Bob’s take on

Rick Sharga of Realtytrac recently spoke with CNBC’s Diana Olick and had a rather interesting factoid to share. He said that roughly 70% of foreclosures in their database ARE NOT listed in the MLS.

The following zip codes were chosen at random and reflect typical neighborhoods in both Ventura and Los Angeles Counties. We’re looking at condos and detached single-family residences that are active, pending sale, or contingent with bank-ups. The number of foreclosures below MLS totals include “pre-foreclosures” and “auction properties.”

:: Zip Code: 93033 :: South Oxnard, CA
# Active Listings = 213
# Pending/Cont. = 135
# Foreclosures = 910

:: Zip Codes: 91367, 91307, 91304 :: West Hills, CA
# Active Listings = 399
# Pending/Cont. = 170
# Foreclosures = 1,099

:: Zip Code: 91331 :: Pacoima/Arleta Area, CA
# Active Listings = 376
# Pending/Cont. = 206
# Foreclosures = 1,315

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jan2009/econ-j17.shtml

“As bad as the statistics relating to the housing market are, they underestimate the full extent of the crisis, according to RealtyTrac. Banks are holding back from listing as much as 70 percent of their repossessed homes, in a likely bid to delay absorbing further losses on their balance sheets. “Either banks are overwhelmed and can’t get the houses [listed] quickly, or they’re deliberately slowing down so they don’t have to take markdowns to actual home values on their books,” Sharga said.

Banks have also delayed the speed with which they foreclose upon owners, in some cases due to new state laws that mandate longer periods of notification. Saccacio noted that in California, where such a law was passed, home foreclosures rebounded in December back to their level before the legislation was implemented. “The recent California law, much like its predecessors in Massachusetts and Maryland, appears to have done little more than delay the inevitable foreclosure proceedings for thousands of homeowners,” he said.

Such stalling tactics would only soften the economic disaster generated by the collapse of the housing market should home values suddenly reverse their downward spiral. However, all indications point in the opposite direction. Home prices have tumbled 21 percent from their peak, and it is anticipated that they will continue to fall through 2009 and the first part of 2010, according to David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor’s.”

So what does this all mean? If we can’t trust headlines==without any good analysis, how are we supposed to solve the problem?  We will continue to throw money at problems that don’t exist and prolong the economic recovery through 2010 and maybe decades!

In turn, the downward pressure on pricing means even more homes will go into Foreclosure, further decimating prices down the road as a vicious cycle of deflation of durable asset prices sets in.

This is going to kill off many more banks. It will lead to further unemployment. This will place more pressure on the stock market to dive even further down.

Current Foreclosures will take 12.9 months to sell off at current prices. And we’re only talking Foreclosures, not all the homes listed on the MLS.

As these Foreclosures enter the market, be it slowly or all at one time, they will continue to place pressure on downward sustained prices for homes for many years to come.

We are in for a long Recession. Or something much worse…

Why is this even important—because we are spending Trillions of dollars and budgeting today on the ASSUMPTION that 2010 will have a 3% GDP GAIN. This week, the Democrats have put 9000 EARMARKS into a spending bill, just to get us through the next 9 Months. The Republicans have no power to stop the spending.(even though Republicans are just as corrupt) That means that all Americans (not the rich) will pay enormous taxes in the future—   now I’m depressed!

I am getting ready to have a throw all the lying, cheating, earmarking money for their own riches, Congressmen OUT. Most Americans do not even watch the news and have no idea how close we are to the cliff. Check out the “Tea Party” Americans that are marching all over the US to expose the hijinks of Congress to ordinary Americans.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/03/the_st_louis_tea_party.html