patrick.net

ok

Problem is there is no police/politicians that aren't pwned - hence no handcuffs, no accountability whatsoever.

Depends how you define shadow inventory.

ochousingnews did a recent article on this, saying that true shadow inventory consists of properties where the loan-owners have defaulted but the banks haven't taken action. As a result, they aren't counted, and generally aren't trackable.

Some people call these properties 'ghost' inventory, while referring to shadow inventory as properties in the foreclosure pipeline.

If I understand correctly, once the NOD is filed, the property becomes trackable as a 'preforeclosure', and can show up in sites like realtytrac (at least, that's how it works in CA).

Here are some numbers for SFRs in Oakland, where I'm shopping:

Total active listings: 390 (per Redfin, July 30)

REOs: 1,681 (per realtytrac, August 1)

REOs on the market: 34 (per Redfin, Aug 1)

Scheduled for auction: 834 (per realtytrac, August 1)

Preforeclosures: 1,153 (per realtytrac, August 1)

Compared to June 2011, inventory in June 2012 was down 50 percent, and median price was up 30 percent (per Redfin).

The artificially-constrained inventory and absurdly-low interest rates have created a mini-bubble around here, effectively pricing me out of the low-mid-tier market.

Thinks about it: If this data is accurate, the number of off-market REOs is more than FOUR TIMES the total number of active listings of SFRs in Oakland. The number of SFRs in the foreclosure pipeline is over EIGHT times the active listings. As for the off-record 'ghost' inventory, who knows?

So the banks I helped bail out, and the GSEs I now own a piece of, are manipulating the market to reduce their losses, while making housing less affordable, and possibly inflating another bubble (though not as insane as the last one).

At the same time, I've read that the FHA's cash reserves are something like one-tenth of the mandated amount, and the refis it's backing are defaulting in high numbers. There's talk that it'll need a bailout. More of my tax dollars may end up going to this disgusting mess of corruption.

No tax dollars needed. The 'fed' said they are 'buying' the equivalent of 40,000 one million dollar homes per month until they're all gone. They pull the money out of their ass. If you can't compete with bankers who can poop dollars then you'll just have to rent from them and their friends forever. This isn't complicated. When they buy with stolen money price doesn't matter. It was all a set up.

This is mainly due to the 'REO to Rentals' program that was announced last March. This program--a collaboration between the FHA, Fannie, Freddie, HUD and PRIVATE INVESTORS is esentially one that has removed REOs from the MLS and instead auctions and/or sells them, often in bulk, to approved 'pool' bidders for low prices. This is done with the caveat that the homes must be rehabbed and used for rentals for at least two years before they can be flipped. This is clearing out the ghost inventory at a much faster pace, putting defaulted owners & others into rentals (they have to live SOMEWHERE), and dramatically reducing the number of MLS-listed homes for sale, leaving only a few short sale and standard sale properties for 'over the counter' inventory. This LOOKS like a scarcity of inventory on the surface of things, and has created an upward surge in prices because there is more demand than supply on the open market. In reality the supply still outstrips the demand, but all the shadow inventory is now being disposed of literally in the shadows and not on the open market.

The 'fed' have consistently and unilaterally been changing the rules. To name just a sample: Allowing the selling of unregulated and unbacked phony insurance by their wall street pals (euphemistically named 'credit default swaps'); they are allowing assets to be valued at fantasy so tbtf banks avoid bankruptcy; banks can now be landlords and rent out confiscated real estate; banks can wait four years to sell foreclosed property instead of one; and the 'fed' are making trillions in purchases that distort the markets and destroy the purchasing power of everyone else; It's the largest transfer of wealth from workers to bankers in history. And they tell you it's for your own good.