socratt I have to say I chuckled at your post. Unfortunately I cannot argue with what you are saying. From alot of the work I have been doing on the foreclosure end, the landscape at the auctions is pretty different as well. I would suggest that those who want to see what is going on, track the data that is put out from the various trustee sale websites.
It “appears to me”, but I have no hard stats, that the number of homes going to the bene or getting purchases is going down but that is more opinion then fact. Certainly I do not monitor all the zip codes in the county so take it with a grain of salt. I do think the number of postponements I see due to bks has grown which is good because those will be auctioned sooner or later. Conversely the number of trustee sales I see get cancelled has also grown meaning that they were worked out or there was a successful short sale.
Anyways yes put me in the tinfoil hat category as well where I feel that the govt/wall st (to me they are the same because it is all backed by taxpayer money) has become pretty darn good at this. It took them about a year or two and hopefully I am wrong. So I guess we will see how things play out.
Also is it me or do all the tsunami predictions seem to not acknowledge the PPIP or any other bulk purchases. Finally for the first time a few days ago I ran across an advertisement for a firm that does claim to allow you to RENT distressed properties. They claimed that if you make the payments then the lender will not proceed forward with the foreclosure. I need to find out that ad again but it was on Craiglist for rentals.
I guess the point is that all the homes may not even need to make it to the market.
I still place my money on interest rates being the next big domino to knock down housing. The only problem is I am not sure when that will happen.
