[Falconoffury]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')nflation will only happen if the economy can support it.

[timmac]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', 'I')nflation will only happen if the economy can support it. Now, then again some items are getting expensive. I was looking at some old bicycle mags. Prices have doubled within 15 years time. Have auto prices doubled like this?

[kiwichick]

peak oil = peak food = peak population = peak house prices

expect pop. to start falling by 2015

house prices will crash

[VMarcHart]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kiwichick', 'p')eak oil = peak food = peak population = peak house prices

expect pop. to start falling by 2015

[Ache]

http://southflorida.bizjournals.com/sou ... ily76.html

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')nstead of building 12 million square feet, the developers of the ambitious Miami Worldcenter project in the city’s Park West neighborhood could lose their property to foreclosure.

Even with the cracks in the economy showing in fall 2008, developers Arthur Falcone, Marc Roberts and Nitin Motwani pushed the city to approve the massive commercial, residential, hotel and entertainment project on 25 acres.

Falcone, the head of Boca Raton-based Falcone Group, talked about including gambling if state law was changed.

Although the special zoning district was approved, some critics questioned the timing of the project. The plunge in real estate values has made going forward difficult. No construction has taken place, and the developers have not completed purchasing all of the property required for a contiguous site.
“It was a tough call for them in 2008,” said Adam Greenberg, managing director of Miami-based BayBridge Real Estate Group. “They already had a lot invested in the area with land holdings and planning costs.”

Greenberg believes the developers had contracts to purchase additional properties but didn’t execute them.

Fifth Third Bank filed a foreclosure lawsuit on July 28 against the entities that own most of the land planned for Miami Worldcenter: Park West 3, Park West 5, Miami Auction Prop LLC, 950 NE 2nd LLC, 915 N Miami LLC, 701 N Miami and 100 NE 11th LLC. The mortgages to those companies were last renewed in 2007 and 2008 for a combined $39.3 million.

Orion Bank has a pending lawsuit against 13 Parcels, another Falcone- and Roberts-managed entity that owns land planned for Miami Worldcenter. It concerns an $18.3 million mortgage, although the lawsuit does not call for foreclosure. Unlike the Fifth Third complaint, the Orion Bank lawsuit names Falcone and Roberts, who has since filed personal Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Since Orion Bank failed in 2009, Iberiabank has continued pursuing that claim after assuming its assets.
Falcone did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The entities targeted by the Fifth Third foreclosure control the following properties:
950 NE 2nd LLC owns the 29,102-square-foot entertainment building at 950 N.E. Second Ave., which was secured by a $15 million mortgage. It is home to the Discotekka nightclub.

701 N Miami owns the 58,910-square-foot parking lot at 701 N. Miami Ave., which is covered by a $9.6 million mortgage.

100 NE 11th LLC owns the 11,941-square-foot warehouse, the 9,863-square-foot retail building and a vacant 6,250-square-foot lot at 100 N.E. 11th St., which are secured by a $5.4 million mortgage.

Miami Auction Prop owns the 34,500-squrae-foot parking lot at 601 N. Miami Ave., which has a $5.3 million mortgage.

Park West 5 owns the 11,250-square-foot entertainment building at 90 N.E. 11th St., which has a $2.4 million mortgage. It is the home of club 90 Degree.

Park West 3 owns a vacant 4,500-square-foot site along North Miami Avenue, just south of Northwest 10th Street. It is covered by a $600,000 mortgage.

Miami attorney Alan Grunspan, who represents Fifth Third in the foreclosure lawsuit, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

“The project is a good possibility in five to seven years, but prices and demand aren’t there for new construction for that long,” Greenberg said.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Meet Danielle And Jim Plus 9: The Squatters Who "Reclaimed" Their Foreclosed Home Over The Weekend

Unfortunately, surreal stories like this will very soon become daily news. As was pointed out yesterday, Simi Valley has just seen the first case of a forced reclamation of a foreclosed home, after Jim and Danielle Earl took their nine (9!) children, ages 9-23, and a locksmith and broke into the six-bedroom house that had been foreclosed upon for lack of payment, and on which the couple owed $880,000! And where would such brilliant advice originate from?

Why, the couple's lawyer of course, who will one day be seen as the prophetic visionary who stole the bankers wealth from underneath them and handed it out to America's millions of starving lawyers, one billing sheet at a time: "The move was recommended by their lawyer" as the WSJ suggests. Already in process: millions of cases identical to this one, billions in legal fees, and hundreds of billions in lost market value of associated equity and credit instrument, not to mention very unpleasant days for LPs in "Recovery" funds.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/meet-danielle-and-jim-plus-9-squatters-who-reclaimed-their-foreclosed-home-over-weekend

[Pretorian]

I can think of a couple of countries where this would fly well, at least for a few years or so. And it doesnt have to be a house that they owned-- just any vacant property, sometimes not even a vacant one, just without owners present while they change their locks. Yeah--- you come home from the movies, and there is a new lock on the door and 15 underaged darkies are looking out of the windows.
But it will not do well here, too much at stake and banks wont be bullied by these parasites.

[gollum]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pretorian', 'I') can think of a couple of countries where this would fly well, at least for a few years or so. And it doesnt have to be a house that they owned-- just any vacant property, sometimes not even a vacant one, just without owners present while they change their locks. Yeah--- you come home from the movies, and there is a new lock on the door and 15 underaged darkies are looking out of the windows.
But it will not do well here, too much at stake and banks wont be bullied by these parasites.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gollum', ' ')In this country we should never tolerate one set of laws for the little people, and another for the banks.

[Outcast_Searcher]

Well, what do you expect?

The rule of law and the rules of property rights continue to be eroded in this country until people feel entitled to do whatever they want: legal or not, moral or not.

(Examples: rent control is taking people's real estate, but if you protest, that is politically incorrect. Illegal aliens doing pretty much whatever they want -- want that fixed? Nope, politically incorrect. Now, anyone complains life isn't a financial rose garden when they behave irresponsibly? Bail them out with responsible people's money AND deem it politically nasty and mean if the responsible object. We are now the land of the officially sanctioned thieves, who claim it's OK because they "NEED" it. (+1 for Ayn Rand on predicting this, once again).

And the courts and other government agencies who are supposed to uphold the law behave so randomly, the public can't trust them and considers them to be fairly arbitrary. This includes things like people's right to privacy (search laws and stealing property without a trial if police claim drugs are involved).

This looks like just another step down the road, and naturally, liberals think it is dandy (unless it is THEIR house being stolen by force, I suppose).

Well, if this kind of stuff isn't FIRMLY dealt with (and I have no confidence it will consistently be) -- things should get real interesting when that makes the news.

edit - mispelled Rand's first name.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Outcast_Searcher', ' ')Now, anyone complains life isn't a financial rose garden when they behave irresponsibly? Bail them out with responsible people's money AND deem it politically nasty and mean if the responsible object.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', 'I')t's always sad to see an adult using Ayn Rand as a reference.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', ' ')And most of all she's full of it because Atlas will never shrug so long as there's a schekel to be made or some power to be attained

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', 'I') keep wishing the darn atlases would go ahead and shrug already and stop whining! Geez! Go to your damn mountain hideout or whatever the hell it was (sorry, haven't read the damn thing since college, and that was a loooooooong time ago!)

[Fiddlerdave]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he rule of law and the rules of property rights continue to be eroded in this country until people feel entitled to do whatever they want: legal or not, moral or not.

[dolanbaker]

The real question is; what are the new owners going to do? more locksmiths, reclaiming stolen property etc

If the house had remained unoccupied & unsold, then few would care.

[Cloud9]

We fall back on the rule of stolen property. If a person sells you stolen property and the rightful owner shows up, then you have to give the property back to the rightful owner. Then you have the right to go back to the fellow that sold you the property and demand your money back.

This works for every body in this country except Indians.

[evilgenius]

I have just read what must be the third story in so many days detailing some poor sap who hasn't made a payment in something like a year and a half, but still wants to keep his home. I get it that when they try for renegotiation that the inability to establish a dialog or in some cases even to discover who to talk to has been a difficult thing. I get that renegotiation would have helped. What I don't hear from these people is how they borrowed money and bought something with it and now they want in most cases it seems to pay back less (meaning that the house has dropped in value and they think they can use that truth to get out of owing what they originally borrowed) and still keep what they bought. I think that grasping at 'robo-signers' is a weak attempt from a weak position. Grasping at that is only saying that they ought to be able to keep the house and not pay back the loan that bought it for them. Hey, if that is your sole position then stand in line along with any smelly homeless guy who happens to like the look of your house too because he has as much right to it under that argument as you do.

How's about we begin to talk about some hybrid solutions in these cases. What kind of division of property ownership, percentages are a good yardstick, between the person being foreclosed upon and the bank makes for a good rule of thumb. The economy has obviously produced enough of these kinds of cases that answers once thought taboo have been invited into the picture. Maybe it is time to consider a type of home ownership that only has partial rights and acts in concert with another title holder, like a bank. A person can have first rights to buy out such a second title holder, if they can afford it. The second title holder would have veto rights over improvements or additions to the property. Something like that might begin to help. That way some kind of revenue stream could come into banks from those that say they could pay something (I hear you, they probably will fail at that too) and those that are owed could get something that can be placed in the books as a partial offset to a loss, with potential future value as well.

[Ludi]

What's the benefit to society in letting a bunch of houses sit empty?

[Cog]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', 'W')hat's the benefit to society in letting a bunch of houses sit empty?