Sugar daddy cards….

On the same day, our Corpus realtor called us with the news that a very acceptable offer was placed on our house here… in less than a month after we placed it on the market.

The movers are coming on Monday and Tuesday. We ride to Houston on Wednesday and unpack on Thursday. After that, we have to buy blinds or shutters for every window in the house, and we also need a new table to sit eight…

Recession? What recession? This is Texas!

I did my share. I closed on my condo on September 2nd.

Now I’m jump-starting the economy by buying things I need (like a bed for the guest room) and hiring painters and housecleaners and the like.

I’m one of the lucky ones

to be in a job that (for now) is fairly secure. Then again, the credit crunch happened three weeks after I closed. Who knew?

Meryl Yourish on October 24, 2008 at 2:56 PM

Same here. Isn’t remodeling FUN! Congrats!

Closed on Aug. 21st…. been down hill and throwing money at remodeling ever since.

upinak on October 24, 2008 at 3:16 PM

Congrads!

I’m closing on my first condo on 21NOV in the Free State of New Hampshire. That is correct, I am DEFECTING from the People’s Republic of Taxachusetts to the Free State of New Hampshire.

I’m making my lists of all the kitchen and bedroom stuff too. Talk about doing my part to jump start the economy.

Have a great weekend!

I have a very nice house in Michigan that needs to be sold..

ready to move in.. attached garage.. big backyard..

any takers? :)

DaveC on October 24, 2008 at 3:18 PM

Can you move it someplace else? Anywhere except Michigan?

I think the thing that was worrying them the most was that banks and institutions were not lending to each other and that threatened liquidity. That does not mean it was impossible for everyone to borrow money, but it was getting tighter and tighter.

Now, I do think that it has been getting easier in recent weeks, but that does not mean we are home free.

upinak, I’m not exactly remodeling. My condo’s only eight years old. Just adjusting it to my tastes and needs.

But I sure do love owning my own home.

That reminds me. Time to send out the mortgage payment.

How did folks get all these mortgages? I thought there was absolutely no credit available to anyone, anywhere, for any reason?

xblade on October 24, 2008 at 8:28 PM

I have been thinking of picking up one of the many foreclosed homes… homes that sold for $350K two years ago that banks are unloading for $75-$100K. I called 5th/3rd and they have no problem doing a mortgage for the purchase. Banks with local presence that do mortgages are very willing to do mortgages for people they know/see on properties they know/see.

CC – BHO: “my Muslim faith”

Existing home sales are ALWAYS a leading indicator at the beginning of an economic recovery. 100% of the time.

People who buy existing homes are, for the most part, either first time homebuyers or discretionary move-up buyers. Neither group HAS to buy a house.

rockmom on October 24, 2008 at 3:06 PM

We haven’t even had an official recession yet and you are predicting recovery? I see it just a bit differently… in 12 months (maybe a little less, maybe a little more), the trillions pumped out will grab hold and inflation will rapidly begin rising to somewhere in excess of 10% (15%?). In order to combat inflation, interest rates will rise to a BIG number… think 1979-80. Business failures? Unemployment? Zoom… Consider that Ford and GM could be GONE in two or three years… strangled by safety regulations, EPA regulations and union overhead… they are dead men walking right now.

Typical hedge for inflation is real estate and gold… hard assets. In the late 70′s, with inflation and interest rates zooming, real estate prices doubled. With the foreclosure/foreclosed homes still entering the market (at a slower rate) at that time, real estate may not be the hedge it used to be. How many people don’t/wont qualify for buying a home because they have one or more foreclosures on their credit record? The current economic problems are world wide… consider this: there is a country on the verge of default and I’m not talking about Iceland… Russia. No small player. We have world wide immigration/infiltration of third world populations into industrialized countries. Those people readily favor socialism. The future looks very grim without strong leadership with political will.

CC – BHO: “my Muslim faith”

Gag – “feel sorry” for those who have lived in houses beyond their means for years and are now crying that they may have to leave – when pigs fly!

corona on October 24, 2008 at 6:13 PM

When I moved from one area here to another, I put more than 30% down and have seen the “current market value” drop to somewhere around my mortgage balance. Current market value is a bit of a misnomer because banks are selling foreclosed homes for a 60-70% discount of their judgment value just to get them off their books and get the cash…. their typical criteria is “a price that will get a contract in less than 30 days”. All the foreclosed homes being dumped are driving values down in the entire area and will be for some time.

I am not living in a house beyond my means at all… I can easily afford my mortgage payment. However, if I see the current market value decline to somewhere around $200K to $250K less than my mortgage balance, I have to consider that it is currently taking around 2 years for foreclosure sale to actually take place from the point that mortgage payments stop… so at what point does a person say “Hey, I can stop making mortgage payments for 2 years, stash the cash and then go buy an equal or better home for cash and not have a mortgage payment at all”?

CC – BHO: “my Muslim faith”

In my community alone:

REO/Short Sale listings: 3,255 (doesn’t include “regular” listings)

Units sold 2007: 2100+
Units sold YTD 08: 3200+

So far, so good…

Now, foreclosures currently pending judgement: 23,000+

Plus, new foreclosure filings are coming on at a rate still above 2,000 per month.

In this area, at least, it looks like it will be several years until the possibility of any improvement comes along.

Prediction: If Obama is elected, he will do a Clinton and “work harder than he has ever worked in his life” but will not be able to do the “tax cuts” for the 95%. He will, however, find it necessary to raise taxes on anyone currently making any money. After that, I expect some type of phase out of mortgage interest deduction… something like it starts phasing out at $50K or $100K and is completely gone by $200K or $300K. Another strong possibility I see is the government purchasing a large volume of foreclosure/foreclosed homes and then turning them into a new kind of government (subsidized) housing.

CC – BHO: “my Muslim faith”

Same thing for Wall Street, if volatility would settle and stop driving the stock market down maybe it’ll land somewhere around 9500.

TheBigOldDog on October 24, 2008 at 4:15 PM

This doesn’t mean a great economy is right around the corner. But history unequivocally shows that even the worst recessions and the worst housing slumps began to end when existing home sales started to improve. It has been true in every single recession since they have been tracking recessions.

And it has never mattered whether the homes being sold are foreclosures or not, or at what prices ho,es are selling. What matters is that people are buying. Sales are sales, and when anyone buys a house who doesn’t really have to, it means they are betting on a better tomorrow for their family. If hundreds of thousands of people are making the same bet, it means tomorrow will be better.

And I think it is especially important now, because non of these buyers are getting subprime loans, or 100% financing, or teaser rate ARMs. They are getting fairly expensive 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with 20% down.

I would NOT put money there in a DJIA index, too volatile. You’re taking the bad with the good and it’s uncertain when we will get back over, say, 10,000.

I would comb through the market for strong brands that are near all-time lows: GM, Apple, Motorola, etc. In my opinion, these are strong companies that are cheap and have a very good chance of bouncing back.

The value of my home, at least according to the county taxing me, stayed flat this year.

BadgerHawk on October 24, 2008 at 2:55 PM

My house just got reassessed. They lowered the assessment on the house, but raised the assessment on the land, then applied an “EAV” (wtf?), so my taxes will go up again this year. And they have the nerve to ask us to approve more property tax hikes on election day! How can they do this? I guess they are just making sure
they don’t suffer any revenue loss, regardless of the homeowners loss ;-(

I’m a financial advisor in south Florida and I can’t begin to tell you how many phone calls I’ve gotten from my clients in the past month that start with “I just saw on the news”.

FLcapitalistthug on October 24, 2008 at 4:10 PM

Would it be a good time to invest in the DOW?
I mean I just put a bunch of money into the DOW just to ride DJ.

Existing home sales are ALWAYS a leading indicator at the beginning of an economic recovery. 100% of the time.

People who buy existing homes are, for the most part, either first time homebuyers or discretionary move-up buyers. Neither group HAS to buy a house.

rockmom on October 24, 2008 at 3:06 PM

If you think this is the beginning of an economic recovery I would like to take the other side of that trade.

If anything, I’d bet we got a little bump from bottom feeder who have been priced out of the market finally pulling the trigger.

Right now the run rate is right around what it was in 1999.

The ship will right itself, but we need to get credit back in the market — and that can’t happen until this crisis of confidence has passed.

I’m a financial advisor in south Florida and I can’t begin to tell you how many phone calls I’ve gotten from my clients in the past month that start with “I just saw on the news”.

Price-to-book, and price-to-earnings ratios are being completely ignored. They are extremely accurate metrics to apply in a situation that has so much uncertainty such as the one we find ourselves in presently. People are putting in sell orders based on what Diane Sawyer, Meredith Veiria, et al. are spewing on their Marxist, uninformed television programs.

You’re right there. The case I mentioned was a McMansion. The house was a showplace, and I would be upset losing it too. It looked like she walked into Ethan Allen and ordered each room right down to the knick knacks and pictures. Because this was before the collapse, she could have sold it fairly quickly and at a decent price. Most of MD still has a decent housing market. The prices aren’t skyrocketing like the used to, but you can still sell a home without losing your shirt.