields on safer government and high-grade corporate bonds.
“Even though high-yield bond yields have come [down], versus other asset classes, they’re still comparatively attractive, especially when you consider the direction of default today,” says Darin Schmalz, a director in leveraged finance at Fitch Ratings. “When you take into account other investment options for investors, and a benign default rate, the high-yield asset class is still pretty attractive.”
…
Friday, August 13, 2010
Residential real estate and construction
Jury still out on whether tax credits helped home sales
Incentives drove sales up, but some say it just prolonged the inevitable
Sacramento Business Journal - by Michael Shaw Staff writer
Mary Ann Robinson, left, continues to search for the perfect home with her agent Erin Attardi. Robinson has been shopping for about a year but wasn’t able to find a place she liked before the tax credits expired. But she says prices are so low it’s still a good time to buy.
Mary Ann Robinson has been looking to buy a home for about a year, but failed to find the perfect fit in time to qualify for federal or state tax credits totaling tens of thousands of dollars.
That hasn’t dampened her desire to buy.
“I’m just particular about finding the right place,” said Robinson, a librarian at Sacramento City College who is looking in the Hollywood Park area of Sacramento. “It’s wonderful if you can get a tax credit, but that shouldn’t stop anyone right now. Prices are too good. I don’t think that’s really such a big deal.”
Real estate agents, homebuilders and others in the housing industry hope there are a lot more like Robinson out there, now that the tax credits are expired or almost depleted. Two types of federal credits ended in April, and the available funds for state credits are nearly gone.
The housing market had been posting gains before the credits expired. In Sacramento, pending home sales in the four-county region declined 12 percent in May, according to research firm Trendgraphix Inc., which tracks home sales though the real estate multiple listing service.
But sales rebounded in June, the company reported, as potential buyers were still eligible for state tax credits. Nationwide, existing home sales dropped 2.2 percent in May.
In the new-home market, sales in the four-county region plummeted to just 89 homes in June, less than half the 219 sold in April, according to analyst Hanley Wood Market Intelligence.
The housing market appears to be on its own for the first time since 2008, and the impact of artificial stimulation is still being debated.
Differing opinions
“My reading on this tax credit experience is that it was a failure,” said Brad Hunter, national economist for Metrostudy, a Houston-based new-home market analyst. “The primary effect was a time shift — we brought buyers forward, but we created a vacuum. I expect the remainder of the summer to be weak.”
…
Things are bound to get a lot more in the California housing market after this program expires.
The skinny on state homebuyer tax credits
By Jennifer Davies, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Friday, August 13, 2010 at 11:56 a.m.
The deadline to apply for a first-time home buyer tax credit is this Sunday at midnight.
Previously, the state said it would accept at least 28,000 applications, a milestone it had reached by late July. But the Franchise Tax Board said it has received so many duplicate and invalid submissions that it has extended the deadline. That’s so it can make absolutely sure it has enough applications to dole out the full $100 million available. As of Thursday, there were almost 34,000 applications.
Thinking about trying for a tax credit despite the daunting numbers, here is what you need to know:
* The tax credits are available to a buyer who has purchased a residence after May 1, 2010, but before Jan 1, 2011. It’s OK if you started the home-buying process before May 1, but escrow must have closed after May 1.
* You or your spouse must not have owned a home in or out of California in the previous three years. You have to live in the home for at least two years.
* Applications must be received within 14 days after escrow closes. If you send it after that, you’re out of luck.
* The tax credits are limited to either $10,000 or 5 percent of the purchase price, which ever is less.
* Tax credits are available on first-come, first-served basis. The Franchise Tax Board says it’ll probably take between 3 to 6 months to notify those who have qualified.
…
Given our state is $19.1 bn or so in the hole, I am curious how the California government can find all this free money to subsidize home purchases. Did the CA state government figure out how to print their own money or something?
WSJ Blogs
Developments
Real estate news and analysis from The Wall Street Journal
* Real Estate News: Freddie Mac Seeks More Aid
* Long Island ‘Fortress’ Hits Market
* August 10, 2010, 3:56 PM ET
Storm Clouds Loom Over California Housing Market
By Dawn Wotapka
Part of California’s home-buyer tax credit is about to be terminated.
Since May, the Golden State has tempted first-time buyers and buyers of new homes with up to $10,000 over three years. First-time buyers of existing homes have until Aug. 15 to submit applications, but, at this point, there’s no guarantee.
California’s Franchise Tax Board has received more than 30,000 applications from first-time buyers, so the first-come, first-served offer might have already passed its $100 million allotment. Because some applications are duplicates, late or invalid, the state wants extra applications on hand.
There is no deadline yet for the other $100 million set aside for new home buyers. Only about $75 million of that is spoken for, according to Denise Azimi, a Tax Board spokeswoman.
While the rest of the nation saw buyer traffic plunge after the federal tax credit expired April 30, the state credit has softened California’s blow. But now, it’s time for a reality check.
And it isn’t going to be pretty. Foreclosures continue dragging down the price of existing homes, while new home builders complain of abysmal sales.
“I think the new home market is going to stay stuck at current low levels until signs of sustained growth in employment begin to appear,” Ken Campbell, chief executive of builder Standard Pacific, tells Developments.
“…..find all this free money to subsidize home purchases.”
Maybe they are planning to hand out IOUs……..
ROTFLMAO
“Applications must be received within 14 days after escrow closes……”
Look for California to quietly announce a “Dog ate my paperwork” credit to postal workers, etc. that will make sure the apps don’t make it within 14 days.
Better yet, lay off everyone in the mail room.
Lexology dot com
California extends credit for purchase of qualified residence through 2010
August 12 2010
California provided a tax credit for the purchase of a qualified principal residence between March 1, 2009 and March 1, 2010. The credit was the lesser of 5% of the purchase price and $10,000. Beginning with the year of purchase, the credit was claimed in equal amounts over three tax years. The credit was only available for the purchase of a home that had never been occupied and which would be the principal residence of the taxpayer for a minimum of two years.
AB No. 183, approved by Governor Schwarzenegger on March 25, 2010, extends the credit for houses purchased between May 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010, or by August 1, 2011 if pursuant to a contract that was enforceable on December 31, 2010.
The eligibility for the extended credit was expanded to provide that the house must either have never been occupied before or must be purchased by a first time home buyer, which is defined as someone who did not own a principal residence for the three years preceding the purchase.
The amount of credit available to all taxpayers is limited to $100,000,000 for houses that have never been occupied and $100,000,000 for houses purchased by first time home buyers, although there is a mechanism that reduces the aggregate limit as each type of credit gets used. There is a procedure to apply to reserve a credit allocation upon entering an enforceable contract. Escrow companies should be familiar with the procedure. The credit may prove beneficial if you are considering the purchase of a new home that has never been occupied or you have children or grandchildren in the market for their first home.
“$100,000,000″
I suppose that is merely the ‘tenths’ digit in California’s reported $19.1 bn (= $19,100,000,000) budget gap.
* AUGUST 13, 2010, 2:23 P.M. ET
US EQUITIES WEEK AHEAD: Retailers Report; Housing Data Due
By John Kell Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
…
July Data: Producer Prices, Housing
Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expect the producer price index, which measures prices of goods at the wholesale level, to have risen 0.2%, or 0.1% on a core basis, in July after the overall figure declined 0.5% in June, falling for the third straight month.
Meanwhile, the Department of Commerce will report housing starts and building permits data for July. Housing starts fell more than expected in June and hit the lowest level since October. The industry has slumped after expiration of the federal home-buyer tax credit.
…
Aug. 13, 2010, 6:37 p.m. EDT
What happens if Fannie and Freddie disappear?
Changes coming for agencies that stand behind most U.S. home loans
By Amy Hoak, MarketWatch
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may be effectively insolvent, but they’re backing over half of all U.S. mortgages. That has some people worried.
The two government-owned enterprises stood behind 62% of new home loans this year, compared to 27% of new loans in all of 2006, when the private mortgage market still thrived, according to Inside Mortgage Finance. Add in Ginnie Mae and nine out of every 10 mortgages are supported by the government.
“Right now, the market is almost entirely dependent on Fannie and Freddie and also Ginnie,” said Michael Lea, head of San Diego State University’s Corky McMillin Center for Real Estate.
Why should you care? Since the government seized Fannie (FNMA 0.38, -0.01, -1.37%) and Freddie (FMCC 0.40, 0.00, 0.00%) in 2008, it essentially owns the two GSEs. If the economy deteriorates further and mortgage defaults rise again, taxpayers will be on the hook for the losses. At a time when government debt is rising, that worries a lot of people.
“Clearly, it doesn’t benefit the housing system overall — or the government — to have a mortgage market that is almost exclusively government-backed. We have to talk about a way to bring the private sector back into the mortgage market,” Cecala said.
…
The Republicans and Democrats appear to be giving voters a clear choice going forward over whether housing finance will be public or private. I plan to give the Republicans who support getting the government out of the housing finance business my vote.
Aug. 13, 2010, 6:27 p.m. EDT
Legislative battle on horizon for future of Fannie and Freddie
White House continues work on developing housing-reform proposal for 2011
By Ronald D. Orol, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Now that the most sweeping financial reform bill since the Depression is law, Washington is finally getting around to dealing with the hard part: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
But even as the Obama administration prepares for an Aug. 17 conference on the U.S. housing finance system, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are preparing to battle each other and the powerful housing lobby over the future of the mortgage-finance giants.
The goal of the conference is to come up with a system that would win the support of enough lawmakers on Capitol Hill to pass while also ensuring a fully functional housing market that doesn’t rely on taxpayer backing — even in a severe economic downturn.
It’s a tall order. Many Republicans want to fully privatize the two entities altogether, while numerous Democrats want to enshrine a permanent government agency — or agencies — to buy and sell mortgages and mortgage securities.
“Conservatives are saying the government should be out of the business altogether and they should be privatized to compete in the private market,” said Bob Kuttner, senior fellow at research and advocacy group Demos in Washington. “Democrats say if the government is going to run it, it should be a government agency and have set standards.”
…
I plan to give the Republicans who support getting the government out of the housing finance business my vote.
Uh oh…Meathead, excretor, Rio, Oxide, Alpha, Eco, and Grizzly would be p.o.d if you support the Reps.
Islam now has a foothold at Ground Zero. Luckily Islam is a religion of peace; otherwise this might be a worrisome development.
Obama Backs Controversial NYC Mosque
Aug. 14, 2010
U.S. President Barack Obama welcomes members of the U.S. Muslim community to a White House Iftar Muslim dinner and supports the prosposed mosque near the site of the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York. Video Courtesy of Reuters.
Wall St Journal:
Housing busts have a paradoxical effect on rents. When falling house prices make ownership less attractive, more people tend to enter the rental market, helping rents along on their perennial upward march. This time around, the droves of people walking away from their mortgages have provided an added supply of renters.
Since the housing bust started in April 2006, the cost of renting one’s home has risen 12%, according to the latest data from the Labor Department. Rents flattened out when the housing market started to show signs of recovery in mid-2009, but have since started heading upward again.
______________
Which is precisely why I bought an investment property to rent. The number of renters is exploding. Rents will only continue to rise.
The number of rentals on the market is increasing too. Didn’t you stop to consider more and more empty houses are available? Many of them are for rent.
‘Hindenburg Omen’ Suggests Slump in Stocks: Technical Analysis
August 13, 2010, 9:44 AM EDT
By Alexis Xydias
The market signal, named for a German zeppelin that caught fire and crashed more than seven decades ago, occurs when an unusually high number of companies in the New York Stock Exchange reach 52-week highs and lows. The indicator last occurred in October 2008, according to UBS AG.
…
Oh, the humanity
Check out the price history for a FSBO listing in our zip code:
11255 Trailside Ct
San Diego, CA 92127
Property type: Single Family
Bedrooms: 4
Bathrooms: 2.5
Sqft: 1,800
Lot size: 4,364 sq ft / 0.10 acres
Year built: 1980
06/04/2010 Listed for sale * $510,000 -7.3% $283 Owner
03/25/2005 Sold $550,000 64.2% $305 Public Record
01/27/2003 Sold $335,000 25.9% $186 Public Record
06/30/2000 Sold $266,000 49.0% $147 Public Record
06/30/1995 Sold $178,500 – $99 Public Record
Average occupancy duration since 1995:
15/4 = 3.75 years
Realtor commissions based on 6% of sale value.
95 - $10,000
00 - $16,000
03 - $20,000
05 - $33,000
10 - $30,000
Total - $109,000
Just in 15 yrs, more than $109,000 was wasted on Realtor commissions. This is unbelievable! A transaction that doesn’t benefit the buyer and seller but the middleman. We really have a fkuced up system.
Now multiply this by EVERYTHING you buy.
Don’t trust anyone that makes a commission and don’t vote for ANY incumbant. Words to live by.
http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/christians-cannot-have-a-nativity-in-a-public-place-but-muslims-can-stop-traffic-on-madison-ave-for/blog-395449/ - 88k