Hitting The Brakes
A report from Bloomberg. “While Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen heaped praise on the U.S. labor market in her press conference on Thursday, the housing market got little love. Residential real estate ‘remains very depressed,’ she told reporters after announcing at the end of a two-day meeting that policy makers had decided against raising the benchmark interest rate. So what counts as a ‘very depressed’ level of housing? Yellen cited housing starts that are ‘below levels that seem consistent with underlying demographics, especially in an economy that’s creating jobs.’”
“The Fed chief noted that while it’s ‘a very small sector of the economy,’ housing ‘plays a supporting role’ to bigger drivers such as consumer and business spending. One data point that might keep Fed officials buoyant on housing: Building permits for single-family homes, the biggest and most important part of the market, climbed in August to their best level since January 2008.”
The Arizona Republic. “The West Valley is swinging hammers again –– or nail guns: Choose your housing recovery tool. These include Vistancia and Trilogy in north Peoria, the newer Sun City communities in Surprise and Verrado in Buckeye, a DMB Associates development that will contain 14,000-plus homes at build-out.”
“New construction and renovation loan applications are strong. ‘Our branch has seen a significant increase in new construction and renovation loan applications over the past six months,’ said Steve Howard, branch manager of HomeStreet Home Loans, Phoenix. ‘With a lack of quality resale inventory available new construction becomes more attractive. Underwriting guideline changes have allowed more potential borrowers to consider building a new production-style or custom home than in previous years.’”
The Dallas Morning News in Texas. “In the Dallas-Fort Worth area prices jumped by 13.8 percent compared with August of 2014, according to Zillow Inc. Only Denver – up 16.3 percent – had a higher year-over-year home price gain, according to the Internet real estate marketing firm. Prices were up 8.1 percent in Houston and they rose by 8.6 percent in Austin. While North Texas home prices are still soaring, ‘the national growth rate has leveled off over the past five months, suggesting the housing recovery is ending and the market is returning to normal,’ Zillow said in the report.”
“‘We’re not going in reverse, but we are hitting the brakes a bit in some markets,’ said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Svenja Gudell. Zillow estimates that more than a quarter of homes across the country have lost value in the last year.”
The Press of Atlantic City in New Jersey. “John Walton is a busy guy these days, because he sells real estate in a busy market. ‘In late July, we started seeing a half-dozen bids on some properties, multiple bids,’ said Walton. Within South Jersey, sales figures were widely mixed — or as Walton put it in Ocean City, ‘Go across the bridge, get into Atlantic County, and it it cools off.’”
“Single-family sales dropped 12 percent in Atlantic County, according to New Jersey Realtors. Atlantic County’s median single-family price was $172,000, a 14 percent drop from August 2014. ‘Let’s say it’s a buyers’ market,’ said Jeannine Wescoat, the president of the Atlantic City & County Board of Realtors. ‘And it’s been a buyers’ market and there are great opportunities for buyers right now.’ She added that the number of short sales and foreclosures ‘definitely carry weight on the market.’”
The Telegram in Massachusetts. “Homes left abandoned become eyesores, or worse. If they are truly abandoned, back taxes owed can let the community take the property, work with it and eventually sell it. But a new type of abandonment has been more difficult to work with, when banks continue to pay taxes, but ignore the property. That leaves the town out of the game in crafting a solution and letters to owners, or banks, often go unanswered.”
“When a house is abandoned, but taxes are still being paid, it is usually because a bank holding the mortgage does not want to lose the property. As long as taxes are paid, there is little the town can do, even though the bank is not maintaining the property. There are numerous houses abandoned by their owners that banks do not want to just give up, a problem in Clinton as well as other communities.”
“Board of Health Chairman Stephen Lipka said there is no problem with local banks and credit unions; those institutions take care of any houses they are involved in. The bigger banks, national institutions with hundreds of thousands of loans, are not so neighborhood-friendly. They can pay the taxes, but not institute the foreclosure process, which leaves the house in limbo. ‘The banks legally don’t own it,’ Lipka said, so they just pay taxes though the property remains empty. ‘The attorney general forces their hand.’”
The Philadelphia Inquirer. “Many parts of the Philadelphia region continue to struggle with distressed-home inventory. South Jersey, especially, is mired in short sales and foreclosures - the product of a logjam of several years in the legal system. From what I have seen in my own neighborhood, lenders continue to drag their feet getting these houses from foreclosure to the resale market, often with devastating results.”
“No one seems able to get the lenders to move off the dime to make some money, which shocks me. The numbers of short sales and so-called REOs - real estate owned by lenders through repossession after foreclosure - concerns many observers. ‘Nationwide, quarterly distressed saturation - or the percentage of REOs and short sales to all sales - increased . . . in August 2015, from 15.4 percent to 16.1 percent,’ said Alex Villacorta, vice president of research and analytics at Clear Capital, a provider of data and solutions for real estate asset valuation and collateral risk assessment.”
“What concerns Villacorta is the coming of winter, and he’s not referring to the dire predictions of the Old Farmer’s Almanac. ‘While we are closer to historic, pre-2008 rates of distressed saturation, which hovered around 4 percent of all sales, increases in distressed activity leading into winter could shift momentum toward peak distressed saturation levels of 40 percent,’ Villacorta said.”
“‘In Act One, at the start of the downturn, distressed properties were an albatross around housing’s neck,’ Villacorta said. ‘In Act Two, between 2011 and 2013, investors stepped in, buying, rehabbing and selling or renting distressed properties,’ lifting demand and prices. One thing is clear: When it comes to housing, REOs and short sales are not a passing fad,’ he said, noting that the recent stock market uncertainty ‘leaves the economy and housing tenuous, at best.’”
“‘The last third of the year will reveal whether the housing recovery can withstand broader global volatility,’ Villacorta said. ‘If investors pull out, oversupply of distressed inventory could bring us back to Act One.’”
“Prices were up 8.1 percent in Houston and they rose by 8.6 percent in Austin. While North Texas home prices are still soaring, ‘the national growth rate has leveled off over the past five months, suggesting the housing recovery is ending and the market is returning to normal,’ Zillow said in the report.”
Well thank God for that. Now that we’re back at the permanently high plateau it’s all skittles and unicorns from here.
‘the national growth rate has leveled off over the past five months, suggesting the housing recovery is ending and the market is returning to normal,’
Are they suggesting the housing market is normally about to tank? Maybe I missed the point.
“One data point that might keep Fed officials buoyant on housing: Building permits for single-family homes, the biggest and most important part of the market, climbed in August to their best level since January 2008.”
I think I am starting to catch on. January 2008 was at the onset of the last crash, right?
“It’s like déjà vu all over again.”
Yogi Berra, RIP.
“Underwriting guideline changes have allowed more potential borrowers to consider building a new production-style or custom home than in previous years.’”
Weaker underwriting guidelines = Permanently high plateau.
Janet and Ben B. you are geniuses!
Earnings season ?
I’m guessing the effects if cheap oil have run their course
Pe 18 ?
Bahhhhhh
‘Residential real estate ‘remains very depressed,’ she told reporters after announcing at the end of a two-day meeting that policy makers had decided against raising the benchmark interest rate. Yellen cited housing starts that are ‘below levels that seem consistent with underlying demographics, especially in an economy that’s creating jobs.’
Well push the Green Button, Great Wizard! Make it happen Captain. As I type this in my cardboard box, there is a 13% vacancy rate where I live. And it looks like shadow inventory to me.
‘Realtors and builders are at odds on the fundamental question of whether it’s a supply problem or a demand problem.
The Realtor association’s chief economist, Lawrence Yun, says it’s a supply shortfall. He argues that builders “are just not robustly getting back into the game” by picking up their pace of construction.’
‘David Crowe, chief economist of the National Association of Home Builders, counters that builders would churn out more houses if there was sufficient demand to warrant it. “Supply is an issue; that is true,” he said. “But the dominant issue still is demand. That’s the reason builders aren’t building more homes.”
‘The study found the largest ratios from 2012 to 2014 in a few cities that traditionally have the tightest, most expensive housing markets in the U.S., such as San Francisco at 7.8 new jobs for every residential construction permit granted, San Jose at 5.1 and San Diego at 4.9. However, there also are several cities that likely can attribute their low level of home construction to vacancies in their existing housing stock, such as Rockford, Ill., at 12.7, Trenton, N.J., at 6.2 and Canton, Ohio, at 5.7.’
‘Such high ratios usually indicate demand for housing outpacing supply growth, which in turn contributes to rising home prices and less-affordable housing overall, the Realtor association’s Mr. Yun said. As evidence of that demand, he pointed to the median number of months that newly built homes spend on the market before they’re sold. In July, that median was just 3.6 months, not much above the all-time low of 2.9 months set in October 2013 and again in October 2014.’
‘Mr. Yun and others have pointed out that selling larger, high-priced homes brings builders better profit margins than building starter homes. Thus, builders have focused mostly on catering to the higher-end market in the recovery while largely ignoring the entry level, they say. “They will follow the profits,” Mr. Yun said. “Right now, there’s a bigger profit on move-up homes.”
‘In short, a builder needn’t sell as many move-up homes as it would starter homes to reach its targeted return on invested capital. Thus, the builders association and others say, there needs to be robust demand for starter homes in order for builders to justify developing starter-home communities. Many say that such demand hasn’t yet materialized.’
“If demand was there, there likely would be more supply,” said Mike Dahl, an analyst who tracks home builders for Credit Suisse AG.’
‘For his part, Mr. Crowe of the builders association noted that the Realtor group’s research overlooks a couple of points. First, he said, some people in newly created jobs might move into previously vacant, existing housing, such as foreclosed homes. Second, wage growth has lagged job creation of late, meaning that not all workers in new jobs can afford their own home.’
“Just because you have a job doesn’t necessarily mean you can afford to live on your own,” Mr. Crowe said. “More adult children are living with their parents that ever before. They may have a job, but it isn’t sufficient for them to move out.”
‘builders have focused mostly on catering to the higher-end market in the recovery while largely ignoring the entry level’
‘Just because you have a job doesn’t necessarily mean you can afford to live on your own’
This is quite the conundrum. What they are building is too expensive. This could explain the vast expanses of pipe farms in Phoenix, or the dark towers in New York City. It’s almost like someone interfered with market pricing and caused a malfunction.
Boarding houses. Good, old-fashioned boarding houses. Live on your own - cheap. Naturally, most cities/municipalities have outlawed them. Too much potential for “WalMart”-ism. NIMBY.
I can’t imagine that very many of today’s 20-somethings enjoy living with Mama and Dada.
If they allowed all the McMansions to be subdivided in the suburbs, we’d have our housing supply for the next 50 years.
Too much wasted space. Businesses have figured out they can get by with much less office space to save money. They are doing it even though office space is dirt cheap on an inflation-adjusted basis compared with 15 and 30 years ago.
People can do the same.
Where I live empty nesters have taken to renting out excess space to twentysomethings.
There’s a three-bedroom house in my neighborhood that was rented by a group of four twenty-somethings. I’ve seen them playing musical cars so that somebody can pull out of the driveway.
“It’s almost like someone interfered with market pricing and caused a malfunction.”
It’s funny how the industry economists perpetually overlook the oversized footprint of government intervention in the explanations they offer.
“It’s almost like someone interfered with market pricing and caused a malfunction.”
________________________/
Hmmm. I wonder who that “someone” could be?
‘The Realtor association’s chief economist, Lawrence Yun, says it’s a supply shortfall. He argues that builders “are just not robustly getting back into the game” by picking up their pace of construction.’
‘David Crowe, chief economist of the National Association of Home Builders, counters that builders would churn out more houses if there was sufficient demand to warrant it. “Supply is an issue; that is true,” he said. “But the dominant issue still is demand. That’s the reason builders aren’t building more homes.”
With tens of millions of excess empty and defaulted houses out there and housing demand at 20 year lows and falling lower, clearly it is not a supply issue.
No supply issue.
It’s an issue of a lack of morals and ethics affecting the financial and monetary systems, among other things.
Clearing the mess up isn’t rocket science. Cleaning the mess will be painful. So will not cleaning up the mess.
Finding the fortitude and the moral compass is the real challenge.
Kick the can down the road. Let some future generation find the fortitude.
“The Fed chief noted that while it’s ‘a very small sector of the economy,’ housing ‘plays a supporting role’ to bigger drivers such as consumer and business spending.”
Wrong! The building - the BUILDING - of houses may be a “very small sector of the economy” but the values - the VALUES - aren’t.
The values of all the houses put together represent a huge chunk of WEALTH - wealth that is generated by PRICES. And it is this wealth that is generated by prices that becomes “bigger drivers such as consumer and business spending.”
Hence housing prices cannot be allowed to fall because if housing prices fall then wealth will fall along with it. And if wealth falls then a lot of consumer spending will dry up and this is not a good thing in an economy that depends on consumers spending.
PRICES! Housing prices need to remain elevated else we are screwed. And we are screwed anyway because we seem to be stuck in this situation.
Remember the poster Highway? He said the bubble was the easiest way to put 100k in the hands of the most people.
It’s worth repeating; these central bankers could be completely wrong about how things really work.
It only takes a few people to raise the wealth of the many. A few people - strangers, and possibly fools - can raise the value of the comps, and wealth magically springs forth when the value of the comps are raised.
“PRICES! Housing prices need to remain elevated else we are screwed.”
A predictable consequence of an unethical/immoral society that survives on credit. (With Washington, DC, a chief beneficiary of credit via taxes, remaining the wealthiest metropolitan area in the country.)
For many, prices need to remain high, else they are screwed.
For many others, prices need to drop, else they are screwed (they can’t even participate).
“For many, prices need to remain high, else they are screwed.
“For many others, prices need to drop, else they are screwed (they can’t even participate).”
But the many (voters) who need prices to remain high outnumber those (voters) who need prices to drop, hence efforts will be directed to keeping prices elevated.
Not for long.
‘The Realtor association’s chief economist, Lawrence Yun, says it’s a supply shortfall. He argues that builders “are just not robustly getting back into the game” by picking up their pace of construction.’
‘David Crowe, chief economist of the National Association of Home Builders, counters that builders would churn out more houses if there was sufficient demand to warrant it. “Supply is an issue; that is true,” he said. “But the dominant issue still is demand. That’s the reason builders aren’t building more homes.”’
Hint: Draw the supply and demand graph from basic microeconomics and add in a horizontal line from the price axis to the right above the level where supply and demand cross. Think of the diagram as representative of end-user purchase demand for housing in a market where government intervention and investors trying to get a slice of the subsidy have driven the price to above the fundamental equilibrium level. You will notice that the quantity of homes demanded at this price falls short of the quantity supplied to the market.
As Ben’s videos document, the Realtor® economists are missing it. The investor-inflated price of housing is stimulating the construction of an excess supply of homes priced at levels that few American households can afford, resulting in a dearth of end-user purchases. Now that the Chinese economy is crashing, good luck with finding greater fools to snap these up with further all-cash investor purchases.
‘Sales of Chinese goods abroad fell 1.6 percent in the first eight months of 2015 compared with a year ago, well below Beijing’s target of 6 percent annual growth. Huang Jianying, owner of a company in Shanghai with 60 employees that produces electrical switching boxes, said he used to export most of his output but switched to promoting domestic sales as foreign demand weakened.’
“Sometimes customers ask about the price and after that we never hear from them again,” he said.’
‘Still, China is doing better than South Korea and Taiwan, where exports fell 6.1 percent and 8.8 percent in the same eight-month period, respectively.’
I’m looking forward to more back pedaling on growth projections from Chinese financial authorities.
Marketwatch dot com
China factory gauge reaches new low in September
By MarketWatch
Published: Sept 23, 2015 12:46 a.m. ET
BEIJING–A preliminary measure of Chinese factory output in September was the lowest since the financial crisis, adding to a parade of weak data that is increasingly eroding hopes that China’s slowdown would stabilize in the second half.
Chinese stock markets fell on the news, which follows weak readings in August for fixed-asset investment, industrial production and exports as Beijing struggles to meet its growth target of about 7% this year, the slowest pace in 25 years.
…
Totally agree with your analysis
“The investor-inflated price of housing is stimulating the construction of an excess supply of homes priced at levels that few American households can afford,”
Precisely why housing demand has collapsed to 20 year lows.
Housing Demand Falls To 20-Year Low
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WV3h-ww0wEA/Vfis7b78BdI/AAAAAAAAk-Q/fA2DiKXePkg/s1600/MBASept162015.PNG
“So what counts as a ‘very depressed’ level of housing? Yellen cited housing starts that are ‘below levels that seem consistent with underlying demographics, especially in an economy that’s creating jobs.’”
Could it be that barristas and waitresses can’t quite qualify for the size mortgage needed to buy a $500,000 starter home without much looser lending standards?
Obviously what is needed is a return of the pre-2007 subprime lending institutions.
we need another boom and bust cause it is easy to print money when sh@t hits the fan.
“So what counts as a ‘very depressed’ level of housing? Yellen cited housing starts that are ‘below levels that seem consistent with underlying demographics, especially in an economy that’s creating jobs.’”
What counts as a “very depressed” level of housing is the illusion - the ILLUSION - that there is a shortage. Keep this illusion alive and you will keep prices elevated; Keep prices elevated and you will maintain household wealth. Maintain household wealth and you will maintain prosperity.
I dunno. This current illusion of a shortage features a moribund flow of transactions along with the high prices. I’m not sure the debt-financed appearance of wealth can cut it alone with so few homes changing hands.
“I’m not sure the debt-financed appearance of wealth can cut it alone with so few homes changing hands.”
It’s not the volume of the transactions that count, its the prices that count.
Prices count but prices aren’t the determining factor regarding the sales of houses as much as the cost of the monthly payments.
Keep the monthly payments doable and you will get to keep the prices high, and keeping the prices high - and going higher - creates a demand for houses.
Magic!
I guess that depends on the availability of home equity ATM financing to extract cash from homes without selling them, and the future availability of bailouts after the next big bust to make up for the imagined wealth that goes’poof’ when housing prices fall.
Agreed on the low monthly payments supporting high housing prices. Which makes me wonder why so many suckers in the MSM keep falling for the Fed’s perpetual empty threat to normalize interest rates.
Keep the monthly payments doable and you will get to keep the prices high, and keeping the prices high - and going higher - creates a demand for houses.
Magic!
Keeping rents going up also helps, Blackrock magic
Think about it this way….. rents would have to triple to reach the monthly cost of carrying a massive mortgage, taxes, insurance and deprecation at current grossly inflated prices of resale housing.
I guess that depends on the availability of home equity ATM financing to extract cash from homes without selling them, and the future availability of bailouts after the next big bust to make up for the imagined wealth that goes’poof’ when housing prices fall.
The last estimate I saw was derived from the Fed’s Flow of Funds data, and showed slightly negative mortgage equity withdrawal. This means that while there was people pulling money out of homes (a la the home ATM), there were more people who simply continued to pay down their mortgage as scheduled.
In other words, people aren’t pulling out cash en masse as before…yet.
While the Q2 data show a slight negative MEW, the Q1 data was even more negative, and the trend is clearly in favor of seeing a POSITIVE MEW for Q3. In other words, the home equity ATM machine is revving up.
While we’re heading in the direction of the home ATM becoming more of a factor in the economy and spending, we have a long way to go before we reach the levels seen during the peak bubble years (8% of disposable personal income!!!).
There is no “equity” to withdraw Rental_Fraud.
I wonder if the patrons of such establishments ever consider the immorality of it all.
How those serving them will likely never get to participate in what they currently enjoy…..which came likely as a result of credit, not work ethic or talent.
It always astonishes me how some who have benefitted mightily from cheap credit (funny money) during the past 30-40 years would never step foot in a WalMart because it’s “beneath” them.
Pot calling the kettle black.
‘Bond guru Bill Gross, who has long called for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates, urged the U.S. central bank on Wednesday to “get off zero and get off quick” as zero-bound levels are harming the real economy and destroying insurance company balance sheets and pension funds.’
“Zero destroys existing business models such as life insurance company balance sheets and pension funds, which in turn are expected to use the proceeds to pay benefits for an aging boomer society,” Gross said. “These assumed liabilities were based on the assumption that a balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds would return 7-8 percent over the long term.”
‘But with corporate bonds now at 2-3 percent, Gross said it was obvious that to pay for future health, retirement and insurance related benefits, stocks must appreciate by 10 percent a year to meet the targeted assumption. “That, of course, is a stretch of some accountant’s or actuary’s imagination,” he said.’
“Do central bankers not observe that Detroit, Puerto Rico, and soon Chicago, Illinois cannot meet their promised liabilities?” Gross said.’
Now Bill, are you suggesting there’s a downside to free money?
I was thinking last week; it’s not what the Federal Reserve hasn’t done but what they have done that matters.
Ah, but those on the other side can’t afford more than zero, even if those living off wealth need them to pay it.
Infinite capital gains fantasies all around — not enough income behind it anywhere.
Ah, but those on the other side can’t afford more than zero, even if those living off wealth need them to pay it.’
That’s right so how is this going to play out?
‘…destroying insurance company balance sheets and pension funds.’
This is an issue I have raised here more than a few times, namely that of actuaries clinging to indefensibly high discount rate assumptions to hide massive pension and insurance liabilities that valuations at current market rates would reveal. The true picture may be much worse if those balance sheets reflected current interest rates.
The damage is done. These companies not only need market rates to pay benefits, but need profits to be accumulated to generate more profits. It’s called compounded interest and it has been stolen from them and everyone permanently. Raising interest rates .25% is meaningless.
A small army of accountants, actuaries, economists and finance professors rely on valuation models that assume positive interest rates.
Do the answers these models deliver have any relevance when the real economy is perpetually pinned against the zero bound?
check your county !
they’ll be raising taxes big time since they get no re and S&P boost going forward.(gov unions) They get paid -you pay
Forward !
“These assumed liabilities were based on the assumption that a balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds would return 7-8 percent over the long term.” ??
Maybe someone promised to much….Maybe someone wanted to much…
You mean like the over-55/assisted living developers who are busy throwing up thousands of units? Silver tsunami indeed.
They are putting them up like gang busters here…
I remember during the tech bubble of the 1990s, someone pointed out that the railroad boom eventually ended in tears but left the economy better off.
Nobody is going to cry for the investors, that’s for sure.
55 and up huge complexes- new REIT direction…job opportunities for me. Shopping Ctrs are dying on the vine, and rightfully so. Grocery and Specialty anchor centers are hanging on. Goodbye regionals, thank goodness. I could never understand regionals and lifestyle centers, beyond teenage girls. Power Centers make sense.
You mean like the over-55/assisted living developers who are busy throwing up thousands of units? Silver tsunami indeed.’
Oh Sh$t you’re right
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2015/09/23/wealthy-brookline-developer-faces-arson-charges/6M4PXgzvdbEzmKSe0b6JoO/story.html
DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) — A millionaire developer and restaurant owner has been charged with masterminding the arson of an under-construction home so he could collect the insurance money.
arson= a great peak indicator
comes right after floating condo hotels
More detailed article:
http://brookline.wickedlocal.com/article/20150921/NEWS/150929105
Anecdotally, there seem to be more properties sitting on the market in the “hot” Boston suburbs, like Arlington. It’s as if people decided, suddenly, that $699K is too much for a 1,200 SF crap shack.
Ben, thought I’d throw this one out here for everyone’s entertainment. From today’s Tampa Bay Times:
_____________________________/
Ever thought about opening a B&B? If so, why not go all out and buy an entire waterfront resort with a celebrity-studded past on St. Pete Beach?
On Oct. 5, the Birds of Paradise Boutique Resort — once the winter home of beer and baseball magnate August A. Busch Jr. — hits the auction block with a starting bid of “only” $3.9 million. But if bidding tops $5.9 million, the winner will receive a 2015 Mercedes Benz and a 15-karat diamond ring in addition to the sprawling compound in Pass-a-Grille.
“It’s a grand slam home run,” the seller, John De Silva, said Tuesday.
http://tinyurl.com/qz25qvt
There’s a sale on in Rimrock Arizona too, the subject of my latest video. Get this; these houses are now priced lower than the lots back in 2008.
A related tale; I knew a brewery owner who bought some land in the Verde Valley for expansion. Then prices went nuts and he couldn’t resist selling the land for big profits. He took that money and bought; residential lots in Rimrock! Which then proceeded to become almost worthless. And when he later desperately need to expand, he couldn’t. Oh the follies of financial manias, how they wind their way.
Sounds like he lost vision on what was most important for the long run…His Brewery…
Ben I didn’t realize you had a Youtube channel. Very cool, will be watching for updates.
Ben, it would be great if the YouTube videos opened in a new browser tab, so we could still have the HBB blog open at the same time.
“If you have to borrow for money for 15 or 30 years, you can’t afford it nor is it affordable.”
mafia aka as senior housing analyst
Most folks have to borrow for a car and/or home. That’s just a fact of life. I like a great deal, but hey, my middle name is parsimonious. Using credit wisely, is the key. And don’t tell me about our cottage purchase, we did the right thing for us.
Cut a rain gutter deal for cash, and he whacked off $300 (seamless aluminum). Originals were installed in 1967, and leaked like a sieve. If El Nino materializes this winter, we’ll be good.
“lying.through.her.teeth.the.whole.time.”
And you paid a 250% premium for a depreciating asset. Why?
Now you yammer about throwing more good money after bad on it.
Bring me cheetos k thnx
None for you Donk. CraterTaters. A lifetime diet of them.
Denver, CO Housing Prices Fall 9% YoY
http://www.movoto.com/denver-co/market-trends/
more Zillow
they still love Tampa
compared to a 7% increase for Tampa as a whole
‘Vantone Industrial, the first tenant to sign up for office space at 1 World Trade Center, is seeking to dramatically slash its space at the 1,776-foot tower. The request comes a year after it asked to cut its original commitment in half.’
‘The Beijing-based company now wants to downsize its lease by 85% to take only a single floor in the 104-story tower for a total of 31,344 square feet, down from 202,000 square feet. The company planned to set up what it called a “China Center”—a facility with conference and meeting rooms—as well as amenities such as a restaurant and spa. The space was meant to serve as a hub for Asia-based companies to conduct business in the city, hold meetings and entertain clients.’
‘Originally envisioned as a large outpost to be used by hundreds of companies at a time, its grand vision has been revised as China’s economy falters. A spokesman for the Durst Organization said the center’s facilities and restaurant will be open to other 1 WTC tenants.’
“China Center’s business model changed,” the Durst Organization said in a statement. “When a tenant’s circumstances are altered, we seek a solution that keeps them in the building.”
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20150923/REAL_ESTATE/150929937/1-wtcs-first-tenant-looks-to-shrink-its-space-by-85#utm_medium=email&utm_source=cnyb-realestate&utm_campaign=cnyb-realestate-20150923
Wow, it’s a China “dot com” style melt down. Expansion was so “eminent”, the planning called for leasing 200,000 sq. ft.
Reality sets in and guess what? Ooops, we only need 15% of the space.
It’s a Scooby Doo moment. Ruh-Roh.
Vienna, VA Housing Prices Dive 7% YoY; Homeowner Losses Balloon
http://www.zillow.com/vienna-va/home-values/