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Hi pups. Dosido here to give FDL readers some perspective on why Jackie Speier might be so moved to want to help her constituents with their whopping mortgages. You can find the SF Chronicle here. Read it now, because the Comicle is on the ropes and I don’t know how long they’ll keep the website up.
People in other parts of the country have always been shocked and awed by our housing costs to the point of nosebleed. What can I say? I would love to live in a three story historic landmark in Virginia for $300K, but I was born and raised here, and my roots are planted in some of the most expensive real estate in the world.
After reading an article in Monday’s Chronicle indicating that many people holding the pricy mortgages common to the Bay Area would not be able to take advantage of low-cost refinances, Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, amended a bill scheduled for a House vote. [Dosido’s note: Ms. Speier represents San Mateo County, hmmm.]
"After reading your article, I thought, this isn’t going to work for California," Speier said.
"I’ve drafted an amendment so that rather than being limited to whether the loan was conforming at time of origination, it will be based on (whether it’s conforming at) the time of (modification), which will take the limit up to $729,750 in high-cost areas. This should make more people in the Bay Area eligible.”
I’m writing my very first diary in response to some of the outrage expressed in the comments under that article. They must not live in California. A few samples:
If you can afford to buy a home here, in the Bay Area, then you don’t need to be bailed out by the taxpayers. End of freakin’ story. The Poodle is just pandering to those with the shysteresque "flip this house" mentality. In the real world, if you owe more money on your house then its worth, so the Hell what? Its your home, and the less its worth, the lower your property taxes are going to be. You just got the loan a little earlier than you should have, is all. Them’s the breaks.
and this gem,
IF you can’t read the fine print, if it sounds too good to be true, if YOU choose to go in over your head…it’s on YOU. Personal responsibility seems to be a forgotten concept. Make your payments and keep your house, or don’t make em and lose your house. Then SHUT UP! America has turned into a bunch of sissies.
According to Zillow.com, the medium home value in my area is $687,000. Wow! Dosido must live in a mansion!!! Uh, no. We live in a land where the local custom is to convert a garage into another bedroom and park on the street to maximize all the space. Think Hong Kong. There is no such thing as a basement or attic in California. If any existed before, they are now converted bedrooms or home offices. Home offices are a necessity in a land where office space also comes at a premium. Mr. Dosido and I are not fancy people. We are middle class and live near other working white collar professionals and small business owners.
Now that the housing bubble has burst as well as the tech bubble, home values are going down. That can be good for folks just getting in. But others are taking in hit in equity just like the rest of the country. These ARE people who pay their bills, raise families, and take personal responsibility. So this isn’t a matter of “affordability” or “getting in over your head” although Californians are used to committing a higher percentage of their paycheck to housing and education.
Now you all have probably gotten this memo. According to Zillow.com
U.S. home values continued to slide for the eighth consecutive quarter, declining 11.6 percent from a year ago, and falling 17.5 percent since the market peak in 2006. Additionally, one in five homes sold in the past 12 months was a foreclosure, and one in six of all homeowners have negative equity.
Zillow Q4 Real Estate Market Reports track 161 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) throughout the U.S., identifying market trends including, but not limited to: five and 10-year annualized change, homes selling for a loss, negative equity, short sales and foreclosure transactions.
Click here for a map highlighting the sinkholes of declining home values. I’ll be waving to you from underneath a navy blue diamond that indicates a housing value decline of over 20%.
So while California home owners fall into a gap bigger and shakier than the San Andreas fault, don’t fault Ms. Speier for trying to level the playing field. I would love to hear firepups thoughts on this.
15 Comments
Speier used to have more sense; must be a ploy for getting re-elected.
“We are middle class and live near other working white collar professionals and small business owners.”; In 2007, the median annual household income rose 1.3% to $50,233.00 according to the Census Bureau. Simply stated ,such an income would prevent someone from qualifying for the average home price you are indicating.
While I’m sure you consider your status ‘middle-class’, please consider the average income here in CA(yes, I live in San Diego)
The difficulty is that the idea of what is ‘middle class’ no longer reflects the vast majority of wage earners; add to that the disparity of regional differences(and ,something to wonder about as an aside; if the Fed government can make ‘living allowance’ changes in salaries paid to people -e.g. those employed by TSA- why can’t they do that for other things like income taxes?) and I suspect that if you were to publish what you and Mr. Dosido earn per year, many would not consider you ‘middle class’.
Hey dosido
I only read the first three comments on the article that are there as of this minute. Yea, those people must live back in the hills somewhere in the plains states or south. Or they’re ivy-league-trust-funders. Or they’re probably the idiots in the Central Valley (like my CD-3) who
think(check that, they don’t think) spew talk radio and FNC talking points by rote memory (read: Pavlov’s Dogs) after getting their daily indoctrination speeches from El Rushbo or slant head HannityI mean seriously, what’s the cost of living in rural ND, or Arkansas, or Tenn? It sure isn’t anywhere near close to what the c.o.l. is in the Bay Area, or NYC. These states have been subsidized at federal expense for 70 years. They would still be third world type areas if FDR’s programs hadn’t installed electricity, and roads, and infrastructure. Today – still, in downtown Roseville (the largest city in the second reddest county in Cali) there are sidewalks stamped “WPA 1938″. Newspapers in the plains states brag in front page stories about how many more millions in federal money they receive than they pay in federal taxes. People in those states would still be using outhouses if not for the New Deal. Even as recently as 20 years ago I would visit relatives in ND who still did not have indoor plumbing. I’m dead serious. These states would not exist even as they do today if not for a federally subsidized farm program. That goes for the red counties in California too
And BTW in California the counties that use the most human assistance resources (state and federal) by far are the red counties
In how many towns and cities in red states are the military bases the largest employer in town? Last I checked this was paid for in federal tax money
The c.o.l. is much lower in those states, but who cares? Don’t listen to me; look at the emigration numbers which tell the true narrative. People – especially young people are leaving those states in droves. Why? No good jobs. No prospects. No future. Backward, ancient, rigid thinking (read: Sarah Palin) that glories in it’s ignorance
Their entire way of life is subsidized by the taxes paid in by people in the blue states and counties and they have the temerity to question and superficial view that sometimes people in the blue states need a hand?
Yea, Jackie Spier for being sane and rational!
Thanks U, because you raise the very question I wonder about. What is middle class?
BTW, those figures do not state our mortgage or house value, just so you know. But realize that the average California home value is much much higher than the national average.
Hey John. Thanks for the thoughtful comment. will digest before replying later. gtg. bbs.
Again, I state I do not live in a mansion and I have not stated my own personal mortgage. this isn’t about me. it’s about californians and the cost of living here and getting hammered by housing bubbles, tech bubbles and state debt. All of us are affected.
Well, “Frangela” on Green 960 and a caller help me to make my point. The caller was someone whose mother raised her with the assistance of food stamps etc. She wanted people to define and know what they are talking about when they use the term “middle class” and “rich”. So Frances and Angela ask her to define “rich” and she said, “anyone making $1 million dollars a year”. This person could entertain the idea that people who may be much better off than her work for a living and are threatened by the same economic forces that she may be.
I forget who said this part, but it was put forth that Republicans, esp. Reagan, have convinced everyone that everyone is middle class.
Angela added that the cost of living varies greatly from region to region and $40,000 might be middle class some place else but “here” meaning LA, it’s poverty.
I offer the wiki for more fodder on what defines middle class.
Thanks for the wiki; here’s my take; if the top 25 percent of income(per the wiki) is $77.5K and the bottom 25 percent is maxed out at $22.5K (household income distribution), the “middle class” is those who make more than $22.5 and less than $77.5K.
Seems the fairest way to me as a ‘household’ covers EVERYONE, whether single, single with dependents, married w/o dependents or married with dependents.
That said, I am STILL in favor of adjustments per a ‘living allowance standard’ when it comes to benefits or taxes to be paid from a Federal point of view.
I will also take issue with John in Sacramento; LA County is ‘blue’ as can be and 20 per cent of it’s population is now receiving public aid of one sort or another (welfare,U/I,etc.). And LA County has a population of -per the 2007 census bureau estimate- of 9,878,554, OVER a 1/4 of CA’s TOTAL population.
Hi ubet,
thanks for circling back around. I agree on your point about “household”.
Thanks, I think this is the point I was striving for (it takes me a while…). IOW, if I tell someone that I weigh 200 lbs, they might think I’m a little overweight, depending on how tall they are and their point of reference. If I tell the person I’m 200 lbs and they learn I’m 6′5″ I look a little leaner. This is the best analogy I can muster, I guess, to say our wages don’t go far and then to take an equity hit, it’s tough.
What kind of home ownership is available to people in LA County making the median wage you cite?
btw, I think John’s point was to say Red counties/states are as much on the govt dole as much as they protest other people receiving assistance.
Peace.
Teddy’s diary on Calif. unemployment is kind of related.
Slum ; here’s an old san diego item
Southern CA has a very definitive ‘wealth gap’; the vast majority of the populace (over 60 per cent) can’t afford a ‘home’. Even with the price drops(which still have a good ways to go).
excellent article…I wish we had a paper like that!
I’m going to dig around for median income in local counties here, as well as unemployment, to compare.
OK, the stats I have are from 2007. The median income here in Santa Clara County and San Mateo County is about 28% more than the national median of $59,928 at $84,265 and $82,913, respectively.
The median housing value (2007) is/was $446,400 (Santa Clara), and $469,500 (San Mateo), which is roughly 55% more than the national median of $211,500.
What is the current cap on mortgage assistance in the stim bill? I will have to check…
Here we go, from the original article from SF Chronicle:
dosido – are there significant numbers of foreclosures taking place in san mateo and santa clara counties?
where did you get this “than the national median of $59,928 “? And, of course, when you have 10 people making $10K and one person making 200K, the ‘median’ is 100K; gotta love statistics.
Based on the numbers shown -The limit is now $729,750 in high-cost regions, including most of the Bay Area.-, why is Speier introducing such a bill?