Bits Bucket And Craigslist Finds For April 28, 2007
Please post off-topic ideas, links and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
To donate by mail, or to otherwise contact this blogger, please send emails to: thehousingbubble@gmail.com
PayPal is a secure online payment method which accepts ALL major credit cards.
Links
-
November 2024 M T W T F S S « Sep 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Photo Submission: hbbphotos@gmail.com
View the HBB Photo Gallery *updated 4/13/2008
David M. Walker, Comptroller General of the United States at Colbert /
50 trillion hole and growing 3 to 4 trillion annually……
http://immobilienblasen.blogspot.com/
So the US will go bankrupt? We will be unable to pay our debts to the chinese, import anything, businesses cant get money exchanged, the world economy just stops?
A $9.00 Chinese made shovel literally fell apart on me a few weeks ago…
I really should have bought the $45.00 kind that would last a lifetime, but like everybody else, i’m lured towards a bargain.
With just the faintest whiff of hyper-inflation, (2002 Argentine model) that crummy $9.00 shovel turns into a pricier, crummier $27.00 shovel.
This is where the hurt comes, as most everything we consume, comes from outside of our country and will increase in price, on a like basis.
Number 1 in the pain game is oil.
Ready for $11.00 a gallon gasoline?
I don’t think you are going to have to pay $27 for that crummier shovel. I think you are going to have to pay 30% interest on the credit card for that $9 crummier shovel.
Don’t tease us. I dream of that day. Stupidity and irresponsibility should come at a high price.
Please don’t assume everyone uses credit cards. I haven’t used a credit card to buy stuff in 2-3 years. I do use my bank card that says visa on it, however the money spent comes out of my bank account with no debit card fees. And they pay me about $75 every few months for using the card.
“Please don’t assume everyone uses credit cards.”
And don’t forget the “deadbeats” like me who pay off their credit card debt every month and steadily collect frequent flier miles.
Another proud deadbeat here.
They hate our kind.
Yeah, I love how the credit card agencies refer to people you pay off their debts immediately as deadbeats. Same attitude that drug dealers have towards people who aren’t addicted.
You will soon be able to buy that $45 shovel for $9 at your local flea market as the economy goes down the tubes. People will be looking hard for cold hard cash.
Yeah, and it’ll probably be your shovel you’re buying back after some crackhead, tweaker, or unemployed realtor swiped it from your garage.
The US is already bankrupt, it’s just that no one will admit it. There is no way to pay back the debt, except by devaluing the dollar, through inflation or just a flat out devaluation.
Yes we are. The US Declared Bankruopty in 1933.
Representative Traficant Reports On The Bankruptcy Of The United States, United States Congressional Record, March 17, 1993 VOL. 33, page H-1303
The Speaker - Rep. James Traficant, Jr. (Ohio) addressing the House.
Mr. Speaker, we are here now in chapter 11… Members of Congress are official trustees presiding over the greatest reorganization of any Bankrupt entity in world history, the U.S. Government. We are setting forth, hopefully, a blueprint for our future. There are some who say it is a coroner’s report that will lead to our demise.
It is an established fact that the United States Federal Government has been dissolved by the Emergency Banking Act, March 9, 1933, 48 Stat. 1, Public Law 89-719; Declared by President Roosevelt, being bankrupt and insolvent. H. J. R. 192, 73rd. Congress in session June 5, 1933 - Joint Resolution To Suspend The Gold Standard and Abrogate The Gold Clause dissolved the Sovereign Authority of the United States and the official capacities of all United States Government Offices, Officers and Departments and is further evidence that the United States Federal Government exists today in name only.
The receivers of the United States Bankruptcy are the International Bankers, via the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. All United States Offices, Officials, and Departments are now operating within a de facto status in name only under Emergency War Powers. With the Constitutional Republican form of Government now dissolved, the receivers of the Bankruptcy have adopted a new form of government for the United States. This new form of government is known as a Democracy, being an established Socialist/Communist order under a new governor for America. This act was instituted and established by transferring and/or placing the Office of the Secretary of Treasury to that of the Governor of the International Monetary Fund. Public Law 94-564, page 8, Section H. R. 13955 reads in part: “The U.S. Secretary of Treasury receives no compensation for representing the United States?”
Gold and silver were such a powerful Money during the founding of the United States of America, that the founding fathers declared that only gold and silver coins can be money in America. Since gold and silver coinage were heavy and inconvenient for a lot of transactions, they were stored in banks and a claim check was issued as a money substitute. People traded their coupons as money, or “currency”. Currency is not money, but a money substitute. Redeemable currency must promise to pay a dollar equivalent in gold or silver money. Federal Reserve Notes (FRN’s) made no such promises, and are not money. A Federal Reserve Note is a debt obligation of the federal United States government, not money. The federal United States government and the U.S. Congress were not and have never been authorized by the Constitution for the United States of America to issue currency of any kind, but only lawful money, - gold and silver coin.
It is essential that we comprehend the distinction between real money, and paper money substitute. One cannot get rich by accumulating money substitutes, one can only get deeper in debt. We the People no longer have any money. Most Americans have not been paid any money for a very long time, perhaps not in their entire life. Now do you comprehend why you feel broke? Now, do you understand why you are “bankrupt,” along with the rest of the country?
Federal Reserve Notes (FRN’s) are unsigned checks written on a closed account. FRN’s are an inflatable paper system designed to create debt through inflation (devaluation of currency). Whenever there is an increase of the supply of a money substitute in the economy without a corresponding increase in the gold and silver backing, inflation occurs.
Inflation is an invisible form of taxation that irresponsible governments inflict on their citizens. The Federal Reserve Bank who controls the supply and movement of FRN’s has everybody fooled. They have access to an unlimited supply of FRN’s, paying only for the printing costs of what they need. FRN’s are nothing more than promissory notes for U.S. Treasury securities (T-Bills) - a promise to pay the debt to the Federal Reserve Bank.
There is a fundamental difference between paying and discharging a debt. To pay a debt, you must pay with value or substance (i.e. gold, silver, barter or a commodity). With FRN’s, you can only discharge a debt. You cannot pay a debt with a debt currency system. You cannot service a debt with a currency that has no backing in value or substance. No contract in Common Law is valid unless it involves an exchange of good and valuable consideration. Unpayable debt transfers power and control to the sovereign power structure that has no interest in money, law, equity or justice because they have so much wealth already.
Their lust is for power and control. Since the inception of central banking, they have controlled the fates of nations.
The Federal Reserve System, is based on the Canon law and the principles of sovereignty protected in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In fact, the international bankers used a “Canon Law Trust” as their model, adding stock and naming it a “Joint Stock Trust”. The U.S. Congress had passed a law making it illegal for any legal “person” to duplicate a “Joint Stock Trust” in 1873. The Federal Reserve Act was legislated post-facto (1870), although post-facto laws are strictly forbidden by the Constitution. (1:9:3)
The Federal Reserve System is a sovereign power structure separate and distinct from the federal United States government. The Federal Reserve is a maritime lender, and/or maritime insurance underwriter to the federal United States operating exclusively under Admiralty/Maritime law. The lender underwriter bears the risks, and the Maritime law compelling specific performance in paying the interest, or premiums are the same.
Assets of the debtor can also be hypothecated (to pledge something as a security without taking possession of it) as security by the lender or underwriter. The Federal Reserve Act stipulated that the interest on the debt was to be paid in gold. There was no stipulation in the Federal Reserve Act for ever paying the principal.
Prior to 1913, most Americans owned clear, allodial title to property, free and clear of any liens or mortgages until the Federal Reserve Act (1913) “hypothecated” all property within the federal United States to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, - in which the Trustees (stockholders) held legal title, the U.S. citizen (tenant, franchisee) was registered as a “beneficiary” of the trust via his/her birth certificate. In 1933, the federal United States hypothecated all of the present and future properties, assets and labor of their “subjects”, the 14th. Amendment U.S. citizens, to the Federal Reserve System.
In return, the Federal Reserve System agreed to extend the federal United States corporation all the credit “money substitute” it needed. Like any other debtor, the federal United States government had to assign collateral and security to their creditors as condition of the loan. Since the federal United States didn’t have any assets, they assigned the private property of their “economic slaves”, the U.S. citizens, as collateral against the unpayable federal debt. They also pledge the unincorporated federal territories, national parks forest, birth certificates, and nonprofit organizations, as collateral against the federal debt. All has already been transferred as payment to the international bankers.
Unwittingly, America has returned to its pre-American Revolution, feudal roots whereby all land is held by a sovereign and the common people had no rights to hold allodial title to property. Once again, We the People are the tenants and sharecroppers renting our own property from a Sovereign in the guise of the Federal Reserve Bank. We the People have exchanged one master for another.
This has been going on for over eighty years without the “informed” knowledge: Of the American people, without a voice protesting loud enough. Now it’s easy to grasp why America is fundamentally bankrupt.
Why don’t more people own their properties outright? Why are 90% of Americans mortgaged to the hilt and have little or no assets after all debts and liabilities have been paid? Why does it feel like you are working harder and harder and getting less and less?
We are reaping what has been sown, and the result of our harvest is a painful bankruptcy, and a foreclosure on American property, precious liberties, and a way of life. Few of our elected representatives in Washington, D.C. have dared to tell the truth. The federal United States is bankrupt. Our children will inherit this unpayable debt, and the tyranny to enforce paying it.
America has become completely bankrupt in world leadership, financial credit and its reputation for courage, vision and human rights. This is an undeclared economic war. Bankruptcy, and economic slavery of the most corrupt order! Wake up America! Take back your country.
When will the markers be called in? My guess is it’s starting to happen now.
Great post! A waste of time, but a great post! I’ve been passing along the same sentiments for a couple of years now and all I ever got was blank stares and smirks. If it takes longer than 30 seconds to explain then the ADD kicks in and they are gone. Crazy. I suspect only about half the posters here read the whole post.
Right out of Deus Ex!
Trafficant got railroaded and sent to prison for speaking truth to power. That’s not the way the game is played.
Wow, this comes to me as a surprise. I was not aware that the US was bankrupt but auger-inn I can’t believe I read the entire post, either.
I wonder why they don’t teach this is schools especially in history class.
There are several good videos on Google video on this topic: The Money Masters and Money as Debt are two. Recommended. Eye opening.
Inflation has been a constant fixture of the U.S. economy since the 1930s. The question seems to be whether inflation can remain orderly and contained in the face of a propensity to pile on debt with no appearance of concern about repayment prospects. We learned from Paul Volcker over the period from 1979-1982 how ugly the measures to reign in runaway inflation can get. I have seen little resolve from the current Fed regime to take similar harsh measures.
Yes, but the politicians have taken inflation to a new art form in the past 10 or 20 years. Like the myth of “supply side economics” - what a load of crap. Instead of raising taxes, the govt just inflates, and saddles future generations with the debt payments. Ever wonder why your taxes didn’t go up to pay for Iraq and Katrina? It’s called inflation.
Could you imagine the howling if the Fed rate when to 10 or 12%. Obviously, that would limit money creation. Housing would totally get wiped out, as well as the stock and bond markets, and the rest of the economy.
I just paid $3.30/gal for gas.
There is no way to pay back the debt
This is simply not true. We could pay back the debt if we wanted too. Take a look at the graphs at http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/faq.html
Look particularly at the inflation adjusted graph. During the Clinton administration, the debt was actually being lowered!
If we took all the money we are wasting in the unjust Iraq war, the evil torture centers like Abu Grab and Guantanamo Bay, we could easily spend $65 billion a year reducing the debt (http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-08-26-iraq-war-clock_x.htm). And that’s without raising taxes by one penny.
Granted at that rate, it would still take about 140 years to erase the $9 trillion debt completely, but if we redirected half of the $726 billion from military spending (http://www.warresisters.org/piechart.htm), we could reduce the debt by $363 billion a year. This would erase the debt in less than 25 years or one generation. Our economy would be much better during this generation as well because of a stronger dollar and less government waste.
The $330 billion a year no longer spent on the debt’s interest could fully fund the entire Physical Resources ($116 billion) budget including
• Agriculture
• Interior
• Transportation
• Homeland Security (17%)
• HUD
• Commerce
• Energy (non-military)
• Environmental Protection
• Nat. Science Fdtn.
• Army Corps Engineers
• Fed. Comm. Commission
• other physical resources
And there would still be $214 million/year left for rebuilding New Orleans or inner cities.
Look particularly at the inflation adjusted graph. During the Clinton administration, the debt was actually being lowered!
BS. The obligations of the federal government climbed throughout. Sure, cash receipts temporarily exceeded cash outlays, but that’s only because of the huge amount of funds “appropriated” from Social Security & Medicare receipts.
Putting this into perspective… Uncle Sam financed yet another McMansion, but since he had cash left over after making his interest-only payment he had a “surplus”. Forget the fact that he’s another few trillion deeper in debt.
Leadership?
We have made sure the past few decades that every presidential candidate be gone over with a fine tooth comb, searching for any flaws, and we seldom found any.
Look what we ended up with?
A horribly flawed example.
Isnt this a housing blog? I am sure its not a democrap podium to spew nonsense. Stick to housing leave your political retoric at home.
As much as i’d like to wish him into the cornfield, I can’t.
We are stuck with the current occupant for nearly 20 more months and if I allow past perfornance to be my Baedeker, nothing good will come of this.
I honestly care little for either political party.
I’m just a voice in the wilderness pleading for leadership.
Nothing more.
The most dangerous period of any presidency is the last few months. Having nothing to lose they all rape and pillage the countryside and service all their loyal supporters. Some have been known to even steal the furniture on the way out.
How is the deterioration of the intelligence of the U.S. electorate not part of the housing story? Our fellow “consumers” (formerly citizens) continue to focus on the most inane, stupid, pointless characteristics of their elected officials. We then end up with bozos named Clinton, Cheney, Bush, Pelosi, Obama, Schumer, Frist, etc. This is a collection of dopes that have no guts, no vision, no fundamental understanding of everyday life.
These idiots blindly let the Housing Mania grow to the size of Godzilla while their friends made out like bandits. Some preach to the “little” guy and some preach to the “fatcats”. Bush spent the night this week at 301 Park Avenue. Tell me who lives at that address. Before you admonish Aladinsane you might want to look at what he wrote. Our politicians, preaching and practicing bailouts, suck the big one. And we got what we deserve. That is why the bubble will be so devastating.
“How is the deterioration of the intelligence of the U.S. electorate not part of the housing story?”
- We have a certain democrat ‘Ted Lieu’ here in So Cal that has pushed his bill to rescue FB through the State Banking Committee that he heads. WTF!
I’ve been reading a book (autogrpaphed to him by Adlai) lent to me by a friend who was involved in Adlai Stevenson’s 2 failed Presidential campaigns and the book is entitled “Major Campaign Speeches of Adlai E. Stevenson for 1952″ and we need somebody of high moral fiber and intelligence to lead us and Adlai’s been dead for 42 years now, so he can’t help.
Surely in a country of 300 million people, we can find a later day Adlai?
The problem lies in the fact that Mr Stevenson had “2 failed Presidential campaigns”.
It is unlikely that anyone like him would even get nominated today.
Yes, we are down on people that come in 2nd place and he had the misfortune to go up against Ike twice…
I doubt we’d elect somebody like him today, but November 2008 is a long way away and methinks that the next President hasn’t even started campaigning yet.
The fluff out there that have thrown their hat into the ring are merely bad looking frontrunners that will be gasping for air, soon.
People who win presidencies are those supported by the elite of finances and power. Since bankers and CEOs heavily fund both parties, you are effectively voting for two people who will maintain our currently broken financial and regulatory systems, while they differ on hot button causes like abortion or school prayer. In this system democratic party is little more than a subsidiary of the republicans that gives the convenient appearance of a two-party system but they all serve the same masters.
“somebody of high moral fiber and intelligence” = Mit Romney. Not sure he is electable, due to evangelical Christian prejudices (”my faith is a religion, your faith is a cult”).
Evangelicals harbor a special distrust of Mormons. They find them to be especially suspect because they introduced new scripture. Being that Evangelicals are firm adherents to “Sola scriptura” this was an unforgivable sin in their eyes,
No biggie…
Most of the non evang community harbors an equal special distrust of things evangelical.
That’s why you’ll never get a chance of screwing up our country again, as you have the past 6 long years.
“Our politicians, preaching and practicing bailouts, suck the big one. And we got what we deserve. That is why the bubble will be so devastating.”
Testify, Brothah! Roman Senators all, these moral bankrupts, on both sides of the aisle.
By the way, I took an evening run to the local Circle K and ran into a cop who works up in Tampa, but lives in SouthShore Tampa Bay. I was informed that a new development off Shell Point Road that went bust had been turned into Section 8 housing. Remember how some on this blog joked about that happening? Well, it has started, at least here in Florida.
What a remarkable coincidence. I was just reading how Tampa and St. Pete are “working hard” on their homeless problem.
Key Lime, that’s how they are working on the homeless problem. Some of the population of Tampa and St. Pete is being shifted down here. I’m out and about in the area quite a bit for part of my work (the “stuff” business) and in the past couple of weeks, I’ve noticed a marked demographic shift.
What’s amazing is how fast it appearst the demographics can change in area.
What’s amazing is how fast it appears the demographics can change in area.
Would someone please explain to me how a subd. goes section 8? Does the gubmint just subsidize it or do they buy it outright? Sorry, I’m not familiar with what it is…
You GO GIRL……………YES, were are we going?
need i say more?
========================
Clinton, Cheney, Bush, Pelosi, Obama, Schumer, Frist, etc. This is a collection of dopes that have no guts, no vision, no fundamental understanding of everyday life.
NYCityBoy, I happen to agree with your most excellent points. IMHO the difference in policies between the Republicans and Democrats can be painlessly etched in block letters on my thumbnails. No matter what happens 34% of the people find Bush doing a “fine job”. Ditto for Clinton (and other Democrats), there are a 34% “doing a fine job”. So much for the 32% of us that think.
Since 68% of the electorate are morons, it is no surprise that we (those of us that think) have been taken to the cleaners.
IMHO electorate implies “QUALIFIED VOTERS” .
The heated competition between Democrats and Republicans is like the competition between Coca Cola and Pepsi. Any person with half a brain should be able to tell that at the end of the day they are basically the same thing and therefore you should just buy which ever one is cheaper the day you are in the store.
I prefer not to drink either - I like water - pure clean water that is honest and straightforward (hopefully)
A very wise choice. Bonus points if its tap water.
Testify, Brother! The only thing sorrier than the current crop of political whores and swindlers in Washington are the mouth-breathers who keep sending them there. Both parties are equally corrupt and incompetent - it’s hard to believe they still have their defenders and partisans, even in here.
Relax buddy. Politics is very much part of the housing-bubble.
Economics is the important piece of the housing issue. Like it or not, economics is unfortunately linked to politics. Capitalism and its market economy on the one side and socialism and its planned economy on the other. The two parties play off this contrast in ideologies. Unfortunately, those who don’t realize this concept will be forever searching for the problem and scapegoat. The discussion of economics is certainly pertinent to a housing blog. Economics doesn’t make value judgements. It simply predicts the future based on the theory of human action.
With gov’t policies of the last 35 years (monetary and fiscal), it is not too difficult to determine the result. It only becomes difficult to determine as folks are forced to sift through propaganda (statements based on fact, but titled to shape opinion in a desired manner) from various individuals with definite vested interests.
The Repugs have no problem spewing here. So live with it.
>We have made sure the past few decades that every presidential candidate be gone over with a fine tooth comb, searching for any flaws, and we seldom found any.
I beg to differ. It was very clear for those who bothered to look how completely unqualified frat boy Georgy was. I think the blame for our current ‘leadership’ lies not with Dubya but with those who voted for him…. twice. This country got what it deserved.
Sometimes the most obvious flaws are the hardest ones to see.
Please drop the politics. This is a housing blog.
Ben, I agree with you about “housing blog” , however
the reason for politics in the discussion is the future impact of proposed legislation on the well being of society. Whether prolonging the bubble is harmful, the incipient ill conceived actions on the part of legislatures needs to be left open.
I don’t think the issue is about discussing politics. Whenever the discussion is open and honest it seems to be of great benefit. It is when the discussion turns partisan that it turns stupid and counter-productive.
This is Ben’s blog! Let’s respect his request to stay on topic. There are plenty of political blogs for you all to visit.
turning off italics
I, and most, visit this blog for Real Estate comments. This, and every other RE blog, turn sour when the politicos take over. Please stay on topic.
I just discovered a bearish housing bubble blog authored by a reporter for the LA Times called LA Land Blog. The blogger is Peter Viles (see bio below).
I don’t remember seeing this blog mentioned here before but I don’t read every day.
The blog was start this month (April ‘07) which is rather late to the housing bubble blog game, but it’s well written. Very few comments to the blog posts yet perhaps the people here who are interested in the LA market would like to liven it up.
Peter Viles: In 20 years as a journalist, Peter Viles has covered Wall Street, the economy, the dot-com boom and bust, crime, politics, the occasional wildfire, and, whenever possible, college football. He has worked as a reporter for the Associated Press and CNN, and has written for Variety and The New York Observer. He lives in Santa Monica with his wife, fashion designer Stacy Johnson, and their two children.
That’s interesting to me. The only “job” I have still available to me that is interesting in any way is in L.A. I’ve not even seriously considered it because of the ridiculous cost of housing out there. It’s in Manhattan Beach which I know has to be one of the most stupidly priced parts of LA.
Buy after the Earthquakes!
RE Manhatten beach:
It is indeed stupidly overpriced at average 1.3 million average sfh’s. THE properties near the beach are on small puny lots and are really glorified stacked 3-story condos om 45 % slope fronting the pacific. Alleys and driveways rediculously small, narrow and on 45% inclines.
IT is indeed a safe, clean neighborhood-friendly community with good parks, but the beach itself is not all that great and is difficult of access, with the LA dept of water/power and other assorted energy plants just up the beach, which can be rather gloomy and overcast on most summer days.
All in all can’t figure out how MB got to such rediculous prices, except that there are good-paying engineering/defense/aerospace industries in nearby EL Segundo/LAX/torrance/Redondo beach.
Sure LA is stupidly priced, but you can find rentals for like 1/3 the cost of buying (I even got luckier than that — 1/4 the buy cost, and great landlords).
LA TIMES’ “LA LAND BLOG” has been up since early this week but has had almost no comments from readers on it’s 10 articles. I Suspect that any highly negatives views on SCAL?LA RE will get filtered out. WILL NOT WASTE MY TIME PUTTING UP A REPLY ON IT, AS I AM EXTREMELY BEARISH ON LA AND CAN DISSECT AND DEMOLISH ANY SILLY STUPID COMMENTS MADE ON LA RE BY ANY LA TIMES WRITER.
FOR EXAMPLE, THEY HAD THAT LONG ARTICLE RECENTLY ON SOUTH/SCENTRAL LA AND WHY IT HAS REMAINED MIRED IN POVERTY, YET THEY ALSO MADE A REMARK AS TO WHY SCENTRAL LA MEDIAN HOMES PRICES ARE DOUBLE THE NATIONAL AVERAGE AT $457,000, AND STUPIDLY ASK WHY SCENTRAL HOMES PRICES REMAIN SO HIGH. ANY DOPE WITH EVEN A MODEST KNOWLEDGE OF RE SUCH AS MYSELF KNOWS THE REASONS AND WHY LA SCENTRAL RE PRICES ARE SET TO CRASH AND BURN.
LA COUNTY/LA CITY IS BEING HIT WITH A DOUBLE WHAMMY OF FORECLOSURE WAVES COMING OUT OF BOTH THE SFV AND OUT OF THE SOUTH LA INNER SLUMZONES. REAL FORECLOSURE PAIN FROM THE NORTH AND EAST PARTS OF THE SVF, SPREADING SOUTH INTO THE BETTER SOUTH PARTS. COUNTING AVERAGE 30 TO 50 FORECLOSURES PER ZIP IN SUCH VALLEY COMMUNITIES AS NORTHRIDGE, GRANADA HILLS, SYLMAR, RESEDA, NORTH HILLS, NORTH HOLLYWOOD, PANORAMA CITY, ECT.
I hear that drug dealers make lots of money - maybe thats why prices stay high.
Even the drug dealers-high rollers have some taste and will not rent/buy in the crapped-out inner LA slums but prefer relatively better areas on the fringes of SCentral such as Inglewood, Carson, Gardena, Hawthorne, ect.
Simple reason SCental pricea are so high is that immigrants and others simply got duped into overpaying $400,000-450,000 for 800-1000 sq ft on 3000-5000 lots by avaricious greedy realtors/brokers,who got them into low teaser rate exotic suicide subprimes loans at minimal intro adjustable mort rates. The entire subprime class of borrowers, mainly 1st time hispanic immigrant families, really got duped and conned by the LA SCentral REaltors, mostly of them of their own ethnicity.
Also there was quite a bit of fraudulent overappraisal/mort fraud helping to maintain artificially-high SCentral prices. Have seen this in just a few areas i scanned on zillow doing 2-3 hrs search at most. Suspect hundreds/thousands of cases of outright fraud/seller kickbacks/straw buyers, selling to family members, ect.in SOuth LA,entire LA county region.
Yeah, I saw that too.
The took a page of Jon Lansner a day late and a dollar short.
One of the first articles featured John Doe, now Chuck Ponzi from socalbubble.com to get some traffic.
Very similar to Lansner’s appearance here.
My Canadian relatives were in town and I always like to get a perspective from the outside looking in and my cousin was telling me just how grateful Canada is as a country, that they didn’t get involved in our mess in the middle east.
Just a few days ago, Canada narrowly voted to keep their peacekeeping force in Afghanistan.
On the flipside, my relatives tell me that crime has gone up a bit in the great white north and “everybody” locks their doors now.
As a Canadian, I can say that there are many good things about this place, but it is no Utopea… We still have oppresive taxation, government rationed health care (wait 2 years for hip replacement surgury or 9 months for an MRI), and a massive housing bubble!
New Zealand is the utopia for English speakers…
Want to get away?
You’ll need to have some savings.
New Zealand may be a pleasant place to live, but average incomes are something like 1/3rd that in the USA.
it’s not as bad as you make it sound; incomes are lower but the cost of life is mostly lower as well (free basic health care services, free education system etc., relatively cheap housing until recently). Only for those that are addicted to spending all their money on consumer gadgets, NZ is probably not the right choice. The major problem for NZ is that their well-educated english speaking workers can easily get better-paid jobs elsewhere in the anglosaxon world. So people who just look at incomes move to Oz, UK etc. - I don’t think they will see a clear benefit from that unless they save most of their income and move back to NZ at a later time.
There is also a problem with career opportunities because it is a relatively small country. For some specialised educations there are just a small number of jobs available. Only the very best get the job, the others have to accept different work or move out. But hey, in Europe a good university education doesn’t guarantee a decent income either these days.
If you are retired, yes.
But you don’t want to try to get a job there or raise kids there. Their educational system is worse than the US and there are no job opportunties. All the young people are fleeing it for a reason.
My fiance grew up New Zealand. She has nothing good to say about the experience.
Actually the brain drain is going on in ernest, in our country…
For the 1st time ever, instead of getting an influx of talented folks from around the world, we’ll be net suppliers~
New Zealand is to Australia as Canada is to the United States. More “eco,” more politically correct, more nanny state, fewer opportunities.
Have you been to NZ?
nanny state?
Kiwis are perhaps the most self sufficient 1st worlders i’ve ever seen and i’ve seen them plenty, perhaps a dozen visits to Enzed over the past 25 years for me.
Sure, I’ve been there. What does self-sufficient have to do with nanny state? NZ is a highly-regulated society with lots of rules, both written and unwritten, and a bit of an underlying contempt for people who aren’t in step with the New Zealand way. In that way it is quite unlike Australia and the U.S. and quite like Canada. Didn’t say I don’t like all four places.
When in Christchurch, do as the Christchurchians…
It used to be the ultimate craddle to grave socialist country, 25 years ago and has been absolutely wide open for business, since the late 1980’s.
Rules?
What wrong with rules?
A few years ago a young woman in her early 20’s was murdered with a handgun, whilst we were in NZ.
It was front page news for 4 days running, in the national newspaper…
We moved to NZ recently from the US and are very pleased with what the country has to offer. The above statements are true in that the brightest young people mostly interested in high incomes leave, typically to Oz. This creates opportunities for skilled immigrants like us, and it’s not true that ‘all the best people’ leave.
I find the sense of personal freedom here far greater than in the US. It’s an open society with virtually no obstacles to creating your own business and managing it as you see fit. Deregulation has only been rolled back in selected cases (AirNZ is almost entirely state-owned, for example). I find the suggestion that the educational system here is worse than in the US almost comically wrong. It’s different and far from perfect… but at least ALL kids here leave primary school knowing how to get along and write a coherent paragraph or two.
The tax burden is fairly steep, and the social woes I see coming arise from, that’s right, a HOUSING BUBBLE. There is abundant high-wage employment in the largest cities, but housing prices are far out of line with even those good incomes. Meanwhile, rents are kept low by people keeping second and third properties as investments - NOT for the rental income but for the untaxed capital gain when they sell those properties.
New Zealand: Australia’s Canada. (With better weather.)
“ALL kids here leave primary school knowing how to get along and write a coherent paragraph or two.”
Whereas our kids leave HIGH school not knowing where Canada is.
(Of course, Canada is partly to blame on that one
)
I find the suggestion that the educational system here is worse than in the US almost comically wrong.
Is that even possible?
soon idiots here will vote for FREEer healthcare- check out NHZ posting about subsidies for housing in the Netherlands= wow !!!!
In Canada doctor visits to health care providers are free, but you have to pay for the medications. However, they are considerable cheaper there being subject to free market forces, hence the exact same meds get sold back to the U.S. but for a lot cheaper.
Thanks for posting Canadian Rob. I go round and round with idiots elswhere who tell me healthcare is “magically” free up North.
Yeah, where I used to work, I had the opportunity to talk to Canadian pilots out of Cold Lake, Alberta. They freely admit that they pretty much don’t have a military to speak of (I mean, come on, 50,000 people in their entire military….one of our aircraft carriers have 5,000 on it.). Every pilot I talked to freely admitted that the Canadian military knows that America would be the first to help them out if they were attacked….it’s amazing how you can balance a budget and provide free (but not prompt) medical coverage when you don’t have to pay for the military machine……You’re welcome, Canada.
It is true that Canadian healthcare system is not prompt. I think, however, the US needs to do something serious about controlling medical costs. With GM becoming No 2, $ weakening and the war in Iraq getting worse, the perception that the US is in decline as a power and will continue to decline, is gaining ground.
You will get socialized medicine in the USA in the future. It will look very much like what Walter Reed hospital provides to our vets, but on a much grander scale.
It’s not just Canada. It’s just about all of Europe, and Japan, and Mexico, and…
The US is carrying the defense of a very good chunk of the world on its back. This of course frees up the GDP of those countries.
This seems like a mutual agreement- the other countries get to bad-mouth the US, but the dirty secret is they are glad it is there, and at the same time the US gets to be the big player. The problem is that this comes at the expense of US citizens.
Well stated!
“The US is carrying the defense of a very good chunk of the world on its back. This of course frees up the GDP of those countries. ”
I had never thought of it that way and I agree.
And what many economic doomsdayers forget about the US is that it exports “defense services” globally - and that it is never “counted” as part of our economy.
At least by them. I would guess there’s an academic study somewhere that’s given it a shot and could show the return or value of such.
I think a majority in Europe doesn’t want this ‘protection’ from the US at all. Many of us are very angry to get involved in this worldwide war that promotes terror all around the world for the benefit of some big US companies. Unfortunately, our politicians listen to their US masters instead of their own voters. And we do pay for the US military in many ways, like with all these compulsory partnerships in US weapons programs like the JSF. I’m not even talking about the huge EU subsidies for the US economy / housing market through our pension funds …
Give me break.
You guys on your continent over there have proven time and again you can’t get along - and then start fights with regularity and we have to go over there and clean it up every f**king time.
“Thanks for nothing.”
“The US is carrying the defense of a very good chunk of the world on its back. This of course frees up the GDP of those countries. ”
Oh no, we ARE doomed. Whenever the citizens of an empire start pouting about the tribulations of ‘the white man’s burden’, that empire is about to head down the crapper.
The US is not an empire. In an empire, the conqueror is the net gainer. Wealth flows from the provinces.
The US has abandoned conquered territory forever. The US does not want an empire. In fact, when the US is (temporarily) occupying a land, wealth flows from the US to that land, and never, ever vise versa.
There are plenty examples of empires in history- Roman, Soviet, British, Persian, for this to be readily apparent. The US is an anti-Empire entity.
Lesser countries of course are envious of the power, but they benefit from the American Peace that results. I want them to start sending money to the US so that US citizens will get richer. Or else just to be still.
The U.S. has never participated in the military defense of any country where its geostrategic self-interest was not strongly at stake. The “we are the world’s heroes” spiel gets sold to the taxpayers to puff them up and keep them quiet.
Wasn’t it Earl Warren who said: “Americans don’t read?” Critical thinking isn’t part of our oeuvre.
I think that its worth comparing how the US and the USSR treated their European “allies” after WW2. The US created the Marshall Plan, which resulted in a very prosperous western Europe, in sharp contrast to eastern European nations, which were treated as vassals by the USSR.
Check out the roller coaster on LA Land Blog. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laland/2007/04/index.html
Shows the ups and downs of housing over the last century.
I’m not sure if this has been posted before
make sure you read this brilliant stuff from rodger rafter!
Hedge Fund Borrowing Propping Up the Dollar and Stock Market
http://rebalancing.blogspot.com/2007/04/hedge-fund-borrowing-propping-up-dollar.html
What is in it for hedge funds to borrow at this point in the business cycle (heading into a recession), unless they expect government bailouts to make their bets look smart through the rear view mirror? Unfortunately, with the likes of CT (= hedge fund central) Senator Dodd Chairing the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, bailouts seem like a pretty good bet.
Remember the movie “The Jerk”?
Saw some new sanshomes types yesterday on just the other side of nowhere, yesterday in bubble central, in the Central Valley.
Remember the scene in the flick where Steve Martin is downsizing, he only needs this, or that and ends up holding double handfuls of junk?
The new homeless cling onto junk that doesn’t travel well.
They’ll learn.
Perhaps there’s a future for them in cat juggling?
Did anyone see NOW on PBS last night, with their reporting of the housing bubble? I was disappointed. I expected it to be a little more hard-hitting. Too little, too late.
It’s Time to BUY! It’s Time to BUY! It’s Time to BUY!
It’s Time to BUY! It’s Time to BUY! It’s Time to BUY!
I saw it on TV, so I know it’s true. Right there on CNBC, written under the guy talking about the drop in home sales. It’s Time to BUY!
Also on CNN, the guy from the real estate company said so.
I’m going out right now and buying a house only prices 40% more than it’s worth because; It’s Time to BUY!
Past Due - A closer look at the easy-credit housing bubble,
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/317/index.html
“Housing in the United States is taking a big hit as “too-good-to-be-true” home loans fail, refinancing dries up, and foreclosures surge. How did the market plummet so quickly — and are current homeowners paying the price? NOW revisits a California town whose real estate fortunes have taken a hard turn for the worse.”
————————–
This was a pretty good show. They tracked people in the Bay Area that bought houses they really couldn’t afford and were under severe stress as the banks began foreclosure proceedings. Its sad that these people are so stressed out, and its clear that they are unsophisticated (probably not very intelligent) and way too trusting of the mortgage brokers, but the only solution is for prices to come down to realistic levels.
I saw it, see my post above. It wasn’t bad, but a little softball, IMHO.
Yes, it wasn’t an investigative, hard-hitting journalistic piece where inside practices are exposed but the title is spot-on: “easy credit housing bubble”.
I expect we’ll start seeing expose’ type documentaries soon enough. There was a show about Enron on PBS on Wed. Pretty eye-popping stuff even if the scandal is 6 years old. The muckrakers are going to have a banner season with the financial engineers of the credit bubbles.
SDMisfit: Good show ! Enlightens you to the human toll & stress when things go badly. The buyers coyly admitted they were over their heads. Still the images of families with little kids facing a bit letdown … hurts.
Look at this house built in 2006. They want 20 million for it. I hope it sits there while they pay property tax, insurance, and all the holding costs to maintain it.
Flippers… Sheesh!
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/real_estate/0704/gallery.luxury_beach_houses/5.html
How much will it be worth after Greenland is green again - like it was 100 million years ago. Of course then it was kinda attached to Africa. In fact what will all of these ocean front homes be worth when water levels have risen 3-4 meters?
Flippers are still alive and well (well, maybe not so well)… an old remodeled schoolhouse here in W. Colo just came back on the market - it sold about 6 months ago for 500k, they’re now asking 650k - 5 years ago, it would’ve been about 250k, if that. I’m gonna go look at it - for the first time in RE history here, Wells Fargo Mortgage has teamed up with the realtors to do a massive area-wide open house.
If the flippers can get it appraised for 650k, and find a buyer who doesn’t care about his credit score to take out a stated income loan to buy the house at that price, and then he doesn’t pay the bank one red cent, and so the bank forecloses, and the fipper and buyer split the 150k profit, then maybe it’s not such a bad idea.
Throw a taxpayer bailout and everyone is going to be running to the party.
The collapse of subprime should put a stop to this hopefully.
What thoughts do folks here have about buying into an exisiting (and long running profitable) motel with a well recognizable name and helping the existing owner (who will still maintain majority ownership) manage it and work to even improve upon what it has done. The owner has multiple properties and needs the additional help, and wants to give some ownership to someone who is honest, trustworthy, and capable of doing well. Give me some thoughts. Thanks - this is an alternative to some other investments, and a hedge against the bubbles blowing.
Preety tuff business…Management intensive….
Would you pay the same price if you were investing this as a business?
How do you get your money out at the end? A minority shareholder may not be able to sell quickly (or at all). Often, the other shareholders have some influence on who can buy. Who would want to buy your share when you are done?
If the ownership is in the form of I will pay you $xxxx + xx% of the business if you meet these targets, then that is a good deal. But, if the ownership is of the form you pay $xxx for xx% of the business, but I control when and how much you get back at the end, I would be leery.
What kind of business do you want to be in when the price of oil gets so high that tourism drops? After Katrina, Moab, Utah (where I lived then) became a ghost town literally overnight (2 nat’l parks, gets over 2 mil visitors/year) - after two weeks, people were getting laid off, then it started returning to normal. And the price of gas barely topped $3 - some of it was the fear factor. When the economy starts hurting, the first thing to go is travel and tourism.
I doubt it; in Europe gas prices are already way higher than in the US (around $ 8/gallon) and according to several studies on the subject, people in Europe will not make significant changes to their habits (like transportation used for work, holiday travel etc.) until gas prices are 3-4 times higher than they are now (that’s at least 10x the current US price).
People in Europe have a few odd little habits, like an actual positive savings rate, more small, fuel-efficient cars, actually walking from time to time in town, and the like …. Seriously, there’s no comparison
And you can get just about anywhere by train. A “long” road trip is about 200 miles.
in the Netherlands (which is supposed to have good public transport) you can get about anywhere by train - if the train is running that day. Our public transport system has been going downhill for the last 25 years or so, thanks to our politicians who only invest in more roads. It’s not as bad as the UK yet, but in many areas of the country it is getting very difficult to do without a car. And thanks to the Euro parliament, big SUV’s even have a special tax exemption that makes using them extremely attractive compared to the average car.
“This owner wants an offer”.
http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/rfs/320438059.html
I remember someone posting this listing a few months ago. IIRC the asking price was north of $800k. So far no takers. Now -
“The owner will consider the top three estimates,”
I was driving thru these parts last night. The asking prices on homemade signs on houses are laughable. Philly flippers and nouveau RE moguls are in for a bigtime reality check. Oh yeah.
The ad-writer needs to look up the words “beautiful,” “gorgeous,” and “exquisite.” I think humdrum and ho-hum are more accurate.
Maybe the owner thinks buyers will stand on line for their chance to pay a bidet premium.
‘Maybe the owner thinks buyers will stand on line for their chance to pay a bidet premium’
The Dukakkis-in-the-tank/Kerry-in-a-clean-suit photo.LOL
After having spent many years working/traveling Europe, I can vouch for the benefits of a bidet. If I ever build a house, you can bet it will have at least one bidet.
It’s not just the rich that deserve a well washed behind!
Just go to Mitsuwa and get yourself a Japanese toilet. Heated seats are heaven in the winter! This, from a San Diegan.
One Trick Pony, A Look at the Numbers
http://wallstreetexaminer.com/blogs/winter/?p=724
China will have to learn about the drawbacks of dealer financing just as Detroit and the homebuilding industry have learned…
I read that link. No one addresses exactly why do credit expansions have to ratchet up as far as they do. Is is analogous to home builders? Do financial hubss have to constantly turn deals now for cash flow? If so, does that mean that is all everything is running on, the future payment stream? Ouch, that is one IOU that does not know how hot it can be to jump from out of the pan and into the fire.
“everything is running on, the future payment stream”
More like ‘running on anticipated future capital gains to offset negative short term returns to capital.’ (How else do you explain all these GFs willing to pay buy homes that don’t pencil out as rentals, and the MBS buyers purchasing the risky mortgage debt that finances the deals?)
From the St. Paul (Minnesota) Pioneer Press:
The West Side Flats condo project was supposed to showcase a new era of riverfront development. For now, though, it’s going back to the drawing board. Developers have halted the project and are returning down payments - all seven of them.
It’s no secret that the condo market is soft, and real estate experts say it is especially difficult to sell buyers on a speculative idea such as the West Side Flats when so many completed condos are flooding the market.
“I think the biggest problem is the condo market is oversold,” said Ralph Peterson of Coldwell Banker Burnet. “They way overbuilt, way too fast.”
Goering also said buyers were concerned about the proposed Bridges of St. Paul, developer Jerry Trooien’s $1.5 billion riverfront development just east of the West Side Flats site. The proposal was withdrawn last year in the face of opposition at City Hall, and attempts were made to revive it by having Trooien and neighbors sit down to hammer out a new plan.
Those efforts collapsed. Trooien is holding his own series of community meetings and plans to resubmit his proposal, but the project is effectively in limbo.
http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_5768622
FYI homoaner
When you copy quotes from a newspaper you should put what you copy in quotations.
FYI WAman:
You’re welcome to compose your posts any way you please.
Quick—somebody send up a flare. PHX inventory just crossed 60K this morning, at 60,098. That’s up approximately 12,000 since the first of the year. I’m going to go out on a limb and make the following predictions:
1) Inventory will hit 65,000 by July 1.
2) The demand for balloons to attach to open house signs will far outstrip supply, resulting in a critical balloon shortage.
Time to put some funds into Helium Balloon futures. Because, you know, they only go up!
Quick tell me where I can get in on this action. Hehe
Talon…What is considered the prime sales season in PHX..???.I know snow birds have a impact on your housing…Does that change the period that is considered prime time ??
The season here is probably the same as it is everywhere else, except that it might skew a bit earlier because after about June 1 things get somewhat toasty. Most snowbirds either already own their second homes/condos here, or just take seasonal rentals, so I don’t think they affect the sales market that much. In fact, if one were retired and looking for a winter home to buy, the best time to look would be in the fall, after the main selling season. Less competition at that point (though these days competition among buyers isn’t exactly a big problem here).
It occured to me this morning that the home builders must continue to build to survive. In the Sacramento Valley, I think they build a 2,000 SF home for about $75/SF, or $150,000. Strangely, lots have been costing about $200,000, of which $55,000 is for construction costs. They sold these homes or $500,000 in 2005, about $420,000 in 2006 and are now about $350,000 in 2007. If they have written down the land values to reflect market, and market is closer to $50,000/lot for raw land, and construction costs are dropping a bit, they could possibly build a home in which their new basis is $50+$55+$140 = $245,000. If they sell for $300,000, they still make a “profit” in 2007 & 2008, since they took the raw land loss in 2006.
I remember in 2005 everyone denied there would be a bubble, because the publics only built “pre-sold” houses. Then the bubble. No one looked beyond the peak, to see the home builders may just lead housing back to affordability again, because they have to do so or die trying. I think both will happen. The home builders will lead the market down from $250/sf, to $150/sf or less…….and at the same time, many will die trying.
Nice post Jingle…….I believe your analysis is fairly accurate…The builders are putting big pressure on their vendors “Cut your price” or no contract…For the vendors, its either cut or die…As far as the land, between the lower cost of all phases of construction, they can offset their higher basis in land that they may have purchased a few years ago…However, any “new” exercize of options will reflect the cuurent value of the land thereby improving the margins for the builder in the next few years….The bloodbath thats going to occur IMO is going to be in the smaller builders that don’t have leverage with either their vendors or lenders along with ANYONE who purchased housing near these new developments in 04-06…
SCDave,
I think the home builders have already written down their land values to some degree. Whatever they paid 3 years ago may be irrelevant. If their book value is now $50,000, versus $200,000 in 2005, they now have a new basis from which to earn a “profit” in 2008 and beyond. Does anyone with a financial background have an idea of how much the builders have marked down their land holdings?
The problem with that analysis could be - debt. If the builders who bought land (instead of just optioning it) leveraged it with piles of debt, they might go BK paying down the debt whether or not they build on the land. It might take a second round (whoever buys the paritally-finished homes or undeveloped land from the bank) before the houses get finished and sold.
Good point AK.
Once again, a good example of why the fall in prices is a slow sticky process. The original point, however, that the high cost of the land component (40-50% of the home)was artificial and will be adjusted down over time, is still a realistic scenario. It will just take some time as the builders go thru bankruptcy.
Gotta “link” so I can send it to some friends? THX
http://www.ziprealty.com/registration/register.jsp?cKey=cj11080s&districtId=14&metro=phoenix
I remember 1 or 2 years ago when we were betting on when PHX inventory would to 40,000. Was it that long ago?
Some area’s “where it is different here.”
Where sellers are inflexible, buyers generally will find plenty of alternatives. The Wall Street Journal’s latest quarterly survey of residential real estate in major metropolitan areas — drawn from a wide range of sources in 28 major markets — found particularly large jumps from a year ago in listings of homes in Florida. Orlando and Tampa were both up 62%, closely followed by Miami (58%) and Jacksonville (49%).
In Florida’s St. Lucie County, current inventory is enough to last more than 34 months at March’s sales rate, says Mr. Lawler. The supply is 29 months in Palm Beach County and 25 months in both Miami-Dade and Broward counties, he adds.
Other cities with big increases in listings from the already swollen levels of a year ago include Phoenix (36%), Chicago (44%), Los Angeles (54%) and Las Vegas (30%). The inventory was little changed but still plentiful in the San Diego and Washington, D.C., areas.
http://biz.yahoo.com/weekend/propertyglut_1.html
On CNN yesterday Paula Zahn, they had a one-hour special about the mortgage mess. I was furious…they portrayed all of them as victims. They showed an old woman from Greeley, Colorado who had been in her home 30 years and was losing it to foreclosure (of course, they conveniently left out the fact that she HELOC-ed herself to death to get into this situation).
Paula Zahn kept mentioning how it wasn’t the homeowners’ fault…predatory lending got these people into bad loans and they deserve to be helped. Not a word about speculation, refi’ing to get the latest toys, greed, etc. I’m afraid everyone is looking at these people as victims—like Katrina—I’m sure they’ll be a massive bailout at the expense of the financially literate. Everyone (other than renters) has a vested interest in keeping home prices high…and Paula Zahn even said this. Stupidity and irresponsibility always gets rewarded.
I am assuming that Casey Serin was not among the folks whom Paula interviewed?
This a great advertisement on Phoenix craigslist. Although I am going to be a little judgemental here and say that it is a little too light on details. “BIG House.”
“Need buyer immediately. This home is in pre-foreclosure. It has tenant in it paying rent. Take advantage of this tenant in place opportunity.
The home is in a new developed established neighborhood. BIG House.
Call me for more details if interested. Serious Buyers only.
Thanks”
http://phoenix.craigslist.org/rfs/317873200.html
Fannie Mae VP calls subprime situation a crisis
Friday, April 27, 2007
By Cami Reister
The Grand Rapids Press
CASCADE TOWNSHIP — It can take a crisis to get people’s attention.
“The foreclosures on the subprime market are a crisis like we’ve never seen before,” said James Carr, a senior vice president with Fannie Mae Foundation.
Carr, speaking to about 350 people at the 20th annual Fair Housing Luncheon Thursday at Crowne Plaza Hotel, said the crisis points to a larger problem with deep roots.
“It’s really about wealth,” he said. “And that wealth sets the plate for a whole host of other opportunities in life.”
Carr believes much of America’s poverty is a result of decades of public policy that discourages poor minorities from building wealth through home ownership, pushing them into the subprime mortgage market.
That contributes to a growing income gap that is undermining the country’s economy. Minority populations are growing the fastest, and they are not invested in the economy, he said.
“A lot of the problems the poor are facing are actually working their way down to the middle class,” he said. “This issue is critical to the competitive infrastructure of America’s future.”‘
———————————————————————————
CORRECTION: It’s really about impoverishment, due to lenders encouraging marginally qualified households to purchase homes they cannot afford, which tends to lead to bankruptcy, foreclosure, loss of a credit rating and potential future exclusion from the vaunted Ownership Society. Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s roles in encouraging this predatory lending behavior should not go unnoticed, as the GSE-subsidized securitization of high risk mortgage debt is a major factor which encourages lenders to make loans which are unlikely to ever be repaid.
http://www.mlive.com/business/grpress/index.ssf?/base/business-4/1177685169242250.xml&coll=6
And Henry Paulson, the treasury secretary said everything is fine.
sounds SOO Dutch: getting the poor on the property ladder will make everybody wealthy and get the economy booming again. Despite the biggest HMD and the biggest housing subsidies on the planet, homeownership in the Netherlands is barely above 50% which is behind most other EU countries that don’t have all this stupid government help for ‘poor workers’. And the only part of the Dutch economy that is booming is the RE and financial services part; when this Ponzi scheme falls apart there will not be much of an economy left.
Does anyone want to purchase a home in tony Richmond, CA — yours for only $437K?
———————————————————————————-
East Bay home prices continue slide
A few areas hold steady or see increases, including Pittsburg, Richmond and parts of the Tri-Valley
By Barbara E. Hernandez
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Article Launched: 04/28/2007 03:07:30 AM PDT
Median home prices continued to drop in March in most East Bay cities, with only a few modest gains in unexpected places.
Although Walnut Creek prices dropped 8.6 percent, Concord prices fell 4.8 and Oakland prices decreased 1.2 percent from March of last year, Vacaville home prices rose 3 percent.
The statistics, released this week by both the California Association of Realtors and DataQuick Information Systems, break down county median home prices by cities that were reported earlier this month.
Vacaville’s continued steadiness in price seemed to be based in optimistic job growth and development, said Theresa Hite, owner of Summit Properties in Vacaville.
Nestled near arteries such as Interstates 80, 680 and 505 and Highway 12, Vacaville’s central location seems to be paying off. According to the California Employment Development Department, Solano County added 2,400 jobs in 2006, for an annual growth rate of 1.9 percent, more than any other area in the Bay Area.
The Association of Bay Area Governments projects that from 2005 to 2010, the number of jobs should increase about 7.2 percent in Solano County.
Hite said a new $1 billion Kaiser Permanente medical center and Genentech’s expansion seem to mean more higher-paying jobs.
“We’ve got more construction going on with job-related development than probably the rest of the Bay Area,” she said. “We haven’t seen a big slide in pricing.”
Pittsburg and Richmond both stayed steady, with the median home
price rising to $464,000 in Pittsburg and $437,250 in Richmond.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/business/ci_5773758
I got an article on my trade newswire that California officials have discovered that melamine has entered the human food chain in the US. Evidently melamine was used as protein booster in hogs. I cannot cut and paste from my newswire but did locate a minor story on the net at cattlenews which I have pasted below. The article on the newswire implied the problem may be pretty big. This is the same shit from China that poisoned all the pet food in the US.
KLA: USDA Depopulating Hogs Fed Melamine
“About 6,000 hogs in eight states, including Kansas, are under quarantine after eating the by-product of Chinese rice protein found to be contaminated with melamine. The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) notified state authorities last week that hogs consuming the feed in question will not be approved to enter the human food supply. USDA is offering to compensate producers who euthanize and dispose of the affected animals. If meat from animals previously fed the rice protein entered commerce, federal authorities will work with states to take the appropriate action.
FSIS and FDA continue to trace the adulterated feed. Melamine recently was found in Chinese wheat gluten used in U.S. pet food. The compound allegedly is responsible for thousands of companion animal deaths in the U.S.”
http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?contentid=125216
Thanks, Popper, for this post. I really appreciate the info.
I will miss you, crispy bacon.
“Evidently melamine was used as protein booster in hogs.”
I have heard that it was just a ‘fake’ protein booster- it analyses as protein in routine nutritional analysis of foods. It is usually used as a fertilizer additive or a fire retardant.
I’m not sure who requested this but I found a site with some housing data
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/census/historic/values.html