The Housing Bubble Blog

Please post off-topic ideas, links and Craigslist finds here.

The Tribune reports from California. "With San Luis Obispo County home sales for September plunging to their lowest level in 18 years and the median price dipping below $500,000 last month, economists and local real estate experts say it may be several years until the housing market begins to gain...

Readers suggested a topic around the recent changes in the secondary mortgage market. "Wall Street and investors. They are in control of this whole mess and usually have the final say if a loan can be modified or not. Right now, investors refuse to modify these loans because they stand to lose more...

The Post & Courier reports from South Carolina. "Shandon Fowler is prepared to rent while itching to get into a house of his own. The New Jersey resident plans to move soon to Charleston with his wife. But even though the couple can afford to buy a house now, they plan to rent as they learn the...

What do you see in your local housing market this weekend? Builder price cuts? "'The cut is deeper, and they're bleeding more heavily than ever before,' said Jill Flink, a broker in Raleigh who has sold homes in the Triangle for 21 years. Last weekend, Pulte advertised discounts of as much as...

Please post off-topic ideas, links and Craigslist finds here.

The Sacramento Bee reports from California. "Beth Flure thought last week was overwhelming when some East Coast banks sent her 11 new foreclosed houses to sell. Tuesday a Denver mortgage servicer handed her 42 houses to unload. Then came four more. 'That's just astronomical,' said Flure, a...

Readers responed to a question I put out, using one poster's famous line, "'Who opened the gates to Dumbass Ranch?' I am working on the housing bubble problem and the solution (making sure it never happens again). IMO, the source of the problem must be clearly identified, which is why I hope you...

The New York realtors report on September sales. "Sales of existing single-family homes in New York state in September dropped to pre-boom levels for the month, posting a more than 20 percent decrease in sales compared to the same time last year, according to preliminary single-family sales data...

Please post off-topic ideas, links and Craigslist finds here.

It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Residential real estate prices in Juneau have dropped 5.6% since last October. The Southeast Alaska MLS also shows more homes in Alaska's capital city are on the market, and they are taking almost a month longer to sell." "Wolverton Homes likes to...

The San Francisco Chronicle reports from California. "More than $23.6 billion in California housing wealth will evaporate if real estate prices continue to decline and foreclosures on subprime home loans soar, according to a new congressional report. But some economists, including Jon Haveman, a...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Wall Street Journal, "Countrywide Financial Corp. posted its first quarterly loss in 25 years in the third quarter on $2.27 billion in mortgage losses and write-downs and soaring credit-loss reserves. The write-downs entailed an $830.9...

The Sun Sentinel reports from Florida. "When Jennifer Wigand put down a deposit in 2005 for a condominium, she hoped to quickly sell it and use the profits to help pay her law school loans. Then the housing market plunged. Wigand said she wasn't worried because the developer had promised she could...

Please post off-topic ideas, links and Craigslist finds here.

And send your housing bubble pics to: photos@gmail.com

The San Francisco Chronicle reports from California. "Sales of existing homes in the Bay Area and California plummeted in September and prices sank, a state real estate trade group reported Wednesday. In the Bay Area, sales of existing, stand-alone homes plunged 45.6 percent between September 2006...

A report from the Arizona Republic. "A family of four would fit easily into the 2,800 square-foot house near Chandler's Sanborn Elementary School, but the owner and Phoenix real estate investor Jessie Ogle hasn't received any acceptable offers on the $425,000 house. Despite its appeal, leasing the...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Reuters, "Sales of new single-family U.S. homes were off 23.3 percent from a year ago. Across the regions, sales were mostly down although the West did see a 37.7 increase. In the Midwest, sales were off 19.5 percent and down 6.6 percent in...

TC Palm reports on Florida. "Existing home sales and prices in September continued to fall in Indian River County, a report from the Realtors Association of Indian River County said Wednesday. In the county, 94 existing single-family homes sold in September, down from 141 units the year before, the...