Published: October 24, 2006
'California Connected' Delves Into The Ever-Changing World of Real Estate
From Central Valley to San Diego, 'California Connected' Delves Into The Ever-Changing and Charged World of Real Estate
Real Estate
This week, California Connected explores the rise and fall of housing prices in the state of California.
What the heck is going on?
Twenty to thirty years ago, a buyer could secure a thirty-year loan with twenty percent down and gain an untouchable nest egg.
Recently mortgage bankers began offering new products to motivate borrowers...interest-only loans, low doc, no doc, option arms, and other imaginative plans to hook home buyers. Borrowers counted on rising housing prices so they could cash out or refinance to avoid higher payments. But the market didn't play along. Prices started leveling out and even dropping. Some homeowners found they couldn't keep up.
In fact, in California, mortgage defaults have risen 67 percent in the last year. Correspondent Judy Muller talks to real estate agents, sellers, auctioneers and housing forecasters to try and get a sense of where the market is headed.
Ranchettes
The heart of the $30 billion per year farming industry is starting to skip a beat in Central Valley with the influx of a phenomenon known as "Ranchettes," single-family homes on farm property, ranging from two to forty acres each.
Though it has a wonderful ring in real estate ads, these homes are causing a stir with nearby farmers. Ranchette owners complain of crop dusting, speeding and noise pollution. Second- and third-generation farmers also have their share of complaints about neighbors filing unnecessary lawsuits and creating a nationwide dilemma of shrinking farmland.
California Connected correspondent Craig Miller explores this escalating debate in Stanislaus County.
Please Check Local Listings for show times for Friday, October 27th.
California Connected is an award-winning, news magazine produced through a unique collaboration of four PBS stations: KCET-Los Angeles, KPBS-San Diego, KQED-San Francisco and KVIE-Sacramento.
www.californiaconnected.org
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alan@newsblaze.com
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