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Where Have All Our Houses Gone
Townhall.com ^ | February 3, 2013 | Fritz Pfister

Posted on 02/03/2013 7:18:30 AM PST by Kaslin

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1 posted on 02/03/2013 7:18:31 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin
Case-Shiller just reported home prices were up

Isn't this the group that admitted they had been inflating their numbers for years?

2 posted on 02/03/2013 7:21:28 AM PST by oldbrowser (They are marxists, don't call them democrats)
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To: Kaslin

I’m a Realtor in VA and have 8 to 10 eager buyers but no inventory. Every time a home comes on the market (priced well, good schools) it gets multiple offers. I think a lot of people are still “under water” and can’t or haven’t recovered from the 2008-2009 dip in prices. Better to hang on than go to foreclosure.


3 posted on 02/03/2013 7:31:27 AM PST by albie
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To: Kaslin

http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/housing-inventory-back-to-2001-levels-real-estate-inventory-for-sale/


4 posted on 02/03/2013 7:33:29 AM PST by johnny reb (When in the course of human events.....)
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To: Kaslin

These foreclosed houses will be used by the Collectivist to infiltrate all suburbia with those needing housing vouchers. This will distribute those ChiCongo crime rates right to your middleclass front door. Better wake up and fight die-versity and the anti-white ghouls of government.


5 posted on 02/03/2013 7:34:04 AM PST by iopscusa (El Vaquero. (SC Lowcountry Cowboy))
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To: Kaslin

What I’m hearing in Florida is that investors are snapping up many of the foreclosures at sheriff sales so they never hit the market for individual buyers to take a crack at. I believe they’re hoping to flip them at some point or rent them out if they can’t flip.


6 posted on 02/03/2013 7:36:32 AM PST by sunshine state
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To: Kaslin

Things are about to get really ugly.


7 posted on 02/03/2013 7:38:30 AM PST by Hoodat ("As for God, His way is perfect" - Psalm 18:30)
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To: albie

I think “home” prices being up probably reflects this. It’s not that prices for a particular size, quality, and location of home are up. Rather, the particular homes going on the market are probably up in value. Low end homes are easiest to move and easiest to move into, so this gradual recovery will work its way slowly from the entry-level homes over several slow and gradual steps. As people hunker down in jobs that they would leave in a better economy, desirable homes will be slow to enter the market, and housing liquidity will work up to mid-range homes very slowly.


8 posted on 02/03/2013 7:40:16 AM PST by Pollster1
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To: Hoodat
Things are about to get really ugly.

I think that's true, but I have to admit to being pretty confused. Things are going in the wrong direction and have been doing so for a long time. Japan, Europe, the US, even China -- it all looks like a house of cards. And the can keeps getting kicked down the road.

People say Inflation will destroy us. People say Deflation will destroy us. And the can keeps getting kicked down the road.

We are right on the edge. About to fall over. We have been for a very long time. And all the "experts" seem filled with happy talk -- things are looking up! And we're not falling off the edge, and the "experts" aren't being laughed off stage.

I do think we're in trouble. But I don't know why the world isn't falling down around my ears right this very moment. Apparently the game can keep going on and on and on.

9 posted on 02/03/2013 7:57:56 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (Nothing will change until after the war.)
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To: Kaslin

I’ve kept an eye on the local market with the thought of getting out from under my mortgage and more mobile when the time is right.

The absolute bottom here in my observation actually was 2011. There were decent, maintained older brick ranches with basement and garage on an acre, 3/2, about 1800 sq ft, going for $110,000, in OK locations. Best school district never got that cheap, more like twice that for similar if you could find it, bad school district or crime problem areas were cheaper still, in the eighties.

Unemployment is still not good locally, pushing 9%, so something else is moving houses. It wasn’t unusual to see quite a few houses with a sheriff’s notice posted on the door and the yard gone to seed, now there aren’t many or they’re not so obvious if there are.

Some poor sap inherited a thirties brick two story cottage near me, then went on a remodeling spree to transform it into a craftsman, adding porches, stuccoed the exterior, new top of the line roof, top of the line windows and doors, the works. Don’t like the color myself, but it’s nice, what is finished is nice at least. An architect clearly had a hand in it. The detail and proportion are right.

He went bust, lost his job, lost his savings, apparently financed the remodel with a renovation/perm note. Foreclosed, unfinished interior, much landscaping needs to be done. $65,000 and it’s yours, might be less than that by now, haven’t checked in a while. If I were unencumbered and certain of my financial future, I’d seriously consider taking it on.

It’s the cheap interest rates that have pulled prices off rock bottom. They’re still nowhere near 2007 highs. I don’t trust it at all.


10 posted on 02/03/2013 8:07:17 AM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: albie

We live in a bubble in NoVA. It is far from being representative of the rest of the country.


11 posted on 02/03/2013 8:08:39 AM PST by kabar
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To: Kaslin
Another reason there seems to be a "shortage" of homes is that there isn't an OVER ABUNDANCE of homes.

Let me explain.

Home building is way down.

Before the bubble burst, there were homes being built everywhere. Financing was cheap and very easy. Not just the buyer, but the builder too.

Builders are leary to build, plus they can't get the financing to build like they once could.

12 posted on 02/03/2013 8:11:06 AM PST by mountn man (ATTITUDE- The Pleasure You Get From Life, Is Equal To The Attitude You Put Into It.)
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To: Kaslin

I don’t believe this crap is over, by a long shot. The banks get away with holding the houses at their old (i.e., higher) values as long as they actually don’t sell them. This makes their balance sheets look respectable. But once sold, the loss has to be taken.

There’s no reason to put them on the market until one of two things happen - people get a lot wealthier, or a lot more people get interested in buy houses (i.e., Amnesty).


13 posted on 02/03/2013 8:12:40 AM PST by BobL
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To: albie
I’m a Realtor in VA and have 8 to 10 eager buyers but no inventory.
If you're anywhere within 50 miles of DC I can believe it.
The ever growing population of government employees needs a place to lay their weary heads.
Spending our tax dollars is quite the arduous task.
14 posted on 02/03/2013 8:24:58 AM PST by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: oh8eleven

I visited DC and NoVa last spring.
It looked like America used to look, before Baraq.

You didn’t see 50% of the commercial buildings with a “for lease” sign on them.


15 posted on 02/03/2013 8:28:12 AM PST by nascarnation (Baraq's economic policy: trickle up poverty)
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To: kabar

I’m from NoVa and Richmond is a far cry from it. I have friends who are agents up there and they’re making a fortune. Eventually, this will all catch up with them as well.


16 posted on 02/03/2013 8:42:59 AM PST by albie
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To: albie
I live in NoVA and have, on and off, for over 40 years. Here in Fairfax County, the unemployment rate is about 4%. Seven out of the ten richest counties in America are located in the DC metro area. Federal employees, government contractors, lobbyists, and think tanks make this place Recession-proof. According to Hannity and Steve Bannon, 15% of all the money the government spends each year, $3.7 trillion, stays in this area.

If this catches up with us, it will mean the rest of the country is already down the toliet.

17 posted on 02/03/2013 8:53:17 AM PST by kabar
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To: albie

There are places where home prices are good at all times...I think that there are probably more good places now than there were several years ago...but, I would not call real estate a safe bet by any means nor would I suggest that the downturn for real estate is over.


18 posted on 02/03/2013 9:01:17 AM PST by Wpin ("I Have Sworn Upon the Altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny...")
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To: Kaslin

All I know is that in my home town in Tennessee I can get a mortgage on a decent house that costs less that what I’m paying for a couple of small storage spaces here in the big city. I’m thinking that it’s about time for “Marco Polo” to find his way back to Venice!


19 posted on 02/03/2013 9:01:36 AM PST by The Duke
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To: ClearCase_guy
Just remember the words attributed to Herbert Hoover-- "prosperity is just around the corner"--in 1932.

When it comes to economics the "experts" are expert at only one thing, telling you what they want you to believe. Reality goes its own way.

20 posted on 02/03/2013 9:08:13 AM PST by hinckley buzzard
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