November 20, 2006

HP's Top 10 Things that Suck about the Late Great Housing Bubble

1) Realtors, mortgage brokers, builders and the corrupt REIC

2) The Fed

3) Bush's "Ownership Society"

4) 20 year old GEDs living the big pimpin lifestyle fueled with fraudulent debt and condo flipping proceeds

5) 25 year old college grads who can't afford a house anymore because of #4

6) Phoenix, Arizona

7) Paranoid Ben not supporting the other bubble bloggers

8) Our own stupidity - that we'd fall for another financial mania so soon after the last one

9) David Lereah, Nicholas Retsinas, Catherine Reagor, Bob Toll, Greg Swann and Bob Nardelli

10) That millions will lose their homes, the economy will crash, lives will be ruined, and that it happened at all

9 comments:

FlyingMonkeyWarrior said...

Lost my home to a storm in 2001, it WAS paid for. It took 5 years for the Home Owners Insurance Comapny to pay me, in 2006. I got reimbursed in 2001 prices.

That sucks.

REM said...

Keith,

My fiance and I moved out to Scottsdale because of my business relocation (west regional sales) for the sole reason that LA and San Diego were too expensive and Las Vegas is nice to visit, but you would have to be a fool to live there. We rent right now at the Princess Resort property for around $1100 a month for about 1200sq/ft. A bargin up here. We have been looking for a house for a while, and with combined salaries totaling over $100K, we can not find anything we like for under $2000/month. For all those naysayers that think that I am missing out on tax breaks or that the cost of owning is cheaper than renting......you just aren't doing your home work. I am 26 and have a college degree from a prestigious east coast business school and have trouble getting into a "starter home". And unfortunately I have to deal with "kids" that drive around in their Hummers and Escalades up here that "sell" real estate up here and own 3 houses. When is the market going to correct?

geeski said...

rem - leave scottsdale.

repeat, leave scottsdale.

if you're 26 and looking for a starter home, then you're looking in the wrong place. crappy houses on mccormick ranch go for over 500K.

people live in scottsdale for one reason, and one reason only.

vanity.

live in tempe or central phoenix for awhile, and avoid scottsdale. you'll be closer to the airport, and you'll be a better person for it.

Stuck In So Pa said...

FlyingMonkeyWarrior said...
Lost my home to a storm in 2001, it WAS paid for. It took 5 years for the Home Owners Insurance Company to pay me, in 2006. I got reimbursed in 2001 prices."

Didn't have current replacement coverage, or it just didn't matter?
I have made a few trips through the litigation wringer myself. I sympathize! Trying to get insurance companies to honor their contracts is an uphill battle to say the least!

FlyingMonkeyWarrior said...

Dear Stuck in So Pa,
Had full coverage and the HOA had full coverage.
It just did not/does not matter. They do not want to pay. That's it. Five Year legal battel for a 3 Br 2 Ba on the Golf course, it was paid for and a total loss. $95,000.00 settlement five years later. The Insurance Companies own your house.
Welcome to the matrix.

FlyingMonkeyWarrior said...

Now you guys know why and how I found HP and the housing bubble last Oct.
What a nightmare watching house prices go up up up, year after year, whilst I waited for the Insurance Company to pay.
nightmare.......
Thanks for the sympathy. (:
Insurance Companies sould die.):

foxwoodlief said...

Again, so much hate for Phoenix? Like Scottsdale is even close to the pretentious folk in California. Watched wife swap the other night and a couple from Thousand Oaks were such snobs. The other couple were from Virginia. The Virginians owned a house on 15 acres and raised horses and I think the hubby was an officer in the military based in DC. The Californians were in research or such and all they wanted to do was shop, shop, shop. They acted rich, said they were and could buy anything they wanted, rented an expensive dig in Palm Springs to host their guest and shop, shop, shop and at the end WE WERE SHOCKED. Their home in Thousand Oaks (which they probaly paid a mil for) was an ordinary track home you'd buy in Phoenix for $250,000 in 2004.

I've never met many Califiornians who were not like them, at least Arizonians actually get something for their debt unlike pretending to like Californians.

Rem you don't need to buy right now so why worry about it? If your really want a house, figure out where you want to live/retire down the road and go there and buy land and pay it off and then build. If you really need/want to buy in Phoenix you can find a place that isn't going to cost you $2,000 a month, but then again if it was quite nice and you had absolutely no debt, no car payments, that is a drop in the bucket for your income.

Todd Tarson said...

rem, continue to rent (and I'm saying that as a realtor). Save the money you would spend on whatever home you would buy... but I mean save the money, dont' spend it. Put it towards a down payment in the future when things do 'correct' more to your liking.

No one is forcing you to buy.

As when things will 'correct'... well that's really for you to decide, but many around here are thinking that it never will 'correct' and that things will be the worst ever. They may be right.

As for me, I don't predict the future.

Anonymous said...

My wife and I reside in San Diego, we both work, No kids, No debt! We make a combined income of around 150k and we can't or Won't buy here in goood ol' S D!