LA HABRA

No escape velocity as depleted inventory pummels home sales

 LA HABRA, NEWS
Apr 242013
 
No escape velocity as depleted inventory pummels home sales

Typically, January is the slowest month of the year for real estate sales. Sales volume rises each month through July or August when it peaks as buyers rush to get into homes before their children start a new school year. When sales volumes decline on a monthly basis during the first half of the year, it’s often a troubling sign for the real estate market. Sales volumes declined in March, and it is a sign of a problem in the housing market: a lack of inventory. Why Home Sales Stalled in March By Nick Timiraos — April 22, 2013, 11:46 [Read More...]

Strategic short sales, the moral alternative to strategic default

 LA HABRA, NEWS
Jun 072012
 
Strategic short sales, the moral alternative to strategic default

I have written extensively on strategic default. I have been an advocate of strategic default because it is generally the best financial decision for a family. When a loan owner is underwater and making payments far larger than the cost of a comparable rental, they are throwing their money away on mortgage interest to support a depreciating asset. That’s pretty stupid. One reason millions of underwater loan owners don’t strategically default is because they perceive it as immoral. We have debated this issue at length in the astute observations of this blog, but it comes down to a simple choice [Read More...]

Home price double dip added 1 million underwater loan owners

 LA HABRA, NEWS
May 012012
 
Home price double dip added 1 million underwater loan owners

Through a combination of falling prices and low down payment mortgages, many buyers of the bear rally of 2009 find themselves underwater. When you figure in the transaction costs of selling a home, the numbers are really grim. Despite the negative circumstances, few of this buyer cohort will strategically default. Most are only slightly underwater, and since most also have a cost of ownership at or below rental parity, it’s more costly for them to rent, so most will stay put and wait out the remaining decline. Insight: Falling home prices drag new buyers under water By Tim Reid Thu [Read More...]

Top ten ways to devastate a housing market

 LA HABRA, NEWS
Mar 222012
 
Top ten ways to devastate a housing market

Among the valuable lessons we can learn from the housing bubble is the myriad of ways to cripple a housing market and prevent a recovery. Ever since prices started falling, loan owners put huge pressure on policymakers to “fix” the housing market — which in the mind’s of loan owners means making prices go back up. In reality, policymakers from the government and federal reserve exacerbated the problems of the market and ensured any recovery would be slow and painful. Today, with some help from Charles Hugh Smith, I intend to review how we can mess up the housing market [Read More...]

Government intervention delays housing market recovery

 LA HABRA, NEWS
Feb 172012
 
Government intervention delays housing market recovery

I have repeatedly made the argument that government intervention is counterproductive. However, politicians and federal reserve policy makers either don’t accept this simple fact, or they don’t care. Politicians need to look like they are trying because doing nothing — which is the proper course of action — makes them look helpless and inept — which they are. The same is true for the federal reserve, but they also have a mandate to keep their member banks solvent. Most of the meddling in the markets has been done for that reason. Perhaps a few loan owners were saved along the [Read More...]

Hottest listings in OC 2-11-2012

 ANAHEIM, COTO DE CAZA, LA HABRA, LAKE FOREST, MISSION VIEJO, WESTMINSTER, YORBA LINDA
Feb 112012
 
Hottest listings in OC 2-11-2012

Redfin is the most popular real estate search site in Southern California. They track the most popular listings based on the number of views each receives. Below are some of the most viewed property listings in Orange County. Check them out. See what everyone else finds so interesting. 21562 SADDLE RIDGE Way Yorba Linda, CA 92887 — $698,000 Competing Listings $975,000 21515 DUNROBIN Way 1.02 miles 5 bd / 4.5 ba 4,271 Sq. Ft. $785,000 22355 ROLLING HILLS Ln 1.08 miles 5 bd / 4 ba 4,450 Sq. Ft. $1,395,000 5020 GREENHAVEN St 1.11 miles 5 bd / 4.75 ba [Read More...]