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Tuesday, September 29, 1981

Friday Open Thread

This is your open thread for today. Please post random links and off-topic discussions here.

11 comments:

Christina said...

How long will housing slump last?

Anonymous said...

Richard -

Absolutely true!

A year ago OSB sheathing was upwards of $18/sheet.

Today, Home Depot selling OSB for $5.95/sheet.

I noticed lumber prices dropping drastically.

Anonymous said...

Reading the housing feeds & market news this morning I found this snipit fom blogger 'Bri up in Seattle':

"Just a little tidbit from up here[Seattle],Just saw yesterday on the back inside page of Seattle Weekly, condo ads for Epic Condominiums. Price reduced on 2bd/2ba condos from 425,000 to 359,900 and now with 2 parking spaces..15 percent price cut. I think these are brand new, not conversion."

Anonymous said...

..and builders lowering prices and offering incentives follows other patterns around the country.

Bloomberg article about cancellations.

``Since the start of 2005, the inventory of unsold new homes has climbed 29 percent, while the stock of unsold existing homes is up a staggering 82 percent,'' Carson says. ``During the sharp, protracted housing downturn of the early 1990s, these inventories actually declined, helping to cushion prices.''

And CNNMoney has housing starts fall, confusion rises

I am not confused, are you?

plymster said...

Nice post S Crow. National builders are hemorrhaging money elsewhere, so they need capital NOW. As a result, they'll lower prices in Seattle to get it. This will result in downward pressure on homes/condos in the area, killing the specuvestors, and driving the market down even further.

Denial and stubbornness will keep the Seattle down RE market "sticky", but as the housing-led recession hits, those $200K households will vanish, leaving no one left to buy the inflated homes.

The dominos are falling.

Matthew said...

http://www.clubvibes.com/forum/topic.asp?topic_id=425277&whichpage=1

a little debate I'm getting into right now with a half rate fly by night 25 year old college drop out mortgage broker.

Good for a laugh.

Nolaguy said...

Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders a person financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

Christina said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

matthew... for a second I thought you were the stick figure avatar. ;)

Speaking of tools, that guy is poised for a serious life adjustment. Sounds like a real catch with the ladies too; awwww yeah!

plymster said...

For the record, I can stand the occasional spelling error. For example, I have a problem remembering how to spell "occasional" (but that's what www.dictionary.com is for). But matthew's little friend, "KenDoll911" who claims to be a mortgage broker, really needs to learn to spell "amertized" and "princepal" correctly.

[rant]
These are the sorts of douchebags that deserve all they'll get in the coming red crush. These are the free-wheeling, risk-taking, H2 driving c***suckers that are begging for a major reaming. At least during the tech boom, it was mostly college grads with some technical training that were cashing in. In this nutty RE "boom", any walking weiner with a Carlton Sheets guide or a copy "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and no docs (for his no doc loans) could start screwing the economy up.

Justice awaits.
[/rant]

Anonymous said...

File this under "Gee, we couldn't see this coming at all!"

---nip

"Federal regulators directed banks today to properly explain the risks posed to borrowers from interest-only and other nontraditional mortgages.

The guidance was aimed at addressing the fear that consumers don't understand all the repayment risks involved in these mortgages, including rising interest rates which could greatly increase their monthly payments.

The regulators said that banks needed to make sure that the loans they made were "consistent with prudent lending practices, including consideration of a borrower's repayment capacity."

"Mortgage delinquency rates are rising and foreclosure rates are also beginning to pick up. This could begin to affect the financial health of the banking system," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's"

---tuck

That guy is a freakin' GENIUS!