San Diego Housing Bubble News and Analysis

I'm feeling your pain. I have already sent out similar letters. I think they have fallen on deaf ears.

I don't read anything threatening in that. As JP said, letters like this seem to fall on deaf ears, but the more of us that send them the better. I sent emails out to Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein and Brian Bilbray. Boxer and Feinstein responded by completely ignoring what I had to say, and telling me how wonderful the bills that they are sponsoring will be for our country. Bilbray did not respond at all, but now I'm on Orrin Hatch's spam list.

Your letter rambles a bit and could be more succinct. Also, I think it would be more constructive to bring alternative solutions to their attention, like own-to-rent.

At least 50 % of the price of gasoline is due to speculation and has nothing to do with the true demand for oil. It blows my mind that just these few people were allowed to make the entire country poor so that they could get very, very rich. It also blows my mind that these people get rich then have the nerve to ask for taxpayers’ money when they are in financial trouble.

This part of your manifesto detracts from the issue of housing. The notion that a few people speculating in oil pushed the price up by 50% is unfounded. Further, the idea that these few people are making the entire country poor while making themselves very, very rich is sophomoric.

I think you are wasting your time, but generally it is better to have a succinct two-paragraph explanation of the issue.

Also, letters to congresspersons should never include the phrase "blows my mind" more than once.

Too long and full of emotion. People in politics get these type of letters all day long. Some staffer in the back office who is doing this as an unpaid internship and met the politican once on photo op day will be the one reading it. Then, they will print of the prescribed form letter that has been approved but doesnt address your points at all and call it a day.

If you want any hope at all,

1) make it shorter. As my boss says all the time, "do you really expect ME to 'Read' this?"

2) cut the indignation parts out. simply state that bailouts for wall street smack of favoritism and you do not support that.

3) watch out for the oil thing. No one knows how much oil is actually fundamentally worth right now, and it is too easy to write someone who is espouting none verifiable information off.

4) rewrite the last paragraph. Democrats think they are protecting the middle class by their current actions, not hurting them.

5)Dont say prices need to come down, cause it says that YOU need them to come down, and then why should they bail you out just like you hate they bailed wall street out. Say that the real problem with housing in SD is unaffordablilty, not falling prices, and that nothing will be better until the affordablility issue is resolved.

6)find alot of other people like you, and send them all together. This shows you are organized. Get 15-20 friends/family/neighbors/coworkers and have them sign similar letters. Alot of politicans assume that no matter what they do, some yahoo is gonna hate it. When grass roots organized groups get in touch, and have the financial resources (6 figures) to back it up, they will lissen.

I once heard that they assume that 1 letter represents 10 votes, you send in 20+ letters, at 200+ votes, and the staffer opening your letter and printing off form responses may actually be paid!

DWCAP has some good suggestions (as do the others).

In your third paragraph, you say:

Bear Sterns, Freddie Mack, Fannie May Indy Mac, Country Wide, all speculated that housing prices will increase infinitely.

Not trying to play teacher here, but you were asking for advice, so the spellings here need to be corrected.

"Freddie Mac", "Fannie Mae", and "Countrywide" are the correct spellings for these names.

Good for you for writing your representatives, everyone on the housing blogs should be doing this (and calling and faxing), IMHO. Don't be offended when you get the standard "thanks for writing" letter, though. That's just what they do (ignore their constituents).

Thanks a lot to everyone who replied. You know we really have some very intelligent people here. DWCAP, thanks for taking the time to thoroughly read it and give some really good advice. I agree with them. I hadn’t thought of sending many letters together. If we get enough people, I would be glad to volunteer to send them all in together – any takers?

Former San Diegan, I spent more time trying to figure out a way to put the oil thing in here than anything else because they are sort of related. But congress is busy; I agree the letter is probably more powerful if I leave the oil thing out.

CA renter, I was worried about spelling too but different sources spell these companies differently so I’m not sure which is correct. What I’ll do now is go to each company’s official web site to be certain.

This whole thing will most likely amount to nothing but I just feel compelled to try.

One point, don't talk of bailouts for situations in which the shareholders lost everything.

Anyway, why be so steamed-up. Read this and relax.http://mrmortgage.ml-implode.com/2008/07/15/mr-mortgage-june-ca-foreclosure-reportconditions-arguably-worsen/

Time is on your side it seems in terms of prices falling and giving you time to build -up your deposit.

I agree with making it shorter and keeping it on point to housing. I'd also take out that last line about never voting again because that's not likely to spur a politician into action.

I think the main problem is that so many politicians equate low monthly mortgage payments with affordable housing. They don't understand (or more likely their campaign contributors encourage them not to understand) that cheap money and government subsidies just makes houses more expensive. It's really a shame. So much wasted money and effort went into making housing unaffordable for most Americans.

In any event, I encourage you to send the letter. At least you'll feel better knowing you tried.

University City -

Repost it when the edits are complete along with email addresses of people we should send to. I will send the letter along with you...

Former San Diegan, I spent more time trying to figure out a way to put the oil thing in here than anything else because they are sort of related. But congress is busy; I agree the letter is probably more powerful if I leave the oil thing out.

Just a FYI on the oil thing. It is all about supply and demand.. so a few questions to think of:
1) When was the last time we did any large oil exploration or exploitation of resources in the US, and more specifically California?
2) When was the last time any major refining capacity was added (new refineries built) in US, and more specifically California?
3) Since the last drilling for oil, adding oil rigs and adding refining capacity.. has the consumption of fossil fuels increased in the US and more specifically California?

Presently we are importing refined product(ie Gasoline) from Mexico because of lack of refining capacity. The lack of spare capacity is the reason why the price of oil and gasoline jumps anytime the supply line is threatened (ie by Iran's saber rattling), and Iran knows this. This is one of the reasons Iran was reiterating its threats when oil drops in price. It will be interesting to see if Iran does another 'threat' after this drop, particularly considering the Photoshop work done on their last 'announcements'.

The only real fixes on the oil front is reduced consumption or increased production. Speculators have to sell the oil they bought on speculation. If there is no-one there to buy it at their price (because there is more than people need at the specified delivery date).. the speculators really get shafted because speculation on the commodities markets is highly leveraged (both up and down).

I like your letter - you've gotten some good suggestions for making it better. In politics there are always winners and losers for any policy decision, and politicians need to hear from the people they're hurting.

One thing I'd suggest, don't threaten to stop voting. You're only a constituent if you'll vote for them. Tell them you'll never vote for _them_ if they vote for these bailouts, but if you say you'll stop voting entirely they don't have much reason to care about your opinion. The real threat is to promise to work hard to support a challenger in the primary elections.

I agree with ucodegen on the oil issue. The end price is not really being driven by speculators.
So, most here would likely agree with your main points on housing, but many might disagree on the oil thing.

Looks like it's a done deal:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=2...

Lot of Democratic politicians are slimeballs who depend upon Wall Street vultures for cash. Anyone bother to ask how Obama is collecting hundreds of millions ? Who are his donors ? What do they expect ?

Republicans collect their fair share from Wall Street but have enough big donors among small business, real estate developers, oil/mining companies etc.

Given Bush's bungling of Iraq I can see 5-10 terms of Democratic dominance