Show Time! Ventura County Real Estate Doing’s for Week Ending September 27, 2008
September 28th, 2008 Categories: Weekly Real Estate Activity In Ventura County
Quiet on the set. Lights! Camera! Action! (Jeez…I had to say that……).
The political Oscar show has begun in Washington.
The Democrat Enron case (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) show has started .
The Frank’s and Dodd’s who engineered these quasi-government companies in the 1990’s Clinton Administration are now heading the campaign to make garbage look like gold with a “bail out”.
If Washington wants to help Wall Street what should be done is to create a 30 year to 50 year bond which would be paid back with interest (say at 6% 
or more) to the taxpayers but it would be paid by those being bailed out.
The political establishment does not have to saddle the taxpayer (Main Street) with this political, thoughtless financial burden created by Congress. This is the capitalist way of doing things which is what made the United States great.
Allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to re-package their questionable mortgage notes, discount them to what the market will bear, and in return they will get some money for operating expenses. The people buying these re-packaged item(s) will either make a lot of money or lose significantly…..but that is the investors choice.
The bond could be set up so that the first 10-20 years would be interest only; the last 30-40 years would be amortized (principal and interest) over the remaining life of the loan.
I think 30 years is better than 50 but I willing to give a little. Why 30 years? The 30 year mortgage is the standard mortgage period for Main Street, so the same should apply to Wall Street, Washington Street, Detroit Street and any other street you wish to add.
But what do I know…..I live on Main Street and do not understand the on-goings of Washington or Wall Street.
There is a book entitled “Waking Giant: America in the Age of Jackson” by David S. Reynolds (Harper) in which the author describes the President Jackson era of rabid growth, banking brawls and other faddish items. As a critic wrote: “Jackson hated banks—hated the idea of a government protected money machine–and he vetoed a bill to renew the charter of the Second Bank of the United States which can be loosely described as yesterday’s Federal Reserve. This veto occurred in an election year.
What is interesting is the presidential issue then is the same issue today….a referendum over the constitutionality, equity and efficacy of banking in general (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac). What Mr. Reynolds concludes is that in Jackson day, just as today, we are in an age of hoaxes and nostrums. We have changed, but haven’t changed much since 1832.
The next step would be a complete investigation and removal of the political people involved in this whole mess.
And the brains and management (that keep this Country going) do not reside on Wall Street or in Washington but on Main Street.
Ventura County:
The past week showed significant gains in sales, a big drop in listings, and variance between list price and actual sales price of homes sold dropped by 50%. Days on the market for homes sold was high at 99 days compared to the average of 71 days the week before.
But the market appears to be sound however the drop in jobs and the increase in unemployment have not been incorporated in the numbers so the impact is still fluid.
Until then it is a good market as shown in the table below.
The monthly chart below and the Spot Yearly Comparison between 2006 and now suggests that the market is looking for balance which I think occurred in June/July of 2008. The disconcerting jumb in inventory was not expected but this may simply be a minor hiccup for this period. But the trend appears to be done.
Ventura County has witnessed a 25% drop in home values since 2006. Compared to other areas such as Redlands, etc., this is relatively small. However areas such as Fillmore and Santa Paula have seen an average of 50% decrease in home values. Fortunately other parts of the County pared that number down.
Your comments are welcomed.
