Housing Blogs

There are times when foreclosures make sense.  It can get an underwater borrower out of a difficult economic situation;  it can readjust the market price of a property  so that it can be purchased by someone who can afford it.  I have to question the sense of this scenario though:

In western New York, the city of Buffalo filed a lawsuit on Feb. 21 against 36 lenders — including big names like JPMorgan Chase and Countrywide Financial Countrywide Corp who were involved in 57 foreclosures that led to properties being abandoned and ultimately demolished by authorities.
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Original Source: housingdoom.com

From Bloomberg:
S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index Fell Record 10.7% in January
Home prices in 20 U.S. metropolitan areas fell in January by the most on record, a sign the housing recession is deepening, a private survey showed today.
The S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index dropped 10.7 percent from January 2007, after a 9 percent decrease in December. The gauge has fallen for 13 consecutive months.
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Original Source: njrereport.com

Yves at naked capitalism had a good post yesterday on the infamous Bear Stearns Ten Buck Rechuck, that I think needs repeating:According to Sorkin, the $2 price for Bear was the Fed’s and Treasury’s idea; JP Morgan was prepared to pay more, but they nixed the idea, saying they did not like the “optics” of the deal. The implication is that the officials overstepped their bounds. That is a pretty outrageous spin when the government is putting up taxpayer money. …
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This may make more sense if you’ve read this….
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.Video from our friends at the South OC Tracker.
There has been a lot of talk about the declining inventories. Inventory has been declining, and sales have been increasing, but prices have also been dropping because many of the sales are REOs going at “fire sale” prices. Increasing volume and decreasing prices is not the sign of a market recovery, it is a sign of market panic. Some lenders holding these REOs are trying to clear their books while there are still buyers to be found willing to pay our still-inflated prices. However, many lenders are not, and there is much more REO inventory out there than is widely known.
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Original Source: feeds.feedburner.com/IrvineHousingBlog

Please post off-topic ideas, links and Craigslist finds here.
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Original Source: thehousingbubbleblog.com

22 Midwood Drive, Florham Park NJ
Purchase Price: $800,000
Purchased: 7/21/2006
Current Asking Price: $599,000 (Short Sale - Lis Pendens Filed)
25% under 2006 purchase price
History
MLS# 2339326
Listed: 11/8/2006
Original List Price: $799,500
Reduced: $775,000
Days on Market: 60
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Original Source: njrereport.com

One thing about these firesales? The comps will be destroyed for years and years to come. One bad thing? Anyone who “owns” a house in the area now has a new comp.And just because it seems like a good deal today (comparing against the bubble high) doesn’t mean it’s a good deal. Just ask the buyers of pets.com stock as it headed down.Thanks Eric for the link..
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Click on the graphic to see the detailThanks to David at bubblemeter and …
Original Source: bp0.blogger.com

You’ll be amazed when it comes out at the 2009 Senate REIC Investigations what went on behind the scenes.Paulson and Bush will be gone by then, but what the investigators will find will be that the world financial system came within hours of falling apart, and that the multi-trillion dollar derivatives market almost exploded. …
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I thoroughly enjoyed reading the U-T’s article on the many investors going bust this past Sunday. One example of the typical REALTORS®/speculators that the U-T article featured were Robert and Yvonne Cromer. This next paragraph from the article is essential for understanding the REALTOR®-flipper-speculator mindset:…
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The National Association of Realtors released their numbers for February Existing Home Sales yesterday, but any correlation between the NAR’s analysis and the data is purely coincidental.  According to Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the NAR:
WASHINGTON, March 24, 2008 - Sales of existing homes increased in February and remain within a fairly stable range, according to the National Association of Realtors®.  …
Original Source: housingdoom.com

HP Poll Results:realtors are:…
Original Source: bp1.blogger.com

I’ve got some credit card debt that I’ve racked up over the last few months - nothing super-unmanageable, but I’d rather not have to pay it back.  Also, my home value has tanked, since I live in Orange County, CA.  I’m not planning on missing any mortgage payments, but I’d rather not pay it.  All told, we’re not anywhere near the $29 billion in debt you guaranteed to handle for JP Morgan now that they’ve taken over Bear Stearns; and since my name is P. Morgan I thought you’d be willing to throw me a little bone too.
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Original Source: feeds.feedburner.com/typepad

“The housing crash, currently in its infancy, will soon grow up into an economy killing monster that the Federal Reserve has no weapon strong enough to defeat”- Rob Blake, TheMortgageInsider.net, March 2008
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Original Source: housingpanic.blogspot.com

What is occurring right now is reminiscent of what occurred after the subprime worries of February of 2007 dissipated for a few months. During this time, a few high profile companies such as New Century Financial started showing problems in their subprime portfolios and caused the DOW to drop 415 points….
Original Source: feeds.feedburner.com/DrHousingBubble-HowILearnedToLoveSocal

No way this angry and ignorant old man is gonna be president. Too bad the GOP didn’t nominate a viable candidate. Still not too late.
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The following is a copy of a post I made back in November 2005 (nearly 2 1/2 years ago).  Pay close attention to what is supposed to happen next:
from Interest Only - Creative Financing or Harbinger of Deflation?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
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Original Source: www.socalbubble.com

From the WSJ: Foreclosure Rate Outpaces Sales by Lenders Foreclosures are occurring at the highest rate in decades — and as a result, lenders are acquiring homes faster than they can sell them off.Last year, sales of foreclosed homes rose just 4.4%, while the supply more than doubled, according to First American CoreLogic….This year, sales of homes owned by lenders will likely total 480,000 properties, or 10% of all sales of previously occupied homes this year, [Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Economy.com] estimates. …
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David Berson, the highly respected former Chief Economist at Fannie Mae, moved over to PMI to become its Chief Economist and Strategist. PMI just released their publication The Housing Mortgage Market Review, a timely publication given the swirl of information being released.

The U.S. economy, housing activity, and financial markets all deteriorated over the past
month, increasing the likelihood that the economy is in recession. While we expect the
downturn to be relatively short and mild, the odds of a more serious slump are rising.
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Original Source: matrix.millersamuel.com