We’ve seen plenty of bailout ideas for people who overpaid for a house.  The bailouts are generally for those who are defaulting or about to default.  What about the folks who are not behind on their payments, but are underwater?  Keith Gumbinger, with HSH Associates, a mortgage consulting firm, has a bailout idea for them: Say you bought a house for $350,000 in July 2006 — those were the days of 100% financing, so you borrowed $350,000 on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 6.8%. The house is now worth $280,000, but your mortgage balance is $334,000. The current rate for…
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It should come as a surprise to no one that the housing market is lousy in Las Vegas.  Sure, the median price is up 3.3% over last year, ($140,000) but sales are down 12.7% and listings are up 7.7% (2,819 units sold and 22,624 units listed) so the median rise will undoubtedly be a blip.  The one “bright” spot in housing is the rental market. According to the GLVAR (Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors) 2300 properties rented in August. While the GLVAR has only tracked rentals since January 2006, this is the busiest month that Vegas has seen for…
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“Foreclosures hurt the value of neighboring properties.” We know it’s true for single family neighborhoods, but it’s a truism that really slams condominium associations: A tough economy is leading owners of condominiums to increasingly walk away from condos, leaving ownership maintenance costs to those left behind. The trouble is forcing condo associations to foreclosure on more owners even before lenders do as a result of lost revenues. The efforts are an attempt to recoup maintenance costs and association dues lost as a result of non-payment. It’s really gotten ugly out there in the condo world:

We’ve often seen Jay Butler, head of Realty Studies at ASU, give overly optimistic reports on the state of Phoenix real estate.  That’s why when Butler says that 66%-67% of Phoenix homeowners are underwater, you know it’s bad out there: Will things be better any time soon?  Watch what Fannie Mae is now doing to unload homes.  Other lenders will have no choice but to aggressively reduce their inventory as well.  What is that chance that Valley home prices are anywhere close to “stabilized”?

It’s not exactly Bob Dylan, but Rich Rector of Realty Executives sings the Shortsale Foreclosure Blues: (You might want to jump to 0:44) . . . . . .

It’s been a long time since we’ve visited Realty Times. A website that caters to realtors, it can always be counted on to look on the bright side, even when there isn’t one. Today they have an article by PJ Wade, a Canadian financial commentator.  As more and more people are hesitant to purchase a home in the current economic environment, Wade offers this advice: Waiting for things to go back to the way they were, and other “caught in the headlights” reactions, waste time and use up valuable resources. These “victim” strategies can make financial matters worse, as you…
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Thanks as always to Michael David White, who’s graphs always equal a thousand words: What’s a government to do?  The New York Times said yesterday: Over the last 18 months, the administration has rolled out just about every program it could think of to prop up the ailing housing market, using tax credits, mortgage modification programs, low interest rates, government-backed loans and other assistance intended to keep values up and delinquent borrowers out of foreclosure. The goal was to stabilize the market until a resurgent economy created new households that demanded places to live. . . . Caught in the…
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No Doomers, I haven’t disappeared this week.  I’ve been in New England, where I thought I’d post regularly.  The weather has been beautiful though, the relatives have kept me busy, and I figured that if I miss a day or two, the housing bust will still be there when I get back.  Look for me on Friday. Consider this an open thread.  Catch you later!

Who’s to blame when a house goes into foreclosure?  We’ve been debating this one on Doom for quite awhile.  Recently we heard from Karen Pettit, who places the blame for her foreclosure on GMAC.  Here’s her story.  See what you think. **************************************************** Karen Pettit’s and her husband’s long struggle with GMAC over the foreclosure of their home is documented in this extensive comment under a post about an earlier GMAC foreclosure controversy. I have been documenting my experience as a 52 year old Slidell, Louisiana woman who is disabled and trying to acquire assistance with housing programs from our Federal…
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For anyone who thinks that the worst is behind us for the housing market, check out this graph from Michael David White:

New home sales last month were at an all time record low. Prices were at their lowest in 6 1/2 years.  Existing home sales dropped 27% YOY and saw their greatest MOM drop ever.  Given that, it’s kind of fun to watch the ever-wrong Jim Cramer declaring last year how the bottom would be in last summer:

Consumer attitudes are changing on the “rent vs. buy” debate. When Mr. Twist and I sold in 2005 and moved into a rental, the usual response when we told friends was “Are you guys doing O.K.?” Now the usual response is “You were so smart to get out when you did.” My personal experience is not singular. More and more people are swapping their mortgage for a lease agreement: (Thanks to Keith Jurow for forwarding us his latest. Article first appeared on the Real Estate Channel.) There is a far-reaching change occurring now which threatens housing markets around the country….
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According to Business Insider: (Thanks L!) The U.S. economy is in decline. The employment situation is going to go from bad to worse. Americans without jobs are Americans that cannot buy homes. Millions of Americans who are employed are finding it increasingly difficult to make it from month to month. The truth is that there is no way that Americans can afford the ridiculously inflated home prices that we have seen over the past decade any longer. So, yes, the U.S. housing market is headed for a complete and total nightmare. I couldn’t agree more, so here’s their list of…
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In the midst of a good Minyanville rant against Bill Gross and PIMCO, I found a quote too good not to share: Housing is a commodity like furniture and automobiles, and inducing citizens to buy more of it is no business of the state.

In a world where mortgages became sliced, diced and julienned into mortgage backed securities, one of the ways that homeowners have avoided foreclosure has been to question who holds the note.  In many cases, the trail is so convoluted, judges have ruled in favor of homeowners.  In fact, one blogger, Ellen Brown maintains that up to 62 million homeowners might be “foreclosure-proof” because of the way the mortgage industry has managed MERS, an electronic recording system for mortgages. Over 62 million mortgages are now held in the name of MERS, an electronic recording system devised by and for the convenience…
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