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Utah foreclosures up 141%

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Fence Sitter | 12:15 a.m. July 10, 2008
Well I certainly hope everyone saw this coming. Before the housing boom, Utah was always near the top for foreclosures. Are we to assume that the boom suddenly made Utahn's more fiscally responsible. No, in fact I'm willing to be that by the time this crash fully develops, we will discover that Utah abused the housing boom more than an other state.

The real housing bailout will take place when you folks get realistic about your asking prices and bring them back down around 2004-2005 levels. When that happens, those of us with the money will go ahead and buy your overpriced homes. Until then, we're content to rent and sleep well at night.

Oh this whole credit crisis is a lot more fun to watch when you don't own a depreciating home. Every week housing inventory increases in Salt Lake City and yet the stubborn seller refuses to realize that he's asking too much for his house. Wake up! Utah is not immune to the credit crisis. We are lagging the national trend by 18-24 months. Your home's value will fall at least 30% from it's peak.
Gus | 12:37 a.m. July 10, 2008
I hate to see my friends go through financial hardship, but the markets definitely need to correct themselves. Real estate prices need to drop a little more so that they allow more families to buy a home and eat up some of this excess inventory. This might take a few years, but it will be great for buyers if they can qualify. As for me, prices in California are dropping 3% each month so I'm in no hurry to buy.
Anonymous | 12:38 a.m. July 10, 2008
More trickle down economics.
Comments continue below
Save Us Government!!! | 1:53 a.m. July 10, 2008
Here is something we can all agree to. If Barry Obama was our President none of this would have happened!!!!

We should bring Barry into office six months earlier so he can share his love with each of us with tax increases and more government oversight and bailouts!
CP | 3:34 a.m. July 10, 2008
This isn't news. I can drive around my neighborhood and the areas close by and see that for myself. That's why I don't understand why there are so many other new townhouses and new homes being built all around this area.
Bob G | 5:27 a.m. July 10, 2008
It's been a practical joke for the american people and this housing crisis. What happened to the billions of dollars pumped in to financial institutions to help these homowners from going into foreclosure? What can a home owner do when they try to refinance into a manageable contract when their property titles are being shuffled around to prevent tracking down the title holder? Government should put a freeze on the selling of any property titles facing foreclosure or caught up in the the ARM scandals by financial instutions. Financial companies whine and complain about loses just to get our government to bail them out. They have no intention to help homeowners when they can get all the funds they want from the government. The present occupants of these homes have lost everything with overpriced and inflated valuations and have no equity. However, the financial markets can still shuffle the propertiess and claim loses they themselves generated with falsified appraisals and bait and switch lending. The realtors, builders, and develpers had a hand in it too as their cut is 6%+ of selling/buying price. An incentive to go along with the inflation and corruption. An epidemic of greed.
talkin' down | 6:11 a.m. July 10, 2008
what does"trickle down economics" have to do with this situation? Oh, I see, because "the rich" got lower tax rates then the Government couldn't afford to come in and bail out struggling speculators eeerrrr....homeowners. Where in the Constitution is the Federal Government allowed to take money from one group of homeowners who are paying their mortgage and give it to someone who bought more home than they could afford?
As if these lending institutions like Zions and Bank of America and Countrywide wanted to see their stock prices slashed. I personally just love seeing my stocks lose 30% of their value... but I don't blame SUPPLY SIDE ECONOMICS .. I blame these moronic lenders who stopped requiring 20% down and income documentation. It's just greed and why would anyone take out a loan when they are going to be financially strapped to make the payments?
I know one thing - they're not making anymore land and at some point prices will start going up again but I don't really care.. I bought my house so I would have a roof over my head ... not to make easy money
Misconstrued article | 6:20 a.m. July 10, 2008
What they failed to mention is that Utah and Wyoming are the best two states in Real Estate today. Investors from other states bought in the HOT Utah market. Now they can't pay their own bill's so they are bailing out of their investment properties to foreclosures and bankruptcies. It was the investors from other states that damaged Utah. Now they want out. I am a Realtor and I have been selling homes like crazy, at 95 to 100% of asking price. These homes are in the affordable range of BELOW $250,000. The homes that are suffering are the investment homes of $400,000 or more. The reporter didn't tell you that. We also have about 87,000 people moving to Utah this year. They are buying the affordable homes. Our market today seems to be a repeat of the 70's. Assumable loans are back. St. George is in a cool-off period, banks are refusing to loan on homes in St. George, hence the foreclosure rate there WILL go up because of it. Utah isn't dealing with huge lay-offs, it is negative media that is causing the damage. Buy now or be sorry. It IS a buyers market.
JCH | 6:28 a.m. July 10, 2008
Wait a minute... elsewhere in today's paper, I read that Utah's suburbs are "flourishing"! What's going on?

Mr. Lee, where is your desk relative to Ms. Bulkeley's in the DN's newsroom? Give her a heads up about what you've found in re the whole debt-ridden suburbs thing.
Go ahead and rent | 6:31 a.m. July 10, 2008
Guess what's happening in the rental market? Landlords are getting whatever they want - and will continue to do so until rent is equal to or higher than home payments.

For all of those doom and gloom folks - please ignore this but this market WILL INCREASE!!! Just wait until the lag time catches up with all the inflation on gas prices. Seriously, if you think you're home is going down 10% - you're crazy.

Inflation, inflation, inflation. It's happening everywhere! When the population starts increasing again, jobs start popping up again, homes will ABSOLUTELY follow. And when they try and build homes, the materials that they need will be too expensive to keep prices down.

Besides, like somebody once said: THEY AREN'T MAKING ANYMORE LAND.

liberal Larry | 6:44 a.m. July 10, 2008
This whole situation illustrates why all of the "free market" advocates are so misguided. The foreclosure rate is a direct function of the lack of regulatory oversight on the lending industry. Easy money generated by risky lending practices drove up the price of houses, and allowed many unqualified buyers to get into homes they couldn't afford. Maybe when Obama gets elected, we will get back to a more responsive, and responsible, federal government.
jr | 6:47 a.m. July 10, 2008
Bushs economics SPEND SPEND SPEND then DROP, PLOP and the bucket is empty but for the BUSHs
Anonymous | 6:51 a.m. July 10, 2008
There is no recession.
That is just lie made up by liberals.
Everything is just fine and dandy.
ZEBA | 7:00 a.m. July 10, 2008
Yeah, I wondered how it was possible for so many people to get into the 300-400k houses. They are all over Utah from St. George to Logan.

How in many peoples wildest imaginations did they think they could afford houses that expensive? Yes, the lenders are part of the blame, but financially uneducated buyers is probably the bigger problem. When I went thru HS in UT finance was not required. There was one elective personal finance course offered.

Maybe we don't need financial education, we can just rely on a feeling to let us know if we are making wise financial choices... and we wonder why there are so many cases of financial fraud and bankruptcies in Utah.
Finn | 6:58 a.m. July 10, 2008
Need for a fact check here.

If Utah foreclosures are well below the national norm (1 in 600 homes in foreclosure in Utah vs. 1 in 500 nationally) then how is the state 10th in terms of rate of forclosure. Several statistical outliers would need to be in place on the top end of the scale for this to be fact which is highly unlikely in this realm.

One of the two stated statistics is likely erroneous. Sitting well below the national average in foreclosures likely ranks the state in the 30's in terms of rate of foreclosure.
Problems | 7:03 a.m. July 10, 2008
Utah seems to have more than her share of financial problems.

For years Utah has been at the top or near the top of bankruptcies and now, foreclosures.

Use of anti depressants is high in this state as well.

How could this be in a state like ours??

Possible explanations:

1) Low wages

2) High charitable giving

3) Large families

4) High expectations with regards to lifestyle, conduct, etc.

Possible remedies:

1) Move out of state if you want higher wages--eventually employers will have to become competitive

2) Pay on net or "increase/surplus" instead of gross (after vital expenses)--just a thought, if can be done

3) 2-4 kids is still "multiplying and replenishing" the earth, we don't live on the frontier anymore

4)Don't compare yourself to others, be happy with simple things

Well, that was politically incorrect I'm sure but I think it would help.
John | 7:04 a.m. July 10, 2008
The comment about trickle down economics is so lame it is laughable. The problem in the mortgage crisis can be summed up in one word - GREED. It was greed by the realtors and local mortgage bankers who were complicit in helping to promulgate fraudulent applications. It was greed on the buyers who purchased homes they knew they could not really afford and in many cases went along with fraudulent applications. It was greed by the home owner who refinanced and took money out of his house to buy toys they felt they had to have. It was greed by the financial institutions who offered such mortgages knowing that in the end many of the buyers would fail.

The new rules that require buyers to qualify at the highest rate the note could go to and to fully document income will be a welcome relief in the housing market. This idea that everyone should buys a house is one of the myths that led to this total collapse of the housing market.
CougarKeith | 7:15 a.m. July 10, 2008
I wonder who forsaw this coming? I told those in the housing market to wait and you will have a field day at "Re-po's", well its starting soon. I had said WE were waiting, but the right deal came AT THE RIGHT TIME in Roy, seller paid ALL the closing COSTS and MORE! We ended up in 1950 sq ft home + 2 car attached garage for about $160,00 when all was said and done. Put your line in the water, but don't be in a hurry to reel the line in! If you want to buy a house interest rates are going to head up soon, so keep that in mind, that will cost you thousands over the life of a full 40 year mortgage so bear that in mind. Enjoy the shopping experience it's a lot of fun and don't show your hand.
Tom Paine | 7:34 a.m. July 10, 2008
Welcome to GOP and Bush America. Keep supporting the Greedy Old Party.
Jill S. | 7:46 a.m. July 10, 2008
This is ANOTHER reason not to like KUTV's Dave Fox - He got off lightly for his part in the housing scheme. I never can watch him anymore without thinking of it!
Not surprised | 7:53 a.m. July 10, 2008
When every housewife in Utah is driving a brand new SUV just to go to the grocery store. When people are living in monsterous houses all for show. When five year olds are wearing designer jeans and the whole family spends two weeks in Hawaii every year. It's not hard to see how people cannot pay their bills. Look who is going bankrupt, mostly people that own way more than they can afford. This is a correction not just in the stock market but in peoples personal spending habits.
All Hail the Market Correction | 7:57 a.m. July 10, 2008
To John and Fence Sitter, I couldn't have said it any better myself. Your comments were accurate, succinct and stated the simple truth.

Delusional homeowners in Utah (and there are MANY)who want to sell their homes essentially have two options. They can drastically reduce their asking price (by at least 20%)or enjoy foreclosure.

A 10K reduction on your 400K home is not a reduction. I do appreciate the laugh though.

Those who don't have to sell and choose to take their home off the market will only get less and less over the next couple of years.

This is actually good news for the local housing market as affordability and sustainability are slowly being restored. This is only the beginning.
Kevin | 8:01 a.m. July 10, 2008
CougarKeith. Actually, I for one saw the whole thing coming. I was living in Virginia from 2004 - 2006, and I was shocked to see people in Utah so ignorant about the state of things. "Real estate is local," they'd say. "But the credit market is global," I'd retort. I sold, and am renting for a while. But though interest rates may go up, I believe prices will fall reciprocally even more. I will not buy now. I'm going to let everyone crash and burn and burn and burn.
Jack | 8:16 a.m. July 10, 2008
2 of my 3 sisters are in foreclosure and will be moved out into low life rentals this month. My third sister is only a couple of months away from being foreclosed. Thankfully I moved from Southern California and paid cash for my home, otherwise I would be out as well. In our neighborhood "Bountiful" 4 of 11 homes are on the market just trying to avoid foreclosure. The worst is yet to come.
RE: Finn | 8:23 a.m. July 10, 2008
Other way around bro
M. Allred | 8:26 a.m. July 10, 2008
I doubt, Liberal Larry, than Obama (or McCain) is so powerful that he can prevent or fix every finacial woe that hits this nation. No prez is perfect. I fully believe that greed (banks/real estate lenders and sales people) and the want to have the best and biggest (the consumers) drove this more than Bush, and his predecessors. Like the weather and the world�s climate, economics ebb and flow.
Anonymous | 8:25 a.m. July 10, 2008
People buy more than what they can really afford. Living on credit is fantasy.

Home Owner | 8:34 a.m. July 10, 2008
Actually not everyone living in a 300K home has a huge mortgage. I built my home for 185K five years ago and it now appraises for about 300K. My mortagage payment is under 1K per month. I happen to be in the right place at the right time with my land with helped me a lot. I paid less than half what others paid for land in my area last fall. So not everyone with a 300k to 400k home is in over their heads.
No debt | 8:45 a.m. July 10, 2008
A lot of the forclosures are due to speculators from Utah and other states that made bad investment decisions based upon the "Get Rich Quick in Real Estate" mentality. Speculators usually don't have the analytical skills to determine whether the investment will give a positive return. Some get lucky, but most, as we can see, don't. The only true and proven strategy is to pay off your own house and, without touching that equity, invest in other real estate with your income and remember to Invest only what you can afford to lose.
randy | 8:44 a.m. July 10, 2008
when it takes $14 per hour to maintain a modest house in utah (whatever a modest house is) and the average income in utah is only $7 per hour ... not too many people can really afford a house .. but hey .. instead of working and saving for it ... lets get it anyway ... lets cheat the lenders .. lets not pay our bills and debits ..
the religious entitlement attitude in this state is overwhelming ... those that have and can pay should pay for those who dont have and cant afford it ..
this state needs an attitude adjustment in the entitlement area ... do it the old fashion way EARN it first ... dont expect someone else to pay for your lifestyle
the story was nothing more then telling us all , you get what you earn and pay for
I'm shocked | 9:01 a.m. July 10, 2008
This is so unexpected. I can't believe this is happening. Just a few months ago the papers and all my realtors were telling me that Utah was immune to this. We have a good economy here, and people want to move in. Sure, we might have a slight dip in prices, but it will be a smooth descent. We won't have the same problems as the rest of the country. I'm shocked.
Johny Fairplay | 9:02 a.m. July 10, 2008
Well said Problems.
get out of debt - now! | 9:38 a.m. July 10, 2008
People mistakenly think The Great Depression just happened overnight with the stock market crash.
In reality, in took place slowly and insidiously for almost two decades.
The smart person recognizes we are in that cycle once again and transforms his entire thinking about
the economy, capitalism, and his out-of-control spending habits.
Thomas | 9:38 a.m. July 10, 2008
Credit got too loose, and prices got too high. Then prices hit a ceiling, which caused credit (whose expansion had come to be driven by price appreciation) to contract. That caused prices to fall, which caused credit to contract further, and so forth into a deflationary spiral.

I'm open to any explanation how this is the fault of "trickle down economics." It's not enough just to toss out the buzzwords, kids -- in the big leagues, you need to bring some analysis.
Sheep | 10:05 a.m. July 10, 2008
My Husband was a Morgage Lender up until a year ago, he had his buisness for 15 years, in that time I cant tell you how many horror stories he would come home with about "Honest Church going people" Who would ask him "How can I buy an investment property and pretend it will be owner occupied to get a better intrest rate?" He would always tell them it was illegal and he wouldnt do it, we watched many morgage companies make a tone of Money doing down right illegal schemes such as these, all for the mighty dollar, The Buyers new what they were doing, the Morgage companies new what they were doing, now why is it people are feeling sorry for people who chose to sign on the dotted line all in the name of "Keeping up with the Smiths?"
Personally the government should not bail anyone out, If you can read english, you should be accountable for signing on the dotted line, even Dave Fox, who cut a deal and turned on his buisness partners all in the name of saving face... Really Pathetic, just another wolf in sheeps clothing....
CP | 10:07 a.m. July 10, 2008
Well I also think that the solution to this is for people to get out of debt. Don't use your credit cards, if you don't have any don't get any. Be smart and pay your mortgage payment first and don't over indulge stay within your means. STOP SPENDING! And also I agree I don't think neither Obama nor McCain can clean up this mess in just four yrs. of who ever lands the thankless job as president.
Anonymous | 10:13 a.m. July 10, 2008
Who bought or is buying real estate in our state when the median family income in Utah is around $50 000? Rich Californians or foreigners? A lot of wrongdoing in the real estate business. A business where a lot of wrongdoers become millionaires.

Are these people abusing our free enterprise system?
Statistics | 10:16 a.m. July 10, 2008
Aren't stats wonderful?

You cvan make them say what you want without lying.

Heck, if you had 10 foreclosures... and then it went to 20, you could say that foreclosures went up 100%.

But in reality only 10 more cases were found.

Let's put some REAL numbers to these stories.

Unless it is happening to you, and if it is because you lied to get into the house, too bad, but if you were too dumb to read the contract or you were swindled by the realator then I'm sorry... But if you got into this becauase you were greedy... too bad!

I've lost money with some bad decisitions in the stock market. Should the FEDS bail me out?

Same difference expect the bail out is not for the little guy, it is for the big ones that are paying the lobbiests.
lost in DC | 10:14 a.m. July 10, 2008
There were 34 comments up when I wrote this post, only one questioned the stats cited by the author.

This is a poorly written article. It gives three or four paragraphs of gloom, doom, and panic-inciting rhetoric. Those paragraphs show statistics and point out that our rate of increase is higher than the national average. Finally about four or five paragraphs in, he shows statistics that we are still below the national average in foreclosure rates, but does not specifically say so. To put it another way, if you went from one bad to two bad, your bad rate increased by 100%; if you went from 4 bad to 5 bad, your bad rate only increased by 20%. Which would you rather have, a bad rate that increased 100% to 2, or only went up 20% to 5? Such panic-inducing articles just exacerbate the problem.

Is it unfortunate that people are losing their homes? For the most part, yes, but I have no sympathy for those who refinanced, stripping equity out of their homes so they could blow it on cruises or big screens and SUVs. I also have no sympathy for speculators who pushed prices above reasonable levels.
CougarKeith is Nuts!!!! | 10:14 a.m. July 10, 2008
RE: CougarKeith | 7:15 a.m. July 10, 2008

Did you seriously take out a 40 year mortgage for a $160,000 home? That's pretty stupid if you ask me.

You'll probably be dead before you realize and pay all the interest on the loan and actually own the home!

Must be a BYU grad with a Spanish degree. :-)

BH | 10:26 a.m. July 10, 2008
Statistics: You need to go back and read the article more carefully. You are misinterpreting the data. In fact, you are doing the very thing you are accusing the author of.

There is only one group of people that can be blamed for this current situation. And that is the American consumer. At no time did Pres. Bush come out to Utah and force any homeowner to sign a promisory note for a home they could not afford. And, although lenders started bad practices, they also never forced a borrower into a mortage that was beyond their means.

Consumer advocates have been warning the American people about variable interest loans for years. Did we listen? NO! We have all been told to keep our mortage down to 25% of our income. Do we all do that? NO!

Nope, can't blame anyone but those who chose to live beyond their means. Even Greenspan saw this one coming.
Stewart | 10:29 a.m. July 10, 2008
I really don't like to see the folks suffer, but for those that put nothing down, and paid sub-prime interest rates have lost nothing. They got a new home for less than the cost of renting. Now all they have to do is walk away (foreclosure) just as the renter does when they leave with several months rent owing. Same principle except in a foreclosure the banks and mortgage companies have to eat the loss, including damages and other problems, rather than landlords. Of course banks have more political support to help them than do landlords. Those having to move out of their homes may find renting cheaper. As for the credit rating that can be cured.

The figures used in this report are somewhat meaningless since they are ratios or percent. So, that could mean if there were 100 homes foreclosed in 2007 that there would be 241% this year (141%) or if there were 1,000 that would mean 2,410 this past year. A percent gives us no idea of the total numbers. Percent is often used to reinforce someone's agenda.
What does california | 10:40 a.m. July 10, 2008
have to do with Utah's real estate market? Stop comparing the two. Sure there have been some people leaving to UTah to pay cash for a home but let's not get carried away and start comparing California market to UTah,
jr | 10:58 a.m. July 10, 2008
Sad but many young people think they have to start out where their parents ended at 30 odd years. They think every child has to have their own room. Mind you, people are paying as much in rent so why not put it into an investment of having your own home -- then again we could all just be homeless because our incomes are not sufficient to put a roof over our heads. Some have made bad decisions but others had very good intent, not everyone is in the same bucket of circumstances in losing their homes. The corporate thieves are raping america at all levels including our food and poisoning us too
Karl | 10:57 a.m. July 10, 2008
Everyone gets so worked up about these articles. I've been in the mortgage industry for more then 10 years and have seen it all. It's really not too difficult as to why foreclosures are up in Utah county. Notice how the article didn't reference Salt Lake county as the problem.

It's called Investor GREED! In 2006 I was at a builders conference and one of the state economic advisor's put up a graphic regarding Utah county and Salt Lake county. For every 6 real estate transaction in Salt Lake, 1 was a new construction. In Utah county it was 1 in every 3!!

Now try and sell me the bill of goods that there was that much demand for new home buyers in Utah county...BULL PUCKY!! It was a group of companies and investors who were attempting to make big bucks on flipping new constructions. Blame the developers, the builders, and the Dave Foxes. Sure the banks and mortgage lenders bare some responsibility, but GREED is the number one reason your seeing the higher foreclosure rates in Utah county. Same thing happened in Saint George, but not Salt Lake County.
Karl | 11:04 a.m. July 10, 2008
My final comment about this article. Here is what is really going on in our market in Salt Lake and Utah county. Currently the new construction business has almost flat lined in Utah county. There hasn't been a single MLS lot sold in northern Utah county since Feb 08. There has also been a resistance by a number of banks (local mostly) to drop the prices on these new homes that are so over inflated. Furthermore the federal government didn't due Utah county any favors by not increasing FHA jumbo limits. In Salt Lake you can refinance or purchase a FHA loan up to 720k, in Utah county it's less then 450k.

The biggest issue is incomes, until incomes can justify 400k homes, your not going to see many of these loans approved. So the earlier real estate agent that suggested that the market is actually pretty good for sellers who are moving a house under 300k is actually spot on! For those selling above $400k, pray, and be flexible..and 10k adjustment in price is not a real reduction, try 40k if your selling a 400k home.
the truth | 11:12 a.m. July 10, 2008
Two words: Franklin Squires.
a twisted idea of wealth | 11:14 a.m. July 10, 2008
Unfortunately, in a capitalistic system where a sibling rivalry-like keep up with the Jones' mentality exists, people lose all sense of patience and over-extend themselves financially again, and again.
It also doesn't help things when a culture promotes the twisted and disgusting idea that wealth (or feigned wealth) means "God has been blessing them."
Anonymous | 11:26 a.m. July 10, 2008
It is my patriotic duty to spend and consume rampantly. Do not suggest otherwise you traitors!
For you | 11:27 a.m. July 10, 2008
If you are a developer who squeezes in many homes on a small lot and milks your tenants for all they're worth - please read Isaiah 5:8 - - If you're a millionaire who has abandoned your home and left it to be vandalized and are not willing to let trustworthy tenants reside there until you sell it - read Isaiah 5:9 - - thanks - - The whole thing is a mix up of cut-throat lenders, unrealistic borrowers who live outside of their means, and poorly written contracts that expect too much from one another.

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