Those crazy real estate professionals

[The Tim]

I am generally blasé toward the "LOLCATS" phenomenon, but this one that did make me laugh:

[Alan]

[Lake Hills Renter]

[Rhonda P]

This is a better time to buy as far as having less buyers to bid up prices by using mortgages such as stated income. Imagine if we could use the "way back" machine and eliminate that product (especially for W2 employees and for those who overstated). Stated income gave many buyers blank checks to buy whatever their hearts desired regardless of what would "make sense". Insane.

I think about this often. Imagine if you were buying a home in 2005-mid07 and were bid-up by a stated income borrower. I never liked those mortgages. Now I get calls and emails from all over the country, "please help me, I need to refinance...my arms adjusting and I bought this using stated and I don't have the income...". It's ugly.

Now there are no (actually a few subprime lenders will do stated) or much less stated income buyers. Having the remaining buyers having to actually qualify for their mortgage does create better conditions for fellow buyers. Who wants to compete with somethng artificial?

[kpom]

[PublicEnemy#1]

Hmm...

Did Ardell ever list her home? Zillow's Zestimate keeps heading down.

$915K as of May 2....

[kpom]

[perfectfire]

[anthonycasella]

[Fripp]

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[The Tim]

biliruben, you continue to amaze me with continually spewed over at SRP.

It's like KLK and LKC didn't even bother to take the time to read the Case-Shiller methodology that explains quite clearly how the index is calculated using pairs of sales from the same homes.

Also amusing to me is the fact that the big difference he is writing the entire post about can be easily explained by a shift in the mix of sales, as you suggested in the comments, and as I just happened to specifically address at the end of , coincidentally published just minutes after this latest nonsensical screed at SRP.

[Lake Hills Renter]

Kary's hardheaded "no one can ever predict anything" stance gets old after reading it in a few dozen threads, but it's Larry and Mack that ultimately keep me away from that place and IMO really bring down the discussion there, and their thin pall of arrogance really turns me off to the place. They are much more interested in insults and humor at the expense of others than actually having a discussion. If I went by their comments alone, I'd say neither knows a thing about real estate -- the quailty of their participation certainly doesn't lead me to have any confidence in them whatsoever, certainly enough to put them on my exclusion list of possible agents I'd use.

It also doesn't help to have drive-by comments from bears as well that just insult and don't contribute (yes, I'm looking at synthetik). But what some of the contributors fail to see over there, I think, is they do the same thing, but under the guise of a "professional". Until they learn to accept differering opinions and have real discourse, that site will remain a third-rate back patting party.

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[Alan]

Well, real estate is only down 10% while the stock market is down 30-40%. Tell me which would have been the better purchase in 2006?

Granted, leverage would kill most people in real estate, but if you purchased with cash then you would be better off.