May 13, 2008

HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day


Was your town's major industry and income driver these past few years "Buying and Selling Homes from Each Other at Higher and Higher Prices"?

32 comments:

Frank R said...

Amway Real Estate?

Actually I'm surprised we never saw that come about!! Primerica insurance is an MLM so why no real estate MLM? Unless that's next in their bag of cons and tricks now that the commission is gone.

Anonymous said...

YeeeeaaaaaaBooooooeeeeeeyyyyy!

Flava Flav

bearmaster said...

That, and teaching each other yoga. I'm in the South Bay beach cities area.

Anonymous said...

That describes all of Clownifornia and Floriduh

Anonymous said...

Absolutely. About 2/3's of my town consists of discredited and unemployed real estate agents and mortgage brokers.

Boo fricken hoo. Time to get a real job.

Leeches.

Anonymous said...

The National Association of Realtors, meanwhile, is forecasting a "flat pattern” in home sales, then an improvement over the summer.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said recovery hinges on better access to affordable loans, something the federal government, through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), has been trying to do by backing more mortgages above the so-called "jumbo” loan limit of $417,000.

"Things are beginning to improve, but the availability of affordable mortgages is uneven around the country and sometimes within metropolitan areas," Yun says.

"As anticipated, we continue to look for a soft first half of the year, for both housing and the economy, before notable improvements in the second half. Some time is needed for FHA and new conforming jumbo loans to become widely available."

The trade group’s pending home sales index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in March, registered 83, a figure 20.1 percent lower than a year earlier. On the index, 100 is "average” home-sales activity.

"Our members are telling us that more buyers are looking at homes but are slow in signing contracts, and that’s contributing to the weakness in pending home sales,” says NAR President Richard F. Gaylord, a broker in Long Beach, Calif.,

Additional costs in many markets are hindering a recovery, Gaylord said.

"In many cases buyers are waiting for greater access to affordable credit, especially in higher cost areas, but some are disappointed with what appears to be unnecessarily restrictive lending requirements.”

Existing-home sales are forecast to rise from an annual pace of 4.95 million in the first quarter to 5.82 million in the fourth quarter of 2008.

For all of 2008, existing-home sales are likely to total 5.39 million, and then rise 6.1 percent to 5.72 million next year.

"Although more than half of local markets are expected to see price growth this year, the aggregate existing-home price will decline 2.4 percent in 2008, driven by a relatively few markets that are very oversupplied,” Yun said.

The median price is forecast at $213,700 this year, rising 4.1 percent to $222,600 in 2009.

Anonymous said...

YES!





The music has stopped here! RE has turned ugly! Tinfoil hat is secure, assume crash position! Brace, brace, brace...

Anonymous said...

s/town/city/
s/Homes/Crappy Soviet-Era Flats/

Otherwise correct.

Anonymous said...

Hey Canadian brothers, as recession is knocking your door, continue to pump millions more of illiterate immigrants into your country, so they can depress overall wages, and skyrocket your taxes with expensive social services plus the usual overbreeding of six babies minimum per household. It's just the beginning; it'll get a lot worse:

OTTAWA — General Motors of Canada interrupted labor contract negotiations on Monday to announce the closing of a plant that makes automatic transmissions and has 1,400 employees.

It will be the first time since 1919 that the city, which historically was Canada’s automotive capital, will be without a G.M.-owned plant. The withdrawal by G.M. comes on top of the shutdown of some Ford operations in Windsor and employee reductions at a large Chrysler plant that builds minivans for that company as well as Volkswagen.

Anonymous said...

Total Ponzi

Anonymous said...

In Miami we now have 16 years of supply in overpriced condos. RE agents, mortgage brokers and specuvestors are on Food Stamps. The only ones really profiting now are lawyers. Failed specuvestors are sueing developers to get their 20% downpayments back.
What a country, what an economy!

BKS said...

No. I'm in Lancaster County, PA. People still farm here. We even have blue collar jobs. Maybe a very tiny housing bubble, but still very affordable relative to surrounding areas.

Amish girl

Anonymous said...

There are 25 Fotune 500 companies headquartered within 30 miles of where I live. None of them in the r/e industry. Which probably explains why the housing bust has been almost insignificant to the local economy.

Anonymous said...

keith, that's pretty funny.

Anonymous said...

anonymous: "There are 25 Fotune 500 companies [here]. ... which explains is probably why the housing bust [hasn't touched us]."

Detroit, MI (cars) and Bethlehem, PA (steel) used to think they were untouchable too!

So, the higher you rise, the farther you fall.

And my grandmother is finally understanding that my sister's windfall, when she sold her house, was part of a larger inflationary trend that is now making it unaffordable to heat her house.

And it wasn't too long ago that she saw price inflation in housing as profitible; now she's seeing the reality and just bought her heating oil at $4.29 a gallon and "before it gets to $5.00."

Anonymous said...

BKS said...
No. I'm in Lancaster County, PA. People still farm here. We even have blue collar jobs. Maybe a very tiny housing bubble, but still very affordable relative to surrounding areas.

Amish girl
============================

Same here in southern York County, Pa. If there were a main occupation around here it would probably alternate between watching grass grow, and watching paint dry!

Always remember HPer’s, not everywhere is bubble land!

Anonymous said...

That Hurt! said...
anonymous: "There are 25 Fotune 500 companies [here]. ... which explains is probably why the housing bust [hasn't touched us]."

Detroit, MI (cars) and Bethlehem, PA (steel) used to think they were untouchable too!

So, the higher you rise, the farther you fall.
============================

Ask anyone in Baltimore! The Bethlehem Steel plant at Sparrows Point used to rule the east end of the city. The plant had it's own huge multiple expressway exits just to get the iron/steelworkers in and out on a daily basis.

Now, it’s a giant rusting, miles-long graveyard. An empty, dead carcass of a behemoth dating back to an earlier age.

If you could go back to the 60/70's and tell the average worker there that he would live to see his gigantic workplace turn into vacant emptiness, he would think you were beyond crazy. Sparrows Point was just THAT big and powerful in its day!

Anonymous said...

that hurt and stukc in pa don't have very good comprehension skills. the question was

Was (as in past tense) your town's major industry and income driver these past (as in before now) few years "Buying and Selling Homes from Each Other at Higher and Higher Prices"?

It wasn't what do you predict will happen in 50 years.

Anonymous said...

This is nothing new in Phoenix. Growth meaning building more and more homes, roads, freeways, retail and commerical centers has been the driving force behind the economy for at least the last 25-30 years.

Anonymous said...

Umm...that is a big yes. I live in Fresno California. The median household income in my town was $33k in 2000. the median home price was 110k. now, the median income is a whopping $36k and the median home price is $260k down from a high of like $310k two years ago.

look at the 10 year graph, and just laugh, i do all the time!!!

http://www.zillow.com/real-estate/CA-Fresno-affordability
http://tinyurl.com/3nk65f

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah, there is absolutely no industry here except farming, and no big companies have come to fresno....pure bubble here, and now its just a matter of time until all that HELOC money disappears from the local economy.

Anonymous said...

I've been past the Bethlehem Steel Plant in Sparrow Pt, Baltimore. It was HUGE!!!

Devestment said...

Yea baby. I sold it all in the boom!

Furniture, lamps, you name it!

All to REIC interests and folks with cash out financing.

Today though is a different story…

No business and high expenses.

I remember the good ole days when realtors in short skirts came into my shop making low ball offers.

No more.

Anonymous said...

"Now, it’s a giant rusting, miles-long graveyard. An empty, dead carcass of a behemoth dating back to an earlier age."

Thank you NAFTA, CAFTA and William Jefferson Clintonian. Also a special thanks goes to all you illegal alien mexican felon invaders.

Your time is upon you.

Outsource Washington DC to India.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely, but the land prep is still going on for another couple thousand homes. Bulldozers and paving are still around starting developments up to the point of streets. Even if there is a turn around, my area will be flooded with new houses competing with used ones.

Been in my house 17 years, paid off mortgage, my taxes are capped. I'll just ride it out. I'm still way ahead.

Curiously new strip malls are in full swing. Recntly opened a new Lowes which is totally dead.

Disgruntled Baby Boomer

Anonymous said...

No. I'm in Lancaster County, PA. People still farm here. We even have blue collar jobs. Maybe a very tiny housing bubble, but still very affordable relative to surrounding areas.

Amish girl


You do realize that Obama hates your type, right?

Anonymous said...

"that hurt and stukc in pa don't have very good comprehension skills. the question was"
....
"It wasn't what do you predict will happen in 50 years."

I was thinking the same thing when I read the responses from that hurt and stuck in pa.

One thing I've noticed with HPers - post one thought at a time so they can keep up...Keith has even made comments about the average attention span, etc. of visitors here.

Anonymous said...

Davenport, FL

Land of the British Invasion of 2005. God, those Brits love their stucco shit boxes. Thousands were bought by the Brits (20 minutes to Disney) and utilized as Short Term Rentals.

I know of 80 in forclosure, there are 100's and 100's more.

What a waste!

Anonymous said...

Davenport, FL

Land of the British Invasion of 2005. God, those Brits love their stucco shit boxes. Thousands were bought by the Brits (20 minutes to Disney) and utilized as Short Term Rentals.

I know of 80 in forclosure, there are 100's and 100's more.

What a waste!



Ahhhh, yes. Davenport.
Was there in January.
Mile after mile of new or slightly unfinished development. All vacant. They seemed to define 'slapped up sh1t boxes' with lipstick painted on. And stupid arse foreigners were buying that crap up in 2004/2005. Not any more.

Anonymous said...

Frank@Scottsdale-Sucks.com said...
Amway Real Estate?

Actually I'm surprised we never saw that come about!! Primerica insurance is an MLM so why no real estate MLM? Unless that's next in their bag of cons and tricks now that the commission is gone.

Survey Said...

Come on Frank you need to know more about your favorite town.

Noveau Riche University is based right in Snotsdale. R.E. Investing & Education direct sales (aka MLM) You know...the one "Casey" attended! LOL

Anonymous said...

"In many cases buyers are waiting for greater access to affordable credit, especially in higher cost areas, but some are disappointed with what appears to be unnecessarily restrictive lending requirements.”

Yun is so funny - I don't know anyone waiting for access to credit - mostly I only know people waiting for affordable prices

Noprogram said...

Hell yeah. Practically every town in New Zealand has been the perfect breeding ground for the effervescent sunbed orange house hustlers, low IQ Brit immigrant flippers, clueless local get riche quick, insurance salesmen turned ’finance professionals’, wannabe slumlords with their infestment portfolios etc.

The whole scamming freak show of morons, middlemen and polyester suited players with plastic personalities gaming the system for all it was worth.

A fetid pool of scum that has perpetuated the depletion of investment capital for productive businesses, collapsed manufacturing, and replaced it with a foreign debt laden ‘ponzi-perpetual’ motion machine of financial magic for short term benefit of the few and inflation, bloated trade deficit and decimated economy for the rest. All under the Government and Central banks watch of course; being net beneficiaries of the whole scam they didn’t complain too loud while they gorged on the proceeds and pumped up the printing presses. Currently making feeble excuses, dismissing the truth and or deploying the smoke and mirrors…..the usual story.