Florida homebuilding meltdown

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peter d

peter d

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I saw a quick report on the news last night about the "mortgage crisis" as it's been called, and they did a spot on Florida (I forgot which city).

Anyway, they interviewed a few contractors and some realtors. The HVAC contractor they interviewed laid off 400 people. A masonry contractor laid off 50. The mortgage broker's office laid off 8 people. Etc etc.....

That is really bad. :(
 
peter d said:
I saw a quick report on the news last night about the "mortgage crisis" as it's been called, and they did a spot on Florida (I forgot which city).

Anyway, they interviewed a few contractors and some realtors. The HVAC contractor they interviewed laid off 400 people. A masonry contractor laid off 50. The mortgage broker's office laid off 8 people. Etc etc.....

That is really bad. :(
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I'm looking for help. I need mechanics with drivers licenses. This is the Ft. Lauderdale area. PM me.
 
Larwin homes just shut down two large projects in our town and one of the tracts is thinking about taking it's homes off the market until it upturns.
 
it has not tanked here just flat lined but in rural community that is tough road of ho..means by x-mas or january things are hurting unless you have put some work on slow down..just to keep cash flow..
 
I live in South Louisiana, and the housing market here-"they" say-is down, but everywhere I drive (I work for a FEMA contractor doing elect. & a/c maint. across 13 parishes) I see new subdivisions and aprtments/condos going up. Just off of my road there are 3 new subdivisions going up, one that STARTS at $250K each. Anybody want to relocate yet?
 
cowboyjwc said:
Larwin homes just shut down two large projects in our town and one of the tracts is thinking about taking it's homes off the market until it upturns.
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Funny you mention that, because I was wondering what was going on in your neck of the woods too. Most of the focus on the housing bust seems to be in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Florida, and So Cal.
 
Local Building Sept in Port Charlotte Fl. laid off 20 people from the building department last week. 10 of them inspectors. Some departments down to a 32 hour work week. Complete Golf course community shut down. Sales office closed. Golf course closed. Collier county sending out 2 and 3 inspectors to do 1 inspection. It won't get any better untill after the Presidential Election
 
Cavie said:
It won't get any better untill after the Presidential Election
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I don't know about that - I think the economy is tanking, artificially propped up by the now defunct "everyone qualifies" subprime mortgage industry. Everyone who could, has bought a house. And probably overpaid. Whether or not they're able to keep it remains to be seen, but with the now tighter mortgage qualification requirements, who is left to qualify?
 
The economy here is showing very few signs of trouble (that doesn't mean it won't). There are, however, lots of homes for sale and staying that way, but construction is booming; commercial and resi.
 
LawnGuyLandSparky said:
I don't know about that - I think the economy is tanking, artificially propped up by the now defunct "everyone qualifies" subprime mortgage industry. Everyone who could, has bought a house. And probably overpaid. Whether or not they're able to keep it remains to be seen, but with the now tighter mortgage qualification requirements, who is left to qualify?
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Very true the no down and interest only loans are what has caused this market to flatline..what would an election due for us? economics done the government way is why we are were we are at..The real problem is buying off the Internet..buy local and employee your neighbors so they have money to by stuff..the problem is the Internet, it does not employee your neighbors so they can spend money..the government does not know how to run economics and it has a prov-en track record of failure..Buy local employee your friends promote it so we can stay working for profit..If you think the government should stick its nose in profit business then look at the current state of the housing market who is responsible for it..the government they made a subsidized loans program that falsely inflated the market and look at it now..Yep buy globally it works for us especially if we want to be poor..
 
Well, I agree buying locally can't hurt, especially a local economy, but if the local retailer is buying from an off shore manufacturer as the internet providers are, that's not much of difference in the grand scheme of things.

Further, it was the loosening of government regulations that allowed the subprime mortgage industry to create itself with little to no effective oversight or regulations. That industry fueled the latest boom but it all came crashing down due to the lack of enforcing minimum standards. I don't see how anyone could blame the government when it was greedy personal speculation and greedy mortgage bankers and brokers who caused this.
 
I am sorry If it sounds like I am blaming the government..But like most government things it was subsidized by the government and no one supervised it..so you are correct greedy Americans caused it..and the same greedy Americans who do not support our local economies are to blame.. no matter at what level we support our local economies someone is always going to be on the greedy side..Yet as a consumer you can purchase what you want and you can inquire as to what you want and from where it comes..Suppiers stock what there customers by..You see I promote by local and American to everyone I deal with, does it happen all the time no but at-least I am trying to do my part..because no one in India, china, japan, etc.. is supporting me and or my family..I pointed out the government thing because they were the ones who created the subsidized program and look how it worked out..
 
peter d said:
Funny you mention that, because I was wondering what was going on in your neck of the woods too. Most of the focus on the housing bust seems to be in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Florida, and So Cal.
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Yeah my dad just moved here from Las Vegas, they've been here about six months and had the house on the market for a year before that and it's still not sold. Folks here are taking their houses off the market, if you can't sell the new ones you really can't sell the old ones.

Now the jobs that are self financed are going ahead. I think it's the bank financed jobs that are really in trouble.
 
peter d said:
Funny you mention that, because I was wondering what was going on in your neck of the woods too. Most of the focus on the housing bust seems to be in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Florida, and So Cal.
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Yeah, Phoenix is still booming.
 
cschmid said:
I am sorry If it sounds like I am blaming the government..But like most government things it was subsidized by the government and no one supervised it..so you are correct greedy Americans caused it..and the same greedy Americans who do not support our local economies are to blame.. no matter at what level we support our local economies someone is always going to be on the greedy side..Yet as a consumer you can purchase what you want and you can inquire as to what you want and from where it comes..Suppiers stock what there customers by..You see I promote by local and American to everyone I deal with, does it happen all the time no but at-least I am trying to do my part..because no one in India, china, japan, etc.. is supporting me and or my family..I pointed out the government thing because they were the ones who created the subsidized program and look how it worked out..
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My whole point is that the government didn't "subsidize" these mortgages. They will be if they do what they're being asked to - bail out the situation, just like the governmnet bailed out the Savings and Loan crisis.

Even though there are government mandated mortgage sponsorships, like FannieMae and and whatnot, our tax dollars do not "subsidize" these programs.

In your post it seemed you blamed the government and it's inteference in the mortgage industry for this problem, my position is it was the LACK of government "inteference" that caused it.

Many banking regulations have been eased over the last 4 administrations. Notice, how when more latitude is given to the "free market" the first result is a temporary boom, and then shortly and predictably thereafter, comes the big CRASH.
 
I will have to do some research because president bush had this program to stimulate the economy and it was to promote the building industry and there was a mortgage incentive for home construction and this was for the mortgage industry..I will have to talk to my friend who is mortgage broker so I can get the specifics on it..but it will wait until next week..
 
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