Thursday, July 24, 2008

Bel-Air in HB

I was actually disappointed in Bush today to hear that we will not veto this housing bill that passed the Senate. I actually thought he might do something good before he leaves office. Alas, no such luck. Instead of letting the marketplace run it’s course so those of us that were responsible not to jump on the housing bandwagon, the bill will let the FHA back 300 billion in new loans so an estimated 400,000 homeowners that cannot afford their house payments can try to escape foreclosure by refinancing into safer, more affordable mortgages.
You mean the type they should have had from the beginning? God, there is too much entitlement mindset in this country. Lenders still have to agree to take a substantial loss on the existing loans, and in return, they walk away avoiding the expensive foreclosure process.
So let me get this straight. You can’t pay your mortgage because you took out something you couldn’t afford in the first place so now the government will bail you out into a lesser mortgage with a smaller percentage loan so you can keep your house despite your ineptitude. What about the couple next door that pays their bills on time? How fair is it to them?
How do we teach fiscal and personal responsibility to little Johnny and Susie in our high schools when they see their parents getting bailed out by Uncle Sam? When the heck does this stop?
This will also increase our national debt to 10.6 trillion! I suppose that’s no big deal as long as the printing presses work and we can keep printing that funny money. I’m going to start putting my money in Euros or something else, who knows.

Here’s a house for sale from a tract of homes called Bel-Air in HB. A nice little community of 102 homes built and sold mostly in 2005-06. I’ve been watching these for a while now and all I can say is they are in big trouble.
Listed for $639k bought for bought for $1,000,500. Check out this property at 7305 Arcadia Dr. http://www.redfin.com/CA/Huntington-Beach/7305-Arcadia-Dr-92648/home/5955287


Assuming it sells at that price it represents a loss of 36.2%!

This is from the Builders website: http://www.christopher-homes.com/BelAir/belair_index-new.html

Most of these houses sold from somewhere around $950k- to a million plus. They average about 2400-2600sq. ft. That means everyone here bought at or around the peak of the housing market. Everyone! This housing tract has 102 units, nice units, all with upside down mortgages. That doesn’t sit good. Around 10% of these are listed as short sales. Many of them in the 700k price range. For example:
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Huntington-Beach/18765-Sinclair-92648/home/5950213
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Huntington-Beach/18737-Sinclair-Ln-92648/home/5955258
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Huntington-Beach/18756-Roxbury-Ln-92648/home/5955330
Some others are no longer showing as listings. Talking to a realtor she said many of these were bought for investment with many of the loans through Countrywide. Investment? Million dollar homes..and they thought the rent would cover it when it reset? Hello!! Is this where some of that 300 billion will be spent? To bail out these idiots?
I predicted that these would fall in the $600’s but I wasn’t expecting to see one listed that soon. Since jumbo loans have all but dried up this housing tract is a ticking time bomb. I’ve waited over two days for the listing agent, Lillian Thai from Firststar Realty and Mortgage, to answer my e-mail or call me back but I haven’t heard from her. Great service, thank you. How do you expect to even sell a place in this market if you don’t return calls or e-mails?
By the way, at least there's a nice park next this tract, perhaps the owners can camp out there after they lose their place. Oh yeah, HB doesn't allow that..oh well..there's always Riverside.

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