The Housing Bubble

The Herald Tribune reports from Florida. “Sarasota real estate agent Gerard Pirot was not the only person who broke the county’s ordinance against short-term rentals last year, but he was the only one who got punished. In May, he was cited by the county’s code enforcement department for renting a house on Siesta Key for less than the 30-day increments allowed by law. Then, in September, he was fined $250 per day for repeating the offense, court records show.”

“John Lally, a code enforcement officer for Sarasota County, is the first to acknowledge that Pirot is just one of an increasing number of landlords who have been renting properties illegally throughout Florida since the onset of the Great Recession. ‘It’s a problem,’ Lally said. ‘People are trying to get money to pay mortgages on houses they may have bought at the height of the market in any way they can.’”

The News Press. “The ACLU’s lawsuit challenging Lee County’s ‘rocket docket’ may be about one person facing foreclosure, but it has implications for anyone who has stood before a judge and had only seconds to argue to try to keep his or her home. Whether this lawsuit succeeds, it should move courts, the state, federal government and lenders to take a bolder, more comprehensive approach toward solving the foreclosure crisis — the epicenter of which is Lee County.”

“The ‘rocket docket’ was implemented in the 20th Judicial Circuit — Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Glades and Hendry counties— specifically to handle foreclosure cases as expeditiously as possible. Hundreds of cases might be handled in a single day.”

“Eddie Felton, executive director of the Home Ownership Resource Center, who has helped borrowers resolve their issues, sees the situation getting worse. A combination of lender intransigence, poorly funded homeowner counseling programs, and soon-to-balloon variable interest rate loans will add fuel to the fire. ‘The economy hasn’t gotten any better — it’s gotten worse,’ he said. ‘If people had jobs, we would not be in the predicament we’re in.’”

The Palm Beach Post. “Nearly 9,500 homeowners applied for Florida’s Hardest Hit foreclosure prevention program during its statewide debut last week, only a quarter of the estimated 40,000 borrowers the $1 billion plan is intended to reach. With 5 percent of Florida’s 3.2 million home loans between 30 and 60 days delinquent, foreclosure defense attorney Ron Kaniuk said the initial turnout for the program was ‘pathetically low.’”

“A year-end Mortgage Bankers Association report found nearly 20 percent of the state’s home loans were in foreclosure or at least 90 days late. Kaniuk, who is based in Boca Raton, said there is a lack of awareness and understanding of the Hardest Hit plan. ‘Also, those who are hardest hit are worn out,’ he said. ‘They’ve been so jerked around by the banks with HAMP and HAFA and a dozen other acronyms that they don’t want to apply for anything else.’”

The Naples News. “Naples City Council last week said it plans to give more than $180,000 to Habitat for Humanity of Collier County. The nonprofit organization will use the money – given to the city in 1994 as part of Coastland Center mall’s development plan – to purchase and renovate foreclosed homes within city limits.”

“Marcy Krumbine, director of Collier County’s housing, human and veteran services division, said Collier County government has been administering a similar foreclosure rehabilitation program since 2009. Krumbine said the county can spend up to $150,000 to purchase a property and $50,000 for renovations. Anything over that amount needs to be approved by county commissioners.”

“‘It’s a smart move to use money this way,’ Krumbine said. ‘There’s a lot of housing out there, and a lot of it is abandoned and foreclosed.’”

The Miami News Times. “Earlier this week, Miami New Times sat down with restaurateur Jonathan Eismann to discuss the disappearance of his restaurant empire and his new pizza venture. At the helm of four successful venues last year, Eismann had seemed like Mister Miami. Then, little by little, the empire crumbled. Bills piled up, restaurants folded, and lawsuits were filed. Even Eismann’s six-bedroom house dropped in value by almost a million.”

“Eismann’s biggest problem might be his enormous waterfront home at on the Venetian Islands. In a filing dated January 22, 2011, mortgage holder BankUnited filed foreclosure proceedings against Eismann and wife to the tune of $1,384,368.89. According to Miami-Dade property records, the 4,900-square-foot residence was purchased in 1999 for $1,150,000. The house and property had a staggering market value of nearly $2.9 million in 2009. That fell to just more than $2.1 million in 2010.”

The Guardian. “The US housing market has been on the slide for five years and there is no sign of an imminent recovery. Home ownership levels are now back at levels seen in 1998. Some economists are even worried that the US’s may have fallen out of love with property ownership. It’s as if the boom years never happened.”

“Estate agent Mark Shore’s British Homes Group, based in Kissimmee, caters specifically for foreign buyers. Shore, a Briton, has been in Florida since 2003 and knows a lot of people who were burnt by the collapse, including himself: ‘A lot of people are very pissed off. A lot of people have just walked away.’ This has been the worst property crisis since the Great Depression, worse than the 1980s, he says. ‘You don’t just bounce back from that.’”

“‘You would have to go back to the Great Depression to find anything similar,’ says Paul Dales, US economist at Capital Economics. ‘It will recover at some point, but we are probably two or three years away.’”

“High unemployment, the tightening of lending criteria by the banks and the fact that so many homeowners are in negative equity have undermined the foundations of the housing market, he says. ‘The top end of the market has done OK, but the bottom end is doing badly and I wouldn’t be surprised if the top end sees a further drop off too.’”

“Perhaps there is something else at work here, a deeper shift in America’s attitude to home ownership. Dales believes there is hard evidence that Americans have fallen out of love with bricks and mortar. Historically Americans have not been as keen on home ownership as the British, he says. ‘In the boom, home ownership looked like a one-way bet – there was a greater incentive to get on the ladder. Now I think attitudes have changed.’”

“He believes the official numbers on the state of the US housing market may be 20% worse than they appear. The National Association of Realtors is currently reassessing its figures and they are not expected to be revised upwards.”

“There is a war of sorts brewing between the National Association of Realtors and housing data provider CoreLogic about the NAR’s reporting of home sales. CoreLogic contends that the NAR inflated sales figures going back to 2000 — and the NAR is not completely disputing the allegation. ‘It’s been widely reported that the National Association of Realtors existing home sales data fell only 5 percent to 4.9 million in 2010, down from 5.2 million in 2009 and flat relative to 2008,’ CoreLogic wrote in its February newsletter. ‘CoreLogic existing home sales data indicates otherwise. Existing home sales data did not experience an increase in 2009 and that sales fell again slightly in 2010.’”

“Drew Peterson, a broker who specializes in selling bank-owned foreclosures, said his guess is the truth probably lies somewhere between the two data sets. ‘I forgot who said it, but the quote, ‘There are lies, damned lies, and statistics’ probably applies here,’ he said. ‘Both NAR and CoreLogic have a heavy interest in how the market numbers appear, so both likely use the market studies and surveys that best support their position, whatever that is.’”