Agents Are Like Frenzied Fish That Are Starving
A weekend topic starting with the Kokomo Tribune in Indiana. “Across Indiana, real estate agents have gone to battle, fighting over a meager supply of homes as they juggle a growing number of potential buyers emboldened by a robust economy. And the amount those buyers are willing to pay is only going up. ‘It’s nationwide, the low inventory,’ noted RACI President Dee Dee Richards. ‘There are a lot of buyers. When a house goes on the market, all of us agents are like frenzied fish in a pond that are starving. I’m just hoping that Kokomo and our area will be steady and it won’t over-inflate too quickly and then people get in over their heads.’”
From MTN News in Montana. “In just one year, Butte’s housing values made a significant jump. ‘I’m going to tell you the average price of a house of the houses sold was $143,000. This year to date it’s $173,000,’ said Denise Kelly, broker at Re/Max in Butte. Realtors credit home buyers from Bozeman and Missoula turning their sights on Butte. ‘West coast towns like LA and Seattle have moved into Bozeman and Missoula and in turn have priced a lot of people out of their homes so they’re moving into Butte and Helena,’ Kelly said.”
“Increased housing values in Bozeman come with increased sticker shock. ‘We’re seeing the average price of a house in Bozeman is $462,000. How can a new family afford that?’ Kelly asked.”
From Las Vegas Now in Nevada. “Las Vegas is number one in the country for rising home values, beating out other major cities like Chicago, Houston, and San Diego. ‘It is currently a seller’s market as buyers choose to pay over market value because of all the competition,’ said Zar Zanganeh, a broker at Luxe Estates & Lifestyles.”
“As for what is next: Zanganeh says he does not think the housing market will dip anytime soon. ‘I don’t see the bubble bursting any time soon,’ he said. ‘We have multiple casino projects; we have the Raider stadium, we have the medical school coming in so there’s a lot of things that are going to keep the market strong.’”
The Miami Herald in Florida. “It’s no secret to anyone living in Miami that once again, real estate prices are up quite a bit. And if you’re a home buyer today, you are left wondering if you should buy now or wait. The biggest fear that you might have as a home buyer, naturally, is that you don’t want to overpay. And that’s perfectly understandable.”
“The great news is that banks won’t let you overpay! Not only will they require an appraisal of the property (which will be on the conservative side after the last financial crisis), but they also will only lend to people who can prove their financial stability, work history, good credit, and ability to come up with money for their down payment and closing costs.”
“Since the market crash of 2008, according to statistics from the Miami Association of Realtors, more than half of all properties were bought by cash investors and the other half, were bought by buyers who needed financing, and who needed to go through that extensive process of documenting their ability to afford the property. Although we don’t have a crystal ball, the chances of these property owners simply walking away from their properties and letting them go into foreclosure are minimal.”
“The math doesn’t lie, and even if prices dropped by 10 percent and interest rates went up to 6 percent, the monthly loan payments would be very similar, about $8 more per month. The difference is that you would have stayed renting for an additional two years and paying down someone else’s mortgage. Alternatively, if prices continue to go up along with interest rates, the monthly payment will only be higher. If this happens, it’s likely rent prices will go up as well.”
“However, if you buy a home you like and can afford, at the current 2018 value and with today’s interest rates, you’ll not only get the fantastic feeling of achievement, pride and stability that comes from homeownership, but you’ll also lock in your housing loan payment. This will allow you to better plan your savings for things like your kids’ college educations, retirement and even vacations.”
“Besides this, as a homeowner you’ll be able to take advantage of other financial incentives such as discounts in car insurance, improved credit score and being able to deduct the mortgage interest and property taxes from your taxable income, all while building equity.”
“The most important decision is simply to buy a home you can afford and that fits your family’s needs. Besides that, from a financial perspective I’ll leave you with a great piece of advice I received from a real estate multimillionaire… ‘You don’t wait to buy real estate. You buy real estate and wait.’”
From The Real Deal on New York. “In 2011, with the condominium market booming, Greg Altshuler’s Colonnade Group scooped up 403 Greenwich Street with plans to redevelop the former warehouse into high-end condos. But by the summer of 2017, when the building was complete, the luxury sector was teetering toward a slowdown. In October of that year, Residence A — a three-bedroom pad asking $3.8 million — hit the market. It sat there for the next 235 days.”
‘Then in May, a new listing agent hit reboot: The apartment was re-listed for $3.69 million as the building’s ‘Garden’ apartment and went into contract 18 days later. The lengthy listing history of ‘Residence A’ was still online — if you knew where to find it.”
“Real estate has never been more transparent — but amid a market slowdown, buyers are acutely aware that some units are sitting on the shelf. And as they pass over anything that’s not ‘new’ to the market, some agents are looking for ways to make their listings seem fresh. Changing apartment numbers to make a listing appear new is ‘an old trick,’ said Olshan Realty’s Donna Olshan, who tracks the luxury market.”
“Lately, though, looking new requires some finesse. During the last week of July, Olshan said properties asking $4 million-plus spent an average of 536 days on the market. That kind of tortured marketing time is giving agents added incentive to circumvent online portals with granular detail about each unit.”
“Brown Harris Stevens’ Lisa Lippman, for example, has used several iterations to describe one of her listings at 160 West 86th Street. In January, she listed ‘Unit 3′ for $7.395 million. After cutting the price to $6.9 million in April, Lippman re-named the apartment unit ‘3A’ last month, according to RealPlus. ‘When we switched it, people started calling,’ said Lippman, who played around with the unit number not just to avoid looking stale. Without a letter after the number three, she said, buyers did not realize the apartment is a full-floor condo.”
“‘Of course it’s somewhat disingenuous, but in the end, I don’t think you’re really fooling anybody,’ she said.”
“If brokers can make a listing look fresh, many will jump at the chance, and with good reason. During the second quarter of 2018, the number of sales dropped 24.9 percent year-over-year to 10,819, according to appraisal firm Miller Samuel. Meanwhile, inventory was up 6.5 percent (to 19,753 active listings). Compared to this time last year, the absorption rate — how long it would take to sell out all active listings — ballooned 41 percent to 5.5 months.”
‘Olshan said properties asking $4 million-plus spent an average of 536 days on the market’
‘Compared to this time last year, the absorption rate — how long it would take to sell out all active listings — ballooned 41 percent to 5.5 months’
After reading an article about flim flam tactics, I’m still puzzled: is it 536 days, 5.5 months, or neither?
One of the things I see all the time is “prices are down 10% in greater Toronto, but up in Kalamazoo!”
“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
4. Used home seller sales tactics
“When a house goes on the market, all of us agents are like frenzied fish in a pond that are starving.”
Just remember:
1. ABC: Always Be Closing
2. Coffee is for closers.
3. Brass balz
As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado.
Anyone wanna see second prize? Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you’re fired.
“Always Be Closing” doesn’t leave much room for fudiciary duty or caring about whether buyers are making the worst financial decision of their life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkjfZctGMq8
“Only one thing counts in this life: Get them to sign on the line which is dotted.”
Paging Mr. Banker…
‘We’re seeing the average price of a house in Bozeman is $462,000. How can a new family afford that?’
Or an old family Denise? But don’t worry!
‘The great news is that banks won’t let you overpay!
August 17, 2018
“Buyers from Latin America have fueled much of the boom, Miranda and other real estate analysts say. They have bought many of the new condominiums as investments in hopes of flipping and selling them for profits. But a lot of the units are vacant, and demand for them is lagging behind supply. The resulting glut is causing a decline in prices across greater Downtown, says Christopher Zoller, a realtor with EWM Realty International.”
“‘When you’ve got too many loaves of bread on the shelf, the next day you’re going to see day-old bread sold at half price,’ Zoller says, using a metaphor to describe the Downtown market.”
“In the greater Downtown area, there is a 32-month backlog of condos, says Peter Zalewski, a real estate consultant who runs the website cranespotters.com. Online listings show thousands of units for sale at luxury condo towers including Rise, SLS Brickell, the Bond and 50 Biscayne. Some of the condos are listed for more than $6 million, and others have been on sale for longer than a year. Values for several units have dropped more than 20 percent.”
“Zoller says the oversupply is forcing some people to sell their units for less than what they bought them for. And, on average, condos are staying on the market longer, making them less attractive to buyers who are turned off by units that have been on sale for a while. Zoller’s warning to clients: ‘If you don’t have to sell now, don’t sell now.’”
“But some people do not have that choice. And the glut is even affecting people who do live in their condos, like Deborah Shelton-Tynes. Shelton-Tynes owns two units at the Marquis across from Museum Park. She previously listed her units for about a combined $3.5 million in 2015 before deciding not to sell them. She’s now listing them for less than $2.3 million. ‘There’s just too much competition out there,’ she says. ‘By 2016, everything started to go down. I started watching properties going down.’”
“Shelton-Tynes, who plans on moving to Key West, says she will not drop her price because she can afford to wait for a buyer who is willing to pay more. But several other Marquis residents have already sold their units for losses, she says. People ‘lose their shirts.’”
http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/?p=10549
Wa? But banks won’t let you overpay, says the UHS!
“‘Of course it’s somewhat disingenuous, but in the end, I don’t think you’re really fooling anybody,’ she said.”
I’d love to see renters in every housing market starting local websites to identify and expose these realtor scams and assess the true state of local housing markets.
I like the idea. But doesn’t the real estate crime syndicate limit access to their data?
“West coast towns like LA and Seattle have moved into Bozeman and Missoula and in turn have priced a lot of people out of their homes so they’re moving into Butte and Helena,’ Kelly said.”
People from LA are moving to Bozeman, Montana.
Bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha… rumor has it that the word “bozeman” is an ancient native American word that roughly translates to “OMG! it’s incredibly cold In this f*ckin’ place!”
Stay tuned for furthur developements.
Bahahahahahahahahahaha.
Plus there’s nothing to do up there. Go fishing a couple of months a year maybe. Even the cows have to be inside in the winter.
They can mix and mingle with the locals, who will be fascinated and intrigued by the cultural and political enlightenment the California equity locusts will attempt to bestow on those benighted gun-loving Red State yokels.
Overheard an Indian engineer telling another Indian engineer “yea its expensive here but worth it because there are no red Necks around”
Costal CA 2018
this reminds of the reply i posted to Sac Guy a couple days ago. He stated the probable myth that “bay area” people are driving up Sacramento real estate prices.
My guess is LA people driving up Boseman prices is a myth. All it takes is one sale to an LA buyer and people can fall into the “rich LA buyers” are scooping up everything in sight.
I know people who have left the Bay area to live in Sacramento and I am not even from California. I do not believe it is a myth probably over hyped but not a myth.
Correct Dan. Bay Area people move to Sacramento but aren’t paying all cash and overpaying too boot.
I didn’t write this I’m way too lazy but its spot on. Do you suppose this guy finally got fed up and moved to Montana ?
“I have been fighting the H-1B’s since 1989 at McDonnell-Douglas, now Boeing. I started running into more of them in the 1990’s as the technology companies grew. When I lived in Seattle, I was given a Chinese H-1B who did not work out as a mechanical engineer in their engineering wing. Even though she claimed to have a master degree in engineering. She claimed she knew programming, but we ended up having her maintain web pages.
Something a high school student could have done. In other words, we were giving on-the-job training to a foreign national rather than a local. The reason they could not fire her is that they didn’t have the stomach. In some cases, there is so much expense to firing them, which they just keep them busy until their time runs out.
She was one of the many “two 4 ones” that I encountered in my career. Her husband worked at a biotech firm in Seattle. Somehow, maybe magic and divine intervention, both husband and wife gets H-1B visas and work in the same vicinity. Really, what is happening is one or both of them lie about their academic credentials and experience. China and India are filled with sham colleges and firms that create fake degrees, and falsified transcripts. It isn’t a little problem, it is epidemic.
Later when I returned to San Diego, I worked for a firm that only had 200 employees but decided to hire a Chinese H-1B worker. Her husband worked for a pharmaceutical company in La Jolla. Another two-4-one! She was supposed to have a master degree in computer science. We had to train her. When the company had to let go 20 people, she remained. I objected and later left the company.
I have run across many Indian and Chinese H-1B’s over the years. I am friendly with them, but not friends. They are here for the green card or to drop an anchor baby. Most don’t return to their homeland. Many eventually leave the technology field and open restaurants or other mom and pop businesses where they exclusively hire their own nationality. I know someone who came from India to work for a communications giant and now, with green card in hand, installs solar panels (and hire Indians to do the grunt work).
It’s difficult to not be jaded about what I have witnessed over the years. The foreigner writes spaghetti code, they are no brighter than Americans and usually not very team oriented. Companies say they want people with “good communications skills” and then dump the people who are very difficult to understand into their teams. When I changed my modus operandi to consulting and contracting, I worked for many tech companies on short assignments. (I did this to escape the politics and unpredictability of working for a single company). There was one place I worked that smelled like curry all the time.”
-cont.-
Cactus,
Whoever wrote this sounds quite silly. HHB is a very useful and quite insightful blog. From my standpoint, it seems unfair to use the legitimacy of the blog to post in the blog’s comments section to disseminate racist nonsense. Ugh. I am a relatively new reader to this blog so I am not sure if this comment is an outlier or if people just ignore these types of comments. I however, can’t.
I had a similar experience about 4 months ago - was told to bring up to speed a chinese woman on a program I’m tech lead for. Her skills did not match her resume at all - I would bet money she “borrowed” some of the content on her resume from someone else. I firewalled her pretty good as she pushed to meet with the customer yet had few skills and little reason to do so. A couple other coworkers thought I was just being a grouch and tried to work with her, they lasted half a day and said never again. Finally I got management to tell her thanks for the help, we wont be needing you on this program any further.
I referred to her as check box, because thats what she was to the company. There are more than a few around so they can satisfy the “muh diversity” types. They always suck - never carry their weight. One even falls asleep at work regularly (we even had a contest to draw him while napping) and specializes in doing jack squat. He cant even spell. “Muh diversity” is crippling this country.
Outsider,
I would consider the content in the post Cactus quoted as overgeneralizing. Not racist.
We all tend overgeneralize because it helps us compartmentalize.
Yes. This comment is not the norm.
“Muh diversity”
There’s a big emphasis on this at work for me. I must get at least one ‘promote diversity in hiring’ email a week, even though I have a limited role in hiring.
On the few occasions when I have played a role in hiring, the number of ‘diversity promoting’ candidates is vanishingly small. There are maybe five to ten qualified African Americans in my arcane STEM field, and none of them are typically on the job market, as all are gainfully employed in attractive positions elsewhere.
How are you supposed to promote diversity in hiring when there is no diversity in the applicant pool?
Calm down Nancy (aka outsider), no one is burning any crosses on here. It may come as a surprise to you but Chinese people aren’t a race, therefore none of those comments were racist. Clearly you’re the hyper sensitive type who enjoys feigning outrage, however, your feelings are very important to us so perhaps we could all pitch in and set up a safe space for you. How thick would you like us to make the padding on the walls? I’m thinking a minimum of 6 inches to protect your thin skin. Would this keep you from being triggered or should we go thicker? Please advise.
Note every corporate ad, both internal and external has to feature every gender and ethnicity (although you never see fat people - yet) but in the real world outside of the diversity bubble its nothing like that.
Charles Murray and Stefan Molyneaux discussing IQ, Race and Gender
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lsa_97KIlc
I for one appreciate the shared experiences from the workplace. Glad I never worked for bigcorp or biggov.
My work experience was working for an asian. HE was the “diversity” in that outfit. And he didn’t give a rip about it. All he cared about was who can deliver.
Pretty sure somone wouldn’t like that post but hey lots of people don’t like hearing their houses are over priced either.
I was told there was a vibrant new tech sector sprouting up there…was that a new realtor lie?
Dunno, eye heard a rumor, (sounds kinda fishy) that Halliburton$ aim$ for opening a craft$ brew Brewery, Brown trout & beer$ … Yummy!
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/08/is-halliburton-bribing-ryan-zinke-with-a-microbrewery
Somebody bought an iPhone.
Mainly Right Now Tech, whose founder is in Congress - for now. He sold the company to Oracle.
Here’s a winter weather report from North Dakota. North Dakota is not Montana but the two states are right next to each other and the weather conditions are similar.
https://youtu.be/TeNQhj73Koo
No mention of global warming in the entire report, clearly it was not from the Weather Channel.
The monie$ made from extracting oil$ & ga$ operation$, provide plenty of income for wage worker$ to afford a big truck with a good heater & petro.warmed $helter from the frozen Canadian wind$.
Knot sure how well it pencil$ out for the potatoe$ farmer$ income$.
North Dakota is midwest flatland. Think fresno.
Bozeman is beautiful.
And actually, lately I’ve met more new people in Montana from the Dakotas than Cali.
Calu folk are warm weather weenies.
“OMG! it’s incredibly cold In this f*ckin’ place!”
I believe the translation actually includes ‘cold and dark’ in the description of the place.
You can get historical weather data for Bozeman and nearby cities from this page:
https://w2.weather.gov/climate/index.php?wfo=tfx
1. Select “Preliminary Monthly Climate Data”
2. Select city (e.g., Bozeman)
3. Select “Archived Data” and a month/year of your choice
4. Click “View”
North Bethesda, MD Housing Prices Crater 21% YOY As China Recession Hands NoVA/DC Housing Market A Drubbing
https://www.movoto.com/north-bethesda-md/market-trends/
Note to self: Ask wife to inquire through the family grapevine whether her cousin successfully cashed out of Bethesda home before the onset of cratering…
‘The math doesn’t lie, and even if prices dropped by 10 percent and interest rates went up to 6 percent, the monthly loan payments would be very similar, about $8 more per month. The difference is that you would have stayed renting for an additional two years and paying down someone else’s mortgage. Alternatively, if prices continue to go up along with interest rates, the monthly payment will only be higher. If this happens, it’s likely rent prices will go up as well’
Plus he’ll give you back the commission if prices fall 10%!
Oh, right…
The laws of finance apparently don’t apply to used home seller lies.
I attempted to check their math to verify, but my computer keeps throwing ‘Illegal Instruction’ faults…
Figures don’t lie, but liars do figure.
Wow
Except if the 10% drop comes after you buy.
Ouch on the hbb we learn the price of accet is key
“The math doesn’t lie, and even if prices dropped by 10 percent and interest rates went up to 6 percent, the monthly loan payments would be very similar,
According to used home sellers, a 10% loss on an $800,000 home doesn’t matter so long as your monthly payment doesn’t change.
, you’ll not only get the fantastic feeling of achievement, pride and stability that comes from homeownership
Of course, when that new out of town job offer comes in, the stability of homeownership will become an anchor as you will either need to turn it down or pay rent and mortgage until you sell you home.
It can be done, but I hope you have some savings and you are OK with living in a dump until your house sells. Remember, 6% of the value of you home goes to the realtor so I hope you put a decent down payment and or you were in the home a decent amount of time or both.
(The voice of experience here!)
A larger downpayment is just more of your own money to lose in a real estate bust.
6% is not being paid by throngs. If you pay 6% depending upon where you reside (where I reside in Seattle metro….it’s substantial) then you clearly feel the fee is worth every penny. I close transactions via our escrow firm. I’m on the font lines. Many opportunities to keep your equity where it belongs, in your own pocket.
Many.
‘real estate agents have gone to battle, fighting over a meager supply of homes as they juggle a growing number of potential buyers emboldened by a robust economy. And the amount those buyers are willing to pay is only going up’
That’s got to win a prize for loaded sentences.
‘Besides this, as a homeowner you’ll be able to take advantage of other financial incentives such as discounts in car insurance’
In Miami, where they are sitting on years of condos.
‘As for what is next: Zanganeh says he does not think the housing market will dip anytime soon. ‘I don’t see the bubble bursting any time soon’
And what would the media expect used house salesman Zar to say?
So we’ve moved on from “no bubble here” to “I don’t see the bubble bursting any time soon.”
Progress!
Heheeheeheeheee …
Don’t forget$ the time & effort$ to file your “new” beneficial adju$ted propertie$ taxe$ rate$!
Austin, TX Housing Prices Crater 6%YOY As Real Estate Industry Attempts To Conceal Housing Correction
https://www.movoto.com/austin-tx/market-trends/
Speculators are rushing to buy up distressed properties in Turkey. Aren’t hot-money flows awesome?
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/aug/18/turkey-lira-buy-property
Quick off-topic question for someone who is more familiar with this area than I am:
I’m in Palm Springs, CA for a few days right now, and yesterday I took a drive around the downtown area, crisscrossing back and forth the major streets, taking in the sights, and a couple things lept out at me.
One is that seemed that there was a lot of currently unoccupied small commercial spaces - restaurants and shops that looked completely empty and vacated. Given that it was Friday around dinner time that seemed off, also the traffic was very thin.
A quick look online shows there to be 6-10x the inventory in the same amount of area compared to back home.
I’ve heard locals mention this is the off season and that they get descended upon by Canadians during the winter, but is it common here for businesses to only operate half the year?
I’m curious if this is just seasonal, or on it’s way to resembling the rust belt, albeit with palm trees…
Boots on the ground suggest a commercial bust is taking hold in San Diego. My 18-year-old son is a distance runner. A couple of weeks ago, after taking a run through a nearby business park, he asked, “Dad, what’s a For Lease sign?” Apparently he noticed one of these signs in front of nearly every commercial address he had passed.
I’ll be in San Diego tomorrow. I’ll keep my eyes out for signs…
I’m curious whether the apparent local glut in commercial space extends across the greater San Diego area. I’ve noticed quite a bit of spatial variation in residential For Sale signs. For instance, there’s little visual evidence of homes for sale in our area (Rancho Bernardo). By contrast, during a recent drive through tony Del Mar, it seemed like every street had multiple home For Sale signs in close proximity to each other.
Empty storefronts…Palm Springs…Rust belt?
Try downtown Manhattan.
http://www.vacantnewyork.com/
Palm Springs weather forecast …
https://weather.com/weather/tenday/l/Palm+Springs+CA+USCA0828:1:US
Not warm enough. I’ll go to Phoenix after the weekend is over.
110 degrees with 22% humidity is hot, but 90 degrees with 65% humidity is more uncomfortable.
Tell me about it! I was just in San Antonio/Austin for a couple days. Muggy as hell.
I see same thing in Boise… lots of office/commercial/retail signs and online listings. Many of these have been up for 6mo+, the asking prices are ridiculous.
Nobody goes to Palm Springs in the summer. It’s the off-season.
I’ve never really visited Palm Springs in the summer. But the “snow bird” phenomenon is a real thing in the Southwest. So yes, I’d expect more tourists, retirees staying in RV parks, and part-time residents to be present during the winter months.
It’s possible some businesses there only operate during the “high season.” You can encounter the same phenomenon in small mountain towns in Colorado as the summer winds down.
In Lake City, for example, there are few restaurants/cafes to begin with. And they start closing in mid- to late-September. One of them (Poker Alice) in recent years was run by a retired couple from Texas. So they come up in their RV, set up camp, open the restaurant, then at some point in September close it, de-camp shortly after, and go back home to Texas. (Apparently someone else took over the place this season.)
We were just there too, the summer is miserably hot, and is the lowest of the low season. Small tourist businesses open in the fall, and fail the next June. Can’t comment on R/E for sale, as we have no interest in it there. Palm Springs reminds of Naples, FL., as far as the seasonality of business
Falls Church VA Housing Prices Crater 8% YOY As Mortgage Fraud Ravages DC/NoVa Area
https://www.movoto.com/falls-church-va/market-trends/
‘We have multiple ca$ino projects; we have the Raider $tadium, we have the medical $chool coming in so there’s a lot of thing$ that are going to keep the market strong.’
Knot to mention: A$tronomical ri$ing debt.donkie$ wage$ & flacid expan$ion$ on intere$t rate$ from the Federal Re$erve maker$, … coming $oon!
LV tax payers are forking over $750 Million on the Raiders new $1.9 Billion Stadium. Because let’s spend 3/4th of a Billion to creates a few hundred $10/hour temporary service jobs!
Eh? The tax is on hotel rooms so it’s basically the tourists who are paying it. But the tax is not bringing in the projected revenue. And one of the gubernatorial candidates wants to divert that money to public schools.
https://news3lv.com/news/local/hotel-room-tax-income-for-stadium-falls-below-projections-for-fourth-month
I am shocked, shocked! to discover that Chinese ratings agencies were on the take. Does this mean their ratings are–gasp!–unreliable?
Say it ain’t so, ABQ Dan!
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/economy/article/2160313/chinese-credit-rating-agency-dagong-suspended-after-cash-ratings
Why would I say it wasn’t so? I never denied the corruption in China. The discussion was always about whether China was growing rapidly or not. Clearly, it has been. Sun Tzu always advised that you act weak when you are strong and act strong when you are weak. I made the point more than once that over a five year period that the stories of China’s imminent collapse were probably planted by the Chinese just to AVOID what Trump is doing now. Calling China out and insisting that it play by the rules. Clearly, China did not collapse and even now while it is slowing it still is growing at a rapid rate. Do not believe me or the Chinese rating agencies, Check estimates by the IMF, World bank, and major banks.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-imf/imf-maintains-chinas-2018-gdp-growth-forecast-at-6-6-percent-idUSKCN1IV0I3
How are your cryptoHODLings holding up in the face of this year’s epic collapse?
The Motley Fool
Bitcoin investors are panicking after 50% price fall this year
Edward Sheldon, CFA | Friday, 17th August, 2018
Image source: Getty Images.
Bitcoin has had a terrible 2018. Hyped beyond belief in the latter stages of 2017, and nearly reaching $20,000 in mid-December, the cryptocurrency has since fallen to $6,500 today. Year-to-date, it’s down over 50%. And it’s a similar story with other cryptocurrencies. Ethereum was trading near $1,500 in January yet today is under $300. Ripple was trading above $3 in early January but today’s it’s trading for $0.30, a decline of 90%. The entire market has lost almost £500bn in 2018, according to a recent article on Yahoo Finance.
https://www.fool.co.uk/investing/2018/08/17/bitcoin-investors-are-panicking-after-50-price-fall-this-year/
Aug 17, 2018, 04:47am
The Bitcoin Price Bounces Back After Sell-Off — A Worrying Sign?
Billy Bambrough
Crypto & Blockchain
I write about how bitcoin, crypto, and fintech are changing the world.
Most digital currencies including bitcoin, (BTC) ethereum, (ETH) ripple (XRP) and stella (XLM) have seen a dramatic fall in their prices throughout 2018 amid a mass sell-off. In December 2017 the price of BTC hit $20,000 but has since fallen to around $6,000. (Photo Illustration by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
Bitcoin, along with many other major cryptocurrencies, continues to grapple with extreme volatility — and at a time when investors were hoping bitcoin might have reached a better level of maturity.
The bitcoin price has bounced from highs of $8,500 to lows of $5,800 over the last three months, not to mention the 70% drop in the bitcoin price since December last year, and has caused many recent investors to despair.
Bitcoin has swung from under $6,000 this week to around $6,500 and has intraday changes well into the hundreds of dollars — far beyond the vast majority of the world’s currencies and traded commodities (with some exceptions, of course).
Earlier this month the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) delayed its decision on a proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund to the end of September — something many investors were banking on to bring a fresh wave of investment to the world of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
The decision sparked a bitcoin and wider crypto sell-off and suggests the SEC still has concerns around bitcoin’s volatility and possible price manipulation in the largely unregulated cryptocurrency market.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/billybambrough/2018/08/17/volatile-bitcoin-bounces-back-after-sell-off-a-worrying-sign/#5419cd5d3da6
Isn’t it a given that Bitcoin will take off like a rocket when the SEC approves the ETF at the end of September?
Don’t let your FOMO turn into regrets. Back up the truck and buy as much Bitcoin as possible now before the price rockets to $50,000!
Is anyone using the Bitcoin Misery Index to tell them when to buy the dip? How has it worked out for you so far?
Wall Street analyst creates new index that tries to tell you when to buy bitcoin
- “When the bitcoin misery index is at ‘misery’ (below 27), bitcoin sees the best 12-month performance,” Fundstrat Global Advisors co-founder Thomas Lee said in a Friday report. “A signal is generated about every year.”
- The bitcoin misery index is at 18.8, its lowest since Sept. 6, 2011, the report said.
- The index is calculated on a scale of zero to 100 and takes into account factors such as the number of winning trades out of the total and volatility.
Evelyn Cheng | @chengevelyn
Published 9:40 AM ET Fri, 9 March 2018 Updated 6:31 PM ET Fri, 9 March 2018
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Bitcoin was trading more than 3.5 percent lower near $8,900 Friday morning, according to CoinDesk’s bitcoin price index. The cryptocurrency remains about 800 percent higher over the last 12 months but has fallen more than 50 percent from its record high above $19,000 hit in mid-December.
“It is really uncommon to be this miserable owning bitcoin,” Lee said. The last few times this happened, according to the analyst, was in Nov. 2012, Sept. 2016 and Jan. 2015.
“And bitcoin was higher a month later,” Lee said. “[The index] is telling us, it’s really tough to own it for the next week or even two weeks, three weeks. But we’re getting through this.”
Fundstrat’s Lee is the only major Wall Street strategist to issue regular reports and formal price targets on bitcoin. He was J.P. Morgan Chase’s chief equity strategist before co-founding Fundstrat.
On Friday, Lee maintained his midyear bitcoin price target of $20,000 and year-end target of $25,000.
“The BMI is telling us to keep the negative headlines in perspective,” he said. “When the BMI is at a ‘misery’ level, future returns are very good.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/09/wall-street-analyst-creates-new-index-that-says-when-to-buy-bitcoin.html
It seems like none of the cryptoscam commentators are acknowledging the very real prospect of Bitcoin dropping all the way to $0 and going extinct, like many of its cryptocousins already have. Don’t whistle too loudly as you tiptoe past the graveyard.
How are California’s high housing prices working out for Californians who might otherwise want to start a family?
Are housing costs to blame for California’s plummeting fertility rate?
By Amita Sharma, KPBS | July 30, 2018 | CALIFORNIA DREAM, HOUSING
Angela George always imagined she’d have two children by the age of 30. But when the 28-year-old nurse and her husband, Tacito, a Marine, learned last year she was pregnant with their first child, they were thrilled and they were petrified.
“We didn’t plan it,” she said. “We were like, `Oh my, what are we going to do?’ We were thinking how are we going to care for the baby financially? How are we going to afford daycare?”
Financial burdens, compounded by the high cost of housing, has knocked down the state’s fertility rate, according to experts. It is changing the shape of families, the potential tax base and labor force as people struggle to achieve the California dream.
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We’re seeing the average price of a house in Bozeman is $462,000. How can a new family afford that?’ Kelly asked.”
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Where is it written a new family has to afford a home? My parents didn’t buy a house until I was 8yo, ie 8 years post becoming a “new family”. New familes rent apartments, it’s what they’ve done for generations. But not in 2018, where every 31 year old is now constitutionally guaranteed a 2500 sq ft brand new home.
The millenial entitlement mentality is astounding.
millenial entitlement mentality
Cultural cancer.
We have a very large generation trying their best to live in 30 cities because living anywhere else is not hip. Then, they want large amounts of space and topflight materials but complain about the price. Yes, builders are to blame for building too many luxury apartments but the demand is there for the amenities they offer, the hipsters just do not want to pay the required rent.
Lurking Lurkers comment is mostly rubbish as is 401’s and Dan’s. This snide remark that no one owes you an affordable house and that millenials are ruining everything and just don’t want to pay comes up way more than it should. In a proper free market economy there wouldn’t be a housing shortage and there would be plenty of affordable ones to choose from. While I’m sure Ben would be quick to jump in and say there is no shortage, there IS a shortage in California due to artificial restraints coupled with open borders. However, $462k “average” plywood boxes in Bozeman should be universally understood as a serious error that needs correcting. We could also easily focus a debate on the desert cities and handily show a mass delusion and madness of crowds there. A plywood box on a dry patch of sand is unlikely to increase in value anywhere else in the known universe. Blaming the millenials for this sad state of affairs is disingenuous at best. (For the record I’m GenX) It seems to me that the people most likely to bash millenials for being entitled should probably take a good look in the mirror first.
I agree that open borders is a major factor in the price explosion with easy money being the main culprit. However from dorm rooms to luxury apartments, millennials have insisted on more when when reality requires lower expectations. They have consistently voted for policies that make things worse. The Keynesian policies and open borders of Obama certainly did not help the situation. Yet they voted for him twice and tried to get Hillary in office. Just how is voting for the same Californian politicians going to remove the artificial restraints you talk about?
Arvada, CO Housing Prices Crater 7% YOY As Panic Selling Begins
https://www.movoto.com/arvada-co/market-trends/
China apparently handles FIRE sector protestors the same way the US does: By suppressing the right to peacefully demonstrate.
Business News
August 12, 2018 / 12:02 AM / 5 days ago
Beijing struggles to defuse anger over China’s P2P lending crisis
Shu Zhang, Elias Glenn
BEIJING (Reuters) - Peter Wang was asleep at his home in Beijing last Monday when police officers arrived before dawn to detain him, saying he had helped organize a protest planned for later that day.
Across the city, others who had lost money investing in China’s online peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms - including some who had traveled from as far away as Shandong and Shanxi provinces - got similar visits from police.
By the time they were released, the demonstration they had planned using social media chat groups had fizzled amid a massive security response around the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) headquarters in the heart of Beijing’s financial district.
Instead of demanding that the government bail out the hundreds of collapsed P2P companies, those who made it to the protest area were forced onto buses and carted away to Jiujingzhuang, a holding center for petitioners on the outskirts of Beijing, according to two P2P investors.
“Once the police checked your ID cards and saw your petition materials, they knew you are here looking to protect your rights. Then they put you on a bus directly,” said Wang, who works at an auto repair shop. He joined a separate, smaller protest in a different part of Beijing after his detention. “There was no channel to solve any problems. All they care about was preventing any disturbance.”
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China apparently handles FIRE sector protestors the same way the US does: By suppressing the right to peacefully demonstrate.
Could you provide specific US examples?
The UK Guardian asks why is San Francisco covered in human feces?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/18/san-francisco-poop-problem-inequality-homelessness
I’ll give it my best shot:
1) Large homeless population.
2) The homeless generally 💩 outdoors.
The Guardian blames “inequality.” Nobody seems to connect the dots with the government-sponsored Housing Bubble.
http://mochimachine.org/wasteland/#
There are lots of homeless people in other US cities. But I’ve never heard similar reports about widespread human feces other than SF.
This is a promising development. The next time home price appreciation goes into reverse, such platforms may offer sellers a means to cut their losses, by avoiding exhorbitant real estate sales commissions.
Meet the tech-savvy upstarts who think they can finally give Realtors a run for their money
By Andrea Riquier
Published: Aug 18, 2018 10:09 a.m. ET
Behind the new entrants aiming to undercut the dominant Realtors
Bloomberg News/Landov
Is a revolution finally coming to real estate?
A few years ago, Chad Torstenson decided to sell his house. His experience, he said, was “fairly typical.” A real-estate agent came to his home with a contract, a photo shoot was done, and a sign went up in the front yard.
“With the press of a button, the home was online and buyers began touring the home,” Torstenson said. “However, my listing agent was not giving the tours, the buyer’s agents were. After the home sold, I realized that my agent did very little to earn his share of (the commission),” he said.
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