and colored eggs on lawns around America, as Easter Sunrise
Services and people celebrate the arguably second greatest date
in Christendom other than the birth of Christ - our economic
markets and banking icons are being battered and beaten,
supported by emergency measures and falling, falling interest
rates! As the Dow Jones Industrial Average hangs precipitously
around the 12,000 plus mark...European Markets, Asian Tigers
and Off Shores Banking is adjusting to falling values and the
worst credit crunch in memory.
How deep will this malaise go? How much farther will the values
of residential property and commercial/industrial holdings....
fall before we hit a bottom? One year, two years....five? The
answers are seemingly complex....according to the major media
....much as they were during the Savings and Loan disaster years
back. They hardly wanted to say that very greedy, unethical
bankers, institutional investors and insiders had profited
greatly from the loss of the man on the street. It is our strong
belief that this current Credit Crunch and Fall of Asset Values
again has been orchestrated, designed and implemented once more.
For those that have not watched the Al Pacino vehicle-"Scarface"
...we encourage you to rent it and take into consideration the
serious role that banks play in the World Drug Trade. Everyone
seems eager to pick on poor Afganistan, regarding their Poppy
production and the great array of Black Pakastani Hash that is
produced throughout the area. What is missing is how the funds
get transferred, how the money is paid to the farmers and how the
illegal, ill gotten gains appear in "pillars of society banks"
all around the world...later in the process. How is this connected
to the Credit Crunch and how normal people have lost value in
their homes? We will leave that to you .. to figure out. Don't
you think Hedge Funds, Derivatives and dirty banking practices
..or worst of all "No Banking Regulations".....have had a little
something to do with it?
So what can "Joe or Jane Average" do.....to not only figure this
mess out....but to provide a little corrective action for
themselves and their families? Firstly, Counties throughout the
country are starting to Reassess properties. According to most
sources the actual average values of homes around the country
have fallen to 50% of what their values may have been a year or
two ago. These values continue to fall and if you are unlucky
enough to reside in a "Foreclosure Zone"...where half the people
on your street have either walked away or have Foreclosure signs
on their front lawns - those values may be even less. Currently
values in Orange County are broaching 2004 Values and continue
to fall. They may approach year 2000 numbers or lower before this
thing plays out. So people are getting the County Assessors to
adjust the true values of their homes and business properties. Why
this is important is that per Prop 13, once you get a value...it
can only go up 2% a year from there. That means that should you
find the value of your property half of what you paid for it....
you could be saving big bucks with a Reassessment. We are not
specialists in this field, but we certainly believe...that
anything that can save families big money every year....is
definitely worth a serious review process.
Orange County people can simply go to:
http://www.ocgov.com/assessor/
For those busy buying property; Commercial or Residential during
these tough credit crunch times....sorry....your Assessments
will automatically be current. Well, maybe! You might want to
check with the Assessors office before you buy and check when
the last Assessment was made!
In the meantime, be prepared for County Governments around the
country to suffer a serious loss of revenues....which will
probably affect Social Services and the levels of Service for
most County business. Welcome to these new realities and to what
the future may hold - up and down the State, Region and Country
.... right after the November election!
No comments:
Post a Comment