The HBB Rates The National/ International Media
The first look at the HBB review of the media and reporting on the housing bubble starts with International magazines, news web sites and newspapers. The total body of work these organizations put together can’t be summarized here, but included are a few examples.
The Best:
1. The Economist - “Average house prices in Sydney.. fell by 5.4% in the second quarter. Other sources suggest a steeper decline. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia reckons that house prices nationwide fell at an annual rate of 13% in the first half of 2004.”
“In other words, houses are more overvalued today than at previous peaks, from which prices typically fell sharply in real terms.(T)wo-thirds (by economic weight) of the world that we track now has a potential housing bubble.”
“The ratio of prices to rents is a sort of price/earnings ratio for the housing market…To bring the ratio of prices to rents back to equilibrium, either rents must rise sharply or prices must fall.”
2. The Financial Times. “British and American policymakers appear to regard the recent period of house price inflation in their countries with equanimity. As long as neither inflation nor unemployment soars suddenly, we are told, the current level of house prices is sustainable and economic growth is not threatened.”
“But not all central bankers are so insouciant. Nout Wellink, president of the Dutch central bank, last month warned that a hangover from the property boom could well exacerbate the next downturn. Both the Dutch experience and the history of housing booms suggest that this counsel deserves to be taken seriously. However, it is probably already too late for the leading Anglo-Saxon economies to escape lightly from the consequences of their property bubbles.”
3. Bloomberg. “China’s rising property prices pose a threat to the stability of Asia’s second-largest economy. Excessive growth in housing prices has directly undermined the ability of city residents to improve their living standards, affected financial and social stability.”
“Local officials who fail to take measures to rein in growth will be held to account…’The State Council’s tone is very harsh,’ said Fan Weiwei, a Beijing-based economist. ‘People’s expectations of future property prices will definitely be changed. The likelihood of further price surges is becoming minimal.’”
Honorable Mention:
Times Online. “Five years ago Halifax, the UK’s biggest mortgage lender, would grant an interest-only loan only after inspecting the policy documents of an endowment or other investment vehicle. Borrowers who were relying on rising house prices or an inheritance to pay off the loan would not have passed the application process. But Halifax changed its rules in 2000. Now the bank, in line with many other lenders, does not check any paperwork, but regularly reminds borrowers that it is their responsibility to set aside enough cash to repay their loan.”
The worst:
1. New York Times. “‘South Florida, he said, is working off of a totally new economic model than any of us have ever experienced in the past’. Ron Shuffield, president of Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors, predicted.”
“‘I just don’t think we have what it takes to prick the bubble’, said Diane C. Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial. ‘I don’t think prices are going to fall, and I don’t think they’re even going to be flat’.”
“It just seems like everyone is doing it,” Laurie Romano, a 26-year-old self-described real estate investor, said with a giggle.
2. Wall Street Journal. “”Real-estate prices can’t tumble on a flurry of panic selling, as happens when a stock-market bubble bursts. After all, everyone needs a place to live. ‘Stocks have a single market, low transaction costs and the capability of people to pile on nationally,’ Robert Curran at Fitch Ratings, ‘Housing markets are all local. Transaction costs are large. To sell your assets you have to move.’”
“Homes may not appreciate as quickly, or at all, for a while. Nobody likes that.”
The market observers, the good:
“Danielle DiMartino writes for the Dallas Morning News…’Let’s say for a moment that all of the credit that’s being extended to purchase homes at inflated prices isn’t of the highest quality. The proof here locally is that foreclosures have gone through the roof. Now extend that scenario to the really hot markets that have yet to suffer flat, not falling, just flat, home prices and you get to what keeps me up at night. Maybe even Alan Greenspan, too.”
“How will federally established Fannie and Freddie and all the other mortgage debt holders react to the inevitable rise in delinquencies and foreclosures?”
“I worry about housing so much because of its potential to harm so many families. Stock market bubbles impact those who can afford to buy stocks. When that bubble burst in 2000, that included about 45 percent of Americans. But a record 70 percent of Americans now own a home. So housing bubbles have the ability to inflict much more pain on communities and our broader economy.”
“The powers that be insist there’s no housing bubble. They have to, mass delinquencies and foreclosures are simply not an option, not with the risks built into the mortgage-finance system. The general concern about these instruments is that they’ve yet to be ‘tested’ by an inevitable market downturn. Is there risk in today’s lax lending standards?”
Bill Fleckenstein. “It might be hard for folks to step back and see a speculative housing environment for what it is — especially when the frenzy has furnished a lifestyle beyond their means. But we all can’t live forever in dream homes financed by dangerous debt levels. The “math” suggests that this tenuous fantasy ultimately will fail. Not everybody in this country can live in a $1 million house or some higher-priced mansion. The income necessary to support the debt service just isn’t there.”
“Housing got a boost in the stock mania because people rolled their gains into real estate. That was on shaky ground, as we dealt with the aftermath of the stock bubble. But then we got on “firmer” ground in the last 15 months or so, via all the government stimulus and low interest rates that sparked a speculative frenzy in housing, which continues to this day.”
“One of the most obvious would be to raise short rates to a level higher than the underlying rate of inflation (i.e., 5% to 6%) and take back some of the absurd stimulus that Alan Greenspan has foisted on the economy repeatedly over the last decade.”
“This would simultaneously increase savings, reduce consumption and hurl us into recession. But we are headed there anyway. So let’s get on with it before even more damage is done.” Stephen Roach : “The longer we wait, the more treacherous the endgame.”
“Stephen Roach. “The Fed is not only hard at work in the engine room in keeping the magic alive, but is has also become the intellectual architect of the New Macro.”
“Time and again, since Alan Greenspan rolled out his New Paradigm theory in the late 1990s, senior Federal Reserve policy makers have taken the lead role as proselytizers of a new macro spin that condones the saving, debt, property bubble, and current-account excesses of the Asset Economy.”
“Chairman Greenspan has made light of traditional measures of household indebtedness, even going so far as to urge consumers to move from fixed to floating rate obligations. Fed governors have also borrowed a page from the Roaring 1990s in denying the possibility of a housing bubble. Governor Bernanke has also led the charge in coming up with a new theory of national saving, that the United States is actually doing the world a favor by absorbing a so-called glut of global saving.”
The Bad:
Barbara Cocoran. “I think it’s a much scarier world that we live in. When kids are scared, where do they run? They run home. People are staying home more..it’s really reassuring for people to know they own the walls around them. People have also become more distrustful. People don’t trust the government, they don’t trust Corporate America, they don’t trust the stock market. They trust their house.”
“I think the bubble theory is nothing more than an intellectual expression of people’s typical worry that good times can’t last forever.”
David Lereah. “My view is there’ll be air coming out of a balloon rather than a balloon popping because markets are too healthy right now. Once I start to see inventories increase in a meaningful way in some areas, then I’ll start to see where these balloons might be,’ Lereah said. ‘Right now I can’t find them.’”
“The NAR’s chief economist said, ‘What we’re seeing is that real estate is no longer just a place to live. It’s a viable alternative to stocks and bonds..Sept. 11 changed real estate forever.’”
“Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan…told the House Financial Services Committee in testimony that he sees ‘no reasonable basis’ for the two giant mortgage companies to hold massive mortgage portfolios, which together top $1.5 trillion. Noting that the problems ‘are almost inevitable,’ Greenspan warned House lawmakers that Congress ought to consider forcing the two to slim down their portfolio holdings as they ‘potentially create ever-growing potential for systemic risk down the road.’”
“Greenspan added: ‘Enabling these companies to increase in size…we are placing the total financial system of the future at a substantial risk.’ He added that while the risk now is ‘virtually negligible,’ he doesn’t believe that scenario will last if Congress allows them to continue to expand.”
“Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said he has ‘no particular regrets’ and that the deepening slump in the U.S. housing market isn’t a result of his policies. ‘Markets are becoming aware of the fact that the decline in house prices is not stopping,’ Greenspan said today in Oslo. ‘I have no particular regrets. The housing bubble is not a reflection of what we did, as it is a global phenomenon.”’
“The collapse of the U.S. subprime market ‘was a shocker because no one expected it,’ Greenspan said.”
“After the 2001 recession, the Fed cut its benchmark rate to a four-decade low of 1 percent. That move, along with a hands-off approach to regulation, has brought Greenspan under fire as the bursting of the housing bubble and the subprime mortgage crisis threaten to sink the economy.”
“Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan ignored warnings about the Fed’s low interest rates that fueled real estate speculation and the current housing recession, said Allan Meltzer, professor of political economy at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. ‘I think he lets himself off much too easy,’ said Meltzer, author of a 2002 book on the early history of the central bank, in an interview. ‘He acknowledged maybe his policy had a little bit to do with it. But he found all kinds of other reasons’ to blame for the housing and mortgage problems today.’”
“He said the Fed was worried about deflation. Meltzer said he met then with Greenspan at the former chairman’s invitation and disagreed with the concern over deflation.”
“‘I said, ‘Alan, we have had six or seven deflations in the United States in the history of the Federal Reserve, and only one of them ever had terrible consequences, and that was 1929 to 1933,’ he said. ‘That was because deflation was not only bad, but because the money growth was lower and lower and lower, so the expectation was deflation would continue. In all the other six, nothing happened.”’
“Greenspan ‘continued to believe that deflation was the problem. He was wrong about that, simply out and out wrong,’ Meltzer said.”
This group was almost too large to cover in fairness. Good articles were also written by China Daily, the Age and Sydney Morning Herald in Australia, to name a few. Feel free to add or subtract from any of the categories here.
Ben,
What a great concept for a survey! As Cheers and Jeers go, this is one for the ages.
This piece would make a delightfully snarky narration behind a photo montage/documentary film. (Ahem….) But, if possible, it would be useful to addend this with the dates of the quotations– just for the record.
They are all from the first few months of 2005, I believe. Most of the original pages are no longer at the URLs, so I just linked through to the first HBB.
Ahh, thanks for the Memories!
I still hold Barbara Corcoran out as the REICster that makes me most want to punch something. I wish upon her the mother of all yeast infections. It just seems fair.
the mother of all yeast infections. It just seems fair.
Boy, you sure are mean. LOL
Another reason to use Lysol.
I’m on the fence about Stephen Roach? A long time bear ( and overall reasonable guy ) he switched sides after he left his position as Chief Economist for BofA and started saying ( in essence ) “if we stop ‘here’ we should be just fine”.
Anyone else recall that about face?
I don’t recall that specifically, but he is pretty wrapped up in what’s going on in China.
Ben,
What with everything that’s gone on, I kind of lost track myself? Some of the commentary I’ve been able to find is from “The Stalwart” dated May 23rd. 2006.
http://www.thestalwart.com/the_stalwart/2006/05/digital_rules_b.html
“Then a few weeks ago, we noted that he had shockingly changed his tune, right about the time that the market was hitting new highs”
I recall wondering if his ultra-bearish views didn’t jive w/ his new employer Morgan Stanley?
Ben,
( Add’l link to follow: )
Here’s an intersection of Bill Fleckenstein having some fairly kind words toward Stephen Roach in 2004.
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/P85418.asp
“The Stalwart” noted his sudden ‘turn’ on May 23rd. 2006 when he recently joined up with Morgan Stanley.
A good list.
The amazing thing about Greenspan is that he co-authored a paper that found our entire consumer economy was based on mortgage equity withdrawl. Brilliant.
And then concluded that something wonderful had happened — the democratization of credit — rather than something awful — America and Americans selling out their future at an disastrous rate. Insane.
Intellegence and knowledge are useless without common sense. I read that report and nearly fell of my chair — to AG if the market was doing it it must be good.
The Robert McNamara’s, the Donald Rumsfeld’s and the Alan Greenspan’s…
Where in the Hell do we find such men?
Ooops!
We don’t find them, they find us.
McGeorge Bundy, Karl Rove, Halderman, etc., etc., etc.
Robert McNamara
McNamara had just been named CEO of Ford when he was recruited away by JFK’s brother in law. He was offered the job of either Sec of Treasury or Sec of Defense.
Fun fact: his middle name is Strange.
Leaders were as in love with CEO’s as they are now. Wasn’t he one of the command-economy planners during WWII?
McNamara
Fortunately better late than never, he recoiled from his previous positions and was ever so sorry.
Fortunately better late than never, he recoiled from his previous positions and was ever so sorry.
Documentarian Errol Morris’s film about McNamara, The Fog Of War, shows McNamara’s change of heart very well.
Said Errol Morris about McNamara:
“I think that he is extraordinarily complex and that may be a result as well of the extraordinarily complex history that he was part of. Nothing has a simple answer. Maybe nothing ever does. It’s very easy to condemn him for these policies but harder to understand what his role was in these policies.”
[...]
“Part of talking to him was the realization that nothing can really erase that history … I had a strong feeling of tragedy in this sense, that here is a man who really believed that rationality could ultimately solve the problems of the world, and there’s a rueful admission in our conversations that perhaps rationality is not enough and if it’s not enough what else is there? There’s the question.”
Yeah…rumsfeld explained all that to me with his famous “known-unknowns” ramblings.
The Unknown
As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don’t know
We don’t know.
—Feb. 12, 2002, Department of Defense news briefing
rumsfeld explained all that to me with his famous “known-unknowns” ramblings.
Unfortunately, these numnuts didn’t learn from history and another man’s hubris, misguided egotistic “omnipotence” throughout losing other peoples lives, sons,fathers, uncles and leaving us with wounded men to this day.
The amazing thing about Greenspan is that he co-authored a paper that found our entire consumer economy was based on mortgage equity withdrawl.
MEWs gone wild
“Greenspan ‘continued to believe that deflation was the problem. He was wrong about that, simply out and out wrong,’ Meltzer said.”
Has the thinking at the Fed evolved since AG’s departure?
I think Greenspan had a loose marble . It only goes to show that one man
can’t have to much power . If you saw “THE WARNING” on Frontline it was clear that self-interested parties can stop meaningful reform .
It’s gotten to the point where the Power-brokers of the financial markets have conned the World that lack of transparency is a God-given right of those markets ,in spite of the unfair advantage to investors .The Casinos players want the right to play with money ,leverage money and play high risk games on a daily basis without disclosure .
The Health Insurance Companies want the right to have a monopoly on heath care by forced employer based health care .This is why a single payer system is the only thing that can work in the final analysis because they just want to game the system for the government to take on high risk patients while they make more money . Such a deal . Rigged systems and monopolies are killing America .
A lose marble. He dated Baba WaWa then married Andrea Mitchell. All good face lifts and body part lifts. He is either “gifted” or just had the right connections/money.
A
loseLoose marble.How about a bagfull?
A lose marble. He dated Baba WaWa then married Andrea Mitchell.
It is also well known that he banged Ayn Rand.
also well known that he banged Ayn Rand.
Then he must have been ‘gifted’, cause you just can’t look at that face and say, yep- get nekkid now. NOPE.
maybe having done Ayn Rand became ‘giftedness’ in itself…
Years ago:
Andrea: Who’s that bespectacled gnome?
Peter: Alan Greenspan. Inscrutable financial wizard. Member of Ayn Rand’s inner circle while she was writing The Fountainhead.
Andrea: OMG. The Fountainhead changed my life! That guy’s hot, isn’t he? (Be still, my beating heart.)
The “Banged Ayn Rand Club” was not very exclusive from what I understand.
He could have put a paper bag over her head at least, after drinking five beers.
Out of all the books and some biographical books, only one had a reasonable picture of her in the 1920s.
Some of the hard core objectivists claim that the body does not matter. In the long run, they are right. The older you get, the less attractive you look. But during the youthful years, looks are important and we cannot reject the reptilian part of our brains. We have to accept our wild side.
He banged Ayn Rand, became a lifelong proponent of her ‘philosophy’, and followed it as he took us off the cliff. Rand’s romanticized beliefs about ‘great men’, their deeds, and the need for them to be free of the little people’s rules and regulations, set the stage for this whole fiasco.
Ayn Rand banged us all.
need for them to be free of the little people’s rules and regulations, set the stage for this whole fiasco.
Ayn Rand banged us all.
Nailed it.
If you saw “THE WARNING” on Frontline it was clear that self-interested parties can stop meaningful reform .
The problem is even more fundamental. You solution with what you know. Whereever your expertise, background and knowledge happens to be, that is where you see the center of the earth and all solutions. Obama has key leadership - Summers, Tim G., all from Wallstreet - hence, even with self interests aside and their best intentions, all solutions will start and end in the financial sector from here on out, at least for the next 8 years.
It’s all about maintaining unfair profit margins at the expense of certain segments of the population . Reform would simply decrease profit margins that were unfair to begin with or rigged .
Don’t Know Nothin’,
As we’ve often said here.., To a man with a hammer ( everything looks like a nail! )
You’re so right though. And it should, concern all of us. This is how Robert Rubin was able to abscound off w/ $300 mil. in compensation in completely fictitious “profits”. We certainly don’t want to exclude ‘that’ from any future ’solutions’ now DO we!?
Or +1 to Housing Wizard
For some reason, I think of him as almost a sort of Dr Strangelove type of character. So enamored with his own ideas, he never realized the greater dangers..
Leave MY Medicare alone ! The 500 billion the Dems are taking from Medicare will go for Illegal Aliens ! No Hospice next year. Cutting reimbursements to Doctors by 21 %. If you are a senior,just get the blue pill from Barry.
I know of a good doctor who can help you. His name is Jack- Jack Kevorkian.
Housing you are right for the single payer medical system not because the common sence and logic in your words , but by the fact that every single one of the rest 50 industrialized cuntries in the world has exactly same single payer system ( there is no single person form the 700 million EC without health insurance!), and the fact that they have had it for almoust half and century and nowhere in the world there is any discisuion for going back to medicine “american way”, which is esensialy bissness puting money over the wellbeen of people. The corporate agenda in US is so strong that not even small advances in the interest of the people are possible as is the case of the medical debate ( so is the scools system, gun control, junk food, GMOs, emigration , … you name it) . Strong majority of the people aproove “public option” but there is this fierce “debate” in the senate and congress. How come? Who they are fighting for? Against what?
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of new U.S. homes dropped unexpectedly last month as the effects of a soon-to-expire tax credit for first-time owners started to wane.
Milwaukee losing jobs faster than most areas
By Joel Dresang of the Journal Sentinel
Oct. 28, 2009 10:01 a.m.
Metropolitan Milwaukee’s 5.8% loss of jobs in the last year ranked on the high end of the nation’s largest metro areas, according to government figures released today.
All of the biggest metro areas suffered job cuts since September 2008, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, led by an 8% decrease in the Phoenix area, a 7.8% drop in the Detroit area and a 6.2% loss in the Las Vegas area.
Besides Detroit, the only other major metropolis in nearby states that approached Milwaukee’s rate of decline was Cleveland, where employers also cut 5.8% of the jobs since September 2008.
Among all 369 metropolitan areas, only 10 showed increased employment in the last year.
…and that’s some scary stuff with your morning coffee Milwaukee!
http://tinyurl.com/ygtl38m
Also, on Market Watch, Shiller also commented about the NEW bubble in San Fran and other parts.
I noticed that one of today’s Yahoo headlines reads, “New home sales fall a surprising 3.6 percent.” When is the government going to learn that words like “surprising” make their economists look like total morons?
DinOR,
I think you have the wrong guy. Roach works for Morgan Stanley.
He also went on record back in November 2005, stating that the housing bubble had officially started - he copped a lot of flak for that.
He, probably more so than anybody else, deserves most credit for calling the bubble first. It also probably caused his “demotion”.
Otto,
Right, and Fleckenstein notes as much. Certainly an early hero and an oft quoted source. But there was a pretty steep departure after he left his long time position at the B of A and came onboard w/ MS.
Actually, like a lot of us here, Stephen sounded the warning much earlier than 2005. And I’m not implying he was some sort of ‘turncoat’ for modifying his position? IIRC the comment was very Captain Kirk-esque as he was calling for deflector shields and full warp speed to avert disaster.
I mean, do you want to tell an incorrigible drunk “You’re too far gone to bother helping, you might as well drink yourself into oblivion”? Your first day on the job?
Attention everyone: Breaking news.
In experiments with lab mice especially bred to develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, University of South Florida (USF) researchers at the Florida Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center ADRC gave the aged animals the equivalent of the caffeine in five cups of coffee a day. The results? Their severe memory impairment was reversed.
This study, along with other AD research by the same group of scientists, was just published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. Both studies show that caffeine significantly decreased abnormal levels of beta amyloid (the protein linked to AD) in both the brains and blood of lab rodents who had symptoms of Alzheimer’s. This research follows on the heels of previous ADRC research that found caffeine given to this same strain of mice when they were young prevented memory problems from developing — even though the animals were bred to develop Alzheimer’s symptoms as they grew old.
(Excerpt) Read more at naturalnews.com …
Coffee has got to be good ,its the juice of beans .
The Bucket List
…
Carter hands Edward an article about Kopi Luwak, Edward’s favorite coffee.]
Carter Chambers: Read it.
Edward Cole: [reading] Kopi Luwak is the world’s most expensive coffee. Though for some, it falls under the category of “too good to be true.” In the Sumatran village, where the beans are grown, lives a breed of wild tree cat. These cats eat the beans, digest them and then… defecate.
[pauses]
Edward Cole: The villagers then collect and process the stools. It is the combination of the beans and the gastric juices of the tree cat that give Kopi Luwac…
[Carter starts laughing]
Edward Cole: … its unique flavor… and aroma. You’re shitting me!
Carter Chambers: [laughing] Cats beat me to it!
[Carter and Edward both laugh hysterically.]
Laugh so hard you cry,
Leigh
hmmm, I wonder if the Sumatran term for cat poop is Kopi Luwak.
My guess is that they’d have a hard time selling a coffee named Cat Poop.
It was funny.
The Hubris of a man’s(or woman)ego can ruin it all for many to come.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/view/
Close to Home. Documentary on the economies effect on the Upper East Side, NYC.
The part that was disturbing was the majority of folks(in this segment) were all over 50. Corps don’t want people over 50.
I can’t put it into words, but what is going to happen to all the people over “50″ that can’t get jobs, dont’ have jobs, etc. Not that it is over 50, but seriously anyone over 40 and so forth. No jobs in the US.
Things are not so dire for the over-50 crowd. They can always work at Wal Mart for slave wages.
Question I want to Buy a house next year I think I live in So Cal SFV looking in West hills / woodland Hills I think I should may about 200-250 per SQ foot but everyone says I’m crazy I have been reading the blog for a couple of years and I saw this housing bubble coming a mile away. What I hear from friend and family is they were selling for 800K and now around 500-600K so it’s a good deal. I think this is BS does anyone have any advise on what price per SQ foot they think would be good for that area. In march my wife and I will have 120K saved and income of 150K YR. With rates this low, and I think pricing still going to fall I would rather do an FHA 3.5% down and keep my cash. Am I right to think I should be able to find a nice 2000 SQ foot home for 400K-500K in this area?
Question I want to Buy a house next year I think I live in So Cal SFV looking in West hills / woodland Hills I think I should may about 200-250 per SQ foot but everyone says I’m crazy I have been reading the blog for a couple of years and I saw this housing bubble coming a mile away. What I hear from friend and family is they were selling for 800K and now around 500-600K so it’s a good deal. I think this is BS does anyone have any advise on what price per SQ foot they think would be good for that area. In march my wife and I will have 120K saved and income of 150K YR. With rates this low, and I think pricing still going to fall I would rather do an FHA 3.5% down and keep my cash. Am I right to think I should be able to find a nice 2000 SQ foot home for 400K-500K?
Go a bit to the north in Bakersfield. $75/ft. Phillies in 6.
Ask the gurus NEXT March. Just take a deep breath and say ommmmmmmm for next spring will bring new buds and prospects for many more homes in your bracket at Lower prices.
Good for you guys. Just wait. IMHO.
I agree. It’s too soon to know how things will shake out, but another year (and maybe even the end of the $8,000 credit next June - don’t hold your breath) will provide a lot more info. 2010 is a big year for Alt A and Option ARM resets and while the gov’t is doing all is can to prop up housing prices many of us believe the crash will continue and we’ll have a better idea of where prices are headed. (Remember, prices are still down a big percentage from last year to this year.)
Be patient and (I believe) you will be rewarded.
go to http://www.googlemaps.com and type in the zip codes 91367, 91364 and check the options to show real estate and then check the foreclosures. When you see the SHEER number of foreclosures and NOD’s filed, you might be more assured in waiting. BTW, I have a friend who works for BofA in the foreclosure dept and I was told that come the new year there will be a significant increase in REO properties released. Yeah… yeah… I know… we’ve heard it before.
Just saw the cops evict another squatter from the house down the street (south of Ventura Blvd in Woodland Hills today). I wish that I could live payment free!!!
“It just seems like everyone is doing it,” Laurie Romano, a 26-year-old self-described real estate investor, said with a giggle.”
I bet she went from giggling to gurgling.
Where is the ‘kid’ from Sacramento ?
What happened to the young woman from FL who was picking things up 2 yrs ago at cheaper prices and finding the buyer before she actually closed, then they became LL’s.??
I think we blew her outa here.
Oh Laurie you twit - they were talking about sex, not buying houses. Honestly, kids today!
http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2002/2924fannie_mae.html
Executive Intelligence Review (EIR) called the housing bubble earlier and better than any of the media you cited. Just look at their archieves to see how prescient they were about both the tech and housing bubbles, as well as the 2007 collapse of the financial services sector.
This was one of the first hits I found when researching the bubble back in 2003. Ben’s site followed some time in 2004.
The thing that strikes me is that the winners in the “worst” category all seem to be our own homegrown “journalists”. And the best are overseas.
Maybe there is a good explanation. If you are a journalist looking at a different country, it is easier to be circumspect about it all. But if you are looking at your own country, it is a lot easier to get seduced by the lure of the cheap money - no doubt many of the journalists themselves were patting themselves on the backs before the bubble burst - proud for how much they were now worth simply for having bought a house somewhere.
Secondly, if you are writing about your own country, you have your own advertisers in your own country - many of whom have a strong vested interest in the status quo continuing. If you were to try and publish a story talking about what a bad idea some of these things was, your advertisers might get ticked at you.
Maybe there is a good explanation. If you are a journalist looking at a different country, it is easier to be circumspect about it all.
I think that is most certainly part of the explanation — European journalists were a great deal less visionary when looking inward at their own real estate bubbles. The European/internationalist business press seems less dogmatic and more cynical than ours, too, at least with regard to profit motive and the sanctity of the “unfettered market.” And, in the case of The Economist, they simply have some of the best reporting and editorial staff available anywhere.
“The NAR’s chief economist said, ‘What we’re seeing is that real estate is no longer just a place to live. It’s a viable alternative to stocks and bonds..Sept. 11 changed real estate forever.’”
Hmm, I may be mistaken but don’t stocks and bonds have the nasty habit of FALLING in value ?
Mo Money,
I’ve never heard that particular quote. And leave it to NAR not to let a perfectly good catastrophe go to waste!
If 9/11 “changed real estate forever” then Bear/Lehman/TARP/TALF/TSLF/CDS/ABS/ARS/Bailouts would have never happened?
We’d still livin’ large off the MEW of the land. Huh?
Meltzer is on the warpath against the Fed. Is it possible he is actually vying for a position there, but employing an unconventional strategy?
Business Daily
The Next Financial Crisis?
Media:
Listen now (20 minutes)
Last broadcast today, 02:40 on BBC World Service (see all broadcasts).
Synopsis
The world is not yet out of the current financial crisis, and already there are fears that America is hurtling down the road towards another one. That’s the disturbing scenario posed by US economist Allan Meltzer.
He worries that the current rescue measures taken by the central bank the US Federal Reserve will have unintended consequences. He fears that vast amounts of money sloshing around in US banks, interest rates at almost zero, and oceans of red ink in the US budget, could sow the seeds for rising inflation and ultimately, a dollar and debt crisis.
He wants the Obama administration to launch plans for cutting public spending, even though some economists argue the US still needs more stimulus money from the public purse.
Allan Meltzer has unrivalled knowledge of past crises and central bank policies. He wrote a definitive history of the US Federal Reserve. Professor Meltzer has in the past been a member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, a consultant to the U.S. Treasury, and to the Board of Governors of the Fed. He explains his concerns that America’s fiscal and monetary policies are unsustainable.
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