[airics]

gee... where are all the posters that were saying that prices are way to high, the sky is falling, you're nuts for buying now, and we are not at the bottom... hmmm.. don't seem to see them now.. do we?

[olecapt]

Originally Posted by dano

A agree with the above poster. I am currently looking for a primary residence between $350,000 to $400,000 in Summerlin. The lack of new listings, foreclosed or otherwise, has been very frustrating. At least we're not California where the state just imposed their own (anti-market-correcting) 90-day freeze on forclosures on top of Obama's.

There is a pretty reasonable inventory in Summerlin unless you are looking for great REOs which are pretty hard to find and generally go quick. The west side of Summerlin has some pretty good half off stuff.

Have your agent fix you up with the ASAP feed. Some of the good stuff is gone in two days.

[CuriousMike]

Originally Posted by airics

gee... where are all the posters that were saying that prices are way to high, the sky is falling, you're nuts for buying now, and we are not at the bottom... hmmm.. don't seem to see them now.. do we?

The sky is falling, you're nuts for buying now, we are not at the bottom.

By the end of the year you will see why.

Feel better now?

[airics]

thank you, i was getting worried.. thought for sure i could buy my 1800sf home in a gated community for 75k

[RCCCB]

Originally Posted by airics

thank you, i was getting worried.. thought for sure i could buy my 1800sf home in a gated community for 75k

I'm trying to get a smaller 1200-1400 SQ foot home as a second home and the highest and best bidding is real tough.
I would prefer by far making an offer and the bank or home owner countering.

PS, I don't see lots of home owners selling against these REOs.

I haven't been waiting for some bottom though, just have been trying since early April without a result yet.

I've made several single day round trips from the Hills of California. I would have seen 12 or more properties in a few hours and each time I made at least one offer.
I'm trying, just a REAL STRANGE MARKET IMO. :-)

[BellevueWa]

Originally Posted by RCCCB

I'm trying to get a smaller 1200-1400 SQ foot home as a second home and the highest and best bidding is real tough.
I would prefer by far making an offer and the bank or home owner countering.

PS, I don't see lots of home owners selling against these REOs.

I haven't been waiting for some bottom though, just have been trying since early April without a result yet.

I've made several single day round trips from the Hills of California. I would have seen 12 or more properties in a few hours and each time I made at least one offer.
I'm trying, just a REAL STRANGE MARKET IMO. :-)

This is what I mean. you offer but they don't counter.all you know is that there are other offers. so it becomes just a long term auction.

[RCCCB]

Originally Posted by BellevueWa

This is what I mean. you offer but they don't counter.all you know is that there are other offers. so it becomes just a long term auction.

Yes, this is a blind auction.

They offer something in a neighborhood where things sold for 55k and they list it for 45k.

Now, do you go for the 55k based on the horrible carpeting, no heater, cracked stucco and damaged roof or do you bet something less in that condition so you can spend that money on repairs?

All it takes is one person bidding on emotion and the bid could go for more than it is worth.

I believe they are hoping for one stupid person at least per blind bid. If that wasn't the case, then why not allow countering for a higher price?

[Awaiting2012]

It's kind of weird watching the prices of houses go down in the Southwest (Im in the Northeast) is like a triple-edged razor.


I see all the people who can't afford their mortgages because of the job situation and they have to move to God knows where.

I see all the first time homebuyers and families who scraped together enough money finally, tracked down financing and go to bid on one of those foreclosures but are outbid. And who outbids them usually?

The same people who had a part in the housing boom/bust in the first place... speculators. They come in with offers that the average person can't match with cash, and buy everything worth buying up for a quick fixup, flip, and sale boosting the housing prices back up again. I know the other homeowners not yet kicked out are happy, but few else are.

I am not saying speculators caused all the mess (course not.. stocks, others who defaulted or overextended) but they did have a big part in it by putting the housing prices way out of reach for most folks. Then when it all fell, it fell hard. It's like some vicious cycle that just keeps feeding on itself.

[olecapt]

Originally Posted by Awaiting2012

It's kind of weird watching the prices of houses go down in the Southwest (Im in the Northeast) is like a triple-edged razor.


I see all the people who can't afford their mortgages because of the job situation and they have to move to God knows where.

I see all the first time homebuyers and families who scraped together enough money finally, tracked down financing and go to bid on one of those foreclosures but are outbid. And who outbids them usually?

The same people who had a part in the housing boom/bust in the first place... speculators. They come in with offers that the average person can't match with cash, and buy everything worth buying up for a quick fixup, flip, and sale boosting the housing prices back up again. I know the other homeowners not yet kicked out are happy, but few else are.

I am not saying speculators caused all the mess (course not.. stocks, others who defaulted or overextended) but they did have a big part in it by putting the housing prices way out of reach for most folks. Then when it all fell, it fell hard. It's like some vicious cycle that just keeps feeding on itself.

Look these are not speculators. They are investors. What they are doing is estimating the rent a place will give off and then backing into a price for a desired rate of return. I am sure most have it on a spread sheet. The only tricky part is estimating the rent...and that is not rocket science. You then back into your bid. And I think, at the bottom of the market, they are playing for 12 to 15%. If they think the bid is competitive they cut it to 10 or 11%.

Note that they are having only small impact above 100K. The speculator would be expected to leverage and probably go further up market.

So what we are really running into is the bad side of it is cheaper to buy than rent...

[RCCCB]

Originally Posted by Awaiting2012

It's kind of weird watching the prices of houses go down in the Southwest (Im in the Northeast) is like a triple-edged razor.


I see all the people who can't afford their mortgages because of the job situation and they have to move to God knows where.

I see all the first time homebuyers and families who scraped together enough money finally, tracked down financing and go to bid on one of those foreclosures but are outbid. And who outbids them usually?

The same people who had a part in the housing boom/bust in the first place... speculators. They come in with offers that the average person can't match with cash, and buy everything worth buying up for a quick fixup, flip, and sale boosting the housing prices back up again. I know the other homeowners not yet kicked out are happy, but few else are.

I am not saying speculators caused all the mess (course not.. stocks, others who defaulted or overextended) but they did have a big part in it by putting the housing prices way out of reach for most folks. Then when it all fell, it fell hard. It's like some vicious cycle that just keeps feeding on itself.

The mess my friend was caused by government involvement in the private sector.
Starting in 93' the President then said it was bad that not enough minorities had homes, so they started toward the no look loans **requiring** a higher and higher portion of the loans to people who could not afford them.
The weird thing for me in the last election was the very party mostly responsible for a home in every pot without having a job or income was the party that won and expanded it's members.

Yep there were a few business people who were devious/smart and when the government demanded 40% of their loans were no look low interest rate loans to renters, drug addicts and paper boys, they responded by bundling the loans in attractive packages that threw the government ordered losses on other investors.

If the government stayed out of trying to force the banks to make loans to poor people who could not pay them, then we would not be in this mess.

The states would not complain because they saw a large increase in property taxes due to higher sales. Why not pay 600k for a home worth 189k if you have three years to change your 1% loan.
Greenspan led us down the path by keeping the rates super low and so on.

There is no free lunch and just a few generations ago most people rented or lived two families to a home. We kind of suffer an entitlement mentality watching too much TV.

We all knew the markets were a bubble.

The best way to qualify a person for a house in a loan is to simply make it the law they must qualify for the adjusted rate of the loan, not the teaser rate.

I feel sorry for the ignorant folks who were innocent, not the greedy investors.

There is a risk to everything, homes have in the past had downturns and every buyer takes the risk.

People who have housing prices way out of reach are MOSTLY defined mostly as renters. They either don't earn the money to buy a home, manage money poorly or have ruined their credit buying too many toys.