HowardThe Beat Goes On- Sonny and Cher
Real Crash- Looking at the Financial System and the War Drive:
And the beat goes on, the beat goes on;;
Housing Slump continues, going down;;
La da da da dee, la da da da da;;
Fannie Mae says it'll last so far.
Now's the time to listen to the big cigar.
Depression's hyperinflated, ya uh huh;
Time to reorganize like FDR;;
And the beat goes on.....
And Cheney wants to start another war;;
Televised with electric baseball scores;;
And the beat goes on.....
pix link: Really Long Link
http:// crazyabouttv. com/sonnychercomedyhour.html
The San Francisco Chronicle, from the front page of its Business section, awakened its readers on Friday, October 19, 2007:
Home Sales in Bay Area Crash to 20-Year Low
County Number Sold Percent Change Median Price
Santa Clara 779 -39.0% $775,000
Alameda 565 -51.8% $599,500
Contra Costa 484 -55.8% $585,000
San Mateo 371 -37.0% $800,000
Sonoma 270 -37.2% $522,500
San Francisco 229 -30.4% $850,000
Solano 214 -52.2% $399,000
Marin 158 -24.4% $860,000
Napa 48 -49.5% $521,000
Bay Area 3,113 -44.8% $670,000
Figures are for sales of existing homes in 2007 compared with 2006 (A single year!) Now if you made an "investment" by buying a house you couldn't really afford, and then the price collapsed 40-percent, you would be up sh#ts creek too. And that's whether you had a fixed rate mortgage or a more exotic ARM or IO. People were convinced (brainwashed) that housing prices would go up forever, which by the way, is not necessarily a good thing!
"The main factor in the September numbers is that the financing for jumbos dried up."
But, the worst part of the story, "Before a bank forecloses, desperate homeowners who are behind in their payments often try to unload the property as a 'short sale' for less than they owe on the mortgage," said Rob Chrisman, director of capital markets at NL Inc, a mortgage bank in Walnut Creek.
Don Forrester, a Realtor with Century 21 Housing Associates, again in Walnut Creek, shared his experience: he had shown a client "30-something [nearby] homes... at the price level of $356,000. Eighty percent were bank-owned foreclosures or short sales." Don exclaimed, "That was huge." Such a deal.
Housing Slump continues, going down;;
La da da da dee, la da da da da;;
Fannie Mae says it'll last so far.
Now's the time to listen to the big cigar.
Depression's hyperinflated, ya uh huh;
Time to reorganize like FDR;;
And the beat goes on.....
And Cheney wants to start another war;;
Televised with electric baseball scores;;
And the beat goes on.....
pix link: Really Long Link
http:// crazyabouttv. com/sonnychercomedyhour.html
The San Francisco Chronicle, from the front page of its Business section, awakened its readers on Friday, October 19, 2007:
Home Sales in Bay Area Crash to 20-Year Low
County Number Sold Percent Change Median Price
Santa Clara 779 -39.0% $775,000
Alameda 565 -51.8% $599,500
Contra Costa 484 -55.8% $585,000
San Mateo 371 -37.0% $800,000
Sonoma 270 -37.2% $522,500
San Francisco 229 -30.4% $850,000
Solano 214 -52.2% $399,000
Marin 158 -24.4% $860,000
Napa 48 -49.5% $521,000
Bay Area 3,113 -44.8% $670,000
Figures are for sales of existing homes in 2007 compared with 2006 (A single year!) Now if you made an "investment" by buying a house you couldn't really afford, and then the price collapsed 40-percent, you would be up sh#ts creek too. And that's whether you had a fixed rate mortgage or a more exotic ARM or IO. People were convinced (brainwashed) that housing prices would go up forever, which by the way, is not necessarily a good thing!
"The main factor in the September numbers is that the financing for jumbos dried up."
But, the worst part of the story, "Before a bank forecloses, desperate homeowners who are behind in their payments often try to unload the property as a 'short sale' for less than they owe on the mortgage," said Rob Chrisman, director of capital markets at NL Inc, a mortgage bank in Walnut Creek.
Don Forrester, a Realtor with Century 21 Housing Associates, again in Walnut Creek, shared his experience: he had shown a client "30-something [nearby] homes... at the price level of $356,000. Eighty percent were bank-owned foreclosures or short sales." Don exclaimed, "That was huge." Such a deal.
The Political Brief
The idea os having to sell a home you own for less than you paid is scary, at best!
Real Crash