Foreclosure Alert: No Kitchen and No Bath at 30 E. Huron
Thanks to the Tipster who directed my attention to this 1-bedroom foreclosure in 30 E. Huron in River North.
We’ve seen condo units missing their kitchens before- but this one is missing the kitchen AND the bathroom.
Yes- it is a foreclosure and is now bank-owned.
Anyone have some “vision”?
Amalgamated Real Estate has the listing.
Unit #1010: 1 bedroom, 1 bath, no square footage listed
- Sold in March 2006 for $318,000
- Bank owned in June 2008
- Currently listed for $172,000 (I can’t tell if that includes a parking spot or not but it looks like it might)
- Assessments of $333 a month
- Taxes of $3872
- Washer/dryer allowed
- No central air- wall units
- Bedroom: 12×16
- Living room: 16×14
- Kitchen: 10×9
I really wish banks would go after people like this owner for criminal vandalism. I know since the mortgage is in your name you have a wide berth to customize your apartment, but how could any judge or jury not see this for the vandalism it is.
Was this vandalism or a failed renovation flipper you ditched after demo? I currently don’t see graffiti.
HEY ITS A JASON SPECIAL!! John, this is clearly a case where they vandalized. I look at foreclosures all the time and people love to rip out the cabinets when they are getting evicted.
Too early for me to think or do my own research right now, but does anyone know what this place could rent for?
I know since the mortgage is in your name…
A mortgage is a legal document that ties a promissory note to a piece of property. You own the property but the bank has a lien on it.
Not to mention, this puts you on a slippery slope… Should the bank be allowed to vote yes or no on all renovations? What about hanging bad artwork? That could diminish the value. Should you be allowed to paint any color other than off-white? That could diminish the value.
The bank takes a risk when it loans someone money. The risk of destroying the collateral is supposed to be something they consider. They used to consider it. But like many other risks, they threw caution out the window and gave anyone and everyone a loan.
Well, they did the trim, the floor, lights, etc.? Perhaps it was vandalized and then someone went in and finished the demo later?
But Tipster, the CW is that there is no such thing as a homeowner when a mortgage is outstanding–everyone ios a “homedebtor” and are just renting from the Bank. Of course, that attitude makes it more acceptable to just dump the property back on the bank, a practice that most of the “homedebtor” spouters claim to disapprove of.
I’m going with flipper who ran out of money. Look at the doorways.
Tipster is correct. You are not renting from the bank. It is your property. You are using it as collateral. IF people think that way when they buy a house, they are not educated enough to engage in such a transaction. You just don’t dump it on the bank.
However, i still agree that it is a good thing if you can own your own home and your mortgage is cheaper than rent.
Just to elaborate. Lets say you own your home free and clear. Then you take out a mortgage or burden your property to buy say, a boat. (Just an example.) Are you then renting your house from the bank? No. Of course not.
How old is this building? Was there really a need to renovate before flipping the unit, if that’s what happened?
I believe this was an American Invsco flip. I went to look at this building back in 2005. The developer offered complete unit overhauls so I am not sure what unit 1010 is up to. The best you could do for a washer and dryer was an under sink unit in the kitchen. The building has no sprinkler system (future special assessment) and the parking garage was difficult to navigate. For me, the lack of a sprinkler system was a deal breaker.
Try missing a few payments on your mortgage and see what happens. Your paperwork might say that you ‘own’ the home but for $2,000 in attorneys fees the bank will take it from you in less than one years time.
Does anyone have the time to CCRD the unit? I’ve got too much gonig on today to research this particular unit.
Actually, one year is a pretty long time. Then you have redemption rights, it takes a lot to foreclose.
Documents for PIN:17-10-104-037-1020
Document No. Document Type Date Recorded Grantor/Trust No. Grantee/Trust No. Prior Document
0817208081 DEED 06/20/2008 KALLEN RLTY SERV INC DEUTSCHE BK NATL TRUST CO
0809909065 LIEN 04/08/2008 BOARD MGRS OF 30 E HURON CONDO ASSN ZAGURI AVRAHAM
0731747058 ASSIGNMENT 11/13/2007 WASHINGTON MUTU DEUTSCHE BK NATL TRUST CO 0609453196
0726422058 LIS PENDENS 09/21/2007 DEUTSCHE BK NATL TRUST CO ZAGURI AVRAHAM 0609453196
0722550021 MECHANICS LIEN 08/13/2007 MAS SPLY INC ZAGURI AVRAHAM
0634718041 RELEASE 12/13/2006 AAREAL BK AG 30 E HURON LLC 0505439086
0634718042 RELEASE 12/13/2006 AAREAL BK AG 30 E HURON LLC 0505439087
0617045078 QUIT CLAIM DEED 06/19/2006 AAREAL BK 30 EAST HURON LLC
0609453195 WARRANTY DEED 04/04/2006 30 E HURON LLC ZAGURI AVRAHAM
0609453196 MORTGAGE 04/04/2006 ZAGURI AVRAHAM LONG BEACH MTG CO
0607518061 QUIT CLAIM DEED 03/16/2006 AAREAL BK AG 30 E HURON LLC 0505439086
0607518062 QUIT CLAIM DEED 03/16/2006 AAREAL BK AG 30 E HURON LLC 0505439086
0516845120 PARTIAL RELEASE 06/17/2005 AAREAL BK AG 30 E HURON LLC 0505439086
0509518067 MODIFICATION 04/05/2005 30 E HURON LLC AAREAL BK 0505439086
0506741151 FINANCING STATEMENT 03/08/2005 30 EAST HURON LLC AAREAL BK AG
0505439086 MORTGAGE 02/23/2005 30 E HURON LLC AAREAL BK AG
0505439087 ASSIGNMENT 02/23/2005 JPMORGAN CHASE BK FRANCIS PAUL J
0418410049 MORTGAGE 07/02/2004 30 E HURON LLC AAREAL BK AG
0418410050 ASSIGNMENT 07/02/2004 30 E HURON LLC AAREAL BK AG
0405834042 CONDOMINIUM DECLARATION 02/27/2004 30 EAST HURON LLC PUBLIC
How much do you think it will cost to fix up this unit?
John:
Fix it with the (roundly despised) “home depot special” cabinets, fixtures, etc., or with something nicer? And are you contracting it all out, or doing some (even just painting, other simple stuff) yourself?
Thanks Jason. Avraham Zaguri, the former owner, has got some serious financial issues going on right now. 3 foreclosures and a $162,000 IRS lien. Failed flipper extraordinaire. My guess is this guy stole the fixtures and sold them on ebay for gas money.
http://www.ccrd.info/CCRD/controller?commandflag=searchByNameID&optflag=SearchCommand&county=il031&userid=null&userCategory=7&nameid=-3050984&partytype=I&name=ZAGURI%2BAVRAHAM&officeid=70&fromdate=01/01/1985&todate=09/15/2008&lastname=zaguri%20avraham&SEARCH_SELECTED=
The post above is from a different John than me who posted earlier. Just an FYI
Its amazing the number of foreign names that got involved in this bubble. I know Chicago is metropolitan and all but just take a look at the names all over 1620 S Michigan as an example. It looks like the boat from Lithuania just docked at the lake.
I suspect a lot of foreigners were lured here by stories of quick riches. And I suppose it worked for a time.
Homedelete, I concurr. I see it all the time.
Price to fix: If I did it myself I bet I could do it for under $10K. I would only mfix it to the point that it is a nice rental. The kitchen is small. (I’d have to look at it, if all the electiral is gone, that could be a problem.) is small.
Maybe the fixture would fetch some money, but the wood trim and doors are scrap, so that is why I originally posted the question it must be a failed flipper instead of disgruntled owner-occupied foreclosure.
BTW: I have also noticed a trend in my research. There are alot of people who came here from overseas and pulled this act. Almost everyone that I have research abandoned the property and returned to thier home country.
(Not an immigrint hater or anything, just an observation.)
Sorry about spelling.
You would be surprised at what people will take.
“alot of people who came here from overseas and pulled this act”
They didn’t necessarily have to come. But that’s why many banks have ceased mortgage lending to foreign nationals.
“You would be surprised at what people will take”
Hey, they can use it in their *other* flip!
Exactly.
It does all so make me realize that the taxpayers have to fix the damage these actions caused our economy.
Jason – YOU HAVE NO IDEA the level of fraud by foreigners in this housing debacle. I am in the Miami area now, and the amount of fraud and mortgage fraud whereby foreigners came in and literally lied their way to hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars is mind boggling. These people have NO concern about our country or its citizens. They robbed (albeit stupid) banks blind and now we are paying big time. I hate to say it but it was people from the Caribbean, Africa, Mexico, and South America that were the worst in this area. If Americans knew the extent to which these foreigners ripped us off, we’d be sending out CIA squads to get them. It accumulated to a level of financial terrorism. These groups of foreign fraudsters have no conscience about robbing the US and really no sense that you work and you get paid, their concept of money is very 3rd world and think thieving is OK and they won’t get caught since they just jump back on a plane and they are gone. If Americans knew there would be a huge backlash against deadbeat foreigners. From what I have seen, I am speechless……very very very stupid banks who modeled on the assumption that these people cared about their credit scores…..what a joke!
As throughout American history, a lot of foreigners come here without a dime in their pocket or any employable skills. The barriers to entry are tremendously high in a lot of professions (educational requirements, pedigree, licensing, etc). They viewed real estate as one way to make some money with the only barrier to entry being cash, just like owning a convenience store, restaurant or dry cleaner. But the invention of the zero down NINJA loan removed that barrier and the immigrants came through the flood gates.
John:
Many times her in chicago it involves eastern euros and russians (and, of course, plenty of local criminals). Sometimes it’s organized crime–they have the $$ and organization to make it look like an individual has assets, a job (or prospects) locally and then also have the follow-on buyer (often less than 90 days later) at a big mark-up.
Then they’ve cashed out several hundres thousand dollars and never make any payments on the 95-100% financing. That’s where you get the lis pendens filed 6 months after deed recording.
I’ve also spoken to different foreigners who aren’t the ones holding the bag on this mess and candidly they chuckle about their fellow foreigners were able to get away with this. The attitude is unbelievable. I guess this is what happens with easy lending standards and no real relationship between the bank and its customers.
John and Homedelete:
I would add Eastern Europeans to the list also. (Alot of people from Poland.)
Basically, I agree with both of you. I just didn’t want to sound like a bigot.
I suspect that if the government did some research on this, they would discover that this was really the bigger problem, not so much people buying into the american dream and getting ARMS (Which are getting a worse rap then they deserve.)
Of course, if any politicial would point this out they would be shouted down as being a bigot.
Many of these people got loans, cahsed out and left also.
HUGE problem. Makes me wish the banks would just fail.
In the huge bubble market collapse that is the Miami market, foreigners played a huge huge role.
All it took was one ethically challenged (or criminally minded) broker and a like-minded appraiser and you had the basis for a multi-million dollar scam. WaMu, IndyMac and plenty of others were more than happy to oblige.
Amazing how we all agree on this…many didn’t make payments at all. I agree with the above posts, which were drafted while I was drafting my last.
If this was made into an issue, Americans would demand no more money for foreign countries ever. Seriously, foreign scammers were running wild in Miami…and bragging about it!
There’s nothing bigotted about complaining about foreigners defrauding the system. It’s what foreginers think is American way, the American dream. Again, these people don’t have any skills that are worth a dime in the US. They don’t want to be stuck working at McDonalds. So they lie, cheat and steal in real estate instead. But the scary thing is that they actually think they’re making money and being legitimate. They don’t understand what they’re doing isn’t making money – it’s stealing. There’s a reason the places these people came from are 3rd world. The reason isn’t colonialism or imperialism either.
homedelete – While I agree that the foreigners from 3rd world countries don’t usually have a ton of skills, they know when they are stealing, they know when they are dealing drugs, they know when they don’t have car insurance. They aren’t innocent in that sense whatsoever. They will smirk about it when asked. They also know enough when to skip the country. Wasn’t there some east european developer in Chicago that after imploding simply left the country?
John, if it makes you feel any better, the banks were lending money that mostly came from foreigners.
“HUGE problem. Makes me wish the banks would just fail.”
I really think that, if you could get the data, very few of the outright fraudulent situations involved loans originated directly by an employee of a bank or other actual lender. The mortgage brokers ran wild and the banks suspended their risk management practices in order to (a) keep up market share and (b) chase the last available dime, better judgment be damned. Unfortunately for all of us, in addition to the over-agressive and under-qualified mortgage brokers, there were too many grifters, fraudsters and mobsters who saw the ready opening for rampant criminality.
If jail doesn’t scare you, how could you pass up the free money that was being thrown around? Buy a condo for $300k with zero down, using one associate to broker the mortgage, another to be the Realtor, and another to appraise it (first cut of the scam–probably about $15k, b/t the realtor and mtg broker commissions). Then, re-list as a flip (never make a payment, b/c yuo know you’ll close in 90 days–a/k/a before you can get a 60 day default notice, if you time your initial closing right) doing the same thing at close, but this time for $500k. You’ll get a mtg broker commission again, on top of clearing nearly $200k. You’ve got 3 principals and 2 other people in on it, and you’ve made over $200k in less than 6 months. Expand your network of straw buyers, make them all into mini-Trumps with 8 or 10 or 20 properties each, and pretty soon you’re pulling down millions in a year. Just make sure you get some legitimate business, too, or the goose will be dead too quickly.
“Wasn’t there some east european developer in Chicago that after imploding simply left the country?”
Yeah, some Lithuanian dude. And I’m sure plenty of smaller builders ditching on smaller buildings. But the Lithuanian dude was building some 10+ story condos.
I think the talk about “financial terrorism” is way over the top. I don’t doubt that foreigners came in and took advantage of the lax standards at banks, made some money and left (though I have no way of checking the visa status of foreign-sounding names). But lots of Americans did so as well,bought boats, SUVs after cashing out, and are screwing their own country (just think of the phenomenon of buy and bail, vandalizing homes in foreclosure, etc). Since citizens took advantage of the system – in spite of their patriotism, why blame foreigners for doing the same?
Ultimately, the banks failed miserably: It was up to them to verify visa/citizenship status, ensure adequate downpayment, income, accurate appraisals… With these safeguards in place, it would have been difficult for anybody to screw the system.
And I don’t know what kind of foreigners you know: But foreigners in Europe that I have talked to are worried about the effect the disaster here will have on their local economy.
The Miami Herald had a series of articles on all the convicted felons who had mortgage broker licenses. It was utterly shocking especially when there were quite a few felons with money fraud convictions….
Many were foreigners but a lot were just plain scam artists and ex-cons. The Trib has done a couple of stories about these mortgage fraud type scams involving regular Americans. We as Americans did this to ourselves with our greed and mania.
“But foreigners in Europe that I have talked to are worried about the effect the disaster here will have on their local economy.”
I think a lot of them are also worried about their own local property market collapse. The real estate bubble (and ill-advised MEW) was hardly limited to the US–the UK, Ireland, Spain, Australia all have big declines happening or coming soon.
Exactly.
I don’t blame the foreigners so much as the banks that allowed all this to happen. I have no doubt that there were many ponzi schemes enacted as described above, however. We see properties and listing activity all the time on here that supports such a theory.
At the end of the day people who worked the system, legally or not, worked it because the banks were complicit. We can’t forget that.
Rachel,
There is nothing wrong with taking equity out of your house and buying a boat.
As long as you are willing to pay the price. I seriously think that regular people who just bought a place to live in were more victims than part of the proble. Any most people are just stuck with thier homes right now.
There is a huge difference between the people who knew what they were doing “intent” and people who were just stupid. And the foriegn fraud is massive, I bet it comes out one day.
Yes, banks are to blame also. But just because I see a little old lady walking down the street with a purse doesn’t me I steal it from her just becuase I know I can.
And as a result of these frauds and over HELOCs property prices went sky high. Chicago did not go as high as the coasts but still high nonetheless. Prices are rapidly returning to the mean now that the funny money and fraud has dried up. I can’t wait for today’s $300k new construction condo reach the bottom at $175 or $200k.
I hope it is not that bad! 😉
Oh it’ll be that bad. The REO attorney in the office next to me said she had a new construction condo north of irving that sold for $459k in 2006; it foreclosed earlier this year, is in great shape, and just sold a few weeks ago for the mid-200’s. No that is not a typo. The mid 200’s is an affordable price for two late 20’s, early 30 somethings each making $45 or $50k a year. That’s the demo for the north of irving east of western crowd looking at new construction condos. How it ever sold for $459k is beyond me. I don’t know how many beds it has.
“north of irving east of western crowd looking at new construction condos. How it ever sold for $459k is beyond me”
Three (or six) unit building? It’s spillover from the pricing of similar places south of Irving, along Damen, which draws on the pricing east of the UP North line, which draws on pricing of similar places in LP. Each step you (supposedly) get either “more” (space, ameneties, whatever) for the same price or the same for less $$. Undoubtedly, the buyer was convinced that something similar in LP would have cost $200k more, and they just couldn’t afford it.
You can’t really lay 100% of the blame for making lots of bad loans on the banks. After all, they were required by US federal policy (particularly in regards to the CRA) to loosen their lending standards so as not to appear biased against giving loans to people in ‘risky’ areas. This was further complicated by banks outsourcing their loan brokerage, and of course through the securitization of large numbers of loans – each steps that make the entity actually providing the loan money very far removed from the people making the decision whether or not someone should get a loan. It’s not like bank executives nationwide were gleefully thinking of ways to throw their money away on risky, underpriced loans.
There is a circular aspect to all this and I’m not sure exactly where “the problem” started, but my best guess right now is that a whole lot of people in different positions acted some combination of 1) very dumb, 2) very unethically, and 3) illegally to create this national and international debacle.
“There is a circular aspect to all this and I’m not sure exactly where “the problem” started, but my best guess right now is that a whole lot of people in different positions acted some combination of 1) very dumb, 2) very unethically, and 3) illegally to create this national and international debacle.”
And it ballooned when the unethical and criminal noticed that the gatekeepers who weren’t also unethical or criminal were either (a) very dumb, (b) disinterested in anything other than their growing bonus checks, or (c) both.
IIRC the lawyer told me that it was a 6 unit building and somehow, through whatever means – fraud, developer default, etc. – half of the 6 units are in foreclosure. I can’t really get any more specific because I don’t know. This lawyer is in the office next to me at a different office and don’t travel there very often. It was brief conversation because I had to leave. Nevertheless, mid-$200k for a condo in lincoln square or north center or andersonville, or where ever – this condo is a pretty good deal, and is affordable for the neighborhood. It seems priced right for a 26 year old paralegal type making $50k a year and her boyfriend/financee who probably makes around the same. She kept trying to get me to buy one of the units which I thought was kind of funny. She also pointed out a comp killer in Old Irving which made me laugh!
““north of irving east of western crowd looking at new construction condos. How it ever sold for $459k is beyond me”
Three (or six) unit building? It’s spillover from the pricing of similar places south of Irving, along Damen, which draws on the pricing east of the UP North line, which draws on pricing of similar places in LP. Each step you (supposedly) get either “more” (space, ameneties, whatever) for the same price or the same for less $$. Undoubtedly, the buyer was convinced that something similar in LP would have cost $200k more, and they just couldn’t afford it.”
“each steps that make the entity actually providing the loan money very far removed from the people making the decision whether or not someone should get a loan.”
Fraud and everything else aside this is precisely the primary breakdown. These toxic mortgage backed securities were sold to investors, often foreign wealth funds and the like and those that couldn’t be sold in time were held by the banks that originated the securities. These investors must have “assumed” these securities were safe. Why I have no idea. The models for default rates on these securities were based on historical data, but historical data had lending standards. Why they would assume that default rates were a constant over timem when lending standards weren’t is beyond me.
We should _not_ have a bailout to unload these toxic, illiquid securities from the banks and foreign investors. The only way to prevent a repeat of this fiasco in the future is to let the chips fall where they may. If you’re not minding the till you can lose the store.
I know damn well if I’m investing my own money what it is I’m buying and the risks involved. These banks were supposedly financially savvy being Wall Street and foreign investors should have done their homework. No bailout.
I just don’t get the $700 billion number. How is that possible? Is there $700 billion of bad mortgage debt out there? That seems unlikely to me, like a bunch of huey. But I am not an economist, so I don’t know.
“the $700 billion number. How is that possible?”
There’s more than that out there, Jason. The current Moody’s estiamte is that 22% of ALL mortgages made in 2006 will default. Now, does $700B of “bad mortgage debt” mean that there is $700B in losses? No, but if it’s reasonable to think that it might be $350B in losses (it is reasonable), then someone buying it will only offer **maybe** half of the reasonable expectation to account for the unknown risk and the very large numbers involved–and even that only if the seller provides some sort of financing. Now you’re down 75%, and many of the sellers can’t afford to take that kind of recognized hit to their capital, especially if they are also lending against it.
The scary things to me about the current proposal are (1) what’s the basis for valuation? are we going to be paying par for this junk? and (2) it’s a revolving $700B–if the Treasury sells ome of the $700B, then they can buy more. No more than $700B at any one time, but it could be multiples of that.
Someone is going to get very rich off of this.
We can’t even begin to quantify the losses until two things happen: 1) home valuations stabilize and 2) default rates stabilize.
I don’t think the government should be an active player in wanting to maintain the lofty valuations of the bubble, so I think their quest for #1 is a bit misguided. As a renter on the sidelines who is unwilling to spend a huge premium on ownership I think I am justified in wanting the government to stay OUT of real estate and let valuations fall where they may. As far as default rates, they are closely linked in with the first goal.
The “lithuanian dude” had many projects going on around the city. All of them were broke. His reasons for leaving the country is that he feared for his safety. His main lender was Indy-Mac, go figure!
Kinda off subject….but do you guys think this would be a good investment. Does it make sense to buy it fix it up and rent it out? Positive cash flow? or Neg cash flow?
Do you think it would rent for 1850+? And can you get the reno done for ~$30k? Then, yeah, it’s a good investment that would cashflow nicely.
If it would rent for
Is there ANYone who sees this banking bailout as anything other than an attempt to get the taxpayer to pay off the gambling debts of bankers and Wall Street investment firms? For anyone who thinks it would be good for the country in any way, I’ve got a bridge to sell you (or perhaps some MBS debt backed by Miami condos).
I think everyone here is in agreement that this is not good. The feds just keep moving us from one bubble to the next. In the end the markets have to win and prices will rationalize. The stock market is still too high and housing prices need to come down another 10% easily (at least in Chicago). They’re just postponing the inevitable.
What’s really troublesome is that they feel compelled to support the unrealistic housing prices at a time when affordability is still a problem and, as if this mortgage acquisition extravaganza isn’t enough, congress wants to add in a bunch of other provisions “to help out homeowners”. Uhhhh….I think buying $700B of mortgages will help out homeowners.
*Do you think it would rent for 1850+? And can you get the reno done for ~$30k? Then, yeah, it’s a good investment that would cashflow nicely.*
You can do it for under 30K. No problem. I would be interested but I have my own project right now. Also, I would not pay more than $150K for that place.
“I think buying $700B of mortgages will help out homeowners”
How so, Gary? Just b/c the Treasury holds the mortgages, doesn’t make their payments more affordable and won’t make it possible to re-fi when they’re 20% underwater.
“For anyone who thinks it would be good for the country in any way”
“I think everyone here is in agreement that this is not good.”
Um, it isn’t “good”, but when the alternative is far, far worse, maybe “good” is too much to hope for.
The treasury is going to pay more for those mortgages than the lenders will be able to get in the market. That’s going to free up capital which will lower mortgage rates which will support home prices – at least more than they would have been otherwise. I think this is unfortunate because the prices need to come down.
The other disturbing aspect of this is that they aren’t just trying to avoid a depression (a worthwhile goal) but they are trying to stimulate us away from even a recession. I think we need the recession to clear out the excesses.
Gary:
They’re **terrified** of deflation and believe that a recession right now will bring with it meaningnful deflation.
And did you see this: Wells Fargo Jumbo 30 year fixed mortgage rates are now at 9.0%? Stevo’s mortgage rate projections are looking pretty rough.
They have reason to be terrified. Look at a yahoo chart of the yield on the 30-year treasury from 1984 to today. The long-term trend is obvious and the problem is the floor is either the CPI or 0. You can’t go any lower.
Yeah, I’m always mystified by the belief that we’re either on the brink of inflation or deflation – as if there is no middle ground. We’ve got inflated house prices and still high energy costs. Just this morning Bernanke was talking about inflation. It’s not binary.
Bottom line is that the market can’t support unaffordable housing. It has to come down and until it does all the government can do is muck up the market. Well…I guess they can keep us out of a depression.
Gary, I agree 100%.
No one *likes* recessions, but how long can we artificially support the economy anyway? Everything is cyclical and every once in a while, prices have to go down so that later prices will go up. Unless that is, worldwide inflation becomes rampant. Which I guess is what kinda happened…. hmm…..
Gary,
I agree with you…And that talk of additional measures to help home owners makes me nauseous: What about future home-owners?? Or permanent renters? I guess only some main street citizens matter…
Due to Japanese government intervention their housing prices did not bottom until 13 years after the peak. Trillions were wiped out with the combined collapse of the Tokyo stock and real estate markets.
Our government cannot stop the bottom, they will just throw around (waste) taxpayer money trying to slow the decline or temporarily halt it.
The main issue is affordability: wages did not rise at a level commensurate with housing appreciation. In fact they didn’t rise at all over the past eight years in real terms.
So, are you saying I should get out of the condo-flipping business? 😉
I am actually very worried about the future, including that of our kids and grandkids. We will be paying for this bailout and the war for decades to come.
Wait, aren’t the Iraqi’s supposed to pay us back?
Warren Buffet quote from cnbc today:
I think the Treasury will pay back the $700 billion and make a considerable amount of money, Buffett said, adding that if he had $700 billion on the government’s terms to buy distressed assets, he would.
In that case, I’d almost rather the government give Buffet a trillion dollar low-interest loan to buy the banks’ junk. He’d manage the money a hell of a lot better than Paulson would.
Re: Rentals
There are a number of units for rent already in the building, and most of them took at least a month to rent out – several are still languishing even after 3 months (and have now missed the rental season). You could probably rent it fairly quickly at $1600 if it has a nice view and the under counter w/d. Any more than that and it will sit.
Interesting reading these comments that blame only foreigners for vandalizing their homes and leaving the country. From viewing many myself, I think this scenario may hold true in Florida but may not be that rampant here in Chicago. MANY American owners, esp those who lost big in investments or lost their jobs do this type of damage…that good old sense of entitlement and an “if I can’t have it no one else will mentality.
Re installing the kitchen and bath, if done without the usual HD materials, I would say around $30k to bring it back doing a good detailed job…and with a sales price of $172, it might be worth considering after a thorough buyer paid inspection and either a cash sale or a first time buyer FHA program which would lend funds and hold them through out the rehab process. It is possible, but not without proper procedures followed.
….above should be edited to read “good ole AMERICAN sense of entitlement…