Has the dinner conversation turned ugly? Are people still clueless and unafraid? Do you know someone trying to sell a house - and getting no lookers? Anyone panicing yet?
Here's a few anecdotes I've heard recently:
From a friend in HR call center recruiting in Phoenix - Half of all new applicants are real estate agents - some with 10+ years of experience looking "for a new career", many other newbies who aren't making any money
From a friend in the bar business in Scottsdale - all everyone talks about at her job is real estate and real estate investing. Yup, when all the bartenders and bouncers are bragging about how they're gonna make a killing flipping condos, and have no idea that the bubble has burst, you know what the smart folks have already done...
From a friend here in London who sells East European investment real estate to rich Londoners - unsophisticated investors (think rich dentists working from a tip) are desperate to buy communist-era flats in the new EU states - regardless of price, quality or rental income. They just want to get in and make a killing. The only ones buying? Investors. Buying and selling to each other in a classic Ponzi scheme, while the locals look on in amazement. Their rents stay the same, but the value of their building rises. You know how this ends.
June 09, 2006
HP'ers - what's the word on the street?
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My furniture store is dead and local rents are going way up. I am living on the profit from the sale of my last house and would not have been able to make my payment from income for the past 2 months.
First Abandoned Condo Site
Now that I am "on the ground" at ground zero (downtown SD) I walk around the neighborhood daily - came across atmospheresd.com . . .but the REAL thing - an abandoned site with a huge hole in the ground, and naked rebar and cement. . .neighbor said there have been no construction workers there for over 2 months. . .
My best friend's realtor, who bent him over for the house he lives in, also happens to be his neighbor. Make that his former neighbor. He just sold his house and is moving to his "Country place" until the dust settles. SCUM!
Major housing developement WAS going up just outside of town(major = 150/300 homes,$135k-$175k, big deal here). Streets,curbs,sod,sewer,water,all utility hookups are in and snubbed off,ready to go. So many people canceled contracts that the bank backed out. June so far and no building at all. The first 100 (or 1/3,I forget) were supposed to have been sold
completely last fall according to the updates filed by the builders with the town council. With all the restrictions and 'good old boy/minimum 15 generations in the local graveyard' cronyism that goes on here it still took the building partners, both locals (big enough for state level,but they are no Toll Bros or Ryland Homes)over 20 years to get this far. Now it has ground to a halt. Dosen't look promising.
Too bad,we could have used the tax revenue. And this isn't a bubble area for God's sake. Don't think it won't hurt everywhere. Everyone's going to get some measure of pain! It can hurt just as bad when you didn't earn it!
I live in West Palm Beach. My neighbor had his home listed for 479k about 2 months ago, today he dropped his price to 429k.
The developer is now is a state of panic. he has 400 +/- homes to sell. he is offering a NEW SUPER DUPER LUXARY PACKAGE !!!! it includes:
full paver patio
covered patio
stainless steel appliances
window treatments
Hurricane windows (south fla yaknow)
12 KW generator (hurricane prep in South Fla)
about 8 homes on my block for sale. nothing is selling. unfortunately i cant get out either. but i may not be too bad, i bought in 2001 at 228k, up until the developeer started offering the SPECIAL package, he was getting 550k. i figure that package is worth at least 60k. So that puts the pricing at 490k.
rather painfull for someone who bought in december.
oh and another thing, this developer does not build spec homes, or at least they didnt. today he has 18 quick delivery homes on the market, my guess is these are cancelled contracts.
How long can I live in my house without paying before I get evicted by the sheriff? Will I be held responsible if I sell the appliances and fixtures? Where can I find info on "short sale"?
Please help.
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How long can I live in my house without paying before I get evicted by the sheriff?
Depends on where you live.
Will I be held responsible if I sell the appliances and fixtures?
Yes, if the appliances and fixtures don't belong to you, that is against the law and you will get jail time, (a.k.a. theft).
Where can I find info on "short sale"?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_selling
Please help.
If you're serious about these queries you need help. The professional kind.
regarding new EU countrist and housing there it is completelly true and crazy. Prices are going up something 3-4% a month.
Of course locals are completelly priced out or need to take some exotic loan on the edge of their affordability.
Sad but true it is really not a usa related but global housing bubble.
Report from Riverside California, SoCal Inland Empire (hot bubble zone):
Signs of desperate sellers/ agents/brokers : hand made for sale signs on of-ramps. Huge community garage sale signs sponsered by agents. Radio commercials peddling loans to save you from foreclosure.
Slow sales: Looked up a neighbors home on Zip realty, Aug2005 price was 490k, Jan2006 dropped it to 435k, April2006 raised to 470k, June2006 she took the sign down. No bites.
Clueless people: Brother in law loan officer, we ha a chat about current conditions, he agreed thing not looking good. Sam conversation he says hes thinking of buying a new home in the near bye community under construction.
word it, you got stopped out of Gold
Keith - Where is the big article from you saying that you sold your GLD (actually - you had it sold for you)? You were pumping that stuff so much, you at least owe it to your readers to let us know when you are dumping!!! Or at least tell your readers when you were planning to sell (what your stop loss was).
GOLD is at $610???? WTF happened?
GOLD is at $610???? WTF happened?
Um, the bubble is 1/3rd of theway through popping?
Atlanta, in town:
The local cluster of shops in our neighborhood now has 5 vacancies (out of about 20 shops). This makes no sense as it is prime commercial frontage in a neighborhood where no one else can build. Rents must be getting way too high for business cash flow to cover.
Same neighborhood... every third or fourth residential home seems to be for sale.
So lets see... obviously the housing market is crashing and the economy is recessing. None of which is officially supposed to be happening.
word on the street?
Torching your SUV to get out of the high payments and gas.
We we need to add a step in the housingpanic bubble/denial/freak cycle: "felonies to keep up with the bills"
I think that's somewhere between fear and anger.
http://www.edmunds.com/advice/specialreports/articles/115584/article.html
Mark in San Diego said...
"First Abandoned Condo Site
"Now that I am "on the ground" at ground zero (downtown SD) I walk around the neighborhood daily - came across atmospheresd.com . . .but the REAL thing - an abandoned site with a huge hole in the ground, and naked rebar and cement. . .neighbor said there have been no construction workers there for over 2 months. . ."
We have several of these fizzled sites in Tampa, including "Newport," a huge development whose "builders" occasionally push contaminated dirt around, and Trump Tower downtown, where a crane periodically moves something (especially when the Press arrives). Across Gandy in St. Petersburg on the Bay there is a highrise that is just a cement skeleton, with no flesh being put on it. I suspect many of the condos going up on the edge of downtown Tampa would instantly grind to a halt if they hadn't gone so far already. Meanwhile a zillion announced projects seem to have been put permanently on hold.
And in the midst of all of this decay, developers and flippers are still asking Beverly Hills prices. One fake loft complex at Channelside, the most polluted area in Tampa, has a sign out saying "Starting at $800,000" and "Only 3 left." Yeah right.
Torching your SUV to get out of the high payments and gas.
We we need to add a step in the housingpanic bubble/denial/freak cycle: "felonies to keep up with the bills"
Hope houses are not next.....
Re Gold:
I am holding tight. I've got 100 ounces hedged through the ETF's with 50 ounces at $530, and 50 ounces at $550. The conditions to have some gold have not changed. This stuff is a hedge, and a fraction of my portfolio.
Maybe some of the unwinding of forward sales by miners and banks has happened causing the run up, and now the normal supply/demand is coming up.
I am looking to add to my physical holdings of gold as it goes down, since the ETF's are a financial hedge, while physical gold is for a sh*t hits the fan scenario.
Re Gold:
I am holding tight. I've got 100 ounces hedged through the ETF's with 50 ounces at $530, and 50 ounces at $550. The conditions to have some gold have not changed. This stuff is a hedge, and a fraction of my portfolio.
Maybe some of the unwinding of forward sales by miners and banks has happened causing the run up, and now the normal supply/demand is coming up.
I am looking to add to my physical holdings of gold as it goes down, since the ETF's are a financial hedge, while physical gold is for a sh*t hits the fan scenario.
I wonder if people will also start torching their houses to get out of them?
Insurance fraud must already be rising. Watch out for auto wrecks that were "staged". Maybe make sure that you have enough liability AND uninsured motorist coverage.
As to gold, I prefer to have the gold in my possession. Paid for with cash at a store where they take no names. Coins are pretty convenient. My bet is that I will be glad I have them. Will be buying more as the prices come down.
Can you ask the ETF to send you your gold? If the price doubles and you sell, do you have to pay tax? Do they really have the gold, or is it bought and then loaned out? Why do countries have gold in their vaults?
as to gold,
You can go to streettracksgoldshares.com to get the answers to most of your questions. There is a FAQ's link on the left side of the home page.
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