[Wild Style]

Article doesn't specify Florida however, this could happen in some of our communities.

link

[SANDYHAIR]

will They Help The Housinhg Market ?

[bale002]

The purpose of lower interest rates right now is to prevent or slow the pace of consumer credit defaults primarily, secondarily the rate of defaults on resetting ARMs.

As for buying houses, most creditors, I believe, have restored at least semi-sane lending standards which probably exclude a significant percentage of would-be buyers.

So even with lower interest rates, creditors will most likely issue mortgages only to those would-be buyers with solid credit histories, verifiable annual income that is no less than 3x the buy price over a period of several years, and capable of making a 20% down payment.

Did you read the news today about Countrywide (broken link) (posts loss as late payments mount).

It does not look good for mortgage lenders.

[Ten]

The backside of the FL housing bubble. These are Miami numbers released this week.

http://www.macromarkets.com/images/miami_graph.jpg (broken link)

Given the rather cosmopolitan nature of much of Florida housing, with ample overseas buyers, this is especially interesting.

[Ladywithafan]

Originally Posted by SANDYHAIR

Help the housing market ?

Lower interest rates will not help those who are in foreclosure with no jobs in sight...it's just another ploy that looks good on paper

[CJFlorida]

No. What will help the housing market are prices dropping to where fundamentals such as area incomes can support them.

[CJFlorida]

Originally Posted by Ten

The backside of the FL housing bubble. These are Miami numbers released this week.

http://www.macromarkets.com/images/miami_graph.jpg (broken link)

Given the rather cosmopolitan nature of much of Florida housing, with ample overseas buyers, this is especially interesting.

Anyone want to guess what that chart will look like in 5 years?

[TimtheGuy]

Originally Posted by bale002

The purpose of lower interest rates right now is to prevent or slow the pace of consumer credit defaults primarily, secondarily the rate of defaults on resetting ARMs.

As for buying houses, most creditors, I believe, have restored at least semi-sane lending standards which probably exclude a significant percentage of would-be buyers.

So even with lower interest rates, creditors will most likely issue mortgages only to those would-be buyers with solid credit histories, verifiable annual income that is no less than 3x the buy price over a period of several years, and capable of making a 20% down payment.

Did you read the news today about Countrywide (broken link) (posts loss as late payments mount).

It does not look good for mortgage lenders.

Actually $0 down and little down loans are still readily available to those with average credit.

$0 down for bad credit is gone, but 10%-15% down is still an option for these folks.

Low rates should help a little bit as far as the housing market, but IMO won't be close to pulling it out of the funk it is in.

[Ten]

Originally Posted by CJFlorida

Anyone want to guess what that chart will look like in 5 years?

Exactly. I don't expect it to develop into a perfect bell curve, but I wonder where the new baseline will lie. Surely it must include inflationary effects as well as whatever new bubbles our Washington masters bring to bear on our lives and assets, but clearly this isn't even close to over.

[tallrick]

Let's hope not. The property prices need to fall and fall fast to save Florida's economy.