declining values: 10 Positive Predictions for Real Estate in 2010 - 12/04/09 03:16 PM
Homeowners come to terms with the harsh reality of declining values. I believe we will see movement in the move-up market. Enough time has passed that the reality has set in. Those "waiting it out" for a higher price will decide to sell and move on.
The return of jumbo money. … (66 comments)
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declining values: The Death Spiral of Move Up Buyers: First Time Buyers Are Not Enough to Save Us - 10/02/09 10:02 AM
Move up buyers are becoming extinct in California.
With an epidemic of negative equity sweeping the state, we must ask ourselves this question:
Do we really believe that there are enough first time homebuyers out there to turn this market around?
In the bubble years of 2005-2007, buying a house in … (50 comments)
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declining values: HVCC Loan Busters! The "Too High" Appraisal Can Bite You In the Butt, Too - 06/10/09 12:09 PM
They say you can't be too rich and you can't be too thin. But can an appraisal be too high?
I am fighting my first HVCC appraisal issue, so please don't laugh when I tell you my problem: The appraisal is TOO HIGH.
The appraisal came in $65,000 OVER the contract … (26 comments)
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declining values: Deflation Nation: How to Be A Seller When No One Wants to Buy - 03/09/09 12:23 PM
Have you noticed????? Just about everything out there is, well,...... a whole lot cheaper.
Sure, the focus is on real estate and the the stock market. But "declining values" have impacted almost everything we buy. What we learned in Econ 101 still holds true: Lower the demand and you are … (61 comments)
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declining values: Jumpin' Through Those Jumbo Hoops and How It Holds Down the Economy - 02/25/09 04:38 PM
Imagine my surprise when an article in the Wall Street Journal featured:
A client of our family's auto leasing company who was also...
A client of my former mortgage company who was also...
Complaining bitterly about lack of jumbo loans to refinance his house in ALAMO, CALIFORNIA (median home price, 1.3 million). Alamo is where … (6 comments)
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declining values: Extreme Bargain or Extreme Stupidity? How Did We Become Hooked On Pretend Pricing? - 01/05/09 04:27 PM
Why do we continue to cling to the idea that to justify a purchase, it must be an EXTREME BARGAIN? Are we truly brilliant because we can buy something at 70% off?
Or are we just plain stupid because the very first day it was displayed it was ALREADY 50% off? Suggested retail price seems … (24 comments)
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declining values: Are Some "Victims" of the Foreclosure Crisis Really Just Opportunists? - 11/22/08 09:43 AM
Today, I am going to ask those politically incorrect questions that no one else has dared to ask. I'm going to ask because these questions are at the very core of what is wrong with our economy.
Someone has to ask if we ever hope to have a prayer of getting … (30 comments)
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declining values: What is TOXIC is Not the Loan - 10/20/08 10:05 PM
Whenever circumstances line up in a way that you have intense and intimate conversations with homeowners in distress, something interesting happens.
You start to feel the pain. You start to understand. You know what keeps them up at night.
It is, a broader understanding. You are a soldier in the trenches, … (9 comments)
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declining values: You Can Sleep in Your Car, But You Can't Drive Your House: Should We Bailout The Car Companies, Too? - 10/02/08 09:27 AM
The mortgage crisis has finally hit the car business. Yep. dealerships are closing and car sales have plunged by about 35%. And while the temptation may be to think of "gas prices" as the reason, the real reason is "mortgage crisis".
Fast becoming known as CREDIT CATASTROPHE.
Did you … (17 comments)
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declining values: Waiting for the World to Change and Other Refinancing Mistakes - 09/23/08 01:41 PM
We recently caught a rare glimpse of what lies bubbling beneath the surface of this soup we call the MORTGAGE MESS.
They are the SILENT MAJORITY who didn't walk away from their mortgage. They stayed, paid, and prayed.
And guess what? Not only do they WANT to refinance, they just … (19 comments)
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declining values: Freshly Killed Mortgages and Jungle Economics - 06/29/08 11:44 PM
Here in California, its a jungle out there. Buyers have stopped waiting for houses to "GO LOWER". They are not wondering if buying real estate is a "good idea". And they sure aren't thinking about the potential for appreciation.
They have only one thing on their mind: Get in while you can. … (46 comments)
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declining values: Roofs That Leak, Decks That Creak: Sorry, Home Depot, Things Are Bleak - 05/30/08 10:47 AM
They sat together, sipping wine, and gazing out at the lake on the creaky old deck that badly needed replacing. They would need to step gingerly for yet another summer, and live with that precarious deck a little bit longer.
They stepped into the garage, which should have been pitch black. But sunlight danced against the … (11 comments)
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declining values: Another Loan Bites the Dust: What Causes A Property to be "UNACCEPTABLE COLLATERAL?" - 05/24/08 05:28 PM
Here are 2 nasty words that spell disaster for a loan: UNACCEPTABLE COLLATERAL. Do you know what this means? It means the borrower qualified for the mortgage, but the property did not. To our clients, however, a turn down is a turn down. They still take it very personally, even though they shouldn't.
Those … (14 comments)
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declining values: Has The American Dream Been Poisoned? - 05/16/08 11:40 PM
The FORECLOSURE EPIDEMIC and the MORTGAGE CRISIS that has rocked our economy to its very core, will be discussed and debated for years to come. Historically, it will forever define this decade, and, along with 9-11, leave an imprint on an entire generation.
Will we remember this as the decade when the American Dream became poisoned? Maybe … (39 comments)
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declining values: Rent Your Upside Down House and Buy a Cheap REO: Not Gonna Happen - 05/06/08 03:26 PM
Here's a heads up: This happened in our office 3 times recently. Mortgage applicants owned and occupied upside down houses (upside down = owe more than the house is worth). Their intent was to buy REOs which were superior in quality and/or location to their existing homes . They would then RENT their upside down house … (28 comments)
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declining values: Ben Bernanke and The Rotten Eggs - 05/06/08 11:28 AM
Earlier this year, as Mr. Bernanke continued to drop rates, I came out with the following statement: It isn't about rates. Its about guidelines. Rates could go to 2% and real estate can be cheap, but it doesn't matter if no one can qualify for a mortgage.
Those of us in the mortgage business could easily … (8 comments)
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declining values: One Dead Goose and Another Loan Goes Belly Up: How Declining Value Restrictions Hurt Property Values - 05/01/08 12:52 AM
She leaned against the doorway of my office, this messenger of bad news, like so many before her had done. My consolation prize? A large Butterfinger, which had been placed on my desk before she retreated quickly back to the doorway. She didn't dare to sit in the chair (and consider herself a guest in … (66 comments)
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declining values: The Stars Line Up for First Time Buyers in California - 04/19/08 10:33 AM
Our area of expensive real estate out here in Coastal California is famous for many things, but NOT for first time buyers. Long ago these buyers were chased away by high prices into the interior of California where vast stretches of open land meant builders could build cheap houses, and cheap gas meant that buyers could … (5 comments)
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declining values: Credit Crisis Aftershocks: Southern California Home Prices Plummet 24% - 04/16/08 01:24 PM
If you think of the current credit crisis as an earthquake, then the aftershocks could best be described as declining values in real estate. For those of you NOT in California, aftershocks are much smaller rumbles that shake the ground, sometimes for days, after an earthquake occurs.
Why are aftershocks so scary? Because you are rudely reminded: … (8 comments)
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declining values: Zoom Zoom Cash and The Lifestyle We Couldn't Afford - 04/12/08 08:57 PM
For years, Californians thought it was pretty funny to lament about our zoom zoom real estate. With glass of wine in hand and proverbial balmy weather as a backdrop, friends would often whisper to each other: "We couldn't even afford to buy the house we live in".
Then they would laugh.
Well, no one is laughing anymore. That's because even though we … (20 comments)
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