California Realtors: 2010 to be "New Normal"

Ms. Leslie Appleton-Young of the California Association of Realtors:

"I think what we're going to be doing in 2010 is building a foundation for what will be called the new normal. The recession is probably over as measured by a decline in growth, negative growth if you will. But the recovery will be contingent upon additionally likely stimulus spending and doing more to facilitate job growth because I really feel that if we don't do more direct policy initiatives aimed at putting people to work, this is going to go on for quite some time."

Not bad. For a realtor.



I'm pinching myself. Did she just say..? I'm pleased to observe a realtor in California finally displaying some measure of honesty about the situation we are all in and the uphill battle that most certainly lies before us in this state and around the nation.

California real estate appreciation, including appreciation of home values Orange County California, was based on a lie. Reckless lending practices, duplicitous sales tactics by realtors all across the state, not to mention financially inept and credulous decisions made by home buyers (homedebtors) all poisoned the water we're now swimming in together. Only now that water has become raw sewage do we understand. Ms. Appleton-Young knows and must now admit that the government is broke and it's probably going to take a very long time indeed for all of the crap to settle to the bottom, and for the stench of lies to be blown away by the ocean breeze.

The one thing I must disagree with Ms. Appleton-Young on is the call for more stimulus spending.

We DO NOT, I repeat, WE DO NOT need more American taxpayer dollars appropriated to prop up an industry that was built on lies and questionable sales practices in the first place. The price crashes all around California and Orange County are a market correction. This is not in dispute. It has been long overdue and repeatedly obstructed by the stimulus spending initiatives and political action committees funded by the CAR and NAR. Americans would benefit significantly more over the long term from a thorough housing market correction, not less of one. Stabilized markets should be our destination of choice, not the cliff hanging of the last 10 years. Of course, realtors would rather have the clocks turned back to the imbalanced market, irrationally high prices, lax lending standards, poorly informed and credulous buyers, and other craziness so that their own felt pockets could be appropriately lined with sales commissions.

I don't know about anyone else, but I don't pay my state and federal income taxes to support the REIC and the financial livelihood of California realtors. As far as I'm concerned that money should be used on something far more productive than rewarding debt slavery among those least capable of ever paying back such debts.

Lake Forest Elementary School Closing It's Doors

La Tierra Elementary School in Lake Forest, CA will be closing in June 2009.

La Tierra Elementary provided a valuable service to the local community of Lake Forest, California in that it provided a top quality elementary education for local children between pre-school and 6 grade, and it was one of only 2 schools in the area that offered pre-school classes for children with special needs. La Tierra's staff offered outstanding expertise particularly to young children with autism spectrum disorder.

Thanks to the inability of elected leaders in the state to pass a balanced budget, and due to the now state-wide financial crisis, La Tierra's services to Orange County and Lake Forest will soon be gone.

So what are Lake Forest Parents parents supposed to do? Well, La Tierra students will be funneled to another school to balloon the classes sizes there. Parents of new arrival children will either need to look to other elementary schools to see if they have room for their kids, and/or determine whether they have the capability to accomodate children of special needs.

Paying for private pre-school services is of course expensive and not always offering accomodations to children with special needs.

So how is this development even relevant to the downturn in the Orange County housing market?

Well, it's relevant in the sense that one of the obvious key decision factors faced by prospective home buyers (particularly families) are the local services and performance levels of local schools.

Local realtors have had it on their 3x5 sales cue cards for years that the local schools in Lake Forest, California are "excellent". And, all things considered, including California's abhorrent 46th ranking in the nation in terms of elementary public school effectiveness (just ahead of Mississippi, Alabama and Mississippi thank you very much!), the realtors have been right.

La Tierra Elementary even won a California Distinguished School Award. It had a 2007 API (Academic Performance Index) of 850, on a 200-1000 index scale.

Not a big school. Only 220 students. But it was a very important little school for the community. And it was a performer. A solid performer.

The closing of La Tierra is likely only the beginning. The voting off of other schools by the Saddleback Unified School Board will continue on into 2009. They don't have a choice.

Other elementary schools in the Lake Forest area such as Santiago Elementary and O'Neill Elementary are on the proverbial "chopping block" as well, though O'Neill Elementary appears to have earned a temporary reprieve from the board.

Parents and local taxpayers do have the opportunity to attend school board meetings and express their support for Lake Forest schools, and judging from the O'Neill verdict last week, upcoming schoolboard meetings should be very interesting to observe.