Posted on 10/29/2008 8:52:09 PM PDT by Lorianne
LAS VEGAS There are 6 million empty homes in the United States. Or 6.2 million, to be slightly more precise. Empty houses are normal to some extent -- part of the usual friction of building, selling, renting. But ask the people who study the numbers, and who understand the "overhang" in housing inventory, and they'll tell you: This country has about a million homes too many.
The solution, local executives say, will come not from Washington policymakers but from the market itself. When there are too many houses, builders stop building them. That has already happened, and many Vegas home builders have gone out of business. Construction workers, meanwhile, suddenly find themselves dealing blackjack.
People here have concluded that the reestablishment of a functioning housing market will require pain and patience. And sometimes a bulldozer. At one development in Henderson, the model homes suddenly looked too luxurious for the post-crash economy, said Kipp Cooper, government affairs director of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors. So the builder obliterated them and put up more modest, cheaper model homes.
Things are bad in a housing market when a "tear-down" is a house too nice to be left standing.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The mind boggles!
At least in times like this, why on earth does anyone need to go
to Las Vegas?
Just tune into CNBC Mon-Fri.
AFTER you take your heart meds and make sure you’ve got plenty of
Maalox (sp?) and Pepto-Bismol on hand!!!
(And I’m not knocking Las Vegas...I don’t want it to tank as a
family friend and his wife are teachers out there.)
Any Las Vegas small newer homes going in the 70K range or less?
Not a condo, who cares about condos?
at least in Vegas, you know the odds of winning. On Wall Street, you have no idea if the table is even level on any given day.
But on the housing issue, Vegas is one of four markets which has been blacklisted by banks. They simply don’t lend here anymore. Unless you are an A+ borrower and putting down a very sizeable downpayment don’t bother trying to get a loan. If FHA won’t take you, you’re likely doomed. I’ve seen millionaires get denied loans. Literally.
As long as the banks won’t lend, we can’t even sell the loads of foreclosures on the market. It’s a Catch 22 for Vegas and for the banks. But the banks could solve it tomorrow and that is the idea of the Treasury/Fed forcing the banks to borrow money from the Fed and put it out on the street (or else....).
By next year, everything will be back to something normal. And people will keep moving to Vegas because housing will be cheap again.
But the banks could solve it tomorrow and that is the idea of the Treasury/Fed forcing the banks to borrow money from the Fed and put it out on the street (or else....).
So you want the banks to be forced to lend taxpayers money to people without good credit and a sizeable down payment. You do understand, don't you, that this is exactly what caused the financial crisis in the first place?
You go for business — conventions, symposiums, etc.
You go for business — conventions, symposiums, etc.
Anyone know about condos in/near the French Quarter in New Orleans?
That’s thinking like the banks. All of a sudden, EVERYone has bad credit and is not worth lending to, despite the fact that 95% of us pay our bills on time.
In my opinion, Vegas is probably the best place in the world to do business. To a very large degree, the hotels are targeted to business travelers. So, the restaurants are excellent, conference centers well appointed, and business centers on the ball. These are no small things.
And yes,there’s gambling and all kinds of partying, etc., but all that doesn’t matter if you’re not doing business. I can’t tell you the number of guys I know who love vegas for business and don’t gamble or drink.
Example, if you’re hashing out a deal and need a pot of coffee at 2am, you can get it. Not so in other cities. I’ve actually had to send someone out to the local convenience store to get coffee late at night in a major city.
I wish the GOP would do a convention there for a change.
If you blow all your money in Vegas, they will give you free drinks.
If you blow all your money on Wall Street... yeah, the windows open on the 27th and 40th floors.
Lots of historical properties were actually going for $400K immediately prior to Katrina (two bedroom apartments in historical houses, pricey for NOLA). Since prices have plummeted, it shouldn't be so hard to pick one up if you have the cash. I would check elsewhere on the net, or check in with some LA freepers to get the skinny on the market there right now.
Yes, it's about time banks start thinking like banks. Credit, collateral and character. If all three are good they'll lend you money. I, and most the people I know, are inundated with solicitations to lend us money. Mortgages, home equity loans, car loans, business loans, consolidation loans, they are all easy to get, and at great interest rates, for people with good credit.
Banks are lending money every day. The bailout is about banks lending to each other which many refused to do because of the bad credit risk. Banks can only make money buy loaning out their deposits and they are still doing it.
The Washing Post expects me to sign up to read the linked article. I don’t think so. No thanks but no thanks.
Boy, that would be a deal..Considering a new higher end pickup truck goes for about $45,000. LOL!
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