Fourth Quarter 2005 The Housing Bubble Peak: NAR
USA Today has the latest from the NAR. “Home prices in 72 metropolitan areas showed double-digit increases in the fourth quarter last year, a record that was probably the peak in this real estate cycle, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday.”
“‘I don’t want to say this is the last hoorah, but it certainly reflects the peak of the boom in terms of price appreciation,’ said David Lereah, the NAR’s chief economist. ‘It wasn’t the highest quarter for price appreciation, at 13% (nationwide), but it covered a big part of the country, 72 metros is enormous.’”
“But he cautioned that the market is cooling fast. Sales of existing home are falling faster than he expected. Home-price appreciation could drop to single digits this quarter, and will only be 5% for the year, down from 13% in 2005, he predicts.”
The PDF file showed the following declines in sales for the quarter. Arizona -7.7%. California -12%. District of Columbia -21.9%. Hawaii -13.6%. Massachusetts -11.5% and Virginia -16.3%.
“Sales of existing Treasure Coast homes plunged during the fourth quarter as prices continued to climb. For the quarter, sales dropped 13 percent, the Florida Association of Realtors said. In the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton market, existing-home sales decreased 23 percent.”
Annapolis, Maryland. “An apparent slowdown in the real estate market could mean less cash to throw around, (a) top budget official warned yesterday. Recordation and transfer tax income fell from $10 million in January 2005 to $8.8 million last month, a decline that mirrors a one-month $20,000 drop in median home prices.”
“‘Maybe the gravy train is coming to an end here,’ Budget Officer John Hammond said.”
“Southern California home prices retrenched in January as the region’s housing market continued to lose steam, according to a real estate report today. The median home price for the six-county region was $469,000, the lowest since July, and a 2.1% decline from November’s and December’s record median of $479,000.”
“Meanwhile, the number of Southern California homes sold in January edged down to the lowest level in five years. A total of 20,085 new and existing homes were sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was down 30.6% from the 28,952 sold in December, and down 7.4% from the 21,680 for January last year, according to DataQuick.”
“Like it or not, most asset bubbles end the same way. Back in 2000, the first signs of trouble surfaced when various tech-related firms grudgingly began to report overcapacity.”
“Thursday’s report on January housing starts, which is a good indicator for inventories of new homes coming on the market, might shed some light on the state of the housing bubble. Economists on average expect that construction started on an annualized 2.023 million new homes last month, compared with 1.933 million in December, according to a Reuters poll. Warmer-than-usual weather has helped homebuilders in January.”
“Some may celebrate the pick-up in housing starts as a sign that housing is cooling slowly, ensuring that the vast amounts of wealth consumers have been drawing out from ever-rising equities over the past few years won’t disappear overnight. In fact, all it means is that the inventories of new homes is going to get larger.”
“According to Ian Morris, chief U.S. economist at HSBC, about half of the U.S. housing market is frothy, and that the ‘bubble zone’ may be overvalued by 35%-40%. Even a perfect soft-landing scenario, in which national homes prices just flatten, would imply a 35%-40% collapse in existing home sales.”
“If developments, such as an unexpected tightening of lending standards on the many new types of exotic loans and mortgages that have emerged in recent years, then..the rising supply of new homes on the market might have a hard time finding new owners.”
“‘You got to think that this thing is going to end, eventually, one way or another,’ said Christopher Thornberg, an economist with UCLA. ‘Prices have gotten to the point that, even with all the crazy financing out there, people still can’t get into the market. It’s just that over the top. We’ve never seen this size of a housing bubble before, so in a sense we’re in kind of a strange place right now,’ Thornberg said.”
Something I hadn’t considered. This will also be affected with the decreased ability of people to refinance.
“I don’t want to say this is the last hoorah, but it certainly reflects the peak of the boom in terms of price appreciation,” said David Lereah
Yeah, OK. That’s a good baby step, David. First item in a 10 step recovery process is admitting there is a problem.
“I’m still a firm believer we’re seeing a slowdown rather than a burst,” said Nicholas Buss, senior vice president of real estate finance for PNC Bank.
Yeah, OK. If I were the VP of Real Estate FINANCE at a BANK… I would be nervous about announcing anything more than “it’s just a slowdown”…. Keep your head up NICK-
Wow. Have we finally seen Lie-reah come full circle (what from last week). Look Ma, pigs are flying.
If he is making this statement, actual conditions are so much worse. While we’ve been waiting for this for a while (years), actually hearing it from this cheerleader is somewhat scary.
That must have been a winged porcine I just saw flying past my window. Wow, I thought it was a bat.
Also on Craigslist, one of the biggest housingheads, cable_guy, on the housing forum admitted there is a problem today. He had to eye witness a friend of his in trouble to see it.
Pretty soon there will be little left to spin so that super trolls like CrashandBurn can disappear.
Washington Mutual cutting 2500 Mortgage Jobs
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7BB56EAEC8%2D9221%2D4143%2D8186%2DBC8B842DD12E%7D&source=blq%2Fyhoo&dist=yhoo&siteid=yhoo
YAAAAAAAY!!
Response by Realtors is that there still is no slowdown nationally. Just locally wherever Washington Mutual is..
… and WAMU seems to have a presence wherever you find a Starbucks (which is to say they are pretty much ubiquitous). Local froth gets interesting when the locale in question extends from coast-to-coast, neh?
Are these new hirings foreclosure experts??
LMFAO!
“Shelter Glut Could Prove to Be Bubble’s Demise”
By Nick Godt
Markets Reporter
2/15/2006 5:14 PM EST
“Like it or not, most asset bubbles end the same way.”
http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/markets/marketfeatures/10268762.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA
““But he cautioned that the market is cooling fast. Sales of existing home are falling faster than he expected. Home-price appreciation could drop to single digits this quarter, and will only be 5% for the year, down from 13% in 2005, he predicts.”
is this the part where i’m supposed to say sales are down 45%, inventory is up 45%, rates are up 50 basis points, throw it in a blender and what do you get?????
answer below…….
single digit appreciation!
amazing how that works! (how does that work?)
“Realspin”
“which bolsters the notion that Southern California’s housing market is headed for a “soft landing” and not a collapse, said John Karevoll, DataQuick’s chief analyst.
What a DICK. This guy probably buys RETREAD tires for his car too.
“Soft Landing”
It’s like someone in the real estate industry distributed a pamphlet to every real estate agent nationwide TITLED: “what to say when asked about the direction of real estate in your area”.
Bolsters the notion? The soft landing isn’t a notion, it’s an absolute undeniable indisputable fact!
Maybe by “soft landing”, they mean soft like a wet bag of excrement dropped from a 12th story window.
Violent, yet soft.
Best definition of a soft landing I have heard.
Bad news when the “objective” Marketwatch journalists are more upbeat on residential RE than the industry’s cheer-leader-in-chief (David Liar-eah).
“We’ve never seen this size of a housing bubble before, so in a sense we’re in kind of a strange place right now,’ Thornberg said.”
First time I’ve heard someone like Thornberg use this sort of sensational yet strangely resigned rehtoric.
“Strange Place” = PAIN
i.e. We’ve seen bubbles implode before, but nothing of this magnitude.
Thorberg’s obtuse language might be more easily understood if you first checked how dependent the UCLA Anderson School is on RE-related industries for donations. (A quick glance shows Countrywide Home Loans Inc. and WAMU are on the list…)
http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/x1223.xml
How can Lereah say that home prices have “peaked” and then go on to predict 5% appreciation in 2006? It sounds like he is trying to co-opt the language and redefine “peak”.
The 5% is just “normal” growth. It’s all part of their “getting back to normal” scheme/theme.
Liereah claims we’ve peaked in terms of “price appreciation”, not prices themselves.
That comes next.
CYA Newspeak at its worst… Making contradictory statements in the same breath is a great way to make sure that no matter what happens, you gave ample warning.
CAPITOL REPORT
Bernanke talks like a gentle hawk
Last Update: 10:56 AM ET Feb 15, 2006
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — New Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke walked a fine line in his testimony Wednesday, establishing his inflation-fighting credentials without scaring the bejeezus out of the market.
“SCARING THE BEJEEZUS OUT OF THE MARKET”??? How classic is this headline! Now Mainstream MEDIA is getting in on the action.
Wonder what’s next??
I’d get a screen grab of that. Truly priceless.
“SCARING THE BEJEEZUS OUT OF THE MARKET”???
It was just proven that bush appointees don’t have the best targeting skills. Who’s going to get the face full of buckshot when Bernanke takes aim?:)
How do you get the smiley?
somtimes it works if you hit the symbols : and the a single parenthesis )
like that:) although it doesnt always work:(
I’m fairly sure you need to have a space before the : :). A capital D will give you a different smile :D.
Did you see Be(a)rnanke’s comments on subprime? check out http://www.quinhouse.blogspot.com
Can someone post the sales comparison on Long Island NY from Jan2005 to Jan 2006. Thanks
I am from the San Diego - has anyone seen the amount of “open house” signs on the street corners recently? On most corners, there is not even enough room for all of the signs! The market is cooling, the prices are starting to dip BUT they were so high, it will take a while to come back down to earth. **unless everything crashes overnight.
Ijust visited North San Diego County and the South County as well and I too was amazed at the number of homes for sale. I also noticed an incredible ammount of building. The new building was primarily condos. I spoke to many locals and they said that things arent selling. Many also commented negatively about the condo conversions. My, things have changed. The last time I was there everyone seemed to be in a real estate frenzy.
You need to drive between I-5 and I-15 along Hwys 56 or 78 to appreciate that is not just new condos, but also a huge number of new SFRs which are soon-to-be-new SD inventory. Small wonder that SD’s used home inventory is not moving (up 20% since 1/1/06 and climbing, according to ziprealty.com).
Dowtown SD is crazy right now. There is a new project coming out of the ground on every corner AND almost every existing new tower has 20-50% of the condos for sale. The time bomb is ticking…tick…tick…tick…
I teach high school statistics in the south bay (Chula Vista). My students, just this past week, have questioned me for the first time about housing markets & bubbles. Keep in mind that 15-17 year olds traditionally only care about their ipods and Friday evenings.
You knew the tech stocks would crash when everyone and their grandmother’s hairstylists were talking about the latest IPO. Teenagers and real estate!?????? You gotta be kidding me.
mark it down.
“Normally when you have a situation like we’ve had the last three years, you typically have a major correction. Fortunately, we are not going to have a major correction.”
Because…..(everyone repeat after me)
THIS TIME IS DIFFERENT!
What objective evidence has Alan produced that we won’t have a major correction this time - like the rest of these fools, they have nothing to substantiate that statement.
Umm, ok…. This time is different!
Did it work?
You convinced me - thanks
Do you know where I can get a good Option/ARM?
Nobody talks like that in business these days. “Absolutely delighted” - what a dork. Sorry for being mean, but really, the guy is a dork.
What’s Lereah talking about? This is the guy who just published a book in 2005 titled:
Are You Missing the Real Estate Boom? Why home values and other real estate investments will climb through the end of the decade - And How to Profit From Them
Excerpt from the description:
The long-term fundamentals for housing remain strong into the foreseeable future, claims Lereah. Far from a real estate “bubble,” what we are experiencing today is a phenomenon that takes place only once every other generation: a long-term real estate market expansion.
By my count, the decade still has four more years to it. So naturally, there can be no slowdown, right Mr. Lereah?
He’s “Diversifying”
He wrote a book that is no longer valid…
but if he can get any laggers in the HERD to buy it, it will suppliment his income next year when the real estate market explode(d) in his face.
Oh, I forgot to mention that one site that I saw had roof trusses strewn all over the place all bent up and resting in the dirt. I can’t help but feel sorry for the fools that are using 40 year loans for these homes. The loan will out-live the home. The feel that I got from seeing all this is that people are just scrambling to get thing to the market before it dies like it did in the early 80’s and 90’s.
Trusses in the dirt isn’t a great sign but you don’t know how long they have been there. Formed footings sitting for any length of time will be the big indicator.
YoY, the truth is January sales in SoCal are much worse than expected, even in the current numbers. Last January it was pouring rain to the extent looking for a home would have been difficult. This January it has been balmy and dry (mostly)…perfect home hunting weather.
Forgot about that! Good call Ted. It was 78 degrees for most of the past week, and we haven’t seen any real rain for months. Last year was much, much more wet.
Excellent observation. It has been one of those “perfect weather” winters. Winter 2003/early 2004 was FREEZING. Winter 2004/early 2005 was average.
This year has been gorgeous. In 2003 I was still waiting for a decently sunny day in April.
Retailers are already blaming last week’s blizzards in the North-East while lowering their projections. What odds the Realtors will follow suit if the February numbers suck?
And nice observation, Ted :D.
yep. we had 33 inches of rain last january. not a drop this year.
The psychology is changing fast. Just wait, the builders have already started to dump inventory, pushing down mark-to-market values for everyone who wants to hold on and sell later because it’s *definitely* gonna come back. And the “investors” are starting to sweat. I checked out a 1 BR apt. in Manhattan last night. The owner just bot it as an “investment” and he’s trying to lease it for $2,700 a month. He’s insane! It’s a crappy apartment with a decent view, and definitely not worth what he’s asking. And the broker who shows it to me says, “Don’t worry about paying me a rental commission. I sold him the apartment. I just want to rent it out for him, fast.” Well, good luck. He, the owner, will eat $1,000 a month once he leases it, not to mention the full mortgage, maintenance, and tax payments he’s gotta make until then. That $750,000 1 BR apt. doesn’t sound like such a good investment to me. Negative cash flow from day one, and the only thing that can bail him out is some dope paying up even more to take him out of his position. Just wait, folks, the drama on the upside we saw last summer will be repeated with equal intensity on the downside. It may take a year or two or three, but it will happen. And what if prices just flatline? What then? First, that’ll never happen. Who was it that said just before stocks crashed in 1929 that, “prices have reached what seem like a permanently high plateau”? Irving Fisher or somone. Anyway, even if they *do* plateau, that plateau is gonna kill GDP. 3%+ we’ve enjoyed since ‘02 will turn to 0% growth because housing has been, on balance, the driver of ALL growth (directly via building and improving and indirectly via the home-equity ATM). And that 0% growth is going to totally squeeze borrowers on the margin, you know, the ones with negative amortizing, zero-down ARMs (or whatever). And when that happens, well, call me in a year or two and I’ll be happy to make a bid.
Get Long Vega,
What’s your call on “crappy” NYC condo’s during the bust? Down how far?
Good question! It wouldn’t surprise me when it’s all said and done that you see a 40% to 50% retracement in prices, and that’s conservative. I’m basing that on the fact that the price per square foot dropped from a peak of about $800 in the late ’80s to less than $300 in the mid ’90s. My wife is (doh!) a real estate professional, so I’ve got access to some pretty good data, and the data is mind-blowing. 1 BRs that went for $250,000 in 1999 (1999, the Internet Bubble PEAK!!!) had been going for $750,000 in the summer and fall of last year. AND THEY ARE CRAPPY APARTMENTS. I could go on and on. I mean, would you pay $400,000 *for a studio*? Who pays that for a *studio*? Would you pay $700,000 for a fancy studio? No bedroom, but hey, $700 is a steal because it’s in a new building *way over on YORK AVE and 83rd Street.* Let’s be honest: income growth has gone up on a real basis a little, but studios should not be trading 4 to 5 times more today (or, really, last summer) than they did in 1999. But they are. And you can see that people are not putting a lot of cash down at all. I have a good friend. He just put down ZERO on a $1.3 million 3 BR. You’re thinking, “$750 for a 1 BR… $1.3 for a 3 BR… Hmmm, not bad.” But it’s TERRIBLE. He’s a fancy Wall Street salesperson with a cabin in the woods and a mortgage on that, too, and he put nothing down on his 3 BR. So I can pick my wife up at work and flip through all the data, and what I see is alarming. Nothing down, massive mortgages, and these people work where? On Wall Street if they are lucky (?), if only because those folks get paid a lot more than the doctors and lawyers and ad/media/fashion folk (generally speaking). And don’t kid yourself: these people are spending a huge chunk of the pay on housing, and when the ARM resets and negative am loans start to pinch, life will look different.
My trip to San Diego just reinforced my belief that the explosion of liquidity that caused this bubble was a world wide phenoma. I am currently chilling in Central America and the liquidity flowed through here as well. Now the market is flooded. Many homes are just sitting as the Se Vende signs deteriorate. Condo and residential projects are just freezing . Also, unfortunately, people are loosing there homes due to the resetting of loans. I personally know a few. Yes, loans down here are tied to the states. People talk about Alan Greenspan in Spanish as well, and I have read many articles about the “burbuja” (bubble) in Latin American Journals. These are interesting times. The excesses of this real estate cohort will be remembered and studied for generations around the world.
I saw the RE bubble first hand in Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
A lot of dumb boomers buying coastal places for California prices. The locals resent them and will bleed them dry and send them home packing.
Very interesting observation. Applies to me here in Argentina as well. As soon as the crash of 2001 was over, prices just soared, and have been doing so for the last 4 years. Right now, prices in dollars are back to their peak levels in the go-go 90’s, but average salaries, in dollars, are exactly half of their peak level back then. The price-to-income ratio has doubled from the norm of the previous decade, and housing was expensive in the previous decade!
There is so much funny money flowing into here, you wouldn’t believe it. Spanish companies building like madmen everywhere, it’s absolutely insane. Banks are loaning money at 10% annual rates, and inflation is 11% (though the short term rate is 6%, but rising very fast).
“Prices continue to rise…”
Are these asking prices or sold and closed prices. I’ll bet many or most of them are the latter.
David DiaLereah…
Repeat after me…
“They aren’t making any more buyers…
They aren’t making any more buyers…
They aren’t making any more buyers…”
Michael Brown just got done testifying on the hill about Katrina.
How many months will it be until they call Mr. DiaLereah up there to explain why he was telling people to buy buy buy when the evidence said run run run?
How is his ‘inventory’ purchase going in Las Vegas, I wonder?
(Somewhere, I hear the engine of a small Cessna being groomed for a very long flight, to parts unknown, for an undefined amount of time.)
GOD! WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN US!
WHY WON’T YOU LET GARY WATTS COME DOWN AND SPEAK, TO COMFORT THE MASSES!
Channel 7 evening news in L.A. just did a report on the DataQuick numbers which showed lower home prices “all over SoCal” in January. Yes, they included the disclaimers-du-jour:
1. Price weakness is normal for this time of year
2. There is no RE bubble
3. 2006 appreciation small, but positive (5-6%)
…but they also interviewed an RE agent and a local economist who BOTH said that the peak of the market was July-Aug. The RE agent was very clear that he has seen a significant change from a sellers to a buyers market. The anchor also said that the slowdown was just a matter of “supply and demand”, and that there are more houses available for sale than buyers to buy them. Man what a change from six months ago, when there was “no way” local builders could keep up with the demand for housing.
Most of the people who consume nothing but local media have no idea that RE prices are teetering on the edge of a vertiginous abyss. Even flawed stories like this one should start to make people question the RE-industry hype.
Three cheers for Channel 7!
ABC7 must have been listening to Mr. Rainman18, from our home here on Ben’s Blog.
Rainman18: (running up with microphone in hand)
Comments?
My savings account is smiling at me right now. It’s happy that I didn’t ho it out.
Your savings isn’t happy at all. Your bank has been pimpin it plenty!
I hope it’s not more than 100k, that’s all FDIC insures.
All markets including RE follow similar rules that apply to Bid and Ask.If anyone has ever looked at volume or open interest you can see that you can have wide Bid & Ask if no one is willing to pay the price so it is possible if things get bad to see the poor seller wanting $600,000 and the bidders only willing to buy at $400,000. WOW! Would that scare the HELL out of these unreal investors.
Except the few people who buy because their realtor proclaims that supply is tight and demand is high and that they should buy! buy! buy! before getting priced out of the market.
Funny thing is…
The more the national and local media deny the evidence of a massive bubble…
…the bigger and bigger it grows.
It’s a no lose situation for those of us in the know.
We’ve got time to grow our downpayment, make our credit perfect, and pay off anything we owe.
They- the sheeple- being comforted by statements like “it’s just seasonal”…
Get plowed further and further into ‘have not’ status, with every statement.
Good for us, bad for them.
I make fun a lot, I know.
But I really do want to help people avoid tragedy.
If they don’t want to listen- fine- I’ve done my job, and I can sleep.
The more the media listens to those profitting from the biggest real estate disaster the country has ever seen-
-the more time I have to ready my attack.
It ain’t like I’ve been quiet, ya know?
All the himming and hawwing just buys me time.
It’s a no-lose situation.
After all, we did TRY to tell them- and they didn’t want to hear it.
Soon- we’ll take their properties.
Knight takes King.
Actually, it’s knight takes rook(Castle to the lame).
Help me please
I am hearing “people” telling consumers to use 100% financing because of the deficiency judgement rules in such states as california. They are saying they cannot get a judgement on a purchase money loan so you can walk away from house and just lose your credit. I found this article out there about deficiency judgements:
http://www.tdl.com/~mflaw/articles/article6.html
Can you guys help me out w/ the interpretation?
As I am reading if a loan is made from federal institution or insured though them they can get a judgement. Please help me get the word out and figure this bs out.
It’s true, however:
1. It only applies to a loan to PURCHASE a house, you lose your protection if you refinance.
2. It only applies to a FIRST mortgage. The holder of a second mortgage can still come after you.
3. If you walk away and the bank loses money, they can 1099 you for the deficiency, and then you owe the IRS money.
What does the bank gain by “1099ing you” if you walk away? Does this reduce their tax liability by the amount of the loss? And is the amount a short seller wrote off his loan then considered part of his income?
Leave it to the great State of California to have a complicated law on their books which helps realt-whores and mortgage brokers market homes to unqualified subprime buyers by making them think they will be able to easily get off the hook if they get into trouble, while in fact creating a date of come-uppance with the IRS. (Of course, I doubt many of these hapless fools are that forward looking…)
“The consequences of your past actions will bite you in the back of the neck, just when you think you have reformed.”
Friederich Nietzsche
The article tells you what it wants you to know. You can do a judicial foreclosure which is basically a lawsuit in Court to foreclose on the home. The one action rule means you can privately foreclose (NOD-90 days; Foreclose after 20 days) or opt for the judicial foreclosure. You can act once. If you privately foreclose your one action was just that. You can’t then go after someone for the balance on a 1st position deed. However, in most cases this does not apply to a 2nd Mtg. 2d Mtgs. and HELOCS can be (read: ARE) as dangerous as a credit card tied to your home with a variable interest rate which will soon kill you (and hunt down your children for sport).
However, I’m not a real estate lawyer but a BK lawyer who has seen a home in crisis from time to time (Trust me, now is the time!).
There is a growing body of urban legend myths about financing, refis and BK and refis and deficiency actions, etc. If you have a particular propblem, take it to an attorney to look at. DO NOT ASK YOUR REAL ESTATE AGENT, YOUR ACCOUNTANT, MORTGAGE BROKER OR HAIR STYLIST FOR LEGAL ADVICE!!!!!!!! Attorney consulations are usually FREE!!!!! I have had a (painful, persistant, somewhat embarassing and irritating) rash of clients who followed some criminally stupid advice from their real estate agent, accountant, broker, etc.
I promise to not do the welding on their front gate if they promise to not give legal advice. I’m sharpening the long knives as we speak. . .
It’s funny how everyone is an expert and says how you can’t lose with “Real Estate”.
I live in Northern Nevada which has been one of the fastest growing locations in the country. Tonight I counted 12 for sales signs in my neighborhood (and the number is growing). Seems everyone is trying to get out at the same time. I don’t think you need to be particularly “educated” in the market to know that things are clearly slowing down. I am glad I refinanced last year because frankly, I’m not sure we could have done as well if we’d have waited until this year.
Good for you Amy :-). I’m glad everything worked out.
Everyone trying to sell at once is the equivalent of 10 fat guys playing musical chairs with one itty bitty chair.
The 9 who don’t get the chair lose out and exit through the BK door and end up having to bag groceries for the rest of their lives because they pissed away their retirement and the one who did make the chair lost his / her a**.
Amy–
Did you see the hucksters hawking condos on Plumb Lane a couple weekends ago? The units are apparently east of Virgina St., in that area across from the Peppermill and SE of Park Lane Mall (among the tagged walls and pawnshops I guess…)
“Actually, it’s knight takes rook(Castle to the lame).”
You are correct.
It’s tough though, when you’ve been screaming at the top of your lungs, to all that can hear…
“Please don’t do this! Please don’t buy! Please sell so you might not go into foreclosure! And get divorced! And become a debt slave!”
-for so long, to so many, at the top of your lungs.
I’m not proud to take over from the stupid.
I wish it could have gone another way.
But what else could we do that we haven’t done?
Buy out signs on the freeway?
It’s all about the Great Decline now.
Spring will not save anyone.
The news lags behind. By the time the scope and breadth of this crash is shown on television, it will be far too late.
We did the best we could.
Knight takes Rook.
Rook becomes Renter.
Renter had problems making the Rent.
We screamed, We howled, We did the best we could.
Game Over.
Amen!
We could have twirled signs that said, “Don’t buy overpriced, low quality condos.”
happy renter,
Here ya go….smileys:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Smilies
scroll to the middle of the page.
BayQT~
Thanks BayQT~
“Some may celebrate the pick-up in housing starts as a sign that housing is cooling slowly, ensuring that the vast amounts of wealth consumers have been drawing out from ever-rising equities over the past few years won’t disappear overnight. In fact, all it means is that the inventories of new homes is going to get larger.”
*********************************************************************************************************************
And it is all about inventory! More existing houses offered for sale and more new ones being built. Meanwhile sales are down sharply.
Supply and demand is one tough economic law. Prices can’t avoid a steep drop soon.
Thanks for your comments on deficiency judgements. Another loophole I guess.