Well, I'm afraid getting trapped out on the terrace after barging through the locked cat door while I was taking my nap has made Lucas afraid of it. (Understandable.) He refused to use it this evening. He started meowing to go out almost the minute I got home, so I opened the slider and let him out as I installed the cat-door insert, but then he wouldn't use it to get back inside and started meowing again. I uninstalled it before going to the store at around 8:30 and closed the blinds (which means no more going out). So he's just lying at my feet near Boozy.
I feel terrible that Lucas had a bad time, but I never thought he'd try to bust through the cat door when it was locked. (Till that happened, I had no reason to question the integrity of the lock, and it had been doing its job up till then.)
E. called me at work this afternoon and said he'd talked with the agent at Renter's Paradise. She said to be patient, that the owner had been out of town, so there was a delay, but (again) that E. has nothing to worry about. She said his credit was excellent.
E. was actually on call at work today (nowadays his only day off). But he wasn't called. He used to have two days off a week, before the financial crisis. Even his rich customers don't patronize the place as they used to. Just goes to show how the under-taxed, under-regulated, government-bailed-out mega-rich have spoiled the American lifestyle for everyone else, and the government is still letting them get away with it (so far). (I guess that's what those Wall Street protests are all about.)
Meanwhile, after doing a County property search to find out the latest value of my condo (which I needed to fill out a form for a refinance at the new low rates), I discovered that I now owe more money on my mortgage than the property is currently worth. So I'm "under water" now (by a few thousand dollars). Me and 10 million other households. Meanwhile, those Manhattan penthouses are still appreciating.
[Click on the above to enlarge it.] Here's the latest report from CoreLogic on negative equity.
I feel terrible that Lucas had a bad time, but I never thought he'd try to bust through the cat door when it was locked. (Till that happened, I had no reason to question the integrity of the lock, and it had been doing its job up till then.)
E. called me at work this afternoon and said he'd talked with the agent at Renter's Paradise. She said to be patient, that the owner had been out of town, so there was a delay, but (again) that E. has nothing to worry about. She said his credit was excellent.
E. was actually on call at work today (nowadays his only day off). But he wasn't called. He used to have two days off a week, before the financial crisis. Even his rich customers don't patronize the place as they used to. Just goes to show how the under-taxed, under-regulated, government-bailed-out mega-rich have spoiled the American lifestyle for everyone else, and the government is still letting them get away with it (so far). (I guess that's what those Wall Street protests are all about.)
Meanwhile, after doing a County property search to find out the latest value of my condo (which I needed to fill out a form for a refinance at the new low rates), I discovered that I now owe more money on my mortgage than the property is currently worth. So I'm "under water" now (by a few thousand dollars). Me and 10 million other households. Meanwhile, those Manhattan penthouses are still appreciating.
[Click on the above to enlarge it.] Here's the latest report from CoreLogic on negative equity.SANTA ANA, Calif., September 13, 2011––CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX), a leading provider of information, analytics and business services, today released Q2 negative equity data showing that 10.9 million, or 22.5 percent, of all residential properties with a mortgage were in negative equity at the end of the second quarter of 2011, down very slightly from 22.7 percent in the first quarter. An additional 2.4 million borrowers had less than five percent equity, referred to as near-negative equity, in the second quarter. Together, negative equity and near-negative equity mortgages accounted for 27.5 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage nationwide. The new report also shows that nearly three-quarters of homeowners in negative equity situations are also paying higher, above-market interest on their mortgages.
Negative equity, often referred to as “underwater” or “upside down,” means that borrowers owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. Negative equity can occur because of a decline in value, an increase in mortgage debt or a combination of both. . . .[Emphasis added.] In Florida, 45% of mortgaged properties are under water, just behind worst-off Nevada, with 60%. I think these statistics are astounding. (And they're slightly "better" than last quarter's.)
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