Archive for the ‘Real Estate Everett’ Category

Seattle Lagging Economy and Everett Real Estate

Monday, January 18th, 2010

Will Everett Real Estate Experience the Same Lagging Economic Effect?

In Snohomish county and real estate in Everett only one home in 53 has received a notice of default. Seattle is doing much better at 1 in 80. The national average is 1 in 45. The usual rate for real estate in Everett is 1 to 1.5 in every 100 homes.

Everyone who pays any attention knows that the Seattle Metropolitan Area has a lagging economy. Our economy lags by 4-8 months versus the rest of the nation. What does that portend for the next year or so?

God I hate to have nothing but bad news to talk about

Foreclosures or “Notice of Defaults” have increased, as Seattle mortgage companies well know, by about 60% in 2009 over 2008. But the Seattle and Everett real estate markets still haven’t seen the worst of it yet. So while we haven’t completely caught up we seem to be working at it. My guess is that the value of homes for sale in Everett will face downward pressure for the next 12 to 18 months.

Because foreclosed homes are almost always sold at a discount, sometimes a huge discount, they will continue to exert a downward pressure on prices. I have addressed how we could mitigate that pressure by changing the way appraisals are done, see my blog post, that isn’t going to help until enacted.

The foreclosure pressure is not letting up soon. We can expect from 3,000,000 to 3,500,000 homes enter foreclosure in 2010. Do you want to ask my why? I can say in with 3 words, JOBS, JOBS, and more JOBS”. And it not just the loss of jobs but the loss of high paying jobs. When you go from $75,000 per year to $55,000 it hurts your ability to pay mortgage loans. What tells us that is the fastest growing sector of foreclosures is the 30 year fixed rate mortgage. The very one that used to be the bed rock of real estate in Everett and the rest of the nation.

I may be getting strident here. But I want you to know if you don’t do something about this our nation may be damaged for an entire generation.

Now so you realize that I am not calling the sky is falling. Here is a bit of good news 3 States have foreclosure rates of more than 10% and they are Nevada, Arizona and Florida. In Washington, Clark and Pierce were the only counties in which more than 2 percent of homes were sent a notice of default last year.

We desperately need quality leadership at the state and federal level. I believe that we need leaders who have experience in business. I want to see Everett real estate recover its value.

Jim Johnson and comments are always welcome.

Posted in Everett real estate, Homes for Sale Everett, Real Estate Everett, Seattle Mortgage Companies | No Comments »

Value of Real Estate in Everett Affected by Govt Program

Saturday, January 16th, 2010

1 In 4 Out of work affects value of Everett Houses

How do Everett houses keep there value when 1 in 4 out of work? The value of real estate in Everett is hurt when 22% are unemployed. I have been shouting this for months.. Mr. Obama we need JOBS.

Today the White House breathlessly announced that a $2,300,000,000 “Green Jobs” program that will create approximately 17,000 subsidized TEMPORARY JOBS.

Well let’s see $2,300,000,000 divided by 17,000 equals $135,295.19 per TEMPOARY JOB.

Heck of a deal Mr. Obama.

These TEMPORARY JOBS he has created will be in wind and solar industries. These industries have to have a 30% subsidy to get even close to being economically viable. NONE of the technology is invented yet. Without a staggering improvement in technology they can’t compete in the market place. This is unsustainable.

The stupidity of the Obama administration is appalling. If he really wanted to create jobs he could start with simply drilling for the oil we will need for any recovery that might take hold, even in this political environment. In just a year or two when (if) a recovery starts, unless we drill now we will see $6 and $7 a gallon gasoline. Then when that happens any recovery is dead before it even starts.

How are we going to pay our mortgages in Everett? How will we keep the value of real estate in Everett from falling thru the floor? If 22% or about 1 in 4 is out of work how does that affect the value of houses in Everett?

Now you have idiots like the Governor of Wisconsin, a state I used to live in. Wisconsin Gov. Doyle says a clean energy bill will mean thousands of green jobs and result in energy savings for consumers and business. This guy takes you for a complete fool. He says that this Clean Energy Bill will create 15,000 green jobs by 2025. What we do until then is a mystery to me.

The value of real estate in Everett will remain stagnate for the foreseeable future. Everett homes will not appreciate in value without more jobs, it’s that simple.

Jim Johnson and comments are always welcome.

Everett Mortgage on Line.

Posted in Real Estate Everett, VA mortgages | 5 Comments »

Liars Poker for Real Estate in Everett

Sunday, January 10th, 2010

Or

How to spend $159,574.47 per Loan Modification

And still fail to save homes from foreclosure

Catchy title that isn’t it? What do I mean by liars poker for real estate in Everett? Have you ever played liars poker? It’s just like liars dice in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. It is a game of lying and bluffing.

Well the federally funded Home Affordable Modification Program isn’t working like it’s supposed to (what a surprise) and the government is letting homeowners who lie about their incomes off the hook. Just like during the housing boom lying is rewarded. Until recently if you grossly understated your income to get a mortgage modification you were disqualified and had to start the lengthy process over. Now the Obama administration allows you to understate your income by up to 25% to get a loan mod. That is not a rounding error that is lying plain and simple. So the same people who lied to get their mortgage now get to lie to get a loan mod.

And who do you think is paying for that loan mod? You are, you and I and every one who pays taxes. Now how does that impact real estate in Everett, you ask? Well is this the kind of person you want your tax dollars to help? Fraud and deceit will distort values of all homes for sale Everett. They drive up costs and eventually end up back on the market on a short sale that will drive your homes value downward. It is far better to just get it over with. If they lied to get the home why reward them when they lie to get you to subsidize it so they get to keep it?

But we get back to the real problem, JOBS. I have been shouting this for months now – without jobs these problems will only get worse.

Let’s go back to loan modifications and why they will not work. Loan mods are patently unfair. Why does my neighbor get to cut a better deal and then I have to pay for?

The federal government has printed another $75,000,000,000 to pay for loan modifications. So far 4.7% of the approximately 10,000,000 mortgages eligible for a loan mod actually have a permanent new loan. Let’s do the math.

4.7% of 10,000,000 equals 470,000 new loans. If that cost $75,000,000,000 then we have spent $159,574.47 for each loan. That is a typical result from Washington DC. Why aren’t you outraged?

Hey how that is hope and change working out for you now?

I have a suggestion for you. Vote them out next election, I mean every single tax and spend incumbent. If the politician voted for spending vote them out. Vote them out. If you want real estate in Everett or anywhere else to recover its value get rid of these fools in Washington.

Jim Johnson and comments are always welcome

Posted in Real Estate Everett | 1 Comment »

Everett Real Estate Takes Another Hit

Saturday, January 9th, 2010

$255,882.35 per job for the first year alone

You say you want to buy Everett real estate, you say you want to sell Everett real estate? Well you can’t do it without jobs. The Senate is going to take up another huge jobs creation bill later this month. This one is titled “Jobs for Main Street Act” and it costs $174,000,000,000. This is on top of the $787,000,000,000 economic recovery plan of nearly a year ago that was ineffective at producing jobs. That means we have or are going to spend $961,000,000,000. Just to have a 10.1% unemployment rate (or 17%+ depending on how you count it). That means we could have taken 25,000,000 unemployed people and just given then $38,440 each. They could have spent that money right back into our economy and that would have stimulated the economy right out of the recesssion.

Here’s what the Democrats claim this will do: tens of thousands of new construction jobs, 5,500 more police officers, 25,000 additional AmeriCorps members, 250,000 summer jobs for disadvantaged youth, 14,000 part-time jobs for parks and forestry workers. What they don’t tell you is this. None of these make work jobs will have funding past the first year. After the first year the individual states will have to pay for these jobs. That means your state taxes will skyrocket. They claim they will create 680,000 jobs. Well lets see $174,000,000,000 divided by 680,000 equals $255,882.35 PER JOB.

Everett real estate will not have a market because there will not be many buyers. “Why don’t we just put everyone in the United States on the federal government payroll and call it a day?” counters Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif.

Here is more of the shell game Washington would like to foist over on you. A job-creating tax credit for small businesses has support among some Democrats in the Senate, even though critics fear it may be too complex to work. What they again don’t tell you is this. First they tax all business, then they give a tax credit back to some businesses. But the credit is complex and of VERY limited use. You see here is the bureaucrats solution. We tax you then we give you back a portion your own money so you can hire someone. The credit is a one time thing but the tax if forever. Then over time we keep the tax and spend your money just where it helps the brueaucrats most – for reelection.

So the market for Everett real estate and real estate in general who knows what will happen.

Posted in Everett real estate, Real Estate Everett | 6 Comments »

Bad news for Real Estate In Everett

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

This is a triple dose of bad news for real estate in Everett. These three separate bits of information spell bad news for homes for sale Everett. If I hear any more talk about a recovery I am going to puke.

NAR (National Association of Realtors) said pending homes sales showed the biggest declined in several months. “Experts” were expecting a 2% decline and they got a 16% plunge.

Why is it that the “Experts” never expect bad news? Why call them experts if they don’t know their jobs?

Then on top of that we hear that personal bankruptcies increased over 32% from the previous years highs. If you remember back in 2005 the Feds changed the law to make it harder to file for a bankruptcy. So in 2005 a record number of filings were set to beat the law change. Guess what; those records were just beat as we now have another new negative record set at 1.41 million new bankruptcies filed in 2009.

And here is the other shoe dropping from this 3 legged monster, construction activity. It fell for the seventh consecutive month for both residential and commercial projects. The Commerce Department said Monday that construction spending dropped 0.6 percent in November, a bigger decline than the 0.4 percent drop that economists had been expecting. Again those “experts” were stumped. The “experts” expected a 0.4% drop and we got a 0.6% drop.

Personally I would like to be one of these constantly bemused “experts” because I would simply guess at results and never be held accountable. Wouldn’t that be great to be paid to be wrong all the time. Sounds like politics to me.

Let’s consider the decline in pending home sales was the largest drop, point-wise, since NAR started the index in 2001, dragging the indicator to its lowest level since June 2009. NAR officials blamed this decline on the deadline for the First Time Home Buyer Credit that was scheduled to end in November. The credit has since been extended to April 30, 2010. NAR “experts” said that home sales normally slow in winter and should pick up in the spring.

I think NAR is whistling in a dark graveyard on this. I think without jobs there will be no recovery in pending home sales. Remember in Everett real estate a pending contract may take several months to close. So if someone signs a contract on new construction now they may not close until April.

Now if I combine the decline in pending home sales with the increase in personal bankruptcies and the decline in construction spending we have the recipe for a double dip recession.

I don’t need an “EXPERT” to connect the dots. Mr. Obama affordable health care is a laudable goal, cap and trade is a spacious goal and amnesty for illegals is a terrible goal. You have only one goal and that is JOBS, JOBS and MORE JOBS.

I want to see real estate in Everett moving again. I want to see homes for sale Everett back on tract again, Mr. President focus on creating jobs.

PS How is the Hope and Change working for you?

Thank you for reading this, Comments are welcome.

Jim Johnson

Posted in Homes for Sale Everett, Mortgage Everett, Real Estate Everett | No Comments »

Everett mortgage Buying Real Estate in Everett

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

Don’t let your lender bully you over back taxes

When you buy real estate in Everett, new real estate that is, you may get an unhappy surprise a few months to a year after you have closed. You see in every Everett real estate mortgage for new construction the property taxes are not included. There is a perfectly valid reason for that. That’s because the taxes have not yet been calculated. Some lenders will put estimates in but sometimes no one actually knows what the new taxes will be.

If the tax assessor has not been out to see you and you bought the first home open no one knows what the new taxes will be. If the tax assessor takes his time about getting out there this can add up to a significant amount of money. You see the assessor doesn’t have to worry because no matter how long it takes you are still going to pay the taxes. I have seen it take up to a full year for the tax assessment to be levied. The back taxes can be $5000 to $8000 even more and some lenders will want that money right now. Don’t let the lender bully you into thinking you have to come up with all that money right now.

So when you are buying new real estate in Everett make sure that your lender calculates an estimated tax into your payment. Make sure that estimate is on the high side so you do not get blindsided.

Now if your lender comes to you and claims you owe back taxes he may be right but you do have some options. Many lenders will allow you to pay the back taxes over a 5 year period. But you have to ask them. That way you don’t have to an increased payment for the new tax calculation plus an additional $500 to $800 more per month. Some of my clients have said that their lender wanted them to pay the back taxes off in a year. Don’t let your lender bully you into thinking there are no options. There are always options when you buy real estate in Everett.

Posted in Homes for Sale Everett, Real Estate Everett | No Comments »

Everett Mortgage GSE Bailout Will Harm Seattle Mortgage Co

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

Everett Real Estate Will Be Harder to Finance

Mortgage lenders and Everett real estate will see more difficulties in obtaining home loan financing. When the Treasury Department lifted the debt ceiling for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (GSE or Government sponsored entities) the Obama administration just made you liable for Hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars in more debt. Yes the most transparent administration yet did this on Christmas Eve hoping you wouldn’t notice it.

I’ll just bet you didn’t know you had already bought $111 BILLION of GSE preferred stock did you? Back in September 08 the Bush administration at least put a $200 BILLION ceiling on the debt. Now Obama has lifted that to least $400 BILLION. $400 BILLION would buy a lot of Everett real estate. But really there is no statutory ceiling.  Preferred stock must be paid dividends but in order to pay those dividends (to you the new stockholder) they now have to borrow the money (from you the taxpayer) to pay you the citizens of America dividends. Sound like a cluster you know what?

Now why do they need to borrow more money when they didn’t spend the original $200 BILLION? Good question. They did it because the Treasury Department has directed the GSE’s to invest in bad money losing strategies in loans modifications. The same loan mods that are impeading the recovery. The same loan mods that are actually hurting the borrowers.

Do you remember Enron? The energy company that had BILLIONS in bad “off the books” investments. They were off the books so the stockholders and bankers couldn’t see how bad the financials really were. I’ll be you guessed it already. Yup the GSE’s are keeping the bad debt loan mods off the books. That is so our political class doesn’t have to tell you they are now starting ANOTHER REAL ESTATE BUBBLE.  This is why mortgage lenders and Everett real estate will see more difficulties in obtaining home loan financing. Soon nobody in their right mind will invest in a mortgage backed security (MBS). If no one will buy a MBS then there will be no money to finance homes for sale Everett.

This is all being done to try and keep the democrats in power in Washington, D.C.

Since the Treasury Department has announced that as of the end of March 2010 they will no longer buy MBS I can see how the real estate market will tank on April 1st (great timing). Now because there is no ceiling on the GSE’s debt they can replace the Treasury Department and keep the market going at least until 2012. I’ll bet you can think of at least one thing scheduled to happen in November of 2012. And I’ll bet you didn’t know that Barney Frank and Chris Dodd have another surprise for you, the taxpayer. That’s right more debt. Soon the national debt will dry up all funds for any Seattle Mortgage Companies. Mortgage lenders and Everett real estate will have no money and we will have another major crash.

Posted in Homes for Sale Everett, Real Estate Everett, mortgage | No Comments »

Everett Mortgage Homes for Sale Everett

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

No Recovery with out Jobs

This news affects homes for sale Everett and real estate in Everett in general. The government revised the United States Gross Domestic Product downward for the second time from 3.5% to 2.8% and now down to 2.2%. Now you are probably thinking no big deal but it is. That’s because despite the 2.2% growth, the nation’s pronounced recession has taken a toll. Over the previous four quarters, the U.S. economy contracted 3.8% — the most severe downturn since the end of World War II — including a 0.7% decline in the second quarter and a 6.4% plunge in the first. In 2008, the world’s largest economy grew a scant 1.1% — well below capacity.

Now many are saying that this 2.2% growth is enough to keep the economy growing but I think there is something hidden in these numbers that you should be aware of. The U.S. economy is being fueled by increased business efficiency, exports and government spending. That last part government spending is the problem. You must remember that the government produces nothing. Government spending is inflationary and creates no wealth. It is result of taking money from producers and giving it to non producers.

Now how does this affect homes for sale Everett or real estate in Everett in general? Well if you don’t have a job or your job is not secure how are you going to buy or refinance a home in Everett?

Last month we lost another 11,000 jobs. That is the 23 consecutive month of job losses. We don’t have employment gains we simply have less of a decline. That is still a sign of weakness in the economy.

Cap this off with the Fed’s plan to stop buying Mortgage Backed Securities at the end of March 2010 and we have the making of a double dip recession. If you are looking at homes for sale Everett and you are thinking of buying do it now. Rates will be much higher by the end of 2010. If you have a home to refinance Everett do it now before rates go up.

Posted in Homes for Sale Everett, Real Estate Everett | 5 Comments »