Thanks for the link. I think the mortgage industry in Canada handles most variable rate mortgages fairly differently than they appear to do in the US. I think that most of our variable rate mortgages tend to adjust every few months (3 is a common number), whereas these ARMs in the US seem to adjust every year or two? So rising rates in Canada squeeze a mortgage holder more gradually, whereas these ARM resets in the US would likely hurt a great deal more (because they are more abrupt). Sounds like the woman in this video must have also received some sort of intro rate on her ARM, judging by what happened to the amount of her mortgage payments. Don't these people think forward at all to what will happen once their intro rates come to an end? Common sense would dictate that you should at least do that, even if you don't get into contemplating the possibility of an environment with increasing interest rates.
A quick check of a couple of the properties on zillow, shows last sale in 1996 on the 48th ave 4plex for $54k. And the most recent sale for a condo at the 7400 mountain complex is 2003.
Existing home sales rise 5.2% in Feb. Resales of U.S. homes unexpectedly increased 5.2% in February to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 6.91 million after falling for five straight months, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. It was the biggest percentage gain in two years. Housing is simply returning to a normal market," said Thomas M. Stevens, a builder from Vienna, Va., who serves as the NAR president this year. This is a good soft-landing scenario," said David Lereah, chief economist for the real estate group. Price appreciation has slowed. Median prices are now up 10.6% year-over-year to $209,000. ------------ :eek: {yawn}
this is from same article: "The realtors said the supply of unsold homes also rose 5.2% in February to 3.03 million, close to the all-time record of 3.04 million set in 1986. The inventory represents 5.3 months supply, unchanged from January."
update on South Florida market. new developments are still selling out before they open, it really is unbelievable, even with speculators gone, there are people coming in and buying the good location pre con properties. some developers offered nice incentives to close out the quarter, these sales were gone in less than a day. I thought that they would set the market pricing at negative 10 to 15%, not happening, new units still going strong at original prices. even though on affordability scale, for locals, the area is off to the moon, there are people, mostly with New York state plates, with cash moving down and buying. No crash in southern Palm Beach county for sure, Miami might be the only area where prices dip more than 15-20%.
According to NAR, the past 5 years were nothing compared to the 70's and yet there was no crash in the 80's. And yet we still get the chicken littles claiming the sky is falling.
LOL, ask around SoCal in for those who were living here in the late 80's. See what they say about prices. John
Come on John... Real estate NEVER goes down!!! The preceding message brought to you by the National Association of Realtors. If you looked at a chart of the price of my old home in Long Beach it would make the swells from the movie "The Perfect Storm" look like wind chop. Period from 1985-1999. The Palm Springs area is really slowing badly. Houses I looked at last year priced at 500-525 are still on the market. Now they are priced at 475-485. Still no sale. I figure those homes are realistically more in the 375-400 range, but we shall see. Looks like a dead cat bounce in exsisting home sales. Just because the number was up, doesn't mean the price action was strong. Two entirely different issues. Prices here are flat to down. Sales still decent, not strong, in the low end.