A Town Drowns in Debt as Home Values Plunge

New York Times ^ | November 10, 2008 | David Streitfeld

[Lorianne]

MOUNTAIN HOUSE, Calif. — This town, 59 feet above sea level, is the most underwater community in America.

Because of plunging home values, almost 90 percent of homeowners here owe more on their mortgages than their houses are worth, according to figures released Monday. That is the highest percentage in the country. The average homeowner in Mountain House is “underwater,” as it is known, by $122,000.

A visit to the area over the last couple of days shows how the nationwide housing crisis is contributing to a broad slowdown of the American economy, as families who feel burdened by high mortgages are pulling back on their spending.

Jerry Martinez, a general contractor, and his wife, Marcie, an accounts clerk, are among the struggling owners in Mountain House. Burdened with credit card debt and a house losing value by the day, they are learning the necessity of self-denial for themselves and their three children.

No more family bowling night. No more dinners at Chili’s or Applebee’s. No more going to the movies.

“We make decent money, but it takes a tremendous amount to pay the mortgage,” Mr. Martinez, 33, said.

[Lorianne]

Because of plunging home values, almost 90 percent of homeowners here owe more on their mortgages than their houses are worth...

NO. Because of buying more house than you can afford in a neighborhood that you can't afford and/or second-mortgaging the house to buy toys you can't afford and a lifestyle you can't afford ... you now owe more than the house is worth.

I'm so tired of these sob stories. Let's play spot-the-lies (or more charitably, self deception) in these stories.

[VOA]

The average homeowner in Mountain House is “underwater,” as it
is known, by $122,000.

These folks can sing along with the "freecreditreport.com"
singers as they are servers at the hip-hop gangsta's party:

"Now I know how bad reality can hurt!"

HUGH fluctuations in California real estate...of course, that
never happened before.
(/sarc)

Sadly, this time it was an fever that gripped way more people
than it should have. In a sane world.

[SIDENET]

No more family bowling night. No more dinners at Chili’s or Applebee’s. No more going to the movies.

Boo hoo.

Jeez, for the money wasted on Chili's or Crapplebee's, they could have found a nice Mom and Pop joint with real food.

[Tony O]

As long as these people aren't selling, the loss is on paper. Eventually values will rise. We are witnessing to some degree an irrational panic.

[VOA]

For reference on this “planned community”:

Mountain House, CA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_House,_California

It’s interesting to see that ground was first broken in 2001.
And now in the dumper financially by 2008.

“Boom and bust”...just a fact of our society. With some being bigger
and some smaller.

[muawiyah]

Not exactly ~ they bought houses that were available. Sometimes in California during a boom period you don't have all the choices you named. (I've watched this cycle many times over the years).

Now the mortgages outstanding are more than the value of the homes.

What's really bothering the homeowners who owe all that money is all they' needed to do was "wait" for the next downturn in California's home value cycle and they could have bought a larger house in a better place for less than they paid for a smaller house in a worse place for more.

Best bet at the moment is pick up a BEACH FRONT HOME ~ PERIOD!

[Steely Tom]

I haven’t been to a Chili’s in 20 years. I’ve never been to an Applebee’s. The last time my family ate out was when we went for our big four-day summer vacation over the labor day weekend. I think we went to Perkins one night; the rest of the time we had dinner with friends.

I’ve been putting some money into a savings account, though. What a chump I am. I should have just gone into debt way over my head and then cried for a government bailout. I could have wailed about “being the victim of preditory lenders” like they do in California.

[sionnsar]

As long as these people aren't selling, the loss is on paper. Eventually values will rise. We are witnessing to some degree an irrational panic.

Agreed. My sister went through that some years ago and sold more recently for a handsome profit.

[BilLies]

The tax rate on real property is based on the “total value” of the properties in the taxing jurisdictions divided by the amount of tax revenues needed to determine the tax rate. If the “total value” of the total properties goes down and the needed aggregate tax revenues remain constant, the taxes on each properties should remain constant; if it doesn't the rip off is due to the tax collectors. Watch Them or the Time reporters lies.

[muawiyah]

Chili's is a chain based on a concept restaurant here in Fairfax County that started as a "family restaurant with good food" PLUS they sell beer.

They even provde a special menu that identifies what they have for sale that has no gluten ~ and that's darned nice of them.

Their prices are not out of line with most low to midrange regular (non fast food) restaurants nationwide.

They are a tad higher than the bean burrito joints in Southern California and the Tex Mex places in the bad parts of town all over the place.

[umgud]

Two of my kids are upside down by at least $150K, but they are in good mortgages they can afford. They bought when prices started down, they just couldn’t have guessed prices would fall as far as they have. their problem is that they will be stuck with negative equity for maybe more than a decade. When you have millions of people like that, it affects the economy.

[ridesthemiles]

Netflix only costs $9.99/month.

When HD knocks out my TV, I plan on renting movies from Netflix and catching up on 30+ years worth of movies.

[tbpiper]

No more going to the movies.

That just might be a bad thing in the long run.

[VOA]

What's really bothering the homeowners who owe all that money is
all they' needed to do was "wait" for the next downturn in California's
home value cycle and they could have bought a larger house in
a better place for less than they paid for a smaller house in
a worse place for more.

Yep. But there was a mania. A BIG MANIA.

In terms of dollars involved, it makes that "South Sea Co." investment
disaster that even suckered in Sir Isaac Newton look like the
failure of a kids piggy bank.

When I moved back to Missouri in 2005, I'd tell friends that
in LA, the bigger the loan you went for during the bubble...
the less the needed to document your income, etc.

They thought I was making it up.
Until this year.

[traditional1]

Probably donated $2300 apiece to the Osamamania, too, and now think other’s will pay their bills (that’s what The Messiah promised, ain’t it?)

[kms61]

how does a town 59 feet above sea level get to be called Mountain House?

[YOUGOTIT]

“almost 90 percent of homeowners here owe more on their mortgages than their houses are worth,”

Most likely over 99% of new car owners owe more on their car than it is worth. One should not purchase things that are above ones ability to pay. And even if the home is now worth less if one is making the payment what is the problem?

[NonValueAdded]

“We make decent money, but it takes a tremendous amount to pay the mortgage,” Mr. Martinez, 33, said.

Ahem, the home value might have changed but did the mortgage payment? If anything, he should be getting some relief on insurance premium and tax assessment. NO, if Mr. Martinez is having trouble with the mortgage payment then the simple fact is that he "bought" too much house.

[RightWhale]

I am kind of wondering if municipal property taxes are also declining and how the municipalities are dealing with this revenue contraction.

[ladyvet]

I couldn’t have said it better, same here!