Faces - Ooh La La (their last LP, 1973)
Posted on 03/23/2006 7:10:32 AM PST by SoFloFreeper
BC-APNewsAlert WASHINGTON (AP) -- A real estate trade group reports that sales of existing homes rose by an unexpected 5.2 percent in February as warm weather boosted demand.
I wonder why so many people are buying breaking homes...
I suppose they want their kids to say they came from a broken home...
"You were, after all, horny teens."
Lordy, if I had only known then, what I know now ... lol.
We're doomed.
We just don't know it......
I expect there is a near one hundred percent chance that you and I will both be dead one day.
Fears of Inflation/Recession worry Economists!
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
Of course the real cause of 'housing bubbles' is a combination of regional employment losses and overdevelpment. Rising interest rates, believe it or not, have not been a major factor.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
How about the huge changes in lending practice? People buy houses now which would have been far beyond their reach under the old rules. I remember when most advisors told people not to spend more than two years gross income on a house. Two and a half years was considered pretty much the absolute max. Now we have two income couples who spend one partner's entire income on the mortgage payment.
Here in northern VA, inventory is up 400% since march 05 (Data). How about the headlineL: "Sales Flat, Inventory Skyrockets"?
I have inlaws in the Virginia Beach area who have seen a tremendous runup in the valuation of their condo in the last few years but their last report says that much of that has disappeared recently and the husband is telling the wife,"I told you we should have sold and you didn't want to".
Some friends bought two older houses on one lot near LA for over half a million dollars. They are far from wealthy; a relative rents one house and wants to get out, hub and wife both work (at ill paying jobs) to make the mortgage payments. I've talked to them several times urging them to sell and get out of it. They thought that if it foreclosed they could walk away from the entire debt.
They called up a realtor friend who told them in essence not to worry, things'll go down a little and then back up.
I am very afraid they are going to soon be in dire straits.
How much is the land alone worth in San Mateo?
How about in Pittsburgh?
That's where hexin-Texan's argument falls apart.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Yep, I maintain that there is no such thing as REAL appreciation in a house. If the value rises faster than inflation it is the lot, not the house, that is appreciating. A house is a deteriorating asset, how can there be true appreciation?
Faces - Ooh La La (their last LP, 1973)
Condos are a special case here, there are many in desirable locations because that's all they can build there. OTOH, there are lots of condos being built (about 10k / year) and demand is not going to keep up. Bottom line, a colleague just picked up a nice but small condo for 180 that would have been 250 a year ago, but bigger condos in the same building are still in demand when they are (rarely) offered. Bottom line is that run-of-the-mill or small condos will do poorly. I saw the same thing around Boston in 1991. But ten years later they were doing well again.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.