Luxury ‘Souffle Adjusting’ In Long Beach
The Press Telegram has this report on Long Beach. “One million dollars for a home in Long Beach nowadays doesn’t sound far-fetched following a five-year market expansion with repeated double-digit percentage increases in housing prices. In fact, the run-up in home prices has forced a change in the definition of what constitutes a luxury home. The index tracks homes whose value in 1995 were $1 million.”
“But as the once red-hot housing market continues to cool the slowdown is affecting all homes, including luxury homes. (Banker) Katherine August-deWilde said luxury home prices may experience some price decreases in the year ahead, but she sees no signs of an inversion.”
“‘I would call it more of an adjustment,’ she said, adding that any deflation in the luxury market is better described as ‘a souffle as opposed to a bubble bursting.’”
“More and more sellers of luxury homes are already cutting prices, said Keller Williams Realty agent Richard Daskam, who has moved several million-dollar listings in the past few years. More and more sellers of luxury homes are already cutting prices, said agent Richard Daskam, who has moved several million-dollar listings in the past few years.”
“He recently took over a four-bedroom, three-bathroom listing in Signal Hill that was on the market for six months with no offers. He knocked $100,000 off the $1.5 million asking price and it sold in 45 days.”
“‘The slow down in the high-end million-dollar homes is definitely due to a slowdown in the middle-of-the-road median homes, because these are the buyers who have been moving up to these homes,’ he said. ‘What I’m getting from my buyers who are in the million-dollar range, is ‘If I have to come down on my home, then I expect the seller to come down in price also.’ It’s not necessarily dollar for dollar, but they are expecting some adjustments.’”
“Neighborhoods that will likely see home prices fall below the $1 million mark first are those areas where home prices are not traditionally high, Daskam said.”
be careful in long beach. drive 3 or 4 blocks in any direction and you can be in a gang ghetto.
Long Beach is scary. I do some work for an office off Atlantic. Lots of strange people there. But then Santa Ana is scary too.
Signal Hill is a gang infested dump. I lived in Long Beach 20 years ago, and Signal Hill was best known as a place to go…around. One million plus dollar homes there is truly the consequence of psychosis.
That’s why I’ve got a ‘right to carry’ permit and several small ‘dirty harry’s’ (38 spec) loaded with wad cutters. When I visit my income property I make sure that the hood knows I’m packing. Other than that no problems in Signal Hill. Like a breath of fresh air.
Absolutely! I’ve been there several times myself. Many of those times, though, I was on my way cruising. But I have visited folks who lived in the area. A luxury area, it ain’t.
“‘I would call it more of an adjustment,’ she said, adding that any deflation in the luxury market is better described as ‘a souffle as opposed to a bubble bursting.’”
And they are REALLY killing me with this souffle, soft landing, air seeping out, BS. What was it that AG called it? Damn, I forgot already…but it was stupid, too. In Dr. Phil’s words, “You can’t fix what you don’t acknowledge.” (paraphrasing here)
BayQT~
You’re right! What’s with the thesaurus cooking words? Souffle???? Next we’ll be hearing “whipped cream”, “fold gently”, and “delicately pat with butter”….
Soufle is Appropriate if your cooking data.
You are TOO much, Catherine. That was great!
BayQT~
VERY FUNNY!
Another prediction:
Maybe later this year these folks should start looking in foreign word dictionaries…
for example, “F’d” in French- may sound much more palatable as a meltdown description.
How about fudge? Which is what the current data is comprised of.
I guess that aviation (soft landing) got old, so now it’s cuisine (souffle). Yummy, I’m getting hungry already. Bring on the lowballs when that souffle falls!
I don’t know if she has ever tried to cook a souffle but if you don’t get it EXACTLY right you pretty much wind up w/a crepe. A fallen souffle is a disaster so I actually like this one.
AG Bubble = froth
Im sure Snoop Dogg could buy your LBC house for a million dollars. F-hizzle on my shizzle!
ROFL!!!! I’m dying over here!! Fo’ shizzle!
BayQT~
well, snoop is actually kickin’ it in Diamond Bar’s “The Country.” Looks like the schools and the ‘hood in the LBC just aren’t up to standard for snoop jrs.
from Snoops’ gin & juice
With so much drama in the L-B-C
It’s kinda hard being Snoop D-O-double-G
But I, somehow, some way
I see that inventory rise like every single day
May I, kick a little something for flippers (yeah)
and, make a few flips as (yeah!) I drive, through
The condo-filled streets and construction’s still goin
cause the builders ain’t done
I got bankers in the living room with the realt-Whores
and, they ain’t leavin til six in the mornin (six in the mornin)
So what you wanna do, sheeeit
I got a pocket full of I/O loan docs for you to sign now
So turn off the lights and close the doors
But (but what) we don’t read them conditions, no!
So we gonna smoke a ounce to this
buy that condo before it becomes someone else’s
[Chorus: repeat 2X]
Rollin down the street, smokin indo, sippin on gin and juice
Laid back (with my mind on my money and my money on my mind)
[Verse Two:]
Now, that, I got me some Seagram’s gin
Everybody got they cups, but they ain’t chipped in
Now this types of sheet, happens all the time
We ain’t got no cash because the house value’s down
Everything is fine when you listenin to the mortgage guy
He had the deal that sounded very captivating to he
who listened, to the words that he speaked
And now forclosure has arrived cause the market has now peaked
and get to mackin this realt-Whore named Sadie (Sadie?)
She used to be the fanciest lady (Oh, that bitch)
Eighty degrees, when I tell that bitch please
Lower your prices otherwise I won’t let you lick these
At ease, as I reach the point where I acknowledge the bad deal
beeeitch, I’m just
[Chorus: repeat 2X]
Rollin down the street, smokin indo, sippin on gin and juice
Laid back (with my mind on my money and my money on my mind)
“beginning to cool” “slowdown” “an adjustment” “a souffle as opposed to a bubble bursting”…
I hope potential first-time buyers and “move-up” buyers in overheated markets can see through the sugar-coated descriptions of what’s just beginning to happen, not to mention the novice RE investors that are holding multiple residential properties.
The metaphor bubble is about to collapse like week-old sponge cake.
Yeech!! That sounds nasty just thinking about it.
BayQT~
I was going to go with “collapse like an aging realtor with a termite-ladden cane”
And any good chef knows that occasionally Souffles fall, reducing their volume by 50%. Aren’t semantics fun when Realtors try using them ?
And even a mediocre chef know you can’t make a souffle rise twice :).
How about goose is cooked?
Oh my God. What an idiot I’ve been…
I could have gotten $100,000 off a $1,000,000 property in Long Beach.
Guess I didn’t move quickly enough on that one.
That’s only $900,000 for a souffle. What a deal. The driveway is made out of caviar.
That is so gross! But that is why the analogy works. When a souffle collapses something that probably took a lot of materials and work and represented the expectation of a tasty treat becomes instead a big mess that is not much good for anyone.
Are you saying that a ten percent drop in realestate nation wide would would be the equivalent of a complete stock market colapse.
Where did you get this from?
I have read that a 10% drop in RE = the total value of all listed stocks. So yes it would be worse than a stock market meltdown because it would EFFECT MORE PEOPLE. Not everybody wishes to be in stocks .
I fI can find the site that posted the economic data (the Economist I think) I will forward to Ben.
i was listening to the money show on KNX this morning. the NAR is shaping a spin.
phoenix will shed blood
s florida will shed blood
vegas will shed blood.
the rest of us are ok. as if these 3 areas will atone for the sins of many.
or this could be cereal just testing a new propaganda theory on a boring monday at work when i’d rather be at home celebrating our presidents.
Hey Cereal,
Glad to hear someone is enjoying their day at work
“He recently took over a four-bedroom, three-bathroom listing in Signal Hill that was on the market for six months with no offers. He knocked $100,000 off the $1.5 million asking price and it sold in 45 days.”
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See! It works.
Page G13 of the Fresno Bee Feb 19, 2006 - Gigantic Banner - ‘HOUSING BUBBLE COULD BURST INTO FORECLOSURE’. Take that NAR and CAR shills.
Someone has just caught a falling knife for $1.4 million.