Home Sales Slow in Spring With 28 States and D.C. Suffering Outright Decli

[Purveyor]

WASHINGTON - The slowdown in the once-sizzling housing market is spreading, with 28 states and the District of Columbia reporting spring sales declines, led by big drops in former boom areas of Arizona, Florida and California.

Nationally, sales were down 7 percent in the April-June quarter this year compared with the same period in 2005, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday in its latest state-by-state look at housing conditions around the country.

The Realtors survey showed that the biggest declines occurred in states that had been enjoying red-hot sales during the five-year housing boom.

The five biggest declines this spring compared to the April-June period of 2005 were Arizona, down 26.9 percent; Florida, down 26.7 percent; California, down 25.3 percent; Virginia, down 23.9 percent, and Nevada, down 23.5 percent.

---end of excerpt---

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/print?id=2315200

[kurth]

1. Time for the mortgage brokers to retire in Fiji

[Purveyor]

2. Or just become foreclosure/repo specialists... n/t

[Virginia Dare]

3. So much for the "no bubble burst" theory..

predicted by the so-called experts.

[melnjones]

4. Just wait until it gets like my neighborhood...

with houses like this for sale being the norm...
http://cgi.ebay.com/Anderson-Indiana-Real-Estate-Estate-Investment-Home_W0QQitemZ330016721111QQihZ014QQcategoryZ12605QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

It's right down the street from me. My house was originally listed for less than this "buy it now" price, before I had the seller do some major repairs so I could get insurance and, therefore, a mortgage. You haven't seen a bad housing market until you've seen neighborhoods like mine.

[Gormy Cuss]

10. Why is the market so weak in your area?

Is it just your neighborhood or the wider area?
That ebay house has a pretty facade, decent off street parking and the interior looks old and tired but it's not a complete disaster. The place could be a nice home for a small family (after finishing the attic area and address any other issues.)

[melnjones]

16. Job losses...

Sometime before I lived here (I came here in 1999) my town was a big GM town. Like 10 factories. Then the cheap natural gas supply ran out, and so did the good-paying jobs. Some neighborhoods like mine are exceptionally bad, but the housing market is still just awful through the majority of the city. Like this house... http://www.realtor.com/FindHome/HomeListing.asp?snum=121&locallnk=yes&frm=byzip&mnbed=0&mnbath=0&mnprice=0&mxprice=99999999&js=off&fid=so&stype=&mnsqft=&mls=xmls&areaid=46012&poe=realtor&zp=46012&sbint=&vtsort=&sorttype=&typ=1&typ=2&typ=4&x=49&y=5&sid=071ACDC2E3BAC&pgnum=13&snumxlid=1058619474&lnksrc=00002 I rented a room in this house four summers ago while I was in undergrad. BEAUTIFUL house. Not a thing wrong with it. Right by the university- a 2 minute walk to campus. Great neighborhood. There is no reason in the world that it should be selling for so little, but there ya go.

[Delphinus]

12. OMG!

Granted, the house needs some work, but I can't believe they're trying to sell it for $16,500!!! Is the house in the middle of a drug cartel? A gang neighborhood? That's unbelievable - and very scary!

I know Indiana real estate is in bad shape - I'm in the NE of IN and my house was up on the market in 2004 for almost a year - I took it off in the spring of '05 when there were tons of showings and not one offer.

[melnjones]

17. lol...

I LOVE seeing people's reactions on here when I talk about houses in my neighborhood:-)

This house is in one of the rougher neighborhoods in this city, but that is speaking relatively. There are some drug problems and there is some crime, but nothing horrible. I live a block away from this house, and as a single female in my 20's I feel fine b/c I know my neighbors and we look out for each other. My house had been sitting vacant for a long time before I took it off the market, and by the time I started looking at it the furnace and water heater had been stolen out of the basement. Since I've been here, I forgot to chain my bike up one day and it got stolen. That's the kind of crime I'm talking about. Occasional gunshots...never seen any injuries though. Very very little gang activity...so little that it's practically non-existant. If I had children, I'd have no problem raising them here.

I will be very surprised if this house goes for over $15,000. A house across the street from me was in similar condition and was just sold for $10,000. They started the ebay auction for this house at $.01 for crying out loud. It is just unbelievable.

On edit...I grew up in Middlebury...possibly near where you are? Much better housing market up there, but if the RV industry starts outsourcing they will be in trouble too.

[cliss]

21. omg....that's a nice house, meln.

$5K???? is the current bid? I think I'll buy this house & move it to Laguna Beach, where the real estate prices are a little higher....

[melnjones]

23. Just buy it and live here in Indiana!

We need people to buy these properties and live in them instead of renting them out. That's why they are in such bad shape to begin with.

[Dr.Phool]

5. In Florida, many face a choice.

Pay the mortgage, or pay the insurance, but they can't afford both.

People are leaving the state because of insurance costs, and now there's no market to sell their homes.

[eccles12]

6. Anyone ever heard of "saturation?" How about "glut?"

The lack of foresight by those 1% of folks with all the money in this country is really astounding. Who couldn't have predicted a condo glut or a housing glut in these areas? There aren't enough middle income families that earn enough to pay mortgages, high gasoline prices, high food prices, high insurance prices. The system has reached a saturation point. Highways cannot absorbed any more auto traffic, water and sewer systems cannot absorb more households, and insurance companies cannot absorb much more liability. Our system is so fragile right now (thanks in large measure to the billions being wasted in Iraq and the huge tax breaks for the wealthy and elite)that any minor terrorist threat or actual incident sends it into a tailspin. And the political fools running and ruining our government do not realize what a strain they put on the system when they play these terrorist alert games for purely political reasons. Like a well constructed domino layout, it's about to all come down with the spill of a single domino.

[Straight Shooter]

7. The political fools recognize the strain.

It's part of their plan, don'tcha know.

Good thoughtful post. Welcome to DU! :hi:

[reprobate]

13. If they're aware of the strain, they must not be aware of the end result.

Throughout history, in every society where the few elite had more wealth than the masses, the masses rebelled and ended the control of the elite.

It happened in Russia in 1917, in France in 1789. It even happened in Teatehuacan, THE city of Meso America which controlled Mexico and Guatemala for almost a millennium. When the ruling elite had enough food and the masses did not, the ruling elite were killed and the city burned.

Another commonality is the fact that when this happens and the elite try to use their military to control the masses, the military usually turn on the elite and become part of the masses once more.

It this bunch of neocons (neoconvicts IMO) knew anything about history except their own ideology, they'd know that their current path will guarantee their own end.

[wanpete]

9. Welcome to the best place on the "internets"!

:hi:

[SpiralHawk]

8. "Our economy is rock solid." - George AWOL Bush

More lies from the Deserter-in-Chief and his corrupt republicon cronies

[NotGivingUp]

26. i LOVE the pez dispenser....too funny!

[poverlay]

11. I'm in Phoenix AZ, and "for sale" signs are popping up like mushrooms

after a rainstorm!

[acmavm]

14. I wonder if there are any investigations for predatory lending

practices going on? People who bought during the last four or so years and are trying to unload what they can no longer afford are really in a bind. And refinancing, what can I say? Promised people the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. What they didn't tell them was the pot of gold was coming out of their pockets and going into the lending companies.

[NVMojo]

19. charges of fraud related to appraisals is growing, check this out ...

snip...

“‘What we have seen is a trend lately to outright fraud,’ he said. ‘Some is being conducted by people who are not licensed, but are using the names and license numbers of legitimate appraisers.’”

“Real estate appraisals that come in over the ‘true’ property value threaten home owners and home builders alike. As the housing market cools, for the first time in years, Quad City sales are down on a year-over-year basis with prices weakening in the upper brackets, folks are confronting a problem that was easily ignored during the real estate boom. The problem is inflated home appraisals.”

“Critics inside and outside the appraisal business have long warned that many appraisals are too high because generous appraisals help mortgage loan officers and brokers, who often select the property appraiser, complete more deals.”

“Those with flawed credit are particularly vulnerable, says Iowa Assistant Attorney General Patrick Madigan, who coordinates with law enforcement officials from other states on a variety of mortgage-related issues. Madigan believes that the deliberate overstating of appraisals is ‘widespread’ among loans to subprime borrowers.”

“Jacquie Doty of Freddie Mac predicts that inflated appraisals will lead to higher default rates in the coming years. For sure, the inflated appraisal concern in the Quad-Cities likely is lower than in places like Florida or California, where consumers had little choice but to play along with silly appraisals if they hoped to buy a home.”

more...

http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/

[GoddessOfGuinness]

15. We need more tax cuts for rich people

so they can afford to buy even more houses.

[NVMojo]

18. glad to see Nevada on the list ...it's been californicated bigtime

[pokercat999]

20. Just sold my house in Charlotte after less than 2 weeks on

the market. Even made a profit of $39,600.00 after only one year. However I'm seeing the builders flooding this market with new McMansions on quarter acre lots, so it won't be long before it slides. My realtor said I underpriced my house and could have gotten 20K more! I thought, you got to be crazy, I'm getting out, NOW.

We are moving back to Central VA just south of the DC Metro Area. The house we moved from a year ago, has been on the market for almost year with only 3 showings and one offer that fell through, when the buyer couldn't sell his home.

I'm very lucky I'm not stuck with 2 houses.

[sentelle]

22. to be honest

Sales in Washington (state) have been up....

[pokercat999]

25. Sales in Charlotte, NC are still high but slowing. Sales in

my part of Virginia are in a tailspin. In my local market (Lake Anna area) the building boom has made for a market glut. Where there were severe inventory problems just 3 years ago today there is a huge inventory of new and resales homes that are just sitting.

[MiniMe]

24. One thing about the DC area - the housing market picks up every time

the administration changes.

[bleedingheart]

27. apparently my psycho ex-friend got out of DC in time

she made about a $200,000 profit when she sold her home...

She had paid 253K for it...sold it for 500K and that was near Quantico...

she moved her psycho self elsewhere and built a mega home...

[northzax]

28. that ain't DC, tis the exurbs

500k will buy you a small two bedroom condo in DC. if you're lucky.

[bleedingheart]

29. I was watching one of those HGTV shows about buying a home

and this couple was looking at places in Georgetown...boy...what a sticker shock that was to folks like me in the suburbs of Pittsburgh....

I don't know how they afford it.