HousingPANIC message to realtors and mortgage brokers on commission: WE WON'T BE FOOLED AGAIN YOU BASTARDS!!!

And then Jim Cramer got religion, gave up, and told sheeple to walk away from their homes as housing moves to crisis stage

Home prices crashing

2/28 timebomb about to blow

Housing falling apart nationwide

"Dramatic decline in home values" expected

The end is here. Now panic sets in.

hattip (again!) to housingdoom - great work

HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day

Still believe what the government, NAR, ratings agencies, analysts, REIC and MSM tell you now?

Talking Points for NAR's "Buy Now" Campaign - November 2006

Conditions are now ideal for buyers. Interest rates are comparable to 40-year lows, and inventories are higher than they have been in decades. Consumers have exceptional choice. But these conditions may not last. August pending home sales rose 4.5 percent, and prices are expected to rise again next year. Even the vice chairman of the Federal Reserve says that the housing market outlook is improving.

Real estate is an outstanding investment. House values rose 88 percent on a national average over the past decade. The number of U.S. households is expected to increase 15 percent during the next decade, creating a continued high demand for housing.

Conditions are improving for sellers. This year will be the third-best on record, and prices are expected to rise modestly next year.

The campaign opens on Friday, November 3, 2006, with full-page advertisements in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today, and will run Sunday, November 5 in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Chicago Tribune. It will run in the same six newspapers again on the weekend of November 12.

This is the beginning of a campaign that will also include two new network television and radio ads, to begin airing in January 2007 as part of NAR's $40 million Public Awareness Campaign.

It's easy to feel richer when things you own have "soared" in price. But are you? Welcome to the world of inflation and dollar depreciation

It's a classic trait during the early stages of inflation that people feel rich as the perceived value of their assets denominated in their currency shoots up (stocks, houses, art, etc)

But then they slowly come to realize that they're indeed not rich, as the buying power of their currency ain't what it used to be. But this takes some time to sink in, especially since they're feeling so rich and flush with cash - who cares if it costs more to go out - my house doubled in value! And ESPECIALLY if the government who reports the inflation data has completely cooked the books.

So here's a standard night in London. $16 for two pints, and $22 for a burger and chips. Then to a movie, which is $20 for the ticket, $10 for the popcorn and $8 for a coke. Times two that's $152 for a cheap night out.

Remember when $152 for beer, burgers and a flick would have seemed insane? $152 used to be a four-course at Ruth's Chris folks. Like just a few years ago.

The dollar is quickly becoming worthless. And 99% of Americans don't think it effects them, and hey great news the Dow was up 1% last week!

Oh, won't they be in for a surprise...

The government is reporting 2.7% inflation. Anyone think that prices are only up 2.7% vs. last year? Sure, the price of homes and rents are crashing, but what about everything else? Want another hint? Just check out the price of corn, or any other commodity.

2.7% ain't even close folks. Ain't even close.

A message from HousingPANIC to out of control homebuilders and Desperate Homedebtors

Homebuilders: Keep building. Keep adding inventory to the fire. Keep pumping out houses nobody wants, nobody can afford and nobody can get financing for anymore.

Desperate Homedebtors: Keep asking for prices that no sane person would pay. Keep holding out for that price you "deserve". Keep hoping against hope. Keep reading realtor blogs.

Why, you ask, would HP ask such a thing?

Because unsold and unwanted housing inventory will continue to build and build and build and build and build and build and build and build and build and build some more...

And then home prices will crash back to the level where the fundamentals will make sense again.

Toxic buildup in slumping housing market - Home builders are fighting the shrinking demand ... by adding more supply

CENTRAL VALLEY, Calif. - How do you deal with excessive supply? Add more supply!

Sounds like a head scratcher, but that’s exactly what home builders are doing.

The housing market hasn’t seen any light at the end of the tunnel: Home builders have built too many homes and they've had too many cancellations. There are too many existing homes on the market competing with them, and now here come the foreclosures adding to supply.

Though homes don’t sell, home builders are building fast in some places.

You might wonder why home builders would dig larger holes for themselves.

Standard Pacific won't comment for the story, saying the company is in the quiet period before posting earnings. But Ara Hovnanian, CEO of home builder Hovnanian Enterprise said recently that building Spec homes is about the only way to liquidate land these days.

"It's easier to sell land by popping a house on it than it is to just sell land because there are just not many buyers out there," he said.

HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day

Does it surprise you how clueless and unaware your fellow Americans are?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Although existing homes are selling at their slowest pace in four years, most Americans are confident their homes are worth more now than they were a year ago, according to a survey released on Thursday.

A great post by HP'er Spectre of Deflation - Like Lambs to the Slaughter

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

It's almost like they planned the whole thing.

1. Greenspam tells people they need to go with the new and exciting exotic stuff instead of the old boring conventional mortgage, and the sheeple go for it. CHECK!

2. The sheeple are led to believe that debt is wealth by borrowing against their homes. Nobody bothers to tell them, and they are too stupid to know, that should the price of the home go down the debt still remains and the so called housing wealth is voporized. CHECK!

3. Meanwhile in the shadows, we have the banking lobby writing the new bankruptcy law making it much harder, if not impossible, for consumers to get a second chance thereby making them life long debt slaves. CHECK!

4. Folks, we have been hosed. The greatest transfer of wealth the world has ever seen. CHECK!

HP REPOST: A&E Programming Note: "Flip This House" name change. Now "Scam This Country"

I've gotten tons of email and posts today about the A&E Flip This House scam, because yahoo and the AP finally ran a story (weeks later). So here's the repost. HP also got mentioned in the Kansas City Star on this subject. Nice to see the MSM chasing their tail (and the blogs).

____________________________

I'm sorry. I thought today was May 16. I didn't realize it was HousingPANIC Christmas! The gifts just keep coming!

Fox News Breaks "Flip This House" Case

If you ever wanted to know whether the real estate investors who say they make a lot of money are telling the truth or not, don't expect to learn it by watching A&E's "Flip This House."

In a stunning investigative report, Fox News Atlanta actually did their homework and found out that Sam Leccima, one of the 'stars' of the popular Fix/Flip weekly show had been involved in staging phony transactions, performing shoddy renovations, and, in the most bizarre bit of fakery, planting and un-planting landscaping for the cameras.

Mr. Leccima, when asked about the allegations, responded, "It's a television show."

Fox Atlanta also poked fun at A&E for not even bothering to check that Mr. Leccima had recently had his real estate license revoked by the Georgia real estate commission, before the show began airing, and now may be under investigation by the Georgia Attorney General for securities issues.

Vegas: Flippers flop - "There's going to be a lot of depression, a lot of anger. A lot drinking, gambling, and desperate stuff going on"

Anyone out there still believe we're not crashing? Anyone believe those lying realtors in Phoenix and Vegas and Miami and DC and San Diego and ...? Anyone believe that the worldwide debt bubble and housing crash won't affect your town too?

Think again.

Classic Ponzi scheme folks. Classic financial mania. And classically coming to a natural end. Hat-tip to all the HP'ers who sent this yahoo.com homepage story in today... Man the MSM is becoming more HP every day...

Flippers flop as housing market cools

In the rampant real estate speculation of the Las Vegas valley three years ago, people lined up outside Pulte Homes sales offices overnight as if they were waiting for the release of the latest video game console or hot new movie.

Having seen his house in an upscale part of suburban Henderson, Nev. jump $200,000 in value in 18 months, Sam Schwartz felt he couldn't miss any part of the boom.

He spent the night in the parking lot with TV, snacks and drinks, along with about a hundred other people.

Schwartz intended to buy a new home and then quickly sell it within the year — for a huge profit. Most people waiting were flippers just like him, he said.

"We had seen real evidence of what was possible in this crazy, inflated market, and we just wanted to get a piece of that investment equity," Schwartz said.

But when home prices unexpectedly took a backward step, many investors seeking to cash in quickly were left "upside-down," or owing more on their mortgages than what their homes were worth.

The result was a glut of homes in the marketplace, communities spotted with empty houses and for sale signs — and a foreclosure rate in Nevada that leads the nation as owners unable to sell became saddled with unbearable debt payments.

In Clark County, which encompasses Las Vegas, one of every 30 homes began the process toward foreclosure last year.

The day Schwartz reserved his home, the sales staff was raising prices $20,000 after every fifth buyer came inside. The $500,000 house he and his wife were eyeing had shot up to $540,000 by the time they sat down. Somehow, it still seemed like a good deal.

"Everybody was thinking, 'Hey it's not the end of the world, because the homes across town are selling for $720,000. We have almost $200,000 in equity in the house and it isn't even built yet,'" Schwartz said.

He and his wife put down $5,000 on a home that would end up costing $560,000 with upgrades.
While the Schwartzes were able to cancel before closing on a property that suddenly was worth only $490,000 — and recoup their deposit on a legal technicality — others were less fortunate.

Schwartz, a 44-year-old life coach, said he "narrowly escaped financial disaster." But the effects of the housing crunch would reverberate for years, he said, something he expects to see among the clients he coaches to succeed in their lives and careers.

"There's going to be a lot of depression, a lot of anger. A lot drinking, gambling, and desperate stuff going on."

HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day

What's the stupidest thing you saw someone do during the Late Great Housing Mania?

England home buyers lose their flipping minds - 125% mortgages and "speed viewings creating an atmosphere of panic"

Why does London feel like Phoenix and Miami circa Fall 2005? You remember, those now-hilarious days where sheeple stood in lines for new condos, where multiple bids would come in on a property's first day, and where real estate clerks were telling folks that "it's different this time"

Oh, man, that seems like a million years ago. For the US. But in London, our "blow-off top" is here.

And we all know how it ends...

Here's just two proofs of housing-obsessed England losing all touch with reality:

1) The 125% mortgage - a recipe for disaster:

Want to buy but don't have a deposit? Here comes the 125 per cent mortgage - Now you can borrow beyond your property's value

First time buyers who have no deposit are being encouraged on to the housing ladder with the help of a new mortgage that allows them to borrow more than the price of the property.

Alliance and Leicester last week became the latest lender to offer a 125 per cent mortgage.

PlusMortgage works by offering a secured loan (the mortgage part) on up to 95 per cent of the value of the property and a further unsecured loan on up to a further 30 per cent of the value.

2) Speed Viewings hit London

From the Guardian (print only): Estate agents use new high-pressure tactic as shortage of homes sparks buyer frenzy

In place of conventional estate agent guided tours of properties, agents are encouraging vendors to open their doors for just one hour and invite potential buyers to view their home en masse. Such "mass viewings" are creating an atmosphere of panic among homebuyers.

A thread for desperate homedebtor-hamsters versus bubble sitters and bitter renters

Go ahead, get it out of your system.

Desperate homedebtor-hamsters please go on about how smart you are, how renters are poor, coupon-cutting, library-going losers in life, etc.

Bubble sitters and bitter renters - please share your stories of cashing it at the peak and riding out the storm. And try to help the Desperate homedebtor-hamsters (DHH's) understand the concept of saving and frugality, versus debt and excess.

Let's get it on. No swearing.