Housing Blogs

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The Monterey County Herald reports from California. “The state Department of Real Estate has accused a local broker and his former partner of fraud in connection with Fresno’s controversial and long-delayed Running Horse Golf and Country Club. Tom O’Meara of Carmel and Scott Webb of Fresno are accused of fraudulently soliciting more than $6 million in loans from 15 people, many of them Monterey Peninsula residents.”
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Shares of Pasadena-based IndyMac slipped by 19 cents today, which would be no big deal for most stocks. But IndyMac is a penny stock these days, so a loss of less than two dimes a share wiped out roughly a quarter of its value. It closed at 62 cents a share.
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Very belated correction: A year ago I pointed out a New York Times article that warned real estate agents against describing an apartment building as “family friendly.” The reason, supposedly, was that you might be perceived as discriminating against childless couples. What I failed to notice was that an official of the Department of Housing and Urban Development wrote to the Times a couple of weeks later saying that in fact there’s nothing wrong with calling a building family friendly. H…
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In general, the bar at L.A. Land is set very high for news coverage. In this particular case, though, the item just limboed right underneath the bar.
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Angelo Mozilo, you sir are going to go to jail.It’s just a matter of time.PEOPLE OF COUNTRYWIDE - GET OUT AND GET OUT NOW. COME CLEAN. TURN STATES EVIDENCE. LOYALTY TO THE ORANGE MAN IS STUPID. AND IF YOU’RE NOT OUT OF A JOB ALREADY, YOU WILL BE SOON.COME CLEAN. DO IT NOW….
Original Source: housingpanic.blogspot.com

Indymac Responds to Letters Sent by Senator Charles Schumer (hat tip Nemo) [A]s a result of Sen. Schumer making his letters public and the resulting press coverage, we did experience elevated customer inquiries and withdrawals in our branch network last Friday and on Saturday of roughly $100 million, about ½ of 1% of total deposits. And while branch traffic is somewhat elevated this morning, it…
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I recently had a reader pose a question to me via email and I’d like to take some time from our normal programming to see what is on his mind
Our friend, let’s call him Boomer for short, had this to ask of me:
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Original Source: www.socalbubble.com

I always like to get a news release or RSS feed item about a Taos mention in the national media, or someone’s blog.  It was no exception in reading the p…
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Realtor Jim has informed me that they have two firm offers at full price for the REO featured in Oceanside REO: Back to 2002 / 2003 Prices.

These are owner occupied offers. That is what I suspected since the property doesn’t make sense for cash flow investors at the current asking price.

The important point here is the difference in market dynamics between the low end (with significant…
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Sporadic guest pigg Ramsey Su is back with some thoughts on the current housing bailout packages making their way through Congress. Executive summary: he’s not a fan. Read on for Ramsey’s take on why the bailout proposals are a waste, at best, and likely to do more harm than good.
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DateCity/MetroStateInventoryMedianAsking Price

2008-06-30AlbuquerqueNew Mexico6807$249900

2008-06-30AtlantaGeorgia117182$219000

2008-06-30Austin…
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Metropolitan Realty Associates is trying to entice real estate brokers with free gas to come and tour three of its major Long Island properties.
From now until Labor Day, the Garden City-based developer will give a $25 gas card to each broker who previews the 388,500-square-foot Sunrise Business Center in Great River, the 145,000-square-foot Jericho Atrium and the 27,000-square-foot Medical Center at Garden City (formerly the Endo building).
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A change in Huntington’s building code will help the development of assisted living facilities there, according to a local zoning attorney.
Keith Brown, a partner in the Garden City law firm Brown & Altman, said the new code lowers the minimum unit size for assisted living facilities from 3,000 square feet to 2,200 square feet, which could increase density and make the projects more economically feasible.
The zoning, called R-HS - Residential Health Services - still requires a minimum of five acres.
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Median listing prices in Los Angeles County dropped by another $990 over the past week, according to Housing Tracker’s weekly analysis of MLS listings, and have now fallen $150,000, or 26%, from their April 2006 peak.

Numbers: Housing tracker reports median listing prices fell to $429,000 from $429,990, marking a decline of 20.4% over the past year. That 20.4% rate of annual decline marks the highest rate of decline in this housing cycle. Inventory of homes and condos for sale dropped by more than 300 units, to 45,164, and is pacing 7.4% ahead of year-ago levels.
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Original Source: feeds.latimes.com

Joe and Heather thought in the summer of ‘06 that a purchase in Bressi Ranch of Carlsbad was a sure bet. They purchased a 2,476 sqft back loading home on 6257 Cottage Dr for $695,000, or $280/sqft.But fast forward a year and Joe and Heather realized they were in way over their head. So in August of 2007, they listed their home of 1 year for sale. Of course, still a firm believer in the Bressi Promise, they listed the home for $745,000. Joe and Heather didn’t think they were greedy. They just needed 6257 Cottage to cover the 6% commission as well as the few upgrades they made to the home….
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The Matador — Johnny Cash
Watch out for the raging bull market! Like a matador, you will need to dodge the stampeding bulls as they put in multiple offers over the ask. The matador kills the bull in the end. The market will do the same. There is still a lot of bullishness in today’s market, despite the obvious signs of a catastrophic price collapse. The bullish behavior is a sign that we are nowhere near the bottom, for as many authors and songwriters have noted, “only fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”
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