Postcards on the Edge

[Slimprofits]

Re: Postcards on the Edge

McMansion news:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-13/americans-living-larger-as-new-home-sizes-defy-economy.html

The percentage of new single-family homes greater than 3,000 square feet has grown by one-third in the last decade, according to data released last month by the U.S. Census Bureau. The increase has occurred even while 4.3 million homes have been foreclosed upon since January 2007, a result of the housing- bubble collapse and economic meltdown. Slightly more than 1 in 4 new homes built last year were larger than 3,000 square feet, the highest percentage since 2007.

The Census Bureau reports that the average size of a U.S. house rose in 2011 to 2,480 square feet, up from 2,392 square feet in 2010. The 2011 figure is 62.6 percent larger than the 1,525-square-foot average size in 1973.

The number of new single-family dwellings built last year fell to 447,000, off 72.9 percent from the 2006 high of 1.65 million. About 236,000 of the new ones, or more than half, were built in the South.
The largest percentage of homes bigger than 3,000 square feet, 29 percent, was also built in the South. The second- largest percentage of big houses was in the Northeast, where 27 percent of the 44,000 new homes were larger than 3,000 square feet.

[lakedaemonian]

Re: Postcards on the Edge

I quite liked that "Hacker Hostel" article.

It sounds a bit like a music collective or how musicians network(from what little I know).

I wonder if you could mash that concept up with Y Combinator to create a poor man's Idealab?

A town could do worse than to offer vacant property for use as an incubator for "starving startups" with a commitment to stick around if they blossom maybe?

[don]

Re: Postcards on the Edge

A friend of mine in the Bay Area suggested we franchise the concept.

[lakedaemonian]

Re: Postcards on the Edge

A friend of mine in the Bay Area suggested we franchise the concept.

It's funny you say that......one of the ideas I've been kicking around is IF we see the same real estate issues here in NZ/OZ as we've seen in Florida/Nevada/California and when it eventually makes sense to purchase property again...I'd be quite keen to invest in a property to utilize it for something like this....or something like a TechShop.

[flintlock]

Re: Postcards on the Edge

At least in the US those statements are not quite correct. It's true that lead shot is not allowed for shooting waterfowl, for a long time, but the vast majority of other shotgun ammunition uses lead shot. I'm quite sure that nearly all 22 rimfire ammunition is lead, with copper or brass plating. In centerfire rifles, again the great majority of bullets are lead with copper/gilding metal jackets. Lead bullets have been outlawed in California just in the past couple of years. I have used solid-copper bullets (no lead) for deer hunting for 5+ years, and this ammunition is getting to be more common, but it still represents a premium product not used by most folks.

Yeah, i just assumed the cores were lead too.? I have some steel core military stuff. But dont most hunting rounds need to be softer? ( dont hunt)

[leegs]

Re: Postcards on the Edge

Flintlock - no, a lead/soft core is not necessary. These new all copper bullets have hollow points and peel back in a very consistent way to make a bigger hole, in the same way the lead bullets expand.

[don]

Re: Postcards on the Edge

good news for gens X & Y. Seniors are screwed too . . . .

By ROBBIE BROWN

MABLETON, Ga. — Roy Johnson fell so far behind on his $1,000-per-month mortgage payments that last year he allowed the redbrick, three-bedroom ranch he had owned since 1963 to lapse into foreclosure.

“I couldn’t pay it any longer,” he said. “One day, I woke up and said, ‘Hell, I’m through with it. I’m walking away from the house.’ ”
That decision swept Mr. Johnson, 79, into a rapidly expanding demographic: older Americans who have lost their homes in the Great Recession. As he hauled his belongings by pickup truck from this Atlanta suburb and moved into his daughter’s basement, Mr. Johnson became one of the one and a half million Americans over the age of 50 who lost their houses to foreclosure between 2007 and 2011. Of those, the highest foreclosure rate was for homeowners over 75.

Once viewed as the most fiscally stable age group, older people are flailing. On Wednesday, AARP released what it described as the most comprehensive analysis yet of why the foreclosure crisis struck so many Americans in their retirement years. The report found that while people under 50 are the group most likely to face foreclosure, the risk of “serious delinquency” on mortgages has grown fastest for people over 50.

While the study classified even baby boomers as “older Americans,” its most dire findings were for the oldest group. Among people over 75, the foreclosure rate grew more than eightfold from 2007 to 2011, to 3 percent of that group of homeowners, the report found.

“Despite the perception that older Americans are more housing secure than younger people, millions of older Americans are carrying more mortgage debt than ever before, and more than three million are at risk of losing their homes,” the report found. “As the mortgage crisis continues, millions of older Americans are struggling to maintain their financial security.”

The report was based on nationwide loan data that covered a five-year span. The profile of those facing foreclosure has changed since 2007. As the average age and wealth of those people rise, their foreclosures are less likely to involve high-interest loans. In fact, most foreclosures are now the result of prime loans rather than subprime ones, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Instead, older Americans are losing their homes because of pension cuts, rising medical costs, shrinking stock portfolios and falling property values, according to Debra Whitman, AARP’s executive vice president for policy. They are also not saving enough money. Half of households whose head is between 65 and 74 have no money in retirement accounts, according to the Federal Reserve.

At CredAbility, an Atlanta-based credit counseling agency, the average age of callers needing help has risen to 49 from 43 in recent years. Scott Scredon, a spokesman for the agency, said most older Americans facing foreclosure are frugal but are unable to live on fixed incomes with the rising cost of living.

“When we think of foreclosures, we think of someone who was a little reckless and spent beyond their means,” he said. “The older the person, the less likely that is to be the case.”

Foreclosures create unique challenges for older people, Ms. Whitman said. They are less able to find new jobs and more vulnerable to becoming homeless, analysts say.

In Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Charlotte Orton’s three-bedroom apartment has been under foreclosure for four months. Since losing her job as a real estate agent, Ms. Orton’s only source of income has been Social Security payments of $1,200 per month.

If she is evicted, Ms. Orton, 69, who has no family members in Florida, says she does not know where she will live.

“This is the lowest point in my entire life,” she said. “If I were in my 30s, it would be easier to get employment. But all they want to know is what your recent experience is, and the real estate market has collapsed.”

Other older foreclosure victims have managed to negotiate with banks to stay in their houses. Josephine Tolbert, 76, was temporarily evicted from her house in San Francisco for two weeks. Protesters from the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment staged a sit-in at Bank of America, and eventually Ms. Tolbert was able to renegotiate her loan.

“At my age, I don’t know what I would have done,” she said. “But let me tell you, it was a fight.”

Selling houses is also a challenge for many older people. The value of real estate has collapsed, especially in wealthy suburbs of Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago and other sprawling metropolitan areas.

For Mr. Johnson, it was painful to watch the house he built 48 years earlier sell for only $33,000 at auction last year.

Now he lives in what his 55-year-old daughter calls his “man cave” in her basement. It is an hour away from his old house. Although Mr. Johnson is grateful to have been helped by a relative, he misses having space for all of his belongings and the tree from which he made pear preserves.

“I planned to die in that house,” he said. “But I guess it won’t work out that way.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/19/us...ml?_r=1&ref=us

[c1ue]

Re: Postcards on the Edge

I wonder why these seniors are falling behind.

Is it due to HELOC ATM'ing? Moonlighting jobs disappearing? Inflation eroding Social Security buying power? All of the above?

[don]

Re: Postcards on the Edge

I wonder why these seniors are falling behind.

Is it due to HELOC ATM'ing? Moonlighting jobs disappearing? Inflation eroding Social Security buying power? All of the above?

Add pensions cut or disappeared through 'bankruptcy' filing, ZIRP's mojo on savings, 401k close-out accumulated fee screwing . . . it's a target-rich- environment.

Hey Pops, get a job . . . .

[lakedaemonian]

Re: Postcards on the Edge

What I find strange is that a 79 year old person even HAS a mortgage.

I suspect the number/% of seniors carrying mortgages today would be considerably higher than 10-15-20 years a go.

I wonder if it is possible to look at data on seniors who've been living in the same address for the last 20 years....I would suspect HELOC as well.

[flintlock]

Re: Postcards on the Edge

I wonder why these seniors are falling behind.

Is it due to HELOC ATM'ing? Moonlighting jobs disappearing? Inflation eroding Social Security buying power? All of the above?

Its pretty simple. Many seniors simply cannot afford the cost of living today. Health costs, rising home repair costs, etc. it just cost a lot to live today in general and if you have a few bad luck stories like health issues and didnt have a lot in retirement, or were careless, you can end up homeless. Even if you did save a lot the right circumstances can still eat it up. A lot have saved relatively little. Perhaps they thought a hundred grand was enough and lost track of the value of money today.

Now I also might ask why a mortgage on a home owned for 49 years, but for all I know it was out of some necessity. Hopefully it was not used to buy lifestyle or spoil grandkids, but ive seen that too. 80 year olds with next to nothing but their homes driving $60,000 caddys because some salesman took advantage of their dementia. In my business I see a lot of older people, widows especially, try to hang on to large expensive to maintain homes they really cant afford anymore. Understandably they fear change and the trouble of facing a move alone. So they hang on, putting off what they deep down know they need to do. Meanwhile racking up huge debts on a new roof, new siding, windows, and whatever some salesman can sell them. Families are not as tight as they used to be and many of these older folks get no advice or assistance from their children, who often live far away. Many children are reluctant to take on a strong role with their parents. They understandably feel uncomfortable in that role with the parent who was always seen as an authority figure. Many elderly are reluctant to ask for help, but really do need a child or other family member to step in and help Ive seen personally the financial problems that occur because a child was reluctant to ruffle any feathers. Some pretty bad stories actually.

Im lucky my parents are well enough off, and at least my dad still has all his faculties, though he is going blind. But I still feel like I cannot let my guard down. My mom gave some person in India full access to her computer the other day because he said he could fix it! She was too afraid to tell Dad what she had done and it could have been ugly if she had'nt mentioned it to me. Check up on your elderly parents. They may need more help than their pride will allow them to admit.

[flintlock]

Re: Postcards on the Edge

What I find strange is that a 79 year old person even HAS a mortgage.

I suspect the number/% of seniors carrying mortgages today would be considerably higher than 10-15-20 years a go.

I wonder if it is possible to look at data on seniors who've been living in the same address for the last 20 years....I would suspect HELOC as well.

Especially since he's owned it since 1963!
I have always been a little surprised at how many seniors have brand new 30 year mortgages. Every situation is different of course. But I know some who have no plan how to pay it when they cant work anymore. Denial perhaps. Or hopeless optimism.

[seanm123]

Re: Postcards on the Edge

I have taken over for my family when advising my dear old mom, my siblings are lost they say nothing because they do not understand the gravity of the economic situation we are in. My mom has a nice pension, her house is paid for and she is a pretty decent investor with her cash and has taken to picking stocks. She wants the extra income from stocks for her travel budget, so she is buying and selling stocks with our without my advise. That said more than one Financial Adviser has pitched reverse mortgages, "guaranteed" annuities etc to her and her friends in their community. There are allot of charlatans out there and as the economy gets no better there are more and more scams being created every day. Watch out for your Parents and your sibilings even if they don't want to believe you when you talk about what you read on iTulip or other sites.

[don]

Re: Postcards on the Edge

I have taken over for my family when advising my dear old mom, my siblings are lost they say nothing because they do not understand the gravity of the economic situation we are in. My mom has a nice pension, her house is paid for and she is a pretty decent investor with her cash and has taken to picking stocks. She wants the extra income from stocks for her travel budget, so she is buying and selling stocks with our without my advise. That said more than one Financial Adviser has pitched reverse mortgages, "guaranteed" annuities etc to her and her friends in their community. There are allot of charlatans out there and as the economy gets no better there are more and more scams being created every day. Watch out for your Parents and your sibilings even if they don't want to believe you when you talk about what you read on iTulip or other sites.

Thanks for posting, though my wife's situation puts a reverse spin on "Watch out for your . . . sibilings!" It's her sister who pushing the hair-brained schemes onto her 86 year old mother. She's told my wife, "We can talk Mom into anything". (see senior's puzzling new debt above) Her motive: what will be left for me . . . .

Failing health, failing mental acuity, many are in the role of my mother-in-law, with her husband incompacitated, she's for the first time in her life the 'manager' of their finances. The wolves can smell it. She's inundated with calls for every grift under the Florida sun, even the grandson-in-jail-in-Mexico scam. Last week someone 'inspected' her water system and solemnly told her she needed a two grand purifier to cut down on the runaway chlorine content. We caught that one in time. She's in a guarded community - she actually invited him in. Did I mention she cuts checks to her deadbeat 56 year old son, paying his monthly living expenses. She is apprehensive that their lifetime savings will be gone before they are. I have little doubt, especially with her declining condition, that she could be easily persuaded to reverse mortgage the free-and-clear house if her cash was low or exhausted.

Perhaps the bottom line for seniors is that they allowed themselves to get old and feeble in a predatory jungle, partly of their own making.

[lakedaemonian]

Re: Postcards on the Edge

It is when reading and seeing example like this that I think the analogy of those old Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom shows comes into play.

All the species seem to get along or tolerate each other during the wet/rainy season when there is bounty......but when the dry season hits, and the water hole shrinks....the fangs come out and the true character and nature of things emerges with the old and the weak targeted for the next meal.

I guess people are little different in some respects.

I wonder if some of those active retirement homes offer any type of financial services support......such as cosigner agreements? Where the retirement community doesn't have access to the money of the elderly, but can help filter out some/most/all of the scams?

I better start learning up on this stuff......my parents hit 70 next year.