Chasing the Market Down....Waiting for Pigs to Fly.

A new class of reluctant landlord's cometh... of course they are waiting for the Great Pumpkin of a Housing Bubble to reinflate and save their sorry a$$es.

"The housing slump, combined with the traditional slowdown in home sales over winter, has led to a surge in the number of rental homes in Sonoma County, said David Rendino, an agent with CPS Property Advocates in Rohnert Park, who specializes in residential investment property."

"Property managers said they are barraged with calls for help in finding tenants and managing properties. Other new landlords are trying to do it on their own."

'"It's been really heating up as people hit winter and pulled property off the market. That's when everybody decided to quit," said Rendino, who also co-owns Liberty Property Management."

"Many never set out to own a rental home, but have become landlords out of necessity. Some are renting their homes to help make their mortgage payments until they find a buyer."

"For a solid eight years, home sales climbed and prices soared, driven first by economic growth and then by low mortgage rates. Prices peaked in August 2005, when the median hit a record $619,000. Since then, housing has been in a steady decline and the price of a typical home has fallen 8 percent."

The slump has created a new class of landlords, otherwise known as.. FBs

"Many likely have tapped equity in one home to buy a new or move-up house, but are stuck with two mortgages because they can't sell their former residence. So they look for tenants and prepare for a financial hit."

"Not everyone can afford the jump. Monthly rents likely won't match mortgage payments for homes purchased within the past five or six years. But some have decided that renting is a better alternative than letting their homes sit vacant waiting for a buyer."

"The Phillipses are in such a predicament and figure they have little choice but to be landlords."I really don't want to have to do it," Trent Phillips said."

"Trent and Selena Phillips are seeking a tenant for the Windsor house they weren't able to sell despite cutting the price $90,000. The couple called it home until they bought a house in Vallejo more than a year ago, when Trent Phillips earned a promotion that requires him to commute to Alameda."

"'We need to get a renter in there because right now I'm paying two mortgages. Every dollar I have coming in is going right back out the window," said Phillips, a Coast Guard chief warrant officer. "We're just barely holding on."'

"A home they purchased just four hours after it was listed in spring 2004 couldn't sell after a pair of six-month stays on the market between summer 2005 and December. They cut the price several times for their 1,900-square-foot, three-bedroom home, from $729,000 originally to $639,500 before pulling it off the market."

"We did almost have it sold at one point, but of course it was one of those contingency deals where the guy who was buying our place couldn't sell his place," he said. "I'm not going to give my house away. I'm not going to take it in the shorts."'

hmm... you don't want to take it in the shorts, but the overblown sense of entitlement tells me you just might.

"Bob and Nona Windus have been trying to rent out his property in Santa Rosa but is having a tougher time than he expected. After trying to sell the home he turned to renting."

"Their house hit the market for $714,000 in August. Windus said a similar house sold for $740,000 four months earlier. Still, the only offer they received was for $600,000."

'"That was the straw that broke the camel's back. We didn't have to sell, so we decided to rent it out," he said."

The Windus' now rent in River, Ore. The couple moved there, in part, to stretch their retirement dollars and don't want to forsake the sizable chunk of equity they would lose if they sold during this current housing decline."

'"I don't want to let it go while the market's in the pit," referring to the recent glut of houses on the market and the slump in sales."