Foreclosures

Some of us would have been in better shape had we been a chicken like you, Steve! It could just be called prudence

 

The stock market has always out performed the real estate market. If you are patient and invest wisely, over the long term, you will get returns 6-9 percent better then inflation. Real estate over the long term has historically performed .3% better then inflation. So dont buy houses for investments, buy them to live in. In other words you really arent making money on those houses. We just happened to come out of a historical housing market. You probably wont see another one in your life time.

 

I am wondering with all the NEW homes that have already been built and the countless proposed homes waiting approval by the PC or BoS
IMO...I think over looking the simple thought of supply and demand - caused me to pause and re-think how bad it is and how bad could the price points for homes in LoCo be?

Granted many of us are acutely aware of the current economic housing trends..but seriously? Approving 1K here 2K here - yadda yadda - next thing you know there is way too much inventory on the market and re-sale/ home values just become further diluted or simply flushed away...all in the name of population density....

Here's a novel thought bring a larger BUSINESS tax base to off-load the tax burden from simple homeowners like myself...

 

Hmmm.......like a hospital, maybe?

 

Yes please!

 

Hey Cliff, I'm clueless about this, so maybe you can shed some light on this. Does a hospital provide a good tax base or do they receive special exemptions, etc? Would it be better to have another AOL or a hospital? What other financial benefits come from having a hospital close by? Thanks.

 

Hospitals offer a large (albeit not as large as AOL) taxable revenues, strong workforce, highly educated workforce, ok paying jobs and a public service. I know that HCA has continued to pay property taxes on their 58+ acres that they still (after 6+ years) have not broken ground on.

The LoCo BoS would really have to answer the question about a ‘tax break’ – most businesses of this magnitude negotiate some type of incentive/concession to do business in the county.

If BRMC is ever built, it will alleviate the growing & desperate need for additional beds in Loudoun – while allowing folks a choice of providers of healthcare providers.

From what I remember HCA's BRMC plan also had a multi-million dollar (proffer) in road improvements/infrastructure.

 

Depends on the hospital. A for-profit hospital, such as HCA's BRMC, pays taxes. If built, their property taxes will be $3-$4 million annually.
A not-for-profit, such as Inova, pays NO taxes.

Last time around, BRMC also offered to widen Belmont Ridge Rd from the Greenway south to Brambleton....a 9-14 million dollar expense.

Hospitals also attract hundreds of high paying jobs to the area. They also generate a lot of revenus in the business/licensing fees.

 

Thanks for the perspective. Make sense. Now another question. What are the incremental "costs" incurred by the county or our area to have the hospital here (i.e. is the $3-$4 million in property taxes incremental revenue or is it offset by costs generated by the hospital)?

Just for perspective, any idea of what kind of property taxes big companies like Verizon and AOL pay? How about a smaller business like the Ashburn Ice House? Just curious.

 

Not sure what you mean by "incremental costs incurred by the county."
I don't know the difference in how a hospital building would be taxed versus an office building, or if there is a difference.

 

Hi Lee (and anyone else who wants to answer),

You mentioned that you were familiar with real estate cycles. I was just curious what you think or know about the next stage of our real estate cycle. I know there are always ups and downs and I personally think that real estate in the long term is a better investment than stocks, BUT.....I was driving around Sterling Park today and I just couldn't believe it. There are so many empty homes and within just a mile of Sterling Blvd and Church there are many foreclosures, abandoned looking houses and at least 20 homes for sale and it's going to get worse. I've never seen anything like it. It's felt like the beginnings of a ghost town, it was spooky. What will happen there? Who will come to buy those houses and when? Everything I read says there won't be a turnaround till at least 2009. Will they just sit empty until 2009 when we start to see improvement?

 

Interesting take on foreclosures:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy.../12/14/AR2007121401521.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Last paragraph
Perhaps Washington's intervention in the subprime problem reveals the tiny tip of an enormous new entitlement: People who voluntarily run a risk, betting that they will escape unscathed, are entitled to government-organized amelioration when they lose their bets. The costs of this entitlement will include new ambiguities in the concepts of contracts and private property.

 

And then some. It seems that those of us who qualified properly & have been keeping up on payments get shafted - twice! We get no relief now (HEY! I'd like MY interest rate frozen & converted to a fixed rate!) and when we go to apply for a new mortgage there will be tighter rules & higher down payments.

Interesting news out of the BBC - a large German bank (i forget the name) had to get a $5 billion bailout and UBS Warburg (Switzerland) just did a $10 billion write down and took $11.5 Billion in stake money from an asian bank all becuase of the sub-prime fall out. The rest of the Asian markets will likely get by unscathed - why? They didn't buy in to the sub-prime scam because IT MADE NO SENSE TO THEM!!!!!

DyaTHINK?

 

Kaos, it's totally your fault--you obviously made a big mistake by not buying a bigger house or splurging on a vintage Harley so you couldn't make your current mortgage payments. Where do you get off thinking that being responsible and having common sense will get you anywhere. Tisk, tisk.

 

Hey this bailout is nothing new just a different twist!!

During the late eighties we had the savings and loan crisis and the government bailed them out.

And it will happen again with another twist.

Then you can tell your kids all about the last time..........

Lee j

 

Also there is nothing wrong with adjustable rates if used properly. Read last Sundays WP Business / Real Estate.

People are not getting off scott free their credit is ruined in the process when they get bailed out. Besides they paid a lot of money in up front fees etc.

Lee j

 

Not exactly this last crisis there was a lot of predatory lending, some so bad, that some loan officers should go to jail. You can't totally blame the consumer on this last crisis as a matter of fact I put more on the predatory lending practices then I do on the actual consumer.
Some loan officers were committing fraud or to the very edge of it and it was way more widespread then any of you all can believe. It is going to get worse and it will effect people with good credit and it is starting to right now. We are a long ways before we are out of this mess. Many more loans are going to be coming up for a rate change in the next few years then we have already seen.

Further in order to help the to consumer in this mess the most of the time the loan needs to go into default first.

We are a long ways from being out of this mess because of the nature of the time factor involved in when the rates change.

Besides they building and banking industry are very clever and will when this all dies out come up with other new ways to loan money on the edge. They always do.

I have been around this business way too long.

Lee j

 

Does anyone know the street number of the alleged Highview Trail foreclosure, as discussed in this thread?

 

Sadly - you are correct.