Friday, April 24, 2009

Commercial vs. Condo

I'll give you one guess as to which group of people is not hurting through all this.

Wanna go to the mall? Whadda ya mean it's closed?

"Commercial properties fall to foreclosure; Crisis can sow blight, cut into local tax bases" by Casey Ross, Globe Staff | April 23, 2009

The foreclosure crisis is now claiming commercial properties across Massachusetts, prompting a surge of fire sales as the owners of office towers, hotels, and stores cannot meet or refinance sizable loan payments....

How come the BANKS GET TRILLIONS in BAILOUTS but they CUT NO ONE a BREAK on their OUTRAGEOUS USURY?

Property owners are in trouble because of fast-approaching due dates on large loans they obtained to buy properties during the height of the market. Now some owners cannot make the payments because the economic slowdown has prompted their tenants to downsize or shut altogether, reducing rental income. Others cannot refinance into more affordable payments because property values have declined or lenders won't extend credit.

Are you READY TO BELIEVE ME and MY COMMENTARIES without the links, readers? YOU SEE that I TELL the TRUTH, right?

The turmoil is affecting workplaces and town centers: municipalities will get lower tax collections from idled or devalued properties, while boarded-up storefronts and vacant strip malls can discourage customers from patronizing neighboring businesses and sow the seeds of blight in the community....

We already have enough here, thank you. I see the boarded-up storefronts increasing all the time down on Main Street and its heartbreaking. Businesses that were there for decades, gone.

The problem is particularly acute for owners who financed their purchases with loans that were subsequently packaged into securities and sold to investors. The market for these so-called securitized loans collapsed in the wake of heavy losses at investment banks and the subsequent credit crisis in the financial industry. Real estate specialists said borrowers will not be to refinance those loans, leaving building owners with debt they cannot repay....

--more--"

Yup, ALWAYS COMES BACK to BANKS!!!!

But hey, as I note nearly every damn day, some fold need not worry!!!!


"Real estate slump hits luxury condos; Downtown sales, prices tumble" by Jenifer B. McKim, Globe Staff | April 24, 2009

Boston's luxury real estate market is finally feeling the pain of the housing downturn.

Like I give a shit!

Until recently, sales of luxury condominiums were holding steady - boosted in part by sales at high-end properties like the new Mandarin Oriental - while the city's general housing market lagged behind. But now the luxury market is faring worse than the rest of the Boston condo market....

And after the turn-in, the front-page lie is blown up. I hate it when the paper contradicts itself in the same article (and they do it often).

************

The creme de la creme - or the highest end of the luxury market - still is holding pretty well, some real estate agents say....

Geoffrey Gibbons, sales and leasing associate for First Boston Realty:

"The best quality - meaning the highest floors, the best views, the most services and amenities - is holding up relatively well. There's still a good amount of people out there who are willing to pay for quality."

Yup, OUR INVISIBLE MASTERS LIVING ABOVE IT ALL!!!!

No wants, no needs, life on a platter. Let's eat 'em!

Curtis Kemeny, president of developer Boston Residential Group, agrees, saying that buyer traffic has actually increased through the spring at 285 Columbus Lofts in the Back Bay, which opened in June 2008. He said his company has sold five of its last units for an average of $1 million this year. Only two units out of 63 remain. Buyers received a small discount - less than 5 percent - this year, he said.

I swear, the WHOLE STATE and SOCIETY is geared toward SHOVELING MONEY UPWARD!!!!

"In April, traffic has been heavy," he said. Indeed, real estate agents say with the warming weather buyers are starting to come back, drawn by lower interest rates and what they perceive are good deals. They say they've seen an increase in open house attendance and sales agreements, especially among first-time buyers taking advantage of low interest rates and an $8,000 first-time home buyers tax credit.....

Don't the rich get enough breaks already?

--more--"

What was the front-page tone of the article again? How crappy things were?

WTF, Globe? No wonder you are losing so much money.

Big stack of 'em at the newsstand when I went today. I guess even the Red Sox coverage can't overcome the lying.