because its hard to make money building new houses now. with used prices down and material costs higher there is no margin.
yep 3.5% down fha loans being thrown about like its 2006 all over again. Of course fraud is going to run rampant again because there are no set rules in place like there should be. Again the tax credit is going to hurt housing going forward, housing prices still need to come down and pushing a tax credit only delays this.
Dr. Zhivodka, I just logged on and read your reply as well as some of your other posts, very interesting. I could be wrong but think I have you pegged. I have "high rollers" calling me from time to time. They typically have some money and think that their going to corner the real estate market buying all these "cheap" homes for forty cents on the dollar. I'm meeting one of them tomorrow that wants to buy ten homes, renovate them and then flip-em. My first job will be to talk sense into the guy and get him to take a longer point of view. I will also tell him to stop watching reruns of "property ladder" and "flip this house". That game is so over. In northern CA, we have so many of these flippers stuck underwater its not funny. I'm a Realtor so I guess I know nothing about real estate, according to some on this thread. Here is some free advice and you can take it FWIW. Go slow and be careful. Those of us in the biz are praying that this will stabilize in 2010 and only go down a little bit next year. As for all those multiple offers, ROFL!!! My dear friend, you don't even have a clue how this game is played. GL
Christ in heaven where do all these people come from? Just sold another one this morning. Close to Carpenter Elem.in Studio City. Bought it for $550,000 less then two years ago. We accepted a $705,000 offer it this morning. There were three offers to choose from. Stay in NoCal please. And for fucks sakes don't try to tell me my business.
More bullshit from Zhifaga. If anyone had bought a house as he claims he did in 2007, they'd be hosed right now - I assure you. Only flippers who bought very recently have any chance to make any money, and that's if the moon and stars line up. 2006 and 2007 were the height of the bubble in residential RE. Even is you ASSUME what he claims as true, he sat on a 550k house for nearly two years, paying utilities, insurance, maintenance and property taxes, plus any applicable association fees, and any associated repairs. But I'm sure the house Zhifaga bought in 2007 during the peak had its taxes, utilities, maintenance, insurance and other costs pre-paid - or something like that - and it was in pristine condition, not needing any repairs, blah blah blah Zhifaga. Check out closing prices in Cali. First, volume is down dramatically, and second, houses are selling at 30% to 40% haircuts compared to 2007 sale prices. Even in the primo areas, values are down 30% plus. But Zhifaga found a real gem at the height of the bubble, stole it, and just flipped it at a higher post-bubble burst price.
A lot of people on here throw around numbers to boost their position like "down 30-40%..". These types of things are easily supported by links to trulia.com or zillow.com. Why not both of you guys post some links to properties on there? They will show sale history from the country records so there is not arguing the sale prices.
This is very close to carpenter elementary Build in 2004 2005 sold for $750K 2009 offered at $705 As Dr. local idiot implies that his investment gained value in less than two years is bogus. Even if he had an opportunity to buy chip two years ago he would have made more money selling it on the spot without holding it. Chart at the bottom of the page shows trend for that zip http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/11989-Laurelwood-Dr-APT-3-Studio-City-CA-91604/65235694_zpid/
the cali. B.S. STORY. the only thing being bid up in cali. is who can get in front line for unemployment insurance. bp