Back in late 2009, I did a post on what I felt was a bull trap in the housing market and advised buyers to wait until the bull trap had completed its cycle and look for the arrival of the… Read More ›
Housing Market
The current housing market’s dirty little secret…who are the buyers? You may be surprised to know who they are, and more suprised to know who they ain’t.
Yes. I know ain’t isn’t a word. Over the years on this blog I’ve listed time and again the many obstacles the housing market faces and how each will lend a hand in providing the downward price correction we so… Read More ›
Orange County Real Estate Update – Window of Opportunity Approaching
This summary section is my prediction for the best window of opportunity for home buying for those who have been waiting patiently on the sidelines renting. This is not a suggestion for cash-flow investment properties, it is only an opinion… Read More ›
“House price declines actually accelerating…”
So the Fed has lowered interest rates to rock bottom, at 3.75%. The government has been a bank for several months, making 90% of mortgage loans to anyone with a pulse, following the same doomed playbook the sub-prime lenders followed…. Read More ›
Why buying a house in the OC still looks like hell to me…
Irvine, which has decided it’s never a bad time to build new homes no matter how much prices are dropping, has several new housing developments under construction. Not surprisingly, when I visited one of their new model homes this summer,… Read More ›
Housing Market Crash – Passing 2003 price levels on the way to 1999 pricing
Not one house over $750,000 was sold in July…or June…in the entire United States. And only 1,000 homes in the entire country above $500,000 were sold last month. The housing market has finally fallen through the ice. I did a… Read More ›
You Are Not Entitled To A House – You Just Aren’t
These people are in Washington D.C. to take advantage of a program that may prevent them from losing their home. The reporter captures some poignant observations from these individuals to elicit a feeling of empathy and sadness from the viewer…. Read More ›
Steve Wynn, “Macau and China is stable, Washington is not” as investments (and the jobs that go with it) leave the United States
I never thought the day would come, but China is now a more stable and safer place to invest than here in America. Steve Wynn is an American casino resort and real-estate developer with a net worth of $1.5 billion… Read More ›
Federal Government Reinflates Housing Bubble
Let’s review a dirty little secret where the federal government is making you pay more for a house. On purpose. I call it fraud, but they call it “stimulus.” According to the Irvine Housing Blog last week, there are currently 650 homes officially… Read More ›
New $10,000 Home Buyer Tax Credit In California-Can It Get Any Worse?
On Thursday, March 25th, the Governor of California signed a new law that sets aside $200 million to make $10,000 tax credits available for new home purchases. The tax credit is available from May, 2010 through August 1, 2011. What… Read More ›
Aggressive Lending Practices – Subprime Again? Nope, This Time It’s Our Own Government
As I’ve mentioned countless times, FHA loans are the new subprime, and we all remember how subprime ended… Well, before subprime ended, a whole lot of something else was going on…does any of this sound familiar? According to HousingWire, “Lend… Read More ›
Congrats! You Are A Co-Signer On Your Neighbors House
FHA (Federal Housing Association) loans used to make up only 3% of home loans in the U.S. In just three years that number has moved to 30%. FHA loans are backed by the Federal Government which means the taxpayer is on… Read More ›
Uncertainty, The Storm That Never Ends
Nothing makes a recession last longer than market uncertainty. Contrary to what the government would have you believe, the “market” is fairly predictable. There are thousands of leading and lagging indicators that move in certain directions of varying amounts and can… Read More ›
Six Miles of Orange County
I’ll be gone for the three day weekend so I did two posts today. This map is from Zillow. The city shown is Orange, CA which is not a high-end part of the OC but it’s not bad either…it’s a… Read More ›
Orange County, California-Foreclosure Update
Orange County…the land that brought you Disneyland and the popular TV shows; The Housewives of Orange County, The OC, Laguna Beach and episodes of Beach Patrol and is now a scorched earth land of foreclosures. This is the same Orange… Read More ›
Safe Mortgages Collapsing
After reading this L.A. times article from Saturday, I have to ask myself, why is the government surprised that conforming loans, the “safe bet investment” 30 year fixed rate loans that have been the bread and butter of mortgage loans for generations,… Read More ›
Why do the rich need a tax credit? Because they aren’t rich, that’s why.
Recent government market meddling, as you may have heard, has included extending the tax credit for first time home buyers. Joint filers (a working couple) who earn up to $225,000 are eligible for the total credit amount. We all heard… Read More ›