Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Originally posted by: 351Cleveland
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
The Bush supporters in here have been lambasting the poor working folks of the U.S. since this housing/credit bust has started as their own fault.
Although I am a conservative, I am not a Bush supporter. However, I will meet your call.
ANYONE who buys a house that is a) beyond their ability to pay, or b) is poorly financed is TOO STUPID to own a home. I dont care how much you make, what race you are, where you live, etc. You are an idiot and should not reproduce.
I could care less about the credit crunch or the housing market. I bought a modest house that we live in and do quite well with. I financed it with a 30 year fixed mortgage and I make my payments. If I lost my job, I could STILL pay for my house for a couple years because I have also been saving money. I could afford twice as much house, but I'm not a MORON.
You're obviously a conservative that hasn't lost your job.
Good for you. Many Americans cannot say the same thing.
Originally posted by: senseamp
Government should let people who can only afford to be renters be renters. Prices need to come down big time to get inline with incomes and be affordable.
Originally posted by: GrGr
Just read that some professor has calculated that some $ 12 Trillion has to be shaved off housing. That's the amount housing was inflated with above the 'aggregate century long trend value' since 1996.
That's some haircut!
Originally posted by: Vic
And here's the pdf off OK's website with instructions to contest your assessment.
You have until May 1st. Text
Originally posted by: Jhhnn
Nice of you to point Dave in the right direction, Vic.
Contesting a tax valuation successfully will vary wildly by locale and corcumstance. We did so successfully with our home some years ago, as the rest of the valuations in the neighborhood went up pretty fast. We did so on the basis of condition- it was one of the most rundown places in the neighborhood when we bought it. Denver accepted our photos and explanations readily, reduced the valuation somewhat for several years. As I brought the place up to snuff, particularly the exterior, they brought up the valuation.
I wouldn't expect any miracles, particularly not now when states and munis are facing cash shortfalls. Unless their valuation of a given property is out of line with others in the neighborhood, or there are special circumstances, you'll get nowhere. It's not that they really have to be accurate, just fair. If they're over-valuing all the properties, it'll be a tough sell on the homeowner's part.
Existing home sales decline as housing slump continues
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer 19 minutes ago
Sales of existing homes fell in March as a severe slump in housing showed no signs of abating. The median price of a home fell compared with the price a year ago.
The National Association of Realtors said sales of existing single-family homes and condominiums dropped by 2 percent in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.93 million units.
The median price of a home sold last month was $200,700, a decline of 7.7 percent from the median price a year ago. That was the second-biggest year-over-year price decline following a record 8.4 percent drop in February. The records go back to 1999.
It marked the seventh consecutive year-over-year drop in prices, although the March sales price was up slightly from a February median price of $195,600. Economists prefer to compare the prices on a year-over-year basis because, unlike sales, the monthly prices are not adjusted for normal seasonal variations.
The March sales decline, which was in line with expectations, followed a 2.9 percent increase in sales in February. The February rise, which followed six straight monthly declines, had raised hopes that the steep housing correction could be hitting bottom.
However, many private analysts said they do not expect a rebound for a number of months, given the problems weighing on housing from a severe glut of unsold homes to tighter credit standards for prospective buyers and a rising tide of mortgage foreclosures.
Sales were down 19.3 percent compared with a year ago, reflecting the depth of the housing bust, which is coming after sales set records for five consecutive years.
For March, sales were down 6.5 percent in the Midwest and 3.5 percent in the South but increased by 2.2 percent in the Northeast and 2.2 percent in the West.
The Northeast was the country's only region to experience a rise in median prices, which were up 4.6 percent compared with a year ago. Prices were down in all other regions of the country, dropping by 14.7 percent in the West, 7.1 percent in the South and 5.3 percent in the Midwest.
Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the Realtors, said he expected sales would begin to show improvements in the second half of this year, helped by an improved availability of mortgage-backed insurance from the Federal Housing Administration and higher limits for jumbo mortgages, loans that are critically important in high-priced areas of the country such as California.
Originally posted by: senseamp
Government should let people who can only afford to be renters be renters. Prices need to come down big time to get inline with incomes and be affordable.
The new home sales kept up with the linear decline that has been in effect for about 2.5 years. This particular statistic shows the most glaring impact of all the statistics:Originally posted by: Trianon
New home sales down again, with no end in sight
Originally posted by: Slew Foot
Hey this is neat...
http://www.newyorkfed.org/mortgagemaps/
Look for the Alt-A disaster to hit in 2009-2011, apparently its twice as big as subprime.
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: Slew Foot
Hey this is neat...
http://www.newyorkfed.org/mortgagemaps/
Look for the Alt-A disaster to hit in 2009-2011, apparently its twice as big as subprime.
Alt-A originations were about 15-20% of total mortgage originations, the same as Subprime. In many cases they were Alt-A only because they were jumbo loans, but otherwise were prime or even superprime mortgages.
The alt-A problem isn't nearly as big as subprime.
Originally posted by: Slew Foot
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: Slew Foot
Hey this is neat...
http://www.newyorkfed.org/mortgagemaps/
Look for the Alt-A disaster to hit in 2009-2011, apparently its twice as big as subprime.
Alt-A originations were about 15-20% of total mortgage originations, the same as Subprime. In many cases they were Alt-A only because they were jumbo loans, but otherwise were prime or even superprime mortgages.
The alt-A problem isn't nearly as big as subprime.
In CA anyway, Alt-A is twice as big as subprime, especially in the more desireable neighborhoods. Still lots of falling left to do here.
Originally posted by: Slew Foot
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: Slew Foot
Hey this is neat...
http://www.newyorkfed.org/mortgagemaps/
Look for the Alt-A disaster to hit in 2009-2011, apparently its twice as big as subprime.
Alt-A originations were about 15-20% of total mortgage originations, the same as Subprime. In many cases they were Alt-A only because they were jumbo loans, but otherwise were prime or even superprime mortgages.
The alt-A problem isn't nearly as big as subprime.
In CA anyway, Alt-A is twice as big as subprime, especially in the more desireable neighborhoods. Still lots of falling left to do here.
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: Slew Foot
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: Slew Foot
Hey this is neat...
http://www.newyorkfed.org/mortgagemaps/
Look for the Alt-A disaster to hit in 2009-2011, apparently its twice as big as subprime.
Alt-A originations were about 15-20% of total mortgage originations, the same as Subprime. In many cases they were Alt-A only because they were jumbo loans, but otherwise were prime or even superprime mortgages.
The alt-A problem isn't nearly as big as subprime.
In CA anyway, Alt-A is twice as big as subprime, especially in the more desireable neighborhoods. Still lots of falling left to do here.
That makes perfect sense. The obligors can be prime and otherwise conforming, including 20% DP, but be a jumbo loan.
I think that you'll see that there's a lot less fallout wrt alt-a, since these people *can* and *will* pay for their homes since they have better credit histories and are more responsible.
Originally posted by: Slew Foot
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: Slew Foot
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: Slew Foot
Hey this is neat...
http://www.newyorkfed.org/mortgagemaps/
Look for the Alt-A disaster to hit in 2009-2011, apparently its twice as big as subprime.
Alt-A originations were about 15-20% of total mortgage originations, the same as Subprime. In many cases they were Alt-A only because they were jumbo loans, but otherwise were prime or even superprime mortgages.
The alt-A problem isn't nearly as big as subprime.
In CA anyway, Alt-A is twice as big as subprime, especially in the more desireable neighborhoods. Still lots of falling left to do here.
That makes perfect sense. The obligors can be prime and otherwise conforming, including 20% DP, but be a jumbo loan.
I think that you'll see that there's a lot less fallout wrt alt-a, since these people *can* and *will* pay for their homes since they have better credit histories and are more responsible.
Probably, but a city with an average household income of 95K (Walnut Creek, CA and the surrounding cities) and an average home price of 1.3 mill, is not sustainable. HEck most of the bay area is like that, I think I read read that something like 80% of all loans made from 2005-2007 were option ARMs, and given that most people pay the minimum, theres a lot of people underwater when the resets happen in 2010.
Originally posted by: Slew Foot
My guess on this is that gas prices and inflation combined with stagnant wages are coming to a head. People will charge their credit cards till the bitter end (at least until the banks cut their limit), and hope for an upturn in home values which wont happen for a loooong time.
Single-family home prices tumble
By Joanne Morrison 21 minutes ago
Prices of single-family homes plunged a record 14.1 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, marking a pace five times faster than the last housing recession, data showed on Tuesday.
The Standard & Poor's/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas fell 2.2 percent in March from February and plummeted a record 14.4 percent from a year ago.
"There are very few silver linings that one can see in the data," David Blitzer, chairman of S&P's index committee, said in a statement.
Consumer confidence slumped to its lowest in 16 years in May as rising gasoline costs and falling home prices made Americans nervous about the future, the Conference Board said.
But in April, sales of newly constructed single-family homes rose for the first time since October, Commerce Department data showed, and the inventory of new homes declined for the 12th straight month.
U.S. stocks rose but then turned mixed after the data. The dollar extended gains versus the euro and the yen.
Economists expected prices for the 20-city S&P/Case Shiller index to fall 2.0 percent on month and 14.0 percent from a year earlier, according to the median forecast in a Reuters survey.
Falling home prices have become the scourge of the housing market that is seeing its worst downturn since the 1930s. Home values since last year have been dropping below balances owed on many mortgages, leaving borrowers with no equity and more likely to succumb to foreclosure.
The crisis in foreclosures, which pressure prices even lower, has spurred numerous plans by regulators and lawmakers that aim to keep borrowers in their homes by forgiving a portion of their loan's principle.
Housing markets that grew the most during the housing boom, such as Las Vegas, Nevada and Miami, Florida, are leading the decline, S&P said.
S&P said its composite index of 10 metropolitan areas declined 2.4 percent in March, for a record 15.3 percent year-over-year drop.
NEW HOME SALES RISE
U.S. sales of newly constructed single-family homes rose 3.3 percent in April to a 526,000 annual rate but they were down 42 percent from a year ago, which was the largest year-over-year drop in nearly 27 years, Commerce Department data on Tuesday showed.
The Commerce Department estimate showed the first increase in new home sales since October, but the increase came after a big downward revision to the prior month.
Economists polled by Reuters were expecting new home sales to slip to a rate of 520,000. The department revised down its March estimate to a rate of 509,000 from 526,000, or a 11.0 percent decrease from a first-reported 8.5 percent decline.
The inventory of homes available for sale in April fell 2.4 percent to 456,000, which was the 12th straight monthly decline. The April sales pace put the supply of homes available for sale at 10.6 month's worth.
CONFIDENCE SINKS
The Conference Board, an industry group, said its monthly measure of consumers' mood fell to 57.2 this month from 62.8 in April, well below Wall Street's median estimate of 60.0.
The index has dropped by almost half since last July, when housing market troubles triggered the most severe credit crisis in at least a decade.
Inflation expectations rose to an all-time high 7.7 percent, well above April's 6.8 percent.
The pain was felt across the board, with consumers worried about both what is happening now and what might be to come. The present situation index dropped to 74.4 from 81.9, while the expectations barometer fell to 45.7 from 50.0.
(Additional reporting by Pedro Nicolaci da Costa and Al Yoon in New York; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
Originally posted by: Trianon
more not so good news for current homeowners (actually good news for sane people). Sick and tired of my HOA, but looks like I am not going anywhere for awhile...