Irvine Housing Blog

Told ya so.

The latest principal reductions while being trumpeted as a continuation of help for the homeowner are not and not really intended as such.  Government subsidized principal reductions are a bailout of bank held CDOs and other MBS, just like every other government bailout so far.  Bailouts will not stop as long as the member banks are insolvent.

Think about it.  Who do these bailouts benefit?  Are ya starting to get it?

Wow, that “cozy” picture makes me clausterphobic just to look at it. Worse than Larry the Lamprey.

The listing has a dozen pictures of the complex (the sign, the pool, etc.), but no pictures of the actual condo for sale.  Lovely.

I love the candy man image.  Dare I ask: “What’s behind door #1?”

Seller Needs OUT, let’s make a deal.

So recent distressed sales have artificially depressed the value of these units…..

This is how the realtor ( little ‘r’ ) mind doublethinks.  They absolutely refuse to publicly admit that a housing bubble existed LONG after it has become commonly accepted knowledge.

Instead, we get this nonsense about an ‘artificial’ price depression on the downswing but these Jackals were not peppering their 2005 ads with stuff like:

“Recent downgrades to lending prudence and monetary policy combined with housing pornography and irrational exhuberance have artificially inflated the values of these units”

No sir, don’t want to present any information to the patsy that could cost you a commission.  Sleaze.

I wasn’t interested in this place… at first. But I’ve gotta admit that the groovy day described in the description sold me. Where else could you hang in the courtyard, hit the pool, toast some s’mores and then chill in the spa? Monaco? .... maybe. Any of you lovely IHB ladies interested? We could hit Target afterwards.

IR,
Quick question off topic - have you ever written a post about how lease-to-own process works? I’ve thought you have, but can’t find the article in the library. If you have, can you direct me to the link?

In order or keep alive a mortgage investment market, cram-downs can not be forced down an investor’s throat. If I had $100K to loan out to somebody to buy a home, would I loan it if I knew or thought that it can be reduced in half or whatever with the stroke of a pin?

Hi, Irvine Renter,

Please help me to understand this investor (below). I makes no sense to me.

An investor just bought 5 Cipriani, irvine, ca 92606 (Westpark II) at 995K dollars. And immediately put it on market for lease for only $3600/month. Thanks.

Correct. Banks don’t loan anything. Banks have absolutely no skin in the game. Loans are just a PROMISE the borrower is making to pay the bank within a given time period, ...with interest ofcourse.

The more interest a bank collects, the more promises they can “loan out”.

The only rub is when the items people borrow money for start deflating. A natural symptom that happens when people realize they actually can’t afford it.
The system is not rigged, it just has a limit like everything else in life.  Trying to extend and pretend the limit is when it feels like the game is rigged.

California personal income down 3.5% since January ‘09

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2_Hmt-MKLA

how does one stop the realtor propaganda?

Match the above made cycle with that of the economic cycle and you will get the answer of why this is repeating again and again. (where are the jobs from which consumers will earn to pay back)

I apoligize for changing the subject.  I just wanted to let you know what is happening in our neck of the woods.  I’m sure it is happening in other places as well.

My husband and I have paid off our home, saved a bunch of money and are looking for a larger home now.  This home will probably be the last home we ever buy.  So, I have picked out approximately 12 homes here in Lake Elsinore we would like to buy.  Recently, one of those homes came on the market so I called the realtor to schedule an appointment to see the home.  I was told it is a drive by examination only.  The people living in the home are refusing to let the realtor show the home and the only time the buyer can examine the home is just before escrow closes.  How are buyers like myself suppose to examine floor plans to see if we want to purchase the last home we will ever buy?  Hmm.  Because this house is a short sale all we can do is make a bid. 

I asked the realtor what her current highest and best bid is on the home and she replied $270,000.  I would gladly pay $300,000 for this 3,300 sq. ft. home Built in 2009 on 1.25 acres if it has a floor plan I can live with but I will never know if it does.  The conversation continued and I found out there are 3 cash bids from investors on the home.  So, if the investors are buying up the houses that move up buyers are trying to buy how are we ever going to get a home we really want to purchase without giving all our money to the flippers.

The realtor told me to hold on because she did not think the flippers would get this house.  The owners-squatters are using this as a staling tactic.  She informed me she has tried to short sale 8 houses this year and what the squatters have done upon the closing of escrow is demand the bank pay them $10,000 to move out of the home.  The banks refuse to do this so the deals fall apart and it takes another year to a year and a half to get the squatters out of the house via foreclosure proceedings.

After talking to this realtor my husband and I are trying to decide do we try to buy our house now and drive ourselves crazy with this pretend and extend tactic by the squatters or do we sit back and what for the investors to buy the homes we would consider purchasing and pay them double the price down the road.  What do you think we should do in this situation?  I’m sure there are dozen more people like us trying to buy a home and encountering the same discouraging experience.

I have been watching our area and San Diego county and the flippers are creating another “Housing Bubble”.  When you look at median incomes and the prices of homes I can not understand how people can still be buying these over priced homes especially in San Diego county.  It is very discouraging to be a person trying to do the right thing, namely be financially responsible.

What do you folks think?

Sad Buyer

You relate: “Once widespread HELOC abuse became the preferred method of financial management, borrowers developed equity surfing techniques to consistently extract equity as it became available and spend it.”

Only now, have I become aware of this; it’s ok, you can call me nieve and simple too. 

But the Czar of Subsized Financial Irresponsibility, Alan Greenspan, was aware of this long, long ago.

Fred Sheehan provides Alan Greenspan’s position on lending and mortgage equity withdrawl, in Safehaven.com article .... The Best And Brightest Protect Greenspan And Betray The American People ... http://tinyurl.com/y4xu552 ... where Alan Greenspan addressed The Brookings Institute and on March 19, 2010 presenting the 48-page paper entitled “The Crisis”—the title was one of the few honest statements of the day.