At what point did Americans, and especially Phoenicians, decide that ugly houses, soulless cookie-cutter neighborhoods and unplanned urban sprawl were good things?
Bleeeccckkkk.
How sad.
How long until they tear down these things down?
You wonder why these things aren't selling anymore - at any price.
42 comments:
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that's sick
They want $442,000 for that place
I'd wait for $150,000
2842 Square Feet
5 bed, 3 bath, 3 car garage.
Starting From: $442,990
Damn that's an fugly house
Builder auctions are probably occuring at every cheap motel in town. Like this one. Fascinating to learn just how little people understand of economics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10WoQZKZkNs
My eyes, my eyes, damn that is one ugly house....
That's a perfect home for the after the crash Road Warrior society will become. You'll spend time armoring & welding your rides to survive the trip to the safe zone 25 miles away.
Sight UNSEEN! I mentioned that slumlords were selling complete
dumps to investors for 160,000fRNs.
Well now we may know where the the value of Bear/Stearns investment packages might stand.Worse than Worthless!These homes have to be condemned in alot of cases,if not repair cost will make the home into a a total liability.
THE NEXT BUBBLE
http://tinyurl.com/2m23k9
All you HPers and bubble sitters waiting for Amageddon had better make plans to wait a little longer. Bank of America in introducing a new program and it will be copied and expanded by others. They call it a reverse mortgage, but it's really a combination bankruptcy /foreclosure. They get the house up front and pay off existing debts for the poor Boomers who can't make ends meet anymore. Much simpler than the messy business of foreclosure, eviction, auctions, etc.
The day is coming when negative equity will not be an impediment to closing on one of these loans. The banks will simply balance that negative entry with a loan to the FB backed by future appreciation or some other gauzy concept. On their books the big negative washes, regulators are happy, and the party continues.
I can just picture Greg Swann standing out in front of that house with two captivated idiots telling them "they're not making anymore land, and interest rates are at historic lows!"
That house is repulsive. I would be embarassed to live in such a monstrosity of a garage. Not only is that house ugly, it is overpriced and in hellhole Phoenix.
Reverse mortgages have been around awhile and will be getting more popular as the boomers struggle to survive amid inflation of food/energy and flat/falling home prices the next few decades.
I had a house in Las Vegas that looked like it. It was 2600 sq ft and a really cool floorplan, 14ft ceilings. I loved it although yeah from the front there was much left to be desired, a 3 car garage did come in handy, 2 cars inside plus a storage area.
Bought for $189K in 2001, sold for $445K in 2006, now renting with $200K+ in the bank earning 5.5% which is just about enough to cover my rent. I'm not complaining.
You guys make fun of these homes all you want, still better than an apartment. And to those who rented through the boom, you fucked up, just like those who bought in 2006 or are buying now fucked up. Two side of the same coin.
Gary Owen,
Reverse mortgages aren't new, they've been around for years. They're not a solution to bankruptcy / foreclosure.
I'm sure a few people will use it that way. For most people, they worked all their lives to pay off their house, now they can take that money and stick Jr. with the bill.
The day is coming when negative equity will not be an impediment to closing on one of these loans. The banks will simply balance that negative entry with a loan to the FB backed by future appreciation or some other gauzy concept. On their books the big negative washes, regulators are happy, and the party continues.
July 22, 2007 2:45 PM
==================================
Why not? Car dealers have been doing it for years. Trade in a car that's worth $5K, with a $10K loan. Get a new $40K car with he $5K added on for a $45K loan over 96 months. 3 years later when the car is worth $20K with a loan of $35K left, do it again.
That is why someone making $30K a year drives a late model BMW. Perpetual debt is the new black.
Well of course. One NEEDS a "home" with three garages. Where else can one store all the trappings of an ostentatious lifestyle. The SUVs, the boats, trailers, three-wheelers, jet skis and other toys that tell others, "I am better than you and my life is more complete"?
Selling point: Big garage for illegal workers to live in.
Also you could use it for a 'puppy mill'
vote out any republican
A business associate of mine
from Germany has said over and
over to me how poorly built houses
are here in the US.
It's a wonder anyone would want to
live in them.
"An the party continues?"
There will be several million one-time house debters who won't be invited.
As you well know, the banks never loose, they always party.
gary owen said...
THE NEXT BUBBLE
http://tinyurl.com/2m23k9
All you HPers and bubble sitters waiting for Amageddon had better make plans to wait a little longer. Bank of America in introducing a new program and it will be copied and expanded by others. They call it a reverse mortgage, but it's really a combination bankruptcy /foreclosure. They get the house up front and pay off existing debts for the poor Boomers who can't make ends meet anymore. Much simpler than the messy business of foreclosure, eviction, auctions, etc.
The day is coming when negative equity will not be an impediment to closing on one of these loans. The banks will simply balance that negative entry with a loan to the FB backed by future appreciation or some other gauzy concept. On their books the big negative washes, regulators are happy, and the party continues.
Bank of America has tens, maybe even by now 100s, of trillions in cdos. Seeing as how Bear Stearns just had a few blow up, the hedge funds holding them meltdown, and had to inform the investors their money was gone, Bank of America is a very shaky institution now. They're a far BIGGER danger than Al Qaeda.
Gary,
This latest "product", the reverse mortgage, isn't going to slow the momentum of this roller coaster now that it's headed down. Not a bit. But it will surely result in some boomers using up their home equity before they croak. And leaving nothing for their heirs. An appropriate final act for the "me" gen.
Gary Owen, I believe you are mistaken that banks will give money to underwater fbs based on future appreciation. Reverse mortgages have been around for a while now and they're designed to tap into existing equity that will be recovered after the future sale of the house, not an assumption of future gains. Just think about it, if grandma owes more money than her house is worth and the local real estate market is declining, why would a bank risk giving her money? Let's say she collects reverse mortgage payments for a couple of years and passes away before the market recovers, now the debt burden is even greater. How will the bank recover those funds?
It's possible that I'm missing something, but common sense tells me you're either in the real estate business or an fb grasping for straws, watching in terror as housing bubble slowly slides into the abyss.
I love homes like that!
Park my 'small' car on the driveway and half of it is in the street!
Nice fence though.
Nothing has changed in Phoenix. Drive around the older neighborhoods like Arcadia and it's nothing but identical cookie-cutter ranch houses that are even uglier than these new ones.
And the sick part is every time someone wants to level the ugly old run-down ranches from the 1950s, and replace them with houses that are actually attractive to look at, a bunch of backwards Phoenix idiots band together and try to petition them to stop, claiming that their ugly decrepit 50s ranches are "historic" .... LOL!!!!
I think the "historic" is that the represent the beginning of the bland, faceless, cookie-cutter neighborhoods that have come to identify Phoenix.
There's an article in today's Toronto Star (front page on www.thestar.com) on development in Phoenix, but there's a bit of a different spin. Basically, there isn't enough fresh water in the southern states to accommodate the population. The solution? Everyone should move to Cleveland.
In passing, there's also really interesting info about foreclosures and such.
"Murray Whyte
Staff Reporter
The state of Arizona has more than 300 golf courses, a booming economy, endless sunshine and, at last count, at least five Saks Fifth Avenue department stores — in short, nearly everything the well-heeled sybarite would need.
There’s just one thing missing: rain.
For the past month, not a drop has fallen in Maricopa County, home to greater Phoenix, the state’s economic engine and fastest-growing hub. Over that period, temperatures have hovered five to seven degrees above the 30-year average, at one point holding steady at over 43C for 10 straight days, while hundreds of brush fires burned statewide.
"And they're still building billion-dollar houses, right in the middle of the desert," says Paul Oyashi, incredulous. "It doesn't seem rational, does it?"
In a word, no. Rational, some would say, would be a mass migration from the drought-ravaged American southwest, where Southern California just experienced its driest 12-month period in recorded history, to more verdant climes.
One such place? Cleveland, the battered hub of Cuyahoga County, where Oyashi sits as director of the department of development. "We don't have earthquakes, we don't have brush fires, we've got all the fresh water you could ever want," Oyashi says. "That's logic. But the problem is, it flies in the face of reality."
LOGIC HAS NEVER been the lone – or even dominant – factor in human behaviour. And in Cleveland, much like all the depressed cities of the Great Lakes rust belt, the reality is this: over the past four decades, the population has bled away to less than half, as it has in Buffalo and Detroit.
And the loss continues. Last year, Cuyahoga was sixth among American counties in population loss, trailing only the four counties in the New Orleans area decimated by Hurricane Katrina as well as Wayne County, home to Detroit.
A foreclosure crisis on defaulted mortgages in Cleveland, mirrored all along the rust belt, left about 10,000 of the city's 80,000 homes vacant. "Jaywalking is far too easy in downtown these days," Oyashi says gruffly. "
Well at least we can be glad that Greg Swann has to live in something like that
"Bought for $189K in 2001, sold for $445K in 2006, now renting with $200K+ in the bank earning 5.5% which is just about enough to cover my rent. I'm not complaining."
HAHAHAH LIAR ! If you were ACTUALLY SMART enough to do such a thing, you would NOT be spending your time on this blog.
"A business associate of mine
from Germany has said over and
over to me how poorly built houses
are here in the US.
It's a wonder anyone would want to
live in them. "
yeah, Im ALAMRED at all the houses here in Orange County that are built with PARTICLE BOARD, PESSWOOD & Stucco. This junk wont last 5 years without REPLACING the WHOLE thing, COSTING 2x as much to REPLACE.
GEEESSSSHHH American PEOPLE are DUMB.
at last count, at least five Saks Fifth Avenue department stores
There is only one in the entire state, at Camelback and 24th St in Phoenix. That was undoubtedly written by some insecure Scottsdale person who wants the world to believe it is actually an affluent community.
Nice!, this looks like the ultimate man`s man house. Not one, not two, but three, yes count them, THREE freakin` garages. I can just see a couple of cool musclecars in there, and then maybe let the ole` lady park her Honda in one of them just so she`ll shut up. Peak oil, KISS MY A.. Yeah, baby YEAH!!!
Only 2006 buyers are screwed? Real funny, dope troll. I have a friend in Vegas who told me the last good year was 2004. That was the peak. It looks like 2004-2008 will all be screwed. Maybe even through 2012.
So even if we believe your little fairytale story, how do you know most people on here didn't also sell and are now renting? I bet you consider yourself a financial genius for buying in 2001. It was great planning and you knew the RE market would go up, right? You remind me of the dopes who were buying dotcom stock in 1999 and thought they were better than Warren Buffett.
Anyway, I was in college during the boom. Now I'm making enough money to buy, but I'll wait until the FB's and lenders get screwed and take advantage of their misery and stupidity. So no, I didn't fuck up, but I will be taking advantage of those who bought into the bubble.
"And the sick part is every time someone wants to level the ugly old run-down ranches from the 1950s, and replace them with houses that are actually attractive to look at, a bunch of backwards Phoenix idiots band together and try to petition them to stop, claiming that their ugly decrepit 50s ranches are "historic" .... LOL!!!!"
Yup! Shame on those "backwards Phoenix idiots" for wanting to keep what is RIGHTFULLY THEIRS and prevent developers from using eminent domain to take their properties and paying them less than market value.
You're a complete moron! And I hope someone throws your aging mother out of her house on the same principle. You're also a typical Republican.
WRONG!
VOTE THEM ALL OUT!
Yup! Shame on those "backwards Phoenix idiots" for wanting to keep what is RIGHTFULLY THEIRS and prevent developers from using eminent domain to take their properties and paying them less than market value.
Umm, try reading my post next time. I said *NOTHING* about developers taking property via eminent domain. Did you fail grammar school reading?
I'm talking about the fact that if I go to Phoenix and buy a 1950s style ranch house, that is MINE and that I OWN, if I dare suggest that I want to level it to build a house that is actually decent and not run-down and decrepit, the old fogies in the neighborhood will gather up and petition against me and go to city hall to try and block my permit.
And, sadly, they're successful at this anti-America, anti-property rights, pro-socialist nonsense far too often.
Now go take a reading class, pal.
I'm talking about the fact that if I go to Phoenix and buy a 1950s style ranch house, that is MINE and that I OWN, if I dare suggest that I want to level it to build a house that is actually decent and not run-down and decrepit, the old fogies in the neighborhood will gather up and petition against me and go to city hall to try and block my permit.
First of all, in most cases, those 1950s homes that you call "decrepit" are actually more structurally sound than those "decent" new homes of today because they were built far better. Main reason: in the 1950s, homes were built by well-seasoned members of a carpenter's union, whereas today the new homes are built by Juan and Pueblo who typically are unskilled and do not know the first thing about proper construction.
Secondly, in many neighborhoods, the houses are close together and conform to a certain style. If some people at will raze the old ranch houses and replace them with McMansions, the neighborhood will be not uniform and look like a circus. The local government in this case is just acting as an HOA (as most HOAs would prohibit this nonsense).
WTF is with these attitudes against 3 car garages? Married couple with a teenager or two = 3+ cars. Get a grip.
Anonymous said...
"Bought for $189K in 2001, sold for $445K in 2006, now renting with $200K+ in the bank earning 5.5% which is just about enough to cover my rent. I'm not complaining."
HAHAHAH LIAR ! If you were ACTUALLY SMART enough to do such a thing, you would NOT be spending your time on this blog.
July 22, 2007 11:14 PM
===========
My story is similar. I spend time on this blog, but I am starting to think my genius in selling and renting wasn't all that genius after all. Prices have fallen a teenie, tiny bit, not even close to the cost of moving twice, selling expenses, and buying expenses when I buy again vs. staying put and taking the loss in equity.
Sometimes we are too smart for our own good.
Anonymous said...
WTF is with these attitudes against 3 car garages? Married couple with a teenager or two = 3+ cars. Get a grip.
July 23, 2007 11:46 AM
----------------------------------- I`m with ya bro.
WTF is with these attitudes against 3 car garages? Married couple with a teenager or two = 3+ cars.
Everyone is mocking the fact that the garage seems to be larger than the house-- at least the garage overtakes the house from the view pictured here. My parents have a 2-car garage, and other cars just get parked in the driveway.
Secondly, in many neighborhoods, the houses are close together and conform to a certain style. If some people at will raze the old ranch houses and replace them with McMansions, the neighborhood will be not uniform and look like a circus. The local government in this case is just acting as an HOA (as most HOAs would prohibit this nonsense).
Wow, having a house that's built to your choosing is suddenly nonsense? Is this the Soviet Union and we must all conform and be identical?
I don't know what country you're living in, but in this one we have something called Private Property Rights. If it's my property, it's mine, and the government has no right to dictate what my house must look like.
Good God, you actually *want* to live in a neighborhood where the houses are all the same? That's the biggest problem with Phoenix! The best part about moving the hell out of there was the prospect of going to a part of the country with normal neighborhoods where there is actually some variety to the houses!
When I lived in North Scottsdale, for the first few weeks I had to always look at the house numbers or I'd pull into the wrong driveway. If you want to live in that kind of miserable mass-production neighbhorhood, be my guest, I'll take some place with a bit of character, thank you.
"Prices have fallen a teenie, tiny bit, not even close to the cost of moving twice, selling expenses,"
No, Troll. They have fallen quite significantly in most areas. You can repeat the same lie over and over, but it does not make it true.
"Sometimes we are too smart for our own good. "
Being too smart is something you'll never have to worry about. It sounds like you barely made it through high school.
Anywhere else in the country, that wide steel door indicates a "garage" - in Phoenix it's a place to put anything EXCEPT a car. In Phoenix, cars get parked on the STREET, usually facing traffic.
Seriously, out of 30 homes on my block, which all have at least 2 car garages, many have 3 car garages, there might be 5 cars that regularly get garaged.
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