Houses down.
Oil down.
Gold down.
Corn down.
Wheat down.
Used autos down.
Everything down.
Hmmm...
May you live in interesting times...
August 20, 2008
Jim Cramer on deflation. Anyone got whiplash yet?
So, if you were gonna 'buy' a falling knife (oops, I mean a house) with debt, what would you do? Mortgage broker? Bank? e-Loan? LendingTree? Pray?
One day, even HP'ers, bitter renters, bubble sitters and screwed homedebtors will "buy" another house.
The lucky ones will pay cash. The rest will need to take out a mortgage.
So, let's start talking about that day. It will come.
How will you go about getting the best rate on a mortgage, in a post-housing-crash world?
Now that we know mortgage brokers are crooks interested in earning the highest commission they can, while getting you to overpay for a loan, that one is a bit suspect.
LendingTree I hear earns their money by selling your info to lenders. Just another company who could care less about you.
Bankrate earns their money from ads from lenders.
And your local bank overcharges, Countrywide is toxic, DiTech is GMAC, and this whole mortgage business is just a mess.
So, what to do, when the day comes that you want to reach out and catch a knife?
Where are we?
Depends on who you are I guess...
* Where are realtors and REIC?
* Where are upside-down homedebtors and failed flippers?
* Where is America? Where is the UK? Where is Spain? Where is Ireland?
Three months free rent. iPods. And a market in freefall. Welcome to Phoenix, where they can't give homes away, and they can't rent them out either
So what happens to a town when the industry that makes up 40% of its economy implodes in historic fashion?
What happens when hundreds of thousands of illegals who built the unwanted homes pack up and go home, and tens of thousands of realtors, mortgage brokers, appraisers, builders and other REIC lose their jobs?
What happens when the mortgage fraud is shut down?
What happens when home after home after home after home is empty and unwanted?
What happens when home prices crash yet another 22% in 12 months and rents drop another 9% year over year?
This is what happens. And no, year-round-golf and pro athletes didn't matter.
Apartments offering freebies, other deals
Renters rejoice - Apartment owners are dangling freebies in front of new tenants who sign 12-month leases.
One company, Mark Taylor, is even going so far as to offer a free iPod, a $25 iPod tunes gift card and two months of free rent to new tenants who lease any apartment in its 34 Valley complexes, including eight in Chandler, four in Tempe, four in Ahwatukee and two in Gilbert.
Renters can thank the struggling real-estate market and its deflated housing prices, increased foreclosure rates and depressed rents on single-family homes, condominiums and apartments. Add to that the condominium-conversion flop, which has led to condos reverting to rental apartments.
"This is a great time to be a renter," said Pete TeKampke, a commercial real-estate broker and board member of the Arizona Multihousing Association.
HousingPANIC Quote of the Day
"I am sick and tired of the president of the United States embarrassing me"
- Jack Cafferty, CNN, August 2008
Side note - I'm sick and tired of having an intellectually stunted dumb guy as president
But wait America, there's one more on the way...
John McCain graduated 894th in a class of 899 at the Naval Academy at Annapolis. His father and grandfather were four star admirals in the Navy. Some have suggested that might have played a role in McCain being admitted. His academic record was awful. And it shows over and over again whenever McCain is called upon to think on his feet.
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