Housing Blogs

The Voice of San Diego reports from California. “In the sharpest price drops recorded since two economists developed their popular method to track housing prices in the 1980s, local home prices declined a steep 16.8 percent from a year earlier and 21 percent from the peak in November 2005, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index. The index for January, released Tuesday, marked the fourth straight month of yearly double-digit plunges for local prices.”
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Apparently, the accounting firms never learn. From Vikas Bajaj in the NYT:In a sweeping accusation against one of the country’s largest accounting firms, an investigator released a report on Wednesday that said “improper and imprudent practices” by a once high-flying mortgage company were condoned and enabled by its auditors….
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Home Price Index in US Fell Record 10.7% in January, Shiller Survey Says …
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For all the Goodfellas, Babes and Wiseguys, this thread remains at the top for ‘Open Discussion’, anytime anywhere, outside the ‘kool-aid drinkers’ club. What’s goin on with Real Estate or financial news in your boro, hood or head. …
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Some of you have wondered from time to time what all the employment casualties of the credit and housing busts are going to do next.This ought to keep you up at night:NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — When Heidi Sadowsky quit the finance sector, she abandoned a job market on the verge of collapse for one that may be air-tight: nursing….
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Read full story for latest details.
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Housing prices sharply declining in California. (Housing Panic)Interview with Lawrence Yun. (Hot Property) Some people are looking for alternatives to standard real estate agents. …
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Market Watch has the details on the new home sales report and it doesn’t look pretty (lots more at Calculated Risk).  While sales are off 30% year-over-year we still have 10 months worth of new inventory, the highest since 1981.  On the bright side we’re slowly cutting in to excess inventory which is an important step in pulling out of this ridiculous tail spin.
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1)      Town of Taos Special Council meeting – amended agenda attached, including time change to 2:30 p.m., tomorrow, Thursday, 3/27/08, Council Chambers, Civic Plaza Drive.  See attached.
 
2)      Added Taos Marketing News Coverage –
 

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Taos Center for the Arts

March 26, 2008

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The federal government is keeping Bear Stearns out of bankruptcy. Are you next?
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Transcript of Sen. John McCain’s March 25 speech on housing, as prepared for delivery, from www.johnmccain.com.

"Thank you for joining me here today. I just returned from a trip overseas that included assessing the state of affairs in Iraq, the Middle East, and Europe. I will have more to say on those important issues in the days and weeks to come.

While I was traveling overseas, our financial markets experienced another round of upheaval. This market turmoil leaves many Americans feeling both concerned and angry. People see the value of their homes fall at the same time that the price of gasoline and food is rising. Already-tight household budgets are getting tighter. A lot of Americans read the headlines about credit crunches and liquidity crises and ask: ‘How did we get here?’ In the end, the motivation and behaviors that caused the current crisis are not terribly complicated, even though the alphabet soup of financial instruments is complex. The past decade witnessed the largest increase in home ownership in the past 50 years. Home ownership is part of the American dream, and we want as many Americans as possible to be able to afford their own home. But in the process of a huge, and largely positive, upturn in home construction and ownership, a housing bubble was created."…
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Transcript of Sen. John McCain’s March 25 speech on housing, as prepared for delivery, from www.johnmccain.com.

"Thank you for joining me here today. I just returned from a trip
overseas that included assessing the state of affairs in Iraq, the
Middle East, and Europe. I will have more to say on those important
issues in the days and weeks to come.

"While I was traveling overseas, our financial markets experienced
another round of upheaval. This market turmoil leaves many Americans feeling both
concerned and angry. People see the value of their homes fall at the
same time that the price of gasoline and food is rising. Already tight
household budgets are getting tighter. A lot of Americans read the
headlines about credit crunches and liquidity crises and ask: "How did
we get here?" In the end, the motivation and behaviors that caused the
current crisis are not terribly complicated, even though the alphabet
soup of financial instruments is complex. The past decade witnessed the
largest increase in home ownership in the past 50 years. Home ownership
is part of the American dream, and we want as many Americans as
possible to be able to afford their own home. But in the process of a
huge, and largely positive, upturn in home construction and ownership,
a housing bubble was created."…
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A transcript of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s speech on housing and the economy, delivered March 24 in Philadelphia. The transcript, from www.hillaryclinton.com, is of her remarks as prepared for delivery.

"Thank you. Thank you. It’s great to be back here at Penn and in
Philadelphia. I remember giving the commencement address here some
years ago and I always had that image of the beauty of this campus and,
of course, its extraordinary reputation. And I’m delighted to have a
chance to be here with you to talk about an issue that is critical not
only to Pennsylvania but to our country.
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Important speech from the Treasury Secretary (pictured) today: "Housing prices need to fall further to permit shell-shocked housing markets to stabilize and policy-makers should not interfere with that process, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Wednesday."
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From the Bend Bulletin:With 2008 housing prices in Bend wavering — down from a year ago, but rising from January to February — and lending standards tightening, there’s both good news and bad news for prospective homebuyers in Bend, according to local real estate and mortgage professionals.Tom Greene, the president of the Central Oregon Association of Realtors, said pending sales for the month of March are up significantly, driven by low interest rates, lots of inventory and a realization that the current buyer’s market won’t last forever….
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The Great Falls Tribune reports from Montana. “Condo developments can be found across Great Falls, ranging in both price and age. Calvin Scott, president of the Northwest Montana Association of Realtors in Kalispell and who serves on federal and state housing boards and committees, says Montana is in the process of catching up with the rest of the nation in terms of condo developments and ownership.”
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Former Empire State Development Corp chairman Pat Foye is sure to keep things moving when he emcees the annual gala for the Association for a Better Long Island and the Commercial Industrial Brokers Society on April 3.
At least that’s how ABLI’s Ed Blumenfeld thinks Foye will run the show at Carlyle on the Green in Bethpage State Park. “We may be done before the ice melts in our drinks,” Blumenfeld said.
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Not everyone is thrilled with the Town of Huntington’s new law that gives “expedited review” of permits to builders with approved apprentice programs.
The Long Island/Metro Associated Builders and Contractors trade organization claim the law and other similar legislation is illegal because it could block companies that don’t have apprenticeships. The trade group has sent a letter to their members urging them to protest the new law.
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The slow food movement continues.
Aimed at changing the way people eat and shop, Slow Food International is a global organization that promotes locally produced, natural foods instead of processed fast food.
On Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., the Cinema Arts Centre and Slow Food Huntington is presenting the film “King Corn”, an eye-opening documentary about the processed corn products running rampant through our collective diets….
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