Thursday, May 28, 2009

Queens homeowners drowning!

From the NY Post:

Roughly 40,000 homes purchased in the last five years in New York City are now underwater -- worth less than what is owed on their mortgages -- up sharply over the past year, according to a real estate market information company.

In fact, in Queens, the second-hardest hit of the five boroughs, nearly one in four of the 71,911 one-family, co-op and condo sales made in 2004-2009 is now underwater, according to Zillow.com.

The 23.3 percent of recently purchased Queens homes being underwater in the first quarter compares to 15.9 percent one year earlier. It shows that New York's foreclosure pain may be far from over.

10 comments:

Lino said...

If you are still making the payments..what's the problem.

Sure you don't feel as "rich" -but you weren't anyway..and you can't borrow for the marble bathroom..

This is fallout from a frenzy. The republicans and republi-crat Clinton repealed Glass-Steagall, and Bush era "laissez-faire" delivered the current situation.

No amount of spin from types like limbaugh etc. are going to change the facts: Free markets require adult supervision.

But take some cheer in the fact that most people buying those discounted houses might actually -not- have to kill themselves making the formerly inflated payments.

Anonymous said...

The 'adult supervision' came from Congress which loosened the boundaries on mortgage lending to accomodate potential homeowners who had no business buying a house.

How hard is it to understand that some people shouldn't own a home, shouldnt have a credit card, and shouldnt buy a Lexus?

Let these homeowners lose their houses, and let the people who refrained from buying bc they couldnt afford to, or thought it was imprudent to do so, buy away.

Sounds cruel, but the cruelest thing, imo, is to subsidize those who make the wrong decisions at the expense of those who make the right ones.

Think of this conversation;

"Gee honey, we really should have bought that house we decided we couldnt afford. If we did, when we faced some economic problems, we could have stopped paying our mortgage and we would have been blessed with government mortgage assistance. But we didnt. We considered our finances carefully and we rent. Now, we get NOTHING. Shoulda bought."

Anonymous said...

People were forced into paying those inflated prices because they had to live somewhere. This bubble hurt other people besides, flippers, greed-balls and maniacs.

When inflation is intentionally engendered in a necessary commodity like housing, make no mistake, innocent people are hurt.

I agree that the prices will have to come down, they are unsupportable, and they are locking others into bad housing. While we are at it, let's see some rents come down as well.

Finally, let's see lots of jailings, fines, voiding of illegal and unconscionable contracts and confiscation of wealth derived from fraud.

This was a miserable bubble that has wrecked the banking system as well as the housing markets.

We will pay the price for years to come, and many little old ladies and gentlemen who did not even participate will see their retirement pennies gone.

Anonymous said...

This is fallout from a frenzy. The republicans and republi-crat Clinton repealed Glass-Steagall, and Bush era "laissez-faire" delivered the current situation.

no jerk - this is soon to be Gov. Cuomo's faulty while he was HUD secry.

Anonymous said...

People were forced into paying those inflated prices because they had to live somewhere. This bubble hurt other people besides, flippers, greed-balls and maniacs.

no jerk - people weren't forced into making payments that exceed their paychecks - would you rent an apartment for $1000 per month if you were making $1500 per month> then why take a mortgage for the same deal. idiots!

Anonymous said...

There's more than enough blame to go around here, but the common thread is GREED. No one was forced into anything; we all have choices and, unfortunately, too many people chose to live above their means. Perhaps people will learn their lesson, albeit the hard way. If you can't afford it, don't buy it!

georgetheatheist said...

Check out the Village Voice archives (8/5/08): "Andrew Cuomo and Fannie and Freddie. How the youngest Housing and Urban Development secretary in history gave birth to the mortgage crisis." by Wayne Barrett

"He [Cuomo] turned the Federal Housing Administration mortgage program into a sweetheart lender with sky-high loan ceilings and no money down, and he legalized what a federal judge has branded 'kickbacks' to brokers that have fueled the sale of overpriced and unsupportable loans. THREE TO FOUR MILLION FAMILIES ARE NOW FACING FORECLOSURE, AND CUOMO IS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY."

Anonymous said...

If you bought a house during the housing bubble as a long term investment with the intention of living there for a few decades, then you shouldnt be worrying about this. If you bought with the intention to flip the house because you listened to everyones advice about the strong market only getting stronger, and pictured yourself as the next hotshot real estate mogul, then I have no sympathy for you.

Anonymous said...

That neglects the affect of unexpected increases in Arms and option Arms.

In finance company America, no one buys according to how much it costs, but how affordable monthly payments are.

When bankers turn the monthly mortgage payment into a big guessing game, there's hell to pay.

Anonymous said...

Why is no one addressing the owner/tenant foreclosure problem. Thomas Kontogiannis,Group Kappa Corp,Warren Brown, Joyce Pierre and now Tony (krownmeking@aol.com)manager of some of the buildings in this housing complex regulated by DHCR. How can they sell multi-dwelling buildings as 2 family homes.This has happened in HOLLIS recently. Rents have been reduced due to lack of service( SINCE THE SUPER WAS THROWN OUT IN 2008) violations, With 5 boilers in my community basement,this is no way just a 2 family house. Crooked real estate practices are the blame for many rented forclosure. Just visit REAL ESTATE TRADING.COM YOU WILL SEE SOME BUILDINGS IN OUR COMPLEX LISTED BY THESE CROOKS. FUNNY That this is the same complex that was feeatured in the CELESTINE MILLER CASE regarding the School Computer Scam along with KONTOGIANNIS.