Clowns to the right of me and clowns to the left of me ...What should I do?
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December 1, 2007
Closed, Archived Post for All Realtors and Mortgage Brokers Suck, December 2007
Clowns to the right of me and clowns to the left of me ...What should I do?
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An investor advises don't use Home America Property Management......
ReplyDeleteI have also had a horrible experience using them for my investment properties. I would have made more money if it was vacant. It's due to all the fee's they charge the investor. If you are also having problems let me know. I'm starting to gather names for us to share stories and discuss our next steps.
Be aware of Discount Real Estate Firms!
ReplyDeleteEspecially those who offer 50% back at clsoing or a free gift like a trip or big screeen TV, etc.
These idiots are the lowest f the low.
In fact just avoid all Realtors, then you will be wise as an owl.
Feng Shui Services by AZ Licensed Realtor
ReplyDeleteListing Agents:
I have staged current and expired listing properties using classical Feng Shui methods, ALL have sold within the next 30-days.
From another x-Realtor
ReplyDeleteYou guys make my day!
None of you have a clue!
But, that's ok. And I can predict what is going to happen, I could be wrong, but history proves I'm right.
Take 3 examples, California, Nevada, and Colorado. All 3 states had the exact same scenerio and all 3 states had the same outcome. Arizona is next on the list.
If the market rises to fast, it will come back down, no doubt about it.
Especially when the market rises up to the point where it pushes out a huge segment of homebuyers, the first time homebuyer.
Just FYI, because we had such a nice appreciation rate, and we have the loan fraud going on, Maricopa County has one of the HIGHEST FORECLOSRE rates in the U.S.!
Hey Mr. x-Realtor, let me introduce myself
ReplyDeleteI was in the real estate industry while you were still failing high school, little boy. Your whimpy generalities and your whining about how tough the market is is EXACTLY why most agents (like you) should be avoided.
Even the Arizona Republic has better information than your meandering generalities. I read your simple posts. Big fucking deal. I can get the same info from Yahoo Real Estate.
Now, go get your MLS shinebox little man and get your ass back to work so you don't have to embarrass your family with another wasted day on the internet, and no money for your future. You should find another line of work, you don't have the work ethic to cut it in real estate. You must think people hang on to every word of your sorry ass posts, HA! You're wrong (again).
Deal near on mortgage defaults
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON DC - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Monday he is confident there will soon be an agreement to help thousands of homeowners avoid mortgage defaults by temporarily freezing their interest rates.
Paulson told a national housing conference that this effort involved a "pragmatic response" to current realities as the economy goes through the worst housing slump in more than two decades. The number of homeowners struggling to meet higher payments because their initial introductory rates are resetting is currently soaring.
Paulson and other top Treasury officials have been holding talks with major players in the mortgage industry over the past several weeks to hammer out an agreement that would freeze the lower introductory rates to keep them from resetting to higher levels for a period of years.
"We are working aggressively and quickly, utilizing available tools and creating new ones, to help financially responsible but struggling homeowners," Paulson said in a speech to a national housing conference sponsored by the Office of Thrift Supervision.
One of the outstanding issues is how long the freeze will last. Some government regulators are pushing for five to seven years but investors, who will see lower payments on the loans, are arguing for a shorter period of one to two years.
An estimated 2 million subprime mortgages, loans offered to borrowers with spotty credit histories, are scheduled to reset to much higher levels by the end of 2008. Those resets will push the payment on a typical mortgage up by $350 per month, taking it from $1,200 currently to $1,550.
Paulson said he believed the disagreements can be resolved without delay. Some expect the administration to unveil the completed deal later this week, but Paulson was not as specific in his remarks, saying only, "I am confident they will finalize these standards soon."
re, Deal near on mortgage defaults
ReplyDeleteDont hold your breath expecting the government to bail anyone out.
If they do freeze interest rates it will be on loans NOT all ready in foreclosure.
Also, I am damn sure to get this agreement with Lenders, the consumer will have to pay this at the back end, in other words tact the cost onto the mortgage amount or some other way the borrower gets screwed.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that 61% of all Sub Prime Mortgages issued in 2006 / 2007 the borrower that had Good Credit.
ReplyDeleteThat's right, Good Credit...so what's the problem?
Simple - Mortgage Lenders in bed with Realtors allowed people to buy more than they could afford.
In other words the home purchase was way out of their affordable income bracket, thus comes along these idiots with all these damn creative mortgage options.
This is spanning not only the middle class but the wealthy as well.
Proof that you should NOT live out of your income bracket.
And, further proof never trust a Realtor or Mortgage Broker !!!!!!!!
More Housing Woes for Phoenix / Maricopa County:
ReplyDeleteThe news has just released the latest stats on the Phoenix Arizona Housing Market -
There are over 60,000 homes for sale.
15% are vacant
about 10% of those have been vandalized or someone is actually living in them Rent Free.
This is now a problem nationwide for the Police who are urging neighbors to report anyone entering or leaving an empty home or signs that someone may be occupying the home.
I hate them dirty slime bucket Realtors and Lying Ass Mortgage Brokers.
lazy neighbors, worthless HOA's, and over burden cops ...........
re, Housing woes in Phoenix.....
ReplyDeleteI saw that report on TV, it wasn't 15% vacant it was 15,000 homes.
THIS will put an end to all Realtors.
ReplyDeleteHELP, A REALTOR JUST KILLED MY POOR INNOCENT CAT !
the horror.
the horror.
And.. now what ?
I fully expect every single realtor within a 50 mile radius ...to be dead in about 1 hour/
Realtors-Part 1001
ReplyDeleteI know most, if not all, realtors are the scum of the earth (also on the list-mortgage brokers, sales people, customer "care" folks, appraisers, insurance idiots, bankers, etc), however, I never figured my own relative would screw me out of money.
Here's the short version of the story:
This relative of mine knew I was relocating here and instructed me to contact her ASAP. So she drives me around for a day and I decide on a NEW home-Potential co-broke=4%..
House closes and seeing that she performed two to three hours of work, I figured I would see at least half of that 4%.. Ohhhh, fuck no! I got a thank you and she walked away with over $10,000. She did no paperwork, no nothing.
If I was to turn back time, we would have negotiated some sort of division of that co-broke. There's no reason for a buyer's realtor to profit so much from a purchase of a NEW home.
Does scam come to mind......????????
Yo' Dude
ReplyDeleteZillow is for pansies. It's NOWHERE NEAR accurate. Why would you go to a marketing site like Zillow when you can use MLS? My way uses THE MOST RECENT SALES. Zillow just wants your email and info to sell to realtors. Only FOOLS would enter their info on Zillow.
Realtor Tip Of The Day -
ReplyDeleteIn my last real estate deal where I was the buyer, I had to explain to the agent what it mean to NEGOTIATE. I wanted to put 20% down but she told me to lie on my offer and say that I only wanted to put 5% down so that the seller would think that I was too poor and not be so hard on the selling price. She said that we would change the 5% to a 20% right before escrow closed when it was too late for the seller to do anything about it. I told her that I thought it was dishonest and was not comfortable in doing it. She then asked me how I expected her to get a decent price on the property if she didn't do this. I told her that I expected her to use HER NEGOTIATION SKILLS since that was why I hired her. She responded that this was her method of negotiation. WTF ????
This agent has 10 years of experience and works for a nationally known real estate agency.
I guess what she was saying is that it is standard practice for real estate agents to lie.
Homes Sales in 2007:
ReplyDeleteHome sales for January sold for an average of 3% less.
Home Sales in October sold for an average of 35% less.
That does NOT include seller contributions!
Sellers are contributing up to 3% of buyers closing costs. T
hat artificially inflates the price by the amount the seller contributes.
Those are numbers you won't see.
Just more info fer ya.
How'd ya like them there apples?
LOL.
Mass Confusion.
ReplyDeleteOkay, in about six months I will be ready to buy a house. With all the SHIT mortgage people are telling me and all the shit realtor's are posting and what the paper is saying is confusing the HELL OUT OF ME. I am getting ten different views on the Phoenix Arizona market.
Does anyone know what they are talking about?
My one friend (Mort. Broker) Says "Jump in now, its going to take off again: then I read on CL (Which I know is to be taken with a grain of salt) that it is going to flop a little more. Then I see prices in the places I want to buy drop 20K or more, but that is it.
A wise realtor who keeps contacting me gives me advice (I don't have a crystal ball, it looks like it is getting better) but the numbers he cites have no backing source.
I guess I will be looking for FSBO houses. After realtors manipulated and cajoled the last three years, I trust them about as much as I trust Michael Jackson with my young nephews.
Caveat Emptor
Realtors are slime.
ReplyDeleteNever use a real estate agent they are like used car salkesmen compulsive liars.
Sell it yourself, do a FSBO
That means without any REALTOR, you don't need them.
Final Answer:
FSBOs Rule
Realtors are Slime
Wall St firms subpoenaed by NY prosecutors
ReplyDeleteNEW YORK NY - New York state prosecutors have sent subpoenas to Wall Street firms seeking information related to the packaging and selling of debt tied to high-risk mortgages, a person familiar with the matter said.
The subpoenas, sent by the office of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, requested information from a host of Wall Street firms, including Merrill Lynch & Co, Bear Stearns and Deutsche Bank AG, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources.
Spokesmen for Cuomo, Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch declined to comment. A spokesman for Bear Stearns was not immediately available for comment.
The investigation is examining how adequately investment banks reviewed the quality of mortgages before packaging them into products that were then sold to investors, the sources told the Journal. The subpoenas also requested information about how the debt was pooled into securities, including the banks' relationship with credit-rating firms, they said.
The probe appears to be examining the relationships between mortgage companies, third-party due-diligence firms, securities firms, and credit-rating firms as they relate to the role securities firms played in the subprime mortgage crisis, the Journal said.
Cuomo last month said he had subpoenaed investment banks related to his continuing probe into U.S. mortgage loans. At the time, he said he had concerns about mortgage loans that Washington Mutual sold to the banks, which he declined to name.
At Least The States Are Waking Up To These Mortgage Scams
Mortgage Rate freeze reached:
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON DC - Hundreds of thousands of strapped homeowners could get some relief from a plan negotiated by the Bush administration to freeze interest rates on subprime mortgages that are scheduled to rise in the coming months.
"There is no perfect solution," President Bush said Thursday as he announced an agreement hammered out with the mortgage industry. "The homeowners deserve our help. The steps I've outlined today are a sensible response to a serious challenge."
Bush has been accused of moving too slowly to address a crisis that has spread to the broader financial market. But he also was careful not to sound as if he were imposing a government solution and violating his free-market principles. He billed his plan as a voluntary, private-sector arrangement that involves no government money.
"We should not bail out lenders, real estate speculators or those made the reckless decision to buy a home they knew they could never afford," Bush said after meeting with industry leaders at the White House. "But there are some responsible homeowners who could avoid foreclosure with some assistance."
Bush said 1.2 million people could be eligible for help. But only a fraction will be subject to the rate freeze. Others would get assistance in refinancing with their lenders and moving into loans secured by the Federal Housing Administration, Bush said.
Also, the aid will only come to those who ask for it, he said. Thousands of borrowers who are falling behind on their payments have been sent letters about the options, and Bush also urged people to call a new hot line: 1-888-995-HOPE.
The announcement followed the news earlier Thursday that home foreclosures surged to an all-time high in the July-September period. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that the percentage of all mortgages that started the foreclosure process in the third quarter jumped to a record 0.78 percent, surpassing the previous record of 0.65 percent of all mortgages in the second quarter.
The administration's effort is aimed at stemming a further tidal wave of foreclosures in coming years as 2 million subprime mortgages — loans provided to borrowers with spotty credit histories — reset from their introductory rates of around 7 percent to 8 percent to levels as high as 11 percent, adding hundreds of dollars to the typical monthly payment.
A recent surge in mortgage defaults, part of the worst housing slump in more than two decades, has piled up billions of dollars in losses for big banks, hedge funds and other investors while roiling financial markets worldwide. Some economists think the housing bust may become severe enough to push the country into recession.
Bush originally gave the wrong number for the hot line; the White House later corrected him.
The president mentioned other steps to prevent foreclosures. The FHA has greater flexibility to offer refinancing to homeowners with good credit histories. It is expected that this eventually will help 300,000 families, officials said.
The Federal Reserve is announcing stronger lending standards this month, while the Housing and Urban Development Department and federal banking regulators are acting to improve disclosure requirements, he said.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the streamlined procedures for supporting efforts to refinance mortgages and freeze rates were a "welcome step in helping Americans protect their homes and communities from the consequences of unnecessary foreclosures."
The highest-profile part of the plan would freeze introductory "teaser" rates on certain subprime mortgages, preventing rates from rising for five years.
This offer would apply only to people living in their homes and who have not missed any payments at the lower rate. It also only would apply to loans taken out between 2005 and this past July 30 and scheduled to rise to higher rates in 2008 and 2009.
The hope is that the five-year freeze will buy time for the housing sales and prices to start rising again. Such a rebound would enable homeowners to refinance their current adjustable rate mortgages into fixed-rate loans with more affordable monthly payments.
But even Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who led the negotiations with the mortgage industry, acknowledged the effort is "not a silver bullet."
"We face a difficult problem," he said.
The big sticking point in the negotiations was getting investors who had purchased the mortgages after they were bundled into securities to agree to accept lower interest payments. Critics have said even with a deal, there are likely to be lawsuits. But officials representing major players in the mortgage industry said they believed the plan would withstand any legal challenges and would help at-risk homeowners avoid defaulting on their mortgages.
But George Miller, executive director of the American Securitization Forum, which represents companies that package mortgages into mortgage-backed securities, told reporters he expected the industry would face suits from investors unhappy that the original terms of the mortgages have been modified.
The president also did not miss the chance to lash out at the Democratic-controlled Congress.
Bush blamed lawmakers for not sending him legislation that he said would show they "are serious about responding to the challenges in the housing market." One measure would give the FHA more flexibility; a second would change the tax laws temporarily to help people who have a portion of their mortgage forgiven by banks.
"The Congress has not sent me a single bill to help homeowners," Bush said.
Merry X-Mas to all with sub prime loans. LOSERS!!!!
ReplyDeleteI am pissed and I want to know how everyone else feels.
Where to start, Banks offering sub-prime loans to get people into homes for affordable payments and then re-adjust the rates to where they can't afford them any longer. The banks knew of foreclosure risks associated with these loans, so why did they offer them to begin with.
1) because they make alot of money when you get into a house and even more when the rate go up.
2) because the government doesn't care as long as the banks are returning the money at the federal rate.
3) because everyone who took one of these loans is a SUCKER! Period.
What pisses me off is that the loans were made, rates increased, people could not afford the payments any longer and homes all over the country are being forclosed because the banks suckered these people.
Now the banks are crying for help from daddy Bush. He is working with lenders to FREEZE sub-prime rates so individuals don't loose there homes, the banks don't go bankrupt, wall street won't tumble and the government gets re-paid.
So these people are getting the great Christmas gift of further sub-prime rates, while the rest of us Americans all sit back on our 15, 20 and 30 year loans at higher rates.
Wheres my f*ing X-mas gift Bush???
re- sub prime rate.
ReplyDeleteMost of this huff is foreign investment and already euromarkets have boosted 45 billion to cover the shit and usa similar 40 billion or so far.
No sorry You lose. half the crap is under water and half the crap isn't worth buying!
Life is tough and then you die.
RE: let the lenders burn! sub prime rate.
ReplyDeleteMost of this huff is foreign investment and already euromarkets have boosted
45 billion to cover the shit and usa similar 40 billion or so far.
Huff? Paper or plastic? What're you using? Rubber cement? NO2? Sterno?
No sorry You lose. half the crap is under water and half the crap isn't
worth buying! let the lenders burn! sub prime rate.
How's it going to burn if it's under water? What are you talking about? This isn't Spongebob Squarepants...
Life is tough and then you die.
How articulate...
re: re: subprime mess
ReplyDelete> Who do you think people send their mortgage payments to every month?
Your point being?
Using your "logic," Walmart keeps the taxes they collect and pass along
to the government.
Your understanding of economics is charmingly naive :)
> Exactly how much profit does the bank make at the time of the closing
> relative to the life of the loan?
Like other companies, banks are in *business* to make as much as they can.
Anyone receiving a mortgage has the total cost *CLEARLY* explained to them
and a copy of the actual costs.
No-one held a gun to the sub-prime folks and forced them to sign a note.
> Say someone actually made their mortgage
> payments for 30 years, where do the principal and interest payments go?
Where are they *SENT* or where do they end up? Big difference... which you
obviously fail to understand.
Mortgage loans are bundled and sold to investors (e.g., pension funds, your
grandma's annuity), so when you talk about "freezing" interest, you're really
talking about robbing pension funds etc. for some slack-ass who should never
have had a loan.
What the Mortgage Bailout Means for You:
ReplyDeleteOn December. 6, 2007 Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, with the support of President George W. Bush, unveiled a plan to aid certain homeowners who face the prospect of higher mortgage rates in the next few years. Paulson worked with banks and other mortgage companies to develop the initiative, and thanked them for their involvement. "We have worked through an evolving process to help minimize the impact of the housing downturn on homeowners, neighborhoods and the U.S. economy," he said. While the plan is ambitious and is designed to bring stability to the shaken economy, it will affect only a narrow slice of homeowners in the U.S. "This is not a silver bullet," said Paulson. Here are some answers to questions you may have.
Can you get your mortgage payments lowered because of the bailout?
It depends. If you've got an adjustable-rate mortgage, you may qualify under certain conditions. If you've got a standard mortgage with a fixed interest rate, you're not affected.
Which adjustable-rate mortgage holders are affected?
Only a small group. To qualify, you need to have received your loan sometime between Jan. 1, 2005 and July 31, 2007, and you need to be facing a reset of your interest rate sometime between Jan. 1, 2008 and July 31, 2010. If you're within this range, you may be eligible to have your interest rate frozen, so you can keep your current, lower rate for five years.
Who qualifies within that range?
The bailout is really designed for homeowners who could run into trouble if their mortgage payments are raised sharply and face the prospect of losing their homes. If you're well enough off that you can afford the higher mortgage payments after a reset, you won't qualify. And if you're in bad enough shape that you can't handle the current low interest rate, you won't qualify. For example, if you've already fallen behind on your mortgage payments, you're not eligible for the rate freeze.
Do you need to live in your home to qualify?
Yes. The plan excludes people who don't live in the homes for which they have mortgages so that speculators can't benefit.
Why is there going to be a bailout?
Bush, Paulson, and the Administration are concerned about the fallout from the housing slump. If many people fall behind on their mortgages and have to give up their houses, there will be a series of negative repercussions. First, tens of thousands of Americans could be forced to leave their homes. They would lose whatever equity they had. Consumer spending more broadly would likely slow, hurting the economy overall. In addition, home prices could fall even more quickly than they are now. That could hurt consumer confidence well beyond those people directly affected.
Is the bailout going to be enough?
It depends on your definition of enough. The deal will add some stability to the housing market, but it won't stop all the problems in the troubled sector. The same day Bush unveiled his plan, the Mortgage Bankers Assn. said that foreclosures had reached a record high in the third quarter. The share of mortgages that have entered foreclosure hit 0.78% in the quarter, up from the previous high of 0.65% set in the previous quarter. At the same time, delinquencies for all mortgages rose to 5.59%, from 5.12%, in the second quarter. None of the people who are delinquent or facing foreclosure will be helped by the plan.
The deal almost certainly won't stop the decline in housing prices. Investors are betting that there will be double-digit declines in home prices in nine of 10 major markets over the next year. The only exception is Chicago, and there the estimate is for a 5.6% drop in home prices.
So why not go further?
Some Democrats are criticizing the Bush Administration on that exact point. Senator Hillary Clinton (D.-N.Y.), among others, is arguing for a more ambitious approach, including at least a seven-year freeze on interest rates.
Who stands in the way of such an effort?
Investors in mortgages and mortgage-backed securities. If homeowners are going to pay less on their mortgages than originally planned, then somebody is going to lose money. These aren't just fat cats on Wall Street—although many such firms have invested in these securities—they're also pension funds for teachers, firemen, and police, as well as mutual funds whose clients include all sorts of individual investors. They probably even include homeowners who are facing the prospect of higher payments on their adjustable-rate mortgages.
Skilled Labor
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to shed some light on what exactly drives the economy.
No... its not the mall employees.
No... its not city, state and gov. officials.
No... its not the food & drug industry.
YES.. It is however the construction industry as a whole.(commercial & residential) which drives the economy.. Period end of story. any questions ???
But, REALTORS take a perfectly good thing and screw it all up
Link from Las Vegas CL R&R.....I couldn't agree more, I have never had a good experience with either a realtor or a mortgage broker.
ReplyDeletere, Las Vegas Real Estate - the prices here suck but are finally leveling off to reality no thanks to any stupid useless ass Realtor.
ReplyDeleteBetween the Realtors and the Mortgage Idiots they have screwed up the Las Vegas Real Estate market for many years to come.
I support killing them all off.
The only true way to sell is a FSBO.
And, you sure don't need any damn Realtor to find a house in this depressed foreclosure housing market, you can't walk down the street without tripping over a 4 Sale Sign.
re, re, re - thanks for the LINK to this great Blog on the Vegas CL R n R Board.
ReplyDeleteMy dream home got foreclosed through lying manipulation from a both a Realtor and a Mortgage Broker.
I hope they both eat shit and die real damn soon.
re:Foreclosures
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, it was not largely a bad call on the government.
The true reason for foreclosures that are happening now is the good ol' American greed.
Buyers wanted more home then they could afford
Real Estate Agents wanted a bigger paycheck
Mortgage Loan Officers wanted a quick buck
Mortgage investors wanted high yields
home investors spread theirselves too thin and listened to too many Carlton Sheets tapes
Appraisers wanted to make Realtors/Mortgage Brokers happy so they could get more business
The media made to big of a deal out of the rise in prices and are now making too big a deal out of the declining market.
SUre there are a few other major factors, but thats the jist of it.
Place Your Bets: How Low Can Real Estate Go!?
ReplyDeleteAt the peak you couldn't find a house under about $200/square foot. Already I'm seeing builders unloading homes at $100/square foot right here on CL. I think it's time to do the housing LIMBOOOOOOO!
How LOW--can ya go! How LOW--can ya go!
Re, Las Vegas Real Estate v las vegas craigslist > real estate services
ReplyDeleteWhatever you decide to do, don't use anyone listed on these boards. These are the true losers.
If you have to advertise on a CL Board for work you are totally worthless.
re, Vegas Horror Story -
ReplyDeleteMine involved a idiot Prudential Realtor.
It was all bad from the get-g, this realtor didn't have one ounce of brains anywhere in their whole body.
re, realtors gone bad
ReplyDeleteMine was with century 21,she had to call the broker twice to fill the contract out. finally he just came over and did it for her.....
it only go worse from there...the Century 21 Broker recommended a Mortgage Broker for us,and it only got worse from there....
re, realtors
ReplyDeleteLike mortgage brokers they all suck.
Sell it yourself - it's called a FSBO
Buying get in a car go look, try a builder they are hurting.
You can't go anywhere without tripping over some damn real estate 4 sale sign or foreclosure property sign.
realtors i dont need no stinking realtor
ReplyDeletei no gots no realtor
we hate realtors
Real Estate Agents:
ReplyDeleteReal estate agents are by far the laziest, greediest, and many times just plain stupid group of people in all creation. Making another agent pay a 20% referral fee on a 700.00 lease!?! (That is a grand total of a 350.00 commission before fees for in many cases much more work than a sale) FORGING Buyers Representation or altering the date when a Listing Agent has spent all kinds of time showing properties!! They evidentially do not know how to read as they cannot fill out contracts and they do not know what forms to use and when to use them. They think that their 6 week courses and passing a couple of easy tests makes them a professional! Please! Get over yourself! When was the last time you saw a doctor or lawyer's business card with a freaking PICTURE OF THEMSELVES! Talk about narcissism!!!
re, Houston Realtors
ReplyDeleteThey aren't any better in Dallas either.
re,re,Houston Realtors
ReplyDeleteThey aren't any better anywhere.
Subprime Lenders in news again......
ReplyDeleteUBS Writes Down $10B From Subprime Losses; Singapore and Middle East Investors Take Stakes
ZURICH, Switzerland -- Swiss banking giant UBS AG said Monday it will write off a further $10 billion on losses in the U.S. subprime lending market and will raise capital by selling substantial stakes to Singapore and an unnamed investor in the Middle East.
UBS will now record a loss for the fourth quarter and said it is now possible that UBS will record a net loss attributable to shareholders for the full year 2007.
it's about time
ReplyDeleteReal estate developers are scum.
Houston's real estate developers, who have long enjoyed a unique role as the city's unfettered engines of growth, suddenly find themselves on the defensive as they scramble to confront a flurry of policy initiatives affecting their industry.
In the past year, the City Council has strengthened rules for protecting historic buildings, required developers to set aside land for parks and tried to give neighborhood leaders more influence over the shape of new development surrounding them.
Dear Santa,
ReplyDeleteMy one wish for Christmas and these holidays is....
May the Realtor and the Mortgage people involved in my home purchase, which I lost, all die real soon along with their families....because such shits should not be allowed to breed.
re, Santa...
ReplyDeleteI agree, they all need to die.
re, re, dear santa
ReplyDeleteMaybe you shouldn't have bought a home where you would have to live paycheck to paycheck. Next time hold out until a few more brain cells grow back.
re,re,re, dear santa
ReplyDeleteonly a scumbag shithole realtor could say such a thing and laugh that some one lost their home.
Mortgage Bailout
ReplyDeleteGuess what, the government should do nothing. If you took an adjustable rate or zero down mortgage, you knew the risks involved. If you couldn't afford the McMansion you wanted, you should have bought a house in your price range.
Why is it the tax payers problem that some yuppie or over-anxious up and comer decided to over-extend themselves? They took more than they can chew. Sell your house for a loss and move on. It's not our fault you couldn't buy a "normal" house!!!!!!
What a joke.
Re: Mortgage Bailout
ReplyDeleteThe government is doing what it has to do to prevent a huge social and financial blow-up in the country.
Most of the people who took on these mortgages weren't "yuppies", they were ignorant lower, lower-middle class families who were lied to about the terms of their loans by the greedy mortgage companies and banks out to ride on the wave of the "liquidity boom".
The government plan is going to help make the mortgages more manageable and prevent massive defaults, which would fuck up the economy
Spock return to sick bay Immediately......
ReplyDeleteYou have been hitting the Real Estate Kool Aid again and it has caused irrational delusions of logic.Please return to sick bay for treatment.Only an imbecile or a klingon would invest in a tanking market.
WHEN YOU ARE TALKING CLOSE TO A $20,000 DOLLAR COMMISION I WANT A REALTOR WHO ISN'T GOING TO JUST PUT IT IN THE MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE AND HOPE SOMEONE SELLS IT THAT'S A LITTLE MORE THAN I WOULD PAY MY PLUMBER TO PUT A TOILET IN! MOST REALTORS ARE PRETTY LAZY OR THEY ARE PART TIMERS, RETIRED, HOUSEWIVES, OR DABBLING IN REAL ESTATE!
ReplyDeleteTHERE IS LESS THAN 1% OF REALTORS WHO ARE PROFESSIONALS.
I WANT SOMEONE WITH A VESTED INTEREST WHO ISN'T GOING TO SIT ON THEIR ASS POSTING ON CRAIGS LIST HOPING IT WILL SELL!
Federal Reserve Officials Plan Steps to Crack Down on Shady Mortgage Lending Practices
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON DC -- People taking out home mortgages may gain new protections soon against shady lending practices as the Federal Reserve seeks to back even the riskiest borrowers, already hit hardest by the housing and credit crunches.
WASHINGTON DC - The Federal Reserve endorsed new rules Tuesday that would give people taking out home mortgages new protections against shady lending practices.
ReplyDeleteThe proposed rules, approved in a 5-0 vote by the board, are geared to providing safeguards to the riskiest "subprime" borrowers, already painfully stung by the housing and credit debacles. The proposal is expected to apply to new loans made by all types of lenders, including banks and brokers. The plan could be finalized next year.
The Fed, which has regulatory powers over the nation's banking system, is proposing:
restricting lenders from penalizing certain subprime borrowers those with tarnished credit or low incomes who pay off their loans early. The restriction would apply to loans that meet certain conditions, including that the penalty expire at least 60 days before any possible payment increase.
forcing lenders to make sure that subprime borrowers set aside money to pay for taxes and insurance.
barring lenders from making loans when they don't have proof of a borrower's income.
prohibiting lenders from engaging in a pattern or practice of lending without considering a borrower's ability to repay a home loan from sources other than the home's value.
"Unfair and deceptive acts and practices hurt not just borrowers and their families, but entire communities, and indeed, the economy as a whole, said Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke in prepared remarks. They have no place in our mortgage system, he added.
Fed policymakers also are considering requiring financial disclosures to borrowers early enough to use while shopping for a mortgage. Lenders could not charge fees except for a fee to obtain a credit report until after the consumer receives the disclosures. The Fed also will consider prohibiting certain types of misleading or deceptive advertising for certain loans. It also would require that all applicable rates or payments be disclosed in ads with equal prominence as advertised introductory "teaser" rates.
In addition, the Fed is expected to propose barring lenders from paying mortgage brokers a fee that exceeds the amount the would be borrower had agreed to in advance that the broker would receive.
And, the Fed would ban certain practices, such as failing to credit a mortgage payment to a borrower's account when the company servicing the mortgage receives it. The Fed also would prohibit a broker or other company from coercing or encouraging an appraiser to misrepresent the value of a home.
Before taking effect, the rules must be voted on again following a period of public comment and possible revisions.
The Fed's response has taken on heightened importance given the meltdown in the housing and credit markets that has led to record numbers of home foreclosures. The crisis has raised the odds that the economy might fall into a recession, roiled Wall Street and given Democrats and Republicans much fodder to blame each other.
The plan, if ultimately adopted, offers Bernanke, who took over the helm in February 2006, an important opportunity to put his imprint on the Fed's regulatory powers. Some critics have complained that Bernanke's predecessor — Alan Greenspan, who ran the Fed for 18 1/2 years — failed to act as a forceful regulator especially during the 2001-2005 housing boom, when easy credit spurred lots of subprime home loans and many exotic types of mortgages.
When the housing market went bust, subprime loans were most heavily affected.
Of the nearly 3 million subprime adjustable-rate loans surveyed by the Mortgage Bankers Association from July through September, a record 4.72 percent entered the foreclosure process during those months. At the same time, a record 18.81 percent of the subprime adjustable-rate loans were past due.
When home values weakened, borrowers were left with loan balances that eclipsed the value of their homes. They also were clobbered when their loans reset with much higher interest rates.
WASHINGTON DC - Few people knew at the start of 2007 the meaning of "subprime" real estate loans or how they might affect the US and global economies.
ReplyDeleteToday, worries are growing that the crisis that began with mortgage failures and spread to banks and brokerages may push the US economy into a downturn and put the entire global economy at risk.
Subprime loans flourished at the end of the US housing boom as lenders offered mortgages to people with shaky credit in an effort to cash in on surging prices.
These loans were packaged into securities that were sold to investors around the world, with little regard to what would happen when low "teaser" rates were reset to increase payments from homeowners.
When a wave of defaults began to hit, US and global banks began to see billions of dollars in losses on their balance sheets. The lenders had to tighten credit, crimping consumer and business spending and threatening the overall economy.
Goldman Sachs economist Jan Hatzius says his "back-of-the-envelope calculation" now suggests "losses of around 400 billion dollars" for global banks and investors.
Although this may not seem large in the overall economy, Hatzius says the effect is magnified because banks need to scale back their lending to keep capital ratios intact after accounting for the losses. As a result, he said lending could be cut by two trillion dollars.
"Even if this occurs gradually, and even if there are some offsets from reduced credit demand and increased lending by other sectors, the drag on economic activity could be substantial," said Hatzius in a note to clients.
Adding to the woes from housing are near-record energy prices and a weak dollar that could fuel inflation and hurt business confidence. Some say a recession is a possible scenario.
"The US is on the precipice of its first consumer recession since 1991, which was the last time the market suffered from a confluence of high energy prices, weakening employment conditions, real estate deflation and tightening credit," said David Rosenberg, Merrill Lynch's chief North American economist.
While debate is raging on whether the US economy will avert recession, another question is how much a US slowdown will affect the global economy.
Some experts say there has been a "decoupling," meaning the rest of the world is less dependent on the United States. But any slump in the US is still likely to have a global impact.
"We think 2008 will be the 'year of recoupling,'" says Peter Berezin, a Goldman Sachs global economist.
"The mortgage meltdown in the US has clearly affected global financial markets," he noted, adding that "the weakness in the US housing market is starting to raise concerns that the global housing market may suffer a similar fate."
Paul Sheard, economist at Lehman Brothers, is guarded, saying: "2008 is shaping up to be more challenging for the global economy than 2007 was. We expect growth to be lower."
The global economy will feel an impact of a US slowdown, even if the world's largest economy averts recession, Sheard said.
"If the US slows and other developed economies follow on, these economies will not be able to escape knock-on effects via the trade channel in particular but also via financial and confidence channels," Sheard said.
"We expect growth in Asia ex-Japan and in emerging markets to decelerate but given strong growth momentum, particularly in China and India, to maintain a healthy clip."
Experts are warning of a slowdown even though the US economy expanded at a robust 4.9 percent pace in the third quarter of 2007.
A Merrill Lynch report calls for "modest growth to take hold late in 2008" in the United States but predicts that the Federal Reserve will need to cut interest rates to 2.0 percent from the current 4.25 percent by mid-2009 to sustain the recovery.
Merrill Lynch said the impact will be muted as other regions become less dependent on the US for their exports.
"Imbalances in the global economy, stemming from historic dependence on the US consumer, have peaked and will unwind throughout the coming year," the Merrill report said.
Merrill predicts oil prices could spike further to near 100 dollars a barrel before demand weakens and prices fall below 70 dollars by the final quarter of the year.
It also expects the dollar to fall further against the euro and yen before starting to recover against major currencies but that "more heavily managed currencies, such as those in Asia, Middle East and Russia, will continue to appreciate."
In a more upbeat outlook, Societe Generale global economist Brian Hilliard in London says the worst may be over for the US and global economies, even if the hit from housing and credit was bigger than initially expected.
"We remain more optimistic about the ability of the world economy to withstand the shock from this liquidity event," he said.
"Our forecast for US growth of 2.6 percent in 2008 is higher than consensus. The Fed has signaled that is less keen to make further rate cuts because the real economy looks in relatively good shape but it is flexible."
Obviously people can not read the Blog Rules, which are clearly stated when you open the comment post section.
ReplyDeleteTo - The Last Poster, which has been deleted -
No personal attacks on me are permitted.
Unethical, ignorant, and stupid people blame others and attack them when things go wrong. Typical of all Realtors (no exception).
The Real Estate Industry is broken, the last thing anyone needs is a Realtor or a Mortgage Broker in today's Internet driven technology world.
But when in doubt, just hire a lawyer, the cost will be a fraction of that of a Realtor for their idiotic undeserved high commission fees.
Now go whine to those assholes at The National Association of Realtors or look in the mirror and keep telling yourself you are important because no one gives a crap.
MORE BAD NEWS 4 The Real Estate Industry and Housing Markets:
ReplyDeleteMorgan Stanley Posts Loss After $9.4B 4th-Qtr Writedown, Gets $5B Investment From China
NEW YORK NYC - Morgan Stanley, the No. 2 U.S. investment bank, on Wednesday reported a larger-than expected fiscal fourth-quarter loss due to a $9.4 billion writedown from its exposure to subprime and other mortgage-related investments.
The company also said China's government-controlled investment vehicle has invested $5 billion to help replenish its capital.
China Investment Corp., which also owns a stake in private-equity firm Blackstone Group LP, will control no more than 9.9 percent of Morgan Stanley once its investment converts to common shares in 2010.
"The write down Morgan Stanley took this quarter is deeply disappointing to me, to our colleagues, to our board and to our shareholders," said Chairman and Chief Executive John Mack. "Ultimately, accountability for our results rests with me, and I believe in pay for performance, so I've told our compensation committee that I will not accept a bonus for 2007."
The equity units the Chinese fund purchased from Morgan Stanley will yield 9 percent per year before they are converted into common shares on Aug. 17, 2010. The fund will have no special rights of ownership or any role in management of Morgan Stanley, the company said.
Huge write downs caused the ouster of Merrill Lynch & Co. CEO Stan O'Neal and Citigroup Inc. CEO Charles Prince. Last month, Morgan Stanley pushed out co-President Zoe Cruz in a broader shakeup of its top ranks.
Morgan Stanley said it lost $3.61 billion, or $3.61 per share in the fourth quarter, compared to a profit of $2.27 billion, or $1.44 per share, a year earlier. The investment house reported negative net revenue of $450 million because of the writedowns, compared to revenue of $7.75 billion a year ago.
The investment bank disclosed in November that it would be taking a charge of $3.7 billion because of losses in credit market investments. But the total for the quarter grew by an additional $5.7 billion, Wednesday's report showed. The $9.4 billion worth of write downs reduced earnings by $5.80 per share in the fourth quarter.
Results broadly missed Wall Street projections for a loss of 39 cents per share on revenue of $4.23 billion, according to analysts polled by Thomson Financial.
The company also took a $1.2 billion writedown in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley said it had about $1.8 billion worth of subprime mortgage exposure left on its books at the end of the quarter on Nov. 30, down from $10.4 billion at Aug. 31.
For the full year, Morgan Stanley's profit plunged 62 percent to $3.44 billion from $9.10 billion in 2006. Revenue fell 6 percent to $28.03 billion from $29.84 billion in 2006.
Despite the steep declines in the fourth quarter and full year, investors were encouraged by the latest capital injection into the financial industry. In October, Bear Stearns Cos. agreed to a $1 billion cross investment from China's government-controlled Citic Securities Co., while Citigroup Inc. received a $7.5 billion capital infusion from the investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government last month.
China Investment Corp. was launched in late September was to manage part of China's roughly $1.4 trillion in foreign currency reserves is preparing to invest some of its assets in Japanese stocks, according to a media report Monday.
It is one of the world's richest investment funds. About one-third of its assets is earmarked for investment in global financial markets.
The fund agreed in May to pay $3 billion for a 10 percent stake in Blackstone. The Chinese investment company agreed to buy nonvoting shares in Blackstone concurrent with Blackstone's initial public offering.
Shares of Morgan Stanley fell about 18 percent during the bank's fiscal fourth quarter, which stretched from Sept. 1 through Nov. 30. In pre-market trading Wednesday, the shares fell 5 cents.
AP Business Writer Stephen Bernard contributed to this story from New York.
Haircut Time for Landlords and Home Debtors:
ReplyDeleteHome prices in San Diego County tumbled nearly 10 percent last month from year-ago levels, taking the median down to $440,000, the lowest in more than three years, DataQuick Information Systems reported Monday.
The latest price represents a 15 percent fallback from the all-time record of $517,500 set in November 2005. It was a bigger decline than the 11.7 percent peak-to-trough drop from 1992 to 1996, when the San Diego economy slid into a deep, prolonged recession.HOORAY FINALLY THE MARKET IS TAKING IT'S MEDICINE.KEEP DROPPING THOSE PRICES FLIPPERS/REAL ESTATE MOGULS.SAVVY RENTERS THE DAYS OF HOMES FOR PENNIES ON THE DOLLAR ARE RAPIDLY APPROACHING SO KICK BACK ENJOY THE SHOW AND BE PREPARED TO SWOOP IN AND SCOOP UP ON ALL THE DISTRESSED REAL ESTATE SOON TO HIT THE MARKET AT BARGIN BASEMENT PRICES.
I saw the real estate bubble before it blew up in the first place
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm the only one that remembers the 80's.
GOOD TIME TO BUY
ReplyDeleteYeah you real estate whores who only cared about money during the housing bubble.
It was a good time in 2004, 2005, and 2006, These same whores are still saying the same crap now, a food time to buy.
I want to buy my next home from a a whore barbie real estate lady or corupt morgage broker that's foreclosing?
Oh yeah....they really think the consumer is falling for these lies.
re, dear santa,
ReplyDeleteOk, great post!
Can I have one to?
I have bought and sold 3 houses now using a Realtor and two through a Mortgage Broker.
ReplyDeleteI will never use either one again.
I would rather face another California wild fire and mud slide than deal with these Real Estate Jackass losers.
Ontario, California (USA) - Between railroad tracks and beneath the roar of departing planes sits "tent city," a terminus for homeless people. It is not, as might be expected, in a blighted city center, but in the once-booming suburbia of Southern California.
ReplyDeleteThe noisy, dusty camp sprang up in July with 20 residents and now numbers 200 people, including several children, growing as this region east of Los Angeles has been hit by the U.S. housing crisis.
The unraveling of the region known as the Inland Empire reads like a 21st century version of "The Grapes of Wrath," John Steinbeck's novel about families driven from their lands by the Great Depression.
As more families throw in the towel and head to foreclosure here and across the nation, the social costs of collapse are adding up in the form of higher rates of homelessness, crime and even disease.
While no current residents claim to be victims of foreclosure, all agree that tent city is a symptom of the wider economic downturn. And it's just a matter of time before foreclosed families end up at tent city, local housing experts say.
"They don't hit the streets immediately," said activist Jane Mercer. Most families can find transitional housing in a motel or with friends before turning to charity or the streets. "They only hit tent city when they really bottom out."
Steve, 50, who declined to give his last name, moved to tent city four months ago. He gets social security payments, but cannot work and said rents are too high.
"House prices are going down, but the rentals are sky-high," said Steve. "If it wasn't for here, I wouldn't have a place to go."
'SQUATTING IN VACANT HOUSES'
Nationally, foreclosures are at an all-time high. Filings are up nearly 100 percent from a year ago, according to the data firm RealtyTrac. Officials say that as many as half a million people could lose their homes as adjustable mortgage rates rise over the next two years.
California ranks second in the nation for foreclosure filings -- one per 88 households last quarter. Within California, San Bernardino county in the Inland Empire is worse -- one filing for every 43 households, according to RealtyTrac.
Maryanne Hernandez bought her dream house in San Bernardino in 2003 and now risks losing it after falling four months behind on mortgage payments.
"It's not just us. It's all over," said Hernandez, who lives in a neighborhood where most families are struggling to meet payments and many have lost their homes.
She has noticed an increase in crime since the foreclosures started. Her house was robbed, her kids' bikes were stolen and she worries about what type of message empty houses send.
The pattern is cropping up in communities across the country, like Cleveland, Ohio, where Mark Wiseman, director of the Cuyahoga County Foreclosure Prevention Program, said there are entire blocks of homes in Cleveland where 60 or 70 percent of houses are boarded up.
"I don't think there are enough police to go after criminals holed up in those houses, squatting or doing drug deals or whatever," Wiseman said.
"And it's not just a problem of a neighborhood filled with people squatting in the vacant houses, it's the people left behind, who have to worry about people taking siding off your home or breaking into your house while you're sleeping."
Health risks are also on the rise. All those empty swimming pools in California's Inland Empire have become breeding grounds for mosquitoes, which can transmit the sometimes deadly West Nile virus, Riverside County officials say.
'TRICKLE-DOWN EFFECT'
But it is not just homeowners who are hit by the foreclosure wave. People who rent now find themselves in a tighter, more expensive market as demand rises from families who lost homes, said Jean Beil, senior vice president for programs and services at Catholic Charities USA.
"Folks who would have been in a house before are now in an apartment and folks that would have been in an apartment, now can't afford it," said Beil. "It has a trickle-down effect."
For cities, foreclosures can trigger a range of short-term costs, like added policing, inspection and code enforcement. These expenses can be significant, said Lt. Scott Patterson with the San Bernardino Police Department, but the larger concern is that vacant properties lower home values and in the long-run, decrease tax revenues.
And it all comes at a time when municipalities are ill-equipped to respond. High foreclosure rates and declining home values are sapping property tax revenues, a key source of local funding to tackle such problems.
Earlier this month, U.S. President George W. Bush rolled out a plan to slow foreclosures by freezing the interest rates on some loans. But for many in these parts, the intervention is too little and too late.
Ken Sawa, CEO of Catholic Charities in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, said his organization is overwhelmed and ill-equipped to handle the volume of people seeking help.
"We feel helpless," said Sawa. "Obviously, it's a local problem because it's in our backyard, but the solution is not local."
WASHINGTON DC - After a slow and stumbling start, official Washington is scrambling to try to prevent the unfolding mortgage crisis from pushing the country into recession during an election year. There is a strong feeling, though, that the government will need to do more to avert a financial disaster.
ReplyDeleteOne former Treasury secretary advocates temporary tax cuts and emergency spending on the order of $50 billion to $75 billion. Such action could help the U.S. from slipping into what Lawrence Summers, who served under President Clinton, fears could become the worst downturn since the steep 1981-82 recession.
Some Republicans are worried, too.
From both Martin Feldstein, who was President Reagan's top economic adviser, and former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan have come calls for deeper government intervention to deal with the threat.
Before it is all over, the government may have to resort to measures last used in the savings and loan crisis of the 1990s. Back then, it was a new agency to take over failing thrifts sunk by bad loans. Today, it could mean a government agency to buy up billions of dollars of mortgage-backed securities that investors are shunning.
The Bush administration thus far has opted for less dramatic measures. In fact, the administration came reluctantly to the biggest step taken to date — the "teaser freezer" announced two weeks ago.
A deal with the mortgage industry will freeze the low introductory "teaser" rates for five years on some subprime mortgages — loans to people with spotty credit histories. The rates were to climb much higher, making the mortgages unaffordable for many people and putting their homes at risk of foreclosure.
The hope is that this agreement will buy time for the housing market to rebound. That would make it easier for these homeowners to refinance to more affordable fixed-rate loans.
But estimates are that only about 250,000 people will end up getting a rate freeze — a fraction of the 3.5 million home loans that could go into default over the next 2 1/2 years.
The administration also is working with Congress to increase the $417,000 cap on the size of loans that the big mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can handle. This step could help in high-cost housing areas such as California.
In addition, the administration is supporting legislation that would boost aid to lower-income homeowners by increasing the scope of mortgage insurance programs handled by the Federal Housing Administration.
These efforts may help at the margins. They do not, however, address one of the biggest threats to the economy: a spreading credit crisis triggered by the soaring defaults on subprime mortgages.
Some of the biggest names in finance have suffered multibillion-dollar losses as a result, and critical segments of the credit markets have frozen up. Banks and investors fear making further loans or buying securities backed by debt because they do not know how many more loans might go into default.
Ben Bernanke, facing his first major test as Fed chairman, is getting mixed reviews. The Fed was embarrassed when the credit crisis hit in August. That happened only two days after the central bank had decided to keep interest rates unchanged and declared that inflation was a bigger risk than weak economic growth.
The Fed has cut interest rates by a full percentage point since that time. But only the September cut — a bigger-than-expected one-half of a percentage point — elicited cheers on Wall Street. The two quarter-point moves brought about market declines as investors worried the Fed did not recognize the severity of the problem.
The trouble is that the credit crisis is occurring at the same time that a run-up in energy prices is increasing inflationary pressures.
And that is the dilemma.
If the Fed cuts interest rates to keep the economy out of a recession, it could sow the seeds for higher inflation and perhaps give the country the worst of both worlds, bringing back that 1970s bugaboo, "stagflation," in which growth is stagnant and inflation is getting worse.
In a novel approach, the Fed is auctioning off money to the banks in an attempt to get them to open up their loan spigots. The first two auctions, for a total of $40 billion last week, went well. But the amount of the cash provided to the banks paled in comparison with the $500 billion from the European Central Bank.
Many economists believe the Fed will have to cut its federal funds rate, the interest that banks charge each other, at least three more times and strengthen the wording of its statements. In that way, the markets would know the Fed will do whatever is needed to fight economic weakness in spite of its lingering worries about inflation.
"The difference between a soft economy and a recession is confidence. If the Fed appears reticent to do what is needed, like they did at their last meeting, that does not help confidence," says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com.
As for the administration and Congress, a tax cut possibly in the form of a rebate probably will be debated in the coming year. President Bush told reporters at the White House on Thursday that "we're constantly analyzing options available to us." He insisted that the economy's underlying fundamentals remained strong.
Summers, however, in a speech last week, urged bolder action. "For the last year, the economic consensus, and the policy actions that have flowed from it, has been consistently behind the curve," he said.
Gaining some currency is the idea of a government agency modeled after the Resolution Trust Corp. of the S&L days that would buy up mortgage-backed securities as a way of dealing with bad loans. About $100 billion in such loans have surfaced and an additional $200 billion are likely, according to market estimates.
If the government spent $150 billion to $200 billion to purchase mortgage-backed securities, the thinking goes, it would prevent a fire-sale that would drive prices of these securities even lower.
When the housing market stabilizes, the price of the government-held securities would begin to rise, allowing the government to sell them back to investors.
Whatever approach the government decides to take, economists said it will take time for the current problems to resolve themselves. They expect this housing downturn, which followed a five-year boom, to last through most of next year even under a best-case scenario in which the country avoids a full-blown recession.
"We have the fundamental problem that we built too many houses and we charged too high a price for them," says David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York. "We have to stop building houses for a while and the prices have to come down. We are trying to make sure that process doesn't derail the rest of the economy."
Santa Delivered....
ReplyDeleteI just heard that a bus load of Realtors died in a horrible crash....
Too bad it's just a Santa Story !!
Story of a Bankrupt Realtor in Arizona:
ReplyDelete** Sold his kids on eBay.
** Stole is neighbor’s horses to the glue factory.
** Shot the ugly ass fat wife and dumped her down an abandoned mine shaft in the desert.
** Turned lose his howling barking hounds to prowl the neighborhood.
** Hocked the ranch (so-called, little 2 acres horse property), then re-sold it to an illegal Mexican for cash and a quick deed (boy they are stupid).
** Threw his neighbor’s Koi Fish in the radioactive cooling pond at the Palo Verde Nuclear Plant.
** Bought an RV and am headed for Vegas and the good life.
Note – The Realtor kept the goats (no explanation necessary, this is Arizona).
I am a loser, I need to repent my evil ways, a CL post from Phoenix Arizona:
ReplyDeletei got 5 duis in 8 years -- 2 agg duis felony i am divorced, i hit my wife after drinking
i hate my parents
i bully my brothers--they all hate me
i hate my job--i have lost many jobs
i dont talk to my neighbors
i make hate speech on the internet
i hate aa, told my sponser to screw off
i have to go to nevada monthly to keep my license up
i dont have any relatives
i dont have any friends.
i am bankrupt
New-home sales plunge by 9 percent
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON DC - Sales of new homes plunged last month to their lowest level in more than 12 years, a grim testament to the problems plaguing the housing sector.
The Commerce Department reported Friday that new-home sales tumbled by 9 percent in November from October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 647,000. That was the worst showing since April 1995, when the pace of sales was 621,000.
The sales pace for November was much weaker than economists were expecting. They were predicting sales in the weakest sector of the economy to drop by around 1.8 percent, to a pace of 715,000.
The median sales price of a new home dipped to $239,100 in November. That is 0.4 percent lower than a year ago. The median price is where half sell for more and half for less.
By region, sales fell in all parts of the country, except for the West, where they rose.
New-home sales dropped by 19.3 percent in the Northeast. They plunged by 27.6 percent in the Midwest and they fell by 6.4 percent in the South. However, sales increased by 4 percent in the West.
Over the last 12 months, new-home sales nationwide have tumbled by 34.4 percent, the biggest annual slide since early 1991, and stark evidence of the painful collapse in the once high-flying housing market.
That market has been suffering through a severe slump following five years of record-breaking activity from 2001 through 2005. Sales turned weak as did home prices. The boom-to-bust situation has increased dangers to the economy as a whole and has been especially hard on some homeowners.
Foreclosures have soared to record highs and probably will keep rising. A drop in home prices left some people stuck with balances on their home mortgages that eclipsed the worth of their home. Other home buyers were clobbered as low introductory rates on their mortgages jumped to much higher rates, which they couldn't afford.
With credit now harder to get to finance a home purchase, the problems in housing have grown worse. Unsold homes have piled up. The problems are expected to persist well into next year.
The housing and mortgage meltdowns have raised the odds that the country will fall into a recession. And, it has given Democrats and Republicans politicians_ including those who want to be the next president plenty of opportunities to spread blame around.
To help bolster the economy, the Federal Reserve has sliced a key interest rate three times this year. Its latest rate cut, on Dec. 11, dropped the Fed's key rate to 4.25 percent, a two-year low. Many economists are predicting the Fed will lower rates again when they meet in late January.
The economy's growth is expected to have slowed to a pace of just 1.5 percent or less in the October-to-December. Analysts believe that the housing and credit troubles will force consumers and businesses to tighten the belts, causing the economy to lose considerable speed. The housing slump has been a drag on overall economic activity, lopping more than a full percentage point off growth during the summer alone.
Marlin Perkins, Big-Game Wild Lesbian Hunter
ReplyDeleteWatch this weeks episode.......as Marlin and Jim go searching for the Wily Lesbian Real-Estate Flipper, and venture deep into the dangerous jogging and bicycling lanes of an illegal Mexican neighborhood.
I was looking out my window and saw my neighbor, a realtor, sniffing her dog's poop.
ReplyDeleteWTF..............???????
I've been laughing for months. We bought a very modestly priced home well under what we could "afford". We used a real loan not one of these magic make $35K and you can afford a $400K home loans.
ReplyDeleteWe listened for 2yrs about how stupid we are and what a crappy house we settled for. Some people were seriously rude and childish.
Those same people. Bankruptcy if they are lucky most losing it all as their rates adjust and the home they have a $350K loan for won't move for $200K (they were going to flip it for a big payday). I'm laughing day and night at these idiots.
Re Want a good laugh??
ReplyDeleteI don't want to laugh at them, I want to slap all the greedy mortgage brokers, investors and the idiotic people who got adjustable rate mortgages, a big freaking thank you for taking the US economy down with you.
RE: Re Want a good laugh??
ReplyDeletePardon me, but every time the stock market fluctuates and people(you mean Wall Street)lose(s) billions, our government with tax payers money bails them out, always! We the people, the working class folks who pay taxes will always bail out the investors and their bad business ideas. Capitalism could not exist without government subsidies, tax loopholes, corrupted bureaucrats and church officials, the exploitation of labor and the environment, and the unconditional support of a military complex. If we had a real free, open market of believes and ideas, capitalism would not have a chance in a million years. The end is soon to come, praise the Lord!
Re;Want a good laugh??
ReplyDeleteyour right, laughable..... take the house next door, family buys for $220,000 in 2003, two years later(2005) sells for $330,000 to investors( lets call them, Manny, Moe and Dumbass, they put in 30,000 in upgrades,try to sell for 429,000, 395,000, 365,000... nope, lets lease it to third worlders, who the hell cares if we trash the house. The investors will be lucky if they can sell it for 295,000
Talking about wanting a good laugh??
ReplyDeleteIf anyone needs a good laugh, take a look at the "real estate for sale" listings. One delusional seller after another. And mixed in with the bunch are listings from realtors that are even more delusional.
I wonder when these people will wake up? The party is over. They lost and are now left holding the bag. Anyone wanting to sell their home had better be willing to drop the price 50%. That's where they're going. Down 50%. Maybe more.
The real estate plunge will truly be one of this decade's best sources of entertainment. It doesn't get much better.
Sales of New Homes Even Worse Than Expected in November; Plunge Is Worst Since April 1995.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, this weekend I went out with two different Realtors. One on Saturday and one today. I ran them all over looking for a house that I had no intention on buying.
ReplyDeleteThey deserve to have their chain yank and yanked hard.
What idiots realtors are.
How can they call real estate a profession?
I could train a monkey to do it, in fact a chimp would be smarter but then my mother-in-laws cat is smarter.
See you next time.......I am so bored, but I have to tell you, getting these toads excited made my weekend.
re, mr anonymous
ReplyDeletewhat a great idea i think i will jerk some dumbass woman realtor around next weekend myself....
For clarification to all IDIOTS everywhere.....
ReplyDelete1) I hate Realtors.
2) Real Estate is NOT a profession, it is a con game.
And, I love this blog..............
re: re: Realtors...wasting their time
ReplyDelete"Please, their game is over ... for awhile. Foreclosure os the new game. Cash is king again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Not the smart ones. The issues going on now are actually good, as they're going to get rid of the soccer mom and grocery store worker-turned realtors and loan officers. What will be left are the experienced, ethical professionals that saw what was going to happen two or more years ago.
Homes will still be selling, with mortgages. Most foreclosures will not be sold to cash buyers, but they will be sold. The housing market is going to adjust back to normal. It's been in a very abnormal situation the last few years...it's not going to be bad, it's going to where it should be. It's just going to look bad compaired to where it was. Prices are coming down, to where they should've been in the first place. The prices went up artificially because of hype.
Unfortunately a lot of people believed the hype. Just like they believe the hype now that home prices are going into the dump. They aren't going to go below where they should, they're going to drop to where they should've been in the first place. Unfortunately a lot of people are going to be upside-down, and owe more than their home is worth. They're just going to have to hang on and make due until the price goes back up at it's normal 4% a year, or lose the home that they shouldn't have purchased in the first place.
I don't have a lot of sympathy for those that put themselves in adjustable rate mortgages that are going to be resetting if they did so believing the price of their home was going to continue to rise, allowing them to refi before their current loan adjusts.
If somebody can barely qualify on the initial payment, there's no way they were going to be able to afford the payment when it adjusted for the worse. To make matters worse, many people used "stated income" loans to inflate thier income (which IS loan fraud, a FEDERAL CRIME) just to qualify at the minimum payment. Anybody that was told by their loan officer it's ok, and didn't read, or ignored the disclosures in their loan documents that said falsifying information was fraud, in my opinion, deserves to have their home foreclosed.
It's just sad that so many people, both realtors and borrowers, really believed that things in the market wouldn't change.
Keep on a Lowballing!!!!
ReplyDeleteGood work in 2007 to all you Savvy Renters out there,it looks like our mantra of ''Pennies on the Dollar''is working and is becoming the new reality in 2008.Keep going to all the open houses that you can manage and keep lowballing all these has been Realtors by offering a pittance on there overrated, overpriced, housing stock.Let the Great Real Estate crash of 2007/2008 continue on it's plummet to market bottom and wash away all the Realtor Scum in a tsunami of foreclosures and legal actions.Happy New Year to all you Savvy Renters out there are time has finally come so pull up a chair get the popcorn and enjoy Part 2 of the Burst Bubble Show.
re: Realtors...wasting their time
ReplyDeletePlease, their game is over ... for awhile. Foreclosure is the new game. Cash is king again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Homeowner = Home Owns You
ReplyDeleteHouse prices to drop till end of 2008 !!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to buy cheap houses at the start of 2009 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fake House Hunting IS fun with Real Estate!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with "fun with real estate". I love fake house hunting!
Fake house hunting is especially fun when you want to tour a ritzy neighborhood you can't afford. Some of the best fake house hunting is in LA, where you can gain access to celebrity homes.
Because my credit is near perfect, I've been able to fake house hunt all over the country when I'm on vacation, including some awesome NYC co-ops and a couple estates at Martha's Vineyard.
Waste of time? Only the realtor's! Because fake house hunting is recreational and relaxing for me, the only time wasted is... not mine!
Tips for fake house hunting:
1. shower & shave
2. dress nice
3. park your crappy car away from the real estate office; you're posing as an "out of town resident looking to relocate" and you "took a cab"
Happy fake house hunting!