Missoulapolis

Alone at last!

Violent rioting in Berkeley (where have I heard that before?).

I know, low-hanging fruit. But, holy hell, the knives are out over at the Missoulian comments to the Pam Walzer DUI story.   (Obnoxious Montana Club corner-flopdown-ad warning!)

Curious readers want to know, did she submit to the breathalyzer test?  After all, her colleague on City Council Dave Strohmaier wants to make refusal to submit to the test a misdemeanor punishable by a fine.

anyone want to start a pool on ” if she blew the breathalyzer test” yet? Maybe mayor Engen could set that up for us since he now sits on the gambling commission. Too bad Dave Strohmeir’s unconstitutional law has not passed yet. this is just too funny. can’t wait to see the updated story, come on Tristan Scott, we want more details!!

Mmm, yes that would be nice.

The question is, will this incident mute the Council’s current vendetta against drinkers who drive, or will Walzer go all contrite and claim that a the mere existence of a mandatory breath test law would have prevented her bad, uh, “choice”?

UPDATE: The answer is…yes, she took the test!

Dave Strohmaier, the author of the proposed ordinance, says he received a call from Walzer about the arrest before it became public.

“It definitely hits close to home,” said Strohmaier Thursday, adding that she called other council peers, as well.

As the city gets tough on drunk driving, Strohmaier says Walzer’s arrest illustrates the pervasiveness of the problem. “It just cuts across all of society,” he says.

He adds he’s giving Walzer the benefit of the doubt until details come forward.

The word now is that the “culture” of drinking in general needs to change.   I heard this line just this morning from Sen. Dave Wanzenreid on KGVO.  Like it hasn’t changed already?  I can remember when patrons of bars used to exit at 2 am carrying “go cups,” and when the Missoula cops used to hole up in the back room of the VFW for a group drink-a-thon, when UM professors and staff used to sneak across to the Eastgate Lounge in between classes.  There has already been a sea change in the “culture of drinking.”

The crackdown on DUI began around 1980 and has been ongoing. But “the culture” will never change enough for some people.  At least Wanzenreid was reasonable enough to admit that the taxpayers cannot afford to put every offender behind bars.

Do the promoters of this petition to bring back the Hiawatha train route realize the many physical and legal obstacles in their way?  Like, people’s houses, and rails-to-trails rides like the one up in Taft?  Condemning these “encroachments” on the old railbed will. take. decades.

But don’t let that stop ya, dreamers.

UPDATE: MikeH says I’m wrong, wrong, wrong about the route. It doesn’t help that Hiawatha’s name is used in vain for parts of the old Milwaukee Road line.

Nevermind.

So, the local house-selling industry acknowledges that condos aren’t selling. Ya think?   And, by gosh, something’s got to change!

Federal restrictions have backed banks away from making loans to condominium builders and buyers. At the same time, some industry professionals want to make it easier to build smaller homes. The regulations that need to be sewn up or loosened are at all levels of government, and Missoula is readying its sewing machine.

The reasons banks are pulling back, of course, relate to federal regulations that came about after too many lenders made real estate loans that went belly-up. The condominium market fell especially hard.

“Unfortunately, around the country, there were a lot of condominium projects that went bad,” said Colleen Cebula, vice president of the real estate department for First Interstate Bank.

Ahem - not here, of course. Missoula is different!  Anyway, problems abound.

Say there’s a project of four units. The builder completed two and has a buyer ready to move in. Cebula said a bank can’t approve an FHA loan until the entire project is complete – down to the landscaping and carports.

Consider that same project of four homes. Say a buyer wants to own a couple of units to live in one and rent out the other. Cebula said that won’t work either because not more than 10 percent of the project can be owned by one entity.

The buyers who don’t have good enough credit or a decent down might like to buy two units. Riiight.

The story goes on to cite a REIC laundry list of all the pesky regulations that should be loosened up so the builders and Realtors can move units. Or, I mean so unqualified buyers can buy their “homes.” Oh, I mean so homebuyers can make that all-important investment in their future, and stuff.

The story comes down to a pitch for - wait for it - more density! Like, lots of less than 3000 sq ft. See, they can’t move condos even at $99,000 so we need to build more of them.

This latest promotion isn’t about buyer demand for attached housing in town. This is about sellers moving product by depleting future demand.

From my favorite liberal, Mickey Kaus:

The home “weatherization” jobs in the stimulus bill were subjected to Davis-Bacon wage regulations–a favorite of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department–under which federal Labor Department officials establish “prevailing wage” rates that must be paid…a year was wasted on mindless, union-demanded bureaucratic attempts to disingenuously replicate the labor market. Did Obama not know this would happen when he allowed the stimulus to be Davis-Baconized, or did he not care?

Kaus concludes Obama just didn’t have the cojones to stand up to the unions.   So, the labor department spent the time determining the “prevailing wage” for each area.   The problem is, there is the official version and what people actually get paid.  Everyone knows that, right?

Heh, the mom and pop bars are fighting back.

More than four months after a smoking ban in Montana’s bars went into effect, on any good night a cloud of cigarette smoke wafts through the Turah Pines Bar.

Sometimes, said Peggy Bjornberg, a bar owner has to do what a bar owner has to do.

“We’ve been in business here for 37 years,” Bjornberg said. “We’ve always abided by the law. I have great respect for the law. It really goes against my beliefs and my grain to do what we’re forced to do in order to stay in business.”

Smoke-free bars are nice for us nonsmokers, but I really think it should be up to the bar owner. No one has to patronize Turah Pines, no one has to work there. It seems perfectly feasible that bars could divvy up the crowds into smoking and nonsmoking well enough on their own, and let the market sort it out.

The Big Brother approach to public health is downright un-Montanan.

¡Ay caramba! This woman racked up $555,000 in student loan debt to attend medical school (the story originally said it was a Caribbean school).

It is the result of her deferring loan payments while she completed her residency, default charges and relentlessly compounding interest rates. Among the charges: a single $53,870 fee for when her loan was turned over to a collection agency.

…She maxed out on federal loans, borrowing $152,000 over four years, and sought private loans from Sallie Mae to help make up the difference. She also took out two loans from Wells Fargo & Co. for $20,000 each. Each had a $2,000 origination fee. The total amount she borrowed at the time: $250,000.

In 2005, the bill for the Wells Fargo loans came due. Representatives from the bank called her father, Michael Bisutti, every day for two months demanding payment. Mr. Bisutti, who had co-signed on the loans, finally decided to cover the $550 monthly payments for a year.

Clearly, it’s time that Congress make student loan debt dischargable in bankruptcy, along with all other consumer debt. Oh, and take the taxpayer guarantee away. That would take care of this debt problem and the college tuition bubble too, yes?

Doug in comments reminded me that Missoulapolis has not blogged the latest REIC story in the Missoulian Monday.

A few factors this year seem to be leading some new buyers into the local market despite the inventory. The economy has pushed down prices, and the homebuyer tax credit coupled with low interest rates are drawing some customers to the table this spring. The tax credit expires at the end of April.

But…wouldn’t high interest rates actually push down prices even more? You know, as the sellers realize that lowering the ridiculous prices is the only way to unload their alligators? Of course, the buyers would need a good down payment to keep the PITA down..oh nevermind.

The median price of a home in Missoula has kept ownership out of reach for many working professionals in the past, but the median cost of a home in the urban area dropped last year, according to the MOR. In 2008, the median price of a home was $215,000. In 2009, though, it fell to $209,000.

Lambros real estate agent Cindy Klette said those numbers show the market has helped close the affordability gap some people in the industry long have tried to narrow.

“We’ve worked and worked and worked trying to figure out how to make housing more affordable,” Klette said…

Earth to Klette: LOWER THE PRICES.

On the Westside, Prudential agent Faith Frazier held open a small home on Phillips Street. People wandered in and out, checking out that home, the one behind it and the raised garden beds in the yard.

“As soon as the bell rang, we had a couple people,” Frazier said.

Some were neighbors, but others were actual buyers. A couple of mother-daughter teams were on the hunt, with one daughter pushing her mom to take advantage of the tax credit, as much as $8,000.

Yes, as everyone one knows, daughters are the best source of real estate advice.

Last year, people cringed about news on the national front. This year, he said the national news looks better, but it’s sour economic news at home making people cautious.

“Buyers are wondering if Missoula is going to go into a slump,” McCormick said.

Uh…aren’t we in a slump already? To the tune of an 80% increase in the foreclosure numbers, according to the story?

McCormick doesn’t see a slump on the horizon, though. He doesn’t foresee the market booming this year, but he thinks it will keep a steady pace. And he knows when the buyers start shopping in earnest, too: “As soon as the sun comes out and it starts getting warm.”

Note the timing; the market always takes off after the Super Bowl, yes?  Well, we can only hope, pray the Realtors®, mortgage writers, title companies, advertisers, developers, specuvestors, accidental landlords, buyers of too-much-house, owners-who-used-their-house-as-an-ATM, and other various and sundry bagholders (Gee, that’s practically everyone, isn’t it?).

At least the story didn’t say Now is the time to buy!   Which reminds me, recall the Verde Condos, which were a conversion of the old Highland Apartments on West Pine?  They’re now leasing.  Maybe now is the time to rent - ?  And this time you get stainless steel appliances and bamboo floors.

Query: What will the REICsters do if the $8,000 homebuyer’s credit actually does expire? (Cut prices by $8,000? Just a thought.)

UPDATE:  Check out Doug’s excellent analysis of the homebuyer’s credit effect.