[y66]

Good story: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/us/26bal...?pagewanted=all

The Roy Millers of the world blow me away.

[PassedOut]

y66, on Mar 26 2008, 07:48 AM, said:

Good story: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/us/26bal...?pagewanted=all

The Roy Millers of the world blow me away.

Yes, there are still good people in the world.

[mike777]

Yes, I just found out in the past 6 months or so 2 houses out of 12 on my block were sold in foreclosure. Two others are up for regular sale. Another house on a block close by but same development has a huge auction april 17 th sign in front of it. These are all big homes/lots...one acre or more.....

With all of this said the local papers says home prices are up in our county and asking prices for the 2 houses up for regular sale are at huge profits....
The two homes sold in foreclosure on my block were bought by builders who are in the process of remodelling the homes and planning to try and sell them at a huge a profit...

[Al_U_Card]

"Greed is good." Gordon Gecko

The "gecko" showed me the right insurance to buy.

David Icke is convinced that reptilian ET's run the power elite.

Steven Colbert's financial advisor "Gornash" looks somewhat out of this world.

Maybe we could find another epitome?

[Winstonm]

Quote

With all of this said the local papers says home prices are up in our county

Probably just quoting from NAR - a source about as reliable as Tass.

[mike777]

Winstonm, on Mar 26 2008, 04:35 PM, said:

Quote

With all of this said the local papers says home prices are up in our county

Probably just quoting from NAR - a source about as reliable as Tass.

Source was STandard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index of 20 cities.
Las vegas:-19.3
Miami:-19.3
my town was up 1.8% on a year to year basis.


btw I mentioned 2 houses on my block are up for regular sale. Well....one of those two was bought on spec and was being remodelled.....the speculator ended up giving up the house to the builder and so now 3 builders have houses being remodelled up for sale on my block last 6-9 months...

[mycroft]

Our condo complex was converted a year ago. Many people bought to rent, many more bought to renovate and flip. 8 months ago, there were 6 "for sale" signs on the lawn (of 48 units). Now, there are 4...

And this is in Calgary, where the bubble hasn't burst yet. It's holding, and there's no longer massive need to buy like there was. But people who bought at X, put in $30K of renos, and are trying to sell for X+80K are in trouble.

[Winstonm]

Home prices are much "stickier" than many other assets. Many simply won't or can't take the loss of $50K on a house. This is one reason it will take so long to work through the housing problem - without dramatic price cuts, incomes will have to rise as well as house prices drop before a significant dent in the inventory will be made. It will be a multi-year recovery.

[mike777]

Winstonm, on Mar 27 2008, 05:09 PM, said:

Home prices are much "stickier" than many other assets.  Many simply won't of can't take the loss of $50K on a house.  This is one reason it will take so long to work through the housing problem - without dramatic price cuts, incomes will have to rise as well as house prices drop before a significant dent in the inventory will be made.  It will be a multi-year recovery.

Add in the huge pressure large Banks such as BOfA/Countrywide have to not foreclose and move these properties. Every community group in the country is putting pressure on these banks. Just look at what those running for President want to do if elected.

I guess this is good news for current owners but horrible news for people with lower incomes who are looking for a bargain and would love to own a home but at a lower price/monthly mortgage. No one seems to care much about them.

btw I just looked into doing a refi with all these rate cuts by the fed..I am told mortgage rates are actually up.

[Winstonm]

Quote

btw I just looked into doing a refi with all these rate cuts by the fed..I am told mortgage rates are actually up.

Not only that but banks are restricting credit with tougher standards, and many are downsizing previous HELOC amounts (Citigroup, for one).

[jtfanclub]

There's a whole section of the city I live in where most of the houses are either for sale or in foreclosure. It's crazy...houses that were going for $100K three years ago are now going for $70K. Everybody who bought a home in the area in the last five years is upside down, and a good many of them are walking away.

One poor schmo got a bargain two years ago, getting a house at $15,000 less than similar houses were listing at due to condition. He put in a new roof, a new deck, and other cool stuff. Now he's going to get his original purchase price back, after letting it sit on the market for half a year. All that money that he put into the house...gone.

It's a crazy world. Hard to see how the banks made money off of this.