deflation? everyone is paying more for goods yet cpi numbers were limp. there wasn't any need to drop rates by a ton. greenspans answer to everything was to pump money into the economy. it was the wrong answer and keeps getting worse
Hey, is it too late to squeeze out the door? lol...OWP http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20060116-1132-bn16sales.html "San Diego County resale house prices tumbled last month by the biggest number in 18 years of record-keeping and contributed to the smallest year-to-year rise in overall prices in six years, DataQuick reported Monday. The median resale price for existing single-family homes dropped $15,000 from November to December to stand at $550,000, the largest month-to-month decline since DataQuick began keeping records in 1988." "However, last month's figure was still ahead of what it was in December 2004 by $25,000, or 4.8 percent. The yearly appreciation rate also represented the biggest slowdown from one year to the next in DataQuick's records. The next biggest slowdown occurred at the start of the last big real estate bust, when the annual appreciation rate went from 16.6 percent in 1989 to only 3.7 percent in 1990." "Last year was the first time since 2001 that the number of home sales fell from the previous year. The total sold last year was 55,366, down 9.1 percent from 2004's 60,886. This also was not a surprise, since monthly sales reports from DataQuick have showed a decline in activity on a year-over-year basis for 18 straight months." "The total number of listings has been growing, reaching a peak of just over 15,000 listings in November, about five times more than at the peak of the buying frenzy in spring 2004. Consequently, sellers report few if any bidding wars for their properties, and buyers say they have more time to consider their choices."
He might be OK if he can afford to rent them for less than the market rent. Sure he paid too much, and it might take him many, many years to get the equity back, but he'll be receiving increasing cash flows and nice tax breaks. This all assumes he used fixed rate notes. SM
http://passport.ocregister.com/regi....com/ocregister/money/abox/article_949773.php "A yellow warning light is shining on the Orange County real estate market's dashboard. The number of delinquent property tax payments has reached the highest level in a decade. This worrisome trend may be evidence that high purchase prices and burgeoning payments on popular adjustable mortgages as interest rates rise may finally be taking a toll on the budgets of local property homeowners." http://passport.ocregister.com/regi....com/ocregister/money/abox/article_949763.php "A coastal strip of Newport Beach gained the distinction of being the only local area where everyone who bought a home last year used an adjustable-rate loan (ARM). Adjustable mortgages, which start with a low interest rate and then track market rates after a set period, were also widely used in Santa Ana and Anaheim. ZIP codes in those cities accounted for seven of the top 10 ranked by ARM usage. In four Santa Ana ZIPs, about 86 percent to 88 percent of purchasers used an ARM."
yeah housing is slowing, but at market tops you get weak breadth. some areas will be hitting new highs, some areas, like SD will be dying off...might want to wait til the summer time to pull the trigger on housing based shorts...
rofl The POS still keeps rolling along. D.R. Horton's net climbs 29% D.R. Horton Inc. reported Thursday first-quarter net income that rose 29% on higher sales, as the homebuilding giant lifted its profit outlook for fiscal 2006. Last week it boosted its dividend to 10 cents, " up 48 percent from a 6.75 cent quarterly dividend in last year's quarter."