Flippers ‘Panic-Stricken’ In ‘Terrible Ghost Towns’
Some housing bubble reports from Florida. “Today’s tough housing market is pitting neighbor against neighbor in the selling wars. Ken and Wilaiwan Koch have had their home on the market for five weeks and already lowered the price $10,000. Their neighbors to the right have dropped their price from $345,000 to $269,900 since November. Their neighbor to their left reduced his home from $344,500 to $309,900.”
“Competition is stiff. Inventory is at an all-time high, 50,000 homes for sale in Lee County, according to (realtor) John McWilliams.”
“‘There are no stinking buyers around here and these people are panic-stricken, everyone can smell the fear,’ (realtor) Debbie Elentrio said. ‘If you don’t have to sell, now is not the time.’ But her client’s panic impacts the homes around her. Her neighbors, who live six houses away, dropped their price from $549,000 to $499,900.”
“But homeowner Christopher Jacob, who also is a realtor’, doesn’t blame that on his neighbor. ‘I think people who are mad at each other want to make the most money and that’s not going to happen right now,’ said homeowner Christopher Jacob, who also is a realtor.”
“‘The market got out of whack,’ he said ‘Now it’s coming back into reality. Your house is only worth what someone will pay for it.’”
The Palm Beach Post. “Joe Passarelli wakes up anxious and sweaty some nights, wondering how much longer it will take to sell his never-lived-in townhouse south of Stuart. Despite slashing his asking price by $55,000 to $285,000 and keeping vigil at sparsely attended open houses for six months, he still has no takers.”
“‘They come, they look, they give a low-ball offer and they leave,’ said Passarelli, a New York native.”
“If he doesn’t sell the four-bedroom home, he’ll have to walk away from contracts on two other investment homes, one in the new Port St. Lucie community where he lives and another in West Palm Beach. If he pulls out of those deals, he’s down $80,000. ‘I was never much of an investor before this wild craze began, and somehow I backed into it,’ Passarelli said.”
“Meanwhile, the communities’ builders, Centex Homes Inc. and Lennar Homes Inc., also are continuing to jockey for buyers. Passarelli said the builders are undercutting him and other sellers as they try to unload their inventory.”
“Passarelli made out well last year, grossing about $100,000 on a home he flipped in St. Lucie West and an additional $50,000 from his mortgage and real estate business. But this year is emerging quite differently. ‘The end result is it may have to all be given back,’ he said.”
“‘For Sale’ signs peer from curtainless windows, and real estate agents’ lockboxes are affixed to doorknobs. For full-time residents, the result is downright depressing. Lou and Marie Cucci have few neighbors. Across the street and on both sides of them, homes sit empty. ‘There are more places for sale than occupied right now,’ Lou Cucci said.”
“In Newport Isles, Passarelli said he and his wife take walks after dinner to count the lockboxes. As an investor who’s also living in an investor-laden community, he sees all sides of the fallout.”
“We thought we were going to meet new neighbors and new friends, and it’s been like a terrible ghost town,’ Passarelli said. ‘This is not family living as they advertised it.’”
“Fearing they’ll lose more if they hang on to homes in the community, some investors are walking away from deposits of $30,000 to $50,000, said Stuart-based real estate broker Mike Morgan. ‘What happened there is no different than what happened in the condo market and everywhere else: greed, greed, greed,’ Morgan said.”
“Elizabeth Weed and her cousins got sucked into the craze. ‘The exact words that were told to us were, ‘Oh, you’re going to make money. It’s just a matter of how much you want to make,’ said Weed. Within days, each of the four women plunked down a $25,000 deposit on a Lennar townhouse in Martin’s Crossing, locking in the $249,000 price.”
“Now, three of them are considering a lawsuit against Lennar and Centex, claiming the developers misrepresented how visible a nearby trailer park would be from their homes, and the fourth lost money on the home she finally managed to resell. ‘It’s not as if we were these great big investors. The four of us said, ‘Let’s get together and do this.’ Never, ever, ever again,’ said Weed.”
Thanks to the readers who sent in these links.
Agents would be well advised to carry WD-40 as the lock boxes freeze up from disuse.
All I can say is ***********SUCKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1*************
People can be complete idiots. I wonder how the hell they earned the right to live in the bodies they have instead of the bodies of non-humans…
If this topic had been about deaths resulting from stupid accidents, it would have been called “thinning the herd.”
ROTGDFLMFAO
O’ Stephanie, who is All-Knowing
“People can be complete idiots. I wonder how the hell they earned the right to live in the bodies they have instead of the bodies of non-humans…”
Evolution
Close cousins
May 18th 2006
From The Economist print edition
Humans could have interbred with chimpanzees
http://economist.com/science/displayStory.cfm?story_id=6941737
IN A short story by Ian McEwan, “Reflections of a Kept Ape”, a woman takes a pet chimpanzee as her lover. Although truth is often stranger than fiction, a study published this week by scientists in America demonstrates that both can be pretty odd. The research concludes that humans and chimpanzees interbred after the two species first separated, before eventually going their different ways some 5.4m years ago. Humans are thus much more recently related to their closest relatives than was previously thought.
ooh, the intelligent design people are gonna have a field day with that one!
That Ian McEwan, plumbing the dark dank depths of humanity’s collective subconscious and letting it bubble and ooze through….
Hmm… this could explain a certain Chief Executive’s, er, passing resemblance to our evolutionary cousins.
The world’s smallest violin is playing for all of these people…
Is it a Suzuki 1/32-sized, or smaller?
“If he doesn’t sell the four-bedroom home, he’ll have to walk away from contracts on two other investment homes, one in the new Port St. Lucie community where he lives and another in West Palm Beach. If he pulls out of those deals, he’s down $80,000. ‘I was never much of an investor before this wild craze began, and somehow I backed into it,’ Passarelli said.”
He was never much of an investor … and somehow he backed into it,
(with his eyes wide shut!).
“He was never much of an invester” - the guy has got an amazing grasp of the obvious. Too bad for him that his greed clouded his vision when he bought into the Ponzi scheme.
I almost feel sorry for this guy. NOT!!!!
It’s really hard to understand the magnitude of the RE end game. I can’t imagine how many of these guys are out there. What is the percentage of people on the MLS #’s that are in the same position. Is it 20%, 50%, etc.
In your community there may be half of the MLS #’s facing financial ruin. It’s really great if you made 100K but if you still have investment property you may loose the 100K and then some.
These guys are your friends and your family members. I have several friends and family members who have bought in the last two years. This is really going to hurt a lot of people.
I love the headline on the front page of my local paper in San luis Obispo CA. “How local home sales have cooled - Yet, median price continues to grow.” WTF.
The local TV news is the same. They want to say that the bubble is crashing but don’t. They will always end the RE news story with a positive spin.
I smell a future business opportunity for therapists in running bankrupt real estate flipper support groups. I am sure the demand will be very high, although I am not sure who will pay for the counseling fees (maybe federal tax dollars could be allocated for bankruptcy grief counseling as part of the Fannie Mae bailout package?).
“Backing into it.” Is that what they call it now?
He’s not an investor - he’s an idiot.
“Passarelli made out well last year, grossing about $100,000 on a home he flipped in St. Lucie West and an additional $50,000 from his mortgage and real estate business. But this year is emerging quite differently. ‘The end result is it may have to all be given back,’ he said.”
Sorry, Joe, but this is the year that your streak of lucky real estate investments blew up…
Gee, he might lose everything and have to go back to New York. That would be a real tragedy.
Comment by NWFla
2006-05-21 07:47:30
Gee, he might lose everything and have to go back to New York. That would be a real tragedy.
_____________________________________________________
I honestly don’t know how you guys deal with these non-native maggots. I often quip about the Fat Tony’s and Hairy Maries from NY creating wreckage everywhere they go with their SLOBBISH lifestyle but here Ben quotes the hard, ugly truth as I have stated so many times before. Guiseppe (Joe) Passarelli, Luciano (loser Lou) Cucci, from NY, in Florida grabbing at anything the slobs think they’re owed.
When will the behavior of NYC/NJ/CT trash ever change?
The grabbing here has really slowed down–now everything is for sale and nothing is moving. But for a while, yeah, these people were grabbing everything that couldn’t run away from them.
I never truly knew what greed was until these past few years. Now I have to confess to some schadenfreude at the sight of all these panicky speculators. OK, more than some–a lot.
Comment by NWFla
2006-05-21 09:56:15
I never truly knew what greed was until these past few years.
____________________________________________________
I add to that the I’ve never seen greed by so many JoeSixPacks who can’t afford to be greedy. But this bout of greed and throwing common sense to the wind is epic and historic. It is the end result of the “yes, you too can be rich if you only work hard enough” cheerleaders. Dare we admit those heading the cheerleading are those who have embraced the republican spewed supply side economics?
Michael Moore named one of the chapters in, I think it was, “Stupid White Men” - Horatio Alger Must Die. I agree. He must.
“I honestly don’t know how you guys deal with these non-native maggots. I often quip about the Fat Tony’s and Hairy Maries from NY creating wreckage everywhere they go with their SLOBBISH lifestyle but here Ben quotes the hard, ugly truth as I have stated so many times before. Guiseppe (Joe) Passarelli, Luciano (loser Lou) Cucci, from NY, in Florida grabbing at anything the slobs think they’re owed.
“When will the behavior of NYC/NJ/CT trash ever change? ”
Let’s add Vermont and New Hampshire to that list, okay? We can start with the_Lingus, and his broken-record rants.
Years ago in Florida I saw somebody emptying a trash can from a car window on the interstate, and was shocked till I got up close and saw the New Jersey license plate. I imagine the_Lingus would wallow in the trash, and have no need to throw it anywhere.
Just another desperate coward who wrings his hands at the truth of my posts….
Poor boy….
The_Lingus:
Nobody wrings his hands at the truth of your posts. But, many of us do roll our eyes at their redundancy. Really, don’t you do anything other than bitch?
Anybody who carries on as you do about the evil in others must have any awful lot in himself to be able to recognize it so readily. I actually agree with you about the slobs of New York and New Jersey, but I don’t think they’re evil; just horribly ill-mannered.
There actually are other factors contributing to the present mess than Republicans, George Bush, or whatever group you don’t like. Greed is non-partisan, and rudeness is universal.
Instead of railing against the world, why don’t you concentrate on fixing your own faults? Arguments don’t win converts, but living examples do.
“I actually agree with you about the slobs of New York and New Jersey, but I don’t think they’re evil; just horribly ill-mannered.”
It really is unanimous. Most don’t want to admit it.
“Instead of railing against the world, why don’t you concentrate on fixing your own faults?”
I do this quite frequently.
Your point?
You cannot change others, only yourself, and hope others are inspired by your example. You might want to start with changing your act. The grumpy liberal is starting to wear thin.
Just like in California, every resident of Florida is a realtor. I guess the two-hour course and the rigorous entrance requirements didn’t prepare these professionals for the eventual downturn in the market. Entirely new paradigm, indeed. These two articles are the one-two punch for each of the coasts on a single Sunday. If these folks hoped that ANY buyers still existed for their homes in this little piece of paradise, these two articles should permanently remove those thoughts.
‘Oh, you’re going to make money. It’s just a matter of how much you want to make,’
This is the classic siren song for pyramid schemes. Unfortunately, there always was and will be a significant percentage of the population who take the bait, hook, line, and sinker.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siren
Didn’t people think about how there was about 70% ownership already in the Nation as well as only 10 to 20% able to afford left.
In other words, there aint no stinking buyers left .
You remind me of a comment a fellow grad student made to me right before the tech stock bust: “It seems like everyone already owns their own computer.”
Next weekend the lock boxes will be idled by backyard grills - so we’re really into June now. A buyer makes an offer in early June and it’s mid June by the time negotiations and inspections are done. So a typical closing date might be late July. Geez, now we’re almost into August and school starts.
Hmmm, let’s go slow because there are so many houses to choose from and prices don’t seem to be getting any higher. Let’s wait a few weeks also to see what kind of raise I get. WOW - we can’t close until November, so we missed the start of school. Let’s see what the winter brings. Visions of McSugarPlums dancing in our heads.
“Hey, where’s that house we looked at a couple of weeks ago that we liked? Must have been leveled by Hurricane _____________________.”
“Next weekend the lock boxes will be idled by backyard grills - so we’re really into June now.”
Next month the lock boxes will be idled by hurricane warnings, as June is the start of not only barbecue season, but hurricane season as well
the mind boggles at the 1st article, are these people all housing crazed ? You bought a 2800+sqft house and that wasn’t big enough or nice enough ? You only had a house for a year and you want to move up already ? It like they are playing musical chairs with houses down in florida and the music just stopped for these people.
This sounds quite similar to San Diego, the city where people formerly bought houses to make money…
‘You only had a house for a year and you want to move up already ?’
Many homebuyers in the last couple of years were really speculators, and the evidence of that is in this story.
I truly sympathize with traditional buyers who did not figure out in time that they were competing with novice investors and subprime borrowers driving up prices to absurd levels. Thanks to a river of liquidity, fraudulent appraisals, and the absence of loan underwriting standards or regulatory oversight, everyone who wanted to commit financial suicide was given the opportunity.
Casualties of war.
Collateral damage
And the realtors that are getting burned now are “friendly fire”.
Yes,
A whole lot of speculation. I have read various estimates (15-40%) of recent sales have been by speculators. Has this blog discussed the implications of these yahoos bailing out? Seems like a stampede for the exits now, and possibly huge declines in prices in some areas. I simply don’t know the math on whether, say, a 15% drop in sales could cause an implosion on the magnitude we seem to be seeing.
““Now, three of them are considering a lawsuit against Lennar and Centex, claiming the developers misrepresented how visible a nearby trailer park would be from their homes, and the fourth lost money on the home she finally managed to resell.”
I think we’re going to see an impressive array of absurd excuses for lawsuits. It should be fun to watch.
“Your Honor, my client was unable to see that there was a trailer park across the street from her house and she demands full and complete restitution from the builder.”
Your honor my clients are offended by this eyesore and demand immediate redress. A wall is not enough my clients, the trailer park residents deserve nothing less than razing these McMansions.
LOL.
Well, as long as these stay as ghost towns, you may be right. Somebody has to raze them.
“…the trailer park residents deserve nothing less than razing these McMansions.”
Tooooo FUNNY. You made my day.
I say: Let’s see some more razing of prices…how ’bout that?
Right on!
All along I-95 there are ambulance chaser’s bilboards for suing medical companies, asbestos companies, contact lens manufacturers, etc. Won’t be long until we see the ones for suing the HB’s.
I’m hoping that the HBs start releasing secretly videotaped closings. Oh come on now, don’t act all shocked. Were you LENTOL wouldn’t you? I’m sure its buried somewhere in all the paperwork, all nice and legal. Anyway, closings with reluctant purchasers are going to make “The Green Mile” look like a comedy.
Reluctant purchasers? Foolish greed drove these people. They couldn’t jump in fast enough. And now it’s time to pay the piper.
“Dead Flipper Walking!” Comes the chant from the prison guard
How could they miss this?
http://www.usaweddings.com/scans/novcpls/joke/images/Trailer%20Park%20Weddin.jpg
http://www.mytrailerpark.com/
This is joke, and a cruel one. Most people don’t live in trailer parks because they like them. I’m also sick of the term “trailer trash,” which is equally cruel. And, no, I’ve never lived in a trailer.
Making fun of people because they don’t a lot of money is always mean.
Class hatred is the last acceptable prejudice in America, so people milk it for all it’s worth.
But by the time this thing is over, a lot of smug bourgeois types will be delighted to have a trailer of their very own.
Funny - I know a few people who live in trailers and each, while being good people (mostly), are perfect examples of the word “trailer trash”.
I’m no fan of trailer parks but I they have some positive attributes. They’re low income housing that I don’t have to pay for!
i have no problem with the existence of trailer parks. i just don’t want to be near one nor the people that occupy them.
Imagine being a child and hearing yourself, your family, or friends described as “trailer trash.” And let’s consider the above statement concerning trailer parks: “I don’t want to be near one nor the people that occupy them.” Apart from the fact that is is ungrammatical and sounds illiterate (so much for class distinctions), it could be incredibly hurtful. What about trailer residents who visit this blog?
Here in Florida, most of the people who live in trailer parks are elderly and on fixed incomes. They can’t to buy townhouses or condos. Can they be dismissed as “trailer trash,” too?
Be grateful you have a house or apartment, but please don’t malign those who don’t.
“They can’t AFFORD to buy . . .” I proofed the sentence twice, but the word vanished from the post.
Way to go Incredulous!
Yeah,
Kicking the poor is both nasty and dumb. My grandmother lived in a park for several years and she could wipe the floor with any of yaz!!
Where I live, Ashland, Oregon-natural magnet for exurban people who love the country, but don’t like the smell of cows!-I must confess a grudging admiration for trailer park inhabitats. I just drove through a park today-it was spotless and inhabited by retirees. They live in town, enjoy all the restaurants, schools, and hiking trails I do, and instead of paying $4-500k for housing get by on $60k or less. None of the snobs moving here would consider a manufactured home, but gladly play the greater fool for someone who paid 1/3 the price a couple years bach then screwed some phony Japanese woodwork on their house and named it “Shinto Sunset” or some other equally annoying thing. I suspect The humble park folks will simply tnot be hit by the bubble like the rest. Now, who are the real boneheads here?
Would you prefer “twister magnet”?
Ben,
You need to make a seat belt warning mandatory! I almost fell out of my chair laughing at this stuff!
‘There are no stinking buyers around here and these people are panic-stricken, everyone can smell the fear.’
Repeat, this is not “panic.” This is “deer in the headlights.” Panic is not pit of the stomach sinking feelings. Panic is ugly and public. We aren’t even to desperation yet. Desperation is convoluted purchase agreements, car lease returns, private school enrollment declines, whispered requests to parents, etc. This time the big alternative is already off the table; the spouse is already working; Plan B is already in place and isn’t enough. Plan C; second job? Sorry, all those years of tolerating illegal immigration has depressed entry wages and swollen a ready workforce. I’m beginning to depress myself. Is anyone keeping track of all the ways “it’s different this time?”
“stinking buyers”? have some respect, lady.
Awww, come on. She’s just talkin’. When a realtor says “stinkin’ buyers” they just want a stinkin’ paycheck to pay the stinkin’ BMW lease payment. The reason buyers will stink is because of all the realtors rubbing up against them and slobbering in their shoes.
Yeah, the “blame the buyer” tone of these articles is sickening.
“It’s frustrating,” Ken Koch said. “People have money, but they are waiting for the prices to go down. It’s frustrating for all of us.”
People have money, but they don’t want to give it to us. whaaaa, whaaaa, sniffle, sniffle
We don’t need no stinking borrowers ,we need a government bailout . NOT
“Repeat, this is not “panic.” This is “deer in the headlights.”
Exactly, Friends I know in areas that are watching these inventory increases still think it’s a temporary aberration. Sales will pick up soon–no worries. Every week there are more stories like these, more person to person anecdotes, more media that once said there was no bubble, now saying what do in the coming RE crash….Taint’ even seen the panic yet.
“the mind boggles at the 1st article, are these people all housing crazed ? You bought a 2800+sqft house and that wasn’t big enough or nice enough ? You only had a house for a year and you want to move up already ? It like they are playing musical chairs with houses down in florida and the music just stopped for these people.”
You have hit upon the “modus operandi” of the entire BUBBLE MENTALITY.
The bigger, more expensive the house, the higher the leverage with high margin loans………..the GREAT THE PROFITS (although unrealized).
They thought this was a FREE MONEY party. I have watched young couples buy houses WAY beyond their means in hopes to move onto more expensive homes in a couple of years. This has been the “new paradigm”/
But no, Pangloss, their is no new thing under the sun.
” I have watched young couples buy houses WAY beyond their means in hopes to move onto more expensive homes in a couple of years. This has been the “new paradigm”/
In early March we sold our 16 year-old home outside Atlanta. Almost 3,000 sq ft, 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, office, finished basement, big back yard with koi pond and it went for asking price at $190k. The first realtor we ‘interviewed’ made the comment that, “This will sell quick. It’ll make a nice starter-home for some young family”. My wife and I just looked at each other in amazement. Our ’starter-home’ was a two-bedroom apartment. We banked the equity and are patiently renting in Orlando.
Amazing. I think your old house sounds like the kind of house we would like to move INTO some day….sounds great !! Hope you get a real bargain in Orlando….
I wish the reporters who wrote these articles would ALWAYS include:
1. Purchase Price
2. Purchase Date
yes - good point. Media may somewhat be sensationalizing the price drops relative to the original purchase price.
According to the Lee County website, there are 575,000 residents of Lee County. According to (realtor) John McWilliams, there are 50,000 homes for sale in Lee County. If you account for renters and muliple residents in a single home, I imagine that somewhere around 30-50% of the homes in Lee County are currently for sale. Yeah, I know it’s a simplistic and unscientific view of the current situation, but I couldn’t help myself from piling on the misery. I wish there was an easy way to find out exactly how many homes currently exist in Lee County.
544,758 people 188,599 dwelling units. 56,806 vaccant.
Robert, you definitely have your finger on the pulse
Thanks, but I screwed up a little. I accidentally copied/pasted the 2000 data instead of the 2005 data. Add 20%.
I am not sure if I am reading the data correctly (raw data are shown below– download the excel file if you want to be certain), but here is my rough calculation:
Estimated # housing units in Lee County FL
April 2000: 245,405
July 2004: 292,830
May 2006 (projected at constant growth rate):
292,830 X (292,830 / 245,405)^(22/51) = 316K
Rough estimated percent of homes in Lee County currently for sale =
50K / 316K = 15.8%
(Feel free to refine this calculation as you see fit, but I suspect it is reasonable for a back-of-the-envelope estimate. Of course, the number of existing homes may have grown more quickly as the bubble went parabolic over the last two years…)
———————————————————————————————-
table with row headers in column A and column headers in rows 3 through 4. (leading dots indicate sub-parts),,,,,,,
“Annual Estimates of Housing Units for Counties in Florida: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2004″,,,,,,,
Geographic Area,Housing unit estimates,,,,,”April 1, 2000″,
,”July 1, 2004″,”July 1, 2003″,”July 1, 2002″,”July 1, 2001″,”July 1, 2000″,Estimates base,Census
Florida,”8,009,427″,”7,810,997″,”7,639,954″,”7,485,651″,”7,339,184″,”7,303,108″,”7,302,947″
.Lee County,”292,830″,”277,850″,”267,162″,”256,584″,”247,623″,”245,405″,”245,405″
(Data from http://www.census.gov/popest/housing/tables/)
Here is a better link to the Census data:
http://www.census.gov/popest/housing/HU-EST2004-4.html
While I am on this topic, here are comparable figures for San Diego:
.San Diego County,”1,099,235″,”1,082,956″,”1,071,032″,”1,057,434″,”1,043,612″,”1,040,149″,”1,040,149″
SD Housing Units Projected to May 2006
1,099,235 X (1,099,235/ 1,040,149)^(22/51) = 1,125,748
SD County Housing Units Currently for sale (zip 5/21/06) = 20,617
Estimated Share of all SD County Housing Units Currently for Sale = 1.8%
The party is just beginning out here, folks!
I can picture in my mind all of the vacated houses becoming dilapitated in the hot, humid Florida climate. Maybe the plant life will cover them up eventually. Kind of like Inca ruins in an Indiana Jones movie…
The lastest inventory numbers from are about about 20000+ units with about 1188 sold in the month of April. That is a 17 month supply. Many of these “investors” are going to be wiped out. It happened tha last time in the 80’s. This will be far worse.
I expect prices to level off back to the 2000 range after plunging to the 1997-1999 price range. There are going to be thousands that are going to walk away or be foreclosed on.
The resets are coming folks.. It is going to be very ugly.
Oh, it’s pretty - it’s soooooo pretty.
What city?
my bad Palm Beach county Fl
The problem with continually trying to find a greater fool is that as prices get higher and higher the level of foolishnes does too. The Real Estate Market has already passed the Mary Kay and Amway level of foolishness. Now it’s competing against Nigerian money repatriation and perpetual energy machines.
Hey, I just invested in a perpetual motion machine company! The company headquarters is in Lagos. What are you trying to say?
So much for AG’s prediction that prices would just “level off”, like they have in England. By the way, remember when bubble defenders used to tell us that you couldn’t even compare neighboring towns because each market is unique? Now apparently we can draw conclusions about the future of the Phoenix market by looking at what’s happening in Manchester.
UK is still significant
was a mirror of our market in the 90’s
so ?
Doesn’t anyone ever consider the adage “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”?
If it was that easy to make guaranteed profits, they wouldn’t be telling anyone… they’d be keeping the profits for themselves. I am continually astounded how often people throw their common sense out the window by rationalizing their greed with their ignorance.
‘Oh, you’re going to make money. It’s just a matter of how much you want to make,’ said Weed.
—————————————————————-
Anyone who hears these words and does not immediately run the other way fully deserves whatever happens later.
BTW, unless you have walked around in one of these sparsely populated new subdivisions, you may not get the ‘ghost town’ comment. There is something very un-natural about it. Even the few people that are living there only serve to add contrast to the wierdness. How many months ago were we hearing about ’shortages’?
Can you imagine what these ghost town subdivisions are going to look like a year from now .My vision is ..vacant houses, weeds in the grass ,half completed landscaping , dark and spooky at night ,4 sale signs/4 rent signs everywhere ,squatters lurking in the bushes ,wildlife looking for warmth ,HOA’s not able to maintain the common grounds ,pools getting that green stuff in them . We don’t need no stinking ghost towns .
make that “realtors lurking in the bushes, mortgage brokers looking for warmth”
This happened before in Hollywood, Florida, which only now, about seventy years later, is filling in. It was supposed to be the new movie capital, but fizzled. There are lot of little ghost towns currently being reanimated in Florida, but the possessions may prove to be temporary.
To help folks visualize, I’ve included a link to one of these subdivisions:
http://www.bodie.net/
“…the town of Bodie bustled with families, robbers, miners, store owners, gunfighters and prostitutes of all kinds. At one time there was reported to be 65 saloons in town. Amongst the saloons were numerous brothels and ‘houses of ill repute’, gambling halls and opium dens. Needless to say that there was entertainment for every taste.”
Sounds like an early version of Las Vegas!
better look around your house > what money ?
“You really are not going to be able to hold on to it and not touch your house. You’re going to need the money in your house.”
I am sure an enterprising reporter could present the same situation in Phoenix. ziprealty had their inventory at:
40,012 on 4/3/06
46,596 today (it was up about 500 units just yesterday from the day before)
Okay, the TX bitch is loaded for bear and ready for a rant:
Did any of you f***ing clowns have any sympathy for people who bought garders.com in 1999 because some broker told them they’d be able to get rich on it? Or the Corvis IPO at a market cap greater than GM? If you had been on a jury, would you have awarded any of these stock market losers a dime? No you would not, just as I would not.
Where is it written in the Constitution or Bill of Rights that it is your right to profit from any and all speculative ventures, no matter how irrational or how damaging to society as a whole? What has happened to common sense and personal responsibility?
I could go on for another hour but I’m not going to bore you people. I wish nothing less than utter devastation and misery for EVERY FREAKING ONE of these clowns. If that makes me a bad person, so be it!
You tell em txchick57 . I feel the same way you do .
Obituary of Mr. Common Sense
Today we mourn the passing of an old friend, by the name of Common Sense. Common Sense lived a long life but died recently in the United States. No one really knows how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.
He selflessly devoted his life to service in schools, hospitals, homes, and factories, helping folks get jobs done without fanfare and foolishness.
For decades, petty rules, silly laws, and frivolous lawsuits held no power over Common Sense. He was credited with cultivating such valued lessons as to know when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, and that life isn’t always fair.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you earn), reliable parenting strategies (the adults are in charge, not the kids), and it’s okay to come in second. A veteran of the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, and the Technological Revolution, Common Sense survived cultural and educational trends including body piercing, whole language, and “new math.” But his health declined when he became infected with the “If-it-only-helps-one-person-it’s-worth-it” virus.
In recent decades his waning strength proved no match for the ravages of well intentioned but overbearing regulations. He watched in pain as good people became ruled by self-seeking lawyers. His health rapidly deteriorated when schools endlessly implemented zero tolerance policies.
Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with $exual harassment for kissing a classmate, a teen suspended for taking a swig of mouthwash after lunch, and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student only worsened his condition. It declined even further when schools had to get parental consent to administer aspirin to a student but could not inform the parent when a female student was pregnant or wanted an abortion.
Then, when people, too stupid to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot, were awarded a huge settlement Common Sense threw in the towel.
Finally, Common Sense lost his will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband, churches became businesses, criminals received better treatment than victims, and federal judges stuck their noses in everything from the child rearing to professional sports.
As the end neared, Common Sense drifted in and out of logic but was kept informed of developments regarding questionable regulations such as those for low flow toilets, rocking chairs, and stepladders.
Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by two stepbrothers: My Rights, and Ima Whiner. Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.
Obituary of Mr. Common Sense
Today we mourn the passing of an old friend, by the name of Common Sense. Common Sense lived a long life but died recently in the United States. No one really knows how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.
He selflessly devoted his life to service in schools, hospitals, homes, and factories, helping folks get jobs done without fanfare and foolishness.
For decades, petty rules, silly laws, and frivolous lawsuits held no power over Common Sense. He was credited with cultivating such valued lessons as to know when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, and that life isn’t always fair.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you earn), reliable parenting strategies (the adults are in charge, not the kids), and it’s okay to come in second. A veteran of the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, and the Technological Revolution, Common Sense survived cultural and educational trends including body piercing, whole language, and “new math.” But his health declined when he became infected with the “If-it-only-helps-one-person-it’s-worth-it” virus.
In recent decades his waning strength proved no match for the ravages of well intentioned but overbearing regulations. He watched in pain as good people became ruled by self-seeking lawyers. His health rapidly deteriorated when schools endlessly implemented zero tolerance policies.
Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with $exual harassment for kissing a classmate, a teen suspended for taking a swig of mouthwash after lunch, and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student only worsened his condition. It declined even further when schools had to get parental consent to administer aspirin to a student but could not inform the parent when a female student was pregnant or wanted an abortion.
Then, when people, too stupid to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot, were awarded a huge settlement Common Sense threw in the towel.
Finally, Common Sense lost his will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband, churches became businesses, criminals received better treatment than victims, and federal judges stuck their noses in everything from the child rearing to professional sports.
As the end neared, Common Sense drifted in and out of logic but was kept informed of developments regarding questionable regulations such as those for low flow toilets, rocking chairs, and stepladders.
Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by two stepbrothers: My Rights, and Ima Whiner. Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.
I watch the RE implosion with a sense of dread and interest. I myself was squeezed in the .com disaster at the turn of the century. Having been a hard working IT joe, I poured a ton of “sweat equity” into our wee company hoping to make it shine. Sad truth is, when the NASDAQ caught fire and burned to the ground, it didn’t just eliminate the shoddy companies, it caused a lot of collateral damage to companies that were doing intersting / useful work. When the stampeed for the exits started, it became impossible to fund new research and development.
I imagine this will be at least that big.
Nice shootin, Tex!
TX chick,
you rule !
Libations are on me next time you are in the area.
Too short! Rant on!!
Is there any evidence of these types of price declines hitting San Diego yet? There are over 20K lisings there now I believe, price reduction articles should follow on the heels of this…
According to Chris Thornburg, UCLA Anderson School Economist and Bubble Commentator, allow about a year for price declines to follow inventory spikes.
Maybe 3-4 years to hit bottom.
I read that from Thornberg. But, it seems to me that SD speculation was just as nuts as FL speculation. I am wondering why prices are more “Sticky” in SD.
Craigslist has plent of price reduced from SD, but the press isn’t reported ’sob stories’ like they are in FL….yet…
SOB stories?
There was an article within the past month or two of homes in Carlsbad going for 100K less (probably 600-800K range homes). Prices are
definitely off 10-15%, but there are still a lot of homes going on the
market at absurd prices, so flipping through the RE ads you see huge pricing discontinuities. A real world example: next door to me by lake hodges is a 70 year old place on the market for about 750K or so.
The owner slapped a coat of paint on it, poured concrete for the
covered garage, and put up a ranch style fence. You can go 20 miles
to the beach, get a place with a real yard (its just weeds and dirt),
more (and newer) house, better schools, etc. for 600K. I’ve been
meaning to go to the open house and point this out to the retarded
RE agents, but I’ve been busy.
2005 prices- A relative just sold the cheapest house on an island in FL for the may 2005 price
imo
2006 will end at 2004
2007 will equal 2003
there it better stop or we’re headed for a turbo recession
The days of wine and roses are over?
Turning to whine and hoses.
Never, ever, ever again. What a great statement! Greed is one of the seven deadly sins. After the dot com bubble, I had a friend who made the statement, ” I will never invest in the stock market again”. Appears we are getting ever closer in some areas.
So is eating Whole Foods Cappucino Truffles on a Sunday morning (on sale at 50% off I might add, lol) but reading this stuff makes me want to reach for something I can bite on.
In the meantime, the house across the street from me continues to sit unsold even after a 10% reduction and two open houses by its second realtor since November. The more I see this stuff, the more I want to dig in and hold out for 1995-1997 prices or nothing.
My gut instinct tells me you’d be making a mistake if you don’t hold out. Too many bad things (systemic financial risk and geopolitical risk) can happen over the next 3 years, and it will take at least 2-3 years for real estate assets to go to full-blown crash mode.
It would not surprise me to see ‘95 prices again. Check out this article on itulip.com: 15 Years To Revert To The Mean. By the time the bottom hits it will not even occur to most people to buy RE as an investment. IMO, for the next several years, preservation of capital is the name of the game…
No, that is Gluttony. Another of the devil’s favorites!
This is why new buzzwords should replace “Buyer’s Market” in the mass media and describe it more accurately as “Poison Market” or something more accurate.
These wannabe flippers are like teenagers trying out alcohol for the first time. They don’t know their limit and now they’re embarrassed, blowing chunks all over the carpet because of overindulgence. Next time they’ll think twice, or abstain completely due to the bad experience.
“‘The market got out of whack,’
Reminds me of Steve Martins’ line, ‘Your breasts are all out of whack.’ as he re-aligns them manually.
does anyone know who makes ky jelly,that stock should be ZOOMING.
Anybody watch CBS this morning. CBS Sunday Morning devoted a large percentage of the show to housing (fixing up old Frank Lloyd Wright houses, homes of the uber-rich, etc.). I couldn’t help to feel as though the mainstream media was striking back with subliminal messages to counteract all the signs of the housing bust that is currently underway. That and the fact that 95% of the program’s sponsors were real estate related, seem to advance my theory. Hmm.
LOL, think this person is hurtin a bit? It will rented or leased, eh? And how much do you think you’ll get for it competing with the 2 zillion others available for lease down there?
Another thing that gets me is the snooty “for lease” ads I see. No pets, no this, no that, 3-4 months’ rent up front, etc. People don’t have to tolerate that shit either and won’t. How about $500 deposit, the first month’s rent and I have two dogs and a cat? And you’ll accept it and kiss my ass while you do it!
http://fortmyers.craigslist.org/rfs/163021961.html
“LAST WEEK $357k THIS WEEK 349K - IF NO TAKERS PRICE IS GOING UP AND WILL BE LEASED OR RENTED -THIS HOME WILL NOT BE UNDERSOLD.”
Yeah, thanks for the threat you prick. Good luck with the tenants. I think I’ll travel down to visit my folks in a couple of weeks and make a side trip to this guy’s place to see him twisting in the wind.
That dump would go for a max of 140K in Dallas.
“THIS COMMUNITY IS THE MOST SOUGHT AFTER IN CAPE CORAL”
Driving through Cape Coral five years ago you could see the result of the last real estate bust. Subdivisions with sporadic numbers to vacant overgrown lots between the house that were built.
Save on gas, let the fool die.
The guy has attitude. Must have recieved some real low ball offers so far.
And Cape Coral is in Lee County — the one that earlier posters said has about 15% of its total number of houses on the market.
now I dont understand, I have been in lee county all my life and every realtor is saying 1000 people a day move to florida. I’m 44 at 365 days a year x 1000= 365000 a year x 44=16060000. there should be no one left any where else, And the other big thing was hurricane donna, the story is that the storm pulled all the water out of the caloosahatchee river, it did at first, but no one tells the story of when the storm passed, the winds changed and the water came back ( other side of the storm ) that’s why no one was building in the areas that are now the communities’of distinction, oh and also DONT TRY TO PET A GATOR
What they don’t say is that 900 move out every year.
I mean 900 move out a day.
15% no way, drive down delprado blvd north cape coral, 15% not for sale,
That’s just an ordinary tract house. The seller needs to learn that hyperbole won’t help. Notice the cheap carpeting (no hardwood), and all the stucco? In Florida, stucco is sprayed on everything to hide the fact that houses are built partly or entirely of partical board, and decked out with “architectural” embellishments made from styrofoam. In other words, junk.
When tract houses are described as luxurious, you know your dealing with a con artist.
“you know you’re dealing with . . . ” Please excuse my careless typing.
Oh I don’t know — it’s a nice-looking house to me. I’d be glad to live in it — just not at the “lease” amount he probably wants. Anyway, it’s better than the home we’re currently living in, and larger, too. I’ll take it in a heartbeat — as soon as the price comes down $120,000. Houses like this will be very common as repos soon enough.
Tx chick,
you’ll appreciate this ( and it might make Robert C.squirm)-
I just signed my new long term lease today. Moving because the current landlord has gone insane and is trying to sell my cracker shack for millions (!), well they hope anyway.
Moving to a bigger house ,huge yard , better price and yes I am moving with my small ark-dogs,cats ,birds etc.
And I provided the lease!!!
..and my dog’s and cat’s asses too, thank you..
look at the J boats of the 30’s
It won’t remain a “Terrible Ghost Town”. In time, it will become a Section 8 Ghetto.
Yeah, the random gun-fire should help move these units. Maybe I can get the city council to give me a zoning change, so that I can put in a tattoo parlor.
First ,I wonder why these people made offers on houses without having a clause that it was subject to their home selling or closing . Apparently the realtor that handled the deal didn’t care that they might be risking the deposits of their client .
Second , if you write a offer, you make it subject to a interest rate cap to protect yourself from interest rate increases . I am shocked at the one lady in a prior article who lost her deposit on a pre-construction deal because she didn’t qualify when the unit finally got completed ,( I think it was a 80k lost ).
So not only did the lender drop the ball on sound underwriting standards , but these purchase contracts are a joke . Nobody watching out for anybody . I remember during the frenzy a realtor told me I couldn’t write a offer subject to my house closing escrow ,therefore I didn’t write that offer .
Contract conditions usually favor the seller when prices are going up and the purchaser when prices are going down. There was an article in the Washington Post late last year about the number of buyers who were hosed because they didn’t have an inspection clause in their contract. The contract conditions, sellers help, ameneties etc. generally change before prices.
To follow up on your comments, the big developers in South Florida have not accepted contracts with “sale of present home” contingencies for several years. They had buyers lining up outside to buy so they could dismiss that type of buyer because they had six more ready to plunk down a deposit. The same with the interest rate cap situation, the contract were written by the builder’s sales rep (not a Realtor Buyer’s Agent) and the rate section of the sales agreement said “market rate”, a pretty vague statement. My favorite Palm Beach County new subdivision was called Terracina, aka Airport Flight Path Estates. A mile and a half from the end of the main runway at PBIA with jets buzzing you 24 hours a day. Hurricane Wilma damaged about 75% of the roofs yet people were still lining up to buy even with visual evidence that the roofs would not withstand even a Cat One hurricane.
I know contracts were favorable for the sellers ,but I would of walked if I had to engage in a one-sided contract like that . If you have to give up good business practice ,something is wrong .
I agree, these folks should have walked. But the atmosphere in PB County was “hurry before prices go up again” and buyers just wanted their piece of the action. Now they’re paying the price.
?? anyone know what % employment was RE in 1988-89
now it’s 10% wondering about last pre-pop period
1) They’re not great “big” investors…
2) They each bought 1 unit versus going in on 1 between the 4 of them…
3) They were told “they would make a lot of money” AND BELIEVED IT.
4) They didn’t research the area to check out the nearby trailer park?
And now…they want to complain and sue?? Give me a break.
Can anyone tell me when the definition of investment changed to mean “Sure thing. Guaranteed. Can’t lose. Profit only.”?
If I were a judge I would force these a-holes to pay the homebuilder’s lawyer fees and the court fees for wasting everyone’s time and money for being so f’ing stupid.
Agreed! They wanted to “flip” these places to make some quick easy money. If they had that opportunity, do you think they would have “warned” their prospective buyers about how speculative that purchase would be? Or would they take the money and laugh all the way to the bank? These days, people just want to blame everyone else when something doesn’t go as planned.
Would they have sued Lucent in the dot,com bust? Oh yeah, they did. I got $39!
‘They come, they look, they give a low-ball offer and they leave,’
Who says there “aren’t any buyers”? As the article says, the buyers are there, it’s just that the properties aren’t priced correctly. The excess inventory will work itself out quickly as soon as these sellers lower their prices 80% or 90%.
As the article says, the buyers are there, it’s just that the properties aren’t priced correctly.
- excellent point!
it’s the 6th inning and april, may and june are due up. with the sellers trailing 3 to 7 a ralley needs to happen right here.
first pitch swinging and april pops it high in the air. buyer waits for it to drop, makes the catch and just like that, 1 away………
Catchy.
“Your house is only worth what someone WILL pay for it.”
An interesting sentence. In a concise way the Bubble is defined.
“Will” is an optimistic term which aptly fit on the way up when low interest rates, speculators, scared buyers, loose lending practices, and suicide loans dominate the market value equation.
“Can” is a pragmatic term which more aptly fits now on the way down when the market value equation will consist of higher interest rates, tighter lending practices, and traditional loans.
And with the speculators gone the only potential buyers left are the “traditional buyer” whose ability to buy will be once again, be limited by income. And we all know how much incomes have risen relative to house prices.
As predictable as gravity….
Where is the sympathy for the millions of honest people who just wanted a place to live and ended up paying out windfall profits to greedy flippers. No tears for these floppers, I will be happy to see their ARM’s ripped off.
I agree.
And where is the sympathy for all the honest and sensible people who would like to buy a home but have had to put their lives on hold because they recognized the suicidal nature of buying into the housing bubble? Those lives are STILL on hold, waiting for this damn bubble to burst. Finally it’s happening…
Yup, I’m in that boat. I could afford a house, but I’m renting because I don’t want to fund someone’s retirement. Even if I pay 60k in rent in next 3 years, I believe I’ll more than make up for it when I buy a house for half the price of what it is now.
I’m there too. Patiently waiting for the crowds to cease and the commotion to die down.
No tears from me. No one held a gun to their head and said they had to overpay. I’d love to buy a place someday, but I’m not going to kill myself to do it. My wife was pressuring me a couple of years ago, and my response was, “I’m not giving a total stranger $100,000 towards the purchase of his new house,” just because the sellers threw on some new paint, granite counters, etc.
I’m sorry but I can’t sympathize, empathize or understand why anyone bought into this nonsense. Then again, I don’t send money to televangelists, think a pill is going to help me lose weight or quit smoking, or participate in any other get rich quick scam that comes along.
I work hard for my money, think before I spend it, excercise every single day and eat right. And guess what, I don’t care about these greedy, lazy pieces of garbage and the trouble they’ve put themselves into by buying into this craze because they thought it was their ticket to riches. Don’t kid yourself, most of these people got on board because they thought this thing was going to go on forever.
How did both of us end up in Dallas? That’s what I can’t figure out. LOL
Don’t know - but, like you, I despise this cesspool. I’m taking the Florida bar in July. I see a great deal of bankruptcy potential in the Sunshine State.
However, it will be fun to be around town to witness the economic meltdown of the $30,000 millionaire. Don’t know what some of these posers will do when the leased Porsche gets repopped.
Since you put it that I way I must agree. It makes sense that most of the “innocent” recent homebuyers would only stretch to buy something so obviously overpriced because they believed they would see 20% YOY gains. I’m also sitting on the sidelines with money to buy. The thought of overpaying $100K+ to some speculator sickens me. I will continue to rent until we revert to the mean.
Sympathy for a foolish purchase. None here. Everyone (flippers and otherwise) who has bought in the last couple years has just fueled the fire.
Sympathy for a foolish purchase? None here. Everyone (flippers and otherwise) who has bought in the last couple years has just fueled the fire.
Where has people’s financial common sense gone?
No sympathy here either and I vote
Never, ever, ever again,’ said Weed.”
How many times will this be quoted in the years to come?
‘They come, they look, they give a low-ball offer and they leave.’
Bubblefucius say:
Low-ball offer today look much higher tomorrow when you are on knees.
That is good!!!
Facing low balls straight on may be too much to swallow.
that is BETTER!
Even these losers deserve something to cheer them up. I offer Grampa Simpson:
Grampa: I think Rudyard Kipling said it best: If you can make one heap
of all your winnings and risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
and lose, and start again at your beginnings, and never breathe
a word about your loss, yours is the earth is everything that is
in it, and, which is more, you’ll be a man, my son.
Read about flipping in the “hood”
http://sptimes.com/2006/05/21/Tampabay/House_hustler.shtml
Anyone else hear the Jaws theme playing somewhere in the distance?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2095-2189601,00.html
In 87 I was stationed in Japan, it was interesting to watch via the limited news / newspapers we were able to recieve on base.
Mr. LaForge, I said inertial dampers to maximum!
I also signed-up on ZipRealty’s site last night to look at data for the Orlando area. Sunday morning at 10:00 I got a call from a Zip-rep who was asking a lot of detailed questions and was going to ‘help’ me with my search for the ‘perfect’ home. I politely told him that I was just scouting inventory numbers in the area and didn’t need any help. He got a little pushy and proceeded to educate me; ‘You ought to get in now, because it is a buyers market in Orlando and it won’t last long!’ I then gave him some facts and stats about our local 30% inventory ‘bloom’ since January and asked him where he thought people would get the $$ to pay off the 1.3 trillion in ARMS that were re-setting in late 2006-2007 under a backdrop of rising interest rates. He mumbled a little and told me to call him back if he could help us find a house. My wife said that I was “just being mean”. The truth CAN hurt, but it always remains the truth.
Can’t wait till this pain and bloodletting reaches us here in L.A.
I have no sympathy for the buyers regardless of whether their intentions were only to purchase a house to live in… Each time some idiot doesn’t do the research and overpays for a house because “they will be priced out forever otherwise” it - as someone earlier alluded to - lengthens the time I have to wait to make a purchase that actually makes sense…
Where were all you geniuses 5 years ago? Had you bought then, or before, you would be well into the am. schedule on a terrific fixed rate loan. Instead, you sit around patting yourself on the back for delaying homeownership while awaiting the interest rate increases.
I guess the crystal balls weren’t invented until 2 years ago.
Blow me, pal. Homes were over-priced then - unfortunately, I didn’t see 9/11 blowing in, and the Fed dropping rates nearly to zero, oh and banks giving loans to homeless people with bad credit. If I had a crystal ball and it had predicted all the aforementioned crap, I would have returned it for a refund. I wish I had bought five years ago and unloaded to some unsuspecting idiot last summer, but I didn’t. It, however doesn’t dampen my enthusiasm for the coming correction.
“Homes were over-priced then…”
In other words, YOU couldn’t afford a home then. I doubt you will ever be able to because prices and interest rates combined to create the most affordable housing in 25 years.
But you somehow have predicted a huge decline in the real cost of owning? I only wish I had your brainpower.
Did buy, a shit load from 98 to 02. Sold it all in 04. Rolled all the gains into metals and oil which are doing quite nicely (and are liquid), thanks for asking. You mean you held onto your real estate and are going to ride this market down? Nice crystal ball yourself. BTW, who gives a rat’s ass about having a terrific fixed rate loan when the property is going to lose 50%? Anyone who held off did the right thing.
You are a trader auger. Different from most on this post I would imagine. My comments, obviously, were not directed to people like you.
50% declines equal recession. If that is what you predict, best to stick with the metals. Most of the whiners (renters) on this board are not invested in gold. Gimme a break. They are afraid to buy a house for God’s sake - you think they are in metals?
50% decline means depression. No job. No income. No house hunting. Those with cash will be king.
I meant DEPRESSION - not recession.
Would all be okay if it’s only, say, a 30% decline? Why does a 50% decline in markets that increased 50% in 2 years equal a ‘depression’ rather than just a lot of screwed borrowers? I’m not savvy financially, but I don’t get it…
Upon review of my post I would like to note that it sounded a bit too self-congratulatory and I would add that I estimate 3/4 of any gains are due to luck vs. brain power. I’m not a trader per se, I just try to get on a trend early and get off early. It’s been hit and miss for me like everyone else.
Also, I’ve been a blogger here for a few months and have not found the attitudes of most posters to resemble your description of them. However, we just have different opinions and that shouldn’t be any big deal. Everyone here has a different opinion about something.
I wish you well going forward with your investments, as I do everyone else here on this blog.
That’s a good point about neighborhoods being depressing. I live in Tampa, and it’s extremely demoralizing to drive around and see multiple houses for sale on every block. What used to be a community is now just another commodity. Yet the Tampa Tribune goes on and on and on with stories about new subdivisions and upscale condo developments–at least one a day, it seems. These developers remind me of Al Pacino at the end of Scarface: face down in an enormous pile of cocaine, friends and family dead, unable to control himself or to see that the end was near.
I also agree with one of the posters about houses in Florida being reclaimed by vegetation. I’ll tell you, if you’re not on top of the lawn care situation here, your property very quickly takes on Amazonian characteristics. And we’re having a drought!
I’m south of you in Bradenton and some of the new-home communities have more than 50% of the houses for sale (vacant). I feel sorry for the very few people that actually live there. They must have a dreadful feeling in the pit of their stomach since those values are going to drop in a disasterous way…
“Preconstruction Investment Homes is currently offering one of the most exciting real estate investment opportunities available. Where else can you get into a real estate investment opportunity in the hottest markets anywhere, with 10% instant equity, then another 12-months of further appreciation, and at 100% financing for only $5,675 out of pocket? It doesn’t get any better…”
http://www.preconstructioninvestmenthomes.com/
Make sure to send them a comment…I did!!!
“with 10% instant equity, then another 12-months of further appreciation,”
—————————————————–
how in the world can it be legal to make this claim?
It could be negative appreciation! That’s their legal out!
Screw these arrogant investors aholes that turned away mutliple offers and bought up multiple properties NOT to live in them, but to drive the prices up and PROFIT from them- thus forcing alot of people out of the market.
I hope they lose it all.
There are plenty of “bad guys” in this play…
- Greedy flippers
- Sleazy banks which spout rubbish like “getting a loan should be as easy as ordering a pizza”
- Corrupt appraisers who are in on the scam
- RE agents who will say or do anything to keep their Mercedes payments in the green regardless of market direction
- The FED
- City officials who are spending all the extra tax revenue (can you say raise) and have nothing for the inevitable “rainy day” that is coming
- Bought and paid for media
- And of course the FED (unelected and accountable to?)
And then there are the “fools” and “suckers” who were enabled/manipulated by all the above to help fuel the whole thing.
And lastly, the dreaded CA Equity Refugees swarming like locust all over the country.
If he pulls out of those deals, he’s down $80,000. ‘I was never much of an investor before this wild craze began, and somehow I backed into it,’ Passarelli said.”
—————————————————————————
He was never much of an investor but saw an opportunity to make some fast money. Time to pay the piper shit-fer-brains!
He backed into it and will continue to back into it on a monthly basis.
the sheep was just trying to help him get over the fence…
Oh my! That was the most satisfying piece on the bubble collapse I’ve read in a long time…with bits like “I may have to give back all the gains from the last year of this wild craze” , tales of lawsuits against builders and the juicy meaty punchline of ‘never, ever again’. oof…
terrible ghost towns filled with panic-y flippers. what community-destroying greed sows….very sad.