WTF? Has anyone else noticed this?

Has anyone else noticed that the new tactic being taken by realtors out there in new condo conversions to not list square footage of the units in the MLS?  An example of this can be found here: http://www.redfin.com/stingray/do/printable-listing?listing-id=1548216

I suspect that they are doing this because there is such a glut of inventory on the market in condos

that Realtors(c) are trying to make it harder to compare comps by cost per square foot. I thought

that Reators(c) had a Code of Ethics they were supposed to follow. Obfuscating the price per

square foot only serves the purpose of trying to convince someone that they are paying a comp

for an equivalent unit in the neighborhood, when in fact they could be paying far more for a smaller

unit.

I have NOT seen this on SFR yet at all. Could it be because that information is much harder to hide

for an existing structure that hasn't been converted.

Buy wisely peeps.

The question worth asking now is: Why do we love leverage so much that it hurts?

The simple answer, according to personal finance experts, is that we want more -- more money, more house, more car, just more, more, more. We often think we deserve more. Leverage gets us more. With historically low interest rates, leverage is the easiest and quickest tool to get more stuff.

read all about it here with this Washington Post article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/21/AR2008032103817.html?g=1

Bait and Switch and other Realtard Shennigans

945 N. Hudson Avenue, posted as #101 but really is #201 above it!

So I went to a really kewl (at least it looked like it) open house over near Hollyweird, between Santa Monica Blvd. and Melrose on Hudson. The listing on redfin shows these really awesome pictures of the unit, (follow the link here: http://www.redfin.com/stingray/do/printable-listing?listing-id=1233152).

When I arrived 15 minutes after the purported open house was suppose to begin (1 pm), no Realtards in sight. So, I got busy with my cell phone and am told that there has been a "bit of a misunderstanding at the office, someone is on the way and will be there in 15 minutes." Well, I decide that this would be an opportune time to cruise the neighborhood on my 'sandal net' to see what it looks and feels like. All in all, I dig the vibe; although south of Santa Monica Blvd., it is within walking distance of all of the clubs in Hollyweird (or a $5-10 cab ride) without all of the hassles of $40 parking at the club. So, I grabbed some grub and headed back to the open house. I get back an hour later and still no Realtard, just a piece of paper asking me to "check-in" at their other development down the block. So I cruised down and ran into the Realtard at that location who announced that his partner was at the other property. I pointed out to him that the gate was locked, no one was in sight, and there was sign directing me down to this location. A few cell phone calls between the two tards, and I was shuffling my way back up three blocks to the residence I wanted to check out (namely the $399k open house advertised in the LA times).

Now, here's the kicker the pix on the listing are of unit 201, one of the two, super big, cathedral unit on the 2nd Floor with a loft (listed at $100k premium to the one advertised), not of the actual unit for sale. Not only was I supremely disappointed, I thought about running the ethics of deliberately posting the pics of the wrong unit in the MLS past the CA Realtards Association. I mean, I thought the Realtards had a code of ethics? Anywho, the open house had a lot of interest, but at last than 1000 sq. ft. for the real unit, is it any wonder that these units are languishing on the market with a $400+ price per sq. ft.?

BTW, my three block cruise in my sandals reveals at least 40-50 new condo units due to come online within the next 2-4 months. It will be interesting to see what that does to pricing pressure on 945 (and 912, their other development) pricing pressures. Currently only 5 of 8 units have been sold at 945 and they are at 146 days+ on market.

I will post more about you and me getting stuck with Bear Stearns bad mortage debt tomorrow as I assess what is going on in the market. For now, suffice it to say that I am pissed as hell!

Yikes, I Broke Down

As if there were not enough blogs on the current real estate craziness here in Southern California, I finally broke down so I could add my two cents to the dialog.

I'll be hammering out updates on a semi-regular basis going forward. Others do a much better job of showing the raw numbers such as http://westside-bubble.blogspot.com/. I plan on tackling the problem from another angle, mainly the Austrian school of economic theory that you can read about here: http://www.mises.org/.

Expect me to take a few swipes at the authoritahs as well, especially juicy cases of cops gone wild on innocent civilians. Also idiot agents of leviathan at all levels of government can expect to be ratted out and exposed, especially those who help create the crazy bubbles in the first place, then want to impose government "solutions" to correct their own sorry mess.

That's all for today, I am off to see some open houses to report on later. It will be interesting to see what the Realtards (props to golfer-x @ http://housing-kaboom.blogspot.com/ for the term, at least the first place that I have seen it) have to say today about the market!