Irvine Housing Blog

http://lansner.freedomblogging.com/2008/01/25/recovery-10-years-off-argyros-and-doti-say/

Register higher ed reporter Marla Jo Fisher reports that billionaire real estate investor George Argyros and Chapman University President James Doti told a luncheon audience Thursday that it’ll take 10 years for the housing market to recover.

Why no mail-away?  Probably b/c the loan docs weren’t ready until after the scheduled closing time.  That’s been S.O.P. for a lot of lenders the past decade.

Who cares about a notary except to satisfy recording requirements?  Basically useless system w/o substantial insurance requirements—which there aren’t.

Well, you young’uns could start VOTING.  I think that social security should be adjusted in accordance with life spans.  The life span goes up a year?  Qualification for social security should go up by at least 6 months.  And this getting money at 62 is ridiculous.  Also, keep in mind that the underestimated inflation figures serves to limit social security increases.

I think the point is that this is supposed to be a stimulus plan, not a welfare plan.  I agree with you about the timing, though.

All in all, I prefer welfare for the poor, not the rich.

I think the downturn will be just about turning fierce in July and August, not just about over with.

I remarked to the hub that we could save the money and he reminded me we have to replace our tvs.  Gee, thanks Bush.
That will save the economy, totally.

And tonye, you might try some milk thistle, it’s good for the liver, utterly harmless, and cut my appetite 20 pounds worth.  If you ask the dr, I almost guaranty he/she will poo-poo this, but even Dr. House mentioned it once, so the tv writers know about it.

Here in fraudulent Florida, lenders will not allow attys in fact to sign mtges and notes.  Where was the hub?  Timbutu?  Why not do a mail-away.  At least you have a notary theoretically checking the id, etc.

And as to the people inquiring about housing blogs elsewhere, I don’t think there are any anywhere that compares to IHB.  I couldn’t find one in South Florida.

Nope.  These are regular 401Ks.  Our employers are very large international/global corporations.

Was it because it was a profit-sharing acct as opposed to regular 401k? That how ours is setup

Oh shooottt… I forgot to teake off the phone number on one of the listing… IR.. delete the number for me…. ohhhh shooottttt

Hey IR, I hate checking out properties for rent on Craigslist because they tend to be managed by agents and thus the owners need to increase the price. I found these properties on the Vietnamese paper today. They are in vietnamese and I will translate, not word for word but these are in HB. What do you think ??

HUNTINGTON BEACH Nhà riêng, cách biển 1 mile, 3PN + 2PT, mới tân trang rất đẹp, cho thuê từng phòng, hoặc cả nhà ($1,750/ tháng ). Dọn vào 2/15/08. L/L 714-XXXXXXX

(Huntingtun Beach, 1 miles from the beach, 3/2, $1750 monthly)

Nhà house 2 tầng, Huntington Beach, 3PN, 2.5PT, nhà mới, khu yên tĩnh, 2 car garage attached, family room, living room, built-in BBQ backyard, nhận housing, $2,500/M. L/L để lại message. Leslie: 714-XXXXX

(2STORY, HUNTINGTON BEACH, 3/2.5, .... 2,500 MONTHLY)

Huntington Beach, nhà 4 phòng ngủ, 2 phòng tắm - khu sang trọng, yên tĩnh, đi bộ ra biển (góc Brookhurst and Banning) - $1,900/M. L/L 714-890-5885.
(HUNTINGTON BEACH, 4/2 “LUXURY” NEIGHBORHOOD, WALK TO BEACH, $1900 MONTHLY)

So, what you guys think…. hehehe.. I know.. I know Irvine is MUCH better than Huntington Beach

Gold River.  Do you have any local blogs that you follow?  I’ve been poking around trying to find a Sacramento version of IrvineHousing but nothing even compares.

It’s interesting that you bring up Anatolia…I think it’s that new housing development just south of Gold River on the other side of the 50.  Is that right?  We’re new to the area but is Anatolia south of the 50 on Sunrise?  That looks like a ghost town down there.  Is any of it selling?  Everytime my husband and drive down there (mostly to go to Sloughouse Farms in corn season) we wonder if it is a big a disaster as it appears to be.

Tell ya what CK, I’ll share some of my rebate with you…  I’ll spring for Chipotle burritos for you and the family.  It’s just Ms. CK and your daughter who’s 4 right?  Let’s see, a burrito bowl or quesadilla for your daughter, two burritos with gauc for you two, that’ll be around $12 or so, okay I can swing that.

Ummm ... the Titanic didn’t turn around .... and neither has Japan’s real estate market ....

Two more escrow entrants…

http://www.ipoplaya.com/

I can always ask…

Wow, to hear the way you talk, you’re pretty down on the market right now. What do you think it’ll take to turn this titanic around?

I’m going to use my rebate and get a passive solar water heating system installed on my roof.

The funny thing is, IRS gives me a tax credit for that too! So I’ll be making money on their money.

I paid 1200 bucks for it in ‘86.. at Fedco.

That was an excellent price then.

A 25” Sony XBR.

We had money then, no kids.  In 87 we bought the house and a SECOND 25” Sony XBR for the bedroom.  Sale at Fedco, 1100 bucks. 

Dude, we were like rockin’.  State of the Art.

This was way before Wallmart.  Electronics were expensive then.

can you pass some of those discounts around?

Having lived through the great purge of 2002, I can tell you that many attorneys were laid off at firms throughout CA in those days.  That same cycle will repeat, I do believe.  And now BIGLAW associate salaries are even loftier, thereby hastening the demise of so many souls (to extent we have such things).

Yeah, I was just using Vizio as an example because they are dominating panel sales right now. 

I know a rep for Pioneer and he can get me one of their panels at a nicely discounted price.  He used to have the Costco account before Vizio bounced them outta there a couple of years back.  He had to say adios to some big commission checks courtesy of the Vizio boys…

Pioneer and Sony are the top of the food chain on HDTVs.  Probably Samsung and Panasonic next.  Toshiba behind them…

this has nothing to do with ‘affordability’ - it has everything to do with getting elected and placating the wall street and banking interests which share ownership of our congress along with big pharma, energy, etc. 

when all you have is a hammer, everything is a nail.  congress has a printing press.

The increase to conforming limits as a result of the stimulus package will be temporary, and is supposed to expire on 12/31/08. 

Evidently there are people on the Hill that are going to use this as a stepping point to try to make it permanent via other legislation…

iPoop..

Ok I’ll admit I’m cheap but I’ve spent a lot of time looking at those vizio TVs and even I wouldn’t buy one…

The pic quality on the samsung, toshiba is worth the extra few hundred bucks.  If your planning on keeping the tv 10-15 years I wouldn’t go w the vizios…

You guys will like this…  I just realized both of the owners of my company, worth tens of millions between them, will likely get full rebate checks of $2100 and $1800. 

They each have a small amount of wage income, as they take a $30K salary so we can put them on company medical benefits, and they of course pay payroll taxes on that amount.  Neither ever pays much income tax though as they have corporations for the business earnings, tons of write-offs, tax loss carryforwards, etc.

The good tax payers earning more than $75K/$150K and getting little to no tax rebate will be helping the government send almost $4K to multi-millionaires…  Hilariously sad.

Touche CK!

Does anyone know if the “Increase in Conforming Limit” has a sunset clause?  If yes, how long before it sunset?

I just need to know how long I should extend my lease.  This is a rather irregular and interesting way to address affortability issue.

Thanks,

Thanks for all your research on the upper limits, IPO.  We are going to be right on the edge of phased down to almost nothing and zilch.  Just for this I am going to stay home for the entire month of May (or whenever the checks come) and eat Ramen noodles—- doing my part to make sure I do NOT stimulate the economy.  Kind of like a protest vote.

Well since when did governments start contacting economists and knowledgeable folks to consult them about repurcussions of their actions? This is an election year, to hell with the economy next year or after the elections. All the politicians care about is fooling people into who did what for them in the short run. Anyways the general public is gullibe enough to forget that the government actions brought on a recession (during the recession this is what people will forget) and after the recession ends people will forget why it happened and go about their business as usual. It is all up to you as a smart individual how much can you crank out with your timing and by reading into what is there in it for you at different points in time.

So all this ramble about how stupid the government is very passe!

22 year old TV tonye?!  I was making $20/week allowance from mom and dad 22 years ago and collecting comic books with it…  Your TV is almost as old as my puberty.

IR:

The government is agreeing to take on the credit risk between
$417K and $700K, for those that qualify

Well, as we’re gonna get screwed again (!) on the tax rebate, I will have the deep satisfaction of knowing that we qualify for the refinance and I will surely take the money.

Sweet revenge.  It will be sweet revenge. 

Since the Dr. says I can’t drink and I got to lose 40 lbs… maybe wit that money saved instead of a TV we’ll build us a bedroom extension and put in a recumbent bike, a stairmaster and a new set of Magnepans.  I find Led Zeppelin good when I ride the bike.

I hope this helps make things a little clearer for everyone - any guesses on how congress will behave when the AARP deathgrip is tighter than ever in a decade, and the effective majority of the electorate exists to suck down federal checks?

being a bear is fun when things are crashing, but it’s still an uphill battle by design against the flood of monopoly money.

Question for SacRenter

What part of the greater Sac area is “Irvine-esque”? BTW great word. While we Sacramentans can be proud that we are leading the charge downward, we are not near done. I think that rents (SFRs) in the newer areas, especially Anatolia, Elk Grove & Natomas will continue down, along with the asking prices. I can’t see many sales in these ares as long as new construction appears so deeply discounted. Prices (for new) are actually looking closer to a semblance of reasonable. But without financing…...........

Kudos for IR

I have been lurking here for a couple of months. This is far and away the best informed , researched and humorous blog I have seen. I have been able to assure my daughter that she isn’t “priced out forever” and using some of the tools & articles, she has set up a budget that limits herself to 25% for housing (rent) while structuring savings for an eventual down payment. You can imagine my first take when she said “Dad, I’ve been on some of your websites!“ She will probably return to OC at about the right time.

Question for all

Will areas (like Sac) that began their descent earlier bottom out sooner than the rest of the state, or will there be a longer flat spot.?
I suspect that since we were “extra frothy” the area may sit at the bottom a bit longer. Much of our extra foam came in the form of equity-flush bay area folk who couldn’t believe what a “bargain” our house prices were, thereby making them less of a bargain. S.F. is just getting going on the correction (you know, it’s special).

Well…. I’ll be watching it in my old Panasonic LED RTPV or perhaps in the 22 year Sony XBR upstairs.

I guess we rich folks don’t deserve a new TV.

BTW, the Sonys do have a better color gamut.

Take the money and run folks.

There will always be fools, but if the Gov intends to make money cheap, then by all means take advantage of it this time.

It was cheap in 03 when we got our current mortgage.  It sounds like it will be much cheaper in a few months.

Also, I thought the amount they pay doesn’t have a hard cut off at 75K/150K…. it just phases out.

Which makes sense… the bulk of the people paying tax will not get a cut, why would they do that?

I think the last time they pulled this stunt we got no check at Chez Tonye….. 

But this time I plan to suck up to the “conforming” trough. 

Maybe some of you with some money might want to start looking at making some low ball offers this summer with the plan to refi in a year into a nice conforming loan.

Just make sure your downpayment ain’t in the 401K.

BTW, my wife’s 401K outfit, Fidelity, are a bunch of bastards when it comes to taking money out.  We had to file -both of us- and have it notarized and then mail the thing!!!!  WTF?  My own 401K is via Citibank and our own company Web HR and it was done in 10 minutes. 

Those assholes really want to make it hard to take the cash out.  Figures, eh?

as opposed to the policies of the past 6 years, which have been welfare for the incredibly wealthy

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=XOM&t=5y

Sorry to start metal friday early, but I’m really pissed off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJF547Mv62A

finally, the voice of reason appears.

yup, it’s a traders’ market across the board.  unless you’re talking about the two extremes of the market - >700K 500K

4% fixed on 500K mortgages…. Wooohooo…... take the money and run.

Hey, IR… theres’ a song for you the day they raise the limit on Fanny May:

“Take the money and run”

This heres a story about billy joe and bobbie sue
Two young lovers with nothin better to do
Than sit around the house, get high, and watch the tube
And here is what happened when they decided to cut loose

Bobbie sue, whoa, whoa, she slipped away
Billy joe caught up to her the very next day
They got the money, hey
You know they got away
They headed down south and theyre still running today
Singin go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
...

Also, there is no increases in the GSEs authorized capital. So, they raise the limits, but don’t have additional funds to lend. This means LESS potential homeowners will qualify. You can’t raise the conforming limit, and not raise the amount you can lend. This may help a bit in OC, but I know people doing the 417K first, and the balance with a second. Sure, it lowers rates marginally, but not enough to effect the direction of the OC RE marketplace. Good borrowers can still qualify without FNM/FRE raising the conforming limit.

It will be great watching the local RE spin this.

LOL.  Indeed mav, when I make that purchase at Costco, I will be thinking of you and the other good tax payers on this board. 

We’ll see a rebate of around $650.  I get a $1200 Vizio flat, take 2% off of that because I use a rewards credit card (jab at IR, love ya man), so the good tax payers will be funding 55% of my new TV.  Woohoo!

I sure am glad we put 24% or so of our gross wages toward retirement.  Without that, much bigger AGI and no rebate…

(1)  They’ve done it again:

“The rebates would phase out gradually for individuals whose adjusted gross income exceeds $75,000 and for couples with incomes above $150,000. Contributions to IRA and 401(k) retirement accounts and health savings accounts would not count toward the income limit.“

Yeah…. we must be so rich….. I think I’ll buy me a summer house in the Hamptons too.. 

So, as usual, they’re gonna give money to people who didn’t pay tax ( making under 3000, and of course people making real money won’t care, but the bulk of us working stiffs we’ll get screwed again..

(2) OTOH, if they pull that $700K conforming ( that’s what it’s in Hawaii btw ), I’ll be first in line to get me a nice “conforming” loan at 4%. 

Perhaps that beach McCottage in the Hamptons might not be so hard to get?

IR, I can’t wait to see your analysis on this…..

Talk about Moral Hazard…. this is an out of control day for Moral Hazard.

Anyone interested in starting a business that gives short term loans on this rebate check at a high interest rate?

The crack addicts need the crack quicker.

Speculation on multiple homes is not so rampant in Irvine.  True, you got a number of RE agents and brokers ( Hannuh Reddy in TRidge, that Palace in University Park, a few homes up in Shady Canyon ) that were bought purely as speculation with no intent to live or rent.

Places like Vegas, Phoenix and even Baja California had more such speculation.  That was because the cost of entry was lower.  Or rather, the financial exposure was lower ( homes running 500K instead of 1.5MIL).

I think your analysis of the plan is right on. Poor people will spend the money immediately. Most of the people on this board—the ones who are paying for it—would save it.

I guess I’m paying for half your flat panel IPOP, you can at least thank me…. get it before the Super Bowl.

Who gets what
How Americans in different financial situations would fare under the rebate plan proposed by House leaders and the White House.
— An individual with $2,500 in earned income in 2007: Disqualified because income fell below the $3,000 threshold. No rebate.
— A married couple with no children, with adjusted gross income of $100,000 in 2007: Would qualify for the full $1,200 couples. A $1,200 rebate.
— A worker with one child, who earned $9,000 and owed no taxes in 2007: Would qualify for the $300 rebate available to individuals who pay no taxes but earned at least $3,000, plus an additional $300 for the child. A $600 rebate.
— A couple with income of $145,000 in 2007, with three children: Would qualify for the full $1,200 for couples, plus $300 for each child. A $2,100 rebate.
— A couple with income of $160,000 in 2007 with two children: Would qualify for a partial rebate, reduced by 5 percent for every $1,000 in income above the $150,000 threshold. An $1,800 rebate — $1,200 for the couple plus $300 per child — would go down by 50 percent for this family. A $900 rebate.
— A couple with income of $200,000 and four children: Disqualified because their income exceeded $174,000, the phase-out limit. No rebate.

It appears that the rebate is phased out for married couples by 5% for every $1K of AGI over $150K.  Fortunately my wife took some time off early in 2007 to stay at home with our second child after he was born so our AGI was surpressed this year.  We’ll at least get something…  Not quite a flat panel TV though.

when are the new $625+K GSE limits scheduled to go into effect?

IR does brings up a good point on income requirements… however…., to me this sends a clear message that Bernanke is about to open the inflation flood gate.

The government is telling you something 25…  You shoulda bought.

Although this government intervention could just drag this out further…  Fed lowering, tax rebates, higher GSEs, etc. could keep the bubble from fully deflating in the short-term.  Once inflation goes through the roof as a result, the Fed will eventually have to tighten, which will drive up mortgage rates and finally drive down housing prices to sustainable levels.

As long as there isn’t a massive recesssion or asset price bubble burst in an election year, the Dems and Pubs will be happy.

Wow.  I’m all for helping out those in need, but this doesn’t seem too fair.

I know people who make less then 75k, who fudged their loan docs to get an interest only loan on a condo a few years back, who pay a miniscule amount of taxes, while i’m paying *thousands* a paycheck, and will get zilch back.

I tend to agree mav, although the stimulus package itself being unveiled will actually drive mortgage rates up in the short-term.  The bond market was pricing in another half point Fed decrease, but that is less certain now.  The 10-year went up as a result of the stimulus package unveiling and that will make mortgage rates go up… 

If the equity markets start trending up because everything thinks the economy will be rosy, the net effect on mortgage rates could be nil by the time the GSE limits are raised.

I can’t believe this is actually f*cking happening.  How is raising the conforming limit a good thing?  It will just inflate prices, drive people further into debt, and socialize the risk that the banks are taking.

This whole mess is akin to negotiating with terrorists.  You’re already in a bad situation, and because you’re encouraging bad ethics there is an implicit guarantee that the next bind you find yourself in will be worse.

/soapbox

This country can burn to the ground for all I care.  At least then we’d have a clean slate.

It appears the rebates will be phased out for married filing joints between $150k and $187K.  You make $187K, you get zilch.

That’s what the government intends it to be.  Low income families are much more likely to spend the rebates…  The point of the stimulus package is to stimulate spending in an effort to soften recessionary pressures.  Us hard-working, good-earning, big tax paying types won’t get anything.  If we did, we’d be likely to save it or pay down debt.

it will be interesting to see what happens to interest rates in CA when the limit goes up to $700K for conforming loans

if interest rates stay at 5% and/or get even lower then this definitely shaves about 10% off the bubble’s bottom

That’s exactly how I read it.  Welfare for low-income.

I am not adverse to research.  I take issure with unsubstantiated assertions (strawman anyone?)  My point is that those claiming there is an exodus from OC (ahem AZ Dave), are full of shit.  And that all available data points to an increasing population in OC.

Iblis: “They are saying that the 2010 census will mark the first time in its history that California does not add a new congressional representative. Growth is either flat or slightly negative, and much of the influx that continues is at the lowest economic tiers.“

Who’s they? Census estimates California’s population will have grown from 34.1m to 39.1m between 2000 and 2010. This exceeds the estimated national growth rate.

The government is agreeing to take on the credit risk between $417K and $700K, for those that qualify. People who qualified—those who actually make the money to support the loan balance—are not the ones who are defaulting. This will do nothing to stem the tide of foreclosures. There is no guarantee of refinancing to those with liar loans or those who have less than 10% equity in their property. This makes the financing a bit less expensive for a very small segment of the market.

I just got a mass email from Rep. John Campbell re: the stimulus package.  Here’s how he describes the pros and cons:

First of all, the good stuff:

* Raises FHA loan limits to $750,000 and also raises the “conforming” or “jumbo” home limits on loans guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack to the higher of $625,000 or 150% of the median house price in a market. This will help to free up more and cheaper home loan money in high cost areas like Orange County. This should help ease the housing crisis.

* Gives some taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes of less than $75,000 (single) or $150,000 (joint) some of their tax money from 2007 back.

As far as I can tell, that’s it on the good side. On the bad side, here goes:

* Gives roughly 35 million people who paid NO FEDERAL INCOME TAXES AT ALL a check for $300 per person in their family. So, a married couple with 3 kids would get $1500. This is a welfare transfer payment from other taxpayers, pure and simple.
Gives taxpayers with incomes over $75,000 (single) and $150,000 (joint) zero, zippo, nada. These are the people who pay most of the taxes and they will now pay a much greater share of the tax than they already do.

* We don’t yet know what, if any, mechanisms will be in place to keep illegal aliens from receiving these checks. If you file a tax return with no tax due and you have 4 kids, you will get a non-taxable $1800 check. The incentive for fraud will be huge. 

* The checks will likely not get to people before July or August, when the economic downturn is projected to be over. So, it will not provide any stimulus right now.

* The FHA and Fannie and Freddie loan limit increases are not accompanied by any additional regulation. The reason these loans are cheap is because you (the taxpayers) effectively guarantee them. If taxpayers are going to guarantee them, but someone else (the shareholders of Fannie and Freddie) get the profit, then the taxpayers ought to make sure that those entities are being careful with the money. This has not been the case in the recent past.  Although I have supported the higher loan limits, I have only done so on the condition that we would have better oversight of these agency’s actions than we do now.

There is absolutely nothing in this proposal that encourages what we need most, which is to free up investment capital for loans and equities. This economic slowdown was caused by a credit and capital crisis. Not a consumer spending crisis. We should be trying to free up credit and capital.  We are treating our arm when it’s the leg that hurts.

I’m surprised you think conventionals into the $700s won’t have a bigger impact IR.  You talk about rent equilibrium being a market bottom for housing, i.e. 160 GRM.  If people can pay 1% less tomorrow to borrow the same funds, doesn’t that have to mean that we’ll get to a 160 GRM at higher overall price levels? 

I think you’ve also discussed the higher and higher risk premiums that will be built in to jumbo loans due to the credit markets, massive foreclosures, etc.  Didn’t Congress and Bush effectively just say “the government is now going to bear the credit risk between $417K and $700K so you lenders don’t need to worry about it now”.

It looks like the rebates only apply to singles making less than 75K or households less than 150K.

Can anyone confirm that?

Has anyone seen a clear definition of the income limits for this rebate?  I’ve seen various articles which have said “likely $150k max per couple” or “phased down rebate above $150k up to a max of $174k” or “higher limits for those with children” but can’t find something that definitively outlines the cap.  I’m really interested in what that upper limit actually is….

It will give a small amount of support to houses priced between $417K and $700K, but so few people are going to qualify that it will not have a significant market impact. The GSEs do not take stated income, so people will actually have to prove they make the money and have the downpayment. In short, it will motivate a few more knife catchers to buy at somewhat higher prices, nothing more.

I’m gonna use that rebate to defer the cost of some new furniture for the house I buy this Spring/Summer!  Should pay for a Vizio flat panel from Costco I would think…

Beside fed rate cut, gov now try anything they could to prolong the recession, short pain is really pain vs long pain is getting use to it, insensitive after all.
Today stock market is dead cat bounce, get out if u can, at least partially, which I did.
play multiple cards in hand, and plan wildly, in this world this is always risks, manageable is essential.

Increasing the conventional limit effectively means that many people are going to be willing to spend $75K more on a house…  That is going to have a big time effect on this housing correction IMHO.  There has been a spread of anywhere between .75 to 1.25 points between conventional programs and their jumbo counterparts. 

This change could mean that houses fall 10-15% less than they otherwise would have.

Oooh… Now there’s a good idea!  Toss a grammar checker on top of that and they’d be in a world of hurt! But at least you’d know who the good agents are without a lot of effort.

I left with my family and did my part to help that statistic.

We had a 2% increase for our IAC renewal this month.  Last year the increase was 5%.

Wow, what a story. That’s a lot of hurting in Maryland.

When I search our old neighborhood in Virginia, our townhouse (sold April 07) comes up as the highest-priced comparable sold property. And at the time I was mystified with my husband for listing it so low! Now I think he is some kind of genius for getting us out of there intact. I’m not greedy, but if we’d have gone with my idea of a fair-market price last year, we’d still be there and WAY underwater. Asking prices for identical units in our block are now $20,000 less than we paid in 2004, and they’re NOT selling.

We live in a nation of financial anarchy.  If half of the population realized what was going on there would be open revolt.

This is the kind of stupid knee-jerk legislation that comes out of a Congress when they’re fully cooperating with the Executive and both sides are drinking the kool-aid.

The article doesn’t say if these ‘rebates’ have to be claimed against ‘08 taxes paid or what. That would mean that much more to come up with when filing season comes around next year.

I don’t have an opinion on raising the conforming limit on conventional loans, but I think this rebate crap is useless. That $1,200 might make a good addition to my HSA or to my wife’s ROTH IRA.

We got hit with a ~5% increase earlier this month.  We’ve been at this place for a year, so we should have been around market price already.

You don’t sign the mortgage yourself if there is some reason that you cannot be at closing—e.g., he’s a consultant, salesman, lawyer who had to be in Cali or NYC the whole week of closing.  It happens and sellers are not always cooperative on movnig closing dates back.

Skek, I would wager that many of the IHB folk fall into those categories.

I like the Jimmy Cliff mention…. IR should feature that song if he has not already.

The carnies who have declared bankruptcy 3 times, in between jobs, let their dogs crap on the community grass, and throw their cigarette butts on the ground in front of your door.

I see you’ve met my neighbors.

Actually, both versions are acceptable: 

traveled/travelled, traveling/travelling

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/travel

Equally correct.

OC has a lot of service professionals:  consultants, accountants, attorneys, bankers.  To the extent the greater economy falters, those industries will take a hit.  I think OC is more vulnerable than most places, particularly because we were living above our means when times were good.  Like Jimmy Cliff said, “the harder they come, the harder they fall.“

You are right, of course.  But we didn’t plan on being landlords.  We lived in the place for 20 years and don’t really see it as an investment (it’s more of a pain in the behind).  Selli