As ridiculous as that statement is….hasn’t it already happened. Time to buy people.

Your response is very Californian.

Aloof is the best word, or maybe incognizant.

They don’t care what people think about them if they don’t consider them contemporaries. If they do, watch out, they’ll out shop, out compete, and out-everything to try to look better.

Californians don’t know where the midwest is (not for a lack of education, many are very well educated), but because they could care less. They’re spending too much time an energy worrying what other Californians think about them.

It would be more honest, though, if they were to use frosted glass.

If leaks are sprouting about this practice then its getting closer to the dam breaking.

I can see the ads now:

“Visit reality with your own condo in Irvine! See what it is like to live in a space that is roughly the size of your master bedroom like those who only make $100K year! Cozy, sweet and homey. You even have to park your Mercedes outside in your own assigned space! Buy NOW and sell for a huge profit in 6 months!!!”

Amen, Amen!

That he has his head firmly planted between his cheeks is no surprise.

I knew a guy who back in 2000 swore with voracity that Sun Microsystems was about to change the world, and bought more at $60.00. It’s floating around at about $6 now.

He can go buy more houses for all we should care. Prices are coming down for normal people, and that’s all that matters.

Who cares about millionaires buying in Newport Beach. Those are playthings for the rich. They’re certainly not going to be buying Irvine Condos, that’s stupidity. There’s no investment value in them. A fool and his money are soon parted.

Chuck

Oh really? If you put your advice out for the world to see, then anyone is in the position to judge your advice. Sorry pal, the “Don’t challenge my wisdom” schitck is probably what is going to have the clients who have never had a foreclosure to have one oin the next year or two when they try to sell.

This guy seems to forget the same exact scenario played out in Japan not to long ago. And it was UGLY.

Just considering life choices and what I would like to do in retirement. 95% of it has zero to do with what kind of house I own.

Guys like the realtor just suck you in to that.

Me, I’m planning on travel, hiking, backpacking, surfing and tooling around on a day sailer.

Other than the marginal cost for an (older) boat my monthly expenses will be quite low. You can also take a boat to some nice exotic locations and store/rent it for low costs.

You buy in to these guys crap and you will be a debt slave for a thirty years with a marginal return to your kids. Me, I’ll be sitting on low expenses after relocation to some place warm and sunny.

Not to mention if you spend SO much money on a house you will end up staying in it. We live in SoCal. The great things are outside; so what the hell are you doing blowing your wad on a big stupid house? If you go to the beach on a vacation do you care more about the hotel room or the water? Seems like everyone is getting sucked in to the marginal value of an extra bedroom.

Considering that real estate has significantly underperformed stocks; I’m investing heavily in emerging markets and companies I’ve researched and understand. Other than the last three speculative bubbles real estate has been a mess.

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 16:18

Some truths never get old.

Chuck Ponzi

At 06:00 PM 4/14/2007, you wrote:
Dear Mr Panatonni and associates,

“Late breaking letters: Media experts and the ‘coming’ real estate market crash
Posted, Wednesday afternoon, April 11″

“Many will probably never be able to afford a home in Orange County now thanks to the doom and gloomers.”

If this is in fact true will your children ever be able to afford housing?
I believe the “doom and gloomers” will bring about a market correction that will allow people to afford housing that matches incomes (say 2001 prices).
Bye bye to the exotic loans that caused this bubble.

” I do my best to provide accurate advice and handle my clients with professionalism and courtesy”

I seriously doubt this last quote. Your advice has put many new homeowners in foreclosure. I hope you can live with yourself and your shady business practices.

“The primary cause of the recent (and temporary) slow down in this market, in my opinion, is due to the piling on of media and pundits that must feed the fears of their readers on a daily basis in order to stay in business.”

Is the media also responsible for the massive increase in foreclosures, increase in inventory, lack of any reasonable affordability in housing, and job losses (yes lots of these in the real estate business, just don’t tell anyone working in your office or they may get scared to lose their jobs in the next year or so).

Oh and I will be in the market to buy a new home when sanity comes back to the housing market.

I mean you no harm or disrespect with this letter. Just my opinion.

Best of luck in the next few years,

Josh

Mr Panattoni’s response…

Josh:

1) I don’t have children but most in my family already own homes, their children will benefit from the wisdom of my generation, and that of their parents, and be able to purchase because of the inheritances they will receive, in large part due to our real estate holdings.

2) Not one of my hundreds of past clients is in foreclosure (I talk to every one of them at least a few times a year). I have numerous clients, however, that I sold their first 2 BR condo to years ago, and who have gradually upgraded, and are now living in Newport Coast in million dollar homes. What do you live in?

3) You’re in no position to judge me or my advice. You know nothing about me.

4) There is no “Bubble.” If you think Orange County prices are high, check out prices in Hong Kong http://www.colliershomes.com/ It’s $2,000 a _month_ to have a place to park your car! Orange County prices haven’t even begun to see their top.

5) I’m quite certain you don’t own a home, never have, and probably never will (how am I doing?) People who have experienced the many benefits of home ownership rarely, if ever, go back to renting. You keep on waiting for those 2001 prices. In the meantime, newly arrived immigrants from the Pacific Rim, Persians, and Russians, will keep buying up property in O.C like it’s going out of style. (I just sold one of my homes, on the lake in Irvine, to a Hong Kong businessman for nearly $1.1 Mil CASH) I own and have owned dozens of properties in Orange County and elsewhere. I’ve yet to be sorry I bought a single one.

6) I don’t need luck. I’ve been successful in real estate in good markets and bad for more than two decades.

7) Real estate is cyclical. It always has been. But, as my letter states, over the long haul it has appreciated _far_ better than the stock market or any other investment you can name.

Thanks for your opinion. Now you know a little more about mine. Let me know if/when you come to realize that wafting has cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars and I’ll help you find a good deal and a great investment in your future.

…..

I don’t know if I was out of line with this but I think everyone should write this guy a letter

I’ve seen booms and busts. I was in the Antelope Valley (Lancaster) working at Edwards AFB during the 90′s bust a watched my home lose 40% of its value between 1992 and 1996. How quickly we forget.

I got the itch to leave CA in 2001 and moved to the Southeast for three years, thought I was missing something and made the biggest mistake of my life. I moved back to SoCal in September 2004. WOW! Does anyone remember the John Carpenter movie “They Live”? A guy discovers that we have been slowing taken of by aliens and you can tell who’s who by wearing a special pair of glasses. That’s me. I though of buying a home 10/04 – 12-04 and decided this market is going crash so bad, it will bounce three times. Everyone drank the Kool-Aid!

I did my year and moved back to the Southeast. Best move I ever made. Oh yeah, the schools do suck in California (maybe not in Poway or Del Mar). My children were way behind coming from the Antelope Valley Westside School District. The school here, Huntsville, Alabama told us don’t get too upset, you aren’t the first CA escapees to find out your old CA school sucked. Me met many other CA refugees that had the same story and told to be glad our children weren’t older as they would have really had to struggle.

Yes, the “old CA” is gone in most of SoCal and only survives in small pockets. Its not the illegals fault, its your average Joe Six-pack. Californians over the past 20 years have accepted poor service, poor schools, big government and outrageously priced homes that are not justified by anything CA has to offer. The collective wisdom of CA is bankrupt and they will pay for their indifference to the fundamentals.

In 2010 if prices came back down, would I return? Maybe if I could live in Poway, Rancho Bernardo or parts of the OC, but I doubt it!

Yeah, it’s still across the street, and still for sale overpriced by more than a quarter mil. I guess that makes this a great market.

There are 9 houses for sale within two blocks of my rental house in the IE. One has sold in the last 6 months. ONE. This market will go NOWHERE until existing home sellers reduce their prices by at least 20%. I’m just so surprised people selling now haven’t done so already. Why wouldn’t they want to beat all the people putting their homes up for sale in late spring and summer? Why wait until the market is even MORE saturated with homes languishing with signs in the front yard? Dumb.

Anyway, I can’t find an existing house that is priced reasonably with any kind of privacy. These boxes are so close together it’s sad. I used to play soccer and other games in our “side yard” next to the house as a kid in the mid-west. No such thing as a side yard in California. Why do builders even put windows on the side? Love the stucco view out our kitchen window in the rental.

Hearing some dirt bag want to use MY tax dollers to bail out the people who got in over their heads makes me want to puke. Politicians continue to amaze me at their foolishness. Love the one about the Governor’s MVA who wasn’t wearing his seatbelt on the way to have an audience with Don Imus. 12 rib fractures? Brilliant.

“Chapman College, which does the most detailed analysis of Orange County, last week predicted that by 1992, Orange County homes again will be appreciating faster than the inflation rate, with annual appreciation of 9.4 percent by 1995. ” Doh!

“$850000 Short Sale – Come Steal Me

Short Sale Opportunity in the gated community of Bear Brand Ridge. Light and bright, open floorplan w. high cathedral ceilings and windows.Upgraded kitchen w. beautiful cabinets and granite countertops. Master suite features a retreat, sinks and walk-in closets. Offers subject to lender approval.

Sold in 2005 for 1.3 Million!

Hit “reply” to contact agent for details and photos.

Location: Laguna Niguel
it’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests”

Banks have been hording inventory in the OC on the hopes that the market will turn positive again.

I just want to leave with this comment:

“Most of the Realtors, Lenders, and others who during the 03-06 period were helping to push this bubble to unprecedented heights, have taken a further step in today’s market and are now walking with the devil. If you know that sales are pitiful, refis have stopped, and people are just not willing to pay for these overpriced houses; why are you still telling anyone who will listen that the market is great?”

I happen to love California. Alot people I know here do not. Why? Well, seems alot Californians live in a fantasy land. The “holier than thou” attitude and excessive conspicuous consumption may be some reasons. Sure the weather is great, but the attitudes are not. As for “The good ole’ days of CA”…your acestors were new to the area at one point also, pal.

Explain if OC is so great, then why do I see about 5 California license plates around Chicago a week? I highly doubt they are driving 2,800 miles one way for a vacation.

The rest of the country has been sitting back and watching the carnival of idiots unfold in SoCal. Now, the music stopped and the tent is falling down but OC’ers still think everything is ok. LMAO.

Your attitude confirms my theory.

With what is about to happen; we will look back at that as good times.

Total carnage and misalocation of resources. Everybody is going to feel the sting.

I have heard that and read it in print. No doubt this comes from someone who has never been to any of those cities for more than just a sandwich in the airport.

Orange County has great weather, and a very robust housing-based economy. The future of the housing-based economy? Meh. Doesn’t look rosy if you ask me with all of the lending bailout talk in DC. Want to know who really runs the show? You can guess they don’t live in OC or even on the West Coast. We are the tail on the dog.

Yes, I actually miss trolls too. There were plenty of them back in 2005 when real estate was a religion. I even did a post way back when about it. Good times, good times.

I have laughed to myself thinking about that comment for the last few days.

Yes, we are God here.

And, I do miss the trolls. Maybe riec mike will post again.