Another One Bites the Dust

Another homeowner has lost their home. Didn't the REIC say that we should buy real estate so we could all become millionaires? Unfortunately, this family took the BAIT! They purchased this home on 9/1/05 for $350,000. Then things went from bad to worse - on 9/14/06 Resmae Mtg Corp became the new homeowner and THREW the poor family out of their home and ended their American Dream. If only they had visited the bubble blogs in 2005 they could have avoided the pain of a foreclosure (BTW - when you buy this home make sure you pay the tax defaulted 2005 taxes which are still due):


$339900 Rare Move-In Condition Bank-Owned Property

Fantastic opportunity in this 3bd/2ba splitwing that is move-in ready. Open and airy with neutral tile, paint, carpet, spacious great room with fireplace, great kitchen with large tiled bar, lush backyard with mature landscaping and inviting covered patio. Close to Cal State, restaurants, shopping, schools. THIS ONE WILL NOT LAST! Seller must sell quickly and will look at all offers!

http://bakersfield.craigslist.org/rfs/241320174.html

California home sales plunge

Per the Central Valley Business Times:

There were twice as many homes on the market unsold in October than a year ago, according to the California Association of Realtors, reflecting a 28.7 percent plunge in sales.

“While it appears that home sales have stabilized over the past three months, it’s too soon to say whether or not the market has bottomed out,” says Colleen Badagliacco, president of the Realtors’ association. “We do expect smaller year-over-year declines in home sales for the remainder of the year.”

“We’re seeing a seasonal decline in the median price characteristic of this time of year, although the overall trend is a slight year-over-year increase,” says Ms. Badagliacco. “Prices at the regional and county level have shown greater variability, with some areas posting year-to-year declines while others continue to register price gains compared with last year.”

“The unsold inventory of existing homes is at 7.2 months, twice last year’s inventory. Higher inventory levels are a key factor in the moderation of home price appreciation,” she says.

There were enough existing, single-family detached homes sitting waiting for buyers last month to equal a supply that would last 7.2 months before being sold out. That compares with 3.4 months (revised) for the same period a year ago.


http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=3670

7 Oaks Foreclosure

Another FB using Craigslist to try and throw a hail mary pass for the end zone. This home was purchased 9/23/05 for $524k and now on sale for $479k. Thats a $45k loss, ohh and don't forget the back taxes due in 2005 (supplemental). This new comp now will take $45k and more from all of the neighbors in 7 Oaks. Looks like the Housing ATM is running out of cash:



PHOTOS: HAVE 4 DAYS TO SELL - bank is foreclosing


I cannot make my payments and the bank is foreclosing.

Purchased in Sept 05 for $524,000.

My price of $479,000 will go up on Nov 25th. Bank must approve offer

http://bakersfield.craigslist.org/rfs/239789866.html

Prices down almost 8%

Based on the price per square foot of sales in Kern County, from Kerndata.com, we are down almost 8% in the last 5 months. Also, prices are now back to Summer 2005 levels.


http://www.kerndata.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=User.doShowAvgPriceHistory :

Average Price Per Sq. Foot. by MonthThe following data is a historic representation of average price per square foot for single family residences sold between July 1994 and September 2006 in Kern County. While average home price is an interesting barometer, price per square foot is more accurate in determining sales trends.

SELLER HIGHLY MOTIVATED!!

Found this CL home in pre-foreclosure. Owner purhased on 7/15/05 for $369,000. Now they are trying to sell for $15k below purchase price. They should be ok, because, well, Real Estate NEVER GOES DOWN!!! BTW the contact listed below was not the purchaser in 2005??:



Pre Foreclosure Sale! Seller Extremly Motivated to Sell! Selling for $15,000 less than they paid for it in 2005! Beautiful, Spacious, near-Brand New 4BR, 2BA, 2442 SQ.FT.HOME. Outstanding curb appeal, 3-car garage, fabulous Master Bedroom with walk in closet, Great neighborhood for family. Great Schools. Southwest Bakersfield, 10615 Mount Pleasant Drive, Bakersfield 93311. Call Luis J. "Lu Jack" Martinez at 951-255-1795 or 818-804-5515 for additional details and to set up a viewing.


http://bakersfield.craigslist.org/rfs/236781983.html

#40 On the Foreclosure List

Irvine, Calif. – Nov. 9, 2006 – RealtyTrac (http://www.realtytrac.com/), the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, released its Q3 2006 U.S. Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report today. After two consecutive quarters featuring Indianapolis, Atlanta and Dallas as the three cities with the highest foreclosure rates, the third quarter report showed three new cities — Detroit, Ft. Lauderdale and Denver — posting the nation’s highest metropolitan foreclosure rates. Completing the top 10 list were Miami, Dallas, Indianapolis, Ft. Worth, Atlanta, Las Vegas and Memphis.


“The third quarter saw a marked increase in the number of properties entering some stage of foreclosure,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “It appears that a combination of factors, including a slowdown in home sales and lower home appreciation rates are contributing to higher numbers of delinquencies. It’s also likely that part of the reason for the increased foreclosure rates is the long-anticipated effect of the first wave of adjustable rate mortgages re-setting at higher monthly payments, putting homeowners into financial distress.”

Of the top 10 cities on the list only Indianapolis reported lower foreclosure rates, with 2 percent fewer foreclosures than reported for the second quarter. The two Florida cities — Ft. Lauderdale and Miami — reported the highest foreclosure growth for the quarter with 87 percent and 97 percent respectively.

National leader Detroit reported 42 percent growth in foreclosure activity for the quarter, with Denver reporting 30 percent growth and Dallas reporting 10 percent growth. Ft. Worth reported a 14 percent increase in foreclosures, Atlanta had a 5 percent increase over second quarter activity, Las Vegas reported a 59 percent increase, and foreclosure activity in Memphis was up 2 percent over the previous quarter.

Detroit’s foreclosure rate of one new foreclosure filing for every 80 households was more than 4.5 times the national average. Ft. Lauderdale and Denver reported foreclosure rates that were
more than four times the national average, with Miami just short of four times the average. Foreclosure rates in the remaining top 10 cities exceeded three times the average except for Memphis with a rate that was 2.5 times the national average

Although it ranked 19th among the top 100 metropolitan areas, Chicago posted the most new foreclosure filings for the third quarter, reporting 16,155 properties entering some stage of the foreclosure process. Second highest total was in Atlanta, reporting 13,562 properties entering the process, followed closely by Dallas reporting 13,422 properties in the foreclosure pipeline.



Currently Bakersfield is #40 on the list. See the complete list here:


http://www.realtytrac.com/ContentManagement/PressRelease.aspx?ItemID=1422

Crisp & Cole co-owner stepping down

Big changes this morning for the Bakersfield realty duo Crisp & Cole.

Carl Cole, 60, has confirmed that he will step down as chief broker, but will remain a partner in the firm.

Cole says the move was amicable between he and co-owner David Crisp, and he hopes to ease up on his work schedule. He says his health was also a factor in the decision, and that he wants to spend more time with his family.

In September, the two denied rumors of bankruptcy and F.B.I. investigations.
Cole says he will now focus on developing a $350 million office and condominium tower project, with Cal State Bakersfield.

http://www.kget.com/news/local/stor
y.aspx?content_id=AF8ECED2-DEA4-4456-A458-45954AE40ABA


Let me be the first to say there is 100% no way CSUB is going to do this project. What a total joke! Also, no mention of the competing business that is not a competing business:

Cole is no longer the broker on record at Crisp & Cole. Instead, he has signed on to work as the broker at his son's Bakersfield business, Points West Realty.

Cole said he is not competing against himself by working with son Alan Cole and Crisp concurred.

Both said Points West is significantly different from Crisp & Cole: It's a small, traditional real estate office that doesn't advertise on TV or maintain a high profile.

"He's running that whole thing," said Crisp


Not a competing business - don't they both sell real estate? Love the line he is running the whole thing - So don't blame me when...

http://www.bakersfield.com/137/story/84641.html

And IIIIIII E IIIIII Will Always Love you!

Whitney Houston faces foreclosure

NEWARK, New Jersey (AP) -- Whitney Houston's New Jersey mansion is slated to be sold at a sheriff's sale because she is more than $1 million behind on the mortgage and taxes have not been paid this year, according to reports published Wednesday.

The January 4 sale was scheduled Tuesday by the Morris County Sheriff's Office, the Daily Record of Parsippany reported. The service agent for Chevy Chase Bank, the mortgage holder, sued Houston in June.

Houston's estate comprises two lots, and the sale would be of the lot assessed at $889,300. The adjacent lot is valued at more than $5.6 million, the Daily Record reported. Houston, 43, bought the properties in 1987 for $2.7 million.

Mendham Township is owed about $83,000 in property taxes this year on the 10-acre estate, officials told The Star-Ledger of Newark. The township sent notices after each quarterly deadline was missed, the assessor's office said. The most recent payment was due November 1.


http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Music/11/16/people.h

"Retirement"??

Carl Cole has announced he is leaving Crisp&Cole (per 29 News). He made some retirement claim? Why would you build a new office building and then leave before its finished? Then, set up your son in a competing business? Maybe the rumors are true? Maybe the Californian will do another "damage control" piece. I look forward to that?

Southland home sales slow to ten-year low: Ventura -2.3% YOY

November 14, 2006
La Jolla,CA----Last month was the slowest October for Southern California home sales in a decade. Prices continued to level off, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 22,117 new and resale homes sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was down 2.4 percent from 22,654 in September, and down 22.4 percent from 28,489 for October a year ago, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

Last month's sales count was the lowest for any October since 1996 when 18,505 homes were sold. October sales have ranged from 14,608 in 1991 to 32,522 in 2003. The October average is 23,077, slightly above last month's sales. DataQuick's sales statistics go back to 1988.

"It's harder to buy a home if you think it might go down in value than it is if you're convinced it's going up. Buyers are taking their time, trying to wait out the uncertainty in a market that is rebalancing itself. Additionally, many potential buyers are in the move-up category, and they have their own home they need to sell," said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick president.


Depreciation Areas:

Ventura -2.3%

San Diego -5.5%

http://www.dqnews.com/RRSCA1106.shtm

CEO Resigns

KB Home CEO resigns after backdating probe

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- KB Home CEO, President and Chairman Bruce Karatz has resigned after an internal investigation found that he backdated his own stock-option grants to increase his pay and will forfeit about $13 million in gains from the backdating, according to a media report Sunday

KB Home also said it has created the new post of non-executive chairman and will conduct a search for the position, The Journal reported.

KB Home disclosed in August it was conducting an internal probe of its options grants, after being contacted by The Wall Street Journal about an unusual pattern of well-timed grants.

The company said it hasn't negotiated any terms of departure with Karatz other than the agreement to repay profits from backdating, The Journal said.

To correct its accounting for the backdating, KB Home said it expected to take charges of no more than $50 million, according to The Journal.


At they still have not filed their 10k. Trouble ahead??

Home Sales Cool Faster Than Expected

From KGET 17 News:

For nearly the past three years if you had a home in greater Bakersfield you could pretty much sell it within a month or so because home values had soared to record highs in 2005 and many people, especially those from outside the area, found this to be a hot market for Real Estate.
But the winds of change have blown through the area, cooling the market much sooner than most experts were anticipating.

Gary Crabtree of Affiliated Appraisers keeps track of the details of these trends each month and his latest report shows a drop in the number of homes listed in the area, down from 4-thousand-52 in August... to 39-hundred-95 in September.

But look at the numbers of actual sales: There were only 376 existing homes sold and 148 new homes sold.

The sales numbers show significant cooling from previous months.

Crabtree, compiles all the numbers each month for his newsletter, and tells me there is now about a ten-month supply of homes here, making it more and more challenging to sell a home.

He says more people now are backing away from selling and sitting on the sidelines possibly until spring.

“This is something that could be prolonged for a while. We are approaching the winter marketing season, which typically slows down. Last year in that period of time we had a 6-to-10% drop in prices. We recovered from that after the first of the year, but it would not surprise me to see another price drop during that period of 6-to-10%."

Crabtree says area builders are trying to remain responsible and not over-build the area.
Lennar remains the big builder in town with 109 building permits issued in September and 820 for the year.

But others like Pulte and D.R. Horton have backed way off from earlier building binges.
Nationally home builder sentiment improved slightly in September as interest rates remained low.

But many builders which had added employees to help with the building boom, may now be dropping those workers because of the cooling trend.

And that could have a ripple effect on the rest of the economy for several months to come.



http://www
.kget.com/business/localbusin
ess/story.aspx?content_id=E4AD2AB8-1D0B-4CAC-905C-4B57D7D4BC96

"Housing price collapse in two years"

From the Central Valley Business Times:

Newsletter: Housing bubble hasn’t even gotten here

• Predicts housing price collapse in two years
• ‘Homeowners are in denial’

The author of an investment newsletter says any real bursting of the U.S. housing bubble it at least two years away and that the current price and selling setbacks are nothing compared to what is likely to happen.

"Homeowners are in denial," says Karim Rahemtulla, an advisory panelist for Investment U, a newsletter based in Baltimore, Md. "Right now, sellers aren't selling ... They're still waiting for Santa to deliver their asking price, or close to it."

The situation is about to get worse, he says.

Those who have interest-only, or "teaser-rate," mortgages could see their monthly payments more than double, Mr. Rahemtulla contends.

"Interest rates will rise on about $300 billion in adjustable-rate mortgages this year alone," he says. "That figure is projected to skyrocket to more than $1 trillion in each of the next two years."

California, Arizona, Nevada and Florida will be hit particularly hard, he says, and homeowners in these states may not see a 5 percent decline, as experts predict, "but could fall two or three times that number."

Homebuilders are feeling the pinch, too.

According to Mr. Rahemtulla, the bottom of the housing market will be here no sooner than two years.

"So while the brokers are upgrading homebuilding stocks," he says, "and trying to make it seem that the worst is over for housing, my advice is to take the first reasonable offer and count yourself lucky. The housing bust is not today's news. It is going to be tomorrow's."

Mr. Rahemtulla is an equal opportunity bubble-popper. He says the Canadian housing market will see its bubble pop, too, just after the U.S. market.

http://www.cent
ralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=3501

Real estate always goes up!

According to this blogger named golfnut on the Bakersfield Californian web site, real estate always goes up:

"Clearly, you're a believer in the "bubble", however, consider one thing - real estate always goes up. Always."

Read more of this insanity at:

http://people.bakers
field.com/home/viewblog.php?id=303&pid=2416

Bakersfield will now be called Pluto from this point forward!

Fed's Fisher: Housing Bust Complicates Fed's Task

Dallas Fed President Richard W. Fisher spoke today in New York: Confessions of a Data Dependent :

In retrospect, [in 2002 and 2003] the real fed funds rate turned out to be lower than what was deemed appropriate at the time and was held lower longer that it should have been. In this case, poor data led to a policy action that amplified speculative activity in the housing and other markets. Today, as anybody not from the former planet of Pluto knows, the housing market is undergoing a substantial correction and inflicting real costs to millions of homeowners across the country. It is complicating the task of achieving our monetary
objective of creating the conditions for sustainable non-inflationary growth.

____________________________________________________




So these clowns admit they F'd up and kept rates WAY TOO LOW for WAY TOO LONG! Too late to act now and prevent the coming disaster. Time to break out the mops and pails and get ready for the biggest clean up job in history!


Meanwhile back on the planet PLUTO. The Bakersfield Californian has a story out claiming, for the N'th time we are "Different".

http://www.bakersfield.com/137/story/81901.html


Prices might dip next year, but Bakersfield will still have a lot going for it -- a growing population, affordability and a self-sufficient economy, Launer said.

"Developers are anticipating a resurgence in the market in Bakersfield," he said

That may be because builders are biding their time until the market picks back up, Launer said.

"Developers want to be ready," he said. "They want to be able to hit the market in stride

$3.6 million

This is the most expensive home listed on the Bakersfield MLS. Will they get their price or are they smoking something?



http://bakersfield.rapmls.com/scripts/mgrqispi.dll?APPNAME=Bakersfield&PRGNAME=MLS
PropertyDetail&ARGUMENTS=-N323252167,-N156320,-N,-A,-N4529820

Is this news or advertising?

This appeared in the newspaper and is now posted in video format on the web. Not sure if this is news or an advertisement? Are newspaper required to DISCLOSE when an section of the newspaper is an advertisement? I thought they were - if so, they choose not to do that in this instance!


http://www.bakersfield.com/multimedia/?headline
%3DTour%20today