On Thu, 28 May 2009 16:22:43 -0700, -=DirtBag© wrote:

I have not been to a trustee's sale ( court house steps auctions) for
awhile. I thought I would go down and see what was going on. I learned
a bunch.

Seems that there are hundreds being auctioned off at a fraction of the
value.. ( replacement value that is) I saw about 20-people at the
auction and talked to several 'major players' about what was happening.


Where they have been buying the crap out of these fire-sales on trustee
deeds at penny's on the dollar.. this week they started canceling sales
due to the shear volume of properties in default. Banks are now
realizing that they can't sale this stuff off at these prices and are
pulling out of the sales. It is crazy.. I was told by some of the more
knowledgeable bidders that it is THAT crazy right now and for the cash
heavy players they are cleaning up like no other time in history since
the great depression.

The trustees who showed up had HUNDREDS of properties,, SO many it was
confusing.. beyond confusing.. they rattled AP# and addresses so fast
that unless you were really paying attention you just missed it.. Seems
people have been wildly buying but it has now STOPPED. Of the perhaps
100-200 properties set for sale Wed. ( one day's auction BTW and they
are doing this 3-5 days a week right now) only a handful went out to
auction. The others were canceled by the lenders ( trustees) because
they were just going to be sold too cheaply..

I have found houses that sold 2 years ago for $200K being sold for $40K.
Homes that sold for $650K 2 years ago for $295. You cant replace these
homes for what they are selling for... With the dollar tanking building
costs are going to go sky high so be prepared for that next time you
consider the replacement costs.. or insurance value amounts.

One must do their homework on this.. *title reports and all if your a
serious bidder because at a trustees sale you are only buying that
deed.. and there may be others that come attached to the property so
don't run out and do this because without doing some homework you could
get boinked.. Not for the meek and uninformed, but I am serious as a
heart attack.. you can STEAL homes right now. Or could till the US
'Giverment' comes to the rescue.. this has to be done. Otherwise AMERICA
=goes= flat line.. Serious people this is no joke. This could go
another 1-2 years if the 'US Giverment' doesn't aggressively do
something NOW. House bailouts are coming... They HAVE to do it IMO So
be prepaired for another round of bailouts.

Coming soon.... Commercial RE bailouts.

Ok what does this tell me? It tells me that Commercial RE is falling
like crazy.. Much of the commercial RE is heavily leveraged. Many of
the really big players in Self-Storage are being forced to sell off some
of their BEST properties in order to get the cash to keep the lessor
facilities going.. It sounds as backwards I know... But it is not. I
could explain this but trust me on this one.. It is the good ones that
get sold because they are the ones that sale easily when you need to
raise fast cash. ( it tells a story too about the state of Commercial
RE) Think Houston, TX in 1982-87 and multiply it by 25.

Net result is with the declining house prices it was a huge blow to our
economy. With the impending collapse of Commercial RE it is going to be
a nightmare to big business... Our total RE based economy is leveraged
on the value of the RE. Without this it triggers a lot of sales and if
this housing debacle is scary.. Wait until the commercial stuff defaults
and the 'Giverment" starts bailing it out. This will make the housing
mess look like a cake walk..


Have a good weekend all..


-Dirt

The other shoe(s) are yet to drop.

ted