May 28, 2014

A Pent-Up Inventory Of Distress

The Sentinel & Enterprise reports from Massachusetts. “Realtor confidence declined on a year-over-year basis for the sixth consecutive month in Massachusetts, as officials say longawaited increases in inventory may be crimped by prospective buyer’s ability to get financing. In addition, the Realtor Price Confidence Index registered an April reading of 77.8, down 5 percent from the year ago score of 81.5 and down 2 percent from the March reading of 79.7. April marked the first year-over-year decline in the price index in more than two years.”

“‘A drop in price confidence could indicate that the inventory of homes for sale is starting to move in a positive direction for homebuyers,’ said 2014 MAR President Peter Ruffini. ‘However, if financing continues to be difficult for buyers to obtain, an increase in inventory may not result in an increase in sales.’”

The Boston Globe in Massachusetts. “In contrast to the red-hot housing market that’s now spreading through Boston and close-in municipalities, there are still bargains to be had on Cape Cod and the Islands. Theresa Sammon and Brett Risser of Medford steeled themselves for an arduous search when they decided to look for a vacation property on Cape Cod, well aware of the bidding wars, escalating prices, and tight inventories in the Boston area’s frenzied real estate market.”

“But the married couple quickly found a two-bedroom cottage in Dennis Port, made an offer — without competition from other buyers — and bought it for $10,000 below the asking price of $265,000. ‘We were pleasantly surprised,’ said Sammon, the mother of two children and the owner of a pet spa in Somerville. ‘You could never touch a home like this for $255,000 in Medford or Somerville. No way.’”

Press of Atlantic City in New Jersey. “New Jersey now leads the nation with the highest percentage of loans in foreclosure, the Mortgage Bankers Association says. South Jersey is also mired in the problem. Sheriff’s sales on mortgage foreclosures in Atlantic County have nearly doubled from a year ago, said Pam Hoerter, a fiscal officer for the Sheriff’s Office. ‘There are more. A lot more,’ she said.”

“James Schroeder, a local attorney specializing in short sales, said the process is still very slow and cumbersome among lenders. A sale can take months after a contract comes in. Meanwhile, he said, lenders have been ramping up foreclosure departments in New Jersey, and Schroeder expects foreclosures to happen faster than they did in the previous five years. ‘The days of waiting two or three years and living without paying a mortgage are over,’ said Schroeder.”

The Times Herald Record in New York. “Vacant homes dot neighborhoods throughout this former railroad city. There are 155 vacant houses in the city, or roughly one in every 15 homes, according to city officials. Most of those are in foreclosure. Mayor Kelly Decker knows firsthand the destabilizing effect of these vacancies. He and his wife, Jill, have lived for the past 20 years on Ferguson Avenue. Five houses sit vacant out of 33 on Ferguson Avenue, including the one next door to the mayor’s. ‘I can tell you because I live right next door that no one’s ever come here’ to tend to the property, he said.”

27 East in New York. “A house is in foreclosure at 80 Further Lane in East Hampton—right next door to a residential property at 60, 62 and 64 Further Lane that reportedly sold for a record-breaking $147 million. Yet there are more foreclosures in the Hamptons—even on expensive homes like those on Further Lane—than one might imagine. A few years back, Kristopher Pilles of East End Luxury Ltd., a Riverhead-based real estate brokerage that specializes in distressed properties in the Hamptons, counted 14,000 active foreclosures in Suffolk County, with 1,000 homes in the Hamptons with mortgages of more than $1 million in some form of default.”

“Thanks to a backlogged court system in New York State, some properties whose owners failed to make payments during the recession years are only now facing foreclosure, which can take as long as four years, Mr. Pilles said. ‘There is such a pent-up inventory of distress,’ also called ’shadow inventory,’ he said. ‘Chances are, if you’re on a street with more than 10 houses, you probably have somebody on your street not paying their mortgage. At this point, we’re very busy, and there’s no indication it’s going to slow anytime soon.’”

The Connecticut Post. “Diana Byrd finds herself underwater after fighting a tide of job downsizing and devalued housing. But the Bridgeport woman said that she wants to stay in the condo she bought in the North End eight years ago, even though it has lost half its value. “Byrd’s situation is common in Bridgeport, where 42 percent of mortgagees owe more than their home is worth, according to a survey. That puts Bridgeport in 10th place nationally for the percentage of mortgaged homes ‘underwater.’ Hartford leads the nation with 56 percent.”

“‘I love my apartment, but I’m paying $1,600 a month for a mortgage, and there are common charges on top of that,’ said Byrd, a part-time computer sciences instructor. ‘I bought it for $160,000 in 2006, at the height of the bubble, and it is listed for $98,000 now.’”




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52 Comments »

Comment by goon squad
2014-05-28 04:00:49

+1 for the ‘red-hot’ quote, cant believe the media take themselves seriously printing these cliches

 
Comment by taxpayers
2014-05-28 04:53:15

another recuvery summah,yo

Comment by azdude
2014-05-28 06:21:15

the only recovery has been in manipulated asset prices. there is a feeling that these assets can be manipulated by the FED for basically forever.

Do you think the FED can continue to prop up asset prices?

Is it in the FED’s best interest to create boom and bust cycles so they have an opportunity to create more money?

Comment by MrsLolaSoros
2014-05-28 06:25:59

there is a feeling that these assets can be manipulated by the FED for basically forever.

How much did GDP grow by in the first quarter? How much in Q2?

Comment by taxpayers
2014-05-28 06:33:47

only by the amount of obamacare spending(welfare) otherwise a negative number

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Comment by Combotechie
2014-05-28 06:35:08

Here’s an article about Yellin complaining about her lack of control of housing:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-28/yellen-concerned-by-housing-slowdown-she-has-scant-power-to-cure.html

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Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-05-28 07:07:30

Again…. this is “the fed” telegraphing that housing is toxic.

 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-05-28 07:11:17

By merely expressing her concerns about housing, she provides political cover for various government agencies to pull levers that serve to pump in more housing stimulus.

 
Comment by Kidbuck
2014-05-28 11:07:47

Crisis and leviathan, crisis and more leviathan, more crisis requiring even more leviathan…

 
 
 
 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-05-28 06:59:05

Long-term Treasury yields are retrenching towards May 2013 levels.

May 28, 2014, 9:51 a.m. EDT
10-year Treasury yield sinks to lowest in 11 months
Demand surge pushes yield to 2.47%; Lowest of the year on a closing basis
By Ben Eisen, MarketWatch

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Treasury prices surged Wednesday as investors picked up U.S. government debt to close out the month, sending the benchmark 10-year yield to its lowest level on a closing basis since last summer.

The 10-year yield (10_YEAR -1.75%) yield, which falls as prices rise, sank 5 basis points to 2.468%, on track for its lowest close since late June, according to Tradeweb. The benchmark yield has dropped sharply in recent weeks amid speculation about the pace of global economic growth, how it will impact central bank monetary policies, and which large buyers are stepping in snap up debt.

The drop has defied the expectations of many market strategists, who expected yields to drift higher in 2014 as the economy picked up steam.

The 30-year bond (30_YEAR -1.28%) yield dropped 5 basis points on Wednesday to 3.317%, while the 5-year note (5_YEAR -2.22%) yield fell 3 basis points to 1.496%.

Comment by Ben Jones
2014-05-28 07:50:21

‘The hesitant housing recovery has surprised and concerned Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and her colleagues at the central bank. It’s not clear how much they can do about it.’

Two comments:

‘Home prices are still too high for the masses. In the NY Metro Area, average size homes are being knocked down to put up mini mansions priced over 1MM. Property taxes are also too high holding back affordability. For a 1.2MM SP, $24K taxes/yr. Even at a 4.5% 30 yr FRM, with 30% DP and 1200/yr Ins, PITI would be $6356/mo or $76,272/yr. Assuming 45% of your income goes to Fed, St, SS, UI, taxes, $4,500/mo of your income goes to food, clothing, auto insur, health ins, home maint, vacations, auto pmts, other debt pmts, etc and 6-7% of sales tax, household income would have to be approx a minimum $205,000 gross (with no savings cushion) to pay for it all.’

‘What Yellen and the Fed need to do to HELP housing and the economy is to STOP printing billions of dollars every month, which goes directly into the wrong people’s pockets, and let nature take it’s course. Yes there would be an immediate decline or crash in the stock markets and home buying as well as home values would fall, but this is needed as home prices are too high and unaffordable now. If homes were still a good value, investors would still be buying, but they (the smart money) quit buying over 12 months ago. It has been the upper-middle class and wealthy who have been buying most of the homes this past year and there are only so many of them as they are a “minority” of America. The majority is the middle-class ($51k median income) and first-time buyers who CAN’T buy or qualify at these current prices which are too high. Until home prices DROP 20% where first-time/middle class people CAN start buying there is simply no one left who CAN or WILL buy now at these ridiculous prices. People who own a home can’t buy another until they sell theirs first. Homes prices must come down. It’s inevitable and they can’t keep blaming the weather or make other excuses forever. The western USA had a mild winter, but it didn’t boost homes sales here. Maybe nobody bought houses because the weather was so nice all the buyers decided to have picnics instead of buying over-priced homes!

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-05-28 21:37:51

“Maybe nobody bought houses because the weather was so nice all the buyers decided to have picnics instead of buying over-priced homes!”

That right there is one of the more plausible economic theories I have ever seen in print.

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Comment by autotech101
2014-05-30 03:20:53

So rent at almost double a mortgage No one pays 45% for all that taxes we make 91K and this is what we paid as a family of 4. 6.13% federal income tax state tax 3.5% and S.S. Medicare, medicade 7.65% no where close to your numbers and that is taking the standard deduction.
I know every housing market is different so you have to do the math yourself.
We are looking at homes for $130-$150K for a 3-4 bedroom 1500-2000 sq foot homes . With property tax and insurance we are looking at $700-$842 a month (20% down) Now we wont be renting anything below 1500 sq foot so to rent we are looking at 1200-1400 a month and that includes 50% yard maintenance (the back yard is your responsibility) and power is not included.
So lets see the price difference we will use a new home and a new home renal. $842 payment (150K new house)too the $1400 payment and rent never went up.
year one
Buy: $10104
Renting: $16800
Year two
Buy: $20208
Renting: $33600
Year Three
Buy: $30312
Renting: $50400
Year four
Buy: $40416
Rent: $67200
Year Five
Buy: $50520
Rent: $84000
Year six
Buy: $60624
Rent: $100800

That still works out a lot cheaper than renting for us.

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Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-05-30 06:17:57

Don’t be silly. $1500/month rentals dont sell for $130k. They sell for $260k+.

And remember, The expression “every market is different” is a marketing tool to get your target to pay far more than the property is worth.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-05-28 05:37:10

Sinking Mortgage Purchase Demand Accelerates

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101708645

Why is housing demand collapsing? Because prices are grossly inflated 300% higher than long term historic price.

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-05-28 05:41:31

“Thanks to a backlogged court system in New York State, some properties whose owners failed to make payments during the recession years are only now facing foreclosure, which can take as long as four years, Mr. Pilles said.

Much like California, there are millions of excess empty and defaulted houses in NY. The difference is, we know how many there are in CA. In NY it’s anyones guess. 4-6 million?

Comment by Ben Jones
2014-05-28 07:15:54

‘Foreclosure judgements on Westchester homes spiked 514 percent in February and 200 percent in March. Westchester County Clerk Timothy Idoni said that about 90 percent of the foreclosures were filed two-to-three years ago.’

‘In some cases banks haven’t taken the title on a foreclosed home because of new obligations placed on them by the courts to maintain the property, said Norma Drummond, deputy commissioner of the Westchester County Planning Department. As a result banks don’t want as much inventory and are handling foreclosures differently than they used to before the recession.’

“A lot of these people were fooled into thinking they were going to be able to sell their homes for more than they bought them for, even if they fell behind on their payments, because the market was going up and up,” he said. “All of a sudden the bubble burst in ‘07 and now they’re under water and there’s no way to get their money back and pay the loan at the same time.”

 
Comment by Rental Watch
2014-05-28 08:58:49

There are about 1.5MM mortgages in NY state (Source: http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/02/26/states-most-least-mortgage-debt/#!slide=861380), with a non-current loan rate of about 11% (about 5% is in the range of “normal”).

A more reasonable estimate of the backlog would be 90k - 125k.

Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-05-28 09:10:51

What does that have to do with excess, empty and defaulted inventory?

Comment by Rental Watch
2014-05-28 10:58:09

To have defaulted on your loan, you need to have a loan.

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Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-05-28 11:01:15

That’s right. And the loans that were written of? You know… Those mortgages?

 
 
 
Comment by Blue Skye
2014-05-28 16:12:20

RW, you are looking at the tip of the iceberg, or at least only pointing to it.

“there have been a cumulative total of 551,000 pre-foreclosure notices sent to delinquent owner-occupants just in NYC, and the two counties of Long Island - Nassau and Suffolk. [2010 to 2013]

… the latest figures from the NYS Division of Banking indicate that roughly 30% of all owner-occupied properties in New York City are now seriously delinquent.”

http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2013/06/28/shadow_inventory_could_force_a_housing-market_collapse_100438.html

That is in a city of 8 million. The state has 20 million.

Add a million housing units in NY that are simply EMPTY.

The housing market is a farce here in NY. The banks are not foreclosing and these defaulted units are not going to market.

Add those officially underwater but paying, and those who couldn’t sell in a pinch without writing a check for the closing costs. A million plus at least. Oh, and if prices were to fall…

We are in a period of ever increasing shadow inventory and the dam is being built higher with muck. Timing is unclear but consequence is obvious.

http://www.johnstownpa.com/History/hist19.html

I’ve heard that they actually built up the dam with wagonloads of manure. Kind of a good analogy.

Comment by pazuzu
2014-05-28 17:51:31

Paging Rental Watch… please pick up the “Face The Music” white telephone… paging Rental Watch…

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Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-05-28 17:59:55

I can hardly wait for his twisted contorted reality bending response.

 
 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-05-28 20:51:30

“… the latest figures from the NYS Division of Banking indicate that roughly 30% of all owner-occupied properties in New York City are now seriously delinquent.”

Noting that 31.8% of New Yorkers ‘own,’ 30% X 31.8% X 8 million = 18% X 8 million = 763,000 NYC homes that are now seriously delinquent.

Plus another 1 millionish additional homes simply sit EMPTY (Blue Skye).

Does that sound about right?

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Comment by 2banana
2014-05-28 06:36:41

The Obama housing bubble v2.0 is just about out of steam…

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-05-28 07:00:06

Help is on the way!

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-05-28 07:09:16

I find it extremely odd how the MSM always credits Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with repaying their bailout loans, blithely ignoring the massive infusion of QE3 mortgage-backed security purchases that perpetually enables them to offload billions and billions of dollars in mortgage debt at a premium.

The Government Just Made It Easier To Buy A Home

Posted: 05/13/2014 11:26 am EDT
Updated: 05/23/2014 5:59 pm
Mark Gongloff

The U.S. government is about to make it easier for you to get a mortgage.

Mel Watt, the new head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, said on Tuesday that he had told the government mortgage giants to make more credit available to home-buyers, instead of retreating from the mortgage market as they have been doing since the financial crisis.

Watt made some changes to Fannie and Freddie policy that could get more housing credit flowing, at a time when many first-time buyers are still shut out of the market. Fannie and Freddie don’t make loans, but they buy them from banks, giving them government backing. They guarantee about half of all the mortgages in the U.S.

In order to get banks to lend a little more, Watt ordered Fannie and Freddie to give banks more protection against the risk of being forced to buy back mortgages that go bad. That could make banks a little more willing to lend to riskier borrowers.

Watt also decided not to lower the size of the mortgages Fannie and Freddie can buy from banks, saying lower limits could hurt housing credit.

“[O]ur overriding objective is to ensure that there is broad liquidity in the housing finance market and to do so in a way that is safe and sound,” Watt said.

The announcement is a big change from Watt’s predecessor, Edward DeMarco, who had focused mainly on trying to shrink Fannie and Freddie.

This news should be a nightmare for Republican critics who have tried for years to kill Fannie and Freddie. Both companies have been in “conservatorship,” a kind of temporary government control, since nearly collapsing in the crisis. President Barack Obama has joined Republicans and some Democrats in trying to pass laws that will end Fannie and Freddie and replace them with a private system. All such efforts have failed so far, and there’s little chance of anything like them passing any time soon.

Republicans often claim that Fannie and Freddie caused the housing crisis by lowering their standards too much and taking on too much risk. But the agencies merely followed Wall Street and other major housing players in taking bigger risks, and were certainly not the worst actors ahead of the crisis. The agencies needed a $188 billion bailout, but have since returned $213 billion to the government.

In fact, they have played a major role in helping the housing market claw out of the pit of the crisis. A recent analysis by Credit Suisse found that ending Fannie and Freddie and forcing private lenders to take on more housing risk would raise mortgage rates and crimp housing credit, especially for first-time and low-income buyers.

Nobody wants to see a return to the dumb, old days when borrowers could get a mortgage just by fogging a mirror. But nobody wants to snuff out the housing recovery, either.

Comment by MrsLolaSoros
2014-05-28 07:54:31

President Barack Obama has joined Republicans and some Democrats in trying to pass laws that will end Fannie and Freddie and replace them with a private system.

And yet his appointed goon is changing policy to make them even weaker by buying up even riskier loans? Makes no sense.

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Comment by 2banana
2014-05-28 13:05:52

Who does the free sh•t army vote for?

Does it make sense now?

 
 
Comment by rms
2014-05-29 00:29:57

“The U.S. government is about to make it easier for you to get a mortgage.”

Just in time! Now that school is out it’s time to move-up to that larger house; remember you’re doing it for the kids.

“You can do it!” -Susan

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Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-05-28 06:54:51

‘However, if financing continues to be difficult for buyers to obtain, an increase in inventory may not result in an increase in sales.’

Given the reestablished disconnect between home prices and incomes, why is it whatsoever surprising that buyers can’t get financing?

 
Comment by Ben Jones
2014-05-28 07:20:56

‘A recently adopted law intended to speed up the foreclosure process in Maine will be particularly effective at ridding neighborhoods of vacant homes that are not being maintained, state officials say. But representatives of the state’s lending industry say the law, which takes effect Aug. 1, is bereft of any sweeping changes in the process that would reduce the number of foreclosed properties still hampering Maine’s housing market.’

“The data we collected shows that the housing crisis is still rippling through Maine,” said Attorney General Janet T. Mills. “Maine courts saw 4,756 foreclosure filings in 2013, up from 4,339 the year before.”

‘One of the most troubling statistics revealed in the report was that the median length of time it took to complete a home foreclosure increased by 75 percent between 2010 and 2013, from 218 days to 381 days.’

‘As a result, a backlog of pending foreclosures has bogged down the court system, strained the state’s financial resources and forced many homeowners and lenders to wait months for a hearing, state officials said. It also has contributed to neighborhood blight.’

‘But Christopher Pinkham, president of the Maine Bankers Association, said the law falls far short of making the changes necessary to push Maine’s foreclosures through the legal process more quickly. “It’s sort of a housekeeping legislation,” Pinkham said. “It didn’t really attack some of the bigger issues.”

‘Those issues include a court system overloaded with foreclosure cases, a shortage of mediators and “the extraordinary length of time the foreclosure process takes in Maine,” he said.’

‘Maine is among the five states in which the process moves the most slowly, and the law does very little to change that situation, Pinkham said. With no sign that Maine foreclosure filings will decrease in the near future, the state needs to go further in providing resources and streamlining the judicial process, he said. “We ought to be coming out of this better than we are,” Pinkham said. “Frankly, the system is overwhelmed.”

‘Mills disagreed. She said there are many aspects of Maine’s existing foreclosure laws that work well and do not need to be changed. “There didn’t seem to be any need to overhaul the process,” she said.’

Comment by Rental Watch
2014-05-28 09:00:44

They passed a law in NJ that allowed them to fast-track foreclosures of homes that were vacant and abandoned (I also think such a law was passed in IL). I haven’t seen any articles about whether these were successful in speeding things up…have you seen anything on it Ben?

Comment by Ben Jones
2014-05-28 09:22:14

The northeast has so many laws on this I can’t keep track of them. Some towns in Massachusetts have foreclosure delaying laws. And of course the senators are still banging away trying to stop foreclosures. Then there is the NY attorney general, threatening to sue lenders for not foreclosing. Which gets at the underlying issue; lenders don’t want to foreclose.

Again:

“Collin County is one of the hottest areas in the country for job creation, as evidenced by Toyota’s recent announcement it was moving its North American headquarters and 4,000 jobs to Plano. Another sign of the healthy real estate market in Plano is that foreclosures have decreased dramatically over the past three years. George Roddy, a local real estate analyst, said it is impossible to tell why the number of foreclosures dropped 50.4 percent from 2012 to 2013, but he thinks lenders may be giving people a longer leash.”

“In my estimation, they are keeping properties off the market for one reason or another,’ said Roddy, who began his real estate analysis business in 1970. ‘I don’t have the exact answer, but I think the federal government has told the lenders to slow it down. … They have just quit foreclosing, and there are many people who have lived in their house for a year or 18 months without paying a nickel.”

http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/?p=8399

Texas has the shortest time to foreclose in the country, and multiple offers, blah, blah. So why drag it out? Arizona has a short time period as well, yet I often go into a foreclosure or pre-foreclosure and the calendar on the wall says 2010 or 2011. Same with the newspaper and dates on the mail left behind. I’ve reached the same conclusion:

‘I think the federal government has told the lenders to slow it down’

Because otherwise, the actions of these lenders/loan servicers doesn’t make sense. And if it’s happening in Collin county Texas, you can bet it’s happening in California.

Comment by Rental Watch
2014-05-28 10:02:51

The hardest thing for me to get my arms around is the composition of the lenders. Based on looking at the bank financials from the FDIC, I’ve come to a tentative conclusion that the vast majority of lenders with REO/troubled assets are non-bank lenders. The answer to “why drag it out?” could be associated with who the lenders are (generally unregulated, etc.).

In February, I picked 10 homes in Stockton that were reported on Zillow as “Foreclosure” or “Pre-Foreclosure” (5 each).

Now, 2 of the 5 foreclosures have been resold (presumably the others still REO)

Of the 5 pre-foreclosures, 2 are still pre-foreclosure, 1 was foreclosed, 1 was sold, and 1 appears to have been cured (not sold, not foreclosed, no longer pre-foreclosure).

Small sample size, but after about 4 months (it was early February), of the 10 that were in pre-foreclosure or foreclosure, 4 have been resolved, 2 are left as pre-foreclosure, and 4 have been foreclosed.

I’m certain they could have been pushed through faster…it is notable that those left in foreclosure have lenders listed as:

Not Given
generic “lender”
Aurora Bank FSB
Blanca Mendoza

Of those that were resold, the lenders were noted as:

Ocwen Loan Servicing
BofA
One West Bank FSB

Of those still in Pre-foreclosure:

Wells Fargo (NOD in November 2013, entered foreclosure process in January 2014)
Aurora Loan Services, Inc

I wonder how Aurora Bank is looking financially? Of the lenders recognizeable as a bank, they seem to be the one slow playing the process.

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Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-05-28 15:10:53

With 25 million excess empty houses just sitting and sitting and sitting, you should be more concerned with that than lenders.

 
 
Comment by Arizona Slim
2014-05-28 11:35:36

Arizona has a short time period as well, yet I often go into a foreclosure or pre-foreclosure and the calendar on the wall says 2010 or 2011.

Yup, that’s true. I see a lot of vacant houses here in Tucson that are just crying out for, well, something to happen.

But there they sit, for years on end.

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Comment by Ben Jones
2014-05-28 07:25:22

‘New numbers show the average Burlington household is forking over more than 40 percent of its income to housing. New numbers from Weinberger’s Downtown Housing Strategy Report shows the average Burlington household spends 44 percent of its income on housing.’

“I think 44 percent is high and I think it is not sustainable for a lot of people,” said Kathleen Sweeten from the Northwestern Vermont Board of Realtors.’

“Cumulatively over the whole city that means millions of dollars that’s being spent on housing that could be going to other areas of the economy,” said Weinberger. But Weinberger admits it will take more than shovels and blueprints to help ease the pain of high rent and mortgages and says folks who think increasing salaries in our region is also an important factor have a point.’

“That comparison of wages to cost of housing is problematic right now,” said Weinberger.’

Comment by Ben Jones
2014-05-28 07:28:27

‘About 60 people gathered Monday evening in the Akeley Memorial Building to hash out ideas for an updated town plan. A key theme of the evening was how to reverse an aging and dwindling population while maintaining and updating the very identity of Stowe. “We need to have a reason for people to want to come here,” said meeting attendee Sarah McLane.’

‘Walter Frame said the town plan ought to include population targets, since the town is getting older and the number of people who live in Stowe year-round is declining. Much of that could be attributable to the large number of second homes in town, which help with the town’s property inventory, but don’t necessarily mean people living and working in Stowe.’

“It’s one thing to have housing units, but (another thing) to have them all go to people only here for the weekend,” said realtor Pall Spera.’

Comment by Arizona Slim
2014-05-28 09:15:49

My aunt used to live in Stowe. A very pricey place and she doesn’t exactly come from the uppah crust.

So, needless to say, when she got the opportunity to move to a condo in a nearby town, she went for it. And she likes that town a lot better. For one thing, it’s a much more down-to-earth kind of place.

 
Comment by 2banana
2014-05-28 13:11:14

Translation: no one wants to actually live in our town due to insane housing prices and EVEN more insane property taxes.

The only people who can afford it are rich out of towners and old folks who have lived here for 40 years.

Hmmm - how to solve while still being liberals…

Hint: maybe another government program will help.

:-(

 
 
 
Comment by Larry Littlefield
2014-05-28 07:30:28

For those who don’t know the metro area, Port Jervis and Bridgeport are older industrial cities some distance away from Manhattan. Each has a train station, but it’s a long ride to the CBD, and each has a population of poor people, which those choosing the suburbs seek to avoid.

While prices rise to ridiculous heights in Brooklyn and Hudson County NJ, older, poor industrial areas directly adjacent to Manhattan they are depressed in these areas.

Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-05-28 07:37:26

Bport and Port Jervis aren’t unique in that regard. Take a look at interior CT and NY. Nothing but personal debt and unemployment.

 
Comment by 2banana
2014-05-28 13:14:38

Heck - people are commuting to NYC from the Poconos now to try to escape insane housing prices, insane property taxes and city crime.

Except they brought it all with them and a 2 hour commute…

 
 
Comment by Ben Jones
2014-05-28 08:20:59

‘The median price of a house sold in Rhode Island in April was $210,000, a 17-percent increase from April 2013, according to the Rhode Island Association of Realtors. And while the number of houses sold in April fell by 5 percent, the number of houses available for sale increased by 2 percent, the association reported. Low inventory has been a problem “for too long,” said association President Robert Martin.’

‘However, many urban communities, including Providence, have been largely left out of the housing recovery, according to a May 8 report from the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society at the University of California, Berkeley.’

‘In the report, titled “Underwater America: How the So-Called Housing Recovery is Bypassing Many American Communities,” Providence ranked 24th in the nation in a list of cities with the highest number of underwater homes.’

‘The report said that 36 percent of homes in Providence are underwater, and home prices remain 40 percent below their peak in 2006. In Providence’s 02909 zip code, which is 68 percent minority, 48 percent of the homes are underwater, and prices are 47 percent below the 2006 peak, the report added.’

‘The Rhode Island Realtors’ association reported that April’s median house price in the affluent East Side of Providence was $460,000, while it was $115,000 in the rest of Providence.’

‘Though median prices were up by more than 40 percent in both markets, compared with April 2013, foreclosures and short sales continued to play a significant role in the Providence market, accounting for 11 of the 29 sales in April, compared with zero of the 9 sales on the East Side.’

‘Association statistics show that in 2006 the East Side median price was $502,000, while the median for Providence was $212,475.’

The only answer these people see is house prices higher than ever:

‘many urban communities, including Providence, have been largely left out of the housing recovery’

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-05-28 09:12:20

At some point, housing prices will hit and form a bottom. It hasn’t happened yet.

Comment by 2banana
2014-05-28 13:16:58

It will never hit bottom with $80 billion in monthly QE and yearly trillion dollar Obama deficits…

Comment by AmazingRuss
2014-05-28 13:53:28

Obama touched you in a private area, didn’t he…. and you secretly liked it!

Comment by Bill, Just south of Irvine
2014-05-28 20:40:50

Riotard would be very jealous.

(Comments wont nest below this level)
 
 
 
 
Comment by taxpayers
2014-05-28 09:43:00

But the Bridgeport woman

makes Gary In look like Eden

mcgovern bought a B&B there
bahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

 
Comment by Ben Jones
2014-05-28 13:23:11

‘Phoenix, the original poster child for institutional investor activity, has seen the institutional investor share fall from a high of 13.2 percent in July 2012 to 3.6 percent in March 2014, as significant rises in home prices and rapidly shrinking inventory levels made investing no longer attractive. Not surprisingly, this rapid drop-off in institutional interest is taking place in many of the California and Florida markets for similar reasons.’

 
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