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Prices Shaved 33% In Modesto, CA


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2007 Sep 4, 6:02am   29,190 views  303 comments

by Patrick   ➕follow (55)   💰tip   ignore  

razor

I was just talking to a realtor this morning, and he said that typical prices in his area (Modesto) are down from $450K last year to $300K this year. He was lamenting the fact that there are so few buyers and wondering how he can keep making a living. I was wondering how the official statistics can be so wrong compared to numbers from someone on the front lines.

We talked about the large number of "short sales", where the property is for sale for less than the amount owed to the bank. The problem with those is the need to deal with the banks, which are infuriatingly slow and bureaucratic. It can take two weeks to get a call back about a specific property.

Even at $300K, prices are still not low enough. By traditional measures, a $300K mortgage should require a $100K income. The typical income in Modesto is definitely under $100K.

Patrick

#housing

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11   DinOR   2007 Sep 4, 7:16am  

Hello Kitty,

Haven't you heard? There's going to be a massive and across the board bailout that assures prices won't go down one bit further!

Yeah, uh flippersintrouble guy has got it down. More than just hard data he really helped people see that you don't have to be on television and covered in molding adhesive to be a "flipper". Modesto is toast.

12   HARM   2007 Sep 4, 7:17am  

Troll banned, case closed.

Randy and other quality posters driven off by shit-spewing trolls are now welcome to return.

13   SFWoman   2007 Sep 4, 7:19am  

I had a boyfriend from Saddle River. Another affluent commuter town to NYC. Tiny affluent commuter towns aren't really a great comparison to Modesto. I would say that Belvedere would be the Bay Area equivalent to Alpine or Saddle River.

I thought Tenafly was Alpine's sister town. I'm pretty sure you go to Tenafly High School if you live in Alpine.

14   sfbubblebuyer   2007 Sep 4, 7:21am  

There's at least one foreclosure coming in Belvedere.

15   dp337   2007 Sep 4, 7:22am  

"You have got to love the way Rick Santelli tells it in the face."

Here's one with Rick and some other guy pounding on Cramer. Love it.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=499888906&play=1

16   dp337   2007 Sep 4, 7:24am  

Sorry, it's a long clip. Cramer jumps on at the middle.

17   sfbubblebuyer   2007 Sep 4, 7:27am  

I bet you also had a sizeable downpayment and little or no other debt, ptiemann.

In a housing market that appreciates at about the rate of inflation, and has for awhile, sticking 20% down should insulate the lender from foreclosure costs. The banks have just been assuming that 20% appreciation would continue, and substituted it for an actual down payment.

I would not be surprised to see down payment requirements hit 25-35%, depending on how severe the price depreciation is in an area. 20% down PLUS expected depreciation. In florida, that'd be huge!

18   Peter P   2007 Sep 4, 7:27am  

Patrick, I think that’s a bit too conservative. Care to elaborate where you got that from?

Peter, that is not conservative. That is apparently a requirement for jumbo loans nowadays.

Conservative will be a factor of 0 to 1.

19   Freedom   2007 Sep 4, 7:29am  

So anyone who disagress that prices are going to drastically go down is a "troll?" Nice communist site you have here. Good job listening to both sides of the issue.

20   SFWoman   2007 Sep 4, 7:29am  

ptiemann,

I heard an interesting report on NPR about household incomes having gone up since 2000. Basically they have, but only because more people per household are working more jobs and more hours. The inflation adjusted hourly wage for most people went down, however.

I think that families are now taking the approach toward expenses that I had in college. Need more money for books or want to go someplace nice for spring break? Get another job, add a few shifts waitressing. Having lots of crap jobs was a temporary way of life to get through college. For increasing numbers of people in the US it's now life.

21   sfbubblebuyer   2007 Sep 4, 7:31am  

Freedom,

The Patriot Act allows for that. It's ALL AMERICAN now, baby!

22   SFWoman   2007 Sep 4, 7:31am  

Freedom,

I do believe that what I saw people responding to was the suggestion that prices couldn't go down in Modesto, then using the patently false example of the median income/house price in Alpine NJ as the statistic to back up the point of view. I thought it was a ridiculous analogy to make.

23   SFWoman   2007 Sep 4, 7:32am  

Are communists necessarily fascists?

24   sfbubblebuyer   2007 Sep 4, 7:34am  

SFWoman,

You mean that's wrong? Is that why my article on the healing powers of crystals keeps getting rejected from Science and other scientific journals?

25   Different Sean   2007 Sep 4, 7:36am  

“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”

— The Communist Manifesto, Chapter 1

26   HARM   2007 Sep 4, 7:38am  

So anyone who disagress that prices are going to drastically go down is a “troll?”

No, but anyone who continues to re-post the same baseless, patently false "data" to steer clientele to one's own failing real estate business is certainly 'fair game' for deletion.

Nice communist site you have here. Good job listening to both sides of the issue.

We have had many contrarian, thinking posters here and will continue to long after you and your kind are history. Oh, and fyi: reserving the right to moderate a privately run paid-for site is called "free enterprise".

27   HelloKitty   2007 Sep 4, 7:40am  

Its so rare they ban trolls here. Maybe two that I recall ever.

Trying posting actual facts about crashes on any of 10,000 realtor run blogs and see how fast the comments never show up.

28   HARM   2007 Sep 4, 7:40am  

Why do trolls Hate our "Freedom" to ban trolls?

29   Peter P   2007 Sep 4, 7:41am  

You mean that’s wrong? Is that why my article on the healing powers of crystals keeps getting rejected from Science and other scientific journals?

You write that kind of articles? We need to talk! :)

The Capricorn Age 2008 - 2023 will ensure that only the banks get bailed out.

30   ThomasP   2007 Sep 4, 7:42am  

Donald -
Being a RAP star or B-ball player isnt a real job... If you want to show somehow NJ is full of rich millionairs and isnt prone to downturns go right ahead!!! but guess again NJ has the worst recessions on the East Coast. Plenty before you made that mistake.

31   HARM   2007 Sep 4, 7:42am  

Trying posting actual facts about crashes on any of 10,000 realtor run blogs and see how fast the comments never show up.

No kidding. I've had so many posts (polite, profanity-free and data-driven I might add) deleted from Realwhore/perma-bull sites, I gave up months ago.

32   Paul189   2007 Sep 4, 7:44am  

Found another classic video (1987 crash)-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gad1fjKbY9U

33   skibum   2007 Sep 4, 7:48am  

Is it true little Donald has been banned? Gee, I'm going to miss punting around that intellectual nitwit.

BTW, Mr. Freedom, if you care to present reasonable arguments about why housing prices will not fall, and/or why housing prices are NOT overvalued, feel free to do so.

Donald exhibited textbook troll behavior: (1) Present a shoddy, yet "controversial" argument to stir things up (I wouldn't even call his posts arguments, more like insipid taunts), (2) When faced with a rebuttal, change the subject (3) Repeat again as needed.

The problem with Donald goes beyond trolling. He's too dumb to be a good troll. That "Ivy League" edumication didn't do him no good.

34   HelloKitty   2007 Sep 4, 7:49am  

Yes the psychology has shifted. There were a few mortgage/real estate crash stories on CNN recently where they enabled comments and the bears and bubblehead comments outnumbered the realtorspeak comments by 9 to 1.

This 'bubble head' meme has long legs.

A person could write a book about the rise of the bubble blogs out of no where and graph the number of bubble blogs to the phases of the RE bubble. Possibly as these blogs die off in number this will indicate when RE will become a wise investment again.

I cant imagine what next category of blog will become wildly popular out of nowhere. Probably we will see A LOT more 'I'm broke/bankrupt/foreclosure/looking for work/career change' blogs. I'm not interested in those except where if they are entertaining which is probably rare.

35   Allah   2007 Sep 4, 7:57am  

No kidding. I’ve had so many posts (polite, profanity-free and data-driven I might add) deleted from Realwhore/perma-bull sites, I gave up months ago.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I joined city-data dot com, created a new thread because there wasn't ONE SINGLE THREAD that showed anything negative abount the market even though it is quite obvious that the market is deteriorating right now! I got banned the day I signed up because they didn't like my handle that I was using "LongIslandBubble" and they didn't like the real data I was posting; they deleted most of the images that I put up because they PROVE that they market is crashing; but that's ok, because the thread still lives on and is being invaded by some of my readers.

36   Randy H   2007 Sep 4, 8:10am  

I'm not gone, just going to take a short break while I monologue on my own blog. I'm in a foul mood, with all this bailout whining and pandering by our unleaders and infotainment media.

I'm just really sick of it all.

I feel like everyone is running around concocting elaborate schemes to "solve the problem", when all that's needed is so simple it's stupid: lower your fucking price.

In case any perspective sellers in Marin are reading, here's a clue: I could maybe afford to get financing to buy your $2.5mm house. I easily could get financing to buy your neighbor's $2.0mm house. But I won't. Because your house ain't worth $2.0mm. Be thankful if it's worth $1.3mm by the end of all this, which is ironically what all you choad hordlers paid in 2004. See, the people left who can afford to buy are strongly correlated with being smart enough with their money to know when to buy and how much to pay. Here's to wishing you pleasant dreams -- of the NOD that's on its way to your mailbox.

37   skibum   2007 Sep 4, 8:20am  

Amen Randy.

You've got a nice post over on your blog that fleshes this idea out a bit more.

Honestly though, in a Machievellian way, how can you blame the "Masters of the Universe" on Wall Street for pushing for a bailout, er, handout? If they get their heart's desire, they did a good job looking out for themselves. The group to be angry about are the enablers at the Fed and in the government. They suck. I'm sure Bendover Ben is squirming right now. He knows that a cut in interest rates during the next few meetings will erode what credibility the Fed built back up after Greenspan. But he's been painted into a corner. He appears not to have the cajones that Volcker did to essentially precipitate a recession to help the economy in the long run.

The irony, as you've pointed out, is that no degree of bailout short of de facto nationalizing housing through a MASSIVE bailout is going to be enough to stop this trainwreck. There simply aren't enough GFs left.

38   HelloKitty   2007 Sep 4, 8:28am  

In theory if 70% of population are homeowners then they could get all kinds of bailouts passed if they were organized like the AARP. All they seem to have are the NAR/NAHB and the mortgage banking lobbies who want higer prices/eazy credit .

The NAR and friends might be among the most successful lobbies ever looking back at the bubble and all the housing tax perks.....other than Halliburton who have the actual current VP of the US on thier salary(deferred compensation my ass).

39   skibum   2007 Sep 4, 8:46am  

Now that the markets appear quasi-stable, if not frankly back on an upswing, it will be interesting to see how the Fed will be able to pull off a rate cut of ANY kind this month in the face of all this benign data. Sure, they can claim "leading indicators" show signs of a downside risk, but who the hell will really believe them? Everyone will know they will just be bailing out Wall Street.

And on the subprime bailout side of things, I will predict that once whatever cockamainie legislations gets passed eventually, a few months after that, we will start seeing MSM stories about how the bailout didn't end up helping anyone at all. This will be just in time for the presidential elections. Once the elections are over and all the empty promises have been made, bailout talk will subside and it will be back to business as usual - bubble up, bubble down. Repeat.

40   Carl in Berkeley   2007 Sep 4, 8:47am  

>> A person could write a book about the rise of the bubble blogs out of no where and graph the number of bubble blogs to the phases of the RE bubble.

That "person" sure as hell better not be David Lereah.

41   PermaRenter   2007 Sep 4, 8:49am  

Temporary OMO: Fed adds $5.00 billion with 2 day RP

42   sfbubblebuyer   2007 Sep 4, 8:50am  

Carl,

He'll be writing "Why you should wait five years to buy a house" at the exact bottom of the market. No worries.

43   Randy H   2007 Sep 4, 8:55am  

David Lereah:

2000 (June): The Rules for Growing Rich, Making Money in the New Information Economy

2005: Are You Missing the Real Estate Boom?

2006: Why the Real Estate Boom Will Not Bust

---

2007: How to Get Rich Starting Your Own Housing Bubble Blog

2008: Don't Miss Out on the Social Networking Web 2.0 Boom!

---

2011: Make Money Selling Poetry and Artwork from Your Prison Cell

(I can dream, can't I?)

44   Paul189   2007 Sep 4, 9:03am  

Right on Randy, that's telling 'em! It's just like Rick S. said on CNBC - "there is a way to sell your house - Lower your price!"

45   Paul189   2007 Sep 4, 9:04am  

Great midwest minds think alike!

46   HARM   2007 Sep 4, 9:05am  

Jeebus, I think I owe "Donald" and his butt-buddy "Freedom" an apology. Looks like CA wages are shooting up after all:

http://www.montereyherald.com/ci_6790393?nclick_check=1
"Local projects help county to avoid building job crunch"

“The bursting of the housing bubble has translated into fewer construction jobs in California, but Monterey County appears to be bucking the trend.”

“In their annual Labor Day report, experts at the University of California-Berkeley found that…real wages for California workers fell and unemployment grew in the last 12 months. Between 2003 and 2006 California added 40,000 to 50,000 construction jobs annually, but in the last 12-month period the state has lost 12,000 of those jobs.”

“Statewide, the real estate market has created a slowdown in construction. ‘The housing bubble has had an effect,’ said Arindrajit Dube, a researcher with the university center. ‘In the last 12 months, there has been virtually no addition in construction jobs.’”

“‘Annual job growth has definitely not reached pre-recession levels in 1990s. In California, 200,000 jobs were added last year compared to 400,000 (annually) between 1997 and 2000. The 200,000 increase was unable to keep up with the state’s increasing population, with unemployment jumping to 5.2 percent in the last 12 months from 4.9 percent the previous year.”

“While earnings rose by 0.4 percent between 2006 and 2007 nationwide, the biggest increase in five years, in California real wages fell by 0.8 percent. Statewide, wages are 1 percent lower in 2007 than in 2003.”

47   HelloKitty   2007 Sep 4, 9:06am  

I'm sure everyone knows this but David L now works at move.com (formerly homestore.com) whose ex-ceo was sentenced to 15 years in prison for dot-com era crimes. google 'stuart wolff homestore'

48   SP   2007 Sep 4, 9:10am  

SFWoman Says:
Are communists necessarily fascists?

How would you expect a "freedom" lovin' f**ktard from Sukc*ckus, New Jersey to know the difference? I recall one gent on usenet who argued from the position that Hitler was a commie who lost WWII and 'founded' east germany. I would not be surprised if I found that that worthy was an uncle to The Duck who just got the old heave-ho.

SP

49   Randy H   2007 Sep 4, 9:11am  

@Paul

The one great asset of having been reared in the Midwest: common sense. I might not be the most well cultured or socially connected bulb on the tree, and I have a bad habit of mixing my cliche metaphors, but I know how to tell if I'm standing in a pile of bullshit.

50   HARM   2007 Sep 4, 9:11am  

Oh, and btw fucktards, here is the latest U.S. Census estimate of CA HH median income (for 2006):

California $55,319
source: http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/histinc/h08.html

Up a whopping $6k from 2004, woweee!! Let's all go run out and get our 12X income shitbox McCondos while there's still time!

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