Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I also forgot to mention that Providence Downs South, Skyecroft, Chateline,etc.. have been in the local newspaper for mortgage fraud schemes that took place during the housing boom. Several people already have been given sentences.
2 agree on guilty pleas in fraud - CharlotteObserver.com (http://www.charlotteobserver.com/topstories/story/928321.html - broken link)
Union Co. builder will plead guilty to mortgage fraud - CharlotteObserver.com (http://www.charlotteobserver.com/topstories/story/1148443.html - broken link)
Check out this article from CNBC. Very eye opening for homes above 500K. Nowhere near a bottom for homes in this price range.
And lastly, an article in the Charlotte Business Journal that says that United States has 6.4 applicants for each job!! No jobs=no improvement in the housing market.
I wonder what price point will have the highest fillings? <250k or > 500K homes?
When we bought here (this was early 2008) our realtor told us that most home sales were < $250k or > $600k at that time. The houses in between those ranges were not moving at all. And even then as mortgages were starting to get a bit stricter, my guess is those in the $600k - $700k and up range are probably doing well financially and did not buy these thinking they would sell in a couple of years.
I would run away from that real estate agent as fast as I could. For them to say that houses are selling well over 600k is the furthest from the truth. At the beginning of 2008, there was a 9 year supply of homes valued 1 million dollars or more for sale in the Charlotte area. Insane!! And it is not that better now even for it being the season when most people don't try to sell their homes. It was so bad in 2008 that it made the news on WCNC.
Getting a jumbo loan is VERY hard for even those with great credit now. You better have a big downpayment. Banks do not want to take any more risks. Having a bank do an appraisal on one of these pricey homes also is crazy because they appraise the houses so much lower than their list price that the deal usually falls through.
The only homes selling in these expensive neighborhoods for the most part are the foreclosures and short sales. The other sellers can't sell their house because they owe more than it is worth. They are getting killed by the comps of the foreclosures/short sales. That is why buying homes in these neighborhoods is VERY frustrating.
These types of articles and housing sales info in general are going to always be "touched" by NAR... When you have an organization whose very existence is predicated on the movement of houses and members who rely on this movement to make their living, there's a natural conflict of interest. Losing sight of this and buying completely into the propaganda is a mistake. This isn't to say that realtors are all bad - I've known awesome ones and will continue to use their services.
mmoore - It's OK to use carolinahome.com (MLS) links here as they aren't associated specifically with a realtor. The only problem there is that they wouldn't have pre-construction availability like a specific realtor who works with that builder would.
Either way, realtor specific site or MLS is not going to report the shadow inventory... they (NAR and the banks) would rather keep those numbers out and report that the inventory is going down. This and the govt bribe of 8k or 6.5k are just ways to artificially keep pressure to maintain values. It's working for now, I guess. But what still amazes me is that people are continuing to say "things are picking up" - I just got a DM the other day (from a very nice helpful person) telling me that waiting might be a mistake because the "numbers are up". I just don't get it - well, I understand that if you're a current homeowner you want to believe that things have already hit bottom... You combine that with NAR propaganda and I guess you can convince yourself.
And when articles keep coming out that show job growth is poor or show wages still decreasing ( even in Mecklenberg County ) one has to wonder how are we going to have a housing recovery with no jobs. How can that many people afford the big inventory of the higher priced homes?
Wages Shrink in Mecklenberg and Catawba ( 1/14/2010) :
And when articles keep coming out that show job growth is poor or show wages still decreasing ( even in Mecklenberg County ) one has to wonder how are we going to have a housing recovery with no jobs. How can that many people afford the big inventory of the higher priced homes?
Wages Shrink in Mecklenberg and Catawba ( 1/14/2010) :
We have to remember that even tho the actual unemployment figure is probably more like 15% (counting contract workers and those folks whose benefits have run out plus those who are UNDER employed) . . . that means that 85% (or maybe more) of the folks who live here ARE employed.
That means there are plenty of homeowners who are not in financial trouble, may have even paid down tremendously on expensive homes, and so are having no problem maintaining lifestyle, paying bills and putting money away in 401Ks and savings.
I have to respectfully disagree with you on people being abe to afford the more expensive homes in this area. Have you seen the same houses sitting for over a year for sale even after they have been reduced 500K? Have you driven in these neighborhoods lately especially Providence Downs South and Skyecroft? Have you seen the supply of homes over 1 million dollars? I have been looking to buy a home for over 8 months in this price range and I have seen first hand that there are not a lot of people that can maintain their current level of living in these pricey homes. There are foreclosures/short sales everywhere and the shadow inventory is quite alarming as well. People got in way over their heads and are barely hanging on. Either by buying too much house to begin with the zero interest loans that reset or by using their house as a cash machine to buy cars and vacations. How many of those that are employed in this region have salaries high enough to buy these houses with Jumbo loans? You almost have a better chance of parting the sea than obtaining a Jumbo loan from one of the big banks.
Did you know that many of the expensive neighborhoods in Union County were built with the hope of getting Northerners to buy them? They figured these 1 million dollar homes would be cheap to those people versus what the houses up North cost. Guess what? Those people can't move here anymore either because of their jobs or they can't sell their homes either. Many people are just downsizing.
It is very sad for the families that played by the rules and got screwed over by the faulty governmental/banking policies and the irresponsible home owners buying more house than they could afford. This is just one big mess for homes over 800k.
There is one neighborhood that I could take you took where almost every house on one street is either for sale or in foreclosure or just sold in a foreclosure sale.
Last edited by mmoorecharlotte; 01-14-2010 at 01:21 PM..
"I have been looking to buy a home for over 8 months in this price range "
Just curious, what's the hold up?
aw - I just spit soda on my monitor... lol
The hold-up is everything in this thread.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
