The end of the world as they know it for realtors is now here: Ramen costs set to soar

Here's the bad news from South Korea - coming soon to America.

RamenPANIC is here!

The Lee Myung-bak administration has laid out a series of measures to fight inflation, including eliminating or reducing import duties on grain and oil products.Still, the price of ramen soared 12.8 percent from a month earlier while bread jumped 8.8 percent.

HousingPANIC Quote of the Day

"Realtors have to remember they work for us not the other way around. They will get paid what WE decide to pay them and right now good luck getting your 6%. You will get it from the uninformed but those days are numbered. People are sick and tired of getting ripped off."

- Anon poster on that hilarious realtor thread about charging 6%, March 2008

HousingPANIC EXCLUSIVE: Interview with publisher of the Ramen Noodles Blog

As a service to American Home Mortgage's former workers, and especially our out-of-work realtor and Desperate Homedebtor readers, this EXCLUSIVE HousingPANIC interview with Ed over at ramenramenramen:

HP: You're blog is wildly popular with ramen-eating-realtors looking for new ideas. Did you ever think ramen interest would soar while housing prices crashed?

RAMEN: Haha, I would've never linked ramen interest with housing prices, but now that you've written about it, I guess it makes sense. But besides the cheapie billion-packs-for-a-dollar kinds of ramen, there're also a lot of "upscale"instant ramen, usually found in Japanese/Asian stores that sell for $3 to over $5 bucks a bowl!

HP: Some realtors don't care about flavor, they just need the cheapest ramen they can find. What do you recommend?

RAMEN: The best choices are probably the familiar Top Ramen http://www.nissinfoods.com/topramen/ and Maruchan, which doesn't appear to have an English web site, but I know they have a large factory in Southern California because I happen to pass by it often! I think even Wal-Mart has their own private label brand of instant noodles. Other places to buy cheap instant noodles is in Chinese, Vietnamese, or Korean supermarkets.

Another web site that might be fun for your "ramen-eating-realtor" readers is "the Official Ramen Homepage" http://www.mattfischer.com/ramen/ which has tons of creative recipes using instant noodles. You can save money *and* have a good meal at the same time!

HP: For the realtor that does (pigs fly) sell a house, and wants to splurge on a ramen-feast, what tips could you offer?

RAMEN: If you go to a Japanese supermarket, you'll often find a good selection of "bowl" noodles (instant noodles in a styrofoam bowl. These are really popular in Japan, and some of them are really fancy. There are even bowl noodles modeled after the ramen in popular ramen houses across Japan!

Here's and old favorite http://www.ramenramenramen.net/2005/02/07/ramen-rating-15/ As you can see, some of these bowl ramen come with lots of ingredients, and even meat!

The meat in this bowl ramen was particularly good (and thick too! some bowl ramen have paper-thin slices of meat): http://www.ramenramenramen.net/?p=13

I just tried this one a few weeks ago. The list of ingredients is almost gourmet and ranges from green onions, ginger, and bamboo, to judas ear mushrooms! http://www.ramenramenramen.net/2007/07/13/ramen-rating-seabura-tonkotsu-ramen/

Or better yet, I recommend everyone who enjoys noodles to patronize a local ramen house. If all you've ever had was instant ramen, you'll be amazed at the difference!

HP: I see you sell a "ramen lapel pin" - do you think realtors will be allowed to wear this along with their Century21 or Re/Max lapel pins?

I don't see why not! Who knows, it might even be a good conversation starter that'll lead to a sale!

AN URGENT MESSAGE FOR ORANGE COUNTY REALTORS, MORTGAGE BROKERS AND HOMEDEBTORS

Local stores are running out of Ramen noodles!!!

Hurry - buy Ramen now while you still can. They're not making more Ramen you know. If you don't buy Ramen now, you may not be able to afford Ramen in the future.

Blown Mortgage has the scoop

For Keith: Any Correlation Between OC Ramen Sales and Latest Mortgage News?

A long day for your blogger here at BlownMortgage - how about a little levity? For our friends over at Housing Panic:

I just took the below photo tonight at my neighborhood Pavilions. I live in the heart of Orange County. Any correlation between the run on Ramen and the recent events in the mortgage industry? I mean our whole county is based on lending the folly of real estate according to Slate - there has to be something to it … RIGHT???!?!

And this from the Slate article on why the run on Ramen:

It's not entirely surprising that Irvine is a center of reckless real estate lending and borrowing. It's a classic industry cluster of the type seen in areas that lack natural resources. Detroit's auto manufacturers encouraged the local growth of auto parts suppliers, companies that finance auto purchases and publications that cover the auto industry.

In Silicon Valley in the 1990s, the people who created dot-com companies were co-located with the venture capitalists who funded them, the investment bankers and brokers who helped take them public and with many of the investors who got killed when the NASDAQ tanked. Irvine may have built up a diversified economy, but it remains a company town -- one whose fortunes are highly leveraged to the highly leveraged real estate industry.

For our realtor troll friends: HousingPANIC welcomes ramenramenramen.net to the blog

For our ramen-eating realtor troll friends, I've added the Ramen Blog to the HP blogroll. You'll find all kinds of (I guess) delicious ramen recipes, ramen reviews, current ramen issues and events, and a general all-things-ramen celebration.

We here at HP want to help you, now that your former discredited profession has imploded. Life is too short for Chicken Flavored Ramen every night. Spice it up - there's so much more out there. And good luck with the job search.

Bon Appetite!

One neat thing about Shimadaya’s ramen is that there are three flavor packets! There’s a packet of soup base, a packet of seasoning oil, and a pack of spices. Those of you who enjoy reading ingredients will find that there’s both chicken extract and chicken extract powder, two kinds of fat (the seasoning oil is basically a mixture of chicken fat and pork fat), and two helpings of MSG (in the soup base as well as in the “spices”). Yum!

If (choke, cough) you were a REALTOR (gag) and wrote about market conditions for Realty Times, what would you say (to drive commissions)?

Serious question. Here's my serious answer for the dimwits out there still trying to slog dead houses:

Real Estate Conditions - Phoenix, Arizona - Reported by your REALTOR, HousingPANIC:


An epic housing collapse is upon us, and Phoenix is the epicenter of this meltdown. If you own a home, I highly recommend getting it on the market, NOW, and price it to sell on day one - in other words, "drama pricing" and undercut your neighbors. Your goal should be to get out of that house ASAP, as it's only going to get worse from here on out, with skyrocketing inventory, desperate new homebuilders, and a total collapse in demand. This downturn will last years.

If you are in the market to buy a home, I'll help you with lowball offers until we get the house you want at a fair price. What's a fair price in this market? Your monthly payments should be less than what the house could generate in rent. And you should be thinking 30% - 50% off of peak pricing today. Sellers have never been this desperate, ever. There are foreclosures all over the city, and homeowners just want out.

Popcorn, Ramen or Kool-Aid - which one will you be having?

Yum! Popcorn!

HP'ers knowing what was coming, now settling in for the show. And oh, what a show it will be.

Ramen Again?

Real estate clerks wondering where everyone went, wishing they had prepared for a rainy day

Cheery Flavor Please!

Desperate Homedebtors, believing the hype, believing their real estate clerk, believing that it was different this time, and believing that the fundamentals didn't matter

A HousingPANIC question for the NAR and ramen eating realtors of America

Why aren't you yelling as loud as you can for homedebtors to lower their prices now, fast and hard?

This "we've hit bottom" spin you've gone to lately is actually hurting you. But I guess you're too dumb to see that.

Don't you see that's what it's gonna take for you to eat again?

New home prices are crashing - and the homebuilders are in control there, not you. Have no worries, those prices will keep coming down and down and down.

But desperate homedebtors who want to sell in a market with record inventory and rapidly slowing demand are gonna have to finally get the message that 5%, 10%, 15% price cuts from peak ain't gonna move the dead wood.

It's time for "drama pricing". It's time for you and desperate homedebtors to understand the relationship between supply, demand and pricing. And it's time for you to pull your head out of your asses, tell the truth, and come out with a coherent and believable message.

Get the word out. It's the price stupid. And get off the ramen. Hamburger helper could be yours!

Ramen Eaters continue to blame the messenger - watch the goobers take on 60 minutes here

Frankly, I feel sorry for the ramen eaters. You can tell they're getting to the breaking point now.

This realtor defense comes from a realtor marketing firm. I guess they're getting hungry too. Got Ramen?

Pretend you're a realtor or the new Chief Economist of the NAR and tell us why there's no housing crash underway

Oh, man this will be good.

Have at it.

60 Minutes report on the NAR's MLS monopoly and the dinosaur "six percenter" realtors (real estate clerks)

Here's the 60 Minutes video link.

Goodbye 6%. Anyone think realtors deserve $30,000 on a $500,000 house? Try $5,000. Or $500. And hello Redfin.

The only value real estate clerks added was getting the house on the MLS. If a discounter can do that, or if the MLS can get disintermediated itself (google?), then there is NO reason to pay a realtor a percentage. Maybe an hourly wage for showing houses, but that's about it.

Victory will be ours. 1.2 million realtors around the US, sorry to say, but you're dinosaurs, and the game is over.

Go find new work.

What exactly are HousingPANIC trolls hoping to accomplish?

Do they think trolling HP will help get people to buy houses again, regardless of the crash underway?

Perhaps they're Desperate Homedebtors who think if all this housing bubble chatter nonsense would stop, they could get right back to their annual mortgage equity withdrawals?

Maybe they're just striking out in anger at the messenger, since Charles Ponzi isn't around to take their call?

Or in their heart of hearts do these ramen-eating mortgage brokers and realtors truly believe the housing crash will just blow over, and a return to glorious commission-filled days is just around the corner?

I just don't get it.

Tell you what, HP trolls - tell us why you come to HP to spew your lies and anger. Help us understand the mind of a troll. And oh, one word of advice.

Rent.

HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day

Is the REALTOR® profession now totally and forever DISCREDITED®?

File under you can't make this stuff up - Casey at iamfacingforeclosure.com is having a "casey-a-thon" to raise $200. He has no money left.

Come on HP'ers, I know most of you think the kid is scum, I know you think he helped inflate (and crash) the housing market, but DAMN, the kid is entertaining. I love that trainwreck/blog, and the housing crash wouldn't be the same without it, or Casey.

I can't even imagine what it's like for someone to have $2.4 million in debt and not $1 to his name to eat, drink jamba juice or god forbid make a payment on the debt (anyone think IndyMac holds Casey's liar's loans?).

If you give a donation, even $1, in keeping with the HP mantra, let him know it's only to be spent on ramen noodles.

Chicken flavor.

Open thread to make fun of mortgage brokers and real estate clerks

By popular demand... Fun on a Friday...

Go ahead, dance on their graves, get it out of your system, keep it clean

HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day

At this point in the meltdown, should we feel sorry for real estate clerks (formerly known as REALTORS®)?

Why do ramen eating real estate clerks and desperate homedebtors troll HousingPANIC?

I know out-of-work realtors have nothing to do these days (hint - work on that resume!), and I know desperate homedebtors blame the bubble blogs in part for the end of the Great American Housing Ponzi Scheme, but man, give it a rest folks. Go outside, enjoy some fresh air, and take your anger out on the person who's really responsible for your dire straits.

Yourself.

Meanwhile, Bubble Sitters, I see that HSBC (yes, of $11 billion subprime write-off fame) is offering 6% interest on your sold-at-the-peak loot through April. Nice monthly cash flow bonus I'd say on that housing loot sitting in your bank accounts. Just don't put more than the FDIC max $100,000 in any one account. You just never know...

Bitter Renters - with all the money you're saving per month renting that beautiful new home vs. owning (oops, "renting money from a bank"), I'd recommend you take a look at spending some time this summer in Japan, where the yen is still artificially low (for a few more months at least).

And for the over-leveraged, over-spending, no-money-left-after-that-massive-upwardly-adjusting-mortgage-payment-is-made-on-your-rapidly-depreciating-home Desperate Homedebtors, I hear Safeway is running another special on ramen noodles this weekend. Although you'll have to beat "why don't I have any listings" Greg Swann there to get the best flavors.

Yum! Beef ramen!