From the Herald News:
Ripple effects just starting to show
Fading investments. Boarded-up homes. Job losses. Plunging property values.
A risky mortgage market that boomed starting in 2000 is now crumbling. The ripple effects are far-reaching, and they are starting to show in New Jersey.
The next three years are going to be pretty grim,” said Ellen Schloemer of the Center for Responsible Lending, a watchdog group. “It will be like Hurricane Katrina hit the entire country.”
The eye of the storm is the subprime mortgage market, which provides home purchase or refinance loans to those with imperfect credit or limited cash. While the industry has existed for decades, it surged since 2000 because interest rates dropped while home prices skyrocketed.
At the same time, banks developed new mortgage products to keep the housing market humming. Many had questionable terms, like suddenly increasing interest rates, and relaxed income documentation.
Now, those risks are coming home to roost. In the next several years, an estimated 1.1 million people are expected to lose their houses after falling behind on rapidly increasing mortgage payments. Municipal costs from foreclosures are expected to escalate, and the loan industry has started shedding thousands of jobs.
The fallout will hurt everyone. Foreclosures depress home values. Additional municipal costs mean higher taxes. Homebuyers will find new barriers in obtaining a mortgage. And New Jersey pensioners could see their nest eggs shrink, as state funds are now in banks that issue risky loans.
…
In principle, lending flexibility opened the doors of homeownership. About 1,000 more Passaic County residents owned homes in 2005 in comparison to 2000, Census estimates show.
…
By 2004, at least a third of mortgages issued in nearly all of Paterson and Passaic were subprime. In much of Haledon and Prospect Park, between 22 and 33 percent of home loans were untraditional. And 16 to 22 percent of loans were subprime in stretches of Clifton, Lodi and Garfield.
…
At the end of 2006, about 13 percent of subprime loans in New Jersey were past due, according to a Mortgage Bankers Association survey. Mary Johnson of Consumer Credit Counseling Services of New Jersey, a Cedar Knolls nonprofit that sees 3,000 local clients annually, says her agency is pressed to help those on the brink of foreclosure.
…
Passaic County foreclosures are rising. Between 2005 and 2006, foreclosure requests increased by 12 percent, an analysis of county Sheriff’s Department statistics shows. Based on the first three months of 2007, foreclosures are projected to rise even further, by 22 percent.
Citigroup plans to cut 26,000 jobs
Financial company says its consumer and investment banking businesses will face the biggest cuts, according to a report Tuesday.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/10/news/companies/citigroup.reut/index.htm?postversion=2007041006
>>
Last month there were cuts at my workplace. It was brutal.
“The next three years are going to be pretty grim,” said Ellen Schloemer of the Center for Responsible Lending, a watchdog group. “It will be like Hurricane Katrina hit the entire country.”
Of course this person gets it… she’s from the Center for Responsible Lending… it’s a real shame that the reporter doesn’t… as she was implying, people of all income levels in all areas of the country, whether affluent or not, have subprime mortgages… and it’s not because of spotty credit… it’s because these people were greedy… they decided to do a Refi with a massive amount of cash-out… it’s all about debt to income ratio, my friends…
Only 1000 extra people. Am I missing the big picture again but it sounds like what I said about Union City and North Bergen. The people owning the rentals changed hands or refied, but the people living in the rentals stayed the same?
OT, but perhaps interesting…concerning home building (new construction). I know someone doing it themselves on their own time (before and after work…arranging all contractors). He told me some things I didn’t know…
-The cost of building a 3,000sf house and 5/6,000 are incredibly similar.
-The materials and finishes are what kill you (ie windows, exterior siding, etc)
-The natural, traditional products for exterior finishes and roofs are the most expensive and the quickest to need maintanace and/or replacement. The synthetic but natural-looking ones with 50yr warrantees are almost as much, but cheaper.
…he said, when you start building your own place you realize why every builder is building a McMansion… the value added versys costs/time is a no brainer.
From MarketWatch:
Subprime crisis shines light on mortgage brokers
The subprime mortgage crisis has re-ignited scrutiny of the industry and people who broker home loans, with some critics arguing that hidden fees and other dubious practices have contributed to the surge in delinquencies.
The main problem is that, counter to common perception, mortgage brokers do not represent the borrowers who pay them for advice. Instead, they are more like independent salespeople who are often paid as much by the lenders offering loans as the borrowers.
A controversial fee called a Yield Spread Premium, which is paid by the lender to the broker, has come in for particular criticism and is the subject of a class-action lawsuit against NovaStar Financial, one of the largest subprime mortgage originators. The case is set to go to trial in May.
Much more on the lack of disclosure of Yield Spread Premiums (YSP) at the link above.
Rich
To go back to Acct 101, we’ve got the fixed costs of building, as well as the variable costs (whose driver is square footage). Because the fixed costs are so high relative to the variable costs, it pays to build the largest square footage allowed per lot.
Stucco (EIFS) and Vinyl are both very cheap relative to brick or natural siding materials. Windows are also expensive, as you mentioned. So, what you end up with are gigantic houses that are nothing more than large rectangles with a very fancy (and often architecturally confused) facade, with nothing much else on every other face of the home.
jb
From Bloomberg:
Mortgage Bondholders to Bear Subprime Loan Risk, Lawmakers Say
U.S. lawmakers want to stem the rising number of mortgage delinquencies by targeting investors who finance such lending through the purchase of bonds backed by home loans.
The top Republican and Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee both said they want laws making investors that buy mortgage bonds liable for deceptive or bad loans. An agreement by lawmakers in two parties to increase investor liability for abuses in subprime lending increases the chances for legislation to pass this year.
Putting the burden on investors may deter the subprime mortgages that have pushed delinquencies to a four-year high by making it more expensive for lenders to make and sell the loans, Representative Spencer Bachus, a Republican from Alabama, said in an interview in Washington. With the legislation, investors may demand higher yields to own bonds backed by mortgages.
“More money was being lent than should have been lent,” Committee Chairman Barney Frank, 67-year-old Democrat from Massachusetts, said in an interview from Washington. Frank, who last month predicted that the House would approve such a bill this year, said growth in the market for mortgage bonds “provided liquidity without responsibility.”
From Reuters vis Yahoo:
Economists cut U.S. GDP forecast for 2007
The Blue Chip Economic Indicators panel of forecasters said they expect U.S. gross domestic product to expand at a rate of 2.3 percent in 2007, the slowest growth since 2002.
The group in March had predicted growth at a rate of 2.5 percent.
…
The panel also scaled back its expectations of how much inflation will slow, although inflation is expected to grow less rapidly in 2007 than any of the prior three years.
The panel forecast the unemployment rate this year at 4.7 percent and for 2008 at 4.8 percent, unchanged for a third straight month.
Much at the link above,
Rich
Someone had asked, in the past, for info regarding options. I have no affiliation with the below nor have I viewed this. They are offering a free options dvd, for members. Membership is also free.
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http://free.ino.com/accept/107B2C/7513610.html
JB/#6
Couldn’t agree more.
From Reuters vis Yahoo:
D.R. Horton orders down, spring starts weak
D.R. Horton Inc. (NYSE:DHI – news), the largest U.S. home builder, said on Tuesday orders for new homes tumbled 37 percent last quarter and that the spring selling season has begun more slowly than usual, suggesting a deepening of the U.S. housing downturn.
Prospective buyers canceled at a 32 percent rate from January to March, down from 33 percent in the prior quarter, but above the usual 16 percent to 20 percent rate.
It has become more difficult for many buyers to obtain mortgages as lenders tighten their underwriting standards. The steeper decline in the dollar value of D.R. Horton’s home orders, relative to the number of orders, suggests that some buyers are “downsizing” to buy homes they can actually afford.
(Emphasis added)
Much at the link above,
Rich
“The next three years are going to be pretty grim”
This “Grim” description seems to be getting a ton of play. How about throwing us a change up, maybe dark & stormy? By the way, dark & stormy is a great rum drink served in Bermuda.
the way, dark & stormy is a great rum drink served in Bermuda.
Also served in my basement bar with homemade ginger beer and Gosling’s Black Seal.
But I’m partial to Corn & Oil at the moment. Homemade falernum and (right now) El Dorado on crushed ice.
Grim (7)-
Yep…Barney Frank, statesman. The fiscal watchdog who couldn’t detect a male esc@rt ring being run from right inside his own home:
Back in 1985, Frank had engaged the services of a male escort named Stephen Gobie, who had advertised his “hot bottom” in a personal ad. Over the next two years, while Frank was trying to decide whether to come out, he and Gobie carried on a clandestine affair, during which time Frank hired Gobie as a driver despite knowing Gobie was on probation for drug possession and for possession of child pornography. Frank used his House privileges to fix Gobie’s parking tickets. He wrote a memo trying to clear Gobie from probation that was disingenuous at best and an outright deception at worst. Gobie repaid Frank by running a prostitution service out of Frank’s Capitol Hill apartment. When Frank discovered this, he fired Gobie and ended their relationship. Then, in 1989, just two years after Frank’s announcement that he was gay, Gobie told his story to the conservative Washington Times. There was an immediate public outcry. Frank confirmed the basic details of his relationship with Gobie and the financial and other favors he’d done, but he angrily denied he’d been aware that Gobie had gone into business for himself in Frank’s apartment. Even so, it was an astonishing act of indiscreet self-indulgence, especially for the stiff-necked ethics scold who’d shown no pity for the various Abscam defendants. Even Frank’s closest Massachusetts friends were shaken. And The Boston Globe called for Frank to resign, so as to spare the voters the pain of having to confront his sex life in the voting booth.
The only thing sadder than this is that we elect sewage like this to high office all over the US.
Oops…another morning rant tossed into moderation. This one is there, I’m sure, because it contains the lurid details of Mr. Frank’s first, formative years in DC.
BC-
Lookit that dollar index today!
Pretty soon, they can just print them in rolls and wrap them in cheap paper.
Maybe Marcal can get the contract.
“Also served in my basement bar”
Rich,
I’ll have to stop by sometime for a taste test.
Still shaking my head as to how Barney Frank has somehow:
1. Come to be perceived as a statesman.
2. Come to be seen as a fiscal watchdog.
3. Become the chairman of any group outside Provincetown.
Clot,
Watch the world slam it up to the G-7 meeting; Euro growth, China trade wars, dollar diversification. It’s the last piece of the puzzle holding our fragile economy together. It’s at the point where some statement, just say something, is required from Paulson. It’s funny for the past decade he has advocated a firm dollar policy. It’s amazing how politics alters one’s views.
BC (19)-
Helicopter Ben and Harry the Hit Man.
Hey, I just thought I’d update you all on the house thing – no deal. Turned out there were a lot of issues that the inspection revealed. Most could have been handled, but the well water was contaminated and while they agreed to “clean” the water, the sellers refused to guarantee potable water and closing at septic – a standard part of any NY real estate contract in Westchester. We think they were getting bad advice from their attorney, who doesn’t know jack about real estate. So we pulled our offer and told them to f— themselves.
We will probably hit some open houses this weekend, and keep looking through the summer, but since our baby is due in November, I figure that if we find nothing by August, we’ll just stay in the apartment and start looking again in the spring!
>>So, what you end up with are gigantic houses that are nothing more than large rectangles with a very fancy (and often architecturally confused) facade, with nothing much else on every other face of the home.
how true. one example my interior walls have individually placed 2 inch wood strips perpendicular to the frame. today they just throw up the frame and tack drywall on top of it. it’s all the little details that make the older houses more durable.
>>I figure that if we find nothing by August, we’ll just stay in the apartment and start looking again in the spring!
hope you find something before you deliver. for someone that’s been through the have your first baby in the apartment then move to a house, it’s a pain in the rear on so many levels.
NEW JERSEY: Kara Homes buyers may lose deposits
6 unfinished developments sold
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 04/10/07
BY DAVID P. WILLIS
BUSINESS WRITER
Post Comment
TRENTON — Several prospective Kara Homes Inc. home buyers all but lost their deposits Monday after a bankruptcy court judge approved the sale of six uncompleted developments to developers and a bank.
An option now is to try to recover a portion of their money as unsecured creditors in the bankruptcy case, said Barry W. Frost, a lawyer for some of the Kara buyers. They would only recoup their money once secured lenders, such as banks, are paid.
Jerrold Fried, 42, of Berkeley, who put down $135,000 on a house at Kara’s Dayna Estates in Toms River, is not hopeful he’ll see any money.
“Unfortunately, in the end of the big bankruptcy, my wife and I are the ones that are going to suffer, and my children,” Fried said. “Everybody else goes before me even though he used my money to build the development.”
Two weeks ago, Kara sold six uncompleted developments for about $19 million at an auction that failed to generate much interest.
One, Dayna Estates, was purchased by Metropolitan Mortgage and Realty Inc. of West Orange and APS Contractors Inc. in Paterson.
Three others, Prospect Ridge Estates in Stafford, Hartley Estates in Little Egg Harbor and Sterling Acres in Monroe, were bought by Magyar Bank, the bank that loaned Kara Homes money to build the projects. Magyar will try to sell them on its own.
The two remaining developments, Woodland Estates and Park Meadow, both in Edison, were purchased by Fenix Investment & Development, a Morristown-based home builder that agreed in December to buy the developments. The sale was subject to the auction.
The projects were sold free of any contractual obligations.
“No great solutions”
more http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070410/NEWS/704100305
“for someone that’s been through the have your first baby in the apartment then move to a house, it’s a pain in the rear on so many levels.”
Only for whiners and people who live with the misguided belief that you HAVE to have a house to have a kid. My apartment is big. The baby will have it’s own bedroom with 10 foot ceilings, and it’s own bathroom. There will be nothing annoying about it. In fact, I imagine it will be easier, since everything will be on one level, and I won’t have to have 85 different implements in which the baby can sleep, since the crib will be within a few feet of wherever I am in the apartment.
Moving with a baby could be annoying, but said child is going to have its own nursery in the grandparents’ house (spoiled, I know) so I’m sure they’d be happy to babysit on moving day.
Kara Homes buyers may lose deposits
That really hurts..
jb
NJGal and Richard –
NJGal Says:
>>I figure that if we find nothing by August, we’ll just stay in the apartment and start looking again in the spring!
Richard Says:
>> hope you find something before you deliver. for someone that’s been through the have your first baby in the apartment then move to a house, it’s a pain in the rear on so many levels.
Richard, can you be more specific on what exactly makes it such a pain in the rear to move once one has a baby? Is it that you have 12 additional boxes to pack with diapers, baby clothes and toys or that because you waited to buy and saved tens of thousands of dollars (if not more), potential sellers won’t be able to send THEIR kids to college on your dime?
From CNN/Money:
Home builder: Spring hasn’t sprung
In the latest sign of trouble for the battered real estate market, one of the nation’s top home builders warned Tuesday that it has yet to see the normal start of the spring home buying season, as it reported sharply lower sales for the first three months of the year.
D.R. Horton (Charts), the nation’s No. 2 home builder, reported that the number of new homes it sold in its fiscal second quarter fell nearly 37 percent. The value of those homes fell about 40 percent to $2.6 billion in the period, which ended March 31.
The home building sector has been battered by a glut of homes for sale on the market, created during the record building boom of 2005 and early 2006. New home sales and housing starts have plunged in recent months, and price measures for both new and existing homes are falling.
…
D.R. Horton said the declines in volume and sales value were widespread across all the regions where the company operates — the Northeast, the various parts of the South, California and the rest of the West. Each had declines of about 20 percent or more.
I recently came across the following remark for a newly listed house: “pre-approval and signed disclosure with offers”.
I thought that was a thing of the past???
I would like to share a few experience, let us get an idea how much we were played by the real estate system.
1) last Decemeber, I submitted an offer of $815K for a property with LP of $900K. It had another price reduction from $1 M, and sit empty on the market for about half a year. I submit my offer, then the realtor said there were multiple offers, let us decide whether we wanted to increase. We did not, later on I found out it is sold for $840K.
2) recently I submitted offers for $740K for a property with LP of $789K. It has had price reductions from $849K, $819K.. The owner as of last night, gave me counter of &770K. But this morning I pulled some new information. Basically the COMP the agent gave me listed only those properties sold high, such as I got four comps sold for $799K. But I found out there were bigger models ( one extra den at the 1st floor level, two story entry foyer, bigger bay windows in basement, etc..) sold last july for only &760K. Of course the realtor convinently omit these kind of sale, because it screwed the COMPs.
I then told my agents what I found out, she is pretty unhappy about it. And tell me the Taxrecords can be inaccurate.
Then within an hour, she told me they are getting another much higher offer… She will get back to me with the owner’s feedback.
so how all these look to you all?
Refuse to be screwed, (but may not be able to due to the whole industry is against you)
What happened to the North Jersey spring market? Those big bonuses didn’t seem to materialize into higher sales volumes..
North Jersey Closed Sales (GSMLS)
2002 Q1 – 5,959
2003 Q1 – 5,619
2004 Q1 – 5,862
2005 Q1 – 5,847
2006 Q1 – 5,007 (Down 16.7%)
2007 Q1 – 4,788 (Down 4.5% YOY, Down 22% from 2005)
NJGal – Like your answer to Richard, and I had our first in an apartment (smaller than yours) and it was no big deal, we did cosleeping and the smaller space meant we limited our purchases to the necessary rather than splurging, a good choice.
Lucky newborn with it’s own bathroom!!!!
Clot,
What’s your point in post 14, that you don’t like Barney Frank?
There are plenty of ways to rip apart his idiotic proposal, but you seem to go for something unrelated and lurid, and I’m wondering why.
Why exactly is his brand of stupidity and corruption more worthy of notoriety and derision than the absolute destruction of the Constitution, disgusting indifference to human life, shameless wasting of hundreds of billions of dollars and fraudulent backdoor self dealing with administration cronies that we have seen on the other side for the last 6 years?
Whatever you might think about Barney Frank and the shame his presence brings to Congress, it pales in comparison to what the GOP has wrought.
I apologize in advance, but I’m really ticked this morning.
I’m just going to give you one very small example of how far gone we are right now:
http://tinyurl.com/35ogs8
That is far worse than anything Barney Frank has done or ever will do. Sorry for the lack of sex and gore.
#14, Clotpoll:
“And The Boston Globe called for Frank to resign, so as to spare the voters the pain of having to confront his sex life in the voting booth.”
I love this sentence. They make it sound like there will be male prostitutes in each voting booth to personally confront each voter.
NJGAL
Let’s not forget option C- they may still come back to you and agree to all your terms.
Either way moving is a pain, but you might find it easier to move with baby than pregnant, pregnancy can sap most of your energy at first and if you get your energy back, well there’s that body shape that hinders you.
Everything works out in the end.
KL
>>Is it that you have 12 additional boxes to pack with diapers, baby clothes and toys or that because you waited to buy and saved tens of thousands of dollars
seneca, have you ever been through the experience? if not don’t bother talking about it. here’s a few. baby proofing the house, painting, moving furniture, setting up utilities, insurance, etc. all while trying to take care of a baby who doesn’t care that you have stuff to do. the longer you wait (e.g. moving when the kid is 6 months old as opposed to 18 months old) the more stuff you gather the more stuff you have to pack and move. believe me it’s a tough experience.
I’m still shaking my head about how George Bush has somehow:
1. Come to be perceived as a statesman.
2. Come to be seen as a fiscal watchdog.
3. Become the president of anything besides a company his father owns.
#37
I lived in an apartment with a baby and moved into a house with a baby. It can be done and has been done. A baby is no reason to jump and buy a house.
>>Only for whiners and people who live with the misguided belief that you HAVE to have a house to have a kid.
you’ve never done it before so forgive me if i don’t take your opinion seriously.
>It can be done and has been done
anything can be done, and no one is advocating buying a house to avoid this scenario. it just complicates things.
NJGal,
Consider the sellers refusal to accomodate your needs, a second blessing. Congrats, back in the LOD’s.
Again seeing an sharp increase in Mortgate rates. If it continues, then the summer is going to rock..
A little off topic but..
I had made a prediction regarding inventory, I gave 4/17 as the day we hit 32,000 at 31,500 now it may be even earlier.
Keep in mind 32,000 was the height of it last year hit in october.
KL
“Lucky newborn with it’s own bathroom!!!!”
Yeah, except it won’t use it – we all know a newborn carries its bathroom with it! That’s currently the dog’s bathroom – he has his own shower attachment and everything (and cleaning a hairy 80 lb puppy in a bathtub is infinitely worse than moving with an infant, I’m certain)
And rhyming, I think they may come back. Other houses aren’t selling so quickly in the town, and many of the nicer ones have had price drops to bring them much closer to this house’s asking price. But if they do, my offer has dropped at least 50K, now that I know the issues involved.
and Richard, those things you’re complaining about are just part of life. Get over it – you have to do half of that stuff anyway when you move, like setting up utilities, etc. Get a babysitter if the kid is annoying you and you have stuff to do. The rest of the world does.
We helped my wife’s sister move from Philipsburg to Piscataway earlier this spring… with a <1 yr old. We did a number of renovations to the home during this time as well (new drywall, paint, doors, etc).
Moving from an apartment into a house is just as difficult as moving from house to house.
Either way, moving is difficult, no doubt about that, especially if you've amassed years of "stuff".
But does having a little one (or two) make things more difficult? I can't see how, especially if you have family and friends around.
Who is the LOD babysitter?
jb
“you’ve never done it before so forgive me if i don’t take your opinion seriously.”
Whether I’ve done it or not, I’ve read enough of your posts here to know that you are someone with fundamental personality differences than many people I know, which of course would make something like that much more trying for you to handle. I’ve known tons of people who’ve done with infants, multiple children and toddlers, and it’s worked out just fine.
And thanks Bob – it’s like a weight off my shoulders, with all the nonsense this house had to offer – I actually do feel like it’s a blessing, and not in disguise either.
“2006 Q1 – 5,007 (Down 16.7%)
2007 Q1 – 4,788 (Down 4.5% YOY)
Down 22% from 2005)
[31],
Lower highs, lower lows; down the staircase. Just textbook fundamentals/technicals. I guess Tomnitz was not kidding when he said it s*cks.
curiousd #4, nice taxes on a 6,000 sq ft McMansion, though.
Lindsey (33)-
“Like” has nothing to do with it. There are many legislators I don’t like who are nonetheless effective. I also have a good deal of respect for those with whom I disagree, but at least conduct themselves in a professional manner.
What rankles me are politicians- of either party- who asprire to the mantle of statesmanship, yet display the judgment and character of 8th graders.
Come to think of it, I think I just insulted the vast majority of 8th graders.
From MarketWatch:
Mortgage-buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are still “a significant supervisory concern,” the companies’ federal regulator said in an annual report to Congress released Tuesday. James Lockhart, the director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, said the companies “still have much to do” to file timely financial statements following their respective accounting scandals, although both are “working hard to achieve this goal.” Shares of Fannie Mae were recently trading at $54.09, down 34 cents, while shares of Freddie Mac rose 17 cents to $59.80.
Moving is a difficult for everyone except Henry David Thoreau. Moving late in pregnancy is problematic because you shouldn’t lift anything heavier than a clothes basket so unless you are going through the expense of having professional movers pack everything, or, trust your partner to do ALL of the packing, it will limit your ability to ‘participate’ in the process. For a mom-to-be, this can be a very frustrating experience. You can’t pack up and you can’t pack out once you are at your new diggs.
Moving with a newborn is also difficult. No one is denying that. However, given what NJGal has revealed about having family close by and the fact that she is not moving from Boise to a brand new place with no support group, moving postpartum should not be significantly more difficult than moving before delivering.
The only time I would encourage someone to try to move before giving birth is when you are doing a long distance move from a familiar place to an unfamiliar one because you will need to acquaint yourself with new doctors (ob/Gyn, pediatrician), new support group (first-time moms form an easy bond), new friends, etc.
#46 JB Does your sister in law know your feelings on the housing market?
#46;
“But does having a little one (or two) make things more difficult? I can’t see how, especially if you have family and friends around.”
Having little ones makes EVERYTHING more difficult, including taking a shower, eating a meal and (ahem) enjoying the company of your significant other. But as NJGal points out, that is life, you have to just get over it.
Or don’t have kids period.
Unrealtor/#49
True…and maintenance, and insurance and…
Makes me think of all those castles and chateaus around the major cities of Europe from the 18th and 19 century (that weren’t destroyed by the 2WW). There are only 2 types still standing… those that become central tourist attractions for their architecture/history/etc and those that become B&Bs… the bottom line, maintenance nightmares, taxes, etc are cumulative and as trends/fashions/building designs change (as JB noted previously…that fine ‘harvest gold’ kitchen of the 80s) renovations become required.
Don’t think many of these things are going to be tourist attractions…but then again 6 flags is still standing.
Regarding Richards Post about babies and houses:
we are another couple expecting a baby this spring/early summer.
Yes baby add to the amount of stuff you have. However with all my moves I fund out that moving is a great way to get rid of some of the junk you haven’t used for years….
Like hideous wooden bird figurine your aunt gifted you for you wedding, whch was sitting in the box for 4 years…..
Also baby do add stuff but as long as you a living in the apartment you actually do not accumulate too much stuff…
we already have everything baby needs for the first 6 month bought… It might add one extra trip with my 4 door Sedan – or we will not even notice extra volume if we rent a moving truck.
If something Baby made us LESS prone to buy a house, since we do like to have an opportunities renting gives you:
to move around closer/further away from work, better school system/ closer to childcare/hospital/parks.
Also paying 1/2 to 1/3 of what we would have paid if we’d buy a house does not hurt either.
I see too many people who settele down early in their life, bought a house within decent distance from theri job, and later in life got laid off/found better position and got stuck in current house with truly hideous commute, bad schools (keep in mind that schools and neighbourhoods do change with time) – or even declined promotion/better job opportunity because of the difficulties in selling their houses and moving.
yes home ownership is great, and it was in years before. Now average american sells his/her house in 7 years, and younger generation in 4 years.
Without crazy appreciation of the last 5 years you will loose money outright if you sell after 4 years of owning the house compare to renting.
Thats unless you buy cheap – there should be financial insentive to buying a house.
Having kids is not a good insentive to buying a house.
Unfortunatelly peer presssure from family and relatives/media to get to people.
It was a lateral move for them, they purchased a home that was roughly the same price as the one they sold. They moved to be closer to work, they are both teachers in Piscataway.
jb
JB, in moderation… must have been my use of the phrase ‘h@rvest gold’. ;)
“the absolute destruction of the Constitution”
Such hyperbolic ravings are such a bore.
Take note of who voted for the war, and who voted to enact the “Patriot Act” (twice):
http://freedomagenda.com/iraq/wmd_quotes.html
The executive summary:
* Edwards, John (D-NC)
* Reid, Harry (D-NV)
* Kerry, John (D-MA)
* Clinton, Hillary (D-NY)
Hillary said it best in 2001: “Every nation has to either be with us, or against us. Those who harbor terrorists, or who finance them, are going to pay a price.”
And I moved with a 2 year old and a week old infant. The difficult part was being so soon after delivery, I was still out of shape and couldn’t lift much. My husband got a couple of friends over and they did all the work. I took care of painting and stuff once I was in better shape. No biggy.
Dade Behring adds 90 jobs in DE, closing a plant in Cupertino, CA to do so.
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070410/BUSINESS/704100315/1003
And who knows, if in 10 years DE’s cost structure is better than CA’s, maybe those jobs will still be here!
To central NJ ( #30) I have purchased homes (with my ex) a few times. The second bid thing came up every time we made an offer–no exceptions! Sometimes it was real–the presentation of our offer seemingly flushed out the other buyer who had been hemming and hawing and realized that he just ccouldn’t live without the house now that a some one else was bidding. Or our bid was stimulated by something (a price decrease, an open house)that also stimulated others’ interest. But more than once the other bid mysteriously disappeared shortly after we refused to bid and walked away from the deal. It’s another agent trick and I refuse to play. There’s always another place to live.
…shouldn’t lift anything heavier than a clothes basket…
Seneca,
THANKS, I can’t wait to point this out to my wife! Boy will she be thrilled to know that she can still do the laundry!
Ok, I’m the one that’s thrilled.
Lately, she’s been such a slacker.
Rich
About moving w/ kids –
We recently moved across the country.. 1200 miles with a 4yo and a 1yo. The move itself was much easier than expected and we actually enjoyed the whole trip.
What’s more of a pain is watching the exorbitant prices of crappy houses in NJ.
NJGal, your vitriolic responses are unwarranted as we’re having what i thought was a civil conversation. to claim you know me from my blog posts smacks of presumption and arrogance. maybe you need to move up Maslow’s pyramid a bit more.
Did I mention this is an EMPTY clothes basket I was referring to?
In all seriousness, every woman needs to consult with her ob… they all have differing opinions on what you can eat and drink, medicines you can and can’t take, and how much you can or can’t lift so it is ALWAYS best to ask your doctor for specifics. Some docs are more lenient than others and obviously the chance of complications for every woman is different. Clothes basket is just a general guideline.
We moved when my DD was almost three (a very well behaved & accommodating three). It *was* stressful. We all ended up sick the day of and immediately following the move, we had surprises the inspection didn’t catch, and it was just a struggle to get the house together given those things plus full time jobs. Is moving stressful regardless- yes. Is it a bit more of a juggle with a child- yes. Can I believe I’m in some agreement with Richard- wow, no!
Whenever possible, no matter what the moving circumstances, close on a new home a few weeks before you move out of the old homestead, it is SO much worth it. Since NJGal is renting and has family available, she’ll likely have a much easier time of it than we did.
The next three years are going to be pretty grim,” said Ellen Schloemer of the Center for Responsible Lending, a watchdog group. “It will be like Hurricane Katrina hit the entire country.”
Does that mean we’re all getting $2000 debit cards? Wheeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!! Free booze & hookers for everyone!
EMPTY!
Then how is she going to get the clothes up and down the basement stairs?
I keed, I keed.
But, she could always slide them down and push them up…
I KEED!
This will make it even harder for some of the first time buyers with better credit to get into the market.
———————
Alt-A loans are made to borrowers with credit ratings that fall between prime and subprime, or to homeowners who have prime credit but are seeking a somewhat riskier loan. Together, subprime and Alt-A loans account for about 21 percent of loans outstanding and 39 percent of mortgages made in 2006.
Reports that Wall Street, is becoming more wary of Alt-A by putting loans back to lenders or by bidding less for them could be an indication that default rates will worsen before they improve.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/10/business/10lend.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
… and on the Seventh Day, G-d created the laundry chute.
Cool! I’ve never been “awaiting moderation” (#68) before! I wonder if it’s b/c I’m blogging from Florida rather than NJ!
>>Can I believe I’m in some agreement with Richard- wow, no!
i’ve never been the villian before. i’ll consider this a stretch project ;)
There is nothing hard about moving with kids but let me tell you how much I miss sleep.I did it 2 times within a year with a 3 month old and a year old. Also doing renovations on both places.. No biggie. But OH GOD if I could just get 6 hours straight I would be in heaven.
NJGal, remember no one knows better about your well-being than yourself. Everyone’s experience is unique, so take Richard’s observation like a pinch of black salt/white pepper.
We have a 1 yr old. Wife was studying upstate NY and I stayed in Queens. We moved from 2 separate apartments into one NJ apt while she was 8 months into her pregnancy. It was a bit inconvenient, but we planned ahead and moved over 2 weekends. She was the brain, I was the brawn and that’s all it took with some help from friends and a u-Haul. After the baby, we are more happy to rent than own, since baby takes up much of our time. And she has her own bathroom; babies use them very soon for tub baths!
Don’t sweat it; everything works out fine at the end.
And another pitch for the Honda CRV…… wife can go from the passenger seat to the back to attend to baby while I am driving, since there is a foldable tray between the front seats. Neat indeed!
Clotpoll/BCBob, the Dollar Index is precariously poised, isn’t it? I am rubbing my hands with glee :)
dream,
Like some, I have tried to protect myself from a falling dollar in foreign markets, and although I may benefit marginally from a falling dollar.. it is something that should be of grave concern. No room for glee.. sorry!
curiousd (#4) and JB (#6),
Does anyone know how the current state of the RE market is affecting custom construction? I am considering demolishing my existing POS vs. moving to a larger home. I would think that building materials and labor would be down. I was wondering if anyone had an idea what it would cost to build a 3000 sqft home, average to better than average quality. I would appreciate any thoughts, thanks.
The real-estate madness of the past several years had one side effect that may benefit today’s sellers: It created a glut of real-estate agents. Now, as more brokers compete for sales in a slowing real-estate market, savvy homeowners can save thousands by negotiating their commissions.
In theory, of course, broker commissions are always negotiable. Setting up fixed commission rates has, in fact, been considered illegal since a 1950s Supreme Court ruling. But real-estate brokers certainly don’t want you to know that. “The owners of the large firms want everyone to think the broker fee is 6%,”
http://homes.wsj.com/buysell/tactics/20070410-todorova.html
NJGal: I know that “tone” can be difficult to discern when all the gist can be lost in pure stark text. However, I can’t get over how consistently tone deaf Reech is on these boards. I am almost certain that he is really more troll than anything else. He seems too intelligent and experienced to take his posts at face value.
#78, I guess I sounded more melodramatic than I should have.
I rubbed my hands with glee for a second perhaps from an investment perspective. But I am scratching my head on the implications for ALL of us in the form of consumer prices, geopolitical repurcussions, etc.
I was reading somewhere ….there was a recent poll on pension plan and institutions tactical asset allocations for 2007. Usually they do not move around much YoY, but there was a discernible jump in the exposure to non-US dollar denominated bonds. Usually, exposure it taken through foreign equities, but there now seems to have been a fair amount of exposure taken through bonds also.
Usual legal disclaimer applies…
NJGal: Have you chosen your facility yet? If you go to NYC, I would strongly endorse NY Hospital. If you stay in NNJ, then use Hackensack. If you intend to breastfeed, then the endorsement is even stronger. This opinion is based on everything we have heard from users and practitioners over the last 18 months.
If you will need birthing classes, I also have a nurse/lactation consultat located on the East side in the 70’s who is tremendous. I assume that it would be convenient for your husband and you.
Also, all things being equal, Hoboken is a pretty kick-a55 place to have a newborn. So everything works even if the best laid plans fail.
The only drawback is that Hoboken to York/70th can be a bit of a pain.
Rich In NNJ Says:
April 10th, 2007 at 11:19 am
R: were you the one with the newborn? – if so – congrats!
Chicago.. Had my first in Hoboken.. I really like St Mary Hospital… They were awesome..
Clot: Interesting. I didn’t really know that much about Frank, and my reaction from seeing him in the media over the last 12 months was “what an inarticulate moron”. I wondered why everyone always seemed to make a big deal out of him. He is not impressive at all. Now I know why he has support. Obviously, people in Mass care more about what he is than who he is.
“NJGal, your vitriolic responses are unwarranted as we’re having what i thought was a civil conversation. to claim you know me from my blog posts smacks of presumption and arrogance. maybe you need to move up Maslow’s pyramid a bit more.”
Richard, it’s funny that you come here everday with nasty, snide comments to everyone but can’t take a little, especially when half of what you have to say is “presumptive and arrogant” at best every time you post. Pot, this is kettle. What I know of you I know from your comments, and I’m not surprised, based on those, that you would find moving with a child such a trial, whereas everyone else here seems to think that it can be done. Seems to me that you, Richard, still live at the physiological level of that pyramid.
ChiFi, my doc is with NYU – I think it’s a pretty good hospital, but I haven’t done that much looking into that stuff yet. I like her, so it’s more tempting to stay with them. I definitely plan to breastfeed (although I’m not joining the La Leche League anytime soon) so I will probably be looking for someone to talk to about that. I know NYU offers a one day, 9 to 5 birthing class, which is convenient considering our work schedules. I agree, the East Side can be a bit of a pain to get to from NJ, but then if something goes too fast (although I’ve heard it won’t with a firstborn!), I could run to St. Mary’s if I had to. I wouldn’t mind a baby in Hoboken at all, frankly – easy to do all the things I need to do, less space to clean, I could keep my dogwalker around to handle the puppy and I’d never even have to go out for groceries if I didn’t want to. I think apartment living is actually a way less stressful way to go when having a baby. Maybe as you have more than one kid that doesn’t hold true, but for two people and a dog, we’ll be fine.
“NJGal: I know that “tone” can be difficult to discern when all the gist can be lost in pure stark text. However, I can’t get over how consistently tone deaf Reech is on these boards. I am almost certain that he is really more troll than anything else. He seems too intelligent and experienced to take his posts at face value.”
You may be correct in this one. He just never seems to get it. And I’ll never get the troll mentality.
“it is something that should be of grave concern”
Rent [78],
I agree. However, if we decide to bastardize our currency and WS stands up and applauds, why not take advantage of this and pick your appropriate spots. Don’t you think multi national investors are cheering a lower dollar?
Dream,
Don’t cheer, just stick to what is working.
Chi,
Thanks, but no. I think it was RentingInNJ.
My wife’s due date is around July 25.
I have been reading the posts on this site for a bit now and it is very helpful with insight of the RE market. I had a few questions I would like to get answered. If this is not the right forum – please let me know which is so I can post.
1) it seems as though many are under the impression that the subprime issue is effecting NJ as well as the nation in general. Do you feel the impact is as heavy in NJ? Also, do you feel now is a good time for someone to get into the market if looking for a home?
2) How does one get info on foreclosures, etc for an area? I would like to get info on home sales (I assume the info is available on any Realtor website). I would specifically like to get details about late payments of foreclosures in an area. I think this would e a good insight into future taxes, general health of a regions home prices, etc
Heard some good news on the radio this am. Apparently Republican and Democratic Senate leaders are proposing a bill that would in effect make the end buyer of the securitized mortgage liable for fraudulent mortgage originations. i.e they can’t forclose on mortages obtained fraudulently and will end up eating the costs. I think this makes sense as gullible people won’t get suckered that easily. Greedy people won’t be able to obtain Liar’s mortgaes easily either.
Mortgage woes could be ‘tip of the iceberg’
Fraud, abusive lending crushes dreams for millions of home owners
By John W. Schoen
Senior Producer
MSNBC
Updated: 2 hours ago
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Video/070410/c_liesman_delinquencies_070410.vsmall.jpg
Mark and Kerrie Russo, a Jackson, N.J., couple raising two young daughters, are struggling to hang on. Less than a year after buying a home in 2005, which they financed with a 30-year fixed rate loan based on a solid credit history, a local mortgage broker began sending letters offering to refinance their loan. A new product, the sales pitch said, allowed home owners flexibility to choose from a menu of different payments from one month to the next.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17929461/
Rich In NNJ Says:
April 10th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Chi,Thanks, but no. I think it was RentingInNJ.
My wife’s due date is around July 25.
R: What is in the water around here? ;-)
NJGal,
Congrats! My wife delivered both of our boys in the last 5 years at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood. Even took a ‘Daddy’ class there. Top notch service all around.
Anti [92],
See post # 7.
From the AP via USA Today, not much we didn’t already know, but just keeping an eye on what is running in the mainstream press..
Weakness spreads from subprime mortgage market
Turmoil in the subprime mortgage market is spreading to companies who lend to people with decent credit.
The spread could reduce availability of loans for more consumers and threaten the existence of some lenders.
Rising delinquencies and defaults among subprime borrowers — those with blemished credit histories — have resulted in more than two dozen lenders going out of business, moving into bankruptcy protection or putting themselves up for sale.
Now the so-called Alternative-A mortgage sector, which lends money to borrowers with better credit than subprime borrowers but not quite prime, is starting to hurt.
Jersey4Life, that’s a nice hospital – I have a friend who works there. They also took good care of my grandmother when she was ill.
Interesting bit on subprime spreads:
Subprime Tsunami: Spreads Kill You, Not Defaults
From CNBC:
Foreclosure Rates Jump Sharply In Major Cities, Survey Says
Even the priciest metro areas aren’t immune to rising foreclosure rates.
During the first quarter, foreclosures have jumped sharply across the nation’s top urban markets, according to a PropertyShark.com report released to CNBC.
In Miami, foreclosures are up nearly 31%, in Los Angeles 24%, and in New York City, up 56%, the website said. Properties in the borough of Queens accounted for the bulk of the New York foreclosures, jumping 91% alone.
ChiFi, my doc is with NYU – I think it’s a pretty good hospital, but I haven’t done that much looking into that stuff yet. I like her, so it’s more tempting to stay with them.
NJG: We have two sets of good friends each with two children. Both used NY Hospital and another facility. One NYU the other St. Lukes. Both strongly preferred NYH.
also…..here
http://nymag.com/health/besthospitals/24095/index1.html
Lereah’s take on the subprime mess:
http://www.realtor.org/reinsights.nsf/pages/economistcommentary
NJG: sorry… go all the way to the bottom of the linked page……what you care about…”Cornell’s eleven labor-and-delivery suites are spacious and attractive and outfitted with modern birthing beds. “
From the NY Times:
Defaults Rise in Next Level of Mortgages
Some of the problems afflicting mortgages sold to borrowers with weak, or subprime, credit increasingly appear to be cropping up in loans made to homeowners who were thought to be less risky.
…
Alt-A loans are made to borrowers with credit ratings that fall between prime and subprime, or to homeowners who have prime credit but are seeking a somewhat riskier loan.
Such loans made up about 10 percent of all mortgages outstanding at the end of 2006 and made up about 18 percent of home loans written last year, according to Moody’s Economy.com.
Together, subprime and Alt-A loans account for about 21 percent of loans outstanding and 39 percent of mortgages made in 2006.
The delinquency rate for Alt-A mortgages remains much lower than the rate for subprime mortgages, but it has been rising. In February, 2.6 percent of Alt-A loans were delinquent by 60 or more days, up from 1.22 percent a year before, according to FirstAmerican LoanPerformance. By comparison, 12.44 percent of subprime loans were delinquent by more than two months, up from 7.84 percent.
Housing Boom Tied To Sham Mortgages
Lax Lending Aided Real Estate Fraud
By David Cho
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 10, 2007; A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/09/AR2007040901463_pf.html
ATLANTA — The man was one slick fraud artist.
Phillip Hill lured people to fancy cocktail parties in a $1.9 million mansion. He asked to use their names and credit histories in real estate deals, promising to make them rich. Most got $10,000 checks on the spot for signing up.
By the time the scam unraveled, the credit of those participants had been ruined, hundreds of upscale properties had fallen into foreclosure and real estate prices had plummeted in some of this city’s most exclusive neighborhoods. Hill is about to go to federal prison.
Many experts have concluded that the nation’s real estate boom of recent years was fueled in part by weakened lending standards that sparked excessive demand and drove up prices. Now, some are worried that the looser standards may have permitted a boom of another kind — a big expansion of mortgage fraud.
No one knows exactly how extensive the crime has become, but new data from the federal government suggest that it has jumped tenfold since 2000. Prosecutors are finding cases all over the country in which sham transactions, based on fraudulent appraisals, led to homes changing hands at far above their real value. Mortgage lenders failed to carry out the most elementary safeguards.
In some neighborhoods, mortgage fraud became so extensive that it drove up overall home prices. That is what happened in Atlanta. Hill, 50, was convicted last month in what authorities call one of the biggest mortgage-fraud cases in U.S. history. It involved 400 fraudulent loan applications; nearly $100 million in mortgages; and 120 closing attorneys, appraisers, mortgage brokers and others who prosecutors say were in on the scam.
Federal prosecutors say this kind of fraud is hardly unique to Atlanta — the lax lending standards that Hill exploited have existed throughout the country in recent years.
In Broomfield, Colo., Gerald Small pocketed $21.5 million and bought two jets after he got bogus home loans using personal information from people who responded to a help-wanted ad; he was convicted. In Kansas City last year, Brent Michael Barber was sentenced to 12 years in prison for paying residents of a low-income neighborhood $2,000 each to use their names in 300 fraudulent loan applications. In Jacksonville, mortgage broker J.R. Parker and closing attorney Dale Beardsley were convicted in 2005 for a fraud scheme in which they netted $14 million in cash, six luxury cars and two $1 million homes.
Federal law enforcement officers say that with heavy demands on them from homeland security, they have had the resources to shut down only the worst offenders.
“By the time we prosecute, the damage has been done, the neighborhoods are already destroyed and the money is gone,” said David E. Nahmias, the U.S. attorney who oversaw the Hill case.
In Atlanta, entire neighborhoods and condominium developments, especially those in affluent areas, were hit by organized fraud rings. Initially, these schemes pumped up housing values for everyone as artificially high appraisals helped the swindlers get inflated loans. Legitimate home buyers rushed in to get a piece of what they thought was a soaring real estate market. Now as the fraud is being exposed, their home values are taking a hit.
As more of these cases come to light around the nation, the question is: How much did an epidemic of fraud contribute to the frenzied housing market of recent years?
Liar Loans and Straw Buyers
Thirty years ago, most Americans got their mortgages at a savings-and-loan association from bankers who obeyed conservative lending rules. But sweeping changes in the finance world have created a far different system. It has helped raise homeownership to record levels, but many real-estate professionals say it also has led to far looser lending standards.
Nowadays, instead of poring over paperwork for weeks, lenders often verify loans through electronic underwriting programs in which numbers can easily be tweaked. About 70 percent of Americans get their home loans from independent mortgage brokers, many of whom are paid bonuses for pushing higher-interest loans.
Close to 90,000 brokers have joined the profession since 2000, according to Wholesale Access, a research firm in Columbia. The field is lightly regulated. Eighteen states do not require criminal checks, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors reports. Undoubtedly, most mortgage brokers are honest, but some have played central roles in recent fraud cases.
The housing boom brought another change. Mortgages are no longer held for long by banks but are packaged together as massive bonds and sold on Wall Street. Propelled in part by demand for these bonds, companies began offering loans that required little or no documentation of borrowers’ income.
These “stated income” loans were designed for a limited purpose: giving self-employed people a crack at homeownership. But during the boom, the number of such loans exploded to the point that they became a running joke in the industry, earning the nickname “liar loans.” Estimates vary widely, but research suggests that they made up a significant portion of all mortgages during the boom — 58 percent in a study by First American LoanPerformance.
Mortgage lenders in theory have a right to compare loan documents to a buyer’s tax returns, but they rarely do. In the few cases where it has been done, results were startling. In a study published by the Mortgage Asset Research Institute, one lender sampled 100 stated-income loan applicants and found that 90 had exaggerated take-home pay by 5 percent or more and that nearly 60 inflated their pay by more than 50 percent.
Mortgage originators often neglected extensive document verification because it slowed loan approvals. “Everyone in the mortgage industry is trying to approve loans faster than their competitors,” said James Croft, founder of MARI in Reston. “They all offer the same basic rates and the same basic mortgage products. But if I can get the loan faster, that gives me a competitive advantage.”
Many industry experts say stated-income loans became an invitation to fraud, while mortgage brokers — paid commissions to put loans through, not slow them down — often looked the other way.
In this climate, industry people say, fraud of two types became easier.
In the first type, known to law enforcement as “fraud for housing,” people lied on their mortgage applications to get into homes they otherwise could not afford. Even on a loan where the buyer is asked to provide no proof of income, lying about it on the application is a federal crime.
A more insidious type — “fraud for profit” — also spread. Involving scam artists taking advantage of the looser standards, many of these schemes drew in corrupt appraisers willing to overstate the value of properties, “straw buyers” who were paid to lend their names and credit histories to a transaction, and closing attorneys who kept banks in the dark.
The growth of mortgage fraud has outpaced other types of financial crimes, the Treasury Department reports. From 2002 to 2004, mortgage fraud reports nearly doubled each year. Over that period, mortgage fraud convictions by federal prosecutors fell.
The Treasury Department received a record 37,313 mortgage fraud reports in 2006, 10 times more than in 2000. But the true incidence is almost certainly higher because the government gets reports only from regulated institutions, not including the nation’s 53,000 mortgage-broker firms.
“Nobody wants to go in there and expose how big this is,” said Chris Klein, a finance manager at Howard Hanna Mortgage Services, a Pittsburgh mortgage broker, echoing the comments of several brokers around the country. “In the industry as a whole, it’s a running joke. If you want to get a loan done, any loan, you can get it done.”
Hill’s ‘Business Model’
Phillip Hill allegedly ran small-scale frauds in Florida and elsewhere for years, and he was caught and convicted in one case. But when he arrived in Atlanta in the late 1990s, that past was invisible. It is now apparent that he came to town with big plans.
Described as soft-spoken but charismatic, Hill broke into the city’s elite circles by throwing lavish parties at an estate a few blocks from the Georgia governor’s mansion. Influential people began coming to him for their housing needs. Hill rented homes to several prominent Atlanta figures, including Robert L. Nardelli, the former chief executive of Home Depot.
Prosecutors said Hill and his accomplices sought short-term loans from friends and associates, including business leaders and professional athletes. The ring bought homes, then transferred them to straw buyers Hill had recruited. Using inflated appraisals and other doctored papers, the group took out big mortgages that allowed it to repay the short-term loans and pocket hefty sums.
Some home prices were inflated by 100 percent or more. One estate was pumped from $1.9 million to $5.5 million in two weeks, according to court documents. Hill’s personal take from the scheme is estimated at $14.5 million, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors think most of the straw buyers, some just college students, did not know what Hill was doing with their names and credit histories. Several later testified that Hill’s attorney flipped through loan documents so fast at closing that they hardly read what they were signing. Most apparently thought they were becoming the owners of homes Hill would maintain and rent out to make the monthly payments.
In truth, neither happened. Most homes fell into disrepair. Others were stripped of their appliances and fixtures, including the mansion where Hill hosted his cocktail parties. As the scam unraveled, more than 300 homes fell into foreclosure.
Mortgage lenders later acknowledged that they failed to perform basic checks into hundreds of Hill loans. They estimated their losses at $41 million. Some of that will be absorbed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the huge government-created housing corporations in Washington that help package home loans into bonds for sale on Wall Street.
At trial, defense attorneys argued that Hill was unaware that his “business model” was against the law and that his underlings doctored loan applications without his knowledge. The jury did not buy it. On March 14, Hill was convicted of 166 counts of fraud and money laundering. He has not been sentenced, but after the verdict, Judge Thomas W. Thrash said Hill “is looking at spending the rest of his life in prison.”
Hill’s attorney, Bruce H. Morris, said his client maintains his innocence and plans to appeal.
Nine accomplices, including appraisers, real estate agents and closing attorneys, were convicted. Thirteen others pleaded guilty. Many straw buyers saw their credit ruined.
Hardest-hit by the scheme were honest homebuyers. Mortgage fraud experts estimate that Hill’s scam, and others like it, have put several thousand homes into foreclosure, driving down values.
Bill Cleary was one of the first to buy a condo in Deere Lofts, in a bustling area in downtown Atlanta. He was lured by the amenities — hardwood floors, high ceilings — as well as advertisements glamorizing the area. In 2001, he paid $213,000 for a two-bedroom unit.
Then Hill bought 40 units at a discount from the builder and started flipping them for about $400,000. The non-Hill condos left on the market were quickly snatched up.
But all of Hill’s units ended up in foreclosure. Because Hill stopped paying homeowner dues, the condo association nearly went bankrupt and the building went downhill. Three years after Cleary bought his place, comparable two-bedroom units were selling for $130,000. “All of the promises they made went up in smoke,” Cleary said of the developers.
Anne Fulmer’s neighborhood, in Atlanta’s affluent northern suburbs, has been hit by four mortgage fraud rings since the late 1990s.
The scams motivated Fulmer and others to form a coalition of prosecutors, police, homeowners and real estate agents to fight back. The Georgia Real Estate Fraud Prevention and Awareness Coalition got a tough mortgage-fraud law through the state assembly.
In national surveys, Georgia has been identified as a fraud hot spot. But Fulmer says that is because people there have become so aggressive about identifying the problem. She says she wonders how many homeowners across the country bought in neighborhoods where values were driven up by fraud but don’t know it yet.
“It happens everywhere and anywhere,” said Fulmer, who is now vice president of Interthinx, an anti-mortgage-fraud company. “If the true scope was discovered, I think it would cause a major crisis.”
I will look into it, ChiFi, thanks!
Hey ChiFi, that seems to be a great hospital, but more so if you are high risk. I’m not. I’m wondering what the differences are if you don’t anticipate a high risk pregnancy or delivery. Not that anyone can anticipate certain things, but if everything is a-ok to the doc throughout the pregnancy….can you have a baby where your doc is not a resident?
Unrealtor (post 60)
You might want to check your definition of hyperbole, there’s no exaggeration in that statement. It’s actually not even mine.
That would be the assessment of Walter Murphy, the man considered to be the nation’s leading living Constitutional scholar. He happens to be on the Terrorist Watch List, apparently for exercising his first amendment rights.
Follow the link in post 34 if your interested in what I am referring to.
If you would care to hear Murphy’s actual analysis, go here:
http://web.princeton.edu/sites/jmadison/events/lectures/video/Murphy.htm
NJGal – I breastfed my two, the first was a natural, the second took a day to catch on. The hospital lactation consultants were great and all that was really needed to be sure that all was well. If you don’t have a real problem, they will be all you need, although I did take a 2 hour hospital course before so that I knew what to expect. It was good and I learned a lot and the first couple of days, when you are all hormonal and suddenly obsessed with doing everything ‘right” it is nice to have that to fall back on.
The biggest challange is getting over having to respond to a hungry baby in public. By the time I was on my second, I pretty much gave up on modesty. Sorry guys.
Wow, what’s with all the babies?
We had number two at Valley Hospital last year, way overrated, the wife and I refer to it as the Valley Hospital Puppy Mill. We had number one at Chilton two years ago and we felt that the level of care and overall experience was head and shoulders above Valley. Oh yea and you get ripped off by the fine City of Ridgewood for birth certificates.
#60
No one “voted for the war.” They voted to authorize the President to use force if necessary, at a time when he was promising to exhaust all other options. And even that was done on the basis of evidence presented to the Congress by the White House that was, at best, deeply sloppy and at worst, baldfaced lies.
“What rankles me are politicians- of either party- who asprire to the mantle of statesmanship, yet display the judgment and character of 8th graders.”
Can’t possibly disagree with that. I would say, however, that what bothers me even worse are those politicians – of either party – who implement actual government policy that shows worse character and judgment than 8th graders.
“Lereah’s take on the subprime mess”
I think he pretty much has gotten the main ingredients of what’s happening economics-wise, but his conclusion (managable problem) doesn’t include one main factor … GRAVITY… when a ball rolls down a hill, it picks up speed.
More Ominous News…..
NASD warns as margin debt soars
As thousands of homeowners are realizing it’s unwise to borrow more than they can afford, the NASD is offering a similar warning to investors: It’s risky to invest more than you have. the amount of debt that investors took on to buy securities, known as buying “on margin,” had soared to a record $321.2 billion in February. That topped the previous record of $299.9 billion in March 2000, at the peak of the last bull market in stocks.
http://www.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUSN1040609320070410
2008 [114],
Yes, more sobering thoughts.
From Broker Universe:
ALTERNA MORTGAGE IN NJ CLOSED
To all who post on the vine – I wanted to let you know the Alterna Mortgage based in New Jersey has closed its doors for good. I have assisted many brokers and LO’s on this site and I thank you all for the business we have done together.
The closing of Alterna was something that happened without warning to the employees late last week… and most of them are still out of work and looking. I however was able to take numerous files the same day and begin placing them elsewhere to help my broker client base as best as I could with the situation at hand. Those on the vine who know me and have worked with me certainly understand the level of commitment I have to my client base and I simply want the others I have spoken to over the past year to know I have already jumped on board with another Alt A lender and I look forward to continuing working with so many of you going forward.
Should anyone like to contact me – please see my contact information below. Currently email is the best way to reach me – as I am still overwhelmed with calls since Alterna’s closing.
I thank you all again and look forward to keeping the vine lively!!
Use your common sense.
That’s right it’s gonna get alot worse.
BLEED’EM DRY!
I am going to pounce on some bargains (toys, things) in the next 6-18 months. Someone is going to pay dearly by selling me something at
less than .40 on the dollar and they do not even realize it yet.
hehehehehhe
keep your cool and just do some simple math with alittle common sense should keep you out of trouble. to many boneheads running around living beyond their cashflow.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOYAAAAAAAAAAAA
Bob
ChiFi (81)-
I think Reetch is a troll, too. When he’s called on it, he disappears.
Hi all
What you guys think of interest rates for rest of 2007 ? Will they go up or down or stay same ?
Tom.
NJGal Says:
April 10th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
I’m not. I’m wondering what the differences are if you don’t anticipate a high risk pregnancy or delivery.
## doesnt matter
Not that anyone can anticipate certain things, but if everything is a-ok to the doc throughout the pregnancy….can you have a baby where your doc is not a resident?
## ask your doc – he/she must get the question often enough
## make sure that you insurance will cover you similarly, so the $$$ are neutral relative to the venue – if not, at least you are making an informed financial decision
## NYH – room and view – great
## nurses in birthing – most exceptional, some average
## nurses in maternity – average [but realtive to most – great]
## anesthesiologist – utterly world class expert
## I won’t go into detail, but if it weren’t for that facility and staff, my wife would have had a c-section
NJGal. Its very convenient and cheap to breastfeed if you can tough it out for the first few days/weeks. Only downside is that it might be difficult to wean if you breastfeed exclusively. Finding it difficult to wean my son at 15 months. Good luck with your baby
XJ –
There’s a New Jersey Builders Association – njba.org.
Also, someone who posts here on a regular basis was talking about friends who were demolishing older houses in Edison and building their own.
Anyone remember who that was?
Yanni: I found a brand new “poor man’s DFA substitute”…I do not endorse use of these products. You certainly will lead an expedient path to financial ruin.
http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/research_strategies/mutual_funds/funds/fundamental_index_funds?cmsid=P-1798301&lvl1=research_strategies&lvl2=mutual_funds
tom Says:
April 10th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Hi all
What you guys think of interest rates for rest of 2007 ? Will they go up or down or stay same?
Tom.
Tom: yes
MLS # 2337726. Asking price reduced by around 25k in the last 2-3 weeks.
You certainly will lead an expedient path to financial ruin.
CF, Why
CC.
Congrats! My wife delivered both of our boys in the last 5 years at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood. Even took a ‘Daddy’ class there. Top notch service all around.
I’ll second that on Valley. It was a really nice place. Everyone there was supportive and helpful.
Does anyone know how the current state of the RE market is affecting custom construction? I am considering demolishing my existing POS vs. moving to a larger home. I would think that building materials and labor would be down. I was wondering if anyone had an idea what it would cost to build a 3000 sqft home, average to better than average quality. I would appreciate any thoughts, thanks.
In that range, roughly $110 a square for new construction, good quality. Crapbox(tm) construction will be nearer to the $85 mark. I met with my GC this past weekend to discuss a 3000sq/ft project. Of course, the sky really is the limit when it comes to fixtures and finishes.
You’ll want to meet with a good contractor to discuss whether a total tear down or extensive remodel (one wall standing) is more appropriate.
Asking price reduced by around 25k in the last 2-3 weeks.
It’s down about $89k since listing, 158 days on market.
jb
Interesting take. Not sure I agree……
“If home prices in the U.S. have peaked… then the Fed will cut rates and cut them significantly over the next few years.”
The quotes above are from Bill Gross – the world’s biggest money manager – written in the latest issue of his Investment Outlook newsletter.
According to The Bond King, the Fed better lower rates sooner rather than later… “The longer [interest rates] stay at current levels, the more downward pricing pressure will build as foreclosures/desperate sellers dominate price trends as opposed to prospective buyers.”
He says: “While the Fed may be willing to allow U.S. homeowners to suffer a little pain as indeed they have in recent quarters, a double-digit decline would risk consequences that few central banks would be willing to underwrite.”
Bill says the Fed needs to try to engineer mortgage rates down a minimum of 60 basis points (0.6%) in order to prevent double-digit home price declines.
His current idea is that housing is in trouble… that the Fed will cut rates to ease the pain… which will cause long-term interest rates to fall…
chaoticchild Says:
April 10th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
You certainly will lead an expedient path to financial ruin.
CF, Why CC.
CC: I don’t want to be construed as endorsing the use of any investment instruments in this forum due to my vocation. You need to perform your own research or rely on a professional for such advice. You cannot use any of my comments as the basis for investing.
ChiFi, you must have done some serious research! I had better start doing mine I guess – I’m still kind of blown away by the whole thing so I haven’t caught up with my stuff quite yet, but I’d better get going!
JB-
#132
I met with my GC this past weekend to discuss a 3000sq/ft project.
Does this mean you have a lot and are planning to build?
JM
NJ Gal: the ob was a referral from my wife’s cousin…the insurance is the insurance..makes some calls….the rest is our experience……………….DO NOT STRESS IT….you are choosing among 9’s on a ten scale.
XJ
Another point – I know that in Woodbridge Township, builders will sometimes build a completely new house over an existing foundation. The reason – if the original foundation is still there, property taxes are lower. Under the tax code, it’s considered a remodeling vs. new construction, which would be taxed at a higher rate.
So you might want to check out that angle and see if it applies where you are.
JM,
Possibly, but there are a number of serious issues that will likely kill this (good chance the lot is not buildable). I’m not putting a high probability of success on this, nor am I planning on throwing any real money into it. Met with zoning this morning to talk variances, met with the health department to talk perc, going back to talk to the Boro planner on Friday to see if it’s even worthwhile to go through the motions at this point.
jb
“If home prices in the U.S. have peaked… then the Fed will cut rates and cut them significantly over the next few years.”
I think whether or not the Fed cuts rates will depend on the extent to which housing problems are contained.
If housing’s woes do spill over into the larger economy, and I think they will, the Fed will jump on the accelerator, cutting rates hard and fast and printing money.
Remember, Bernanke is a Great Depression “enthusiast” (is that the right word to use?). He will take a bout of inflation any day over a deflationary recession. If push comes to shove, he will make good on his “Helicopter Ben” reputation.
We had number two at Valley Hospital last year, way overrated, the wife and I refer to it as the Valley Hospital Puppy Mill. We had number one at Chilton two years ago and we felt that the level of care and overall experience was head and shoulders above Valley. Oh yea and you get ripped off by the fine City of Ridgewood for birth certificates.
I can’t compare my experience to Valley, although we had our son at Chilton and loved the experience as well. Not one problem, everyone was friendly, and best of all the hospital is right around the corner from our house. We took a lamaze (sp?) class there as well and it was a nice experience as well.
As for nursing, I’m all for it. After all, if it’s 3am and the baby’s hungry, there’s not much I can do. (sorry ladies :)
-Richie
chicagofinance Says:
April 10th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Yanni: I found a brand new “poor man’s DFA substitute”…
CF, what’s DFA? I only know it from my previous employer as ‘death from above’.
#134 I think Bill Gross is wrong. i I believe the Fed is still much more concerned with inflation, than houisng prices. Saving the housing market is not part of the Fed’s mandate.
I also believe that Bernanke knows this correction in housing is a good thing,and he will let it play out accordingly.
Fixed rate mortgages are still at historic lows (as realtors like to say), and yes they are low. rates are not the problem, pricing is plain and simple.
Finally when the Fed started cutting in the early 90’s housing prices still continued to fall. The Fed not easing is not the problem, affordability is.
Now that many of the clueless ones will be eliminated from the market due to the elimination of many of the toxic loand,a nd tightening lending standards, who is left to buy, in fact who can afford to buy at these prices.
If 30 yr mtg money currently at around 6.25 drops to 5.25 is that going to make a difference to most people, when asking prices are still so high? Is there not a risk as well, that the bubble reinflates, and the madness restarts (does not seem likely) I do not think Bernanke will take that chance.
No I believe the market will have to correct itself, and if that means a recession during the process then so be it. When that happens then the Fed can do their thing.
Sadly we may just need a recession to slap Americans back into realtiy,and stop the out of control spending and accumulation of debt that has transpired these last few years.
******* When the 500K POS Colonial becomes 400K,and or the 450K POS cape becoems 360K, then I will buy. Until then I rent.
#141 Cutting rates is not going to help the housing market, rates are still historically low.
Cutting priceswill help the houisng market, because the problem with houisng is afforability, and with the funny money disappearing and tighter mending standards, there is nobody left (for the most part) that can afford these prices.
The Fed is much more concerned with inflation and with its credibility, not saving houisng.
If 30 yr mtg money which is areound 6.25 drops to 5.25, is that going to amke a huge difference without a significant drop in prices? I do nto think so. If yes, does the Fed risk of re-inflating the houisng bubble? They will not take that chance.
Finally when prices ere dropping in the early 90’s the Fed easing did not help then, prices continued to decline.
Recession? Sadly perhaps we need pne to slap Americans back into reality, after the last few years of out of control spending and huge increases in debt.
Sorry for teh double post, for soem reason I thought the first one did not take, and so rehashed and reposted.
ithink_ithink,
DFA is a big index fund company founded by 2 Nobel Prize winners.
DFA’s intial investment per fund is about one million!!!
Isn’t “Death From Above”, the nickname for Amry airborne troopers??? (SAS ???)
CC
Re: construction costs:
I am being shown $200/sf prices in northern bergen county, was wondering how much of this is price gouging, and how much is because of a level of finish (although I am sure this is not absolutely extravagant finishes). anyone have any insight?
Re: construction costs:
I am being shown $200/sf prices in northern bergen county, was wondering how much of this is price gouging, and how much is because of a level of finish (although I am sure this is not absolutely extravagant finishes). anyone have any insight?
#127 Chifi, thx for the heads up. This blitzkrieg of ETF launches via slicing-dicing is mind-boggling.
XJ (#79): Get back to work!
jb,
few days ago you posted a graph from Credit Suisse that showed arm resets through 2010(?). Can you please repost the link?
DFA= Dimensional Fund Advisors
DFA = Deutscher Famulantenaustausch (German Exchange Office for Medical Clerkships)
DFA = Direct Fluorescent Antibody (exclusively patented for use on Richard’s brain)
https://njrereport.com/images/armresets.gif
NJGal and other parents to be…NYPresbyterian is the best. My wife and I had a great experience there w/ our first child about 5 months ago. The L&D room was amazing! Huge, comfortable, flat screen tv’s, computer w/ internet access, amazing. One caveat though. the recovery rooms are a disaster. make sure to get a private room. It will cost a bit more, but well worth it. you should call ahead and tell them that’s what you want.
#126 and #139 scribe: Thanks for the info. I’ll try to find the Edison demolition posts. I’ll also look into the foundation/one wall/taxes angle but I’m leaning towards construction with everything new.
#132 JB and #147 ricky_nu: I’ve spoken to a couple of GCs already. The lowest price I’ve been able to get so far has been about $146/sqft for good quality and up to $210/sqft for very good quality. The hardest part about this whole thing is finding my cost threshold to build instead of move. With the anticipation of the RE market to drop even more, it seems as if I should wait it out and try to move instead.
I’ll keep looking at homes for sale and also getting construction bids. I hope that $110/sqft for good quality won’t be too hard to obtain but reaching that number would seal my decision to build instead of move.
HC Says:
April 10th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
The L&D room was amazing! Huge, comfortable, flat screen tv’s, computer w/ internet access, amazing. One caveat though. the recovery rooms are a disaster. make sure to get a private room. It will cost a bit more, but well worth it. you should call ahead and tell them that’s what you want.
HC: err…do you want to let NJG know the cost for the private room in the maternity ward [you called it “recovery”, cause ummm it is a bit steep for some [many?]? Also, I don’t recall computer w/internet. Going in, TV and PC may seem important, but I was either sleeping or helping for the entire time.
BTW – 5 months ago? – my son was born 10/24…how about you?
Quality headline from WSJ worthy of the NYPost
Horton Hears a Drop in Orders
D.R. Horton Chief Executive Donald Tomnitz famously warned investors last month that “I don’t want to be too sophisticated here, but ’07 is going to suck” for his company, the nation’s biggest homebuilder by volume. The latest data from the builder suggest he wasn’t kidding.
Bost:
Can you provide an update on the USD? I heard we got walloped…
Sorry, I have to side with Richard on the argument. Not that I would risk financial ruin, but all things considered, I would have preferred house then kid.
It’s easier to decorate without the little one; late night trips to Home Depot, etc. It’s also easier to move into a less than perfect house without kids. We ended up renting our place for two additional months while painting, etc.
Plus, only one of us could work at a time, unless we had a sitter. Wife is also a slacker, so it was always me. Either way, I’m sure that you will be fine. My apartment was a dump, so I couldn’t wait to move.
ChiFi:
Can’t really remember the cost of the private room. I think it was around $500 or so, but could be totally off.
Your son is 3 weeks older than my son – 11/14!
HC Says:
April 10th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
ChiFi: Can’t really remember the cost of the private room. I think it was around $500 or so, but could be totally off.
HC: I recollect $750 a night [min 2 nights]
grim,
Aren’t there lots for sale where the builders have already gotten the building permits?
I know I’ve seen some of those on craig’s list in central NJ.
Why are you thinking about building yourself?
Is it that you’re looking for something different?
Chi [159],
Today’s factors;
1)It started to unravel last night/early AM with the report of China’s trade surplus doubling.
2)Renewed trade tensions with China after we filed two cases with the WTO on Monday.
3)Reports of stronger economic growth out of Germany and France.
Another factor,imo, the upcoming G-7 meeting. The market may push the dollar until Paulson addresses it.
njrebear Says:
April 10th, 2007 at 6:34 am
Citigroup plans to cut 26,000 jobs
>> Last month there were cuts at my workplace. It was brutal.
NJRE,
Sorry to hear that. Looks like it’ll be tomorrow for our division – I noticed several conference rooms inexplicably blocked out for the entire day on our floor; in my past experience, not a good sign…
One way or the other, Prince will be out, just a question of when. Whether it’s Pandit or some other dark-horse replacement, who knows…
ChiFi,
Possibly, although that seems high. I remember complaining about how expensive it was when my wife wanted it, but totally forget how much it is now. I was very happy after the fact though.
#134,
Bill Gross is the biggest idiot out there (after Greenspan of course), all he talks about is Fed cut. He has been talking about it during the last 16 hikes, now he’s back? I guess he’s long the Treasury.
165]
Good luck! I hope they pay good severance to whoever is affected.
154,
thanks jb
a good quote for the bears and bulls:
Data always beats theories. Look at data three times and then come to a conclusion, versus coming to a conclusion and searching for some data. The former will win every time.
For Many, Renting Home Now Cheaper Than Buying
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/realestate/11leonhardt.html
But in a stark reversal, it’s now clear that people who chose renting over buying in the last two years made the right move. In much of the country, including large parts of the Northeast, California, Florida and the Southwest, recent home buyers have faced higher monthly costs than renters and have lost money on their investment in the meantime. It’s almost as if they have thrown money away, an insult once reserved for renters.
Most striking, perhaps, is that prices may not yet have fallen far enough for buying to look better than renting today, except for people who plan to stay in a home for many years.
From the AP:
KB Home CEO Sees Worsening Housing Slump
The chief executive of KB Home, one of the nation’s largest homebuilders, said Tuesday he expects the housing slump to worsen, even though sales have improved in some areas of the U.S.
I think we’re still early in the cycle here,” Jeffrey Mezger said. “I think it’s going to be tougher for a little while before it gets better, but there will come a day when it gets better, because the underlying demographics in job growth are there.”
…
KB Home’s earnings plunged in the first quarter as the housing market downturn continued and subprime mortgage defaults jumped. The company warned the sector’s woes would result in lower sales and profits for the year.
Mezger said the health of the housing market varies widely, depending on the region and how much inventory is on the market. He said his company is doing well in states such as North Carolina and South Carolina, but the market in Texas is softening.
“Each marketplace will get back into balance at its own pace,” he said.
Alex Y Says:
April 10th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
For Many, Renting Home Now Cheaper Than Buying http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/realestate/11leonhardt.html
Alex: BOOO-F’ING-YA
Most Americans Fear Recession in the Next 12 Months, Poll Finds
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=avYkRibHRfDk&refer=home
Six in 10 who were surveyed predicted a recession, similar to the 64 percent who anticipated the economy would contract in a December 2000 poll by the Los Angeles Times three months before the last decline.
>>
This should do wonders to consumer confidence.
question –
How much can closing cost run up to?
I have seen estimates that range from 2-8%. What is the going rate? What is it that can increase or decrease closing costs?
Thanks in advance.
Frank (167)-
Bill Gross is one of the most astute readers of the American economy who has ever walked the planet. His repeated calls on lower Fed rates ahead is really nothing more and nothing less than a prediction of recession.
60-75 bps on the short end, coupled with higher coupons on maturities 10 years and out, would also solve the intractable curve inversion. China is clearly diversifying out of Treasuries; as their investment appetite turns toward other delicacies, our longer-term rates will jump. Just look where they’ve gone since we started our little trade fight with them.
Bet against Gross at your own risk. I think he also has an excellent read on Helicopter Ben and Hit Man Hank. When push comes to shove, they’ll batter the dollar as far down as they must in order to stave off recessionary spread and to continue exporting our problems.
Bear (175)-
Points and prepaids on the mortgage can really blow up closing costs. Also, things like insurance and tax escrows vary wildly, depending on municipalities, lenders’ institutional guidelines and even what point in the month or quarter you close title.
If you buy into a condo, co-op or PUD, you also have to pay application fees- and often- a non-refundable initial HOA fee.
Another chunk of gristle for chewing:
In the new “global” economy, how much can Fed policy rein in inflation that is caused by external factors?
For example, China’s copper demand increased 61% (yep, that’s right…61%) in March. On top of that, China is clearly driving an unprecedented run-up in the prices of virtually all soft and hard commodities. This means that our down-at-the-heels US housing industry must still pay astronomical prices for those materials…our demand is low, but the massive Chinese demand keeps those prices spiraling higher. The US is simply no longer the biggest- or final- market for a host of raw and finished materials.
How tempted will the Fed really be to exercise monetary policy in a futile attempt to rein in a type of inflation that is truly out of our control? Even though most commodities are dollar-denominated, why not continue to bomb the dollar…after all, no other tactic will work to our advantage anyway.
Now, if OPEC moves to the Euro…well, you can fill in that blank.
http://www.violentacres.com/archives/123/keith-the-finance-guy
To all:
Please, please, tell me how to avoid this from ever happening to us.
As always –
thanks in advance.
sl
JB #7
That proposal would destroy the marketplace. No investor in their right mind would want to take on that burden.
what is the minumin donation
hey nice blog!