The Housing Bubble

The Press of Atlantic City reports from New Jersey. “With home prices and mortgage rates low, and lots of distressed properties, real estate is a buyer’s market. Yet buyers are less satisfied. Marsha Mangiello, one of four co-owners of Re/Max Atlantic in Northfield and Absecon, said buyers without money saved for a big down payment should realize their window to buy a home might close soon, since there’s a move in Congress to require 20 percent down payments. Being realistic up front with sellers is more important than ever, she said, since they’re more likely to have expectations that don’t match the market.”

“‘We wish we could give sellers the prices that they want, but that’s just not reality,’ she said. ‘I tell them, do you want me to tell you what you need to hear or what you want to hear? They always say, well, I guess what I need to hear.’”

The Record in New Jersey. “Four major mortgage lenders were cleared Monday to start filing foreclosure cases in New Jersey again, almost eight months after the state’s chief justice halted most foreclosures following reports of legal irregularities. Bank of America, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase Bank and Wells Fargo all got the green light to move forward with uncontested foreclosures from Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson, sitting in Trenton. Uncontested foreclosures, in which the homeowner does not fight the lender’s effort to take back the property, make up more than 90 percent of the cases in the state.’

“Phyllis Salowe-Kaye, head of New Jersey Citizen Action, the state’s largest housing-counseling agency, predicted the ruling would lead to a rush of foreclosures. ‘Here they come,’ she said.”

Vermont Public Radio. “News that bankruptcy filings were down compared to last year might appear to be some good news. But as VPR’s Nina Keck reports, experts say the reasons behind the decline are troubling. (Keck) Remember all the trouble some banks got in when it was learned that they had improperly filed foreclosure documents? Attorney Michelle Kainen, chair of the Vermont Bar Association’s bankruptcy section says that may just have delayed bankruptcy for many Vermonters.”

“(Kainen) ‘So we’re all just wondering if there isn’t a bottle neck with lenders and once the documentation gets straightened out, that those will jut bust loose all of a sudden - that’s what I’m concerned about. And if there’s a flood of those all of a sudden the numbers will shoot back up quite rapidly.’”

From Vt Digger. “If you have a mortgage, chances are you have never spoken to the owner of your mortgage deed. If you have spoken to anyone, it was probably to an agent of the servicing company. This is someone who has about the same authority over your mortgage as a gardener at a Bel Air mansion has over redecorating the west wing.’

“This formula works well so long as the mortgage is paid and money flows through the joints of the system. Shut that money off and begin default, and issues quickly arise. The well-oiled investment machine starts to behave like a high school dropout at exam time. This brings us to today’s case. A homeowner was sued by a U.S. bank for defaulting on her mortgage…The trial court, leery and suspicious of so many questionable documents from the bank, granted the motion to dismiss and did so with prejudice.”

“Here is the rub for the homeowner. This victory, sweet as it might be, is destined to be short lived…The bank can simply re-file its complaint to revive its claims. So the homeowner’s victory only buys her a few more months unless she and the bank can settle. At the end, you can see both sides pulling out their hair. The homeowner, meanwhile, can only savor her bittersweet victory with the knowledge that another round of foreclosures are coming down the pike — and the bankers know her address.”

The New York Observer. “Ample closet space, like an in-unit washer and dryer, is one of those coveted and elusive amenities most Manhattanites aren’t accustomed to. This one-bedroom apartment had plenty of storage space for one person (or two), with closets in the kitchen, hallway, bedroom, bathroom and entrance area.”

“Storage bins are also available in the building’s basement, as an added cost on top of the $499,000 asking price for the apartment.”

“Apartment 821 at 333 East 43rd Street has a creative solution for the lack of large, walk-in closets in pre-war buildings: built-in storage cabinets in the living room. A small, white cabinet sits near the front door of the apartment, and similar cabinets line the windowed corner of the living room. With cushions on top, these double as seating space in front of a kitchen table. ‘Most people who are looking at pre-wars understand that in that era people didn’t have walk-ins so they appreciate the new things like the built-ins,’ said broker Matthew Pucker.”

“The two-bedroom apartment, priced at $865,000, also has a bathroom closet, a small closet in the second bedroom and a large closet that stretches across one wall of the master bedroom. Indeed, people during those times probably didn’t amass quite as much stuff as modern-day New Yorkers. But it is the age of excess.”

“The last unit we looked at, 216 East 47th Street, apartment 6 A/B, is really two adjacent units combined into one massive three- or four-bedroom, has about eight closets and comes with two basement storage bins. Being an estate property, the apartment would need some sprucing up, but at $1.7 million it’s still not a bad deal. Despite our natural inclination to believe that listings advertising closet space would net many an interested buyer, The Observer didn’t find any house hunters while we were at at this Sunday’s showings.”

The Boston Globe in Massachusetts. “Laurie and Chris Ying of Lexington began thinking about selling their four-bedroom home after their daughter left for college in 2005. When they couldn’t find a suitable smaller home, they decided to renovate and wait. Then the housing market crashed, convincing them to stay put even longer. But last year, sensing an improvement in local real estate conditions, and needing to spend another $120,000 to update the kitchen and dining area, they decided to put their home of 25 years up for sale. With nearby construction coming onto the market, they figured they had ‘maxed out’ the profit they could make.”

“While the Yings waited for the real estate market to recover, they renovated their home to improve its value. As a result, when they sensed the market improving, they felt they could get a good price for a home that their investments had made ‘very desirable.’ ‘Lexington was in a unique position,’ said Laurie Ying. ‘Houses and values slowed down but never stopped.’”

“The Yings put their home on the market in February 2010 after deciding to buy a townhouse in a new development in Lexington. Eight days later, they sold it for the asking price of just over $1 million. It was less than they would have received before the housing crash - and perhaps a bit less than this year - but enough to allow them to also buy a condo in Falmouth.”

“They may not have received top dollar for their family home, but Laurie, happy to have a getaway on the Cape, said, ‘We took one property investment and turned it into two.’”

From WWLP in Massachusetts. “The state Secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, Dr. JudyAnn Bigby, testified before the House Bonding Committee as part of its annual review on her department’s capital expenditures. During the hearing, Bigby said Massachusetts only trails Vermont in ratcheting up the highest healthcare premiums in the nation.’

“‘About 15% of those increased costs are attributed to the higher cost of living in Massachusetts,’ said Bigby. ‘If you think about labor costs, housing, those types of things, we’re in a high cost region.’”

The Taunton Daily Gazette in Massachusetts. “The waiting list for families applying for one of the Bridgewater Housing Authority’s 12 units may close because the number has grown improbably high, says the BHA executive director Karen Rudd. ‘It just gives people false hope. It doesn’t make sense to keep it open,’ said Rudd.”

“The waiting list has grown to 517 for low-income families to have a chance at the single-family units available through the Bridgewater Housing Authority. According to Rudd, none of the units are currently available, and it may be years before another one turns over. Even when one family leaves, added Rudd, there will still be 516 families left on the list. ‘If we leave it open another two years, the list will be at 800. We have 12 houses,’ Rudd emphasized.”

The Providence Journal in Rhode Island. “Although the real estate market as a whole remains in a slump in 2011, a tiny sliver of it, houses priced at $1 million and above, has experienced a slight uptick in sales in the first half of the year. According to statistics from the Rhode Island Association of Realtors, the number of single-family house sales at $1 million and above in the first six months of 2011 inched up to 46, from 43 last year and just 26 in the first half of 2009.”

“Realtors’ association statistics show there were 433 houses in Rhode Island for sale with list prices at $1 million and above as of June 30 –– nearly 10 times the number of sales in the first half of the year.”

“‘What’s concerning to me is the overhang of inventory,’ said Jay Serzan, of Gustave White Sotheby’s International Realty, in Newport. ‘In the million-dollar price range, I almost want to say it’s a huge number of available properties as compared to the number of sales.’ Serzan added that ‘if buyer activity doesn’t increase … it’s going to put downward pressure on prices.’”