Mumbly Member Username: Mumbly
Post Number: 22 Registered: 10-2005 Posted From: 68.252.127.99
| Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 11:48 pm: | |
"Signs of sagging demand: Houses everywhere, but few buyers to close sale" (Detroit Free Press, 11 March 2006): http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs .dll/article?AID=2006603110319 |
321brian Member Username: 321brian
Post Number: 51 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 68.62.19.247
| Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 11:51 pm: | |
Old news and it ain't gettin' better. |
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg
Post Number: 24 Registered: 12-2005 Posted From: 69.136.155.244
| Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 12:02 am: | |
Another contributing factor not mentioned in the article is the fact that so many homeowners who availed themselves of refinancing from the likes of Rock Financial and American Equity Mortgage are now finding themselves between a rock and a hard place. Rising interest rates are putting the squeeze on homeowners who refinanced with an ARM at the previously low interest rates. Many would like to refinance again to a fixed rate mortgage to avoid higher payments but they are finding that their house appraises for the same or less than it did the last time around. |
321brian Member Username: 321brian
Post Number: 52 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 68.62.19.247
| Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 12:08 am: | |
As an agent I can attest to Mikeg's statement. Tons of foreclosures out there. |
Ddaydave Member Username: Ddaydave
Post Number: 331 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 67.149.185.244
| Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 12:13 am: | |
in my nieghborhood (St Clair Shores)a few houses that were for sale on my block were taking off after about a year on the market ..with the economy being so bad people are quicker to buy in roseville eastpointe and detroit where you get more for your money.. |
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard
Post Number: 258 Registered: 10-2004 Posted From: 69.242.223.42
| Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 12:13 am: | |
This seems similar to the tail-end of the Carter years where new "homeowners" paid too much and had virtually no equity in their houses, and there were fewer and fewer suckers being born every minute. |
321brian Member Username: 321brian
Post Number: 53 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 68.62.19.247
| Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 12:16 am: | |
S.C.S. homes are actually selling for less than a few years ago. That is if they are selling at all. |
Pffft Member Username: Pffft
Post Number: 818 Registered: 12-2003 Posted From: 68.248.8.8
| Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 12:25 am: | |
Gee Livernois, I recall that golden time when nobody could afford a house as the Reagan years, when interest rates to buy a house were in the double digits. I got one of those miserable mortgage rates in that time. Ah but he belongs on Mt. Rushmore doesn't he? |
Barnesfoto Member Username: Barnesfoto
Post Number: 1764 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 216.203.223.99
| Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 1:34 am: | |
All Hail Ronald Ray-Gun, who funded "Freedom Fighters" like Osama Bin Laden and Efrain Rios Mont...(Some of us called those people what they were: Terrorists). And why were interest rates so high during the Carter years? Was is because all the bills from the Vietnam War were past due? |
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan
Post Number: 3325 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 67.172.95.197
| Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 2:12 am: | |
Oh no, not again... |
Broken_main Member Username: Broken_main
Post Number: 949 Registered: 06-2005 Posted From: 68.42.79.6
| Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 10:17 am: | |
Oh yeah, here we go again!!! LOL |
Darwinism Member Username: Darwinism
Post Number: 434 Registered: 06-2005 Posted From: 69.215.30.34
| Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 12:45 pm: | |
Seems like every week we see the repeat of similar news stories ..... Below are a couple more from the Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pb cs.dll/article?AID=/20060313/B IZ03/603130352 http://info.detnews.com/feedba ck/lettersindex.cfm?forum=dnle tters&topic=Home_sweeter_home And then when you go out to dinner, there is no shortage of people on the waiting list. Can somebody show me where is the bad economy in which people are cutting back ? Of course, as can be seen with the many new developments happening along the river, developers aren't stopping or shying away. |
Bibs Member Username: Bibs
Post Number: 468 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 198.208.251.23
| Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 1:13 pm: | |
Darwinism - If you look at discentionary spending, dollars spent at restaurants is the highest percentage. If you want to firm this fact go to American Fact Finder or the census bureau web site. |
Jiminnm Member Username: Jiminnm
Post Number: 334 Registered: 02-2005 Posted From: 68.35.85.184
| Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 1:20 pm: | |
Sorry Barnes and Pffft, Reagan inherited high interest rates from Carter. Interest rates were 5-6% when Carter took office and the prime rate was 20% when he left. The only sound economic move that Carter ever made was appointing Paul Volcker as Fed chairman in mid-1979. he changed the Fed's policy of controlling interest rate to controlling money supply. That, and Reagan's fiscal changes, eventually led to declining interest rates in 1982-83. I happened to buy a house with a 12% mortgage in 1983 and refinanced it in 1986 when rates had dropped to about 9%. I will never have an ARM, as they are bad financial deals unless you plan to sell or refinance within 2 years. You always end up with a higher interest rate then than if you had a fixed rate. Besides, as a borrower, I want the lender to take the interest rate risk, not me. |
Barnesfoto Member Username: Barnesfoto
Post Number: 1777 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 66.2.149.50
| Posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 2:41 pm: | |
but again, Carter was elected just after the end of the Vietnam War, (do you suppose that there were massive debts to pay??) and during an earlier "energy crisis". So I would guess that those interest rates were the result of problems beyond Carter's control. Now we have another energy crisis and a frightening amount of debt for this admin's Iraq fiasco. Doesn't make me too optimistic. |
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard
Post Number: 281 Registered: 10-2004 Posted From: 69.242.223.42
| Posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 2:54 pm: | |
Gee, I thought the still-continuing "temporary" federal tax on phone bills back then was supposed to pay off LBJ's Vietnam war... (Message edited by LivernoisYard on March 14, 2006) |
Ndavies Member Username: Ndavies
Post Number: 1678 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 129.9.163.105
| Posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 3:01 pm: | |
I thought the still-continuing temporary federal tax on the phone was for the Spanish American war not the Vietnam war. It was started at the turn of the last century. Long before Vietnam was ever an issue. |
Swingline Member Username: Swingline
Post Number: 415 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 4.229.60.185
| Posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 6:11 pm: | |
The Frank Lloyd Wright designed Turkel house is back on the market: http://pub.realcomponline.com/ Detail/0/4/9/02FFE0C21EE049.ht m. It will likely become another example of "inventory" staying on the market for many months. In addition to the poor market conditions, the home's asking price at $429K is overly optimistic given the fact that it needs many upgrades. |
Barnesfoto Member Username: Barnesfoto
Post Number: 1778 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 66.2.149.42
| Posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 6:19 pm: | |
Yeah, well some people were still living in the hollers and only recently got those newfangled telephones. Things seem pretty schizophrenic to me...People are still buying houses in the areas around downtown. They are still building condos down the street from me, and people are still moving into them. There are enough lofts being developed to house a whole new group of immigrants...who will they be? At least all the construction is keeping a lot of people working. But, as I have mentioned previously, some of the older inner ring suburbs are seeing one or two forclosures per block and houses sitting on the market for more than a few months. People I know who have retail businesses are closing them, after several years of declining revenues. But new restaurants nearby are crowded. I suspect that people give up buying new clothes before they give up going out for a meal. I got my winter coat at the Salvation Army this year, (10 bucks) and I figure that allows a few extra Sandwiches at Slow's into my budget! And I suspect that there are way too many new housing units being added to a growing pool of unsold housing units, and that spells a bigger wave of forclosures coming. Of course, that means that people who have held off on following the sheep into the homebuying frenzy will have some real deals available. A footnote to the discussion of the Carter years, I remember the high interest rates were a blessing for my parents. They sold their house in NW Detroit in the summer of 79, and there were 8 houses for sale on our block at the same time. Fortunately for them, there was a whole new class of first-time homebuyers who could not afford anything in the burbs, and were coming back into the city. The old ones got a good price for their house, and the old neighborhood got an increase in value and a temporary leveling off of the slowly-escalating white flight . |
Brandon48202 Member Username: Brandon48202
Post Number: 76 Registered: 12-2004 Posted From: 69.221.78.226
| Posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 6:53 pm: | |
Swingline- $15,000/year in property taxes doesn't help either! |