Twin Cities home prices fell 12% in June

During the biggest housing dip since the Great Depression, frustrated seller Jason Strong waits for a buyer to show interest in his East Side St.

[P T Bull]

Deleted the comments, kept the inaccurate headline. Seems like things are backwards.

[JAdams]

The demoncRATS really know how to destroy an economy. It tool them less than two years to accomplish.

[Adwi]

I dont often comment here however this is an issue I saw develop and as i see it we all are in part to blame..not one polital party or a cetian group. Years ago I was a telemarketer back in the mortgage boom. To most it was (and is) a dirty word however I was a polite and helpful telemarketer who took great delight in helping folks lower their intrest rates and save money. As the year went on I noticed a starteling change and after another year I found differant enployment as i saw this coming and it worried me greatly. Folks I had helped re-finance to a lower FIXED rate were caling me back for one of several reasons....they heard they could get an even lower variable rate and/or their property value shot up 20%or more or they wanted a Home Equitly Line of Credit and in most cases these folks had once again racked up 50k or more of credit card debit they once again wished to pay off....How many of them re-financed and once again racked up the credit?
I saw that in the long run the people I was trying to help were destroying themselves because they were assuming the sun would always shine like the grasshopper and unlike the ant they were not planning for the long winters in life. We will get through this eventually and the sun will again shine...however for most it will require a lot of rethinking on what is really important in life and what one really NEEDS instead of what one wants in todays disposable society. Good luck folks and i am hoping and praying for you all.

[Quitcherwhining]

Home prices did NOT drop 12% IN June, they have dropped 12% as compared to last June. Not to worry PP fact checkers, that's only a 1200% difference.........

Then again, an accurate headline that said "Home prices fell 1% a month through June" wouldn't sell papers, would it?

[Yeah Right]

Can I expect my property taxes to decrease considering my property is now worth less? Bwahahha ha ha, yeah right.

Even if I sold my home for 12% less then what the city of St. Paul claims it is worth, the new purchasers monthly payment would be more at the same interest rate I have because of the doubling of my prop taxes in just four short years.

Does anyone believe our property taxes won't be climbing again this year offsetting the lower payment people would receive by paying less for these homes?

Expect homes to continue to depreciate in value in the Twin Cities as these clowns keep raising taxes.

[Clint]

Just be glad you don't live in Maplewood or North Saint Paul or you would be paying $1,500 more per year on a $200,000 house.

Saint Paul taxes are cheap!!!!

==========

Yeah Right wrote:

Can I expect my property taxes to decrease considering my property is now worth less? Bwahahha ha ha, yeah right.
Even if I sold my home for 12% less then what the city of St. Paul claims it is worth, the new purchasers monthly payment would be more at the same interest rate I have because of the doubling of my prop taxes in just four short years.
Does anyone believe our property taxes won't be climbing again this year offsetting the lower payment people would receive by paying less for these homes?
Expect homes to continue to depreciate in value in the Twin Cities as these clowns keep raising taxes.

[Jon Sandusky]

Obviously sub-prime borrowers are responsible for the housing mess. However, we need to understand that real estate agents and mortgage brokers were key enablers in this debacle. I suggest that we hold these people accountable as accomplices. For example, when there is a default we go back and change fairly stiff fine (say $2000 per incident) to the real estate agents and mortgage brokers involved in the transaction. Then this money would be returned to the US Treasury to fund the federal bailout programs.

[obamanomics]

Tomorrow's Headline... "Readers 100% Unhappy With Misleading Headlines" - or - "Fear Tactics Sell 30% More Newspapers"

[Jay]

I'm trying to sell right now and the only offers I'm getting are from vultures seeking to get a steal. It's a really bad market out there.

[TiVo Girl]

Only a month on the market and they expect the house to be sold? On the East Side? First of all, anyone even remotely thinking of buying a house on the East Side needs to have their head examined. Secondly, a month on the market wasn't considered a long time even back when the housing market was booming. These people need to get a grip on reality. They're also probably going to have to take a loss if they're that anxious to sell. That's the way it is.

I have a friend who has a 3 year old 3,000 sq. ft. house on the market, and it's been on the market since December/January. She's dropped the price twice. However, she was also smart enough to know it probably won't sell in the next 3-5 years (it's listed at over $750,000, and she's just trying to break even), so she also had it listed for rent. That also took some time, but she found a renter. Now she can continue to leave it on the market and make the mortgage payments while she's living with her fiance in North Carolina.

In this market, patience is the only thing you have going for you.

[Abbo]

This underscores what a ridiculous and anachronistic thing it is to use a residential property tax to fund local government. Maybe it made some sense in the 18th century but no longer.

And while the headline is not technically accurate, can we please have a stop to the equally ridiculous belief that alarming headlines sells newspapers, unless anyone will come forward and admit that they ever, even once, bought a newspaper because of that?(And the 'I would never do it because I'm too smart but other people do' argument is hereby summarily rejected in advance, so don't try that one.)

[Quitcherwhining]

"And while the headline is not technically accurate, can we please have a stop to the equally ridiculous belief that alarming headlines sells newspapers, unless anyone will come forward and admit that they ever, even once, bought a newspaper because of that?(And the 'I would never do it because I'm too smart but other people do' argument is hereby summarily rejected in advance, so don't try that one.) "

Abbo is also technically correct, but misses the larger point. The writer was trying to make the facts seem more dramatic than they are through the use of manipulated statistics. If the headline had been "Local man has house on the market for a month" nobody would give it a second glance, would they? We all "bought the newspaper" in a virtual sense by clicking on the headline of the article didn't we?

[Home Owner]

The nice part about the housing prices going down is next year my real estate taxes will go down. I am not looking to sell for a few years so I am will fine with the drop in value.

[obamanomics]

Jay wrote:

I'm trying to sell right now and the only offers I'm getting are from vultures seeking to get a steal. It's a really bad market out there.

They are not vultures, they are capitalists.

[CyBear]

Abbo wrote:

This underscores what a ridiculous and anachronistic thing it is to use a residential property tax to fund local government. Maybe it made some sense in the 18th century but no longer.

What would you tax instead?

[Kokonelli]

That would immediately put a halt to all future transactions. There are myriad reasons for default including an inability to manage money. Who are you going to fine for that?

Jon Sandusky wrote:

Obviously sub-prime borrowers are responsible for the housing mess. However, we need to understand that real estate agents and mortgage brokers were key enablers in this debacle. I suggest that we hold these people accountable as accomplices. For example, when there is a default we go back and change fairly stiff fine (say $2000 per incident) to the real estate agents and mortgage brokers involved in the transaction. Then this money would be returned to the US Treasury to fund the federal bailout programs.

[Abbo]

I get the point Quitcher, agree with you that the writer was trying to make the facts seem more dramatic than they are, and I don't like it either. But it's so tiresome when people make a bigger deal of it than it is and drag out the old 'to sell newspapers' bromide. Let's just settle for calling it what it is, as you correctly did. It doesn't sell any more newspapers, virtually or literally; it just make readers know that writers are trying to be manipulative, because they are. If we put the blame directly where it belongs--on the writers' desires to be dramatic instead of on the more remote motive of selling newspapers for their employers--maybe they'll stop.

[Abbo]

CyBear, I'd favor dumping the residential property tax with a local income tax. There are details to be worked out and I don't want to bore anyone with them here, but please think about it for a while, especially in terms of stability, fairness and ability-to-pay issues.

[Ban DFL]

JAdams wrote:

The demoncRATS really know how to destroy an economy. It tool them less than two years to accomplish.

Well it took them about only about a decade (five years for my town) to transform many nice and crime free working class suburbs in the twin cities into welfare ghettos so they must like to break records.

[Just Sayin]

Strange examples chosen by the reporter. One guy whose 'frustrated' after only a month on the market? And a couple who listed their house TWO YEARS ago? Two years ago it was still a robust market, there must be something else about the home or price that caused it to sit for so long before the market tanked.