Wow it looks there is no end in sight for distressed properties. Check out the latest from Mr. Mortgage. He has a really nice summary of the latest data for April.
sobering predictions from “super bears”
This article is long but worth a read. It has exhaustive details of the “super bear” position on the housing market and the american economy in general.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/75613-stay-clear-of-traditional-asset-classes
I truly hope that someone intervenes and ensures these predictions are never realized…
life simplification
Lately, I’ve been giving considerable thought to the topic of life simplification - or should I say “de-complexification” (if thats even a word). This could be something simple like not filling up every waking moment of every day with tasks, meetings and get togethers with people. It can also be something that takes a little more effort to accomplish like selling your overpriced, gas-guzzling status-mobile (did I mention i’m selling my car?) to get into something you can own free and clear and doesnt break the bank every time you roll up to the gas station and cringe at the current price of premium grade petrol (BTW i cant wait for electric cars so I can finally once and for all flip the oil companies the bird). Either way, over the past few years I have taken several steps along with my family to just stop doing things and buying things that don’t ultimately lead to fulfillment or any sort of sense of true meaningful accomplishment. I thought at first this would make me feel like I was missing something and at first it did a little but we quickly adjusted to what amounts to an alternate reality (maybe a little dramatic but you get my point) from what was once our “normal” existence. By doing this we have been able to live a lot more comfortably and *gasp* actually have money left over at the end of the month! What a concept!
I see stories about how now that many american consumers’ big piggybank (their house) is no longer providing an alternative source of income now they are trading down to the most evil of all debt, unsecured revolving credit in a sad futile attempt to keep up a certain lifestyle that is neither realistic nor maintainable (did you see Jose Canseco is even now a “victim” of the housing crisis?). This has been blatantly clear lately with the sharp rise in foreclosures, bankruptcies, skyrocketing consumer debt, increasing public debt, etc, etc, yadda yadda. Why are we going into unimaginably large and never realistically repayable debt to finance a “now” that is just really a product of what the media and marketing firms and big corps want you to believe is “normal”???? We need to get off the teet of debt otherwise this economy and the society behind it will most surely crumble. Maybe not today, or next week or next year even but eventually this crap all needs to be paid for. Remember the whole there are no free lunches lecture in econ 101? If we’re not careful our standard of living in this country will be reduced to that of many banana republics in the world as we are easily overtaken by much more determined and prudent people (the chinese - in case you have been paying attention for the past 20 years).
So, my solution to all this mess is that american consumers need to downsize their lives before it gets downsized FOR them.
-Drive a car you can comfortably afford no matter what rather than trying to overextend into something
-Stop eating out and paying ridiculous prices for meals (i used to be a BAAAAD abuser of this sin)
-Stop paying for things with your credit cards. If you can’t pay for things with the money in your bank account then you CANT AFFORD THEM.
-Order up a credit freeze on your credit reports so even if you’re tempted to open another account it will be painful enough to make you think twice about it
-Stop buying crap to make yourself feel happy. Instead, spend a portion of that money on some good healthy food and spend a couple evenings cooking as a family. That’s true fulfillment. Enriching each others lives in a way that buying jetskis or a big stupid abnoxious SUV just can’t do.
I have often wondered why many people seem hopelessly incapable of managing their financial affairs. I had a bit of a epiphany on the way home today on the train. I think the main reason the average person sucks at managing their money is because there really is no education around the topic that is given in elementary, middle, high school or even college really. I dont ever remember a class on personal finance and budgeting being offered. At least not where I went to school. Isn’t that kind of strange? We teach our children about math, biology, english, geography, etc, etc… and then we launch them into the world and one of the most important topics they need to know about to be able to truly survive in the real world on their own - personal financial management - they’ve never learnt hardly anything about ! Except maybe by watching mom and dad buy them things at the store and perhaps gripe a little when the summer electric bill arrives at the house but nobody’s gonna argue that is “education”. I have resolved to right this injustice for my children at least in two ways: leading by example and ensuring they are educated about these things even if their formal schooling doesn’t do it. A great starting point I have found is the following list of tenets:
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/LearnToBudget/9MoneyRulestoLiveBy.aspx
Here’s a couple articles I recently read on the subject of debt in general. Man its getting ugly out there! People, come on, STOP SPENDING!!!! Jeez.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aSN4AbFYIoCc&refer=patrick.net
And to brighten things up a little - here’s one of my favorite Capital One commercials. I like their commercials but I certainly don’t recommend you use their “products”. 
They are masters at making it seem like a fantastic idea to use their cards. What a joke! I’m happy they spent all their marketing dollars entertaining me though.
When you have time rent the movie “Maxed Out”. Here’s the trailer:
couple more REOs down in corona - legit prices in the 200s
A couple more REOs just popped up. Both are pretty good deals if you are looking for a smaller house or condo.
The first is a small house in Parkside Green near Lincoln and River in Corona. This house last sold for $265k in 2003. Now its for sale as an REO for $251,900.
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Corona/944-Forester-Dr-92880/home/4542730
The second one here is a condo. Last sold for $312,000 in 2005. Now only $158,900. Not the greatest neighbourhood but these units were last going for this price in 2001!
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Corona/1170-Border-Ave-92882/unit-A/home/4260018
And just in case you’re thinking we’re close to the “bottom” of this housing market check this out:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/75878-how-long-until-the-housing-market-recovers?source=d_email
Reality sucks eh?
home buying - use your HEAD
Sometimes you just know when something is wrong. Dont give in to pressure or hype. Buying a home is one of the biggest financial decisions you make in life and should be made with your HEAD and not your heart or emotion.
Ads like this make me a little sick to my stomach (found this on Housing Panic this morning)…
if you see trouble coming - refinance if you can. If you dont know if trouble is coming then find out
I’m seeing a pattern lately of people waiting and waiting and waiting until things get to the point where they are forced into defaulting on their loans and in many cases entering the foreclosure. Come on people, sticking your head in the sand is not going to fix anything for you. I strongly encourage everyone to go back to their loan documents and look at what the terms are. If you have a rate reset coming and you cannot afford the payment when that happens CALL THE LENDER IMMEDIATELY and try to get some assistance. Dont waste time with all the scammer “save your house from foreclosure now!” gimmicks. Its way too hard to know if any of these people have your best interest in mind and in most cases THEY DONT. Just contact your original lender and see what they can do to help. There have been many stories about how people have been able to get the terms of their loans reworked. Lenders would rather see you continue to live in the home and make payments then foreclose on you. NOBODY wins in foreclosure. I am your neighbour so yes I have a vested interest in you keeping your home. We all do as residents. Eastvale is a great community and we all want to see it continue into the future and weather the current storm.
If you don’t understand the terms of your current loan or don’t know what a rate reset will do to your monthly payment or even if you will be subject to one then CALL YOUR LENDER. Ignorance is NEVER an excuse. It is your responsibility to ensure your financial health. Dont wait for congress or the state or whoever you think may want to “help” you to do so. Most of these plans require you to already be in dire straits before doing anything to try to help and often times it will be too late by then. It is up to YOU to help yourself. Your lender might not be any help but this link will give you all the information you need to get started getting help:
Now on my soapbox: Please stop spending on things you dont absolutely need! I dont care what you hear on the news or what the government says. Ignore all the “bring your stimulus check here and we’ll add 10% to it” junk. This is free and “found” money and that should never be blown on small luxuries that have no impact on your long-term financial health! Take your stimulus check and any refund you have and use that to get right on your debts whether it be credit cards, a HELOC or your principal mortgage. If you dont have any bad debts then great! Store away that stimulus check/refund in your SAVINGS account. Remember those? When stormy times come, a chunk of cash stocked away in savings can save you.
more eastvale homes entering foreclosure process
This morning brings 3 more homes entering the foreclosure process in the 92880.
1) This one was bought near the height of the bubble for $575,000. Its listed for $423,000 so there goes >150K in equity.
http://www.realtytrac.com/PropertyDetails/PropertyDetails.aspx?a=b&propId=18078649&Page=DetailNOD&CountyID=CARI&DataSel=NOD&accnt=154833
http://www.trulia.com/homes/California/Corona/sold/24514031-6141-Gold-Spirit-St-Corona-CA-92880
2) This one was bought for $650,000 in 2005 and is now listed for $498,000. Another >150K equity gone.
http://www.trulia.com/homes/California/Corona/sold/501566-13320-Clear-Canyon-Ct-Corona-CA-92880
3) This one was bought for $635,000 in 2006 and is currently listed at $694,999. The seller is dreamin’ on this one. The amt owed is $523,000 and houses of this size have recently been selling in the low 400s.
http://www.trulia.com/property/1049190651-6948-Altair-Ct-Corona-CA-92880
Prices are going to have to come down considerably to have a realistic shot at moving any of these properties.
weekly monday housing data check-in
Looks like listings have pulled back a little over the past 2 months. The latest numbers from housingtracker.net show there are 47,960 listings in the Riverside-San Bernardino MSA which is down almost 2000 from the 49,907 listings in the 1st week of march. Does this mean that inventory will continue to decrease? Or is it just that there is a glut of REOs out there that the banks havent gotten around to selling and/or marking down to realistic prices and selling yet? The median listing price is unchanged from last week although the 75th percentile and 25th percentile both took about a $5k hit likely due to REOs on the bottom end and people getting real about their “high end” properties at the top end.
Looking in recent sales data from trulia.com, properties have been selling at a fairly decent pace all things considered, so there are indeed buyers swooping in and snatching up properties at the current prices. Personally I would be waiting until at least mid to late 2009 before touching anything.
I would like to see these trends (price and inventory stabilization) continue for at least another couple of months before I get too excited about any sort of “bottom”. I put bottom in quotes because it is well known that the Alt-A and Option ARM crisis is just around the corner for 2009-2011 so we could potentially see a short-term levelling off and then another big drop in values and a big spike in inventory when that happens.
Looking on the bright side, the median price here in the IE is still 44% lower than the median price in the OC ($529,900) so we’re still a bargain to those OC first time homebuyer and “move-up” buyer types!
Welcome to the new Eastvale Housing blog!
Welcome everyone to the new Eastvale Housing Blog! I hope that over time this blog will be entertaining and informative and I can bring you information on housing trends, values, and mortgage business happenings that impact the Eastvale housing market. I will also often hop up on my soapbox and/or try to offer up some common sense to help you move towards financial health.
From time to time I will also write about Corona and the IE as a whole. Be sure to check out the blogroll on the right side. It has some great housing and money management blogs that you may want to check out.
