Discuss Detroit » Archives - Beginning January 2006 » Overabundance of unsold homes in Metro Detroit « Previous Next »
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Mumbly
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Username: Mumbly

Post Number: 22
Registered: 10-2005
Posted From: 68.252.127.99
Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 11:48 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"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
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321brian
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Username: 321brian

Post Number: 51
Registered: 02-2006
Posted From: 68.62.19.247
Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 11:51 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Old news and it ain't gettin' better.
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Mikeg
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Username: Mikeg

Post Number: 24
Registered: 12-2005
Posted From: 69.136.155.244
Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 12:02 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
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321brian
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Username: 321brian

Post Number: 52
Registered: 02-2006
Posted From: 68.62.19.247
Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 12:08 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

As an agent I can attest to Mikeg's statement.

Tons of foreclosures out there.
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Ddaydave
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Username: Ddaydave

Post Number: 331
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 67.149.185.244
Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 12:13 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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..
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Livernoisyard
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Username: Livernoisyard

Post Number: 258
Registered: 10-2004
Posted From: 69.242.223.42
Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 12:13 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
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321brian
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Username: 321brian

Post Number: 53
Registered: 02-2006
Posted From: 68.62.19.247
Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 12:16 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

S.C.S. homes are actually selling for less than a few years ago. That is if they are selling at all.
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Pffft
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Username: Pffft

Post Number: 818
Registered: 12-2003
Posted From: 68.248.8.8
Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 12:25 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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?
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Barnesfoto
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Username: Barnesfoto

Post Number: 1764
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 216.203.223.99
Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 1:34 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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?
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Lmichigan
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Username: Lmichigan

Post Number: 3325
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.172.95.197
Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 2:12 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Oh no, not again...
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Broken_main
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Username: Broken_main

Post Number: 949
Registered: 06-2005
Posted From: 68.42.79.6
Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 10:17 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Oh yeah, here we go again!!! LOL
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Darwinism
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Username: Darwinism

Post Number: 434
Registered: 06-2005
Posted From: 69.215.30.34
Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 12:45 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
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Bibs
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Username: Bibs

Post Number: 468
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 198.208.251.23
Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 1:13 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
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Jiminnm
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Username: Jiminnm

Post Number: 334
Registered: 02-2005
Posted From: 68.35.85.184
Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 1:20 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
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Barnesfoto
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Username: Barnesfoto

Post Number: 1777
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 66.2.149.50
Posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 2:41 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
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Livernoisyard
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Username: Livernoisyard

Post Number: 281
Registered: 10-2004
Posted From: 69.242.223.42
Posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 2:54 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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)
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Ndavies
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Username: Ndavies

Post Number: 1678
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 129.9.163.105
Posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 3:01 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
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Swingline
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Username: Swingline

Post Number: 415
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 4.229.60.185
Posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 6:11 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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.
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Barnesfoto
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Username: Barnesfoto

Post Number: 1778
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 66.2.149.42
Posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 6:19 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

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 .
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Brandon48202
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Username: Brandon48202

Post Number: 76
Registered: 12-2004
Posted From: 69.221.78.226
Posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 6:53 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Swingline- $15,000/year in property taxes doesn't help either!

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