Friday, January 8, 2010

Foreclosures now hitting middle and upper class

From The Real Deal:

From working-class enclaves in the outer boroughs to glistening new condo towers in Manhattan, the legions of New Yorkers at risk of losing their homes has been growing.

While the number of foreclosure filings in the state dropped during the first three quarters of last year compared to the same time in 2008, the filings jumped 14 percent in New York City, according to RealtyTrac. And no borough -- including Manhattan -- was spared.

This month, The Real Deal examined foreclosure data provided by PropertyShark, RealtyTrac and NYU's Furman Center and found that across the board -- from houses on cul-de-sac streets in Staten Island to tony co-op apartments on the Upper West Side -- foreclosures in the five boroughs have quietly started creeping into more well-to-do neighborhoods.

While the level of distress in many of these higher-end neighborhoods still pales in comparison to foreclosure epicenters like East New York, Jamaica and Ozone Park, it is clearly on the rise.

46 comments:

Anonymous said...

i will guess that Senator Chris Dodd, Dem.Conn. will not have to foreclose on his house.he and Cong. Barney Frank dem. Mass. are accused of congressional
finance policies that instituted the sub prime loans to persons who had no assets or jobs.

they claimed that fannie mae and freddie mac were financially solvent. not.

i heard that a congressman from s.queens is also a player in the sub prime scams.did the 'bama give a "shout out" recently to ACORN ?

Lino Cautious Capitalist said...

Yep, at one point earlier this year a record 11 apts were vacant in my building. We are down to three which are tied up in mitigation but I expect them to be occupied by summer.

The difference between what happened in the high-end market here and most of the defaults out in the boroughs is that here the problem was more often the loss of employment. Out in the boroughs it was often unsophisticated buyers lured into loans they were not really qualified to take.

..And to the asshole above spouting the same ol' AM radio crap (Barney Frank etc) It was -republicans- who pushed through the repeal of Glass–Steagall (and stupid Clinton who signed it)in 1999. It had kept banks out of this sort of trouble for 66 years.

It led to a perfect storm, a republican administration loathe to regulate anything their benefactors could cash-in on, and banks all too eager to lend money since they could now package the debt and sell it off to the next greater fool. Wall Street including many of my neighbors were prime players in this scam so I don't feel sorry from them now.


Capitalism requires adult supervision.

-

Queens Crapper said...

Unemployment and foreclosures both hit southeastern Queens the hardest.

happy renter said...

well that is a shocker. lol

and here i am throwing my money away on rent every month

what with plenty of cash in the bank and my 800+ credit score
what would i know

a fool and his money are soon parted

too many people believe the "american dream" crap and will
sacrifice everything for image

so here i am the "poor" renter

and i suppose if the values of these homes were still rising these people would be viewed as savvy investors

what a crock of crap

Babs said...

Republican Phil Gramm (nicknamed Foreclosure Phil) is believed to be the initial culprit:

"Eight years ago, as part of a decades-long anti-regulatory crusade, Gramm pulled a sly legislative maneuver that greased the way to the multibillion-dollar subprime meltdown."

Google "Foreclosure Phil" if you're interested.

Anonymous said...

Nope, our pal Andrew Cuomo started it when he was HUD secretary under Bill Clinton.

ceiling on my head lady said...

Being a renter isn't always sunshine and roses either. If you are employed it might be a good time to put your own roof over your own head and take charge of your life.

Anonymous said...

Not that we should be happy, but NYC is just feeling this now. The rest of the country has been upside down for 3 years now.

Anonymous said...

What's hitting now and will continue through 2011 are all the ALT A loans and resetting ARMs. We're gonna learn for sure what has funded a whole lot of the McMansions. The proverbial pigs that used their equity as a piggy bank are going to be heading the proverbial slaughter house. A lot are upside down, over their heads, and sinking fast. If we're lucky, they won't take their neighborhoods with them.

Anonymous said...

"THE ECONOMY IS IMPROVING"....yeah....right!

Your check is in the mail and I promise not to c - - e in your mouth!

back to voting Republican said...

Bye, bye Obama...strictly a one-termer!

No health care and no economic recovery!

Ps-s-s-t....and you promised to televise the health care hearings.

I should have moved to Canada 10 years ago said...

Thanks be that my mortgage is paid off with no equity loans on my house.

But my f-----g utility bills etc. keep on skyrocketing.

You're screwed either way as a renter or an owner.

The rich continue getting richer and the middle class is destined to take a dive into the lower economic depths!

H-m-m-m....after I'm cleaned out I suppose I can apply for welfare if all those illegal immigrants don't get there first ahead of me on the bread line!

linda said...

to happy renter!

you keep throwing your money to the landlord and his investment keeps going up.. you'll have nothing to show at the end. many of us homeowners invest towards our retirements, not on the b.s of an american dream.

you should be investing NOW when the markets are down and with such a great credit score you'll have a good interest rate! stop throwing your money away and invest..

happy renter said...

hey Linda

my rent is like 13% of my salary
do not worry i save plenty for retirement and anything else i need

you see if all or most of your money is tied to your home
(a depreciating asset for many)
not too wise these days

thanks for the concern

i max out my 401k every year
have no debt and plenty of cash

don;t you have to go shovel your driveway?

good day

i love the ceiling on my head who thinks if you rent you are not taking charge of your life

that is just hysterical

control of what? your rising taxes,
the old kitchen that needs renovation, the leaky pipe in the basement?

get real

ceiling on my head lady said...

Well, you do not know where the nickname came from. My landlord drove my living room ceiling onto the floor while I was out one day. He was the 3rd landlord I had in 20 years and I had a very cheap rent.

I am cautioning you that things can change.

Klink Cannoli said...

Lino wrote:
"Capitalism requires adult supervision."
===============================

You're almost there...

You only have to acknowledge that it was government intervention to begin with that allowed for such events in the housing market (and capital markets by extension) to become systemic. The breaking away of traditional motivators for home ownership, national resources (building materials, energy, etc.) and GDP growth, being manipulated to artificially stimulate the market. A simple and recent example is the cash for clunkers program. Analyze those results.

The source of the recent housing crisis started when the government looked to raise the average US home ownership percentage from 60% (in the '60s) to 70% in the last 50 years.

With very few exceptions, government fiddling has never worked to provide an adequate system of regulated social-economics as well as laissez-faire capitalism has for the US since the 1800s. No system is perfect, but surely one is better than another. At the core, it always comes down to individual freedom.

Anonymous said...

something like nine outta ten mortgages are "owned" by the govt. All these banks will be made whole at taxpayer expense, all goes boom but the banks will still be solvent...cant say the same for the govt...oh well see you on the other side

Anonymous said...

I love the blame game that inevitably pops up in the comments. It's Barney Frank's fault! No it's Bush's fault! What about Andrew Cuomo? Don't forget Phil Gramm!

I have news for you: it's all their faults, along with every other elected official from both parties of the past 15-odd years. To point the finger at one person, Republican or Democrat, is ridiculous. Do you thing a problem this big and complicated can be traced back to the actions of one or two individuals? Everyone is complicit, including the American people for believing the shit they were being fed.

Anonymous said...

SHALOM!!!

Anonymous said...

Amen- the blame is on all of us. Things will change when we (in general as a country) change from people hell bent on living beyond our means in the unreal fantasy-land created by the pay no tax have anything you want crowd. The rich got richer, they poor got poorer and the middle class got skunked by their buy in to it all. It took a while to get to this point and it is going to take a while to turn it around. It sounds like some people think Obama was going to just snap a finger and all would be good. Get real and foget about the instant gratification. It ain't goona happen in a hurry.

Anonymous said...

Klink, I really believe that it was the abolition of Glass-Steagall, which eliminated firewalls between various financial business combined with the securitization of various loans that has caused most of this problem.

The housing bubble is only one of the shoes that dropped. Don't forget problems with credit card receivables, and auction failures of short term notes, none of which had anything to do with poor people getting unsound loans.

There is a wonderful book by Charles MacKay, "Extraordinary Delusions and The Madness of Crowds." It was credited with saving Bernard Baruch's fortune during the 1929 crash.

I urge everyone to request it from their local library, read it through and then decide for themselves the true causes of this mess.

Anonymous said...

to the anon dummy who puts the blame squarely on "us": you have no idea what you are talking about. most people havent been living beyond their means- they have been using credit cards to offset their lack of earning power for the last 30 yrs (look it up, caps on CC APRs were 9.9 or so, a supreme court ruling overturned this in the late 70s). given free reign to take advantage of us, banks extended more CC's to people who shouldnt have (but needed to in lieu of their salaries not keeping up with inflation). Salaries for the average guy have been flat since the early 70s. Its time for people to wake up: this crapstorm we are in ISNT the little guy's fault....

Babs said...

"control of what? your rising taxes,
the old kitchen that needs renovation, the leaky pipe in the basement?"

Roaches? your chain-smoking narcoleptic neighbor? . . . the hall wallpaper pattern that everyone THOUGHT was rich green flocking? . . . . the "Homemade Bombs for Dummies" manual that the postman mistakenly delivered to your box? . . .

Queens Crapper said...

When you rent an apartment in a two-family house from a family that has been at the same address for generations, as I did for many years, the chances of that are slim.

Babs said...

Crappy - I think you will agree then that you are not your typical renter . . . yes?

Queens Crapper said...

Well what is a typical renter? You have to do your homework when you rent just as when you plan to buy a home.

Babs said...

The majority of renters in New York live in large rental buildings - doorman, elevator, etc.

Queens Crapper said...

And the majority in my neighborhood don't. In fact, the vast majority of residential buildings throughout NYC are 2 and 3 family homes.

Babs said...

Majority? in the entire New York City area? - impossible considering all the highrise buildngs.

In any respect - BOTH homeowners and renters have their share of problems with today's economy.

Queens Crapper said...

Check with City Planning, Babs.

Here's Queens.

Babs said...

Just one example - Lefrak city - these buildings contain over 5,000 apartments and are the homes to over 15,000 people.

I rest my case.

Klink Cannoli said...

Anon wrote:
Charles MacKay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.
================================

Thanks for the tip, sounds like an interesting read. I see there's an unabridged version which includes a wide variety of subjects as well, apart from economics. On the list.

Excellent points! The more I dig deeper into this to understand, the more I see corollaries in that grand pursuit of GDP growth. I'm no economist, though.

Anonymous said...

re:KLINK/C
i watched the Milton Friedman series 1,on YOU TUBE
PBS FREE TO CHOOSE 1980 Video.google.com

thanks for the tip.

if acorn told you that you could live in a house,pay no money, and when the lender wanted his money back,all you have to do is call Obama.he would go into his stash and pay the bank. i luv the U.S.
why would any left winger consider that you were "lured" by the bank?

my queens bank gave back obama $500,000,000. and never granted a loan to persons with no job and no assets. smart bank officers,with common sense. are con-artists like (acorn,working family party,seiu,tides,and george soros breaking the U.S.?

Queens Crapper said...

And it's a dump, mainly for people who can't afford their own homes. No one chooses to live there. The point is, there's plenty of small-scale rental housing available if you care to look for it and do your homework.

Klink Cannoli said...

Uncle Milty:

Right on!!! I hope it gave you faith, like it did for me.

Ahhh, I knew there were more sane people in Queens.

Now grab a neat little pseudonym so I can get to know you people.

Babs said...

"But my f-----g utility bills etc. keep on skyrocketing."

My Con Ed bill was $500 last month - last year January's bill was $600. My home is your average sized cape - new windows, good insulation.

Some people are choosing between paying their mortgage or their gas bills - this is ANOTHER reason I believe foreclosures are up for the middle class.

georgetheatheist said...

I thought my Con Ed meter was on the fritz. I too noticed the outrageous increase in electricty charges.

Anonymous said...

Milton Friedman died in 2006. If only he had lived another two years to see the real magic of the free market.

Anonymous said...

The government regulates rents. FAIL. If you have lived in Queens for a few years, you undoubtedly know people paying a ridiculously low rent.

The government gives super sweet treats to those who buy/own homes.

There are no 'bubbles.' The federal government comes in and says - you get a tax break if u buy that.' The people buy that.

The state government comes in, and, with righteous indignation, says, 'you need to give us money when you buy that. Ohhh, and, by the way, when you buy that you have to pay the US some scratch.'

Now, bc of the price you paid, we think your property is worth more, so we are gonna ask for more scratch.

Ohhh wait.... you're neighbor can't pay his/her mortgage, we are gonna need some more scratch to help them out.

Anonymous said...

according to a Barrons reporter on the Charles Gasparino AM radio show ,the unemployment rate in state governments is 3.6%.

the finance industry is 7.9%.construction is 22%. mining and energy is 11%.

did not obama tell us that his policies would hold it stable at 8%?
n.y.c. private sector is 10%. they said medium size corporations are hoarding assets/profits and want to hire.but they are afraid of the obama policiesof overtaxing them. especially with his health care bills provisions for new employees.

with no private sector hiring,the gov.employees will have to go.no tax revenue,no paycheck. and the beat goes on.

Anonymous said...

Duh -they have been using credit cards to offset their lack of earning power and not living beyond their means? Us have been living beyond our means for many reasons, not all of them the ones revolving around greed. The wealth trickled up over the last 30 years, not down. If we're borrowing to keep our heads above water, we're living beyond our means.

Lino said...

"The wealth trickled up over the last 30 years, not down. If we're borrowing to keep our heads above water, we're living beyond our means."

People..average working people voted for slugs such as Ronald Reagan who came in on a platform of deception.

As for borrowing, many times people do so to bridge themselves over a tough period of unemployment, sickness etc. Credit card cos. have been increasingly finding was to screw more money out of people with usurious often hidden fees instantly shifting due dates and deliberately extending unrealistic lines of credit.

It's similar to what banks did to cause a housing frenzy..and is now having the same result.

But the idiots will vote their prejudices and believe the demagogues. Case in point: Palin.

Anonymous said...

Palin didn't win.

Lino said...

"they said medium size corporations are hoarding assets/profits and want to hire.but they are afraid of the obama policiesof overtaxing them. especially with his health care bills provisions for new employees."

Idiot. This is a standard early phase recovery. Learn something, in every post war recession, employment has lagged recovery, often by as much as 18-21 months.Companies are reluctant to hire until they are certain that we won't have a second dip 9as often happened in the 70s. Every time this happens certain pundits usually of the opposing party speculate about a "jobless recovery" --every time they are wrong.

Babs said...

The extent of corporate control has developed into corporate fascism.

We don't have a capitalist economic system - it's corporate fascism. Every major tenet of capitalism is violated by corporate power. Only small businesses still practice capitalism.

Major corporations buy politicians and write the laws through their lobbyists, therefore they OWN the Capitol. They receive BILLIONS in government subsidies and hand-outs, AND the majority of corporations pay NO federal income tax.

Anonymous said...

so the U.S is in a "POST WAR RECESSION" ? did not obama just order that 30,000 American troops go to the Afghan area ?

were not 200 citizens on a plane attacked by an islamo-fascist enemy terrorist, over a U.S. city ?

you are really getting sicker, lib-lino.

were not three Flushing H.S. domestic terrorists captured this week?

why will obama have to get rid of Napolitano ?