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Weird Housing Tales, Part 11

Is this one screwed up housing market or what?

In some areas of the country, residential property prices are reaching new lows. The Associated Press wrote last night:

With a winning bid of just $1.75, a Chicago woman has won an auction for an abandoned home in Saginaw. Joanne Smith, 30, recently was the top bidder for the home during an auction on eBay, The Saginaw News reported. Her bid was one of eight for the home.

“I am going to try and sell it,” she told the newspaper. “I don’t have any plans to move to Saginaw.”

Smith said she hasn’t seen the property or visited Saginaw, which has been hard-hit by economic troubles in recent years.

There’s a notice on the door of the home saying a foreclosure hearing is pending, the newspaper said. She must pay about $850 in back taxes and yard cleanup costs.

However, in other parts of the United States, not only are prices holding up, but homeowners actually still see themselves as part of some exclusive club— with the “unclean” not welcome.

From the latest issue of HOMESPLUS, a free monthly real estate magazine:

A Texas homeowners association says a nearly new Ford truck isn’t good enough to be left out in a driveway overnight.

Owner Jim Greenwood has gotten three notices telling him to get the truck out of the driveway or face a $50 fine per event, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

The homeowners association of the gated community called Stonebriar Village in Frisco, Texas, does, however, allow more prestigious brand trucks such as Lincolns to be parked in driveways. Greenwood tried to explain to the board during a July meeting that his truck and the Lincoln Mark LT were constructed on the same assembly line and basically the same vehicle. He claims a board member responded by telling him that “Lincoln markets to a different class of people.”

Chalk one up for Chevy lovers and snobs.

Source: Custom Names & Signs

Sources:

“Bid of $1.75 on eBay gets abandoned Saginaw home”
Associated Press, October 1, 2008

“No Fords Allowed In Texas Driveway”
HOMESPLUS, September 11-October 15, 2008

Weird Housing Tales, Part 10

From the Chicago Reader’s “News Of The Weird” yesterday:

Landlord Richard Ott, 30, was arrested in Newark, Delaware, in August after becoming furious with a tenant couple who’d fallen behind in their rent. According to police, Ott hopped in his Hummer and smashed it into the couple’s front door. When the wife dialed 911 for help, Ott reportedly said, “Tell the police it’s the landlord that tore up the building.”

“N-Ott Cool”

Source:

“Unclear on the Concept”
Chuck Shepherd
Chicago Reader, September 4, 2008

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Weird Housing Tales, Part 9

I was waiting for a story like this one. From the accessAtlanta website last week:

Things couldn’t look better three years ago for Milton and Patricia Harper of Lake City, who giddily accepted the keys to a small castle, plus enough money to pay taxes on it for 25 years.

Now, the Clayton County house that “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” built is a two-story, turreted example of how things can go wrong. It’s in foreclosure.

The Harpers used the house at 5489 Ahyoka Drive as collateral for a $450,000 loan, Clayton County mortgage records show. Records at the law firm handling foreclosures for the lender, JPMorgan Chase Bank, say it is in foreclosure. The four-bedroom house with decorative rock walls and a three-car garage is scheduled for auction on the Clayton County Courthouse steps Aug. 5.

Mark Davis, the author of the piece, said that the home took six days to build back in January 2005. Atlanta-based Beazer Homes USA and “Extreme Makeover” demolished the Harpers’ previous home due to a faulty septic system. In its place, professionals and volunteers built the largest home ever for the popular television show. Furthermore, Beazer Homes’ employees and company partners raised $250,000 for the family, which was to provide for scholarships for the three Harper children and a home maintenance fund.

Hope the $250,000 isn’t gone as well…

Source:

“‘Extreme Makeover’ home in Atlanta in foreclosure”
Mark Davis
accessAtlanta, July 25, 2008

Weird Housing Tales, Part 8

From the Chicago Tribune this weekend:

A mortgage broker took a different road. The Sharpsville, Pa., man has been sentenced to three to 15 months in jail and must pay more than $174,000 to an insurance company because he gutted his $1.2 million home, which was in foreclosure and scheduled to be sold at a sheriff’s auction.

Authorities said he stripped cabinets, toilets, a whirlpool bath, locks, garage doors and other items, which led to his conviction on charges of defrauding his creditors.

The man argued in his own defense, stating that he didn’t know he couldn’t take the items with him. The judge said he didn’t buy that, noting that the man had been in the mortgage business.

“Who Knew?”

Source:

“Can’t take it with you”
Mary Umberger
Chicago Tribune, July 6, 2008

Weird Housing Tales, Part 7

Here’s one casualty of the U.S. housing crisis that no one talks about: Marriages. Don Moore from divorce360.com wrote an article that appeared in MSN Money today, and said that experts believe an increase in the number of divorces may be related to escalating mortgage payments. Nicolas Retsinas, the director of Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, told Moore:

Historically, the three most likely reasons for foreclosure problems are: loss of job, loss of health and loss of spouse. On top of that, these days, escalating mortgage payments are exacerbating the divorce problem.

Moore wrote:

The Harvard housing expert said it’s too soon for a definitive study linking divorce to the country’s recent foreclosure woes. But Scott Daniels, an Ocala, Fla., real-estate agent, doesn’t need a study to tell him what he already knows: The mortgage-industry crisis is causing an increase in the number of couples who are getting divorced.

“In the last three months, we have accepted five listings which are divorce sales. In each instance, it’s due to the obligation of meeting their mortgage payments,” Daniels wrote earlier this year in his blog.

“Faced with pressure, these couples are blaming one another! Rather than attempt to work together to resolve the problem, they find it easier to separate. They each have in common the same exact problem: No one is able to make a decision on what price to sell for!”

The Beautiful South, “A Little Time” (1990)
YouTube Video Link

Though there are no statistics linking foreclosure to divorce rates, financial problems among couples are one of the main reasons for divorce in this United States today. Daniels, of Florida List for Less Realty, believes that the data will eventually prove his assertions correct.

According to Moore:

Daniels thinks once statistics between the mortgage rates and divorce rates are compiled, the public will see a national trend. “It’s a trend that will continue as long as real-estate prices spiral down. Many couples can’t face the reality of mounting bills, higher mortgage payments and decide it’s better to part. As we move forward this trend is happening at an alarming rate leading to foreclosures,” he says.

In response to his blog post, Daniels said, he received 50 to 60 replies from real-estate agents around the country who agreed with his assessment that the mortgage problems are leading to more and more foreclosures — and more and more divorces.

Source:

“Is mortgage crisis causing divorces?”
Don Moore
MSN Money/divorce360.com, April 16, 2008

Weird Housing Tales, Part 6

Earlier today I happened to catch this snippet from Chicago Tribune real estate columnist Mary Umberger:

The boom-boom room

A real estate agent in Alexandria, Va., was checking out a home for sale when he noticed something affixed to a basement window. It was a hand grenade, apparently put there to thwart burglars by the late owner, news reports said. Explosives experts removed it.

Source: PrankPlace.com

Source:

“Motivated seller tosses out a lifeline”
Chicago Tribune, April 13, 2008

Weird Housing Tales, Part 4

While researching the Bear Stearns fire sale today, I came across the following on the CNBC website:

Staff turning up for work at Bear Stearns’ Manhattan headquarters were welcomed by a two-dollar bill stuck to the revolving doors — a spoof on the bargain basement price of $2 per share that JPMorgan Chase is offering for the Wall Street firm. A hopeful Coldwell Banker realtor was hawking cheap apartments to employees who saw the value of their stock options go up in smoke.

According to Reuters’ Kristina Cooke this afternoon:

At the Madison Avenue entrance, Ray Schmitz, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker, was betting that with the value of their stock options in tatters, Bear’s employees might soon be looking to trade their luxury homes for something a little easier on the budget.

“You have to go where the business is,” Schmitz said as he handed out business cards. “A lot of these people are going to lose their jobs, and most of their wealth will have been in share options. They’re soon going to be looking for a cheaper place to live.”

Regarding layoffs, Charlie Gasparino of CNBC wrote on their website:

JPMorgan Chase, which has agreed to buy Bear Stearns for just $240 million, expects to cut about half of Bear’s 14,000 employees, CNBC has learned.

Ken Sweet of the FOX Business Network talked about employee-owned stock. He wrote today:

Bear’s employees currently own about one-third of the firm’s stock. It was considered a point of pride among Bear employees to own stock in the firm, and selling that stock was considered bad form. Indeed, employees often received their annual bonuses in the form of stock. Bonuses received recently are now basically worthless.

Even the company’s top management was required to own significant stakes. Former Bear Chief Executive Jimmy Cayne’s was worth nearly $1 billion as recent as last year when the firm’s stock was at $170. That paper wealth has now evaporated.

Along with the independence of Wall Street’s fifth-largest securities firm after 85 years…More to come?

Sources:

“Bear’s ‘Fire Sale’ Sparks Fear That No Bank Is Safe”
CNBC/Reuters, March 17, 2008

“Gallows humor, realtor greet Bear’s stunned staff”
Kristina Cooke
Reuters, March 17, 2008

“Half of Bear’s 14,000 Employees May Lose Their Jobs”
Charlie Gasparino
CNBC/Reuters, March 17, 2008

“Bear Bailout: Employees’ Fortunes Vanish”
Ken Sweet
FOX Business Network, March 17, 2008

Weird Housing Tales, Part 3

According to Reuters yesterday, a member of the luxury home builder Toll Brothers’ founding family is trying to walk away from an agreement to buy a new condominium— from Toll Brothers. Martha Graybow wrote in “Toll relative walks away from new condo – filing” that:

The daughter of Vice Chairman and co-founder Bruce Toll informed the company last month that she and her husband “did not intend to make settlement” on a $2.47 million home they had previously agreed to purchase, the company said in a regulatory filing.

A company spokesman was not immediately available for comment on the filing, which was made public last Friday.

CNBC real estate reporter Diana Olick also talked about this developing story in her “Realty Check” blog yesterday. Olick said:

According to the home builder’s proxy statement:

Prior to fiscal 2007, the Company entered into an agreement of sale to build and sell a condominium to Wendy Topkis, Bruce E. Toll’s daughter, and her husband for a purchase price of $2,468,075. In January 2008, the buyers informed the Company that they did not intend to make settlement on the condominium. The Company intends to pursue its rights under the agreement of sale.

Does that mean they’ll sue darling daughter? The company’s general counsel says they are pursuing normal procedures.

Daddy is quoted as saying she just changed her mind because she had another child and the place would be too small, but I’m guessing the 13 percent drop in Florida prices was screaming at her a little louder than the baby. So Wendy just adds to the company’s 61 percent cancellation rate in the Sunshine State…

Stay tuned…

Weird Housing Tales, Part 2

Has your home been on the market for a while, and no takers? Thinking about lowering the asking price? Watch out! A while back, I came across the following on the blog Surviving The Crash:

I’m so mad at my neighbor. I bought my new home here in Ashburn last summer and plan to sell it next year (after holding two years to avoid taxes) to make a nice return on my investment. The problem is my neighbor is trying to sell his house (very similar to mine) right now and he keeps lowering his asking price. Each time he lowers his price, I see my potential profits next year getting squashed. Doesn’t he realize he’s hurting the comps for all of his neighbors by doing this? I don’t think he is acting very “neighborly” by doing this. I want to say something to him and tell him he should stop putting his interests ahead of his neighbors. It’s people like him who are ruining the market for the rest of us. If he would just refuse to lower his price, we could maintain our comps and everyone would benefit. What can I do to stop him?

-Question during a real estate chat held by the Washington Post

“Just try and lower your asking price”

Weird Housing Tales, Part 1

Once in a while, I come across some really weird stories about Americans’ infatuation with everything housing-related. Try this one on for size. “Jane Zinfandel,” as I’ll call the protagonist of the story, was in the process of having her home’s exterior re-painted. Apparently, Mrs. Zinfandel wanted her door’s appearance to be different from any of her neighbors, so she had it painted a unique color. However, one day Lady Jane was driving home when she happened to notice something different about her neighbor’s place. Apparently, “Mary Merlot” was doing a bit of painting herself, and painted HER door the exact same color as Jane’s. Mrs. Zinfandel got out of her car, went up to the door, verified that it was indeed the same color, and raced home. Steaming, she summoned the painter. Sure enough, he admitted that Mrs. Merlot had popped on by earlier and told the painter how much she loved the color, at which point he gave her the info she would need to mix up a batch for herself.

Purple Pain

Janey went back down the block to her neighbor’s, knocked on the door, and accused Mary of stealing the color of her door. Mrs. Merlot, who was not one to back down from a fight, decided to have it out with Mrs. Zinfandel right then and there. Jane, still upset, left Mary’s house and returned to her own residence. Later that night Mary’s husband paid a visit. “Joe Merlot” was really nice, thought Jane Zinfandel, and he apologized profusely for his wife’s actions.

The next day, Jane told her next door neighbor, “Fanny Franzia,” about the previous night’s episode. While she complained about what the battle-axe down the street had done, she made it a point to mention that the husband was a really sweet guy. “Oh,” said Fanny, who knew everyone’s business in the neighborhood. “The reason he tried to make peace with you is that he’s a registered sex offender who didn’t want any more trouble with the law…”