2008 Florida Housing market Thread Jan - Mar (Palm Beach: mortgage broker, lawyer)

[powman]

Question:
I own 2 properties in PSL, and both meet the criteria for "predatory lending" practices by the bank and a mortgage broker, and there seem to be some irregularities in the closing costs and procedure as well. (google "predatory lending").
I am confident the banks will get a (wink-wink) bailout from the Fed govt, but we buyers are getting the shaft. These homes were not "sub-prime" when I bought them, and now they are worth 75k each less than the mortgages! I have them rented, but they bring in less money than the mortgage payments and taxes.
Does anyone know how to do negotiate a reduced mortgage as opposed to a lawsuit (with the bank) for predatory practices? Or does anyone have a lawyer skilled at negotiating special arrangements with the banks? Has anyone done this that I could talk to?
Or is there a better way to reduce the cost of ownership? I was conned on the front-end of both deals, now its time to play hardball and fix the one-sided loans. The Title company did the closing behind "closed doors" at their offices without me or my lawyer present!
Please no "take your lumps & nasty replies" - I love my houses, just have a deal that needs to be fixed, I just need to find out how to get the banks to share in the loss; They had no problem writing extra points and profit in for themselves and adding "fine print" to the note.
Thanks in advance, Powman

[SKB]

Originally Posted by ucfjtm

I don't have a problem with someone taking a risk and making a buck. I have a problem with the fact that people were allowed to foolishly borrow far more money than they could afford to handle to buy houses they simply can't afford. The blame lies solely on the lenders of risky mortgages and buyers who knew they were taking on a massive loan on an average or low salary. If someone is willing to accept a hefty loan agreement without having a lawyer or trusted financial adviser look it over, they're equally to blame.

Speculation and ignorance from amateurs purchasing real estate, combined with lending practices that got out of hand, led us to today. It's a sad situation, but it happens with many other forms of investment as well, so we shouldn't be shifting blame away from those who foolishly bought what they can't afford. They're equally responsible for their decisions - just as a stock investor back in '87 was.

As for pricing future generations out of the market, that's what the current bust is going to fix. It will only be temporary, so future generations of average Florida salaries will be able to afford decent houses again. Watch the market fall below 2002 levels and you'll see..

No argument here on that prediction, I have been saying that on this board for a year.

[crystalblue]

I would imagine, though I could be wrong, that buying homes in florida right now with the intent to rent them wouldnt be a wise move. I just cant see people paying the rents needed to offset the mortgage/taxes/insurance/HO fees...

[Crazy G]

I do apologize, "BUT", I do have to laugh..
Dating back 30 years ago or so, PSL was a hot bed of land speculation....
I forgot the companies name, but they were cited for criminal activity, and shut down, only to be taken over by AGC [Atlantic Gulf Communites], who did much the same things again, and they to were finally closed down....
I guess you could say, you bought into the middle of a hornets nest, much like the people up Palm Coast, where over the last couple of decades they experienced the same thing....
Human nature, will be what it is, and people do what they do....
They just don't seem to learn, or read their history books

[Crazy G]

I't just to bad, that we can't fast forward to 2009, and be spared all the pain, and agony of witnessing what is about to happen!!!!

Sometime, after the 2008 Olympics, the financial markets are going into a free fall...

Housing, will go into seizure, as the credit market collapse....

This ain't going to be pretty, and

"""THERE WILL BE TEARS""

[Wild Style]

Crazy,

Why do you think financial markets are going to free fall after the Olympics? Your the second person I know how said that.

[Crazy G]

Originally Posted by Wild Style

Crazy,

Why do you think financial markets are going to free fall after the Olympics? Your the second person I know how said that.

"IF" you have read your history books, you may remember 1936, and the Nazi's having their Olympics....""All Show & Fanfare"...And then came the grim reality of agression....
Well, this 'war' is a different kind of war.....SunTsu dictates that.....Know your enemies weak spot....."""ECONOMICS""" will defeat the US....
IT ALREADY HAS....We've allready given up to defeat...[past tense]..
"""THEY"", the Chinese are sitting on $1.3 Trillion of our money....Combined, the Asiatics have nearly $3 Trillion of our money.....
""SIR"" Allan Greenspan, [Yes, he was knighted by the Queen of England, who was/is his boss...NOT the President of the USA, as many fools tend to believe]...thru infaltionary policies, had created....by himself...a world wide credit bubble inflation....
As Milton Friedman, had often said,....""Inflation is solely a monetary phenomena....Nothing more."""..
Well, the US created this money, and it ended up almost everywhere else....
didn't it....We've enabled our enemies [according to GW. Bush, China was one]...to become our banker.....
We've enabled China to become a gobal economic force, that will be showing it's wares in the 2008 Olympics....and just about that time, their stock will be in a total freefall...from it's parabolic rise of the last 2 years....
AND THEN WE GET TO THE MONEY!!!!!
What are they going to do with it......WELL!!!
What is the purpose of money.....it's a store of value, to spend at a later date, or to earn a direct return.....
BUT, the law of economics; ''marginal utility'' dictates, that the more you have of something the less it's worth....
SOOO!!! This money of ours, that they have, will become USELESS....
And so too will yours.....

The Ka-BOOM theory; [AKA: CRACK-UP BOOM]

[FLA2TENN]

We sold our house in Martin County in September. I was sooooo glad to get out of the bad situation there. I built the house we sold and closed on it in July 2003. It cost $380k to build ... taxes were $6k. We were lucky to sell for $610k. The guy who bought it from us was a real jerk ... pain in the butt ... and was boasting how great of deal he got to our old neighbors. Little did that dummy realize that things were still going down, and now he'd be lucky to sell for $575k. Serves him right! We moved to Tennessee where there is no state income tax just like FL, but the real estate taxes are half ... housing cost is two thirds to one half the cost, and the schools are probably better. The weather is not as good though

We'd like to move back to FL sometime in the future, but not until the real estate tax situation and the insurance problems are worked out (if they ever are). I wouldn't buy in FL for at least another year.

[Crazy G]

We had a place in The Meadows @ Martin Downs....
A diVosta property that we purchased in 1990 for $150k...Then we put about $50K into it, and loved living there untill Palm City got to crowed....Sold it in 2000, for $200K, and built a log cabin in Maggie Valley for $250K....prices doubled to $500K...sold that in 2005...but prices kept going up in Maggie Valley....NOW...$700K to $1.3 Milllion....UNBELIEVABLE....

I note that the Housing prices in The
Meadows have come down from, $400K, now under $300K....Zillow got our old house valued @$321K....

I expect prices in the Meadows to drop under $200K again....
"""BUT""....That won't be till sometime after 2009, or later....
And that all depends on how hard people want to cry..because;

>>>""""THERE WILL BE TEARS""<<<<

[Hero]

You're probably right Crazy G, but right now your posts are making me laugh