The holiday season has been long lost to commercialism for years. Christmas is already in the stores by Halloween, even Hanukkah and Kwanza have competing displays, and don't even get me started about the animals we humans turn in to when Black Friday comes around. Gone also are the days where everyone knows their neighbor...even in the suburbs. So it was a refreshing blessing to see a local Riverside street in the Orangecrest area join together in the spirit of the holidays and decorate the entire street...that is until the Green Grinch of the City of Riverside shut them down.
For two weeks families, neighbors, friends, acquaintances, young and old, owners and renters (even the house in foreclosure) joined together reminiscent of the town in It's a Wonderful Life to bring the holiday festivities to the local community. Every house on the block not only fully decorated their yards, but they strung lights and decorations from house to house. They ran lights carefully to the street poles and lights, even across the street from home to home. The entire block was one big, beautiful display.
It was a real community effort. There were community get-togethers, everyone helping everyone decorate, enjoying food and drink together while creating this block-wide masterpiece. There was pride beaming from each dwelling and it was for sure going to be the street to drive down in the evenings for all Riverside residents.
But it was not meant to last. Just like the banks more willing to foreclose or short sell a house than to work with the homeowners to modify allowing them to stay in the home, the City of Riverside reigned its ugly green, Grinchy head, forcing the homeowners to remove the lights, take down the adjoining decorations, or each be charged a $100 a day fine. I assume that like most city governments in California Riverside is in a budget deficit crisis, but I would not have guessed that it had a heart 3 sizes too small, or was so desperate that it had to become the Burgermeister.
I was so excited driving home from work today to see the finished product only to find the street looking like Whoville after the Grinch stole Christmas. Unfortunately, unlike the Whos in Whoville who were happy just to be with each other...the citizens of this street -- heck, of this state and country -- needed a little pick me up...they needed a win.
They needed this community project to keep the sadness of lost jobs, lower wages, stay-cations, and less presents that this current economy has provided. The tornado looking block has half torn down decorations, lights on the ground being reeled in, and dejected faces of those who put so much work in to making the spectacle that was this holiday block party.
The easy solution would have been to allow the residents to apply for, and obtain, a permit to do this apparently obvious (only to some city bureaucrat) city ordinance violation. Not for Grinchy Riverside! Since they already "violated" some kind of regulation they were told their application for a permit would be denied.
So Merry Fricken Christmas Riverside. I suppose that if the city had thought of it, this block would be up and running...but since it was just a lowly group of Riverside residents without a marketing opportunity for the city it is simply had to go.
Boo on you City of Riverside. Green shmean! Can’t we all just have a Merry Christmas?
Like Kermit has always said, "It isn't easy being green!" I'm moving back to Sesame Street. At least the real estate there has held its value.
Another rant by Darren Orshoff – Certified Mortgage Planner / Realtor
Economic downturns have a way of accelerating the demise of the obsolete and inefficient
The
government says we've been in a recession for at least the past year. Experts
say it'll be at least another year (or more) before it's over. And everybody says
it's the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
Nice sound bite. What does that mean?
Who knows? We can be sure that this downturn will be totally
differerent from the Depression, and that it will be different from the
many recessions we've suffered every decade or every other decade since
the '30s. I'm not an economist or a historian, but it seems to me that
this recession will be something unprecedented.
One reason is that that there was no Internet or mobile technology
in the 1930s. That means individual people and companies today have
very-low-cost, high-efficiency alternatives for doing a wide range of
activities. That will accelerate the demise of those things fated to be
replaced anyway.
Here are 10 things that I believe won't survive the recession:
1. Free tech support
The practice still employed by some companies of paying humans to
answer phones and solve consumers' problems with hardware or software
will become a thing of the past. PCs, laptops and hardware peripherals,
as well as application software will be purchased like airline tickets,
with price becoming the sole criteria for many buyers. In order to
compete on price, companies that now offer real tech support will
replace it with message boards (users helping users), wikis, wizards,
software-based troubleshooting tools and other unsatisfying
alternatives.
2. Wi-Fi you have to pay for
Everyone is going to share the cost of public Wi-Fi because the
penny-pinching public will gravitate to places that offer "free" Wi-Fi.
Companies that charge extra for Wi-Fi will see their iPhone, Blackberry and netbook-toting customers -- i.e., everybody -- taking their
business elsewhere. The only place you'll pay for Wi-Fi will be on an
airplane.
3. Landline phones
Digital phone bundles for homes (where TV service, Internet
connections and landline phone service are offered in a total package)
will keep the landline idea alive for a while, but as millions of
households drop their cable TV service and as consumers look to cut all
needless costs, the trend toward dropping landline service in favor of
cell phone service only will accelerate until it's totally mainstream,
and only grandma still has a landline phone.
4. Movie rental stores
The idea of retail operations where you drive to a store, pick a
movie, stand in line and then drive home with the movie will become a
quaint relic of the new fin de siècle (look it up!). The new old way to get movies will be discs by mail, and the new, new way will be downloading.
5. Web 2.0 companies without a business plan
The era when Web-based companies could emerge and grow on venture
capital, collecting eyeballs and members at a rapid clip and deferring
the business plan until later are dead and gone. Yeah, I'm talking to
you, Twitter.
Sand Hill Road-style venture capital is shrinking toward nothing, and
investors in general will be hard to come by. Those few remaining
investors will want to see real, solid business plans before the first
dollar is wired to any start-up's bank.
6. Most companies in Silicon Valley
Tech company failures and mergers will leave the industry with a low
two-digit percentage (maybe 25%) of the total number of companies now
in existence. Like the automobile industry, which had more than 200 car
makers in the 1920s and emerged from the Depression with just a few,
Silicon Valley is in for some serious contraction. The difference is
that the auto industry ended up with the Big Three, whereas the number
of tech companies will grow dramatically again during the next boom.
The idea is to give the company time to release its forthcoming Nova
operating system, which will take the cell-phone world by storm and
give Apple a run for its money. It would have been far more efficient,
however, to just flush that money down the toilet. With the iPhone
setting the handset interface agenda, BlackBerry-maker RIM kicking butt
in the businesses market, and Google stirring up trouble with its
Android platform, this is no time for a clueless company like Palm to
be introducing a new operating system. By this time next year, Palm
will be gone. And so might Elevation Partners.
Yahoo Inc. is another company that can't seem to do anything right.
Or, at least, can't compete with Google. Yahoo will be acquired by
someone, and its brand will become an empty shell -- used for some
inane set of services but appreciated only by armchair historians
(joining the ranks of Netscape, Napster and Commodore).
9. Half of all retail stores
Many retail stores are obsolete and will be replaced by online
competitors. Entire malls will become ghost towns. By this time next
year, most video game stores, book stores and toy stores -- as well as
brick-and-mortar shops in many other categories -- will simply vanish.
Amazon.com will grow and grow.
10. Satellite Radio
I'm sorry, Howard Stern. It's over. The
newly merged Sirius XM Radio simply cannot sustain its losses. The
company is already deeply in debt and would need to dramatically
increase subscribers over the next six months in order to meet its debt
obligations. Unfortunately, new car sales, which account for a huge
percentage of satellite radio sales, are in the gutter and stand-alone
subscriptions are way down.
Change is hard. But efficiency is good. While boom years gives us
radical innovation and improve consumer choice, recessions help us
focus on what's really important and accelerate the demise of
technologies and companies that are already obsolete.
So say good-bye to these 10 things, and say hello (eventually) to a new economy, a new boom and a new way of doing things.
Where we land nobody knows...but there will be changes...and change is good.
(from the Mike Elgan article (with some edits) who writes about technology and global tech culture.)
Many of us have been openly critical of different agencies, organizations, the government, and banks as they pertain to the real estate crisis over the past few years, and I’ve certainly been one of them. I’m about to tell you something that you likely are unaware of:
The majority of the people that were not doing good deeds in the real estate and mortgage industry are NO LONGER IN THE BUSINESS!!!
Everyone likes to point fingers at one group or the other...especially if they are not a part of the group...laying primary blame on our economic situation and severe downturn in the real estate industry. The truth is that everyone is partially to blame.
The media focuses on the loan officers, brokers and bankers as the primary culprits. The Democats blame the Republicans and the Bush Administration. The Republicans blame the Demorats, Clinton and now Obama. The banks blame the regulators. The brokers blame the banks. The car companies are at fault. Wall Street did it in the observatory with the candlestick. Nobody blames the consumer because they are "victims" losing their homes and out of work.
It is the rare teller of truth who points the partial finger at the consumer, green eyed full of lust, living way beyond their means...fat and happy. I know. I was one of them. Smart as I was about financial literacy and the real estate market I made mistakes too.
C'mon folks. You knew that the 1% payment with negative amortization of only $1,500 on an $750k house was out of your league. Did you really need that boat/RV/river house/112 inch TV/5th car paid for on your equity line so that you at one point owed $750k on your $750k house? But don't worry. Your $45k a year job is not only safe (because we live in a 50's like society where people stay at one job for 45 years then retire with a pension and a gold watch...no? We don't? WTF?), but makes you enough money to have racked up $200k in credit cards and a $750k home loan.
Really? The consumer was not partially to blame?
Okay. In the consumer's defense ( I was one too...having jumped on the same excessive band wagon - just not quite as exessive as some) there were a lot of other factors: the rookie loan officers trying to make the most on each loan, the banks banking on Wall Street by telling the loan officers what to put on the application to get the loan to go through (that actually happened to me -- that bank is no longer around), the media having to make money through advertising regardless of truth because sports stars and entertainment eshalon make 100 times more than they should, and your neighbor one upping you so you have to do it back.
Man...I just reread the above...do you think I have an opinion? Have I bashed everyone yet?
My point is...okay it is an obvious one...we are in trouble folks! Down, but not out! We can get help. We can climb out of the gluttonous infested sewage of greed and rise better citizens. Living within our means, and, perhaps, if we act wisely, create some real wealth out of the blood in streets...BUT YOU HAVE TO BE PROACTIVE...SMART, BUT TAKE ACTION! Help me help you!
Consider this: The government has just told us that the official U.S. unemployment rate surged to 9.4%, the worst in a quarter century!
Now, here’s what the government has NOT told us:
This official number is grossly understated: It doesn’t even begin to count the millions who suddenly find themselves trying to live on a part-time income ... or the millions more who have given up looking for a job altogether.
The worst layoffs are yet to come: Not only from giants like Chrysler and General Motors ... not only from thousands of auto dealerships and part suppliers ... but also from millions of small businesses all across America.
The government’s recent bank "stress" tests were flat out wrong. They assumed an average employment rate of 8.9% this year. With today’s announcement, it is now clear, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the actual rate will be far higher.
The unemployment rate is CLOSELY correlated with the delinquency rate on mortgages. That means it’s now virtually INEVITABLE that mortgage defaults and foreclosures will surge FAR more. Even moreso, we are just now seeing the Alt-A mortgages begin to adjust up, and the multipayment loans recast...this, as Bruce Norris says (and I am paraphrasing) is not only a bigger wave, but a Category 5 storm!
Martin D Weiss, PhD. and his followers, offer the same perspective. It seems as though the market does not know that the “iceberg for the Titanic is already here and things are going to get worse. How do we explain buyers paying high prices for bank stocks that are fundamentally broke? Is there any hope for the market to ‘get smart’ and turn down any time soon? Your insights have been invaluable to me. Your thoughts?”
Weiss' answer is a resounding, "Yes!" If history teaches us anything, it’s that these kinds of rallies and lulls occur in every bear market. I count no fewer than nine of them in the stock market crash of 1929-33 alone! This is true for the real estate market as well. During some of the worst financial times of our past we saw interest rates in the teens (that's double digits folks) for home loans. AND real estate prices were on the rise. It is happening again.
And history also teaches us that, despite the hype and happy talk coming from Washington and Wall Street, the fundamental trend will always prevail.
The lesson is clear: Buyers, consumers and investors who ignore the fundamentals, such as the surge we just saw in unemployment, are too easily seduced by Washington, Wall Street, and Media spin.
They fall victim to the lullaby that “the worst is over” and jump back into stocks just before the next major leg down. They jump in to real estate not expecting prices to fall. They WAIT for interest rates to fall instead of locking in low rates now as they are on the rise. The result: A whole new round of stinging losses.
Now, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what’s coming next for the U.S. economy in the weeks and months ahead. Just connect the dots ...
Consumer spending is 70% of the U.S. economy.
Those consumers are now either out of work or are terrified that they could be the next to lose their jobs.
So consumers are avoiding unnecessary purchases like the plague.
And that means corporate earnings will continue to plunge and inevitably, so will stock prices. People are afraid of bank closures and are keeping mattress money. But that does not mean that there is not opportunity. Just the opposite. It's about the RIGHT OPPORTUNITY.
This message couldn’t be clearer: The long-term bearish trend in stocks and real estate is firmly intact. Our contrarian investments — things that rise in value when stocks fall — should deliver substantial profits for those who keep the faith.
That means that in the real estate investment market my three rules of investing are more important than ever! 1. Buy with equity or in a cash positive position at close (Buy at a discount to CURRENT market value). 2. Stay positive while holding (Now more than ever is this important...if you are positive with mortgage, taxes, insurance, maintenance, property management and an 8-10% vacancy factor you will do just fine holding long term). and 3. Have an exit strategy BEFORE you buy which calls for profit even if you lose...which could mean in this market that your investment becomes longer term.
For new home buyers...WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Santa has come and gone! The right house with an FHA loan will be cheaper than renting. REALLY! Or rent and invest! But if you can buy you should (but buy right -- ask me for help).
For FHA loan holders...take advantage of the Streamline Refinance. No appraisal. No Tax Returns. No Income Verification...if you have been making your payments on time and your credit score is above 620 and your rate is 6% or higher...YOU ARE MAKING A HUGE MISTAKE IF YOU DO NOT ACT TODAY!
Take action TODAY! What are you waiting for? Your rate will leave you behind.
It amazes me how many people are out there complaining about the problem, have solutions in front of them, but are not TAKING ACTION! As far as I’m concerned, you’re part of the
problem and you need to do either one of two things:
a) Take Action to find out if you can refi, modify, streamline, buy, sell, invest...
or
b) Shut up until you’ve satisfied point a). In my mind, you have
no right to criticize and complain about the world's shortcomings when the greater
shortcoming lies within. And if you can refi, do have and FHA loan, have been waiting when you should have been ACTING...don't beat yourself up...JUST TAKE ACTION and FIND OUT TODAY!
President Obama declared some
"good news" a month ago in the midst of this economic meltdown, urging families to take advantage of near-record low
mortgage rates by refinancing their home loans. "We are at a time where
people can really take advantage of this," Obama said, as he was seated
with a handful of homeowners who have already lowered their bills.
We are seeing rates bottom and starting to rise. Get in NOW!
While you still can! You can qualify for an "OBAMA MORTGAGE REFI" if your house is not more
than 105% upside down! It has to be a Fredie Mac or Fannie Mae loan
(it likely is even if you have Wells Fargo, Chase, etc.) Check and see if your loan is Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. for more details, then call me at (888) 823-2261. If you don't it is the same as throwing money down the toilet.
I said my piece. Ranted my rant. I could go on (and I have in the past) but I won't because I am officially becoming part of the solution.
Help Me Help You!
When I think about all the people that are in need, I always come back to
this classic 20-second clip from the movie Jerry Maguire. It really
says it all. If you’re out there reading this, take a moment to think about what you can do to help yourself. Then call me at (888) 823-2261 or email darren@tadaco.com.
