4 Major California Home Markets See Drop In Prices

Associated Press ^ | September 20, 2006

[GodGunsGuts]

Sep 20, 2006

4 Major California Home Markets See Drop In Prices

(AP) LOS ANGELES A real estate research firm says the median price of a California home increased last month at the slowest annual rate in nine years.

Four counties actually saw price declines. Among the largest real estate markets, according to DataQuick Information Systems, the steepest drop was 6.7 percent in San Mateo County. Other decreases were seen in Marin County (2.3 percent), San Diego County (2.2 percent) and Alameda County (1.5 percent).

Appreciation in Sonoma, Santa Clara, San Francisco and Contra Costa counties was essentially flat.

The statewide median price was $472,000 in August, a 3.5 percent hike over the year-ago period. It was the slowest increase since June 1997, when statewide home prices rose just 2.8 percent.

(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

[GodGunsGuts]

I've seen other people do the same thing and nobody complains.

[Toddsterpatriot]

Keep pimping!

[Petronski]

Plenty of people complain. But he keeps right on doing it.

[ex-Texan]

You and Petronski do a pretty good job pimping for mortgage brokers and realtors. Both of you stalk me and post derogatory comments every time I post. You both are acting just like paid shills pimping for the bubble industry. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck . . .

[Petronski]

You and Petronski do a pretty good job pimping for mortgage brokers and realtors.

Oooh, another lie. You have a bottomless supply, I guess.

[Toddsterpatriot]

Both of you stalk me and post derogatory comments every time I post.

Sorry, I only post derogatory comments when you link to your website. Or when you say something especially stupid.

[leakinInTheBlueSea]

interesting read, but the question is, is he the guy who was selling all his technology holdings in 1998 or the one stocking his garage with y2k supplies and digging a big hole in the back yard? only time will tell.

[GodGunsGuts]

You have accused me of pimping for gold when in reality I invest in gold because I honestly believe it's in a bull market. You have never taken that back. And yet, when I mistakenly linked you with the free trade with Red China crowd, I immediately got back to you and apologized. There is something wrong when all you do is insult your fellow FReepers/conservatives, never admit mistakes, and dog people's posts for the sheer purpose of shutting them down with annoying chatter. Why not just treat others with respect, use facts and well-reasoned arguments to prove your case, and good natured humor to jab your opponents on FR? There is no need to insult conservatives on the other side of a debate. Sheesh, it's not like either side of these issues are Communists or anything.

[Petronski]

You pimp by regularly, repetitively posting information touting gold. I don't tout anything.

I'm not really sure how you consider yourselves anyone's "fellow conservatives."

[ex-Texan]

Both you and Petronski admit to stalking me. You both admit to posting derogatory comments. You spend so much time here stalking me. You are on early in the morning and late at night. You do such a great job pimping for the bubble industry. Are you being paid by the bubble industry to stalk me?

[oldfart]

"Are they all suddenly unable to make their payments simply because their house may not be worth what they thought it was?"

No. It's because - all of a sudden, someone pushed over the first domino in the line and now the company the homeowner depended on for an income with which to make the payment has lost it's butt from diversifying it's assets into the real estate market.
When these thing happen, they don't just happen in a vacuum. All the markets are tied together in some form or fashion. What affects one affects all in one way or another. We're talking about a few million people who wake up one morning and realize they owe $500,000 on a piece of property that's only worth $450,000.
What do you do when your car costs more to operate than to replace? What would you do if you couldn't replace it? You might keep driving it for awhile, hoping things would get better but would you keep pouring money into it for three years? If so, I have a Honda in my back yard you might be interested in.

[Dr.Deth]

Doomed!

[oldfart]

I realize that if only people would hold onto their overpriced, undervalued real estae they'd eventually come out ahead. In today's mobile society though, few people are willing to ride a pig long enough to get to market, regardless of the price of pork.

[Toddsterpatriot]

Both you and Petronski admit to stalking me.

Unless you can show where either of us admitted that, I'm going to have to call you a liar.

You both admit to posting derogatory comments.

I also admit that you post stupid comments.

You do such a great job pimping for the bubble industry.

I didn't realize there was a bubble industry.

Are you being paid by the bubble industry to stalk me?

No one is paying me to point out the errors in your gloom and doom posts. As an optimistic American I think it is my duty to ridicule pessimistic, hysterical posters like you.

[Toddsterpatriot]

We're talking about a few million people who wake up one morning and realize they owe $500,000 on a piece of property that's only worth $450,000.

They can sell and lock in the loss, or they can continue living in it.

What do you do when your car costs more to operate than to replace?

What does this have to do with your house example?

[durasell]

As an optimistic American I think it is my duty to ridicule pessimistic, hysterical posters like you.



If you were really an optimistic American, you would see opportunity in the current financial climate. A smart (and optimistic) cookie makes money regardless of the direction of the market. A down market, bubble, etc. isn't a sign of doom and gloom. It's just a different kind of opportunity.

[Toddsterpatriot]

If you were really an optimistic American, you would see opportunity in the current financial climate.

I do.

A smart (and optimistic) cookie makes money regardless of the direction of the market.

So far so good.

A down market, bubble, etc. isn't a sign of doom and gloom.

The doom and gloom is the posters, not the market.

[oldfart]

Sometimes I think I know what it must be like to try teaching a pig to sing.

[Toddsterpatriot]

What do you do when your car house costs more to operate than to replace?

[durasell]

The markets -- stock and real estate -- are amoral. They have no "mood." People who attribute mood, morality etc. to any financial machinery are one step up from the folks who dress their dogs/cats up in moronic clothing and call them "pookums." In the real world the markets are without conscience and there are no "pookums."

If I were a smart broker in a secondary market, I'd round up five dentists to put in two thousand a piece, buy forclosed property, then rent it back to the original owners with an option to buy.