Goddamn Real Estate

[MadImmortalMan]

This shit is pissing me off. I just don't want to participate in this bullshit anymore. I think a top is in.

People are back to waiting in lines for builders. Overnight like a concert or an iPhone. Just to get a house. Home prices have gone up 30% in the last month here. Listings are going up 40 grand in the blink of an eye.

Everything on the market are short sales. And everything gets bid up 20, 30 percent and has 25 buyers. We're back to Greenspanianfucktardism.

[CountDeMoney]

Don't worry, it'll pop again.  Just wait for the next round of predatory lender foreclosures.

[Phillip V]

Scary!

But I think that is being reported only in the Southwest where you are, ie "minibubbles". Other areas are not as hot IIRC.

[Malthus]

Don't worry, it'll pop again.  Just wait for the next round of predatory lender foreclosures.

I got that advice when I was looking for a house in Toronto and found the real estate feeding frenzy unbearable - just relax and wait for the bubble to burst.

Boy oh boy, am I glad I did not take it.  A house I thought absurdly expensive at 650K is now appraised at $1 million and similar houses 'done up for sale' are going for $1.3.

It will take a lot of bursting for prices to reduce back to whatever 650K plus inflation is worth.

[crazy canuck]

Don't worry, it'll pop again.  Just wait for the next round of predatory lender foreclosures.

I got that advice when I was looking for a house in Toronto and found the real estate feeding frenzy unbearable - just relax and wait for the bubble to burst.

Boy oh boy, am I glad I did not take it.  A house I thought absurdly expensive at 650K is now appraised at $1 million and similar houses 'done up for sale' are going for $1.3.

It will take a lot of bursting for prices to reduce back to whatever 650K plus inflation is worth.

Yeah, waiting for a bubble to burst can mean that you never actually get to buy a house if it never does...

If people are buying a house as a home and intend to stay in it for years then speculation doesnt really enter into it.  The main thing that matters is whether the size of the mortgage is affordable - if interest rates go up.

[Malthus]

Don't worry, it'll pop again.  Just wait for the next round of predatory lender foreclosures.

I got that advice when I was looking for a house in Toronto and found the real estate feeding frenzy unbearable - just relax and wait for the bubble to burst.

Boy oh boy, am I glad I did not take it.  A house I thought absurdly expensive at 650K is now appraised at $1 million and similar houses 'done up for sale' are going for $1.3.

It will take a lot of bursting for prices to reduce back to whatever 650K plus inflation is worth.

Yeah, waiting for a bubble to burst can mean that you never actually get to buy a house if it never does...

If people are buying a house as a home and intend to stay in it for years then speculation doesnt really enter into it.  The main thing that matters is whether the size of the mortgage is affordable - if interest rates go up.

Agreed - buy only what you can actually afford, given reasonable assumptions about the future.

The main problem I found was overcomming the 'it simply can't cost that much' sticker shock - the feeling that a house of a certain size and location really ought to cost X, and so X+Y must be 'unfair gouging'. Nope, they cost what the market says they cost - if auctions are pushing prices up over ask because it's a sellers' market, deal - that is, if you want to own a house. There are all sorts of good reasons for some people to rent.

[CountDeMoney]

Don't worry, it'll pop again.  Just wait for the next round of predatory lender foreclosures.

I got that advice when I was looking for a house in Toronto and found the real estate feeding frenzy unbearable - just relax and wait for the bubble to burst.

Boy oh boy, am I glad I did not take it.  A house I thought absurdly expensive at 650K is now appraised at $1 million and similar houses 'done up for sale' are going for $1.3.

It will take a lot of bursting for prices to reduce back to whatever 650K plus inflation is worth.

You're in a foreign country.  MiM's real estate concerns in the United States don't apply.

[citizen k]

Don't worry, it'll pop again.  Just wait for the next round of predatory lender foreclosures.

First we got GM subprime interest-free car loans,  then we got subprime ABS securitizations, then we got soaring student loan defaults and delinquencies, then we got the opportunity to sell and short student loan exposure, and now, finally, the credit bubble is complete as FastFunds Financial Corporation is proud to announce that it has acquired exclusive mortgage servicing rights for an "Innovative New Mortgage Product." Why is it so innovative? Because it requires no credit verification, no credit history, no docs and needs no personal guarantees. In other words, it is the very worst of the worst lending practices we saw in 2006: the NINJA.

But there is a twist: "all that is required to qualify for a mortgage loan is qualifying for a life insurance policy, a down payment that usually amounts to 10% of the purchase price and verification that the borrower has the financial ability to pay the monthly payments."

In other words: buy life insurance, get a subprime, no doc mortgage for free.

Ye olde days are truly back.

From the FastFund credit bubble peak press release:

NET LIFE is a development stage enterprise that has developed and is offering an innovative new mortgage product that is not based on credit history (no doc) or personal guarantees. It is only secured by the underlying collateral and a life insurance policy on the borrower. Therefore, all that is required to qualify for a mortgage loan is qualifying for a life insurance policy, a down payment that usually amounts to 10% of the purchase price and verification that the borrower has the financial ability to pay the monthly payments. NET LIFE believes this mortgage product will be attractive to a wide spectrum of potential borrowers including:

first time homebuyers;
borrowers who have experienced prior financial difficulties such as foreclosures, bankruptcies, late payments or credit problems; are presently employed and whose current income would qualify for a mortgage loan; but who couldn't otherwise qualify; and
borrowers who may wish to bypass the traditional paperwork involved in the typical underwriting process but who would otherwise qualify.
Since its formation in 2012, NET LIFE has completed development of its mortgage product and conducted testing via a limited number of successful closings. NET LIFE is now developing plans for a national launch of its product line.

"We are excited to be on the forefront of launching this exciting new product and especially being on the servicing side where we can gain substantial benefit without the risk associated with traditional mortgage underwriting," stated Barry Hollander, acting Chief Executive Officer of FastFunds.

* * *
We, on the other hand, are just as excited to sit back and watch how this time the most speculatcular credit bubble ever created with the full complicity of every central banker in the world "will be different" and have a different outcome than the last time...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-05/ninjas-are-back-buy-life-insurance-get-no-doc-mortgage-loan-free

[Neil]

I'm thinking about buying a new place.

[Barrister]

Don't worry, it'll pop again.  Just wait for the next round of predatory lender foreclosures.

I got that advice when I was looking for a house in Toronto and found the real estate feeding frenzy unbearable - just relax and wait for the bubble to burst.

Boy oh boy, am I glad I did not take it.  A house I thought absurdly expensive at 650K is now appraised at $1 million and similar houses 'done up for sale' are going for $1.3.

It will take a lot of bursting for prices to reduce back to whatever 650K plus inflation is worth.

You're in a foreign country.  MiM's real estate concerns in the United States don't apply.

Canada has almost certainly been going through it's own real estate bubble the last few years.  Hell I had a bidding war on my place in Yukon two years ago.

[Warspite]

Don't worry, it'll pop again.  Just wait for the next round of predatory lender foreclosures.

I got that advice when I was looking for a house in Toronto and found the real estate feeding frenzy unbearable - just relax and wait for the bubble to burst.

Boy oh boy, am I glad I did not take it.  A house I thought absurdly expensive at 650K is now appraised at $1 million and similar houses 'done up for sale' are going for $1.3.

It will take a lot of bursting for prices to reduce back to whatever 650K plus inflation is worth.

Same thing in London, and other big cities, where bubbles arising from cheap credit are offset by the extensive deficiency in the amount of housing stock versus the number of people wanting and able to buy.

Do you have a lot of Russian and Chinese money flowing into the T Dot property market?

[CountDeMoney]

Canada has almost certainly been going through it's own real estate bubble the last few years.  Hell I had a bidding war on my place in Yukon two years ago.

You're a foreign country with foreign concepts, like industry regulation.  We don't have that here.

[Brazen]

Because no-one can afford to buy in London any more, we're now getting rental gazumping, where potential tenants offer the landlord more than he's asking to see off potential rivals. Some of my colleagues have been packed and ready to move in only to find someone's put in a higher bid. £1,600 a month for a three-bed  suburban property these days, heinous. No wonder no-one can afford to save a 20% mortgage deposit.

[Caliga]

Go west, young woman.

[Malthus]

Don't worry, it'll pop again.  Just wait for the next round of predatory lender foreclosures.

I got that advice when I was looking for a house in Toronto and found the real estate feeding frenzy unbearable - just relax and wait for the bubble to burst.

Boy oh boy, am I glad I did not take it.  A house I thought absurdly expensive at 650K is now appraised at $1 million and similar houses 'done up for sale' are going for $1.3.

It will take a lot of bursting for prices to reduce back to whatever 650K plus inflation is worth.

Same thing in London, and other big cities, where bubbles arising from cheap credit are offset by the extensive deficiency in the amount of housing stock versus the number of people wanting and able to buy.

Do you have a lot of Russian and Chinese money flowing into the T Dot property market?

Here, shady Chinese mooks are more or less the only ones able to afford downtown luxury condo prices.  Don't ask where they got the money ...