Posted by
Sue on Wednesday, August 08, 2007 3:49:26 PM
08/08/07
I had been in just about every facet of the housing industry for over forty years. My daughter for nearly 20. I watched the destruction of the savings and
loan business (which hurt the housing industry) from the inside by
"government agencies". I
watched as companies were forced to be taken over and then sold for pennies to
"friends". They use the
consequences of disintermediation but it accomplished the destruction of a
business that helped people buy homes with strict credit guideline, low rates 4.5%, 30
year fixed mortgages, assumable without qualification. But,
it kept most people out of homes
I watched as the 90's almost obliterated the housing
business again. Lots and lots of money
from the world over. I personally dealt
with people from countries all over the world trying to buy up property cheap
and willing to do whatever was necessary to get it. I watched as agents and brokers involved
themselves in very questionable bidding wars.
I watched acreage worth, at best, $500 per acre, inflate to over $40,000
per acre within 48 hours.
I remember the "Gang of Forty Thieves" operating
out of West Los Angeles as they used family,
friends and clients to inflate property values.
They made out like bandits and two to three buyers later everyone lost
their investment from a few thousand dollars to millions overnight. People all over the world suffered, the
housing market went to hell, again!
I've watched and listened as the investors of the past 10-15
years have bought up ANYTHING the lenders handed them from brokers doing
whatever they could to get a client into a home, or refinance or the piranhas flipping
and brokers taking advantage of uneducated people throughout the country. Not until a couple of years ago were there
signs that someone(?) had decided that enough money was involved to want their
hands on it and the subprime market was whacked to its knees and now is at the
moment when its head will be sliced from its body.
The harm that has been done by the investors in the past 18
months is just now being filtered all the way down to the street level. Investors on Wall Street with investors from
all over the globe. Homes that cannot be
sold will put sellers in danger. Companies that depend on housing will start to
go under, buyers will help increase the rental prices because they can't buy
homes and now must rent. Construction,
furniture, clothes and every single type of business that depends on people
spending are beginning to hurt. Things will go from bad, now to worse in just a
few months and then, you will see what happens. They will be watching also, because in the zeal to "clean up" the housing market, someone forget the basics and forgot what this country has gone through at least twice before when the housing industry is hurt badly.
Watch: FNMA will be empowered by our government to buy up
subprime loans rejected out of hand without reason at a huge loss to the
lenders. Maybe even the "Democratic" congress will dole out billions again. The market will take a couple
of years to stabilize and we will see a complete remake of the housing finance market, again! Is this the time when the small
broker business will go out of
business. Is this the time when the AE's
will have to settle for lousy jobs paying a pittance? Tens of thousands have been, are and shortly
will be out of jobs, folks. Think about
everything each of these people
use, need buy every day, month and year and then project
that onto the landscape called
America and
when we seriously start to hurt, the countries from around the world will also
hurt because they depend on the engine that is America to keep them afloat
also. Even China selling off large chunks of
our treasuries will have little affect because they too are dependent on, wait for it:
You guessed it, America!
Who has wrought what? And why? I wonder, for the third time in my life, at least.