patrick.net

"they could have a circle jerk on every balcony floor and have an atrium jizum smigma pond down below."

The next trend in home improvement! Soon HGTV will have a show featuring...well, maybe not.

can count on the media at large to follow the trend, not set it

I'm probably being too suspicious for my own good. However, I remember the media cheerleading during the dot-com boom, when anyone with a moderate IQ should've been highly suspicious of the whole thing. Of course, they're just reflecting the "buzz" out there, but for those controlling information channels, I always suspect a money angle. Say, a network had some major investments in RE, and I ran the show. I'd have more than a little tempation for the news to sound bullish on RE. If I'm thinking that, I'm sure those who can are doing it.

Just gotta love it http://www.craigslist.org/eby/rfs/115296880.html

[snip]
Now is the time to buy while the rates are still low and the multiple offer situations have been reduced so that you may save some money and you will not get outbidden by investor type buyers. Ask me about a 7 day cruise for buyers at close! New Roof! New Dual Pane windows! New wall to wall carpet!

opps...link http://www.craigslist.org/eby/rfs/113966054.html

multiple offer situations have been reduced so that you may save some money and you will not get outbidden by investor type buyers.

LOL...like there would ever be a bidding war on that dump!
That toilet picture is classy.

Help! Please buy my house!

http://www.craigslist.org/eby/rfs/114847143.html

Regarding the "media bias" angle of this thread in regards to the MSN article posted earlier in the thread by Windog:

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Banking/Homebuyingguide/P85323.asp

I find the author's selective use of quotation marks to bias the article very irresponsible. For example (excerpts):

[snip]
But the drama that “bubble” theorists have looked for is missing.
[snip]
The inventory of homes on the market is about 45% greater than average, says Bill Wendel, a fee-based buyers’ agent in Boston whose Real Estate Cafe blog contains running articles and commentary on “the real-estate bubble.”
[snip]
Todd Sinai, associate professor of real estate at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, derides bubble theorists as “Chicken Littles.”
[snip]
The market hasn’t collapsed because it wasn’t really terribly inflated to begin with, says Bostic. “I’ve never been much of a ‘bubble’ person,” he says.
[snip]

The repeated placing of "bubble" and "bubble theory" in quotation marks. I don't like it. Anyone who's done any research on speculative bubbles knows there's a lot more going on than just "theory." Speculative bubbles themselves are case studies of historical occurrances--the Dutch tulip bulb craze, the British South Sea bubble, the American 1920's stock market bubble, Japan's real estate bubble during the '80's, and of course America's most recent tech stock bubble. These are just a handful of numerous historical examples that followed the same trend of boom, speculative excess, and bust. There is no "theory" to deride, nor is it responsible to quote as gospel the statement of some random jackass smugly stating "I've never been much of a "bubble" person" with no facts to back up his subjective statement. Finaly, to state that our current RE market "wasn’t really terribly inflated to begin with" has got to qualify as one of the most preposterous statements I've ever heard, period. I guess it's not surprising they didn't publish any of that guys supporting evidence or even his though process in coming to that conclusion.

Correction: "thought process" is what I was trying to type and the end of my previous post!

LOL…like there would ever be a bidding war on that dump!
That toilet picture is classy.

Actually, I've seen bidding wars on houses much uglier than that, but that was over a year ago.......I don't think you'll find a bidding war anywhere now regardless of what the property looks like.

Actually, I’ve seen bidding wars on houses much uglier than that, but that was over a year ago

Some people are fools I guess. Well, I'm still seeing multiple bids, but I think they're a bit better than that ghetto box.

That toilet looks nice, though…. would fetch a nice price on eBay.

On ebay it would sell for more if it wasn't flushed the last time it was used! :lol:

Mortgage defaults rise in Sacramento

Lenders crack down on mortgage fraud

[snip]
"Fraud for property" is the industry phrase used to describe usually honest folks who exaggerate their incomes or tell other white lies to obtain financing.

Now lenders and the authorities are turning their attention to borrowers encouraged to falsify their applications by loan officers who tell them "everybody does it."

Now they are going to do something about it?

Little jump? That is a 14.36% increase in a quarter. Who are they kidding? I am so sick of the spin about real estate.

Well lets see what they say when it goes up to 50%. Remember Alexis is the president of foreclosures.com and informing people that there are more foreclosures is to help her business..... If she was to say that the sky is falling, investors wouldn't be interested in foreclosures until the market completely corrects. She will always say in her articles that the sky isn't falling and that the market will not crash like the 90's.........and she is right...it won't, it will be much worse given the circumstances. I only read her articles for the data, not her opinion........use your own judgement because hers is obviouly biased.

Justice is NEAR!!

Justice? I wouldn't bet on it. Between the likelihood of a federal govt. bailout and the near certainty of economic dislocation, there could be lots of people who deserve far worse than they get and lots of people who didn't participate in the madness who get stomped.

As always, a dark sense of humor will be a handy thing.

cheers,
prat

03/08/05 (Unofficial -- taken from secondary records)
Conditional Salesperson License will be suspended if education requirement per section 10153.4 has not been met by 09/08/06.

Looks like he got his license before finishing his tests......I'm sure he doesn't have to worry though since he won't be needing his license by then. :lol:

Interesting how many news stories are out there that still believe you should continue to buy real estate and that there is no bubble.

Well you would publish such stories if you were a realtor and your job was at stake.......can ya really blame them?

From a realtor's blub I found in the mail yesterday:
For sellers, do you really want to sell your home, or are you just testing the market? If you're just testing, please, take your home off the market.. If you absolutely, positively have to sell, and you haven't had any offers recently, lower your price.

I understand that supply is a realtor's enemy these days because it kills the buying frenzy, but WTF?

You mean this?

Sellers are desperate and paranoid......they are seeing their equity blow away like dust in the wind! No seller wants to accept the fact that house prices are falling, but yet they are very curious.......at the same time, many buyers don't want to touch this market with a 10 foot pole!

How about this:

I sat and mocked
the peoples madness
predicted doom
predicted sadness

And now the piper
has piped at last
and housing gasped
its final gasp

but who is this
knocking on my door?
why uncle sam
and he wants more

A bit tough to do
I'm afraid to say
with the booms end
my job has gone away

_smile_

And a merry Christmas, one and all!

Cheers,
prat

My generation is running a race they cannot win.

I totally agree. We are so f**ked.

On the upside, when the generational wars come, we will be young and spry and the boomers will be increasingly rickety. One wild card is, of course, bionic implant technology. (You, gentle reader, think it is coincidence that government research in this area is going gangbusters at precisely the moment that the boomers realize they will need the technology in the coming war?) The other wild card, which I think will have a *much* larger effect on the actual outcome of the war, is which side the mutant nazi monkeys end up allying with.

http://tinyurl.com/bg4k2

You dare defy the primate platoon?

I am now freaking out,
prat

oops!...missed a zero...how about this one

$369000 - >>>Reduced 355k for quick sale!

Approx 50% cut....unless the seller misprinted, but I doubt it

I highly doubt there are million dollar homes in bellport, so I'd say the other house price 2.45M is a misprint.

:lol: Look what someone posted on craiglist.

I guess that $369k house must have been reduced TO $355k....it was probably worded wrong.

Found this:
http://www.babwnews.com/article.php?id=471
in Pop!'s links.

It's Lydia again!

Quote:
Here is a simple example of how advantageous home ownership can be over the long term. Assume that “Jane” buys a home in Oakland for $400,000 (yes, it’s still possible in the East Bay) and she doesn’t put any money down. Over the next 13 years her mortgage payments reduce the outstanding balance by $100,000, leaving a mortgage balance of $300,000. But in 13 years her home has also appreciated in value to $600,000! If Jane had rented this home for 13 years she would have missed out on $300,000 in wealth. As a homeowner, Jane now has $300,000 available to her to invest in another property.

Sounds like a making a mortgage payment, property taxes and maintenance, altogether more than twice your current rent, is the surefire way to riches.

I hope no one sues her for bad investment advice if this does not go according to the plan... :-)

Sounds like a making a mortgage payment, property taxes and maintenance, altogether more than twice your current rent, is the surefire way to riches.

I hope no one sues her for bad investment advice if this does not go according to the plan… :-)

Girgl...we talked about that article earlier in this thread, take a look above....she is a realtor for 2.5 years, used to be a headhunter for IT(probably outsourced) and she supposedly is gay and caters to the gay community.

Am I reading this correctly? Sounds like this guy wants to sign over the house.......looks like a desperate flipper!

[snip]
THIS BEAUTY IS YOURS FOR ONLY CLOSING COSTS AND 3 MONTHS PAYMENTS UPFRONT!
Move in tomorrow - I am very motivated, and I want to give YOU and YOUR family the opportunity to enjoy the AMERICAN DREAM! You get all the benefits of owning your own home (tax deductions, pride of ownership, appreciation) with none of the headaches (no application with banks, no huge closing costs, no mortgage showing up on your credit report!)

It is just unbelievable how desperate a seller can get! $839500 - Last Month of Savings before the Real Estate Agent gets all the Money

From the motivated seller listing:

The kitchen was updated 2 years ago with black granite countertop

I have visions of a vast suburban slum, reams and reams of the proverbial $hitb0xen, falling to pieces around dulling black granite countertops.

Cheerio,
prat

allah says:
Girgl…we talked about that article earlier in this thread

Oops. Sorry. I'll better go catch up on my reading :-)

HI ALL,
Been quite a while.

Property market should get a second wind if builders start substituting GOLD instead of GRANITE. ;)

I have been lurking for a while and the traffic seems to be dropping.
Could it be that people are now finding RE boring......Now that fortunes are NOT being made by flipping. mmmmm

Might be time to start discussing what jobs will be earning wages......

Any views on future oil prices ?

OMG! Look at what these bastards are up to! They just don't want to stop! I think I'm going to go there myself and crash their party!

Wow! Greenspan has broken the $1 trillion dollar mark in october with his printing press.

They profited 225,000.00 in this bubbly market only after owning 9 months, they really hated the house. They were caught up in the bidding frenzy over the summer and are still homeless so to speak. Now that things are starting to cool his wife wants to get back in.

Why on earth would they want to do that? I say, hold on to the $225K you were so lucky to get and wait for the bottom or at least until the fundamentals come back and they'll be able to afford a house they really like. What is wrong with renting? I just don't understand some people!

He would like to be able to show her some statistical data to back up his arguments.

How about the for-sale signs that are everywhere? ....or the fact that people are cutting their prices.

Do people really fall for crap like this?

Their sitting on over 600,00.00 waiting to buy obviously they are not your standard buyer. He needs to numbers to back his argument. They are looking in the 1.8 to 2.2 range.

I'm assuming you mean $600k cash and looking to buy in the $1.8M - $2.2M dollar range. Well, those prices are going to fall pretty hard, especially in that range IMHO. I don't see what is to gain by buying right now. The realtors have finally declared the top of the market....and they are the last to admit it! So if they buy now, they are going to be very sorry in a year from now. People seem to think they are getting a good deal when they see a price is reduced, but the fact is that the property is way overvalued so they aren't getting a good deal. Most of these sellers are desperate as evidenced by the high supply of inventory so late in the year, that is why they are cutting prices to begin with. By the time spring rolls around, there will be even more inventory and more desperation. Prices have risen in the past few years because of "creative financing", but that will soon change after the masses default. You don't want to compete with people who have nothing to lose but their (probably not so good anyway) credit. Your friends have $600k of their own money that can instantly disappear. Those in the RE industry are predicting a soft landing because it is in their best interest to have you believe that.....buying right now would be like jumping out of a plane with a parachute tied around your neck......you may have a soft landing, but you'll die a very painfull death long before you hit the ground! If you want hard data, you will find alot of it here on this site.

Just talked to a friend I hadn't seen in a while on Saturday night--he and his girl decided it was time to buy and closed on an $800 Grand condo conversion in SF just last month. "In the Bay Area, you just have to get in to the market as soon as you can. Otherwise you'll never get in," he said. I guess I'll never get in then. Boo hoo! I am building equity in my brokerage account and getting paid in dividends and interest as I build my nest egg--I'll happily take the flexibility of that over building equity in a little shi$box and paying ridiculous amounts of interest for the "priviledge" of doing so.