Warbird Information Exchange

There was a story in USA Today on Mon about the mortgage market as it is now. I don't have the exact figures, but I recall the the majority of people who have mortgages are well above the current rate, which for a conforming loan (not over $417,000, with some exceptions to $729,00) is 4.8%.

That is a good rate historically, but many banks are being very tight with actually making the loan. If it is refinancing they have already sold the previous loan, and that lender may not go along. If it is a new loan, it is harder to sell than a few years back, and they have gone too far to the side of being conservative.

In my case, when I went to refinance with Wells Fargo, despite having a top credit rating and never having missed a payment, they drug their feet. I would qualify , but first they threw out out about two thirds of my income, all the rental income,and all capital gains. Then they reappraised my house and used an out of town source, not really familiar with our local market to downgrade the value. They, of course, loved that I keep paying a rate to them(actually sold) of 6 7/8, but tried to tell me I could not qualify for the 5% loan. Another problem is that nonconforming loans, are very hard to sell, and in Aspen most all are jumbo. They finally made the refinance and it was worth the trouble, but they sure don't make it a pleasant experience. When it came to taking a $25 billion loan from American taxpayers for themselves, guess what, old paperwork Wells Fargo found they didn't need so much red tape. They haven't paid back the money yet, but have announced that they will. Some other large firms have already done so.

In any event, rates are low, if you can stand the heat they put you through, it it worthwhile, but they aren't making it easy for the average person, to buy or refinance.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

A2C, as for as a "communist revolution", as you say, I think not. If there has been any revolution, I don't think it is the workers or peasants that are profiting the most from it.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

Just to add my own tale...

Personally, I really can't wait until 2009 ends... it's been a pretty cruddy year with only a few exceptions. My wife was laid off in January -- she WAS a teacher at a charter school and only 6 months from being certified based on her AZ teaching time (two years), so needless to say, pickin's are slim. The way our state cuts back more and more on educational funding, I don't see this changing anytime soon. She was pretty sick of the situation and now may not go back to High School teaching at all. She has done some adjunct work for community colleges as a teacher, both in class and online, but that doesn't pay well at all. She got hired a few weeks ago at Macy's because she worked for Federated for about 8 years while in college and was a star performer at the store in NH... so they were glad to have her. That said, retail isn't doing great out here and her pay isn't fantastic... but at least it's something. We basically stayed alive this summer due to the fact that she sold a pretty hefty amount of her comic book collection on eBay and honestly... it's a good thing she had them or else things would have been a LOT worse. We both are 6+ years out of college and the college loans are choking us. Traditionally, on graduated repayments, your monthly bill is small when you first go into the working world, but keeps growing as you are 'supposed' to get raises and more stable... yeah right! The loan companies (Wells Fargo, Sallie Mae and the Federal Loan handler) are all hurting and are not making deferrments as easy as before... they need the money and it shows.

We were fortunate in the fact that we didn't fall for the low ARM mortgages when we moved to AZ and have been renters since we moved here in 2007. If we had done like many, we would have been in much much much worse shape... we are second only to Las Vegas in underwater homeowners and that's a bullet we dodged.

Thank goodness I got the job with my company when I did... I was hired in August of 2008 and that's when the corporate aviation industry started a gradual decline that later became VERY steep. If another month had gone by, there is a good chance that the position wouldn't have been considered that necessary. Luckily I seem to have shown my value around here, so I was lucky to keep the job and now I think things are very secure in my position... especially since traffic numbers are going up steadily. I am actually looking forward to what 2010 brings for the company... no where to go but up!

That said, the months of November and December have been tough for us personally. The months of getting behind on bills have taken their toll, made only worse by a horrible bank (Chase) that has royally screwed us with overdraft fees and a fee for every other thing with absolutely no lieniency. Since they 'flippped the switch' in October with WaMu (our former bank who was great - thus they failed and were bought) our account has been more in the red than anything, and of course... you can't close the account until you are positive. It looks like this week we will be finally able to close it and go to our Credit Union (Wings Financial in MN... a credit union for the aviation industry) for everything. But because of that, there isn't much Christmas at home... both of us are staying in AZ away from our east coast families because of the cost of airfare, and we couldn't buy any gifts. And of course, since she works in retail, Lil will be working on Christmas Eve... but we'll be spending Christmas Day with each other and are going to gift ourselves to a day of working on "our" scrapbook of our marriage together all day. That way, we'll at least have something tangible to remember the holiday by.

Again, I can't wait for 2010!

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Ryan Keough
Stow, MA

They never do...

Ryan

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Aerial Photographer with Red Wing Aerial Photography currently based at KRBD and tailwheel CFI.
Websites: Texas Tailwheel Flight Training, DoolittleRaid.com and Lbirds.com.

The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD. - Prov. 21:31 - Train, Practice, Trust.

A little off topic but when did Joe McCarthy aka A2C get banned?

What a wonderful Christmas present!!!

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Always looking for WW2 Half-Tracks and Parts.

I've been underemployed (20 hours a week) for the past year and a half. A ton of people at my job have been layed off entirely, and they are starting to demolish parts of the building to save on taxes.

About 1/2 of my friends have been layed off.

My Fiance is doing well, she has two good paying jobs.

I'll be graduating college next month, and I am looking at Grad school rather than towards the job market.

I guess it is a mixed bag and I cannot complain, I've got a roof over my head and a disposable income.

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Share your story: Rutgers Oral History Archive http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/

Guys, I am sorry to hear that so many of you are having very tough times. At least WIX doesn't require you to go into debt.

I was really asking about what you see around you in your community as for as shopping and jobs, etc. but maybe when you don't have a job the big picture is not so obvious.

For what it is worth, there does seem to be a fair amount of visitors here in Aspen now. The two peak times of the year are the week after Christmas and spring break. If a hotel or store doesn't do well here at Christmas it is not a good sign. I do know that some of the motels/lodges are not full. I spoke to one of the more reasonable ones right on main street 3 blocks from downtown and they still had a room for $125 including breakfast. The airport is mostly full, not quite all, of corporate jets.

Hope you guys can hang in there, some reports in some places in some segments say things are getting better, not getting worse at least. I have a spare bedroom that I rent out long term and that takes care of 1/4 of my mortgage. Now if airplanes were not so expensive or I had a hobby like chess, but anyway. At least I am not addicted to $40,000 pickup trucks or 60 inch tv sets.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

Where can you find a half way decently equipped pick up that cheap?

I guess they don't sell anything smaller than a diesel powered crew cab dually in Texas!

I started to price a new truck this summer...sheesh....I quit looking when the tab hit $64k and I wasn't though the options list yet.....Way beyond what I wanted to spend on a vehicle that wasn't going to be a primary ride.

America became an industrial wealthy giant by exporting product and importing wealth. Why we think doing the opposite is good for America is beyond me.

To answer your question it sucks. I normally have two months of work backed up but now lucky to have a weeks worth. Some weeks nothing to do but work on my own airplane at a negative cash flow.

So lets all get down to Wal-Mart and get us some more of that rubber dog sh**t.

[quote="Bill Greenwood"]Guys, I am sorry to hear that so many of you are having very tough times. At least WIX doesn't require you to go into debt.

I was really asking about what you see around you in your community as for as shopping and jobs, etc. but maybe when you don't have a job the big picture is not so obvious. quote]

Bill,

Here in NYC, everyone I know in the Financial Services Industry is waiting for the other shoe to drop. No one is really hiring.., if they are hiring they are all temps/consultants. All the majors locked down in November for new hires.

Real estate is in the same boat. Places are sitting.., new apartment buildings are offering tremendous discounts and incentives.,. but still lay fallow! Anyone I inquire as to the 'recovery' just laugh and say.., no way are we there yet. People are cutting back on travelling, spending.., all of it.., We are all taking trips MUCH closer to home, if at all.

Any major avenue in the city has dozens upon dozens of empty retail. It is so bad that they are now taking pictures of storefronts and pasting them over the vacant spaces so it almost looks in full swing (pathetic). Retail is the next to fall...aka commercial real estate.., everyone is in a rush to finish the new Freedom Tower.., but it will open to the same sort of reception as the first WWTC.., it was empty for about a decade.

The stock market is no longer a valid indicator of the state of our economy. It is a bubble!

I use the ticker 'C' as my indicator of the economy.., Citi has done basically nothing in the last year..,

All in all, things are not any worse.., but no one is spending anywhere close to what they were 24 months ago. Even all the 'spin' our government tries to put on all the 'economic' reports.., no one with half a brain is listening.., unfortunately in this country.., that is a rather small audience.

My two cents

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S.

The housing market here in my home town is nothing short of a diaster! Now if the tax assessor would just figure this out I would feel alittle better about the whole thing.

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

Important for Pat Carey.

I just went through a property tax appeal and believe it or not we won.

Two points to know, You need to know what period the tax assessor uses,it should be a matter of law. The big problem here is they only reappraise every 2nd year and they were using 2008 when there had been a lot of appreciation the years before, perhaps 40%, and prices were at a peak then, despite falling perhaps 20 to 30 % after that.

Next you can file a protest with your assessor if it is not too late. You have to have some facts, some comparable prices from other sales. If you aren't one to find these yourself from the records, then see if a local realtor will do it for you. They have access for the info. In my case, I made a deal that I didn't owe anything unless there was a saving, and then I would owe him half of the net savings.

He made the protest and it was rejected as were all the other ones in our town. But amazingly, he filed an appeal and wonders, we won and got a tax reduction.

It is worth a try.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK