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<channel>
	<title>pligg - published -local news-</title>
	<link>http://www.housebubble.org</link>
	<description>Pligg Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
	<pubDate>Tue, 13 Feb 2007 22:58:08 MST</pubDate>
	<language>en</language>
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		<title><![CDATA["An unprecedented market.  ...One that California has never seen"]]></title>
		<link>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=-unprecedented-market-One-that-California-has-never-seen-1</link>
		<comments>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=-unprecedented-market-One-that-California-has-never-seen-1</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Feb 2007 22:58:08 MST</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Asder</dc:creator>
		<category>local news</category>
		<guid>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=-unprecedented-market-One-that-California-has-never-seen-1</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The L.A. Times has this grim report on the bubble bursting in California's 'Inland Empire': &amp;quot;HERE'S what Dave Hennigan knows about the four-bedroom house tucked away on a tranquil Corona street: The owner is a woman, and she's $8,155 behind on her mortgage payments.Maybe she had a messy divorce or expensive illness. Maybe she has been spending too much and saving too little. Hennigan, a 45-year-old Riverside County real estate agent, doesn't plan to ask....n this queasy market, sales are slumping. Sellers remember the boom and want more money than they can get, while buyers feel they have unlimited time to make a decision. An agent's best prospect for a sale is someone who must act now - a homeowner told by a lender to pay up or get out.These owners are in crisis. They need to refinance if they can or sell and move into something affordable. If they had an easier option, they wouldn't be behind in their payments in the first place....Smart agents could make a good living finding buyers for these houses, which often went for 30% under market value. That was how the two executives running Home Center got their start. Bosch, 31, grew up in Victorville and was an apprentice loan officer at 17. Barnard, 55, is the son of real estate agents in Whittier who began by buying and rehabbing foreclosures for a profit.Despite working side by side the last few years, they have sharply different views about where the market is going.Barnard, who bought five houses around the county as investments shortly before the market peaked, is the optimist. His argument: Population continues to rise, which means demand won't slacken. Builders have switched to making smaller homes, which are more affordable.&amp;quot;A lot of people are sitting on the sidelines,&amp;quot; Barnard says, &amp;quot;but in the middle of summer they'll come back.&amp;quot;Unless they don't, which is why he's encouraging his agents to learn everything they can about foreclosures.Bosch, on the other hand, thinks the residential real estate market will soon revisit the horrible days of the mid-'90s - and then get worse.&amp;quot;I have no doubt that we are entering the next phase of an unprecedented market,&amp;quot; he says. &amp;quot;One that Southern California has never seen.&amp;quot;Sure, there's been employment growth in the area. But much of it, Bosch argues, was related to real estate: construction, lending, appraising, title search, termite inspection, pool building, etc. This was a boom that fed upon itself.The biggest problem, Bosch believes, was created by the lenders. They used to be cautious. They'd want the borrower's tax returns, pay stubs and bank statements, and it would all have to match up. The borrower would make three times his monthly payment. He'd have to scrape together a down payment.Sub-prime loans changed all this. Originally these high-interest loans for credit-challenged buyers were a small segment of the market. But as houses got more expensive, fewer buyers qualified under the traditional guidelines, so they went sub-prime.Lenders would take their word on income. They no longer needed down payments. They didn't worry that their loans would soon reset to higher interest payments.Nobody cared too much as long as prices went up, although many people in the business knew the day of reckoning wasn't canceled but merely postponed. &nbsp;&#187;&nbsp;<a href='http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-fi-foreclose13feb13,0,2786288,full.story'>original news</a>]]></description>
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		<title><![CDATA[Realtor: "Prices will drop another 30% this year"]]></title>
		<link>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Realtor-Prices-will-drop-another-30-this-year-1</link>
		<comments>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Realtor-Prices-will-drop-another-30-this-year-1</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Feb 2007 22:04:10 MST</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>elliotw</dc:creator>
		<category>local news</category>
		<guid>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Realtor-Prices-will-drop-another-30-this-year-1</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Detroit News reports that &amp;quot;Obviously, it isn't a good time to buy a house for a lot of Metro Detroiters.Those who have been laid off or worry they could be soon, who have taken auto buyouts and aren't sure what their next career move will be, who aren't willing to sell their house for a lot less than they think it's worth and those who are living paycheck to paycheck aren't typically good candidates, no matter how good the deal.Even if you are a candidate, University of Michigan senior research specialist Don Grimes urges some caution and realistic expectations.Buyers can get a bargain right now, Grimes said, but he questions whether southeast Michigan's housing market will ever rebound to what it was a decade ago. He cautions buyers against expecting big gains in home values over the next several years.&amp;quot;I have no doubt there are deals to be had,&amp;quot; Grimes said. &amp;quot;But don't go into it expecting appreciation except at the rate of inflation.&amp;quot;But buying a home is a good option for many, Grimes said. &amp;quot;If it's a good situation for you, then do it. If it's not, then wait.&amp;quot;A Glut of Homes has Created the Ultimate Buyers Market:  With buyers in control, they are in no hurry to make an offer and they shouldn't be, Realtors said. House hunters should take their time, look at many homes, research mortgage programs and know their options before making a decision.John Kurczak, a Realtor with Keller Williams Central in Sterling Heights, said his clients are on the lookout for the best deal. Many buyers won't even look at a property unless they can practically steal it, he said.That is why Kurczak warns home sellers against holding onto a house for too long. He advises considering any offer and working with the buyer.&amp;quot;There's an old saying in the real estate businesses that goes: 'Your first offer is your best offer,'a€‚&amp;quot; Kurczak said. &amp;quot;Don't get upset if the offer is too low. Sellers need to understand the buyers' anxieties and work with the buyer; you have to give and take.&amp;quot;Even if the seller has to take a loss, he or she can make up for it by buying another home in the region for less than it is worth, Kurczak pointed out.Experts predict Metro Detroit's housing market will favor buyers for at least another year.Prices will drop another 10 percent to 30 percent in 2007 and begin to stabilize in 2008, said Kurczak, who has seen this up-down cycle many times in his 16-year career. &amp;quot;This is the storm we're going through right now,&amp;quot; &nbsp;&#187;&nbsp;<a href='http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070212/BIZ03/702120370'>original news</a>]]></description>
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		<title><![CDATA["Stagnant Sales, Lower Prices, More Builder Incentives"]]></title>
		<link>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Stagnant-Sales-Lower-Prices-More-Builder-Incentives</link>
		<comments>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Stagnant-Sales-Lower-Prices-More-Builder-Incentives</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 08 Feb 2007 07:55:20 MST</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>elliotw</dc:creator>
		<category>local news</category>
		<guid>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Stagnant-Sales-Lower-Prices-More-Builder-Incentives</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Florida Today reports from the International Builders Show in Orlando with the following news: &amp;quot;Stagnant sales. Lower prices. More builder giveaways and incentives.Those are a few things to watch for in the first half of this year, three of the nation's leading housing economists said Wednesday at the 2007 International Builders' Show in Orlando.The economists -- from the National Association of Home Builders, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- agreed that, after the real estate market reached a peak in the third quarter of 2005, it mostly has been a downhill ride ever since for many markets in the United States.The economists predicted some leveling out, and possible improvement, toward the end of the year. But it could be 18 months to two years before anyone sees a consistent and noticeable trend upward.&amp;quot;We don't think we've seen the bottom,&amp;quot; said David Berson, a chief economist and mortgage market analyst with Fannie Mae, the Federal National Mortgage Association.&amp;quot; &nbsp;&#187;&nbsp;<a href='http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070208/BUSINESS/702080328/1003'>original news</a>]]></description>
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		<title><![CDATA[Texas Leads US in Foreclosures]]></title>
		<link>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Texas-Leads-US-in-Foreclosures</link>
		<comments>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Texas-Leads-US-in-Foreclosures</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Feb 2007 09:14:42 MST</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>chippy</dc:creator>
		<category>local news</category>
		<guid>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Texas-Leads-US-in-Foreclosures</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Austin Business Journal has news on a recently released study which gives Texas the dubious honor of leading the nation in foreclosures: &amp;quot; The state and national foreclosure numbers are in, and they're not pretty.Texas finished 2006 with a total of 156,876 foreclosure filings -- the highest aggregate total of any state, according to a year-end report by foreclosure source RealtyTrac Inc.Texas' total filings equates to a rate of one foreclosure filing for every 51 households -- making it the state with the fourth highest foreclosure rate.Colorado posted the highest foreclosure rate of any state, according to the latest RealtyTrac study -- one filing for every 33 households. Over the course of 2006, Colorado reported a total of 54,747 filings.RealtyTrac also ranked the nation's 100 largest MSAs (metropolitan statistical areas) by its foreclosure rate. The Detroit/Livonia/Dearborn MSA ranked No. 1 at a foreclosure rate of one filing for every 21 households, per the year-end report. A total of 40,219 foreclosures were filed over the course of 2006 in this metropolitan area.So how did San Antonio fare? It was ranked No. 12, with a foreclosure rate of one filing for every 37 households. A total of 14,754 filings were reported in the city over the course of 2006, according to the company.On the national level, more than 1.2 million foreclosure filings were reported nationwide over the course of 2006. That figure represents a 42 percent jump from the number of filings in 2005, and equates to a rate of one foreclosure filling for every 92 U.S. households, the report says.&amp;quot;A 42 percent, year-over-year increase is certainly noteworthy,&amp;quot; RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio says.He attributes the 2006 foreclosure rate to the general slowdown in housing sales.&amp;quot; &nbsp;&#187;&nbsp;<a href='http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2007/01/22/daily47.html'>original news</a>]]></description>
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		<title><![CDATA[Massachusetts Foreclosures Soar]]></title>
		<link>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Massachusetts-Foreclosures-Soar-1</link>
		<comments>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Massachusetts-Foreclosures-Soar-1</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 31 Jan 2007 11:18:05 MST</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>chippy</dc:creator>
		<category>local news</category>
		<guid>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Massachusetts-Foreclosures-Soar-1</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Massachusetts &amp;quot;Republican&amp;quot; is a brief editorial which paints a bleak picture of the real estate market in New England: &amp;quot;Real estate is considered a somewhat reliable investment: homeowners expect to buy low and sell higher, but the equation isn't foolproof.Consider, for example, the fate of homeowners who are forced to sell a house purchased in the midst of a real estate boom that later went bust. They're faced with the predicament of having bought high - and being forced to sell for lower than the balance on their loan. It's a phenomenon that seems to occur every decade or so - and, for many Massachusetts homeowners, the time is now.Foreclosure petitions soared nearly 70 percent in the Bay State in 2006, capping the end of the worst year for the state's housing market in over a decade, according to figures compiled by The Warren Group, a Boston-based publisher of Banker &amp;amp; Tradesman and regional real estate data. And foreclosures are expected to climb again in 2007.Compared to the statewide increase in foreclosure petitions, the situation isn't quite as dire in Western Massachusetts. Foreclosure petitions in Hampshire County jumped 40.1 percent to 213 in 2006; petitions in Franklin County rose 52.4 percent to 192, while petitions rose 54.2 percent in Hampden County to 1,803. Still, nothing to write home about.With the median price of a single-family home increasing annually for 12 years, many people who were priced out of the market were enticed in with attractive loan offers including adjustable-rate and interest-only mortgages. Unfortunately, for many it was a ticket to a foreclosure auction. Hampshire County was the only county in the state where the number of foreclosures that actually went to auction declined in 2006, slipping 4.3 percent to 89, according to the report.Foreclosure auctions are bad news for everyone involved. The homeowner loses the house, the bank loses a customer and gets stuck with a property it doesn't want and the community loses a committed taxpayer.&amp;quot; &nbsp;&#187;&nbsp;<a href='http://www.masslive.com/editorials/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1170238242263820.xml'>original news</a>]]></description>
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		<title><![CDATA[Los Angeles' Economy Cannot Survive High Home Prices]]></title>
		<link>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Los-Angeles-Economy-Cannot-Survive-High-Home-Prices</link>
		<comments>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Los-Angeles-Economy-Cannot-Survive-High-Home-Prices</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 28 Jan 2007 11:19:25 MST</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Asder</dc:creator>
		<category>local news</category>
		<guid>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Los-Angeles-Economy-Cannot-Survive-High-Home-Prices</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[THe Los Angeles Times reports &amp;quot;FOR THE LAST five years, speculators, big developers and homeowners have gorged on Los Angeles real estate. The huge run-up in prices - more than 135% from 2001 to 2006 - has greatly increased the spending power of property owners. Yet there has been a worrisome consequence: Working and middle-class families are moving out - and failing to move in - because they cannot afford a house here. Long term, that's not good for the local economy. As perverse as it sounds, what L.A. needs now is a real estate bust.Recent history is illustrative here. The big and rapid declines in property values in the early 1990s, after the last real estate bubble popped, helped open the door to homeownership for a new generation, many of them immigrants. New owners of delinquent or moribund commercial properties, especially downtown, fueled a spike in business activity, much of it stemming from immigrant and minority entrepreneurship.This time, the L.A. real estate bubble is more likely to deflate gradually than burst. Unlike in the early 1990s, the local economy is not tanking. Since 2000, job creation and income growth have kept pace with the national averages. But home prices have clearly shot up faster than the economy would justify. They have surged 20% higher here than in such economically booming cities as Las Vegas, Phoenix and Reno. L.A. housing costs have risen twice as high as in Portland, Ore., and Seattle and four times as high as in Dallas, Houston and Atlanta.The biggest losers have been middle-class families looking to buy a house in greater L.A.. By last year, less than 15% of L.A. families could afford to buy a median-priced home of about $500,000 - compared with about 50% for home buyers in the rest of the country. Not surprisingly, this has accelerated the movement of working and middle-class families to more affordable regions.One indication of middle-class flight is the rate at which people with bachelor's degrees and higher are leaving Los Angeles. According to the most recent community survey from the U.S. census, such people are moving out at a higher rate than in the late 1990s. From 1995 to 2000, for instance, a net 28,000 people with bachelor's degrees and higher moved out of Los Angeles and Orange counties. In 2004-05, the rate of exodus was almost twice as high....But high-end buyers and elite workers alone cannot sustain large-scale economies. Most companies require a broad range of workers, from highly skilled tradespeople to technicians and middle managers. These are the workers, especially if they live elsewhere or don't own a home here, whom executives frequently complain are difficult to recruit or retain in Southern California.When executives find their employees cannot afford houses in an area, they often move their companies to where they can. Nissan and Countrywide, for instance, have announced plans to shift operations or expand in less-expensive areas.Until the last few years, the Inland Empire offered a viable alternative for workers seeking to buy a home and executives looking to build a workforce. In the early 2000s, the area enjoyed steady growth in such higher-wage sectors as business and professional services, averaging about 5% annually. More upwardly mobile families were moving in than out. By contrast, growth in these high-wage sectors was barely 1% in more expensive Los Angeles and Orange counties combined.By 2005, however, rising home prices in the Inland Empire threatened even this middle-class bastion. Since then, prices have begun to drop and home inventories to swell, two positive developments that may make the region more affordable for middle- and working-class home buyers....A real estate bust or severe price correction could also rescue L.A.'s inner-city revival, including downtown. Contrary to the hype of the condo market, a new study from the Research Institute for Housing America shows that only a small percentage of baby boomers are moving back to the city. Many more either stay in the suburbs or move farther into the hinterland. These were the people, along with foreign buyers and speculators, who were supposed to be the bulk of buyers in the high-end urban condo market.This helps explain why between 10 to 14 condo developments downtown - and similar projects in other cities - have been mothballed or downsized. Yet here too, the bad news may prove to be good news. Lower condo prices might renew the attraction of the inner city for those - singles, young childless couples and artists - who started the back-to-downtown movement.&amp;quot; &nbsp;&#187;&nbsp;<a href='http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-op-kotkin28jan28,1,3730157.story?coll=la-news-comment'>original news</a>]]></description>
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		<title><![CDATA["It's Going to Get Bloody Down Here"]]></title>
		<link>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Its-Going-to-Get-Bloody-Down-Here</link>
		<comments>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Its-Going-to-Get-Bloody-Down-Here</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 27 Jan 2007 11:55:07 MST</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>elliotw</dc:creator>
		<category>local news</category>
		<guid>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Its-Going-to-Get-Bloody-Down-Here</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Wall Street Journal Reports: &amp;quot;Amid a continuing glut of homes for sale in most of the country, buyers should have plenty of choices and lots of bargaining power in the spring selling season - typically the busiest time of the year.Many builders and real-estate brokers, for their part, hope the housing market will start recovering this year as buyers respond to price cuts and other sweeteners offered by increasingly nervous sellers. In some markets, agents say, buyer traffic has picked up in the last month or two.But any recovery is likely to be gradual. Donald Tomnitz, chief executive officer of D.R. Horton Inc., a home builder, told investors this week that the market, which began slumping in 2005, may bottom out by mid-2007, but that &amp;quot;we don't see any rapid improvement thereafter.&amp;quot;advertisement 	Given all that, sellers should expect buyers to take their time and be tougher negotiators. David Lee, who recently moved to Wenham, Mass., to take up a post as an associate professor of physics at Gordon College, has rented a home for his family and says they plan to be &amp;quot;quite picky and choosy&amp;quot; as they look for a home to buy. Dr. Lee doesn't feel any pressure to decide quickly because he figures prices won't rise in the near term and could fall further.A quarterly survey of housing conditions in 28 major metropolitan areas by the Wall Street Journal showed that the inventory of unsold homes at the end of 2006 was up substantially in nearly all of the markets from the already plentiful level of a year earlier. The biggest increases were in the metro areas of Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville, Fla.; Phoenix; and Portland, Ore. (Unlike the other cities, Portland had a lean supply of homes a year before.)...In Miami-Dade, the number of existing condos on the market is enough to last 27 months at the current sales rate, says Jack McCabe, a real-estate consultant in Deerfield Beach, Fla. The oversupply will grow, he says, as about 8,000 condos are expected to be completed this year and 12,000 in 2008.&amp;quot;It's going to get bloody down here,&amp;quot; Mr. McCabe says. He estimates that condo prices in Miami-Dade fell between 8 percent and 10 percent last year and will drop 20 percent in 2007. Eventually, he predicts, hedge funds and other investors will step in to buy surplus condos in bulk at huge discounts.In California's San Diego County, developers have more than 10,000 condos available for sale in new buildings, projects under construction or properties being converted from rentals, says Peter Dennehy, a senior vice president at Sullivan Group Real Estate Advisors, a consulting firm based there. He says that supply is enough to last more than 20 months at the current sales rate. That number excludes several thousand condos being offered for resale by speculators and others.Mr. Dennehy estimates that condo prices have fallen at least 15 percent to 20 percent in the county over the past year, though it's hard to measure price changes because sellers often give incentives such as free upgrades or help with closing costs that aren't reflected in the price.In the Boston area, lower-priced homes in blue-chip neighborhoods are moving pretty quickly. But ones that are overpriced or located on main streets are languishing, says Sam Schneiderman, broker-owner of Greater Boston Home Team. &amp;quot;It's got to be a really good deal,&amp;quot; he says. &amp;quot;An OK deal doesn't quite cut it. Buyers are holding out.&amp;quot;The glut in inventories is likely to increase in some markets as sellers try to take advantage of what they hope will be a stronger selling season. Some sellers pulled their homes off the market late last year, intending to relist them in the spring.&amp;quot; &nbsp;&#187;&nbsp;<a href='http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0125wsj-housing-glut25-ON.html'>original news</a>]]></description>
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		<title><![CDATA[Mortgage defaults in Ventura County Soar 204 percent]]></title>
		<link>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Mortgage-defaults-in-Ventura-County-Soar-204-percent</link>
		<comments>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Mortgage-defaults-in-Ventura-County-Soar-204-percent</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:39:55 MST</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>elliotw</dc:creator>
		<category>local news</category>
		<guid>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Mortgage-defaults-in-Ventura-County-Soar-204-percent</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Ventura County Star reports that: &amp;quot;Mortgage defaults in Ventura County soared 204.2 percent on an annual basis in the fourth quarter of 2006, shooting past a historical average to the highest level in eight years.Serving as the first step in a lengthy process toward foreclosure, notices of default were issued to 794 homeowners in the October-December period, up from 261 the previous year, according to DataQuick Information Systems.	Similar increases were reported this week in nearly all regions surveyed in California, with the overall leap listed at 145.3 percent.In all, 37,273 default notices were sent to homeowners statewide, up from 15,196 in the fourth quarter of 2005.Still, the majority of people do not lose their homes. About 32 percent of homeowners statewide - most of whom took out loans from January 2005 to February 2006 - lost their homes to foreclosure in the fourth quarter. The most susceptible people were identified as homeowners in Merced, Riverside and Tulare counties.Andrew LePage, a spokesman for DataQuick, described the market as &amp;quot;climbing back to normal.&amp;quot;Ventura County's fourth-quarter defaults were the highest since it hit 923 in the first quarter of 1998, but well off the record 1,286 in the second quarter of 1996.The average quarterly total over the past 14 years is 684, indicating the previous year's mark of 261 was unusually low, LePage said Wednesday.&amp;quot;It may be simply that lenders are sending out notices with a lot more zeal because of the weak real estate climate,&amp;quot; said Mark Schniepp, who tracks real estate through the California Economic Forecast Project in Goleta.&amp;quot;It's slightly surprising they ran up this fast,&amp;quot; he said, but added that &amp;quot;we don't see intended problems.&amp;quot; ...Another kink that has added to the rise of defaults are the rise in &amp;quot;inventive&amp;quot; loans made over the last few years, said Marshall Prentice, president of DataQuick.&amp;quot;We're in the midst of an adjusting market right now,&amp;quot; he said, &amp;quot;and we won't know until spring or summer if this is ominous or not.&amp;quot;&amp;quot; &nbsp;&#187;&nbsp;<a href='http://www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/business/article/0,1375,VCS_128_5302982,00.html'>original news</a>]]></description>
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		<title><![CDATA[House Auction Brings Only Low Bids.  Sellers Upset.]]></title>
		<link>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=House-Auction-Brings-Only-Low-Bids-Sellers-Upset</link>
		<comments>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=House-Auction-Brings-Only-Low-Bids-Sellers-Upset</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 25 Jan 2007 00:06:19 MST</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>god</dc:creator>
		<category>local news</category>
		<guid>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=House-Auction-Brings-Only-Low-Bids-Sellers-Upset</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Southwest Florida News-Press reports on a real estate auction that left owners upset... and still owners:&amp;quot;One Cape Coral homeowner left an auction sponsored by the Miloff Aubuchon Realty Group Inc. elated her home fetched a $400,000 bid.Then the bottom fell out.&amp;quot;The bid came over the Internet. They said there was a computer glitch,&amp;quot; said Rosemarie Leibert, 79. &amp;quot;They put it back on auction and the bid was $250,000.&amp;quot;Leibert declined to take the bid.The glitch occurred because the bidder hit $100,000 four times when the first bid didn't go through fast enough, said Marty Higgenbotham, owner of Higgenbotham Auctioneers international Ltd. since 1959.&amp;quot;One glitch out of 850 bids isn't that bad,&amp;quot; Higgenbotham said. &amp;quot;We said we'd like to have seller answers to the bids by Tuesday, but that doesn't mean negotiations don't continue. We probably won't know the results until Friday or Saturday.&amp;quot;The auction last weekend attracted more than 400 during its two-day run at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Bell Tower.&amp;quot;Bidders placed 33 bids on 44 lots, 64 bids on 66 homes and bids on three out of the seven luxury homes,&amp;quot; Higgenbotham said. &amp;quot;We still receive phone calls asking if the homes are sold and can they bid on them.&amp;quot;Neither Miloff Aubuchon officials nor auctioneers would say how many bids were accepted by 5 p.m. Tuesday. At both days of the auction everyone spoken to said the bids came in too low and no one expected them to be accepted.Leibert was upset with the auction, calling it a &amp;quot;farce.&amp;quot; She believes the bids were too low and the auction didn't deliver serious bidders.&amp;quot; &nbsp;&#187;&nbsp;<a href='http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070124/RE/701240443/1075'>original news</a>]]></description>
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		<title><![CDATA[Kentucky Rates High in Foreclosures]]></title>
		<link>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Kentucky-Rates-High-in-Foreclosures</link>
		<comments>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Kentucky-Rates-High-in-Foreclosures</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Jan 2007 08:58:07 MST</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>popo</dc:creator>
		<category>local news</category>
		<guid>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Kentucky-Rates-High-in-Foreclosures</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&amp;quot;It's the economy, stupid.&amp;quot;James Carville's famous slogan from the 1992 presidential election also explains why Kentucky's mortgage foreclosure rate is the fifth highest in the nation, economists and mortgage bankers say.&amp;quot;While things are going well, they aren't going as well in Kentucky as they are in the rest of the country,&amp;quot; said Ken Troske, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Kentucky.&amp;quot;Our unemployment has tended to be a little higher&amp;quot; than the national average and the number of manufacturing jobs, which generally pay higher wages, has &amp;quot;fallen quite a bit in this state,&amp;quot; Troske said.Relief is on the way, said Mike Fratantoni, senior economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. Unemployment rates are falling, and interest rates are flat. Declining foreclosure rates will follow, although they probably won't show up in the numbers before mid-2007, he said.Job loss and rising interest rates are major causes of foreclosure. So are personal crises, such as health problems and large medical bills. If the borrower falls too far behind in mortgage payments, the last resort for the lender is to foreclose on the loan and have the house sold at auction to cover the debt.Kentucky is now lumped with the &amp;quot;Rust Belt&amp;quot; states of Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, plus Mississippi, which was battered by Hurricane Katrina, at the top of the latest National Delinquency Survey for the third quarter of 2006.Fratantoni, whose association does the survey, said a common thread runs through Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Michigan: the auto industry.Kentucky, which has General Motors and Ford assembly plants, plus dozens of parts suppliers, &amp;quot;has been impacted by the problems the domestic automakers are having ... just not to the same extent&amp;quot; as the other three states, Fratantoni said.Ohio leads the nation with a 3.32 percent foreclosure rate, compared with Kentucky's 1.76 percent.Chris Evans, president of the Mortgage Bankers Association of Kentucky, said the state's economy is &amp;quot;the true driving force&amp;quot; behind the delinquency rate, but there are other factors.&amp;quot;I think we have had some aggressive lending practices in Kentucky,&amp;quot; Evans said, especially involving so-called sub-prime loans made to borrowers with credit problems or low income.The loans often have high interest rates that can become a problem if the borrower encounters new financial difficulties or if interest rates rise and the loan has an adjustable rate.&amp;quot;In the process of growing the number of people who have home ownership in Kentucky, you are ultimately going to grow the number of foreclosures,&amp;quot; Evans said.Borrowers aren't the only groups affected by rising foreclosures, however.&amp;quot;We have seen numerous sub-prime companies literally close -- companies that were buying loans from brokers and banks,&amp;quot; Evans said. &amp;quot;They shut their doors because they had gotten a little bit too broad on what they were allowing to come in the door, and their delinquency rates are hitting them.&amp;quot;The industry can't survive with excessive delinquency rates,&amp;quot; he added.Nationwide, foreclosure rates began falling after the last recession ended in 2002, Fratantoni said.The 2002 peak was 1.51 percent, but by the third quarter of 2005, the national average was down to 0.97 percent. It began ticking up, reaching 1.05 percent by Sept. 30, when Kentucky's rate was 1.76 percent.Other trends are mixed, Fratantoni said. The nation's unemployment rate slid from above 7 percent during the recession to less than 5 percent, but the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates.&amp;quot;That, over time, has led to significant increases in payments for borrowers with adjustable rate mortgages,&amp;quot; he said. &amp;quot;Some of those borrowers have had trouble making those payments and we have seen delinquency rates go up.&amp;quot;The Fed stopped raising rates in June 2006.&amp;quot;Our forecast has the Fed on hold for the next couple of years,&amp;quot; Fratantoni said, but &amp;quot;the impact of increased short-term rates on adjustable-rate-mortgage borrowers is going to keep working its way through the market for the next couple of quarters.&amp;quot;And &amp;quot;unless we have a serious downturn in the economy, we won't get back to those 2002 levels, which was driven by the recession,&amp;quot; he said. &amp;quot;We are not forecasting a recession. We think the economy is on a pretty solid footing.&amp;quot; &nbsp;&#187;&nbsp;<a href='http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/16510769.htm'>original news</a>]]></description>
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