You all should invest in Teton Springs, like, seriel, YO!
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You all should invest in Teton Springs, like, seriel, YO!
Read between the lines, brah'...the distinct LACK of sales for Teton Springs/River Rim/ Huntsman Springs is a decided UPTURN for market conditions in this lil' valle'.... (As in, the less geese killing the Golden Goose, the better....)
Yeah, I saw that at NYT... That certainly is one extra issue in a down market. I can see two sides in that story;
On the agent; without lots more info on agency specifics and his actions in this case, hard to know what he did right/wrong on the Real Estate side. Guessing if he has liability here it's the "also their Mortgage Broker" issue added in that might trip him up?
On her, I catch these comments;
-It is clear the Ummels did not rush into a decision: They dismissed one agent and canceled deals on two houses before Mr. Little found them a prospect.
-but people who know Ms. Ummel describe her as unusually determined. She spent a year picketing ReMax offices on weekends.
-So far, the bills come to $75,000, more than Ms. Ummel’s annual salary as a fund-raiser at California State University in San Marcos.
Ahhh... yeah, probably a nut job! But she could have a valid point anyway? Without more details impossible to know.
I'm not worried though... My clients and customers carry me around on a throne they're so happy! :D I also use an atypical house hunting process; I get buyers specific wants/needs then print out/email just everything that meets those criteria. For those in a hurry, especially transferees, I usually devote the entire first day to just "drive bys"... most rule out 75 to 80+ percent from the curb based on community, location, curb appeal, etc. Then we go see what's left inside over the next couple days... Result: buyer sez "Duh, THAT is the best one for me, let's go write an offer!" Believe me? ( :eek: Man, that's a bad photo... I've got to get it redone!)
(Edit: Just found that SquawMan posted up the same damn CA foreclosures article in the stock crash thread, how'd I miss that? Even added emphasis to same paragraph. http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...&postcount=363)
Ms Ummel needs to take responsibility for her actions instead of blaming it own her realtor. Buying Real Estate is a risk, and the buyer needs to do their homework. IMO, it is kind of similar to all these sub primers who bought with the teaser rate and now can't make their payments. Now the government and our tax dollars are going to bail them out.
Dude, hasn't anyone informed you that Milwaukee sucks? I'm suprised 100% of your clients don't refuse to buy a house just based on location.
Just kidding of course ;)
We should get some people together and charter this boat some weekend. Some cool ships.
As the jackass that just recently closed on a house, (ie, I know I will lose value on paper in the next couple years, but am looking at it long term, needed a place to live, and liked the house a lot) and someone that doesn't buy houses every year (as in never), I did a shit ton of research. As the biggest purchase in one's life, if you don't do your own research, well then shame on you. The info (comps, current sales, neighborhood stats, etc) is out there and every person needs to do their own due diligence. Yes, I hired a realtor and took his opinion as one data point.
Someone else made a few good points. We don't have all the facts in the story, so she might, I say might, have a small case if she was actually presented with doctored/false/incorrect data which she made the decision from.
On the mortgage banker front, if she didn't talk to at least a few different banks/brokers, etc then she didn't do her due diligence. YOU make the choice. Walk into BofA, talk to 4 mortgage brokers (I did, sorry IG, there is a story there by the way as my loan didn't go all the smoothly, but it worked out for the best) and then make your own decision.
Buyer beware, do your homework, and then live with your decision. Unfortunately the American culture is sue first, take responsibility for your own decisions/actions never. Its an unfortunate aspect of both our legal system and culture. Spend some time in the rest of the world and no one would think of suing over 95% of what we sue for here...
i have to laugh and root for the buyers in this one. sure there are _some_ ethical real estate agents out there but as for them being your "agent" as in traditional agency law -- that's a scam perpetrated by the realtor industry.
once you have a real agent, as in a lawyer, trustee, director, etc.... you have ZERO responsibility to do any due diligence on their decision because you are hiring the agent to provide that expertise. if i hire an agent, and the agent makes a bad deal, that person is liable, period. (though in corporate law there's now a gross negligence standard).
real estate agents work for the sellers, period. those that call themselves buyers agents knew or should have known that they are conning people -- their buyers are really only clients or customers. if you check the fine print, the so-called buyer's agents have few if any of the traditional fiduciary duties.
so i'm glad to see this chicken come home to roost. maybe if it does, we can get a system in place that makes sense for buyers and sellers. or at least stops the conning of buyers into believing that the so called buyers agents have any legally-enforceable duties of loyalty, confidentiality, and care. sure some are loyal, trustworthy and careful, but many aren't.
oh, and i'm not suggesting that they should or will win their case at trial. until the facts come out, who knows what the values were or even if there was any negligence or fraud by the agent.
Had not heard before they were considering THIS as part of stimulus pkg??? Cross posting here and Economic Stimulus thread...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22826663/
Quote:
Deal a boon to higher-priced housing markets
Tentative stimulus package could help buyers, sellers in those markets
WASHINGTON - A component of the U.S. government's tentative economic stimulus package announced Thursday would give an immediate lift to buyers and sellers in higher-priced housing markets.
The package agreed upon by Democratic and Republican members of the House would allow government-sponsored Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy mortgages 50 percent more expensive than the current $417,000 limit. The Senate and White House still must sign off on the proposed stimulus plan, which also includes tax rebates for Americans.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio announced the deal in a press conference Thursday.
The higher cap of $625,000, to apply for one year, would breathe life into housing markets in New York, California and other pricey areas because lenders would feel more comfortable knowing Fannie and Freddie can buy and package the loans into securities that investors consider to be relatively safe.
A Freddie Mac spokesman said in an e-mail message that such an increase "would be in the best interest of the market and consumers."
To address the mortgage crisis, the package also raises limits on Federal Housing Administration loans, which are insured by the government in event of default, congressional aides said.
Groups representing Realtors, bankers and home builders, which have been hit hard by the mortgage market downturn, have been lobbying for such changes for months.
The National Association of Realtors has been pushing for a permanent expansion of the Fannie and Freddie limits to $625,000. It calculates that borrowers could save $3,000 to $5,000 per year in reduced interest costs as a result and projects up to 210,000 foreclosures could be prevented since refinancing into lower-rate loans would be easier.
Dale Stinton, the group's chief executive, said in a statement Thursday that increasing the loan limits "is a truly meaningful economic stimulus and should be enacted quickly."
© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Too bad I'm not in a 'higher-priced market!'
WOW - so does that mean Jumbo loans will no longer pirced at a premium?
have seen a lot of news on this stimulus, but no one ever mentioned that.
Yeah, the smaht guy on CNBC caught that one right away today. Much more significant than the beer money they're mailing us sometime in, uh, July. But, you know... "The higher cap of $625,000, to apply for one year, would breathe life into housing markets in New York, California and other pricey areas because lenders would feel more comfortable knowing Fannie and Freddie can buy and package the loans into securities that investors consider to be relatively safe."
Uh, does anybody think real estate securities are any kind of safe for the next 12 months?
As a side note, Santa Clara & Sunnyvale apartment rents are still increasing due to the shitty housing market. Market rents for a standard 2 bedroom apartment is around $1400/month. At the properties we manage, the only vacant units are the ones up for remodeling once the tenants move out. So far, there's been a quiet tech surge in Silicon Valley. Employees from India are continuing to receive Visas to work in this area, so rental market is pretty hot. Bottom line, demand is still outstripping supply in the area. Still not as hot as the tech-boom in 2000 when the same 2 bedroom units went for over $1900/mo.
Once again, the mainstream Democrats join the Republicans in giving tax breaks to the rich.
Here's how that works: mortgages from $417,000 to $625,500 now become less expensive, because they are now effectively government-insured and the mortgage interest rate drops. Can anyone who isn't rich afford a mortgage over $417,000? No, they can't. Now that lending standards have tightened, you need actual income to support that $500K loan. So we've just given a big tax break to people who can afford to buy big, expensive houses.
People who still think Democrats are "for" the poor and middle-class don't understand economics. They're throwing a few hundred dollar bone to everyone to make themselves look good, while subsidizing rich homeowners by tens of thousands of dollars each, not incidentally propping up the CDOs sold by the investment bankers that fund their campaigns, not to mention keeping home prices well out of reach of middle-class Americans.
(Yes, this is yet another reason why I support Ron Paul...to help the poor and middle-class, the first thing to do is stop subsidizing the rich.)
Spats, you're being a little simplistic on that one. The Mayors just had a little get together and got on their knees for some kind of help from the federal government for this foreclosure problem, which is hitting large eastern cities hard. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/24/us...yt&oref=slogin
"The conference called on Congress to raise the limits on loans bought by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to stimulate the mortgage market, and increase Community Development Block Grants to help stabilize neighborhoods."
Hell, Baltimore and Cleveland are actually suing some large banks for predatory lending. We can leave the debate about the stupidity and chutzpah about that one for some other time.
Bottom line, and believe it or not, a home in even Newark sells for probably a half million and up, and it seems that it was stupidly easy to get a loan for that amount during the last few years. I read about some dude who got a NINJA loan (No Income No Job No assets) in California for a little over a mil. Stunning. Argue about that all you may, but the ashes are falling, and the cancer of urban foreclosures have to be stopped, or slowed.
Biggest drop EVER in new home sales...
http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/28/news...ex.htm?cnn=yes
Quote:
Originally Posted by CNN
Still a 9.5 month supply, too, even though they stopped building some time ago.
Realistically priced house are moving just fine according to some of my Realtor friends.
Thought it was 11 months. In any event, it is amazing to see what $1 mill. gets you these days in So. Cal. Got a friend in Sherman Oaks, that paid $1.1 mill. back in '03 for a 2,000 sq ft. rambler in just an okay neighborhood. I also thought jumbo loans were not part of the refi equation or ?
OK, alright, bend over, frugal America, here it comes. Pass the vaseline. If you didn't buy a house in the past 8-10 years because you thought the prices were absurd, hey, you're in the party now, because you're going to wind up paying for a lot of other's with your tax money.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/bu...2homes.html?hp
"“I used to think,” Mr. Breakstone said, “that I would pay the piper later and enjoy life now. I’ve totally reversed that view.”"
well, fucking duh, jerkoff.
It's pretty amazing to read about people like those in this article who bought expensive home with next to nothing. Christ, one women is using her friggin disability checks to pay a mortgage.
The Subprime crisis explained
http://docs.google.com/TeamPresent?r...uth=true&pli=1
Does anyone want to buy a $128,000 house in Hamilton, MT? Because it's been on the market for 16 months with nary a nibble.
FUCK.
IT TOOK JAPAN 15 YEARS TO SHAKE OFF THE EFFECTS OF THEIR REAL ESTATE BUBBLE...
They still haven't fully recovered...
Think about that for a minute...
Glum forecast for much of suburbia... walkable urban neighborhoods the desire of tomorrow;
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Atlantic
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...TCM&refer=home
Quote:
Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Joe Lents hasn't made a payment on his $1.5 million mortgage since 2002.
That's when Washington Mutual Inc. first tried to foreclose on his home in Boca Raton, Florida. The Seattle-based lender failed to prove that it owned Lents's mortgage note and dropped attempts to take his house. Subsequent efforts to foreclose have stalled because no one has produced the paperwork
All the chicken littles who bitched about high RE prices that hoped and prayed for the market to drop so they could afford to buy a house should get in the game. Foreclosures may not be the most feel good way to buy a home, but it sure makes it affordable.
Real Estate of Jackson Hole has opened four new offices in he Teton Valleys in the last year, and purchased the largest existing firm here in Idaho.
Still going.
(I don't work for them, it is an observation)
rideit, how much has your market "corrected" so far? Last we chatted I think you said it was slow but not down yet, still so? ^^^ On REofJH dude/dudette; Buy low, sell high? If you can afford it, THIS would seem to be the time to gain market share with your wallet.
The market here is ticking along.
The uber-wealthy are still buying, they weren't affected as much from what we can see.
Anything $250-$400, selling like hot-cakes. (That is basically considered 'affordable) $500-$1m, softer, (but we are not seeing price reductions)
$1m-$10m, slow, but it always is this time of year.
Due to no GMAC or HUD programs, almost everyone shopping is looking for a larger loan or a jumbo anyway, or have a good bit of cash to begin with.
Obviously it is not a 'normal' market.
I am thinking of advertising in Moscow, London, and South America...seriously.
Might as well list in Euros.
SW FL
Over 5M....good
1M to 5M...slow
500K _ 1M....really slow
500K - 1M condo.....30 sales a month when it used to be 300.
250K - 500K.....prices down 30% in two years, still too high. Sales down 50%.
But Hey, the Realtors are talking about what a great time it is to buy.
BTW rideit, anything priced over 1M is also quoted in Euro...
This is makes no sense. Uber wealthy aren't buying the 250-400K houses. Maybe they're buying in JH, but not in Teton Valley. Single family listings in the 250 to 350K range, which I track regularly, are showing very little movement. Condo/duplexes are seeing a few sales, but not near as quick as inventory is coming on the market.
A few numbers to mill: Last 22 weeks, 45 homes sold, 44 lots (according to Real Estate Scoreboard). So that's about 100 of each per year. Current inventory on the MLS is 1251 lots, 368 houses. Five foreclosure notices in the paper this week, mostly in the $1M range.
I agree there's not much downward movement in prices yet, but seems to me it's got to be coming.
I am talking about JH
That's a very interesting article. Kinda supports what I've been saying for some time, that the Macmansion suburban excess will get hit by three factors - the boomers going into old age and scaling down, and long term higher energy costs, and out of control property taxes that the states and localities have to keep jacking up to pay for their profligacy over the last 30 years. Jersey is the epicenter of all three.
I still don't think that most people want to live in cities, though.
Not yet, good buddy, not yet.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/...mesgraphic.jpg
A $50,000 stinking pile of shit, like a $500,000 stinking pile of shit...
...is still a stinking pile of shit.
Sorry for all of you greedy bastards that got caught holding the bag.