Bits Bucket for May 28, 2011
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.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Wellington man accused of filing questionable quit-claim deeds
By Kimberly Miller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 3:33 p.m. Friday, May 27, 2011
A Wellington man was collecting thousands of dollars in rent every month on homes he didn’t own, all while living in a posh five-bedroom house in the gated Versailles community, according to a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office investigation.
Kesner Joaseus, 41, was arrested Thursday and charged with one count of organized fraud following a nine-month investigation that found 30 questionable quit-claim deeds giving Joaseus’ company ownership of the properties.
Joaseus then could turn on the utilities in the homes, which were in foreclosure. In 10 cases where owners could be found, they confirmed to sheriff’s detectives that they did not sign the quit-claim deeds giving K&R Investment Capital rights to the properties. Five of the 10 homes had been rented out with monthly payments as high as $1,200.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/real-estate/wellington-man-accused-of-filing-questionable-quit-claim-1502825.html - -
Looked up Kesner Joaseus in the county records, he has 51 judgements against him from 1991-2011
JOASEUS KESNER FLORIDA 03/28/1991 JUD 6769 769 19910082731
JOASEUS KESNER VALENTINO FLORIDA 02/11/2011 JUD 24361 651 20110051994
Besides the banks, he took down a few savvy investors along the way.
Type: JUD
Date/Time: 9/28/2009 14:30:26
CFN: 20090336623
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 23466/1239
Pages: 2
Consideration: $0.00
Party 1: CHARLES ADELINE
SAGESSE SAMANTHA
CHARLES ADELINE
ORIGENE WADSON
COHEN CLAUDETTE V
DAMIER MARIE GINETTE
DAWKINS JANET M
DAWKINS DANIEL G
HILAIRE MAXIS
HILAIRE PAULETTE
JEAN LABINETTE
JEAN DERILUS
JEAN GUETINE
JONES DONALD
JONES MARIE
JOSAPHAT VALDES
JOSAPHAT VALDES
JOSEPH ELIENNE
JOSPEH OCHEL
JOSPEH ELIESSET
MCKENZIE VIVOLYN W
MAURICET MURA CLAIRE
DORCENT HENRIOT
RENEUS RONY
SILENCIEUX ALTEAGA
SIRENE MANETTE
WALKER DEIDRE A
LAKE RAMONE
WALKER NORMA
WILSON LOLA
Party 2: AIM ONE MORTGAGE CORRESPONDENT LENDER LLC
JOASEUS KESNER
JOASEUS ROSE A
JOASEUS ROSE R
The TEA party should love this guy! That’s freedom! Why let silly regulations hamper the free market?
Kesner Joaseus is all mavericky!
Don’t worry just keep voting the way you do, more goobermint will “fix” it! Morons always win.
We had no depressions or major financial crises when we had strong banking regulation (’bigger government’). And then we deregulated the Savings and Loans, and they had a massive crash that caused a recession. And then we deregulated the banks, and they had a massive crash that caused a depression.
I would think even a moron could see that less government- in the form of financial deregulation- leads to economic crashes. But perhaps I’m overestimating the morons.
The fed is regulation and they price fees through manipulating interest rates.
Under Reagan-appointed Greenspan (after Reagan effectively fired Volcker for not being pro-financial deregulation enough), the Fed was at best an empty suit, at worst a willing co-conspirator in this recent debacle.
But the Fed’s problem is it lies outside of government regulation- being that strange public/private institution. Isn’t that what auditing the Fed is all about? We want to see what they’re doing, and make sure it’s legal and aboveboard.
‘Audit the Fed’ is a cry for government regulation- and against the behind-the-scenes corporate cronyism that deregulation creates.
I would think even a moron could see that less government- in the form of financial deregulation- leads to economic crashes. But perhaps I’m overestimating the morons.
I don’t think you are overestimating the deregulationists but rather you’re underestimating their human tendency to stick with their failed assumptions even in the face of reality and evidence. It is not easy for someone to do a 180 on the deregulation issue because it lays bare the fallacies of their core beliefs - their philosophy that has taken a lifetime develop.
It’s for this reason that I was impressed when Alan Greenspan admitted to Congress that there was obviously, in hindsight, a “flaw” in his free-market model of efficient markets being all that is necessary to regulate itself. He was wrong on such basic level of his belief system that it was astounding that a man such as him would be capable of admitting the truth just as he has just admitted the truth of the need to eliminate the Bush tax cuts to the rich.
No who else on the national stage has the guts and honesty to admit was Greenspan admitted? Who on this blog? The easiest example to illustrate this is to examine the effect of, and the reaction to the effect of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 that officially ensured the deregulation of financial products known as over-the-counter derivatives. (including CDR’s) , and the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act which basically repealed the banking regulation aspects of Glass–Steagall Act.
Now I have seen countless studies, reports and articles by objective economists, political scientists and the like that pin most of the cause of the Housing Bubble on the deregulatory effects of those two “free-market” bills. I’ve seen no scientific articles proving those bills were relatively adding more regulation in nature. None. How could there be? Those acts were passed in the name of financial deregulation.
The “free-market”, deregulation fans have nothing to logically counter the above reality. They have thin throwaway lines or biased, weak think-tank studies that don’t pass muster. They hem and haw and say we didn’t do enough to de-regulate or that the GSE’s and the CRA regulated the crisis’s inception and to this they are partially correct. They did. However not nearly as much as the Congressional acts of deregulation listed above. From what I’ve read and learned, I would guess regulation caused 30% of the problem and deregulation and it’s corrupt wild-west cowboy capitalism caused 70% of the problem.
For the libertarian, wild-west, cowboy “capitalists”, this is a hard thing to ever admit because to admit this basic truth would be to admit to a major “flaw in their model”.
“For the libertarian, wild-west, cowboy “capitalists”, this is a hard thing to ever admit because to admit this basic truth would be to admit to a major “flaw in their model”.”
Models are just that. They’re built by men (flawed) and are subject to failure.
Don’t worry…. keep voting against your own economic interests. More power concentrated in the hands of the corporatists will destroy you. Morons always lose.
While I am not a tea partier (due to the social conservative religion influence) I certainly think this is a cheap shot to blame free market on that con artist. The problem was that he got away with fraud for so long. I have news for you: the capitalist authors from libertarian circles reject theft and fraud. It would be a good exercise for you to look up the “non-aggression theme” of the libertarians. We believe in only retaliatory force. We believe in justice.
Well said Bill. It seems the automatic response from so many of us is to neatly wrap everything into a category. “Us vs. Them”, “Left vs. Right”, “Treehugger vs. Redneck”, etc. When the sad truth is we are all being led to the slaughter house.
IMO, anyone with even minimal critical thinking skills can see our present system is unsustainable. The numbers just don’t add up.
The sooner people realize that we are all, well at least everyone I know, serfs and share a common desire for a fair and just shake at life the closer we are to flushing this steaming pile of xxxx down the drain and starting fresh.
FWIW, we’ve seen upfront and close how unregulated “free markets” behave.
Ungegulated free market and fractional reserve banking cannot exist together.
I agree there has to be a mechanism to punish those that would try to game the system.
Punishment so severe as to make even the most cunning financial “engineer” think twice about it.
An example would be stripping a family entirely of its wealth and having an extended stay in the gray bar hotel. A penalty so severe only a criminal mind would even contemplate it.
“Ungegulated free market and fractional reserve banking cannot exist together.”
I think we could have FRB without the interest rate price fixing associated with central banks. The markets would have to set interest rates and the CBs would have to follow. Possible, but not likely in the near future.
“Unregulated free market and fractional reserve banking cannot exist together.”
The goldsmiths were the original fractional reserve bankers, issuing more chits for gold than they held in their vaults.
In unregulated free markets.
“the capitalist authors from libertarian circles reject theft and fraud. ”
They may reject the idea of theft and fraud, but their idealized free markets would be wide open to theft and fraud.
I’m told that businesses and individuals would behave because otherwise they’d get bad reputations- an idea that is laughable in this age of globalism.
Actually, the idea is laughable in any period of history.
The answer again is more government and more rules.
The development of the rule of law was the very thing that allowed businesses to flourish. This was the basis of America, and not coincidental that capitalism and America grew fastest when law was objective and justice was served. Unfair laws which favor some businesses or individuals at the expense of others, is what has been happening nearly the last 100 years. You point to the result and blame the result, not the cause. So I am laughing at you.
The problem with the idea that they will all behave assumes they desire to build a businesss vs just stripping wealth.
See Bernie Madhoff story as an example. One lie led to another led to another led to more and more money rolling in and he kept it up for a long time. He knew it would crash at some point I suspect he was hoping to get another decade or so.
See WS CEO’s and Country Wide tan man - Clearly these people also knew the ponzi scheme would end but they chose to play anyway because they thought they would walk with massive pile of money, and they were right.
In a libertarian world I build a bank and run it honestly for a decade or two and then when everyone believes in me I pull and Anthony Mozillo.
Note regulation can fail due to bribery etc but no regulation is guaranteed to fail.
“The development of the rule of law was the very thing that allowed businesses to flourish. This was the basis of America, and not coincidental that capitalism and America grew fastest when law was objective and justice was served. ”
Yes, and financial regulation is what allows the rule of law to exert its power in the financial world. Without that regulation, there is no rule of law in the financial world, and hence all the benefits that you rightly assert come from the rule of law, would not exist there.
Without that regulation, there is no rule of law in the financial world, and hence all the benefits that you rightly assert come from the rule of law, would not exist there.
Dude…That’s true….
“The quit-claim deeds filed by Joaseus also involved two notaries who admitted to detectives that they would stamp the deeds even though the owner of the property wasn’t present. It is believed a third notary’s stamp was stolen and his signature was forged on the deeds.”
“It was the third notary’s name that appears on a 2009 quit-claim deed awarding the Versailles home to Rose Joaseus, officials said.”
Oh boy, Somebody’s in trouble!
This guy is used to trouble by now.
Classic scam.
What bothers me the most about this is that it took NINE MONTHS to nail just one guy. There are probably thousing of these budding realty entrepreneurs, so to speak.
That’s why there’s so much fraud. The chances of getting away with it are very high. The cops only go after the egregious ones. The smart ones lay low, amass a pile-for-life after a decade of fraud, and can be sipping mait-tais in South America or the South of France long before the law has time to even start a file on them.
You’ve just described our economy in a nutshell.
Interesting interview with the guy who runs Mastercard and his views about jobs, consumer spending, housing, etc.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/CEO-Interview-MasterCards-apf-1887017155.html?x=0&.
Another good reason to ditch credit cards.
I pay off my balance before it gets interest charges. I rely on my credit cards for convenience because I don’t have ATM machines very handy nearby. For the financially undisciplined, they are a problem. For the rest of us a godsend.
Honestly, I could not function without my credit card…I also pay it off each month…
I am sure all of us could “function”. It would most likely be very “painful” though.
I use it every day…Sometimes as much as six, seven times or more…
I use it, probably, twice a day. I am sure I would be able to “function” without it.
Online purchases would be a pain, I freely admit but I do not think that buying lunch would be much of an issue if at all.
Of course, I am more organized than most, and New York tends to be a cash-only kinda (= tax-evasion) place.
“Online purchases would be a pain,…”
Not only that, but it is relatively easier for online vendors to tack on hefty fees to the price of the tickets for whatever you want to do later today. If they are the only seller, then you get to choose whether to pay the fee or stay home.
Online purchases would be a pain, I freely admit but I do not think that buying lunch would be much of an issue if at all.
You can use PayPal for online purchases. Just use the money that’s in your PayPal account.
I see the credit card industry as being a net drain on the economy, as retailers will tend to have higher prices to offset the cost of credit card fees. For those of us who pay off our bills every month and get cash back or other rewards, we’re only partially compensating for the increased average retail costs. Maybe it’s worth it for the convenience, but we shouldn’t kid ourselves that we ‘credit card deadbeats’ are actually beating the system.
You have no choice.
If even 10% use CC’s, then the prices will rise to compensate for that fact.
If almost everyone does, you get to choose between getting the 1% or getting nothing at all.
It’s a fairly straightforward economic option really. Only the terminally ret*rded decide to pick the “moral” high-ground.
Bit of a flaw in your theory FPSS. Currently it’s useless to vote 3rd party, so only the terminally ret*rded wouldn’t vote for R or D. But without people chosing to be ret*rded, there won’t be change.
Chosing to go cash (which isn’t very expensive) and encouraging others to do the same could accomplish something. At a minimum you can pat yourself on the back for rejecting status quo (did I mention it doesn’t cost much?)
This is an extremely fair point. Let’s rephrase it into economic jargon.
Is 1% of your transactions a “fair tax” to change the system?
Possibly.
However, I just don’t see the masses changing though. I think they are more st00pid than you wish they were.
Very sad really but there you go.
” I think they are more st00pid than you wish they were.”
Definitely a case of dripping water wearing away at stone. And I do use credit cards to get the 1%. I just chose to not kid myself that I’m winning; just losing less.
I’d probably be doing worse on the net without the st00pid. They buy expensive new crap and sell it to me used on the cheap. They buy fancy cars or SUVs that give a high profit margin to the dealers and manufacturers that allow me to buy the stripped down models on the cheap. In general, they feed ‘the system’ which allows me to avoid doing so.
I have a love/hate relationship with herd.
“I just chose to not kid myself that I’m winning; just losing less.”
So you are comparing yourself to some “idealized” system that doesn’t exist and never will?
Good luck, buddy!
That way lies madness (or my dad.)
The herd is what it is. Take it or leave it. Such is life. It’s freakin’ messy and not for the “purists”.
BTW, I loathe the herd as much as you do. I just don’t make a fuss about it.
Great article, thanks for posting.
His description of the cellphone barcode reader is silly. This goes back to Kunstler’s disdain toward “technotriumphalism.” WTF does a rural farmer want with all that gizmodgery.
That’s a chitload of resources required to replace money. And money still works when the power goes out.
His description has elements of silliness but he’s basically correct.
The access of cellphones and computers in India has effectively cut the layers and layers of middlemen out of the business. Farmers and fishermen get accurate commodity prices rather than the entirely dubious price quoted by middlemen.
I don’t think you realize how backwards these places are, and even the slightest bit of technology tips the balance.
There was a great article about the fishermen in Kerala in the Economist a few years ago. I can verify that I saw it in action in the markets early this year when I was there.
How does that saying go? ‘Tis better to remain silent and be thought stupid, than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.
I hope that wasn’t addressed to the other Bill. We do the same thing here. 1% cash back on everything and 5% back on categories that change every three months. Groceries, utility bills (at least those that don’t add a surcharge for credit card payments) and other monthly, recurring expenses. We get a check for $100 several times a year. It’s been many years since we carried a balance (and paid interest) for even one month.
5% back ?? Yeah, I been thinking about doing that instead of building up the air miles…
I have tons of miles and finally used my brain and figure upon turning to gold status, I will just use my rewards the rest of the year. Should have fewer blackout days at gold on USAirways.
Many continue to talk after brain function has ceased….
Make sure there is not misinterpretation…May post above was in response to Palmy’s post…
I found this comment interesting:
“There is definitely, for the last six to nine months, something changing in terms of spending. Whether it will persist for another year or two will greatly depend on how employment behaves. And it will depend greatly on how housing prices actually behave. Housing prices are the one I am most nervous about right now, because I don’t know where the bottom is. I don’t look at housing starts, I look at the way prices are flowing by different metropolitian statistical areas.”
“The reason spending is picking up is, I believe, is that 90 percent of the people who are employed, compared to the 10 perrcent who are not, no longer believe their jobs are at risk. And therefore their willingingness to spend a little has changed compared to six, none months ago, when there was this fear of, you know, the proverbal Democles sword hanging over your neck and you didn’t know when you’d get a pink slip.”
More layoffs happening to an office in Phoenix I used to work at. In fact, my friend texted me yesterday that the Phoenix office is being closed and the ones who are not laid off will be asked to go out of Arizona to other offices. The company has been in trouble for two years due to poor management, nepotism, and cronyism. But I think some of these people are like the 90%, until they become like the ten percent. Everyone of us who is not retired better be darned worried about our jobs. The worrying for me began in early 2008 during the financial meltdown (part 1).
better be darned worried about our jobs ??
I would be more worried about the millions unemployed being able to find one that can carry them through their lifetime…We may have a severe structural problem in this country surrounding jobs….We also have a lot of military men coming home soon and you can here the drum beats already about them getting to move to the front of the line for whatever jobs that are available…
That will be a major problem and at least exert downward pressure on wages. Bringing the millions of troops home better be balanced by hundreds of billions of dollars in defense spending cuts AND an equal amount of tax cuts.
Bring millions of troops home? Millions?
Active duty headcount as of 4/30/2011
Army 570,471
Navy 327,951
Marines 201,184
Air Force 331,959
Total DoD 1,431,565
Coast Guard 42,868 (not part of DoD)
http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/MILITARY/ms0.pdf
Note that the link is a pdf.
“We also have a lot of military men coming home soon and you can here the drum beats already about them getting to move to the front of the line for whatever jobs that are available”
They already have that priviledge for gov’t jobs. They’ll probably also get it with the Fortune 500. Small firms, unless there is a financial incentive I don’t think it will happen.
The drift of many HBB posts the past several weeks commented of how the economy has been running on fumes - running on hope and on savings.
IMO if/when the hope and savings exhaust themselves then the economy will tank again - or continue to tank, whichever way you want to look at it.
Fumes?
Its running on tons and tons of highly volatile and highly flammable federal reserve rocket fuel called QE!
“The company has been in trouble for two years due to poor management, nepotism, and cronyism.”
So it’s a typical American company?
And this has been the pattern since the foundation of the nation!
Humans never change.
Shocker only to the terminally naïve;!
Everyone of us who is not retired better be darned worried about our jobs.
This cannot be repeated enough or overstated. I MUST *plan* on extended periods of unenjoyment and a dramatically lower wage if I do find a job. I don’t like it… in fact I hate it but the grim reality is all around me.
I say I’m humble enough to cashier at Walmart. I have to plan on it.
I would work at Wal-Mart too and while there help provide photos to http://www.peopleofwalmart.com
Have you ever thought you might not be able to get that job at Wal Mart? Or any other crappy job because UE is so high?
Hate to say it but it’ll all be about connections.
It’s really not a good time to enjoy being argumentative w/people around you. You just never really know whose help you’ll need in a downturn.
Dammit, you beat me to the punchline!
“The reason spending is picking up is, I believe, is that 90 percent of the people who are employed, compared to the 10 perrcent who are not, no longer believe their jobs are at risk.”
Exactly what I’ve been trying to say for months.
However, the savings rate is at about 5% and revolving credit has not yet begun to increase in any substantial way. In other words, despite this psychological effect of feeling safer, people are not yet as nutty as they were during the peak about spending.
Further improvement in people’s psyche, combined with higher and higher rents will ultimately manifest itself in more people buying homes.
It’s one thing to feel safe about your job and buying a new TV. It’s another thing entirely to sign up to pay a mortgage for a few decades.
The best part of that article:
The reason spending is picking up is, I believe, is that the 90 percent of the people who are employed, compared to the 10 percent who are not, no longer believe their jobs are at risk. And therefore their willingness to spend a little has changed compared to six, nine months ago, when there was this fear of, you know, the proverbial Damocles sword hanging over your neck and you didn’t know when you’d get a pink slip.
I think this view is substantially correct.
Nice to hear a CEO with some substance to back it up. The man has brains.
“The man has brains.”
And the company he runs is sooooo very profitable:
No debt, net profit margins of 34%, ROE = 43%, ROA = 24 %, ROI = 38 %.
The P/E is a high 19 but, hey, the next downturn just might drop the price in half just as the last downturn did.
Wait and watch…
Our economy has a built-in structural unemployment of six percent, so the recent unemployment numbers really should be stated as roughly fifteen percent.
72 million people says he wrong. That’s HALF the workforce.
You know, the half that makes $500 or less a week.
Not to be facile but those people are irrelevant (from an economic standpoint) in ANY economy.
An economy is judged by its most productive members not by its least.
There are human concerns but there are certainly NOT economic concerns for the bottom half.
The bottom half of China or India is a disaster. That hasn’t stopped the most productive top from stealing the thunder.
Did people have a st00pid-chip installed while I was away?
“…Not to be facile but those people are irrelevant (from an economic standpoint) in ANY economy.”
True.
But politically, they can beat the snot out of you….
I just want to give a huge shout-out to the great state of Arizona. You rock, Arizona!
Yes, we can!
What, you don’t like that the state can now shut down a business for repeatedly being caught employing illegal aliens? Those wascally, evil businesses and corporations deserve it.
Not sure why we have not implmented this law nation wide…It would be a easy and effective….
Interesting things about the recent Supreme Court decision re: Arizona’s employer sanctions law:
1. The Supremes were upholding an earlier decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Which isn’t a hotbed of conservatism.
2. Despite the recent uproar about Gov. Jan Brewer signing SB 1070 into law last year, the employer sanctions law was signed into law by then-Gov. Janet Napolitano. That was back in 2007. It went into effect in early 2008.
I know the economy is getting better. Why just yesterday while gassing up a distinguished white haired executive type pulled up to the adjacent pump and started pumping gas too. But the interesting part was his vehicle. A 2010 Caddy Escalade pulling a brand new trailer filled with new lawn and gardening tools. Just maybe he is a multi-property landlord doing his own apartment maintenance or better yet an unemployed RE.
he is a multi-property landlord doing his own apartment maintenance ??
Next stop, the Home Depot parking lot….
This brings to mind the Jim Carrey scene in “Meet Dick & Jane”
Hilarious!!
Realtors Are Liars
Are we having another episode of a blinding flash of the obvious?
Daily!
Still sounds like the “anger” phase although it could be the “depression” phase.
Either way, we’re far along from the “denial” phase.
FPSS,
You may call Master of the Obvious, douchebag, commie, socialist, a$$wipe, conservative, nutjob, freak and loon but never call me a realtor.
Sincerely,
~Realtors Are Liars~
In your heart of hearts, I think you really know that that you’re a realtor!
YU turd!!!!
You may a call me a turd, a douchebag, a socialist, a libertarian, or an asshole but never call me a realtor!
Realtors are not only liars, but they solicit prostitutes, they are spies and they use their real estate credentials to
obtain rental properties to grow pot.
Realtor caught using her job to grow pot.
Posted on March 29, 2011
by Marie Haynes
I guess you’ll find some bad apples in every profession!
(Hey Marie, I can find a bad apple Realtor everyday with ease. I only wish I could find a decent affordable house to buy as easily. Sorry for the interuption in the pot growing Realtor story)
Jennifer Wu, a 46 year old realtor in Toronto has been charged with conspiracy and drug charges.
Ms. Wu allegedly used her real estate credentials in order to obtain rental properties in the Toronto area which were used for growing drugs. She is thought to be connected to 55 grow operations in the area.
She managed to evade police for a while, but when they found her she was living in Romania and running a daycare.
http://www.davidandmarie.com/realtor-caught-using-her-job-to-grow-pot/ - 64k -
Realtors are suppliers.
Anybody want to read a interesting piece than google
“How to Spot a Psychopath .” …….by Jon Ronson May 2011
From the article ,,,
“Serial killers ruin families .” “Corporate and political and religious psychopaths ruin economies . They ruin Societies .”
The article includes the 13 traits of psychopaths . I guess this is a incurable
disorder ,
For further reading on this topic, I recommend Robert Hare’s book, Without Conscience.
Snakes in suits is a good one too…can’t remember the author’s name.
Just checked Snakes in Suits out from the library. Authors Paul Babiak & Robert Hare.
Hi. Happy Memorial Day Weekend. I think it’s interesting that we now post so much about politics and the ecomomy. Not that they’re unrelated to RE. But I remember when I first started visiting this blog, 2005 I think, that our posts were all about when the bubble would burst and that is was soooo slow in arriving.
Funny with RE being such a bad value people, including me, still want to buy. Guess the need for territory is a basic human need? Muggy you and your wife are not alone. I am a single, male, in my 50s and I want to own again. That nesting instinct does not effect only the ladies. Polly if you give up the car do get yourself a good cart for groceries as you mentioned last week. Wrist, elbow, and shoulder injuries are very common from repeatedly carrying groceries.
Anon In DC
You’re not alone in wanting/needing to own again. We’re 50+ (married, no kiddies ever) and can’t stand renting, and being in limbo. So, don’t feel like your nesting instinct is weird.We have been waiting out the bubble in So Ca actively looking for a “toe tag” home for cash. Inventory stinks, and prices are slowly coming down, but still pricey. We would love to find the right house, but it hasn’t showed up yet. With multiple rents, we’re better off owning.
All we want in a one-story rancher with a small pool, and can’t seem to find one that isn’t in a bad location, in bad condition vs. price, or other caveats. No wonder we always bought new. This is our final home, so the house, yard and no HOA, all has to work. No view lot McMansion this time. Just a nice cottage to call home.
Good luck to you. One big reason I would like to own is I love to garden. I think it takes ten years for a garden (trees and shurbs) to start to even begin to mature. My next house will be my last as well. Thinking of having one built.
Anon
We looked into building a one-story craftsman with a wrap around porch, but:
1. the land was pricey in areas we liked
2. the cities were a pita
3. we’re partial to big trees and the lots were barren.
I can’t wait to grow a garden. I’m with you. At least it won’t be Monsanto food. Best of luck to you as well.
Well here we are….. right in the center of the “spring selling season” and sales are substantially lower now than last year…. and the year before and the year before that.
What’s is this going to look like in the fall as the months supply bloats even more over the next 3 months? I’m not asking… merely suggesting. Even if defaults and foreclosures were froze today, the overall inventory is there and the pool of buyers is non existent. Don’t yammer to me about “unemployment” and wages are not rising.
There are few buyers at current asking prices. Inventory bloats. Sellers lining up. There is still construction adding inventory.
Sounds rather like a tornadic inventory train wreck, no?
There are few buyers at current asking prices. Inventory bloats. Sellers lining up. There is still construction adding inventory.
Classic case in point from a few blocks south of the Arizona Slim Ranch. House has been for sale at least three times since I moved in here.
Up until a few weeks ago, it was listed with one of Tucson’s best-known agents. Then her sign vanished. Yesterday eve, I noticed the sign of another of our local RE hotshots.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but the $299k price tag is a bit of a stopper. I mean, it’s a nice looking house and all that, but jeez louise, that’s almost a third of a million dollars.
300k houses are gone and they’re never coming back. The price point seems to be 160k-210k, irrespective of location, size, etc. That’s what buyers are paying…. 160-210. Sorry if you’ve “got 400k in into it”. It doesn’t matter.
What about 5 acres of raw land, no well, septic, or utilities, for $199k?
GB,
I can ask 50k for my 4 year old duramax.
Interested?
I think this idea depends on location (errr sounding like an RE seller here….)
There seems to be many places where buying a house for $100K or less is reasonable, but other places are falling the mil to 1/2 mil range so $300K sounds like a bargain.
My point? Having read about housing here and elsewhere, and having had my own experiences, I’m amazed at the range of prices I see. A nice house for $75K in one market would cost close to a mil elsewhere. It’s crazy.
It’s not crazy. Different markets/municipalities have different laws in place that impact construction costs and entitlements (and thus impact supply, as well as minimum cost to build anything new).
Examples:
Minimum standards for road improvements that are intended to be annexed into the City.
Building Permit Fees
School Fees
Building standards (fire sprinklers required)
Green building codes
In some places, these kinds of costs can add $75k+ to the cost of a home. There is no way to build and sell a new home for that price, and so, there is no supply until either the $75k in costs get worn down through reversal of these policies, or prices rise. Otherwise, what you have is no new supply.
Different markets also have different demographics–is the area growing? If so, new construction will be needed. Is the area Detroit? If so, no new construction is needed.
The laws of supply/demand in growing markets will dictate higher prices for new homes over time.
Generally there’s a problem when there are no pictures of the interior.
Anon
Absolutely. You’re right. And don’t forget angle shots, pictures of a blooming bush (OMFG what a joke) and other moronic marketing ploys.
Az Slim
I hear ya. For comparison sake, what would you say a real listing price should be? (Either “on” the market, or “in” the market.)
Oh yeah.
At a party the other night I participated in a long conversation with a recently retired public school teacher. At one point I asked what was the biggest change she had seen in the 20 or so years she worked in that field. Without hesitation she responded, “the rise of helicoptering parents.” In extreme cases, the parents are even doing all the kids’ homework assignments.
One father of an 8th grader complained that he had been doing it for the last three years and was tired of it. The teacher replied, “that’s why your kid is three years behind grade level.” The father stopped and the kid was soon failing. She said the kid was then withdrawn from school and the parents would be “home teaching” him.
In another example, she gave a D grade on an essay assignment and the parent actually called and asked, “why did you give me a D?” Me. The parent didn’t even pretend it was the kid’s work.
Other major points I remember her making were: most of today’s kids think it’s OK to cheat, and most of today’s kids have little or no self-respect. Self-esteem yes, self-respect no. They know they don’t deserve the straight A’s they get on their report cards.
And these kids will soon constitute our work force.
I think colleges should crack down on cheaters. Cheating has been going on a long time. However the feeling of efficacy you get from doing the effort honestly is everlasting. It is a choice one makes at a young age and can affect you the rest of our life. The lifelong guilt from cheating or the lifelong pride from doing the work yourself.
How do you cheat on tests, or the board exams without hiring a clone?
I had a math take home final exam once in college. The prof gave us a week. It was a Numerical Analysis class. I recall I was in the college library browsing the math books. I was not the only one from the class there. We were allowed to use library books. But one guy from the class asked me if I want to collaborate. I said no. And that week, two mornings in a row, I woke up with a solution to a problem from the test. I got an A in the class. This was in 1984 and of course I look back with pride. It was a tough class. The professor was from the Middle East. Even so, he had no tolerance of cheaters. One Middle East student near the front of the class got busted by the prof for cheating on a test a few weeks earlier. I won’t ever forget that either.
Bill most of my Chemical Engineering exams were open book. But the questions were such that your need to think critically and understand the theory and use approximation. I used to do three things in college mostly study, eat or sleep. After the exams either we were drinking for joy or drinking for sorrow.
“I think colleges should crack down on cheaters.”
Thinking out loud here… sometimes I wonder if more work shouldn’t be collaborative. Kids would get some good lessons about working and getting along with others. Over time they might even figure out on their own why socialism and nanny states aren’t such great ideas.
You produced the reason against collaboration right in your message. The less productive ones in a collaboration get more benefit than the more productive ones. It usually ends up that the most productive gets more costs than gains. Hence, like the Twentieth Century Motor Company in Atlas Shrugged. Or like the client company where I worked a few years, going downhill fast due to rewarding nepotism and cronyism and punishing individualists who put in the effort.
Well, my thought was that it would come full circle. Start off collaborative, but make it optional. Eventually the kids will figure out who isn’t pulling their weight and stop working with those kids. In other words, they would choose not to “cheat” by choice.
like the Twentieth Century Motor Company in Atlas Shrugged…
good lord….
I volunteer in a “member of the local business community” capacity at the University of Arizona’s business school.
I’ve heard more than a few kvetches about dysfunctional collaborative project teams. Quite often, the problem centers around student team members who don’t do a darn thing. That leads to other team members having to pick up the slack. Which they deeply resent.
And don’t think that, as these kids graduate, that they forget about the slackers they were once teamed up with. Oh, no, they don’t.
So, if anyone here is part of a student team, or about to be, pull your weight. Failure to do so can follow you for a long time.
Yes and k-12 schools have been doing group project style teaching for decades. This is nothing new and an enduring edu-obsession. Students need to learn how to work on their own before they can work in groups.
My GF just turned down a job offer because they hired the team slacker and she didn’t want to work with him again.
I never cheated in school, I always did my own homework, wrote my own papers, never recycled them for other classes, and never got any help from a parent. Never got much adult career guidance, either, which would have helped!
I’m not sure whether to be proud or just disgusted with the cheaters.
I am the same situation. I would have said as much earlier but the usual haters would find some way to flame me. You should be both proud and disgusted. I am.
“I never cheated in school, I always did my own homework, wrote my own papers, never recycled them for other classes, and never got any help from a parent.”
Same here. Still wish the same could be said of our high school valadictorian, however. Of all people to cheat!
Based on the time period the education system has used relaxed learning requirements for self esteem purposes, I am surprised the father of the 8th grader can actually DO the homework.
These kids may soon constitute our work force, but I think that they’ll have a hard time getting and keeping jobs. And, yes, it will probably be the boss’ fault. It always is, doncha know.
So they’ll turn to (insert drumroll here) entrepreneurship. Which will probably be bankrolled by the helo-parents.
But that won’t keep them from falling flat on their faces. Reason: The business world is very Darwinian. And it’s not very nice to the also-rans.
“And these kids will soon constitute our work force.”
Worse. They’ll be managers and supervisors and maybe even CEOs.
The MSM spin doctors are still failing to properly report the year-over-year 23.1% DROP in new home sales. Just how stupid do they think their readers are?
May 27, 2011, 5:47 PM ET
Behind the Numbers: Reaction to Drop in Pending Sales
By Dawn Wotapka
That was fast.
On Thursday, we wrote about Toll Brothers’ solid quarterly results and April’s strong new-home sales. It seemed that maybe, just maybe, recovery was inching closer.
Well, Friday brought a disappointing statistic: The National Association of Realtors’ seasonally adjusted index for pending sales of existing homes plunged 11.6% on a monthly basis to 81.9, the industry group said Friday. As we report, the index, which tracks agreements to purchase homes, had increased the two previous months. A reading of 100 refers to the level of sales in 2001. The reading indicates more pain lies ahead.
…
“…April’s strong new-home sales…”
The real story behind the pump-and-dump effort to yet again fluff homebuilder share prices: The April 2011 rate of new home sales was off from the 2005 bubble peak rate by (323,000/1,400,000 - 1)*100 = -77%. Booyah!
* May 24, 2011, 10:29 AM ET
Home Sales Better Than Expected, Still Bad
By Mark Gongloff
New-home sales rose 7.3% in April to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 323,000 units, better than expected.
That pace of sales is still dismal, though, bouncing along a very deep bottom, a fraction of the peak pace of nearly 1.4 million units in 2005. March’s gain was revised down.
…
A very average uppper east post war 1 bedroom for sale $250K. Monthly coop fee: $4K.
http://realestate.nytimes.com/sales/detail/10470-DP110325959/301-East-63rd-Street-NEW-YORK-NY-10065
Maintenance: $4K
Rent of a very nice 1 bdrm in nice nabe: $3K
BWAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
$250K will get you 3000+sqft in Texas. Of course, you then have to live in Texas.
I don’t know why people bother with debates about euthanasia.
You could just go to Texas with a bumper sticker that said, “I’m atheist, I’m gay, and I’m going to take away your gun.”
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.
When I clicked on this link and saw the picture of this victim, I had the same reaction that Delta House did to the picture of Kent Dorfman (Flounder) when his picture was put up on screen to be voted on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ-f4Ij6ycg - 105k -
Closings canceled on some bank-owned homes after court rules against MERS
12:23 AM, May. 5, 2011
Heather Boser of Warren looks on Wednesday from her parents’ house after her home was foreclosed three years ago in Warren. Boser is part of a wrongful-foreclosure suit involving her lender. “I would like some kind of compensation for everything I have gone through,” Boser said. / Photos by ANDRE J. JACKSON/Detroit Free Press
http://www.freep.com/article/20110505/BUSINESS04/105050469/Closings-canceled-some-bank-owned-homes-after-court-rules-against-MERS - 119k -
A passage from the article:
“The state law only allows the lender or the servicer to foreclose.”
This is why I think all this crap about MERS is pure bullsh1t. Is there any doubt just who the servicer of the loan is? Isn’t the servicer of the loan the party that collects the monthly payments?
There is a lot of Pray and Delay involved here and MERS is a tool being used to implement this Pray and Delay, a tool used not by the FBs but by the banks.
The longer Pray and Delay is used the longer the policy of Extend and Pretend will go on which means the longer the banks can carry their loans on their books at wishing prices rather than market prices.
It’s in the interest of the banks that MERS be made the scapegoat, MERS offers the reason why there is so much confusion as to who owns what, the reason why foreclosures cannot go forward.
The banks make out while the FBs get put in a holding pattern and will stay in this holding pattern until the very day the banks feel it is time to drop the hammer and foreclose, which is the day the FBs get tossed into the street.
Meanwhile, while in this holding pattern, the FBs get offers of help - offers of hope - that induces them to stay (and sometimes pay) instead of walking out and leaving an empty house to deterioriate and cause furthur financial hardship to the true owners of the property - which are the banks.
And because the FB stays but doesn’t pay, does that mean he doesn’t owe?
If he doesn’t make his house payment maybe the IRS, somewhere down the line, will make a determination that somebody else must have made the housepayments in his behalf, and this would mean the amount of these housepayments should be considered income and taxed accordingly. Remember, we are talking hundreds of billions of dollars here.
Oh, think of the pain that awaits the FBs! Pain to be suffered now and pain to be suffered - in many cases - for the rest of their days.
“Is there any doubt just who the servicer of the loan is? Isn’t the servicer of the loan the party that collects the monthly payments?”
Makes you wonder why they chose to have MERS file the foreclosures, since MERS had no legal standing to do so, it appears, and it would seem so easy for the servicer to file. Maybe the servicers wanted some legal cover?
Goooood aFTERNOON all you low life renters out there and welcome to WHBB. W This is cousin Jethro spinnin the hits and this one is from Tony I`m being foreclosed on in Orlando and Dawn and it`s goin` out to all those victims who have been livin rent freeeee for years.
Albert Hammond
It Never Rains in Southern California
Got on board a westbound seven forty seven
Didn’t think before deciding what to do
Ooh, that talk of opportunities, Flippin shows and movies
Rang true, sure rang true
Seems they don`t foreclose in southern California
Seems I’ve often heard that kind of talk before
They don`t foreclose California
Cause lawyers ther will warn ya
It`s MERS, man it`s MERS
Out of work, I’m out of my head
Out of self respect, I’m out of bread
I overpayed, I’m underfed, I wanna free home
They don`t foreclose California
cause lawyers ther will warn ya
It`s MERS, man it`s MERS
Will you tell the folks back home I nearly made it
Had offers but don’t know which one to take
Please don’t tell ‘em how you found me
Don’t tell ‘em how you found me
Gimme a break, give me a break
Seems they don`t foreclose in southern California
Seems I’ve often heard that kind of talk before
They don`t foreclose California
Cause lawyers ther will warn ya
It`s MERS, man it`s MERS
This posted by accident, the intro wasn’t done. I am taking this as an omen and I have this announcement.
By MATTHEW PEEON The Associated Pess
WHBB GOING OFF AIR
The building that WHBB has operated from has been foreclosed, so unfortunately WHBB will be going off the air. Cousin Jethro will no longer be employed by WHBB and will be filing for unemployment benefits Tuesday morning. We would like to thank our listeners and advertisers for their support over the last three days. We couldn’t have done it without you.
Sincerely
WHBB Management
WHAAAAT?!!!! Cousin Jethro is no longer spinnin’ da hits?!!!!!! WTF!!!!
Bummer. Great work, Jeff!
Cousin Jethro we hardly knew ye.
Hey Miss SanFranciscoBayAreaGal
How are you doing? I saw this and thought of you and your writing.
When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure. ~Author Unknown
Hang in there, you’ve got an angel.
Chinese buyers snap up most of ritziest homes
The China syndrome stoking Metro Vancouver home prices is very real, according to a new study of B.C.’s real estate markets.
Landcor Data Corp. examined luxury home sales over the past three years in Richmond and Vancouver’s west side and found a large and growing proportion of buyers are likely from mainland China.
President Rudy Nielsen said his researchers conducted the survey to either verify or disprove anecdotal claims by realtors that Chinese buyers are increasingly skewing the higher end of the Metro market.
Landcor looked at transactions and flagged buyers with pure Chinese names who have spellings typical in the People’s Republic of China, filtering out those with Westernized first names as well as non-Chinese names.
They found 74 per cent or 122 out of the 164 homes sold in 2010 above the “luxury” threshold ($3 million for houses on Vancouver’s west side and $2 million for condos in Richmond) were bought by buyers who fit the mainland China profile.
http://www.bclocalnews.com/surrey_area/cloverdalereporter/business/122754428.html
Remember when Japanese were buying all the trophy properties a few decades ago? How did that turn out?
I’m expecting the hammer to drop on the all-cash Asian investors about the time when China’s real estate bubble is seriously collapsing — at some point between now and 2016.
The Asians need somewhere to run to when China starts delivering the NODS. I’m guessing the Chinese government won’t be taking those lightly.
No bonuses for the investment bankers?
Way to go Cathy!
Snohomish County Business Journal Executive of the Year
CEO Cathy Reines leads a close-knit team of banking executives at First Heritage Bank.
In today’s chaotic banking world, where crashing waves of economic change have swept away dozens of famous-name banks and restructured much of the nation’s financial community, First Heritage Bank is stabilizing and creating a positive new image as “The Greatest Small Business Bank.”
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20100401/SCBJ01/100329925/0/MULTIMEDIA
Washington Bank Fails; 2011 Tally Now 44
SNOHOMISH, Wash. (TheStreet) — State regulators Friday shut down First Heritage Bank of Snohomish, Wash., bringing this year’s total number of U.S. bank failures to 43. The failed bank was previously included in TheStreet’s first-quarter Bank Watch List of undercapitalized institutions
http://www.thestreet.com/story/11136644/1/washington-bank-fails-2011-tally-now-44.html?cm_ven=RSSFeed
Grand Opening….Grand Closing.
People should be prevented from doing “homework”. I think I just about busted a rib laughing.
First Heritage Bank’s President and CEO, Cathy Reines, has loved banks — particularly community banks — for many years, and it shows.
Rock on, Cathy! Your “love” of banking shines through and through!!!
I think I’ve just hurt myself laughing.
Good find.
Grim but interesting fact to complement the story posted below:
All but three of the 519 fatalities recorded so far in the 2011 tornado season happened over the course of eight days, due to the combined effects of only three major tornado outbreaks this spring. In each case the system cut a deadly swath through a handful of states from west to east, with slight shift in the storm track from south to north over the course of the season:
1) April 14-16 (OK, AR, AL, MS, NC, VA): 38 fatalities
2) April 25-27 (AR, MS, AL, TN, GA, VA): 322 fatalities
3) May 21-22, 24 (KS, MN, MO, OK, AR): 156 fatalities
Over the course of only eight days, and within the bounds of eleven states, (OK, AR, AL, MS, NC, VA, TN, GA, KS, MN, MO) 516 tornado deaths were recorded, at a rate of 516/8 = 64.5 per day over the narrow window of days when these storms hit.
These storm systems sweep across the country in waves, with interarrival times between 2-4 weeks. Upper Midwesterners should beware the Ides of June!
One more factoid for you: Though tornado deaths are certainly horrendous when, and within the communities in which, they occur, it is useful to keep the death toll in perspective; by contrast to the 519 tornado deaths so far in 2011, the worst year on record, in 2008 37,261 people died in U.S. motor vehicle accidents, the lowest number since 1961.
2011 equals deadliest U.S. tornado year on record
CHICAGO | Sat May 28, 2011 3:42pm EDT
CHICAGO (Reuters) - The United States on Saturday equaled the record for deaths from tornadoes in a single year with 519 killed in 2011, and more than a month still to go in the tornado season, The National Weather Service said.
The confirmation on Saturday of seven more deaths from the Joplin, Missouri tornado brought the number of fatalities to the same number as 1953, the deadliest year since record keeping began.
…
We are on track for the record of most tornadoes as well.
Instead of filing for unemployment benefits on Tuesday, maybe Cousin Jethro can open an office as an Immigration Lawyer. How about both! What a country, oh well happy Memorial Day everyone.
Prosecutors: Lake Clark Shores man filed 3,000 false immigration documents
By Jane Musgrave Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 11:52 a.m. Friday, May 27, 2011
WEST PALM BEACH — At least one client raved about Levy Garcia-Crespo.
“This is the best lawyer!!!!!!!!!” she wrote in an online review.
“This attorney saved my husband from being deported. Attorney Crespo is a blessing from God.”
While Garcia-Crespo might be heaven sent, prosecutors said Friday, he isn’t a lawyer.
A day after dozens of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided his home and office, Garcia-Crespo, 34, was charged Friday with a complicated felony that essentially accuses him of impersonating a lawyer.
At a hearing in U.S. District Court, prosecutors said he filed 3,000 false immigration forms, allowing illegal immigrants to get driver licenses. He also represented clients in court.
He did so, investigators said, using the name of real attorney Gerald Salerno.
Salerno, a former assistant state attorney, didn’t return several calls for comment. It appears he and Garcia-Crespo shared an office in Palm Way Professional Centre on Forest Hill Boulevard.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crime/prosecutors-lake-clarke-shores-man-impersonated-an-attorney-1502384.html - 60k -
Just watched “american greed” and discovered that ponzi schemer Mr. Rothstein’s residence is for sale, only $6 million for the Liberace-inspired mansion:
http://www.local10.com/news/27996911/detail.html
WAASSSSUP