The End of Ownership: Why Aren't Young People Buying More Houses? - Derek Thompson - Business - The Atlantic

The End of Ownership: Why Aren't Young People Buying More Houses? - Derek Thompson - Business - The Atlantic

Fewer young people are finding jobs. Fewer young people are getting married. Fewer young people are buying homes.
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A trillion dollars in student loan debt is one reason. Add in the unfolding disaster that is the housing market. How can anybody expect them to go out and get married, buy a house, and have kids? Rick Santorum would no doubt blame it on single mothers.

Mayor lists Montana town and its population of 681 for sale at $1.4M | Mail Online

Mayor lists Montana town and its population of 681 for sale at $1.4M | Mail Online
Slightly used, but still serviceable.

Real estate deflation, municipal anti-blight efforts delay foreclosures

In addition, states and municipalities have grown more aggressive in the last few months in trying to force banks to maintain foreclosed properties, which have become blights on neighborhoods from coast to coast. Last month, lawmakers in Florida and courts in New York considered new ways to require lenders to alter loans to keep people in their homes or complete foreclosures more quickly.

“Under normal circumstances, the banks would be able to cover the cost of maintenance, upkeep and property taxes by just reselling the property, but these are desperate times, and banks are resorting to somewhat desperate measures in some cases,” said Daren Blomquist, a vice president at RealtyTrac, a real estate analysis firm. “It is more of a factor now because property values have come down and will not cover all these costs when the banks resell the property, if they can resell the property.
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Foreclosure loses its utility when lenders can't make the numbers pencil out and leaving the homeowner in place can stave off local governments targeting REOs that aren't being maintained.

Will HOAs become target of small claims suits?

You've paid your HOA assessments yet the common areas are unmaintained and the pool is closed, having turned into urban pond that's a mosquito breeding ground. It's not fair.

Might people who might feel that way toward their HOAs -- which as the perfessor and I have noted aren't winning popularity contests and continue to receive negative media attention -- take them to court and demand a refund or credit of their assessments?

If they do, the might become part of a fledgling trend to sue deep pocketed defendants who might otherwise have them legally outgunned in court in the no-lawyer courtroom: small claims. This story reports on how large companies such as Honda and AT&T are getting sued in small claims and facing judgments.

THE KANGAROO STAYS! | Weird News - Y100 - Miami's Hit Music Station

THE KANGAROO STAYS! | Weird News - Y100 - Miami's Hit Music Station

A local family has won a battle with their HOA over an unusual pet.

The Dreis family has a 6-month-old kangaroo, Mike.

But they didn’t get Mike just for fun – he’s actually there to help the family’s 16-year-old special-needs daughter, Kala.

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Nice to hear that the HOA changed its mind. It seems that Mike will only be living in the HOA for a year or so and then he is off to a wild animal park. This article has some cute kangaroo photos. Thanks to Fred Pilot for the link.

Capitol Alert: Housing meltdown dropped California's home ownership rate

Capitol Alert: Housing meltdown dropped California's home ownership rate

The housing industry meltdown in California sharply reversed a trend of steadily increasing homeownership, a new statistical compilation by the Census Bureau reveals.

The result: The percentage of Californians who live in homes that they and their families own dipped to 55.3 percent in 2011, the second lowest rate of any state, just ahead of New York's 53.6 percent.

The current California level is just about where it was during the 1980s and 1990s before climbing to as high as 60.2 percent in 2006, just before the housing market implosion.

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Wow. This is a national trend, but a drop of almost five percentage points is huge. Thanks to Fred Pilot for the link

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/02/housing-meltdown-dropped-californias-home-ownership-rate.html#storylink=cpy

Condo Complex Walls Collapse In January, Still Not Fixed - Denver News Story - KMGH Denver

Condo Complex Walls Collapse In January, Still Not Fixed - Denver News Story - KMGH Denver
LAKEWOOD, Colo. -- Gaping holes in walls, sunlight streaming in through electrical sockets, a bathtub exposed.This is the way it has been for almost two months now at the Snowbird Condos on Zang Street in Lakewood. Brick walls collapsed on two of the buildings during a wind storm at the beginning of January.
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Thanks to Fred Pilot for this link to yet another collapsing condo. In this case the word "collapse" is used literally.

Stockton's options nearly all bad - Bee Editorials - Modbee.com

Stockton's options nearly all bad - Bee Editorials - Modbee.com

"Every local elected official should be paying close attention to what is happening in the city of Stockton today. Our neighbor to the north, California's 13th largest city with a population of approaching 300,000 people, is flirting with bankruptcy. The City Council is expected to approve an eight-point plan this evening that calls for the city to suspend approximately $2 million in bond payments through the end of the current fiscal year. The plan also calls for the city to embark on two months of private discussions with its bond holders, city employee unions and any other creditors with at least $5 million in claims against the city to determine if parties can reach accommodations that will allow Stockton to avoid bankruptcy. If the council agrees — and it really has no other viable option — Stockton will become the first city in the state to undergo the AB 506 process, a formalized mediation period designed to help jurisdictions restructure their debts and avoid municipal bankruptcy."

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This is a grim situation, obviously. As the headline points out, Stockton's unemployment rate is almost 16% and they are second only to Las Vegas in their foreclosure rate. It is hard to see how this city can strike a deal that will hold off Chapter 9 proceedings for very long.

Read more here: http://www.modbee.com/2012/02/27/2088700/stocktons-options-are-nearly-all.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy

Calculated Risk: New Home Sales: 2011 Still the Worst Year, "Distressing Gap" remains very wide

Calculated Risk: New Home Sales: 2011 Still the Worst Year, "Distressing Gap" remains very wide
"Even with the upward revisions to new home sales in October, November and December, 2011 was the worst year for new home sales since the Census Bureau started tracking sales in 1963. The three worst years were 2011, 2010, and 2009 with sales of 304, 323 and 375 thousand respectively."
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People keep trying to talk up the market by finding a single statistic here or there that looks like it is going up. But the unavoidable fact is that the new housing market is getting worse, year by year.