All Those Clever Bankers
¢ by the Mysterious Flying Miser ¢
I found this on Global Property Guides:
“For much of 2008, Russia’s housing market seemed insulated from the global financial meltdown. However, the situation turned nasty during the last quarter of 2008. Property prices fell, transactions and sales plummeted, projects were cancelled or shelved, and what limited mortgage lending there was available dried up. Although the price increases in H1 2008 were significantly less than during the past three years or so, they caused satisfaction in Russia, given the house price falls in most Western European and other developed countries.
“However, all hell broke loose after the Russian stock market crash of September 2008, caused by contagion from the global financial crisis, and the realization that Russia’s breakneck economic growth cannot be sustained due to falling energy and commodity prices. The same realization hit property investors and speculators. The property bubble finally burst, with the varying estimates of the price fall.
“While countries around the world were up in arms as fuel and commodity rose, Russia benefited from them. Russia has the world’s largest natural gas reserves, the 2nd largest coal reserves, and the 8th largest oil reserves. It is the world’s leading natural gas exporter and the second leading oil exporter. In 2007, it was the world’s top oil producer, overtaking Saudi Arabia.
“However, global commodity and energy prices softened greatly in the second half of 2008 due to the global economic slowdown and the financial turmoil. For instance, the average price of Europe Brent oil fell from US$132 per barrel in July 2008 to US$39.95 in December 2008, before rising slightly to US$43.32 in February 2009. The last time the price of oil was that low was in 2004.
“… several major developers have now put new projects on hold. The Mirax Group, Russia’s largest property developer, announced in September 2008 that it was halting work on 10 projects, for a minimum of one year. The 10 projects make up 83% of the company’s total portfolio, and amount to 10 million sq. m. of real estate. Mirax cited the cost of credit as its main reason for freezing the projects. Other developers such as Sistema-Hals, Inteko, and the PIK Group have also announced cancellation or suspension of real estate projects.
“Russia’s real estate companies are mostly owned by Russia’s oligarchs. The credit, real estate, and stock market crises have severely affected their fortunes. Many Russian billionaires have been dropped from Forbes annual list of the world’s billionaires, with the total number of Russian Forbes list billionaires falling from 101 in 2008, to 49 in 2009. Those dropped are mostly into real estate, including Sergei Polonsky, chairman of Mirax Group. He lost around US$900 million of his 2008 US$1.2 billion net worth.
“The tightening credit market has made it more difficult for homebuyers to get a mortgage. Previously, banks only required a 20% down payment for home purchases. Now this has been raised to 30%. The minimum monthly income requirement for loans has been raised to RUB25,000 (US$720), from RUB15,000 (US$432). Homebuyers must also prove that their income is taxable and comes from legitimate sources, a process that involves certification from several government officials.
“Now rents have started to fall, along with property prices. Rents for economy-class, one room apartments fell by 8% from November to December 2008. Rents for other units fell from 4% to 6% over the same period. In January 2009, Vedomosti, a business newspaper, reported that rents in Moscow have fallen by 10% since the beginning of the year. They predict rents will drop by another 10% by summer. Another factor contributing to the weakness of the rental market has been the privatization of state-owned housing units. Owner-occupancy rose from 41% in 1995 to 70% in 2004. About 94% of households received their units free of charge.
“Russia is a highly corruption-prone country, and the environment makes no one’s life easy. Getting permits for renovation and everything else almost always involves bribes. Buying land is not easy. One problem is the system of land registration - changes in law and transfer of ownership are not well documented. A title search must be conducted to ensure that there is no lien on the property. This creates a fundamental insecurity for owners. Predatory mafia-like groups make a business of launching attacks on private owners, liaising with corrupt municipality officials and corrupt land registry officials to dispossess the rightful owners.
“Real estate transactions, purchases or leases, in Russia are quoted and paid in US dollars. This creates another concern, because property prices and rents may move. Not because the value of the property has changed, but because the ruble has appreciated or depreciated. Since June 2008, the ruble has depreciated sharply against the US dollar; from RUB 23.357 in June 2008, to RUB 35.816 per US dollar in February 2009. So those who committed to buy or rent properties in June last year must raise around 50% more money to continue the transaction. This cost-increase has added to pressure on the housing market, leading to its crash.
“With the multitude of problems confronting Russia’s housing market, recovery will likely take some time. The prices commodity-based house price boom was clearly unsustainable. Now, Russians are desperately clamoring for real reform.”
From Russia Today:
“The slump in Moscow real estate prices has potential buyers waiting on the sidelines for a developer to be pushed to the brink. Market watchers say this is a serious possibility. The risk of major bankruptcies hand over the real estate sector (sic), with a further downturn in prices likely should any major property developer be forced to unload developments on the cheap.
“With big property developers such as Mirax, and DomStroy all facing possible bankruptcy, market watchers, such as Denis Sokolov, Head of the Research Department Cushman & Wakefield at say this is quite possible. ‘The likelihood is pretty high and I think we’ll see several bankruptcies. Bankruptcy is a correction for the market. Those players that had a wrong business policy will fail.’”
From the Telegraph — Russia and Brazil crumble as commodity prices crash (Oct 2008):
“Oil, grains, and industrial metals all crumbled as the week began despite the passage of the Paulson bail-out plan in Washington and dramatic moves by European governments to shore up their banking systems, compounding the steepest commodity crash in over half a century.
“The sudden shift in commodity sentiment has led to a massive withdrawal of funds from frontier markets, triggering stock market routs across Latin America, Asia, and Eastern Europe. The MSCI index of emerging markets fell 11pc yesterday in its worst day ever.
“Russia suspended trading after Moscow’s Micex index crashed 19pc in its biggest one-day drop since the 1998 default. The state-controlled VTB bank fell 25pc.
“Brazil shut the Sao Paulo exchange after the Bovespa index crashed 15pc in panic trading, led by flight from the resource giants Vale and Petroleo Brasileiro. Mexico’s Bolsa was off 7pc; India’s Sensex was off 6pc.
“‘The boom was fuelled by massive speculation,’ said Charles Dumas, chief strategist at Lombard Street Research. ‘Commodity derivatives in the spring had a face of $10 trillion, so it doesn’t take many bulls to sell and send prices crashing. Remember all those clever bankers saying this was the new investment medium, ‘uncorrelated’ with either assets? Well, it’s correlated now – downwards,’ he said.
“Stephen Jen, currency chief at Morgan Stanley, said the ‘glowing reputation’ enjoyed by emerging markets during the global boom was a deception caused by the easy-money largesse of the credit bubble. Strip that away, and the picture looks very different.
“Moscow has become addicted to the oil bonanza, ratcheting up spending so quickly that it may now need prices to stay above $90 to fund spending plans. Veteran analysts say they have seen this movie before.”
From RTT News:
Crude oil dropped below $70 per barrel on Friday as traders showed concern over energy demand. With the drop, oil gave back a good portion of its weekly gains.
“Previously, banks only required a 20% down payment for home purchases. Now this has been raised to 30%.”
Wow, that is really interesting…
As I read the sentence above, it struck me that Russia now has credit markets that are much closer to “free markets” than the US does. Think about that for a second: Russian mortgage markets are correctly reacting to the obvious risk and shifting the lending standards to match; in other words, they are correctly “pricing it in”.
Here in the US, 90% of the mortgage lending is now being done by the Feds, and we still have a 3.5% down-payment requirement (FHA). That standard is clearly WAY out of step with the reality that real-estate is going down in a big way for the first time in several generations.
Simply amazing. The 30% downpayment is very close to the predictions made here on the HBB back in 2005/6!
closer to free markets than the US…
A simpler, more streamlined tax code adopted in 2001 reduced the tax burden on people, and dramatically increased state revenue. Russia has a flat personal income tax rate of 13 percent. This ranks it as the country with the second most attractive personal tax system for single managers in the world after the United Arab Emirates…
…The country has also been able to substantially reduce its formerly massive foreign debt….
….the middle class has grown from just 8 million persons in 2000 to 55 million persons in 2006. Russia is home to the largest number of billionaires in the world after the United States, gaining 50 billionaires in 2007 for a total of 110….
…Over the last five years, fixed capital investments have averaged real gains greater than 10% per year and personal incomes have achieved real gains more than 12% per year. During this time, poverty has declined steadily and the middle class has continued to expand…
wiki: Russia
Thanks for the stats from Russia 2006 and 2007. Unfortunately for the commies, Russia’s huge crash started in 2008 and continues, so it turns out I was right all along about them. Poor little commies; they can’t get anything right.
well.. who didn’t crash in 2008..
Russia’s instituting the flat tax seems to have been beneficial, but other factors could be involved. I was surprised at the middle class expansion.
I thought the rich got richer and the poor poorer since they crawled out of their troubles (50% loss of GDP) in the 90’s, and was ready to say as much, but decided to look it up.
You need to look at post-bubble figures to see the trajectory they’re on. Just like everywhere else.
Disregard the blatantly obvious pandering V.
exeter.. you really gotta learn to read more carefully. That wasn’t pandering. It was moral hypocrisy.
As for your sticking your nose in, Big V is sensitive and very intelligent and doesn’t need you to tell her how to think…
Dancing around the truth again joey? You might want to consider choreography as your day job.
Those who live in glass houses… “Poor little commies”, said an enthusiastic supporter of Obama.
“Russia’s huge crash started in 2008 and continues”
I don’t know about “and continues”. Russia’s fortunes are closely tied to oil. Oil rose to $70, RUB rose vs. USD, stock market doubled this year.
Now, personally, I’d love to see oil back at $20, but with Obama et al printing USD way to oblivion, that’s doubtful.
P.S. I voted for McCain.
Why am I not surprised that you voted for McCain? And why am I not surprised that a McCain supporter would be unable to differentiate between communism and “that other American party”?
And why am I not surprised that a McCain supporter would be unable to differentiate between communism and “that other American party”?
Snort.
Oh, puhlease. I’m independent, and I don’t really like either party. IMHO there’s very little actual difference between the two, both screw the populace, just in a slightly different way.
McCain was slightly less of two evils. I don’t believe in expanding government as the solution to our problems. It didn’t work in Russia, it won’t work here either.
I agree, in the last election you had a choice between a well-respected independent, who happens to call himself a Republican, but is as far from the mainstream of that party (i.e., right-wing hate) as possible, and a Democrat who was totally in his party’s mainstream (i.e., communist, as one of his top former advisers, had called himself). To make fun of the person who voted for the moderate is very intolerant.
choice between a well-respected independent ??
Independent my a$$…
First of all, I question the charachter of any man who dumps his wife after she stands by him through the toughest of times for some Boulavard braod almost 20 years his jr. who just also happens to have 100 mil..(Kerry got crucified for this remember ?)
Second, his independence went out the window when he got craped on in 1990 and he cowered down to the neocons for the nomination and capped it off with what I consider the most frightening pick of a VP that I have seen in my lifetime (58 years)…
Raising hand to identify self as a McCain voter who doesn’t think Obama is a communist. Obama is a welfare-statist. I am not in favor of a welfare state, but “communism” suggests an absolutist approach to redistribution. Obama’s approach is not that.
it struck me that Russia now has credit markets that are much closer to “free markets” than the US does.
====
Russia also has a 13% flat income tax, as do several ex-Soviet Block countries. Capitalism is alive and well in some areas of the globe. Too bad the USA is not one of those areas.
Wait til the idiots in Obama land change the tax code : No deductions for mtg interest, no deduction for property taxes. Look out below !
Why would that make them idiots?
That would be the best thing for housing affordability in the last 100 years.. It would also drop housing prices even further, so, don’t hold your breath; it’s probably more likely that they double the MTG interest deduction rather than take it away! Or make it a refundable tax credit, or some other BS to try to push home prices higher.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
“Veteran analysts say they have seen this movie before”
“Homebuyers must also prove that their income is taxable and comes from legitimate sources”
This is very difficult to do. The government has been trying to make people to pay taxes for years, rather unsuccessfully.
The low flat income tax rate - only 13% - helped to bring some of the “shadow” economy to the surface, but the magnitude of tax evasion is still a big problem. The difference between the so-called “white” (taxed) and “black” (shadow) incomes is huge.
My tenant (a lawyer!) pays taxes on a very small portion of his “white” salary. Nice, huh? He was dumb-founded when I explained to him that I insist on a real contract (instead of understating the true rental price), and that I’m paying my taxes. “Why pay? Nobody pays…” - was his advice, LOL.
It’s a battle over there. Tax payment rates are getting better, but still… The serious problem a lot of people have is how to hide what they have from authorities, and how to prove they have it if needed.
“Russia is a highly corruption-prone country”
So very true. And I’m afraid it’s getting worse, not better.
I would love, love, love to buy another *old* apartment there if prices fall. But it’s dangerous. You never know if what you buy has a clean title. There’re plenty of horror stories when new owners were kicked out (by court!) a few years after they bought the property because of “irregularities” in title. No remedy, you lose it all. (Well, you can try to look for those who sold it to you and demand restitution - hah, as if!)
And forget new construction. Buildings collapsing, buidlings not finished, developer going “bankrupt” (to a warmer climate) before they even break the ground - it’s a gamble.
For years, everyone said that the USA would be a world business center, because our laws and legal system protected people’s rights.
On the local level, it might even still be true. But it looks to me like everyone at the top of the pyramid in DC and Wall Street are “globalizing”, and equalized the playing field, by turning our legal system into bottom-feeders, like the rest of the world.
But it looks to me like everyone at the top of the pyramid in DC and Wall Street are “globalizing”, and equalized the playing field, by turning our legal system into bottom-feeders, like the rest of the world.
The good news is we’re still better off than most sovereign nations in that regard.
Our judicial system is by no means perfect, but it’s doing a helluva lot better than our legislative process.
A lot of this sounds like here ( in the USA ) ?
“Now rents have started to fall”
That’s true. I used to get rent in USD, then I changed to RUB, with an option of “revalue” based on FX rate. Durign crisis last fall, I decided not to exercise the option of raising RUB rent, since IMO it’s better to charge slightly below market and make sure the good tenants stay. So even though RUB rent remains the same, USD equivalent fluctuates and is less than last year.
I’ve been hoping prices would fall so that I could get another one on the cheap. I bought when oil was close to $12. With oil at $70, no luck so far.
“Predatory mafia-like groups make a business of launching attacks on private owners, liaising with corrupt municipality officials and corrupt land registry officials to dispossess the rightful owners.”
Wow, for a moment there, I thought they were talking about the New London, Connecticut eminent domain case. But in that case the corrupt officials were as highly placed as SCOTUS.
Watch closely the decision on whether or not corporations are entitled to “free speech”, in terms of political involvement.
Sometimes I think Russia’s got nothing on the US, in terms of corruption. Congress looks more and more like the Politburo of old, as days go by.
the New London, Connecticut eminent domain case
Was that the case that the Supreme Court upheld ??
yes
Which way would you like it go on “free speech” for corporations, Palmy?
I’m all for freedom, but the freedom of corporations is often antithetical to the freedom of individuals. Esp now that we have so many corps themselves owned by the govt!
“Which way would you like it go on “free speech” for corporations, Palmy?”
I think the idea is beyond absurd. Corporations are not people. You don’t see corporations walking down the street or having a Big Mac or piercing their noses. And yet SCOTUS is actually considering the case. Taking into account what they did in Kelo (New London case), I don’t hold out much hope. SCOTUS is pretty much a joke these days.
“……as traders showed concern over energy demand.”
Man, I’m glad us country boyz don’t need to figger out what to pay for oil…….it’s watermelon harvest time, and if me and the neighbors have a $hitload of watermelons, and no buyers, the price would be going DOWN. I guess we aren’t so-fist-icated enuf to undurstand all this newfangled math them brainiacs on Wall Street are working with.
Another thing that bugs the crap out of me: “median income/prices”
Back in the old days, when doing jet engine performance runs/trends with a calculator, we used to “throw out” the bottom and top 10%, to make the numbers more accurate, by deleting the “extremes”. From what I’m seeing, the top 10% in incomes and house prices are skewing the numbers, making things look much better than they actually are. Especially since the 10% on the “low” end isn’t that much different than the next 20-30%.
XGS, I don’t understand your complaint about the use of the median. It “throws out” the top 49.9% and the bottom 49.9%, eliminating the extreme in a rather EXTREME way.
There are OTHER reasons to complain about use of median price statistics, e.g., that some very opaque factors can affect the mix of properties involved in transactions at particular times.
Although not worldy, relatively speaking, I was in Moscow for 14 days. Angela and I saw Elton John at the Kremlin Palace. Banquet upstairs b/4 concert.
Angela was going nuts. Rock Stars (Russia’s closest to Paul McCartney were everwhere).
We almost got married. She is in Dubai now managing a hotel. We keep in contact. Crowd was very high class, beyond me for sure.
Welcome to the world of emerging markets. Invest liberally.
So much for emerging markets. Nice buzzphrase, though.
“Stephen Jen, currency chief at Morgan Stanley, said the ‘glowing reputation’ enjoyed by emerging markets during the global boom was a deception caused by the easy-money largesse of the credit bubble. Strip that away, and the picture looks very different.”
Emerging market funds: Up nearly 50% since January. Participate in the profits or keep complaining and get left in the dust.
BRIC rocks the world! A good hedge, along with precious metals against the current massive monetary inflation of the U.S. dollar. Monetary inflation precedes price inflation.
I get to feel a year younger seeing an article posted here from Oct 2008 describing the Brazil situation. But back then I DID think that it was all going to crash here and for awhile the BOVESPA and the Real did.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the Brazilian meltdown. Real estate prices in Rio rose about 5% since Oct 2008, almost exactly the rate of inflation. Real estate prices have tracked the rate of inflation here for the past decade. Source: O Globo, Indexmundi
Currently Brazil is not in an economic crisis. Go figure. The Banks never made many bad loans, there are no foreclosures because only 5% of the people have mortgages and Brazil . There has been a recession however Brazil is weathering the storm pretty well, much better than I and many thought it would.
This condensed quote from Globalpost.com’s Sept 12 2009, article: “A World of Trouble” does a good job describing Brazil’s current economic situation.
“The Brazilian economy was pre-immunized from some effects of the crisis because of its rigid structure and regulatory system. Sky-high interest rates that were at least in part the result of Brazil’s fear of hyperinflation meant NO RISK OF A FORECLOSURE CRISIS, SINCE THE MORTGAGE INDUSTRY IS IN ITS INFANCY. That also left a heck of a tool for reheating the economy: chopping ….the interest rate from $13.75 to 8.75.” Source: http://tinyurl.com/q6jxoc
And this just in: Bloomberg, 9-11-2009
“Brazil’s economy expanded 1.9 percent in the second quarter from the previous three-month period, the national statistics agency said today in Rio de Janeiro.”
“Six straight months of job growth, coupled with tax breaks and record low borrowing costs, are driving consumer spending, helping Brazil rebound from the global financial crisis faster than was previously expected, said Alexandre Schwartsman, chief economist for Banco Santander SA in Sao Paulo.” Source: http://tinyurl.com/lmx5w7
Rio….Please keep up with the occasional post…Brazil seems to have gotten some things right…Besides, I am 1/2 Portuguese…
Thank you scdave. Here are some other recent headlines:
“Brazilian economy rebounds and returns to growth in second quarter” MercoPress 9/12/09
“Brazil’s growing middle class powers country’s economic rebound” McClatchy Newspapers 8/2/09
“Brazil’s Coming Rebound
Consumers are spending and banks are sound. Is the Latin giant finally growing up?” BusinessWeek 8/6/09
I hope it’s for real. I think it might be too.
WOW, so Brazil is immune, then? Oh, OK.
My thinking would be, Brazil is just LATE. Kind of the way Utah was just late. Brazil is now inventing all those easy-money plans to encourage homedebtorship, the same way USA did 7-10 years ago. It would be surprising if Brazil does not go through the bubble-and-bust cycle at all.
That was the point I was trying to make the other day; I hope it can be of use to some.
Mysterious,
Some Bankers WERE actually pretty clever…
“Brazil’s tight bank rules a blessing in disguise” Reuters 9/10/09
http://tinyurl.com/o6upw2
“Now is the moment for these more developed markets that thought themselves slightly immune to this type of crisis to have some humility and adopt the parameters that Brazil adopted.”
“My thinking would be, Brazil is just LATE…It would be surprising if Brazil does not go through the bubble-and-bust cycle at all.”
Brazil IS late… and maybe will be 6,593 YEARS late.
It took Brazil 187 years (age of country) to build up its total mortgage debt to equal 2.2% of its 2008 GDP. Source: Banco do Brasil
It took the USA 233 years to build up our total mortgage debt to equal 80% our 2008 GDP. Source: Hoover Institute
Brazil’s Mortgage debt: 2.2% of GDP
USA’s Mortgage Debt: 80% of GDP,
According to my math, at Brazil’s current acquisition rate of mortgage debt, Brazil will equal USA’s 2008 level of relative mortgage debt in 6,593 years. (Talk about being late to the party but Brazilians are often late to parties) (chuckle)
The above factors are not the only ones involved but they do provide a good example of the huge differences between the USA and Brazil on the subject of mortgage debt. It’s different here.
I know that Brazil is increasing the availability of home loans and other programs but these new “easy money plans” being introduced do not amount to much yet in light of Brazil’s current lack of mortgage debt.
Brazil home prices could very well fall but probably not for the “easy financing” reasons you suggest.
“WOW, so Brazil is immune, then? Oh, OK.”
Please do not put words in my mouth or imply that I said something that I didn’t. Not once have I said Brazil was “immune” and I’ve written more than once that prices could come down if the economy weakens. It’s all in the record.
I did not say Brazil was immune. All I said was that it’s different here.
From the article you just posted above:
“The Brazilian economy was pre-immunized from some effects of the crisis …”
You “different here” folks are all the same. You will deny your own damned selves if you have to.
“The Brazilian economy was pre-immunized from some effects of the crisis …”
Big V,
Me using the above quote does not mean I said Brazil was “immune” and I don’t know if I should feel gratified or disappointed that the obvious but unintentional bait which that quote turned out to be was taken.
I could be gratified because I’ve just been provided a telling example of my debate adversary’s level of reasoning and comprehension skills or more probably, her unwillingness to utilize those skills objectively. But I could also be disappointed because now I need to take time to defend my position that has been unreasonably attacked and misconstrued.
First of all, the above was not something I wrote, it was something I quoted and agree with. But “pre-immunized from SOME of the effects of the crisis” does not mean I said Brazil is immune from house price declines and it isn’t.
The utilization of the above quote does not even mean that I implied Brazil is immune to the crisis. The key word in the above quote is SOME. Brazil is immune to SOME of the effects of the crisis but Brazil is not immune to the crisis. It still can be affected by the crisis. Again, it is not immune.
For example: If I am “pre-immunized” against SOME of the effects of swine flu, that does not mean I can’t get the swine flu. I am not immune. It only means that I will be free of some of its effects. Maybe I won’t have the chills or maybe the flu won’t last as long or be as severe. Maybe I will be racked with fever but still able to comprehend subtleties of written English.
The fact that it’s different here should be no personal reflection on my character or me. We should all refrain from using inappropriate words referring to posters. I sincerely hope that I am not “damned” and I hope you are not either.
Rio:
If you are immunized for the flu, then you are immune to it, not just some of it. You either get it or you don’t. Take a class or something.
If you quote an article because you agree with it, then you are opening yourself up to an argument by those of us who can see that it’s utter BS.
I sure hope those Brazilian green shoots of yours turn out for ya, since your government is blowing a housing bubble to try to cover up their crappy economy.
I know, I know, you live in Brazil, so therefore there can’t be a bubble. That’s not what our other (more intelligent) commentator had to say the other day. I noticed you igorned her comment though. Remember? She said there’s a huge bubble in Brazil.
Brazil is going down, hahahahah!
Big V,
“Brazil is going down, hahahahah!”
Man….what you wrote is almost scary, and could be indicative of something serious. Why would anyone wish bad things upon 200 million people? Most Brazilians are honest and cheerful in the face of challenges most Americans don’t face. Brazilians are some of the nicest people in the world and you wishing them ill (or laughing at their potential suffering) because you disagree with me is downright strange.
Hey Rio:
I am laughing at YOU for being so blind that you can’t even acknowledge what lies ahead. As a result, you will end up as a bitter FB, and will probably think back on this conversation a few years from now and wish you hadn’t been so emotionally stubborn about the whole thing.
Whether the poor Brazilians are cheery or not has nothing to do with it. You guys have a housing bubble, and those who can’t/won’t come to terms with it will suffer.
BTW, long-time readers of this blog are totally hip with the “making fun of FBs” thing. It’s what we do. We think you’re funny.
Sorry to scare you, but yes, you have a serious economic/financial problem.
Big V,
Maybe, and I hope so, but I don’t think that’s what you really meant. I’m beginning to think there is something “different” about you…You don’t argue the issue’s facts or argue fairly.
And your “Brazil is going down! Hahahaha” comment hinted at a malevolence I can’t understand.
But you CAN’T call me a FB. My home in good neighborhood is 100% paid for and if it lost 70% of its value I would only lose about 25% of my net worth. I have dealt with much worse setbacks than that and I have Zero debt. Besides, I need a place to LIVE here. I explained this b4 but I guess you didn’t listen. I don’t think anyone on this blog would laugh at my situation.
Big V,
“I noticed you igorned her comment though. Remember? She said there’s a huge bubble in Brazil.”
You are wrong again here too.
I DID respond to the other poster about Brazil and ended my response with a praise of Minas food. (Minas is where she lived in Brazil)
Sorry,
Corrections:
“only 5% of the people have mortgages IN Brazil.”
“chopping ….the interest rate from 13.75% to 8.75%.
If today’s (Sunday’s) Bits Buckets ever appears, I suppose I’ll repost this in BB. Was just reading an item about Altos Research’s report that showed real-estate ASKING prices suffered a MOM decline in August for the first time since February. I may be surprised that asking prices nationally (US) had been increasing…I guess that’s what happens in Peak Selling Season…anyway, delighted to report that the reported trend is reported to have reversed.
Hey az_lender:
That’s awesome.
So, I get a call from my LL the other day. He called to let me know that the last set of prospective buyers for this house declined to make an offer. They were put off by the highway noise (practically silent, since this house is on 2.5 acres, and is set on the back 1/3 of that), AND they thought the price was “a bit too high” (about 100k above similar houses). He also wanted to let me know that he would be coming by to put more flyers in his box underneath the for-sale sign.
A few days later, I go out to check my mail and notice the new flyers. I approach the box of flyers, worried that his price reduction might have been sufficient to get the place sold. I draw nearer, squinting through the plastic shield, apprehensive. The new price? YOU GUESSED IT, same as the old price.
Bwahahahha. BWAHAHAhahahah. hahahah. LOL.
The new price? YOU GUESSED IT, same as the old price.
ROTFLMAO
You’ll have a place to rent for another year.
Got Popcorn?
Neil
You’ll be there for 5 more years or until he goes bankrupt, whichever comes first.
Big V, the truth will slowly dawn on him. And then make sure you let him know the gruesome details of how, when your co-worker finally got the nonpaying tenants out after a year of motions and continuances, they left the house on Friday for Ohio, never to return - but it had already been stripped by the time the cleaning crew came on Saturday. I know, I know. But it COULD have happened.
To quote the inimitable FPSS: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!