High End Housing Reality Puts Geithner In Check…

It’s been some time now that the nationwide high end real estate market has all but come to a screeching halt. An acute absence of available financing over $729,250 for an extended period of time has not helped. Even now as larger loan amounts at lower rates start to become available (a rare collision coupled with historically low pricing on homes), it is the case that the loan process is extremely difficult to see through to final funding, which is true for all loans of all sizes, and for all lending institutions that are still in business. For those few buyers who are in the high end market, and actually buying, forclosures and short-sales lead the way for those who will mostly pull the trigger on bargain pricing.

So, it is only fitting that some Washington D.C. personalities are getting bit by the current state of the market, just like everyone else. Below you will find a story on Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s home in Larchmont, New York.  It’s sort of encouraging to see in print that our nation’s leadership are affected as well. But then again, personal exposure may only encourage the current push for bigger government, more spending, and ridiculous perspectives and legislation on what the government thinks the private sector needs to do. 

For the original article on the Wall Street Journal’s Real Estate Blog, click here… 

WSJ Article…

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is getting a lesson in how sales at the high end of the housing market have stalled: He hasn’t been able to find a buyer for his five-bedroom home in a tony Westchester County hamlet of Larchmont, N.Y. Instead, he’s renting out the unit, according to the Associated Press.

Mr. Geithner reduced the price on the home that he bought in 2004 to $1.575 million, which is $60,000 less than what he listed it for in February and $25,200 less than what he and his wife paid for it five years ago. A couple weeks ago, the Geithners opted to rent out the home for $7,500 per month. (Luxist has photos.)

Median prices in Westchester County are down to their 2003 levels. Developments has noted time and again the confluence of forces that have stalled sales of $1 million-and-up homes, including tougher financing for jumbo loans, which aren’t eligible for government backing, and job loss among white-collar professionals.

Mr. Geithner’s real-estate tutorial also sheds light on how rising numbers of homeowners are finding themselves trapped as they try to sell their homes because their jobs have relocated. Mr. Geithner served as president of the New York Fed before he was named Treasury Secretary by President Obama.