Title records show that Ms. Hernandez and her husband bought their home in 1997 for $123,000, using nearly 100 percent borrowed money. They refinanced first in 2003, at 11.1 percent interest on $129,000. The equity loans kept coming: the balance rose to $230,000 in 2004; $323,00 in 2005; $374,000 in 2006; then, finally, $415,000, at 8.12 percent, in 2007.
But a region that thrived almost solely on development has fallen mightily. Building permits for properties valued at a record $12.5 billion were issued in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties in 2005; in 2008, the figure was $3.8 billion, according to John Husing, an economist whose expertise is Southern California.
“You have to think of it like a gold-mining town in a Clint Eastwood movie,” Mr. Husing said. “Money comes to a place where there has never been any, and next there are tool stores, a saloon, a general store and so on. But the saloon doesn’t exist without the gold mine, and the gold mine here was construction.”
2 comments:
Wow!
I know its a little off-topic, but if the NYT published more articles like that, I don't think they'd be in the dire financial straits they're in. The reporters did a really good job with that.
I remember playing golf in Moreno Valley around 1994. What I remember is weed-strewn, blue-topped lots lining the fairways. I'm stunned that the population is now 190K, which is more than two-thirds of Huntington Beach.
MoVal ranch was in great shape the last time I played it. They sure built a lot of houses around it though. No more empty lots, just lots of houses. Well there are a few on the 6th hole of the Lake nine. The last tract that was building on the course has gone tits up and left a bunch of lots. some of them have slabs poured. The last time I played there were even stacks of roof trusses sitting on one of the lots.
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