Posted by 101livescan on 8/2/09 11:33pm
Msg #298428

Housing on the rebound!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090802/ap_on_bi_ge/us_housing_mid_year_outlook

Some Good News!?!

Reply by Shoshana Roller on 8/3/09 12:18am
Msg #298431

I wouldn't count on it. Here in AZ people are still losing their jobs. There was a great article in USA today last week about how even skilled jobs are being lost. Many of these people are boomers like many of us. They can't get jobs because they are "too old". People in their 50's and 60's cannot get jobs. That's a crime. More and more jobs are being outsourced to overseas where the labor is way cheaper.
This leads to more foreclosures. Here in the Phoenix area, the first time homebuyers are more often than not, outbid by the investors.
I think we have a long way to go.
JMHO

Reply by Glenn Strickler on 8/3/09 12:34am
Msg #298432

Very temporary .... n/m

Reply by PAW on 8/3/09 7:20am
Msg #298439

Depends on the area. FL had a decline

most likely due to the massive construction frenzy during the hay-day period. There are so many new and uninhabited homes on the market, plus all the foreclosed properties (which is still increasing) coupled with a higher than average unemployment rate, Florida still has a ways to go before we reach the real bottom of the pit.

Reply by Stamper_WI on 8/3/09 7:34am
Msg #298441

Existing housing is really moving here. n/m

Reply by Teddog/CO on 8/3/09 8:26am
Msg #298444

Re: Depends on the area. FL had a decline

Colorado is a mess also. Like Shoshana said if you are in the 50 to 60's age range you're out of luck for a job. No one can live off minium wage or $9.00 an hour. Which seems to be the "going rate" in Colorado. It is worse here then it was in the 70's. Unemployment rate is outrageous. Crime rates up and the suicide rate is up 50%. Only thing that's selling really well here are guns and ammo.

The real kicker here is the price if everything just keeps getting higher and higher. Property taxes just went up almost 8%. God where do these people think joe average is going to get all this money from.

What home sales? All that's going on here seems to be short-sells, foreclosures and uninhabited homes. Hundreds of homes with For Sale signs on them for months and months. I've been in some housing developments that are really spooky because they are rural and it doesn't take long for nature to take the land back. Lawns are now just sand and tumbleweeds.

About two weeks ago a man about 1/2 mile from me just torched the house and drove away. Apparently he lost his hi tech job and Chase foreclosed on the house. The man had been working two minium wages jobs trying to keep afloat. He just snapped. Good thing there has been so much rain here or the entire area which is nothing but forest would of gone up in a forest fire. Could of killed a lot of people.

Sure wish the President would offer an incentive package for hiring older people 50 and older. The USA is the only country in the world that has no regard or respect for there older population. Yet people 50 and older out number the younger population. What a waste of experience, knowledge and wisdom that the older population has to offer. Just shaking my head in disgust.

Reply by Shoshana Roller on 8/3/09 8:34am
Msg #298445

Re: Depends on the area. FL had a decline

My husband, now 60 has been out of work for more than 2 years.

Reply by Teddog/CO on 8/3/09 9:03am
Msg #298449

Shoshana

Shoshana, I'm so sorry to here that. Sadly more and more people 60+ are out of work and really need to get back to work now. JMO AARP is of no use to us older people either (unless you're a rich person) and buy everything they advertise in their magazine. They offer jobs only 18 hrs a week at minium wage for a (whole 12 weeks.) That doesn't even pay for the gas to get to a job. Plus the companies they send people to work for will never hire you. Why should they, they are getting their help for free. Courtesy of AARP WorkForce.

Latest scoop from AARP the Government wants to stop giving the cost of living raise to people on SS.

My only words of advise to the younger generation is wake-up and start to pay attention. Old age is not contagious, but it is going to happen to you also. That's just nature and a fact of life.

Reply by Shoshana Roller on 8/3/09 10:26am
Msg #298475

Re: Shoshana

Thanks for your concern. He and a friend (age 61) have just started a Rabbinic and Cantorial seminary that is based here in Phoenix. They have a website. All of a sudden potential students are coming out of the woodwork from as far away as Venezuela and Canada.

Reply by jba/fl on 8/3/09 10:46am
Msg #298482

Re: Shoshana

How Terrific! I wish them all thel success in the world.

Clark Howard for many years has been saying that if one is over 40, one should look to starting own business as the over 40 crowd is just not getting the jobs they should. This really appears to apply more and more daily.

Reply by Shoshana Roller on 8/3/09 11:06am
Msg #298487

Re: Shoshana

God works in mysterious ways. We hadn't been in touch with this guy since we left NY in 1983. Then, in 2006, he shows up in Phoenix 6 months after us. This is no coincidence!
Thanks for your good wishes. I really feel that this is what my husband was meant to do.

Reply by 101livescan on 8/3/09 11:58am
Msg #298492

Re: Shoshana

Sounds like a God shot to me!

Reply by Namo on 8/3/09 9:00am
Msg #298448

Re: Depends on the area. FL had a decline

Good point!

Reply by 101livescan on 8/3/09 9:33am
Msg #298457

Re: Depends on the area. FL had a decline

I can see where people just lose it and torch a home they worked so hard to keep, then lost their job, self-respect, dignity...I have been watching foreclosures first hand here in CA for over a year now. It is gut wrenching, especially for families.

Existing homes are selling here now, there are bidding wars, the banks have lowered the prices, then a dozen people start upping their bids to get a single property. There are people out their with money who are picking these up.

Job market is sucky around here, especially for the boomers. You gotta get into your own business, and hopefully it is something that is recession proof. I haven't had a full time job in over two years now, the last work I had was for a real estate attorney, I call him the KING OF MEAN, his license plate on his Austin Martin said OGRE...he laid me off when he moved his office and home to San Francisco, he buys up pools of mortgage loans at a huge discount and making money hand over fist, but not a very nice human being. Another pig profitting at the demise of other's losses.

Reply by Teddog/CO on 8/3/09 9:52am
Msg #298462

Re: Depends on the area. FL had a decline

101livescan, No not a pretty picture at all. I think these "feel good" numbers are being juggled. Call me a suspicious.

The last straw for me is this car rebate program. Are they nuts! Government can't even straighten out the housing crisis. No jobs, no place to live, all the folks that are on food stamps, states going bankrupt. And winter is on it's way.

JMO I could be wrong but do they still count the military in the employed population numbers. Because if the govenment still counts the military in those numbers we have a Lot more unemployed people in the USA then people realize. Just playing a numbers game with us??

Reply by 101livescan on 8/3/09 10:41am
Msg #298480

Re: Depends on the area. FL had a decline

Trying to make us feel better, improve Obama's ratings, if we only knew the truth, which is so scary. No wonder Obama holds his head in his hands so often! We need a HUGE prayer and movement.

Reply by Teddog/CO on 8/3/09 12:24pm
Msg #298495

101livescan

I'de hop on a movement in a heartbeat. Getting veryyy tired of being treated like we are invisible.

What's really scary. They want to improve medical care and prevention so you can live to be 100 years old. OMG Just shoot me like an old horse.

Reply by 101livescan on 8/3/09 12:44pm
Msg #298498

Re: 101livescan

I hear you Teddog....I see so many elderly who are just passing time, especially Altzheimer's patients...there ought to be an "OPT OUT" plan for the infirmed and dimented. Switzerland has a "shot" I hear.