Bits Bucket For October 22, 2010
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The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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A friend sent me a link to a Boulder RE agent’s “blog”(?) that talks about the local market. It was interesting to me because he seems pretty realistic in some ways and makes some HBB-style points to his readers, but at the same time talks a lot about why it’s different here. The oddest thing to me is that in one story he claims that Boulder didn’t have a bubble (and therefore won’t go down) because the exact same house only went up a little over the last 10 years…it’s only the mix that got more expensive. I’m not really buying that, but he seems to have pretty good data for all his claims. Just curious what the opinions here are if anybody wants to check it out…
http://boulderrealty.blogspot.com/
“The oddest thing to me is that in one story he claims that Boulder didn’t have a bubble (and therefore won’t go down) because the exact same house only went up a little over the last 10 years…”
I’ve long maintained here on the blog that this particular lie is widespread and considered conventional wisdom almost universally in the Northeast. It’s another way of saying “we’re not Florida”. Nevertheless, it’s pervasive, insidious and in my opinion, the NAR Crime Gang is directly responsible for it as a result of their “every market is different” propaganda campaign.
The bubble may not have hit the northeast as hard as it hit other areas, but we were not completely immune to its effects. Prices for a modest middle class home where I live(central Mass) rose from the low 100’s to the mid 200’s during the bubble(there were literally crack houses for sale at about $250,000), and so far prices have dropped some but still hover in the high 100’s to low 200’s. We still have a ways to go.
…… a long ways to go.
It’s amazing how most people (I would put it at 95%) haven’t got a clue about what’s going on with the economy and the housing market.
Agreed. But an interesting comment. If 95% had known, would there have been a bubble? Isn’t it a dependent on the stupid? the dreamers?
Unfortunately, and I truly hate to say this, they aren’t far wrong as far as Silicon Valley goes. An example for San Jose: my friend’s house in 2002 - $450. Appraised a year ago for refinancing at $480k (that’s about right, I’d say). However, Zillow in its wisdom has it at $581k and that’s what similar homes in that area are going for.
Her sister’s house was appraised at the same time for over $800k and its worth in 2002? - $460k! I have to seriously suspect this appraisal!! Even Zillow doesn’t have close to that.
Zillow should not even be considered as a source for house values. It is horribly inaccurate, and always to the high side.
I agree. Unfortunately, people do use it though.
Boulder and Denver housing prices shot up dramatically during the 98-00 tech bubble. The fact that they havent doubled or tripled following the tech burst does not mean they were not kept inflated by cheap credit. Boulder is one of the most expensives places to live in the United States and lacks big city amenities or waterfront property. Just because one factor (tech burst) worked towards pushing prices down does not mean that another factor (cheap credit) did not simultaneously work to continue to hold them up above historical equilibriums in light of local economic conditions.
“Just because one factor (tech burst) worked towards pushing prices down does not mean that another factor (cheap credit) did not simultaneously work to continue to hold them up above equilibriums in light of local economic conditions.”
Did cheap credit hold prices up in Cleveland or Detroit?
It takes more than cheap credit to make an economy work; It takes money flow. If money flows into an area then that area will prosper. If money stops flowing into that area or (gasp) starts flowing out then that area deteriorates.
“Did cheap credit hold prices up in Cleveland or Detroit?”
Yes. I would argue cheap credit kept prices in Cleveland or Detroit above where they would have been without it. Falling prices does not mean cheap credit is not having an effect, only that there other and sometimes stronger forces at work.
“Yes. I would argue cheap credit kept prices in Cleveland or Detroit above where they would have been without it.”
You are aware, I hope, that one can buy a house in Cleveland or Detroit for a dollar?
Or… one can go to a ghost town - where there is absolutely no money flow - and get a house for free.
“You are aware, I hope, that one can buy a house in Cleveland or Detroit for a dollar?” What is the value of a liability or a house in an extremely dangerous hood? Are you saying that you think prices in Cleveland and Detroit would be the same at 10% mortgage rates and tighter lending standards?
“Are you saying that you think prices in Cleveland and Detroit would be the same at 10% mortgage rates and tighter lending standards?”
The same? At a dollar a house the mortgage rate or lending standards wouldn’t make any difference because at a dollar a house one could buy it with cash.
The dollar pricing is a reflection that the house is not deemed habitable because of condition or hood, or both. The areas you would want to live in are still expensive based on historic equilibrium modeling.
“The areas you would want to live in are still expensive based on historic equilibirum modeling.”
The areas I would want to live in are still expensive because there is CASH FLOWING in those areas.
I would agree with Natalie’s arguments, lack of cheap credit would have made the housing in Detroit and Clevland cheaper. Nicer parts of Detroit are still expensive.
Even if you pay me million dollars I would not leave in the dollar house.
Thanks
Ex-Detroit Suburb resident
“Nicer parts of Detroit are still expensive.”
Because?
Because of cheap mortgage rates, or is it because there is MONEY flowing about in these nice areas?
i think there is more money flowing about these nice areas because of cheap mortgage rates.
“Because of cheap mortgage rates, or is it because there is MONEY flowing about in these nice areas?”
The houses have value because they are in economically viable areas, and the prices exceed the value because of cheap mortgage rates.
My mom’s Boulder house doubled in price in 3-4 years. She cashed out and moved to Oregon.
What time period are we talking about?
She could have cashed out in Boulder, and say, bought all of Detroit?
I don’t think that it matters that the increase in aggregate was expressed by newer, more expensive houses added to the mix. Look at it this way. The most expensive 10% of homes will generally be bought by those whose incomes are in the top 10%. The same is generally true at the 50% level. But adding only more expensive houses down the street, means that a neighborhood where homes used to be purchased by people with incomes at the 50th precentile is now being purchased by people with incomes at the 43rd precentile incomes.
Income and population levels are not constant variables and have to be considered. I agree, however, that adding more expensive homes to the mix would be bubblicious and point to instability unless income levels and population flows supported new housing construction skewed towards the higher end. I do not think they did in Boulder’s case.
Well yes, if newer homes are being added at the rate of population increase, the effect is minimal. To some extant this is the normal situation. In general, the mix of newer homes is somewhat nicer than older homes, although the fact that homes at the bottom of the mix tend to drop out and become abandoned or are torn down can hide this. (survivor bias) It’s also true that the effect is very non-linear because incomes are also very nonlinear. And there is considerable lag, since homes don’t go on sale every year.
One factor to consider: To what extent were desirable inland spots like Boulder and Denver buoyed by refugee demand from those who were able to escape from California before it was too late?
To what extent were desirable inland spots like Boulder and Denver buoyed by refugee demand from those who were able to escape from California before it was too late?
I don’t know, I’m sure there was some of that. Looking at the data in the link, he makes a good case that the low end is pretty strong. It makes me think that a “desirable” spot like Boulder really does have pent up demand that’s outside of town or renting, and is ready to buy the moment the cheapest stuff drops at all. In the meantime he admits the top end is in trouble just like elsewhere. Will that trickle all the way to the bottom? I guess it depends on how much pent up demand there is?
“Will that trickle all the way to the bottom?”
Maybe I’m wrong on this, but I tend to think of housing as being on a continuum as apposed to being in distinct groups (high end, low end, middle…) If correct, then a change in pricing at one end of the continuum will eventually effect the whole.
Why buy a $800K house when you can get a formerly $900K house for the same price? But then the former $800k houses lose demand and have to drop in price, and so on.
Oh yeah, this theory made it evident to me that the “subprime is contained” argument was ludicrous.
Al…. two words, one idea; Price Compression.
Most people around here agree with your ‘continuim’ thinking.
This means that the best houses in an area will always sale* (unless it’s a total ghost town). The only question is ‘at what price?’.
* ok, maybe a few castles and mansions where the carrying costs (taxes, maintenance, utilities) are absurdly high may not sell, but I’m talking about SFH.
Keep in mind that as incomes are nonlinear, it makes sense for house prices to be non-linear as well. By which I mean the of 1,000 houses for sale, the is MUCH more difference in price between the 5th and 6th most expensive house as there is between the 784th and 785 most expensive houses.
“will always sale*”
Only if the seller comes to his senses and reduces his reservation price to whatever the market will bear.
I think it still is. My LL in Westminster (inner suburb of Denver) jacked up my rent something like ~$100/mo, saying that a lot of out-of-staters are driving up the demand for apartments.
Also interesting is that I’ve been seeing a lot of cars with IL state plates on them. This seems to be a new phenomenon.
Well at least that’s what HE thinks. ISTR a thread here where somebody moved out after his landlord raised the rent and then the home wav vacent for 6 months. That landlord learned an expensive lesson.
I had a neighbor that moved out and the unit was cleaned out and fixed up by the maintenance staff (the previous tenant kinda trashed the place). Basically, within two weeks, I had new neighbors.
I don’t know how long it took my former commercial landlord to rent out the unit I was in when I moved out last December, but as of this week I saw that they were offering 2 months free rent to get people to move in.
I would think the problem at this point would not be finding tenants, but finding financially reliable ones. Our LL seems to want us to stay very badly, not that he can’t rent the place out again, so much as he knows we pay on time and help out by doing a lot of minor maintenance and repairs.
Boulder also has very strict zoning. I would be surprised is any non university housing was built in the past 10 years.
There is a greenbelt around Boulder that cannot built in. There is new construction in Boulder,but it usually involves tear downs.
I don’t understand Boulder’s “allure”. It isn’t that nice.
yep, I have a cousin that lives in Erie
his parents (my Aunt & Uncle) always pass it off as if he “lives” in Boulder
I don’t think that anything new can be built in Boulder (and has been like that for a number of years now!)
Another thing that might prop up rental prices (at least) is a large influx of rich out-of-staters who come to CU-Boulder to ski/snowboard. CU-Boulder’s desperately trying to lure in more out-of-state students to bring in more money, since the university’s bascially broke, and a lot of them seem to have some pretty nice cars (newer BMWs/Lexuses, big lifted trucks, etc.).
At the same time, it seems like the B bus which goes between Boulder and Denver is more crowded this year, so more people might be fleeing Boulder for cheaper housing (like me).
“his parents (my Aunt & Uncle) always pass it off as if he “lives” in Boulder”
Well, they do live in Boulder County (lol). So close enough.
“Another thing that might prop up rental prices (at least) is a large influx of rich out-of-staters who come to CU-Boulder to ski/snowboard.”
I have some friend who intended to do that: send the out of state son to CU Boulder. As they arrived for orientation they were hit with a last minute tuition increase. They, and several other out of state families picked up their bags and went home (with junior in tow). My firend’s kid wound up going to Cal Poly instead.
Mad props to them. That takes some real guts to do.
But…but Boulder has Celestial Seasonings! And a pedestrian mall… with head shops.
And what is an 18-year old doing with a Lexus?
Well, Celestial Seasonings is out in Gunbarrel, so it’s not truly in “Boulder Proper”.
The 29th St. Mall is hated by everyone, including longtime Boulder residents. I don’t think it’s ever gone below a 25%-33% vacancy rate.
Honestly, CU-Boulder is not that great of a school compared to other in-state schools, so I don’t think (in most cases) they come for the academics (or diversity, for that matter). I think most out-of-staters are rich kids (out-of-state tuition is something like $30k/yr) that are really there just for the outdoor recreation. If you can afford a high tuition like that just so you can play outside, you can probably afford a luxury car as well.
That being said, I don’t know why anyone would want to keep a nice car on/near the CU-Boulder campus. A major motivation for me taking the bus in Boulder was after I got in a succession of two car accidents which I was not at fault for.
Colorado wouldn’t be the choice for older people to escape to. It would have had to have had some sort of job offering for younger people to move to?
What does a bubble look like superimposed on a Depression? That is something we have been able to watch in Western NY for quite a while.
New houses are much bigger. More of the new houses are second homes. Haphazard semi circular windows. Equity locusts from far away. Retirements cashed in to buy “more house”. Realators say “There never was a bubble here.” Vacant storefronts. Expansion of local government debt. Amish folk selling granite countertops (bet you don’t have that in Boulder).
Well stated Blue. Nothing more than a brief reprieve in the secular decline into post industrial decay.
I believe certain parts (perhaps specific to certain towns?) in CNY have provided a peek into the future of a dissolving middle class. There are quite a few examples of wealthy/poor extremes. Dewitt being first and foremost in my mind w/its mix of Syracuse city valuations along with some of the most expensive neighborhoods in the area.
Boulder, CO is regarded locally as a “bubble” (as in the boy-in-the-bubble kind of bubble). There is a sentiment that anything that goes on in that town has no basis on reality or is influenced by anything going on outside of Boulder.
So I wouldn’t be surprised if things are slightly different there. Moreover, Boulder is regarded as a highly desirable place to live by the local granola yuppies, since it’s got all kinds of outdoor recreation nearby and it has kind of a funky feel to it.
Friend of mine sold his house in Boulder this year in a very short time. I think it was less than a month. I don’t know what he paid or what he sold for but the fact it sold that fast would lead me to believe he did OK. He bought another, bigger house in the same general area. 3 kids and 3 dogs and you need some extra space.
Yea well it’s not what you say, it’s what you do.
Hoenig Says Excessive Liquidity Can Lead to `Very Bad Outcomes’
Kansas City Federal Reserve President Thomas Hoenig said that pumping excessive liquidity into the banking system may harm the economy, potentially causing higher unemployment.
“Monetary policy is about an environment that’s supposed to be stable,” Hoenig said yesterday at an economic forum in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “When you try to use it in a way that floods the market with liquidity, you can in fact get very bad outcomes,” including financial instability that leads to increased joblessness.
“‘When you try to use it in a way that floods the market with liquidity, you can in fact get very bad outcomes’, including financial instability that leads to increased joblessness.”
This “financial instability that leads to increased joblessness” has two parts to it:
Part 1: Financial instability and increased joblessness happens here in the Good Ol’ US because …
Part 2: The liquidity dumped into the economy HERE in the Good Ol’ US ends up SOMEWHERE ELSE.
Part 1 transfers wealth to Part 2, hence more and more liquidity needs to be pumped into the Good Ol’ US because it keeps leaking out and going to Somewhere Else.
The US declines, Somewhere Else prospers.
And when a lot of this money that goes Somewhere Else is spent to build infrastructure to make more efficient the production and transportaion of goods to flow back to the Good Ol’ US then the rate of the money flow will INCREASE.
More money dumped HERE means more infrastructure will be built THERE, which lessens the cost of transferring wealth from Here to There.
Stop being a heretic Combo. We all know that “free trade” makes the US “strong”. Well, at least it makes WalMart strong.
More money dumped HERE means more infrastructure will be built THERE, which lessens the cost of transferring wealth from Here to There.
Which is precisely why instead of ‘dumping’ the money here, we should instead invest that money in our OWN infrastructure. An updated electric grid won’t end up in China, even if the workers on it spend some of their paychecks on Chinese-made crap.
huawei will eventually own the telecom market
Lucent alcatel will be history
very sad
What, EXACTLY, is this vague “liquidity?”
Cheap money for the wealthy to play financial games with. Like running up commodity prices through speculation. Or investing it overseas.
Hamptons Home Prices Fall as Buyers Seek Lower-Priced Retreats
By Oshrat Carmiel - Oct 21, 2010 2:42 PM ET
The median price of homes that sold in the quarter fell to $696,000 from $810,000 a year earlier, according to a report today by New York appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and broker Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate. It was the second-lowest price in the firms’ six years of keeping the data, behind only the $675,000 median in the first quarter of 2009.
New York City’s financial industry, whose executives fuel high-end Hamptons demand, lost 1,600 jobs in September from August, the state Department of Labor said today. Professional and business services — a sector that includes lawyers, accountants and architects — lost 9,000 jobs, the most for September since at least 1990. Wall Street firms may cut 80,000 jobs in the next 18 months and year-end bonuses could be the lowest since 2008, Meredith Whitney, founder of Meredith Whitney Advisory Group, said in a Sept. 30 Bloomberg Radio interview
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-21/hamptons-home-prices-drop-as-demand-for-5-million-beach-mansions-slumps.html - 54k
So, from 675.000 in first quarter 2009 went up to 810.000 in third 2009 (I assume that’s what “a year earlier” means) and then down to 696.000 now … something sounds strange …
Ice,Ice Baby… Good news a new show will be airing based on a totally new concept…Flipping houses! Networks must now officially be at the very bottom of the barrel.
~ ‘The Vanilla Ice Project’ ~ ABC News
Rob Van Winkle talks about flipping houses on his new show.
I saw a litlle of that the other.Surpisingly the guy is actually pretty handy.
I was surprised he knew so much about plants and landscaping.
I recenlty came across an ad for a Rickie Martin flip. LOL
Does anybody know if there was ever a “slave bubble” before the civil war?
Did people try to flip slaves like was done with houses?
Also, what if you got a loan to do a slave flip, and the slave died?
was it recourse?
was their slave insurance?
Could the state seize one of your slaves and auction him off to pay back taxes?
Also, did you have to register your slave with the state and have a title for it, like you do for cars?
Also, did a slave hafta be owned by an actual person? or could 5 people form a corporation and pool their money and own a slave that way?
If so, who was responsible if the slave commited a crime?
Wait a minute; if according to the Dred Scott decision, a negro could not be a citizen, because in order to be a citizen, you first hafta be a PERSON,
So how could a slave be charged with a crime?
That would be like charging a horse with a crime?
Right?
Aw, shucks, I dunno, ask Eric “Nation of Cowards” Holder.
I wish you luck on your strange journey in search of truth and insight. Little of that time is known to us as my freckled redheaded ancestors were in virtual slavery in the thread mills of Paisley around those times, and their country cousins were driven off the land in mass in what was known as the Clearances.
Of course we had earlier taken the land and lives of the previous tenants, but that is another story.
So your knowledge of history is limited to what has been passed down to you orally from your ancestors over generations? That should give an interesting perspective on the major historical events.
No Mighty Mike, but we could all play the “I’m special” game if we so chose that disadvantage point. I do know that whites could be bought and sold in this country long after blacks were freed.
Whites were bought and sold BEFORE blacks were brought over.
Who were they? English, and some European, criminals.
A lot of people voluntarily sold themselves into indentured servitude just for the chance to come to America. After five or so years, you were free. But during that period, you were pretty much a slave. You could be bought or sold, beaten, whatever.
“It has been estimated that the redemptioners (indentured servants) comprised almost 80% of the total British and continental emigration to America prior to the Revolution.” (wikipedia)
I’m sorry, I had to laugh. Those feckled redhead ancestors? Would they be the same as described in Southpark as Gingers? The kids with no souls?
I just couldn’t pass that one up.
(disclosure: my father is a daywalker)
Pasiley, Hi cousin Blue Sky
Sheesh, some of my notable Scot-Irish freckled redheaded ancestors where from the Hills of the Gornock Valley a wee bit to the south. Hoodlums, smugglers and minor terrorists Yay. Virtual slaves- no way !
“Beith has a historical connection to smuggling and built a reputation during the 18th centrury as being a town which harboured those whose intentions were not always lawful. In 1733 forty or fifty Beith smugglers sacked the Irvine Customs House, escaping with a rich booty of confiscated contraband goods [8] and by 1789 a company of 76 soldiers were quartered in the town dealing with the continuing illicit trade in tea, tobacco, and spirits. This caused great inconvenience to the law-abiding citizens on whom the soldiers were billeted. The town was policed in this fashion for some time thereafter. Hence, the Main Street’s popular public house is still called the Smugglers Tavern, recalling the days when Beith’s location between the coast and Paisley and Glasgow, made it a convenient stopping off point for those involved in nefarious activities.[9]
A possible relic of the smuggling days of Beith is the ley tunnel that is said to run from the site of the Grace Church on Eglinton Street to Kilbirnie Loch”
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
That old trouble maker, Rev. John Witherspoon, lead the raid on the Customs House and went on to America to sign the Delcaration of Independance.
Like other property you could get insurance on slaves. Frederick Douglas was rented out by his owner to a shipyard in Baltimore, so there was the whole rent vs purchase decision to make. Slaves certainly were charged with crimes, although the extant to which their testimony was admissable varried considerably from state to state.
“…or could 5 people form a corporation and pool their money and own a slave that way?”
5? Nix, nix, nix, …it took 1,743 White Aristocratic Southern State Corporation Plantation owners to pool their resources & propaganda together in order to get & keep them thar self-reproducin’ “slave machines”. Convincing the 400,000 dirt poor white non-slave machine owners up in the surrounding hills to do their Corporations fightin’ & dying & killin’, now that was just plain outright brilliant!
The Constitution says they are 3/5 of a person.
For the purpose of deciding how many Congressional representatives that state received.
I have a brother that flips wives. Course the longer he held the asset the more extreme of an inverse relationship it had to his bottom line.
In antebellum America, Blacks owned slaves, (white and black,) Cherokees and other native tribes owned slaves, (white and black,) Whites owned slaves, (white and black,) so it wasn’t so much a matter of melanin as it was a matter of title. Often consortiums would form to finance a slave-gathering operation and split the proceeds once these unfortunate captives were sold at auction.
What with several generations of interbreeding, private emancipation, immigration of sovereign individuals of color, escapees turning up all over the place claiming freedman status, it all got a bit confusing by the mid-1800’s, and in many cases the courts couldn’t properly ascertain who owned what and who was, in effect, free and clear. Chain-of-ownership papers were sometimes lost or fraudulently represented, and that durn Dred Scott decision made everybody have to do fractional maths….
Basically, Lincoln just overturned the title companies and let everyone start from square one again.
Chain-of-ownership papers were sometimes lost or fraudulently represented
The more things change, the more they stay the same, eh? And it just took a civil war to straighten it all out…
(At least Wall Street wasn’t issuing Slave Backed Securities. Or were they?)
Wall street and the Boston merchants made many, many fortunes on the cotton markets and the triangle trade. When the triangle trade became illegal they got in early on the forcing-the-Chinese-to-buy-opium-business. All through it Hartford insurance companies made a mint insuring every ship full of opium, shipment of cotton, and tens thousands of slaves were directly insured, too.
Basically, Lincoln just overturned the title companies and let
everyone“We the people…” start from square one again.“Yas’em, uh huh…& Glory Hallelujah! Mass’er Lincoln, we thanks ya even ifin’ yousa a Yankeey lanky lairyer!”
“What should we do with these here chains & shackles?”
“…toss ‘em in the river, lessin’ they use ‘em on ya’all for sum “other” purposes.”
Renting is freedom.
Bottom line…
Course the longer he held the asset the more extreme of an inverse relationship it had to his bottom line
Holding on hasn’t appeared to hurt John Kerry…
Lloyds of London insured slave ship cargo.
Calif. Pensions Cost Each Resident $3,000
Steve Large SACRAMENTO (CBS13)
Oct 19, 2010 10:20 pm
A new report says the burden on California families to support the state workers’ pension system could triple within a few years and drag the state down further into the financial hole.
The Milken Institute, an independent think tank, said California’s pension obligations to retired state workers already cost each Californian $3,000 every year. By 2014, that cost could go up to $10,000 a year, the group’s report said.
“If we stopped everything today, we would be 500 billion dollars in the hole, of what we owe people that we’ve promised already,” said Marcia Fritz, a pension reform activist with CaliforniaPensionReform.com
http://cbs13.com/californiapolitics/california.pensions.cost.2.1971337.html - 100k -
““If we stopped everything today, we would be 500 billion dollars in the hole, of what we owe people that we’ve promised already,”
Wow! That makes Colorado’s future annual pension liability of $7B look like chump change.
“The Milken Institute, an independent think tank, said California’s pension obligations to retired state workers already cost each Californian $3,000 every year. By 2014, that cost could go up to $10,000 a year, the group’s report said.”
And what current and future population base are these figures predicated upon?
I’m sure it’s in the report. Dig it out.
“I’m sure it’s in the report. Dig it out.”
You missed the point completely. Unless you can see accurately into the future the numbers are a piece of crap like most of the ones by the government agencies, NAR, etc, so why do you want to quote them!!!
And many of those pensions are fleeing the State which compounds a already enormous problem…Those pension dollars are not being spent in the state that is paying the pension…
Bingda, bangada, boom!
Thank goodness with Prop 13 no one will ever have to pay that money.
Thank goodness with Prop 13 ??
Damm right…Just read some of the post on this blog about county assessors raising real estate taxes at will…Gotta deficit…Raise the tax…Need a new police station…Raise the tax…New union contract for the public employees…Raise the tax…
“Thank goodness with Prop 13 no one will ever have to pay that money.”
Ditto with TABOR in Colorado.
If prop 19 passes it will start a whole new industry bringing more wealth to California.
If prop 19 passes ??
If it passes our Mommy & Daddy in DC has already told us children in California that they will not allow that..Mommy & Daddy knows whats best right…??
The pot growers don’t want it passed either. It could potentially cut into their profits! Yep, support the small time pot grower and the cartels — vote no on 19!
The Milken Institute, an independent think tank, said California’s pension obligations to retired state workers already cost each Californian $3,000 every year. By 2014, that cost could go up to $10,000 a year, the group’s report said.
The people of CA are SLAVES to the public unions. They just do not know it yet.
Imagine if some public union goon showed up at your front door and demanded $10,000 in cash to JUST pay for his pension or he was going to bash your head in and take your house or garnish your wages. Of course, we are much more civilized today…
I didn’t see in this article/report if the cost includes or excludes the pensions investments nor the state’s CAFR investments.
Therefore, I have to conclude the number is bogus and meant to sell only fear and anger.
Right.
(That’s for you, Spook.)
Uh, wasn’t this slave issue settled two centuries-or-so ago by some sort of war?
“wasn’t this slave issue settled two centuries-or-so ago by some sort of war?”
The only thing that will ever settle the issue for good is the break up of the US. Which looks more and more possible every day.
“The only thing that will ever settle the issue for good is the break up of the US. Which looks more and more possible every day.”
If you really want to piss off right wingers and pro military types, tell them that. Their usual response is that the USA will last forever.
But not until AFTER the next civil war they will tell they’re going to win.
The only thing that will settle the modern saga of slavery in the US is the breakup of the banks.
It used to be somebody else sold a person into slavery, nowdays it’s the slaves themselves that are doing the selling.
It was quite common for farmers to sell themselves into slavery during the tail end of the Roman empire.
True dat. Indebtedness to Megabank, Inc is the new slavery, and we are all slaves now, thanks to stratospheric prices and rents which resulted from home purchases at unaffordable prices funded by unrepayable debt.
“and we are all slaves now,”
Speak for yourself! I chose freedom over debt-slavery.
I am very happy with my current rent on my current abode, which seems quite reasonable relative to both my income and my savings. And if were to change, I have the option of finding another LL who would like my rent as income.
“I am very happy with my current rent on my current abode, which seems quite reasonable relative to both my income and my savings.”
You can delude yourself all you want, but unless you live in a place where nobody else besides you wants to live, there is a good chance you pay a bubble premium due to the recent willingness of idiots to overpay for nearby housing they could not afford.
“The only thing that will settle the modern saga of slavery in the US is the breakup of the banks.”
POTD!
Home sales in California fall a third straight month; prices up slightly
By Alejandro Lazo, Los Angeles Times
October 22, 2010
Statewide, 33,176 houses and condominiums sold in September, a 3.1% decline from August and down 17.5% from September 2009, MDA DataQuick said. The median home price was $265,000, up 1.9% from August and 5.6% from September 2009.
…
* Related
* Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac bailouts could hit $363 billion, report says
* Mortgage rates edge higher after 3 weeks of declines
* Mortgage database’s murky legal status adds another wrinkle to foreclosure mess
Just look at that huge crowd of vultures sitting on the sideline of the Bay Area housing market, waiting to swoop in and snap up real estate investing bargains at fire sale prices!
Bay Area September Home Sales Second-Lowest in 19 years
October 21, 2010
La Jolla, CA.—-Bay Area home sales fell year-over-year for the fourth consecutive month in September, dropping 27 percent below average, as historically-low mortgage rates failed to nudge many would-be buyers off the sidelines. The region’s median sale price stood 8 percent higher than a year ago, but price signals were mixed at the county level, a real estate information service reported.
A total of 6,334 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the nine-county Bay Area last month, down 5.4 percent from 6,698 in August and down 19.6 percent from 7,879 in September 2009, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego.
Last month’s sales were the lowest for any September since 2007, when 5,014 homes sold, and were the second-lowest since September 1991, when 5,735 sold. September sales fell 26.7 percent below the average September sales tally of 8,641 since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin. September sales have ranged from a low of 5,735 in 1991 to a high of 13,343 in 2003.
“The sidelines are getting awfully crowded in this housing game. They’re lined with people who have the ability to buy now but are waiting for the right moment, and with people who have the means but lack job confidence. Then you have all of the folks who don’t have the equity, don’t have a job or can’t qualify for the larger, so-called jumbo mortgages that were once so common in the Bay Area,” said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president.
…
But I thought all the new Facebook and other IPO millionaires were going to turn it around?
How many Facebook or IPO owner households are there? I’m guessing 100 or less in a nation with 114 million households, but I suppose each of these guys may own more than one home?
“How many Facebook or IPO owner households are there? ”
Exactly. There really aren’t all that many.
I’m but a simple caveman, and I know I don’t understand, and this frightens and confuses me, but……..
How does anyone make ANY money of Facebook?
How does anyone make ANY money of Facebook?
It’s not that easy to make money out of any sort of social networking. A lot of people go to these sites in hopes of finding business clients, but I’m here to tell you that you’d be better off putting that time into making cold calls.
They sell access to your data to advertisers.
“They sell access to your data to advertisers.”
Just like google does it with their Gmail and other products.
Just like google does it with their Gmail and other products.
I have had a Gmail account for several years. I have yet to click on any of those ad links.
Ditto for the paid text links that show up with Google’s search results. I don’t remember the last time I clicked one.
You don’t have to click for the ad to be successful. I’ve never clicked on a TV ad either.
The banner ads I see in the New York Times home page seem to know I live in DC. I get ads for local theater instead of NYC theater. Of course, it is possible I told them that when I registered, which would make it a lot less impressive.
No, it’s not just you. Banner ads are definitely watching where I go, and it’s not just location specific. If i look at the weather online, I would expect to see banner ads from that zip code. But I bought a chair from Pottery Barn, and the next day a Pottery Barn ad popped up. I booked a stay at a Hilton a couple weeks ago, and Hilton ads are popping up too.
Some time ago there was a court case where one of those data-mining companies (Choicepoint?) tried to buy the ISP and other info from the interent providers. They wanted to match up the ISP on the computer with the home address of the computer. So if I book a room at Hilton’s website, Holiday Inn could send me paper junk mail. I think that match-up was blocked under 4th Amendment, thank goodness.
It’s still scary.
Reminds me of a semi-related joke.
The mental health help line:
If you have obsessive compulsive disorder, press 1 repeatedly.
If you are co-dependent, please ask someone to press 2 for you.
If you have multiple personality syndrome, press 3, 4, 5, and 6.
If you are delusional, press 7 and your call will be transfered to the mothership.
If you have low self esteem, please hang up. All our representatives are busy.
If you suffer from paranoid schizophrenia, stay on the line. We know who you are and will be there shortly.
“They sell access to your data……”
They probably get $20 a pop. The personal data that I have on Facebook is worth about 75 cents, tops……
The realtors have nothing on Silicon Valley, when it comes to creating value built on Bullchit.
In July, security journalist Noah Shachtman revealed in Wired that “the investment arms of the CIA and Google are both backing a company that monitors the web in real time–and says it uses that information to predict the future.”
Shachtman reported that the CIA’s semi-private investment company, In-Q-Tel, and Google Ventures, the search giant’s business division had partnered-up with a dodgy outfit called Recorded Future pouring, according to some estimates, $20 million dollars into the fledgling firm.
That’s why we use Ixquick.com to search. It’s off shore, and they don’t save your search or sell your information. They also own start page. ChoicePoint owns Lexis Nexis and a host of pre-employment firms and has lots of private information on all of us. I just got our free annual reports to review, and will do so this weekend. I want to know what’s being said.
“How does anyone make ANY money of Facebook?”
Or Google, for that matter. I personally use it daily, but ignore their ads, and so far as I know have never made a purchase based on their ads. Maybe they steal my personal information and sell it?
Funny you should ask that, because realtors always maintained it was when Google went public that the prices flew up in the bay area.
Been here a long time…Seen a lot…The amount of wealth that is concentrated in this valley continues to amaze me…
I really don’t think he meant that last sentence. Did he?
Any day now, the mortgage spigot will be reopened, starting a flood of demand into SoCal housing. Better step up and invest in ten SoCal investment properties today so you are well-positioned for tomorrow’s flood of demand to hit the market.
Southern California Home Sales Drop Again, Median Price Edges Up
October 19, 2010
La Jolla, CA—Southland home sales dropped for the third month in a row amid renewed doubts about a market that is recovering in fits and starts. The median price moved up on a year-over-year basis for the tenth month in a row and has regained about one-fifth of its peak-to-trough loss. The effects on the market of the latest chapter in the foreclosure crisis are unclear, a real estate information service reported.
A total of 18,091 new and resale homes were sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties in September. That was down 2.4 percent from 18,541 in August, and down 16.0 percent from 21,539 for September 2009, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego.
This was the slowest September since 2007, when 12,455 homes were sold. Last month’s sales were 26.3 percent lower than the September average of 24,578. DataQuick’s statistics begin in 1988. An August-to-September drop is normal for the season: On average, sales have dipped 9.2 percent between those two months.
“Today’s market can be characterized as much by activity that’s not happening, as by the activity that is happening. We’re seeing distress-selling, bargain-hunting and entry-level buying, while the rest of the market is still largely on hold,” said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president.
“As many wait for this market uncertainty and turbulence to pass, demand is being generated and is accumulating. At some point, the mortgage spigot will be re-opened and there will be a surge of buying activity, probably financed with low interest rates,” he said.
…
“demand is being generated and is accumulating”
Yeah, households with 70-80K incomes are going to buy 500K houses. Dream on REIC!
Households that used to make $62K a year and now make between $0K and $60K a year are going to buy houses for over $300K, thanks to some unforeseen hair-of-the-dog respiking of the crazy lending punch bowl.
Dream on, John.
P.S. Let me point out that there are still REIC ‘experts’ out there with MSM bully pulpits who never yet left the denial stage of the housing bubble stages of grief.
Fannie, Freddie Elicit Grim
(PB posted a similar article. Just another venue and maybe some extra tidbits.)
Forecast .http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052702304023804575566100668143676.html
This ties into my post the other day about income tiers not matching up with house pricing tiers. People can only afford one tier lower than their income. To make it worse, people THINK they deserve one tier higher than their income. The income curve isn’t Gaussian; it’s skewed lower. The new housing (built to maximize profit) isn’t Gaussian; it’s skewed higher.
Add it up and you have a whale of a statistics problem.
Trying again on DataQuack’s article, with link. Where does this imaginative story about latent demand come from? Do you think Walsh is unaware that interest rates are already at a generational low, and can’t get much closer to zero from here before they head back up again? Where does he believe this imagined source of demand will originate, given no jobs, no savings, no home equity and dismal near-term prospects for the SoCal economy?
Southern California Home Sales Drop Again, Median Price Edges Up
October 19, 2010
La Jolla, CA—Southland home sales dropped for the third month in a row amid renewed doubts about a market that is recovering in fits and starts. The median price moved up on a year-over-year basis for the tenth month in a row and has regained about one-fifth of its peak-to-trough loss. The effects on the market of the latest chapter in the foreclosure crisis are unclear, a real estate information service reported.
…
“Today’s market can be characterized as much by activity that’s not happening, as by the activity that is happening. We’re seeing distress-selling, bargain-hunting and entry-level buying, while the rest of the market is still largely on hold,” said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president.
“As many wait for this market uncertainty and turbulence to pass, demand is being generated and is accumulating. At some point, the mortgage spigot will be re-opened and there will be a surge of buying activity, probably financed with low interest rates,” he said.
…
Report: California home sales fell 17.5 percent last month
JACOB ADELMAN • The Associated Press • October 22, 2010
LOS ANGELES — Home sales in California plunged 17.5 percent last month to reach their lowest level for a September in three years, as historically low mortgage rates and bargain prices failed to draw new buyers during a shaky economy, a tracking firm said Thursday.
San Diego-based MDA DataQuick said 33,176 homes sold in the state last month, down from 40,216 in September 2009. Sales fell 3.1 percent from 34,239 in August.
Last month’s sales were the slowest for a September since 2007, when 24,460 homes sold, and were 25.1 percent lower than the month’s average since 1988 of 44,310.
“In an ordinary marketplace, this much low-priced inventory would be sopped up immediately,” said Larry Rosenthal, who directs the University of California, Berkeley Program on Housing and Urban Policy.
“The fact that we’re seeing this longer-standing kind of weakness — almost paralysis — in the demand for new sales indicates that we have a long row to hoe when it comes to recovery.”
…
yawn……wake me up when my local prices return to the point when sellers were scared and actually made some noticable reductions…that was about 4 mos in Fall ‘08.
Where do banking industry pythons hide the shadow inventory pig that is slowly dissolving inside their gut?
Inventory pushes sales down, prices up
INLAND HOME MARKET: Riverside County’s September decline of nearly 24 percent is Southern California’s steepest.
07:38 PM PDT on Tuesday, October 19, 2010
By LESLIE BERKMAN
The Press-Enterprise
A lean inventory of homes for sale continues to drive down sales and push up prices in Inland Southern California’s slowly recovering housing market, according to a report released Tuesday.
Home sales in September fell nearly 24 percent in Riverside County compared with a year earlier, which was the steepest sales decline in Southern California. San Bernardino County experienced the second steepest year-over-year sales decline in the region at nearly 7 percent.
…
Hey, we’re well into the “come back in April” part of the year, so inventory levels tend to look a little wonkey.
Are you suggesting inventory will return after the Souper Bowl?
Yep. Along with all those wishing and hoping and “I need $x” and “I’m not going to give it away,” listing prices.
Act Now for Year-End Deals on Move-in Ready Homes During ThreeSixty at South Bay’s Unwrap the Holidays Savings Event
PRWeb
SFGate October 22, 2010 04:00 AM
Newport Beach, CA (PRWEB) October 22, 2010
Experience the pride of William Lyon Homes and visit the gated resort community of ThreeSixty at South Bay, where the Unwrap the Holidays Savings Event starts this Saturday, October 23rd. This is your final opportunity to take advantage of year-end deals and Save Big on move-in ready homes at The Flats and The Court neighborhoods. Throw in a holiday move-in package worth up to $10,000* that includes granite kitchen countertops, stainless steel appliances, side-by-side stainless refrigerator, front-load washer & dryer and custom interior paint and you have an incredible home buy near Southern California’s favorite beach towns!
…
So that’s what the ad copywriters do when they can’t get used car work — they get used house work and write the same flippin’ language.
Published: Oct. 22, 2010
Updated: 12:07 a.m.
Home sales dollars fell in September
By JEFF COLLINS
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Orange County real estate brokers sold fewer homes in September, taking a bite out of the dollars generated to run their operations, data from the broker-run Southern California Multiple Listing Service show.
According to the SoCal MLS, total home sales dollars fell 5%, or nearly $72 million, from the same month last year.
More from Business
* Really? Fannie, Freddie bailouts cost $363B
* O.C. adds 11,000 self-employed in ‘09
* Poll: Are you home shopping this season?
The figures mean that commission totals likely were down from a year ago, due mainly to a 9.5% decrease in homes sold through the broker-run MLS. Indeed, the drop in revenues occurred despite a 5% increase in the average price of homes sold last month.
…
Only A Fool Pays The Mortgage
October 21, 2010
By Paul Molinaro
Fransen & Molinaro
Not too many years ago, this headline would have sounded ridiculous. However, such sentiment seems to be gaining traction outside of the fringe anarchist groups that would normally espouse such behavior. Before the real estate market went haywire, a borrower who did not pay the lender lost his or her home to foreclosure. Nowadays, we see lawsuits by homeowners to stop foreclosure, law suits and injunctions by state attorney generals to halt foreclosures, and lenders voluntarily placing moratoriums on trustee’s sales - even when the homeowners have not paid the mortgages.
There are several fears that make people pay debts: (1) credit scores get pummeled when debts are not paid; (2) unsecured creditors will sue, then garnish wages and clean out bank accounts of deadbeats; and (3) secured lenders will take the collateral property whether it is a car, boat, or home. Once a person decides that maintaining a high credit score is worthless and files for bankruptcy to avoid personal liability for debts, all that is left to make that person pay the mortgage is fear of losing the home. Take that fear away, and the only reason to pay the mortgage might disappear as well. Anyone who has kept up with the latest mortgage news should be asking himself or herself, “If the bank cannot take my home, why the heck would I pay the mortgage?”
…
“If the bank cannot take my home, why the heck would I pay the mortgage?”
Wishful thinking. The banksters will get their pound of flesh.
Sounds like a great way to start up a foreclosure law practice:
1) Encourage FBs to stop paying their mortgage, and give you a call while they are at it.
2) Sift through the detritus of sh!tty mortgages for the ones where faulty paperwork might provide legal recourse.
3) Take on as clients the FBs with fraudulent paperwork.
“Wishful thinking. The banksters will get their pound of flesh.”
Yes, but it won’t be from the homeowner/squatter. It will be from the taxpayers in the form of another “Give us a trillion dollars or your economy will go back to the stone age.”
Why?
1. Save the squatters is now a rallying cry for politicos
2. The chain of ownership with regard to mortgage notes has been broken and people/their attorneys are wise to this. It is a good time if you want to be an honest mortgage paying citizen to get a modification as the banks are desperate to get you to sign a new mortgage with “wet ink”
3. MERS is exposed as a empty shell, not an entity with a financial interest that has standing to foreclose.
4. The foreclosee smells “free house” and will challenge despite knowing they haven’t been paying - jingle mail is a thing of the past.
5. Thanks to robosigners, we have a bunch of potentially defective titles which will keep the lawyers busy and title insurers wary.
6. Securitized bondholders are going to join the fray demanding their money back.
Who knows, this may be a better outcome than millions of homeless people revolting.
‘It will be from the taxpayers…Save the squatters…The chain of ownership with regard to mortgage notes has been broken…jingle mail is a thing of the past…’
Wow, are you feeling a little victim-y today? I disagree with about 90% of what you’re saying, BTW, but keep feeling sorry for yourself, while one of the greatest financial opportunities in history walks by you.
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And - which is more - you’ll be a Man my son!
Rudyard Kipling
Ben -
I know you disagree on gold / devaluation of the dollar, but I have no faith in the American political system to inflict the pain necessary to turn things around at least in the foreseeable future. Bailouts, quantative easing, and entitlements will remain the agenda of the day.
Want to avoid being a victim? Precious metals/commodities…..
“but I have no faith in the American political system”
You don’t have to have faith in the system. The system is going to be in gridlock as of January 2nd. Now, as I have stated here a number of times, I don’t have any problem with government(s) doing what it/they could to slow down the fall. It takes time to adjust. I don’t know enough macroecomics to know if Krugman is right and another huge stimulus (or a larger one back at the beginning) could have fixed this. It seems unlikely at least in part because I don’t think that it could possibly have been directed at true infrastructure projects - not in the rush that was going on. But I do know that absent some huge change in political atmosphere (possible but unlikely over the next two years), we are not going to get another giant stimulus or another giant bank bailout. We’ll just have to see what happens without them.
Polly - do you really think whoever is in power is going to do anything to cut entitlements such as pensions, social security or medicare? 40 million plus people on food stamps, millions on emergency unemployment - hey, its only going to get worse. We haven’t even touched the financial disasters at the state and local governmental level. Illinois, by not paying its bills, has been squatting in leased buildings just like homeowners. 500B, $1 trillion, heck I’ve heard some Wall Street pundit forecast $7 trillion of “quantative easing” for the Nov 3 announcement. We will never get our fiscal house in order until it is imposed on us from our creditors. Items that are important like food and energy will become unaffordable.
Whatever number is announced on Nov 3, I believe it won’t be enough to satisfy the street…maybe a good buying opportunity for precious metals.
(Hwy stops paddling down-river, enjoys the silence & solitude)
(Tenant breathes in the fresh air and watches hawks swoop up high.)
I didn’t say I thought there would be massive spending cuts on entitlement programs, though I do expect some nasty fights over the run of the mill funding bills. But TARP has run out. I think that the end of the federal fiscal year (September 30) was the last day they could take any of the money that was originally appropriated and/or paid back and put it into a new program. That is why a bunch of it got pushed onto the states to do their experimental programs. So that is done once the states spend it and it won’t last long. The stimulus money is pretty much gone. The last bill to fund more people getting the extra weeks was a huge fight. With different numbers in the House, it easily could have gone down.
I do not think the federal government will bail out the states. I don’t think it can. There simply isn’t enough money. I get that the govenors of states can put pressure on reps and senators. I do. But there is a limit. And representatives run for office every two years. Think of how scared the republicans (newly elected or not) are going to be of being shot down from the right if they don’t walk the straight and narrow. Bank bailouts and stimuli simply aren’t going to make it. I think that the lame duck congress just might be able to get the infrastructure bank thing through, but the next Congress won’t fund it, so how much stimulating can it do on one appropriation? Not much and that is assuming it passes at all.
You can’t tell what will happen with the states until they run out of accounting tricks that let them avoid their balanced budget requirements. And I don’t think they have. Not quite yet. It will be faascinating to see what is going to happen in the states that try it first. I believe New Jersey is one, but NJ has a lot of waste in those tiny little municipalities, so they might be able to pull off the cuts for a while. Then again, if Meredith Whitney is correct and 80,000 people get laid off from Wall Street next year, I’m not sure that stone soup and cardboard shoes will be able to save NJ.
Well Ben, instead of the most cliched Kipling poem ever written, just what is that “one of the greatest financial opportunities in history?”
During the S&L disaster, it was the ability to buy RE at insanely low prices, but that didn’t occur until the bottom. And even then, like now, it was only available if you still had money.
I find inspiration in the classics:
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
William Ernest Henley
Reality is waiting just ouside the thin veneer of lies. (Huddles in box.)
The foreclosures will only be delayed. There’s a lot of “talk” about not paying the mortgage and staying in the house forever.
It won’t happen.
It’s a paperwork problem, and will get eventually sorted out. As the saying goes, “Nobody has time to do it right, but they can find the time to do it over”.
The banks are learning this lesson. I’m still trying to see what the downside is for the squatters. None that I can see. The only hit you might take is to your credit rating, as if anyone will be able to afford to buy anything in 5 years.
I can see how someone can stretch this out for 4-5 years easily. Sure would be nice if I could get a place to live for free for 5 years.
Yes. Once the FBs realize that they’re GOING to experience foreclosure and bankruptcy, there’s little reason for them to NOT drag this out as long as possible.
Sounds like a good game for the HBB. Find the one family/person in the USA who gets to stiff the banks the longest. Preferably with documentation.
Winner gets a prize.
X-GSfixr -
Too easy (thanks to Google). There are many examples of courts canceling the mortgage cold. So the homeowner keeps the house for free (forever)
Here is one: http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/files/2009/11/23084930-indymacopinion.pdf
What’s my prize?
Great ruling. Thanks Mariner22!!
Oregon sales, jobs likely to double-dip
October 22, 2010
By California Lutheran University,
CLU Center for Economic Research & Forecasting
Highlights:
- Oregon will likely avoid a double dip recession, barely.
- Retail sales and jobs will probably show a double-dip.
- Foreclosures will remain elevated, sales are likely to increase modestly and median home prices are expected to remain flat.
…
No way, man. Haven’t you heard? Intel has saved us again!
With their new Vietnamese fab plant?
Fire at Northern Calif. mall deals blow to region
A bystander watches as fire fighters pour water on to the roof of the Roseville Galleria after a man entered a store earlier in the day and set the shop on fire in Roseville, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 21, 2010.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
By DON THOMPSON
The Associated Press
Friday, October 22, 2010; 7:11 AM
ROSEVILLE, Calif. — A fire that erupted during a police standoff at a suburban Sacramento mall did more than destroy part of a regional shopping hub. It also provided an economic setback to a region of Northern California struggling to emerge from recession.
…
Police descended on the mall at midmorning Thursday when a man claiming to have a gun entered the video game store GameStop and told employees to get out. Police said he barricaded himself inside and started the fire.
“He was saying stuff about his family. The staff from GameStop was saying he was more or less incoherent,” Roseville Police Lt. Mike Doane said. He was hiding outside the store without a weapon when a SWAT team later arrested him.
…
The firefighters did not want to put out the fire because the transient suspect left a backpack in the building.they were afraid there could have been a bomb in.So instead of going inside and hitting a small fire contained to one store, they fought it from the outside and it got way out of hand.Did millions of damage.Didnt have to be this way.
Sounds like a shovel ready project to me.
How will GameStop ever find vacant CRE to rent? The horror, the horror….
They rebuilt New Vegas, they can rebuild the galleria.
How do used home sellers define “marked down slightly”? Does a drop in list price from $165 million down to $95 million (a $70 million price discount) qualify as “marked down slightly” in a used home seller’s math-challenged universe?
Housing crash spurs high-end L.A. shopping spree
By Denise Abbott
Fri Oct 22, 2010 2:26am EDT
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The recession is great news for house buyers looking to drop $5 million on a pad in Los Angeles.
Across the city’s wealthy suburbs, from Tony Hancock Park to coastal Malibu, sales in the $5 million-plus range are up 15% year-over-year, according to Joyce Flaherty, a broker at real estate firm Coldwell Banker.
“A $10 million house in the bubble days is now a $5 million house,” she explains. “Prices were outrageously inflated, and now they’re plummeting. After unsuccessfully shopping their property for years, sellers have been forced to get realistic.”
Overall, southern California home prices have declined 43% since the 2007 peak, according to DataQuick, a San Diego real estate research firm.
Some of the markdowns are impressive. A $30 million Bel Air property was marked down to $21.9 million before eventually closing escrow at $19.5 million in January. Paramount chairman and CEO Brad Grey managed to unload his $29 million estate for $21.5 million in June. The William Randolph Hearst estate, a 50,000-square-foot mansion sitting on 3.7 flat acres above the Beverly Hills Hotel, is back on the market for $95 million. Three years ago, the compound was listed at $165 million.
These are hefty price tags to be sure, but they’re a bargain compared with the going rates in 2007. Buyers are scrambling to take advantage of the price reductions — and sellers who insist on sticking with their original asking prices find their homes stagnating so long that cobwebs form on the listing agreement.
“It’s a price-driven market for sure,” says Jan Eric Horn, head of Coldwell Banker’s architectural division. “If a house is priced slightly below market value it’s perceived as a value and that attracts buyers.”
…
Are there any politicians running for office on a platform of undoing a cram down of $363 bn in GSE losses into American tax payers’ throats? Since Wall Street created the sh!tty assets, and since they have billions and billions of dollars lying around to pay bonuses, how about if they eat the sh!tty mortgage assets they created? I can’t think of a faster way to eliminate moral hazard, short of putting white collar criminals behind bars.
Fannie & Freddie ‘could cost US $363bn’
By Suzanne Kapner in New York
Published: October 21 2010 20:21 | Last updated: October 22 2010 00:44
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-owned mortgage finance companies, could cost US taxpayers as much as $363bn to the end of 2013, according to their regulator, less than some of the worst-case scenarios circulated by critics of the agencies, but more than projections by the White House.
Since they were rescued by the government in 2008, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have drawn $148bn from the US Treasury to stay afloat as losses on bad loans underwritten during the housing boom turned bad at a record pace.
In August, the Congressional Budget Office said Fannie and Freddie would need $390bn in federal subsidies to the end of 2019. The White House’s Office of Management and Budget had in February estimated the cost to be as little as $160bn for the same period, providing the economy continued to strengthen.
…
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Foreclosure pressure on banks grows - Oct-21
Lex: The new US mortgage problem - Oct-18
Foreclosure chaos boosts mortgage debt - Oct-18
Home prices fall in states with risky loans - Oct-11
GMAC moves on foreclosures - Sep-26
GMAC delays evictions in 23 US states - Sep-21
“Home prices fall in states with risky loans - Oct-11″
Is there a state that doesn’t have risky loans? Lemme guess, ND?
Cafe owner ordered to remove extractor fan because neighbour claimed ‘smell of frying bacon offends Muslims’
Daily Mail Reporter - Daily Mail UK
A hard-working cafe owner has been ordered to tear down an extractor fan – because the smell of her frying bacon ‘offends’ Muslims.
Councillors at Stockport Council in Greater Manchester say the smell from the fan is ‘unacceptable on the grounds of residential amenity’.
The fan has been in Beverley’s Snack Shack takeaway in the Shaw Heath area of the town for the past three years.
Mrs Akciecek and her husband Cetin, 50, – himself a Turkish Muslim – work more than 50 hours a week buying, preparing and cooking hot and cold sandwiches and hot-pots for their customers.
Today mother-of-seven Mrs Akciecek said she plans to appeal against the decision.
She said: ‘I just think it’s crazy. Cetin’s friends actually visit the shop, they’re regular visitors, they’re Muslim people, they come in a couple of times a week.
‘I have Muslim people come in for cheese toasties. Cetin cooks the food himself, he cooks the bacon.
‘When we go to a cafe my husband wouldn’t be offended by the smell of bacon. His friends are not offended by it, we have three visitors who come here for a sandwich, friends of my husband, and the smell doesn’t offend them at all.
‘My brother-in-law doesn’t flinch if he comes and we’ve just taken out three trays of bacon.
‘I’m going to find a local councillor. I’m waiting for the letter so I can appeal.’
The couple took over the take-away in 2007 from the previous owner and replaced the existing extractor fan, which had been there for six years, with a new modern one.
Matthew 15
Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand.
What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean,’ but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean.’ “
lmao….. you quoting Jesus given your harsh judgment and condemnation of the least among us is like David Vitter preaching family values.
This here is a nose thing.
“If thy nose offends thee, pluck it out.”
ROTFLMAO, Skye.
I’m surprised anyone can tell they difference between greasy bacon frying, greasy beef, greasy fish, and greasy chips frying. Especially someone who has never eaten bacon.
The smell of frying food offends me too. That’s why I don’t live near any restaurants.
I wonder how long until UK Muslims get supermarkets to stop selling pork as it “offends them”?
Next week?
ladies and gentlemen start your bacon friers!
LOL….
China Academy of Social Sciences: Housing Prices in Tier One Cities May Decrease 20%
* Friday 2010-10-22 10:45
October 22 — The transaction price of properties in China’s first-tier cities could begin to decline a maximum of 20 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010, reports Guangzhou Daily, citing a report released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
According to the report, the government’s stricter real estate policies have resulted in sluggish demand and a rising supply of properties in China.
Loans during the first three quarters of 2010 increased 6.3 trillion yuan, of which September accounted for 595.5 billion yuan, while monthly incremental loans are expected to fall to 500 billion yuan.
The report says that the growth rate of financing for the real estate industry may slow to 20 percent in the first quarter of 2011, from 40 percent in July 2010.
Shares of China Vanke (000002) inched up 0.22 percent to trade at 8.91 yuan at 9:46am.
…
“The transaction price of properties in China’s first-tier cities could begin to decline a maximum of 20 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010…”
If I were going to bet on this, I would bet the property price decline in China’s first-tier cities will turn out ‘larger than expected’ (i.e. greater than 20 percent…). ‘Tis the nature of bubbles for the downside to turn out ‘worse than expected.’
I wonder if china will execute people who dont pay thier mortgage when the crash occurs?
Seeing isn’t necessarily believing
By Tom Blair
Friday, October 22, 2010 at 4:04 a.m.
Would-be governor Meg Whitman and the San Diego Deputy Sheriffs Association got mention Wednesday in late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue. Unwelcome mention. This week, said Kimmel , Whitman’s campaign sent out a tweet to announce the deputies’ endorsement. With the message, the campaign included a link to the endorsement video. Or so they thought. The video stars a transvestite Korean bass player in a pink tutu and garters. “Well,” cracked Kimmel, “you can’t expect the former CEO of eBay to know how to work a website.”
…
We got our answer back from the realtor. We had made a $130k offer on a 2000 sq. ft. 4BR/2BA home (listed for $180k) in a nice city neighborhood in a non-trendy Texas city. We were refused. The realtor told us that the owner owes $167k and has no cash in hand. He thinks that the least the owner would take is $166k. The house is technically owner-occupied, but she is living at least an hour away from here.
Sorry to hear it didn’t work out. There are plenty of other houses out there, so stick to your guns on price.
A neighboring town from mine has a new construction SFR that has been on the market for about three years. The asking price is very close to the amount of the mortgage, PLUS there are almost $100,000 of mechanics leins on the place. The property has been in lis pendens (pre-foreclosure) for about two years. The kick is that the seller doesn’t even have it listed as a short sale, though it will almost certainly have to be one. I may take a peek once the bank takes it back, but its clear the denial on the sellers side runs too deep for a deal with him to happen.
And how is the fact that the debtor owes more than it’s worth your problem? It’s called taking a loss and it’s not yours. You don’t own the loss.
The story in a nutshell. The owner owes more than the property will sell for. Can’t afford to take the financial hit to get rid of the property. So they continue to pay the mortgage, becoming another prisoner in their own home.
Eventually, a combination of price appreciation, and paying down principal will get them to a point where they can afford to sell. Maybe. Then again, maybe not.
And don’t think that the few employers left haven’t noticed that their workforce is stuck. If they are lucky, their pay will only be frozen for the next 5 years.
There are still a very strong number of corporate relo’s going on around here.
A friend of mine gave me a heads up on another of her friend’s houses and told me to go low ball the heck out of it as the relo company will most likely take it where we have no contingencies. I think the industry helping to move them is energy.
You’re absolutely right. It’s not the buyers problem. But until someone agrees to take the loss, there can be no sale either.
Correct Kim. However Amy can count the circumstances of the no-sale as a gain.
It’s good to get that info. Now Amy knows that unless she’s willing to pay alot more, or go through the hastle of trying to buy in a short-sale situation, she might as well move on.
Now the seller knows that unless she’s willing to accept alot less, or go through the hastle of trying to sell in a short-sale situation, she might as well walk away.
By walk away, I’m sure you mean to just stop paying and live for free as long as possible.
Of course there’s a good chance that a scaly realtor is coiled around the seller giving reasurance that the house is worth much more than that insulting low ball offer.
Give the realtor your card and tell her to call if the house is foreclosed. If somebody else buys it at the wishing price, fine. If not, you might be able to pay the price YOU want to get it from the bank.
ITEM: The U.S. Treasury needed to borrow money to pay Social Security benefits in 15 out of the last 25 months on record because the Social Security system was in deficit in those months. The cost of monthly benefit payments exceeded the Social Security tax revenues flowing into the Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance “trust funds,” according to data published by the Social Security Administration.
and the Feds will be able to bail out the states………
California alone will need 500 billion a year by the time the SHTF (and demolishes the fan).
There isn’t enough real money in the world to cover this disaster and the other disasters.
What is this real money you speak of?
The kind where you don’t need $100 to buy a loaf of bread.
Apparently a lot of laid off seniors were forced to dip into SS earlier than they had planned on. That plus slightly lower payroll tax collections has fast forwarded the day of reckoning. I suspect we won’t be seeing SS COLA increases for a long, long time.
Once the “trust fund” of Treasury IOUs is depleted (what was the original date for that? 2040? It will also probably be a lot sooner than originally expected) they will either have to reduce benefits and/or raise the payroll tax. Or could there could be yet another “bailout”?
Of course that day of reckoning is so relatively far away that who knows what could happen the meantime? What happens to SS if the USA is dissolved? Will the new political bodies that emerge have replacement systems? It could get very interesting.
Unemployed people also pay less SS. That is when the 20% real unemployment really starts to snowball.
Quantitative Easing=Inflation. Why beat around the bush.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-22/hoenig-says-excessive-liquidity-can-lead-to-very-bad-outcomes-.html
After all the lives the Fed has destroyed and disrupted with its tyrannical monetary policies, it really amazes me these guys are still in business.
Awaiting the next bubble and bust….
Yes, but not necessarily an increase in the prices of consumer goods as imperfectly measured by the CPI. Over the last 10 years or so we’ve seen a HUGE increase in the money supply and yet the CPI has been quite moderate. Much of that money went into Wall Street either directly through equities, or through bonds into real estate. That’s all the money which is set to disappear off the books once the banks start accuratly accounting for their assets. And THAT’S the money that the Fed is desparately trying to replace.
Treasuries Poised for Weekly Gain as Fed Prepares to Buy Today
bloomberg
Treasuries headed for a weekly gain as the Federal Reserve prepared to buy notes today as part of its plan to keep borrowing costs down.
Two-year yields were near a record low on speculation the central bank will increase its purchases as soon as its Nov. 2-3 meeting. Investors have been debating how much the Fed will buy and what maturities since Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said Oct. 15 there appears to be a “case for further action.” The U.S. cut the size of its package of two-, five- and seven-year notes being auctioned next week, trimming the amount for a sixth month.
“Long-term Treasuries are attractive,” said Hiromasa Nakamura, who helps oversee the equivalent of $36.9 billion as a senior investor in Tokyo at Mizuho Asset Management Co., a unit of Japan’s second-largest publicly traded bank. “They may buy in the long end because they want to make yields go down.”
There is big money in housing old folks with dough, and if they play it right they can fleece them to their old bones until they meet their maker.
Ventas to buy Atria real estate assets for $1.5 billion, assume $1.6 billion in debt
NEW YORK (AP) — Ventas Inc. said Friday it is buying the real estate assets of Atria Senior Living Group for $1.5 billion in cash and stock, giving it a portfolio of 118 homes located in wealthy coastal regions.
The healthcare real estate investment trust is also assuming $1.6 billion in debt.
Ventas said the deal will make the company the largest owner of senior housing communities in the country. The Chicago company owns nearly 600 assets in 44 states.
it’s a product created out of demand.
blame our society for not taking responsibilty for our aging parents.
Another concept: Parents w/money don’t know why they shouldn’t be able to maintain privacy and independence from their children. Sharing a home w/teenage grandchildren is more than many wish to embrace.
I’m at the point in my life where I’m gauging how the older adults are feeling about potential care. Here’s the latest: Father w/bad hip and knee on the floor w/Mom just out of rehab herself from a recent surgury the only one there to help. Did they call either son just down the road? No they figured it out themselves. Can’t tell you how proud that made them that they didn’t need us.
Woman across the street has Alzheimer’s but in better times she was definitely the family matriarch in every sense of the word and the daughters still bend to her whim. Last year she wandered miles down a very busy road ending up at a liquor store not knowing how she got there or where she was. But she says they’ll only drag her out of her home kicking and screaming. Apparently the daughters are not the types to confront that. So they keep a very complex schedule checking in on her multiple times a day.
In many cases the reason parents aren’t moved is because it’s their choice.. Americans have a reputation of never wanting to admit to ourselves we’re going to die, or even how much we’ve deteriorated.
My parents are 81 & 82 live in the same two story house they bought in 1960. They are in good shape and rarely ask for help of any type. My mother stays busy helping out with activities at an “old” folks home. My father no longer drives due to poor eyesight (legally blind) he walks everywhere he wants to go, generally about 3to5 miles a day.
They have NO plans of moving anywhere, intend to stay where they are comfortable until the end. I worry about one thing, all the stairs in the house. I feel like one day the stairs that keep them in good shape may end up being their down fall so to speak.
“all the stairs in the house”
My grandmother just passed a few years ago. She was 90 and was in her house almost to the end. She was a social hermit (just her way since childhood) so she pretty much sat in a single chair all day except to go upstairs to bed and to go behind the house to garden. Both took her up and down some very steep stairs. A lot of people think those stairs prolonged her life. Then there was her mother: Lived till 97. Health only failed after she fell pulling the push mower up the basement stairway. She and great gramps would only accept weekly visits. Never would have dreamed of moving. I’ll be the same way. Some people just don’t expect or even desire others to wait on them.
Sometimes I wonder if prying my parents out of their house a few years ago was such a good idea. It was obvious that the place was deteriorating, and my mother was virtually trapped there by the steps to get into or out of the house. They did sell just before the housing crash but then spent beaucoup bucks in retirement communities. Now they will soon be moving into a house near my sister in Florida. At 89 and 82, it may seem foolish to have them living in a private home again, especially since my dad no longer drives (much to his chagrin), but the sis will be a mile away. It is very difficult to know what is the ‘right’ thing to do. And our family has tried everything the parents would allow, short of having them move in with either daughter. Our houses are too small to accommodate two more cats and my mom’s smoking.
I think many of our parents generation intended to live out their days in their paid off house…
However, infirmities aside, after my dad died we had to move my mom because the neighborhood had changed to the point we we not comfortable with her living there alone.
That’s one vulnerability, you can’t always be sure a community will retain it’s “middle class values”. The deterioration of post-war inner ring suburbs is ongoing and will continue to ripple out.
Have this problem with my parents and my MIL. My MIL is effectively blind and has bad knees. Still insists on living in her house in a small city with no public transportation.
Problem is, she’s an old German matriarch. About as stubborn a creature that ever inhabited the Earth. And her best friend is a (retired) judge.
If my wife were to ever try to move her mother out of her house, my MIL would have my wife arrested for kidnapping. And that is no exaggeration.
LOL, yup they can dig in pretty deep. So all the adult children can do is play it one day at a time and pray you’ll have the strength to make a move should the situation ever truly require it.
There is big money in housing old folks with dough, and if they play it right they can fleece them to their old bones until they meet their maker.
A friend lived in an Atria assisted living community just outside of Tucson. “Fleece them to their old bones” is an apt way of describing how she and her family paid for the privilege of living there.
Until she no longer could.
Once she was too far gone to stay at Atria, the family had to find another place for her.
I have watched it to happen to a couple of people I know, dead broke but not dead. They started out at the ‘home’ in their late 80’s with what many would have said should be enough $, however turned out not to be the case 8 years later.
i work for a large assisted living company (not atria - but we have done deals with ventas).
the average stay in an assisted living facilty is less than 24 months.
just an interesting fact. it means what anyone wants it to mean.
Solyent Green??
I was going door to door and met a couple that had moved out of one..figured it was cheaper to pay 1200 for some FB’s “home” than 3300 for the two of them at assisted living. They were pretty old too, but ambulatory. The house was a newer vinyl & Tyvex job on a micro lot so it worked for them, at least for the time being.
This should help the weasel Reid win, they have a strong jobless recovery going on in Lost Wages…
Las Vegas unemployment reaches record 15 percent
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Joblessness in Las Vegas reached a record 15 percent in September, even as unemployment in Nevada stayed unchanged in the month, according to new numbers from the state Department of Employment, Training & Rehabilitation.
Despite worsening local conditions, the state’s jobless rate failed to rise for the first time since January. Unemployment in the Silver State stayed unchanged in September at 14.4 percent. On top of being the first stabilized state number in 2010, it’s only the second time the jobless rate remained steady since the recession’s beginning in December 2007.
Weasel Reid on CNBC Oct.21st,2010
~ “It doesn’t give the people solace to know…but for me, we would have been in a world-wide depression”
Wow, this little creep single-handedly save the world! Perhaps he’ll get one of those Nobel trophies next year, that they pass out to damn near anyone.
The president comes to LA and turns “friday light” traffic into the nightmare on Elm street. Is a helicopter too logical?
BTW, I said the same thing when it was Bush.
Try living down the road from Teddy Kennedy throwing Clinton fundraisers. When John Jr. died the press also made it a flipping nightmare. All for a potential twenty second glimpse of how the family might be “feeling”. Sick pricks.
This business of putting the President (and other Government VIPs) inside an armored cocoon has gotten totally out of hand.
The implication is that they must be protected, because they are irreplaceable.
I bet Joe Biden & Al Gore agree 100% with you.
“The implication is that they must be protected, because they are irreplaceable”.
That’s the funny part, politicians are the easy to replace if they are dead, but damn near impossible to vote out.
President Clinton made me late for a kayaking trip in 1998. And that was on a Saturday!! I decided right there he’d never get another vote from me.
When Clinton visited Tucson during his second term, Air Force One’s path went almost directly overhead the place where I was renting. I flipped it off.
I don’t know how many times Bush clogged the roads in Cincy over the past 10 years as he repeatedly came here to campaign and raise money (sometimes for local politions).
I can understand voting against any candidate who had this little respect for my time.
He did the helicopter thing -:)
Starting to sound like some have had enough of little TTT trying to jerk them around. Earth to Timmy, we know what you’re trying to do.
G20 to Tim Geithner: ‘You’re Joking … Right?’
Oct 22, 2010 by Aaron Task
The stock market was relatively calm Friday morning but market players are on edge ahead of this weekend’s G20 summit in Seoul.
With the world’s economic powers seemingly in a race to have a weaker currency than their trading partners, the threat of a currency war hangs over the conference.
Ahead of the confab, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner sent a letter requesting the G20 “commit refrain from exchange rate policies designed to achieve competitive advantage by either weakening their currency or preventing appreciation of undervalued currency.”
China’s currency manipulation was the primary target of Geithner’s request, as was his proposal that G20 nations adopt specific targets to reduce trade gaps between specific countries.
The problem is U.S. policy appears designed to weaken the dollar without regard for our trade deficit, so Geithner seems, at best, disingenuous and, at worst, hypocritical.
For many, gamble lost in once-booming Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AFP) – Earlene Howard is the only person left living in a house on her block in Sin City, and she’s not sure how much longer she’ll be there as the once booming Las Vegas housing market continues to spiral downwards.
The rest of her neighbors have seen their homes repossessed by lenders, and she’s already behind two months on her mortgage after her husband lost his job with a local construction company.
“I think we may need to move back to Denver,” said Howard, 42, who uprooted to Las Vegas in 2005 because jobs were plentiful here then. “This city is not in good shape. Not at all.”
Howard lives in the epicenter of America’s prolonged economic downturn.
The once-booming Las Vegas region has for 44 straight months led the United States in home foreclosures, and 80 percent of houses here are figuratively underwater — worth less than the debt owed on them.
A staggering 23.6 percent of Nevada mortgages are in some form of delinquency or foreclosure, significantly higher than the national average of 14 percent, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
It’s a confusing, devastating turn of events for a city that for two decades was the sterling example of an American boom town.
It’s what happens when Angelenos run out of money to burn in the “Disneyland for Adults in the Desert”.
COSTA MESA – It could be weeks before officials determine the cause of death for a homeless woman whose mummified body was found in the car of a homeless friend who drove around with the corpse in the front passenger seat for up to 10 months, officials said.
Everett said the driver was a 57-year-old former real estate agent who formerly lived in Corona del Mar but recently had fallen on hard times.
http://www.ocregister.com/news/driver-272379-everett-police.html
Asked if the driver was believed to have any mental problems, Everett said: “If you drive around with a deceased person for 10 months, do you have mental issues? I’ll leave that for the professionals to decide.”
LOL! Good lord a kook ex-RE agent. Perhaps she was re-living her glory days of selling houses and was pretending the stiff next to her was a potential mark she could sell a house to.
Apparently after the woman could no longer fog a mirror, the realtor was at a loss of how to proceed.
LOL. I guess that’s where the expression “I’ve got a live one” came from.
LOL! That was awesome, CarrieAnn…
Guess he wanted to use the HOV lanes.
That’s one way to be able to drive in the carpool lane. Good idea. hahahahahaha
Dead gal must not have liked any of the houses she was shown.
More Easing? The Fed Must Listen to Main Street ~ CNBC
The question “where is the Fed coming from?” is not only economically rhetorical, but geographic.
Much has been made of the division between Wall Street and Main Street and the differing attitudes towards another round of central banks buying assets to boost the money supply - known as Quantitative Easing or QE2. Debates continue to rage about the efficacy and legacy of the last round of asset buying.
But the consensus is that the “shock and awe” tactics employed by the Federal Open Market Committee in March 2009 marked the nadir of the financial markets.
Still, unemployment in the US has remained stubbornly high, as the alarming rate of job losses was driven by both cyclical and structural factors.
Many column inches have been devoted to the likely impact that any such further action would have, and how much QE2 is currently priced in to the markets. Many FOMC members (whether voting or non-voting) could still be swayed as to the merits of more easing.
It appears that such debates have encountered something of an economic stalemate. It’s arguable that beyond the narrow parameters of a “normal” economic cycle, one can forget the dry economic textbook arguments and return to plain English.
Quick question for the liars, cheats, incompetent types (yes realtors, I’m talking to you)
Considering the HBB is one of the few places on the e-planet where honest, truthful discussion and analysis of The Great Housing Fraud occurs on a daily basis, why would you bother lurking and reading given your unwillingness to conduct business legally?
“…truthful discussion and analysis of The Great Housing Fraud occurs on a daily basis”
Depressed Florida report:
Lots of new “For Sale” signs popping up in front of houses and vacant land. Fancy new realtor signs too, not homemade by-owner crap. Tons of faded old signs that have been up for a couple of years as well.
In our area it’s newly minted RE agencies, I noticed 4 in the last few months. I’m guessing it is fresh real-a-tards teaming up to ’sell’ our spot on the map.
The latest one is named Flat Fish Reality, it’s logo is a flounder. I thought that was perfect for our market, cause it sure is floundering.
Unemployment rate drops in 23 states in September- AP
Nearly half of U.S. states reported drops in their unemployment rates last month, the best showing since June. But job creation was weak in most areas of the country.
“Nearly half of U.S. states reported drops in their unemployment rates last month, the best showing since June. But job creation was weak in most areas of the country.”
Translation: A lot of people gave up looking for work.
Ed Zackery!
“I was quite shocked at what I had learned in the course of making the film [INSIDEJOB].
Quite shocked. . . . The first [thing that surprised me the most] was how low
Wall Street had sunk with regard to its ethics. When I started making the film if
somebody had told me that Goldman Sachs and other investment banks had been
designing securities to fail so that they can profit by betting against them, I wouldnʼt
have believed it. I would have said, “No, you know, people donʼt do that in the United
States.” But in fact they did [exactly that] with tens of billions of dollars of securities.”
~ Charles Ferguson, Director of “INSIDE JOB”
where is eric holder?
they should have named it “searching for eric holder”.
He’s living in your head….. rent free.
hey Ferguson.. get the story straight.
GS bought the securities.
They willingly OWNED these things that were supposedly “designed to fail”. GS drank the Koolaid just like everyone else, believing RE was headed for the moon and beyond.
Only later did they see the light, and used CDS to HEDGE their bad bets. And when the MBS market finally tanked, managed to avoided taking some serious losses.
It’s called left over inventory Dipsht. They couldn’t shovel all the horse manuer out of the barn.
The evidence is overwhelming that GS knew what was coming. They profited from the collapse and that says everything. They can shift when they take losses and when they take gains with ease.
The only way I’ll believe they were ignorant is if I get to see the stock portfolio of Blankfein and the rest of management and the board of directors. Let’s see when these individuals moved their money. I know that Hank Paulson when all in on Treasuries right before the collapse, and I’ll be the others had massive hedges as well.
The only way I’ll believe..
Don’t kid yourself. Your prejudices are far more powerful than you realize.
Calif. woman drove for months with dead body in passenger seat
Former real estate agent had become used to the smell, police say
A former real estate agent drove with the partially mummified body of a homeless woman in the passenger seat of her car for between three and 10 months, according to a report.
The grim discovery was made after the car was left partially blocking a driveway in Costa Mesa, Calif., on Monday and the police were called, the Orange County Register reported.
When the officers arrived, they noticed a foul smell coming from inside the vehicle, a 1997 Mercury Marquis, and then saw a leg poking out from a pile of clothes used to conceal the body.
They smashed a window and found the body, along with a box of baking soda which had been used to reduce the odor.
“This person was somewhat used to the smell,” Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Ed Everett said.
The 57-year-old former real estate agent said she had been too afraid to call the police after she found the body of the woman, the Register reported.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39796763/ns/us_news-life/
Syracuse Classifieds:
2010 Toyota Highlander
“TOYOTA Highlander Ltd ‘10, FWD, $30,500/Best, Paid $38,6k, w/ extended warranty”
Guess that Cash for Clunkers thingie didn’t turn out so well, huh?
I thought Toyotas didn’t need extended warranties?
Also, it’s a 2010, so it was probably purchased after C4C. Still, the point is well taken.
The model year begins August the prior year(eg Aug ‘09 for the ‘10 model year).
IIRC C4C was over by August 2009.
It didn’t end until near the end of Aug 2009. You can google it to confirm.
i despise carly fiorina,but BARBARA BOXER has a lot of nerve to ask for us to vote for her again..in the 28 years she has been in office this state has went from the top state in the nation, to the bottom,and she wants more time,she needs to be sent to pasture,havent we seen enough of her….horrible choices,but boxer deserves to be FIRED
sold in 05
Yeah, this state use to be great. When my parents moved to Ca in 1962, (prior to kindergarten),it was truly the golden state. Being a Political Atheist, I stay home and let the others vote for the lesser of the evils, which still equals evil. I had my full.
Where are you in Ca and what are your housing plans?
“let the others vote for the lesser of the evils, which still equals evil”.
That’s generally the problem, you trade one turd for another. I would kick Boxer to the curb just because her smug ass has been ‘in’ way to long, like so many others, they think they own and deserve it!
Public servant my ass, that term needs to be abolished!
i live in the san fernando valley,happily renting a home for 2k a month in sherman oaks…i would love to own a home again,but i will wait to we reach a true bottom,besides homes in my n-hood go for 500k
To be fair, Senators do legislation at the national level, not at the state level.
That said, Boxer still sucks, but so does Czarly.
Pick your poison California.
“she has went” is ignorant. ” She has gone” is proper.
I thought QE2 solved all these problems? last time I listen to Cramer…
TRUCKEE, CA–(Marketwire - October 22, 2010) - Clear Capital ) is issuing this alert on a dramatic change observed in U.S. home prices.
“Clear Capital’s latest data through October 22 shows even more pronounced price declines than our most recent HDI market report released two weeks ago,” said Dr. Alex Villacorta, senior statistician, Clear Capital. “At the national level, home prices are clearly experiencing a dramatic drop from the tax credit-induced highs, effectively wiping out all of the gains obtained during the flurry of activity just preceding the tax credit expiration.”
This special Clear Capital Home Data Index (HDI) alert shows that national home prices have declined 5.9% in just two months and are now at the same level as in mid April 2010, two weeks prior to the expiration of the recent federal homebuyer tax credit. This significant drop in prices, in advance of the typical winter housing market slowdowns, paints an ominous picture that will likely show up in other home data indices in the coming months.
For example, both Clear Capital and S&P/Case-Shiller indices have displayed consistent market peak, trough, secondary trough, and tax credit run-ups. Despite these consistencies, a critical difference is that HDI’s patent pending methodology enables more timely and granular reporting. Therefore, if previous correlations between the Clear Capital and S&P/Case-Shiller indices continue as expected, the next two months will show a similar downward trend in S&P/Case Shiller numbers.
That’s the trend I’m seeing here locally.
I don’t think there should be an income limit, it’s not fair.
More working families getting government food aid.
HONOLULU — Lillie Gonzales does whatever it takes to provide for three ravenous sons who live under her roof. She grows her own vegetables at home on Kauai, runs her own small business and like a record 42 million other Americans, she relies on food stamps.
Gonzales and her husband consistently qualify for food stamps now that Hawaii and other states are quietly expanding eligibility and offering the benefit to more working, moderate income families.
Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture reviewed by The Associated Press shows that 32 states have adopted rules making it easier to qualify for food stamps since 2007. In all, 38 states have loosened eligibility standards.
Hawaii has gone farther than most, allowing a family like Gonzales’ to earn up to $59,328 and still get food stamps.
Prior to an Oct. 1 increase, the income eligibility limit for a Hawaii family of five was $38,568 a year.
“If I didn’t have food stamps, I would be buying white rice and Spam every day,” said Gonzales, whose Island Angels business makes Hawaiian-style fabric angel ornaments, quilts, aprons and purses.
Eligibility for food stamps varies from state to state, with the 11 most generous states allowing families to apply if their gross income is less than double the federal poverty line of $22,050 for a family of four on the U.S. mainland. The threshold is higher in Alaska and Hawaii.
With more than 1 in 8 Americans now on food stamps, participation in the program has jumped about 70 percent from 26 million in May 2007, while the nation’s unemployment rate rose from 4.3 percent to 9.2 percent through September of this year.
“We’ve seen a huge increase in participation due to the economic downturn,” said Jean Daniel, a spokeswoman for the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service. “That’s the way this program was designed.”
In most of the world a 60K income is considered princely. I know that the cost of living in Hawaii is high, but if you can’t cut it there maybe you should return to the mainland.
Those were my thoughts, 60k is good money and if it costs that muck to live there, time to pack up.
Isn’t that more than the average family of four makes?
According to the US Trustee’s Office (a branch of the Department of Justice that oversees bankruptcy cases), the median income for a family of 5 in Hawaii is $98,658.
http://www.justice.gov/ust/eo/bapcpa/20100315/bci_data/median_income_table.htm
“If I didn’t have food stamps, I would be buying white rice and Spam every day,” said Gonzales.
So instead how many taxpayers will soon be eating white rice and spam as their taxes rise to keep you in Hawaii?
I’m guessing none. Taxes won’t go up for people who would even consider buying Spam and white rice. Plus I think there are about a million programs above this one as far as out-of-control spending in concerned.
73 billion a year for Food Stamps is pretty small compared to the government bailout of AIG or the coming bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
Plus, the main recipients are cigarette and cell phone companies as I have never seen a poor person without both.
first, you might be surprised at the numbers.. iirc, this year budgets 99 billion for food stamps. AIG borrowed something near 150 billion tops and some has been recovered.
So. after 18 months, food stamp costs have surpassed that 150 B.
Secondly, you can’t compare food stamps with bailouts.
All the bailouts are collateralized loans, while food stamps are nothing but gifts with zero-chance of being repaid.
i just Googled this story, and roughly 55 different new agencies and websites picked THIS story to publish… TODAY.
My question is why? What’s the message the media is trying to send?
It’s called the Associated Press. Google any story written by them today, yesterday or last month and you will find the same trend. The AP makes the stories available, and the papers and websites publish them. Nothing more.
There is more to it.
Since posters often fail to provide a link, I search out stories all the time, and some stories are very prolific while others might be reposted only once or twice.
For example, take the next hard-luck story posted by wmbz, in the thread just below this one..
Google-search this sentence fragment. Include the quotes.
“Like many members of Japan’s middle class, Masato Y. enjoyed a level”
The first 18 pages of Google are filled with it. Roughly 180 hits…and it’s not even an AP story.
(By MARTIN FACKLER, The New York Times)
Some stories have more interest. A story about Americans would have more than one about Japanese. It also depends on if one of the big aggregators pick the story up. The Hawaii one was picked up by Yahoo, which pushes interest and leads to it being published in more places.
Then there’s my sister and BIL who are both unemployed (well, he sells used houses…same thing) and can’t get food stamps because instead of rent they are paying a mortgage, so they “own” a home. Riiiiight.
I have been in that boat before, after hurricane Hugo here in S.Carolina in ‘89 any and every “program” I thought about signing on to, I was always just outside of the eligibility requirements.
…any and every “program” I thought about signing on to, I was always just outside of the eligibility requirements.
I went through the same thing when I was a young adult Slim in Pittsburgh. The big sticking points seemed to be:
1. I had a job. Not that it paid enough to get me out of the working poor realm, but it counted as employment.
2. I wasn’t whelping massive quantities of kids out of wedlock. Call me old fashioned, but I think that it’s best to wait ’til you’re married before you start a family.
“Call me old fashioned, but I think that it’s best to wait ’til you’re married before you start a family”.
There is a whole lot to be said for being “old fashioned” if more folks thought along those lines or even understood them, we would all be far better off today.
I would be buying white rice and Spam every day,”
Cause eating steak and wild rice pilaf is a human right…
“Cause eating steak and wild rice pilaf is a human right”…
Of course it is, just ask any bleeding heart, they just don’t want ‘them’ coming over to their house to eat it, and they want you to pick up the tab.
You should see the new homeless hotel “we” are building here in Columbia, S.C. It is a full service beauty right in the heart of downtown. All the amenities baby, wouldn’t have it any other way. This was done by city council despite unanimous objection by the a-joining neighborhoods.
You should see the new homeless hotel “we” are building here in Columbia, S.C. It is a full service beauty right in the heart of downtown. All the amenities baby, wouldn’t have it any other way. This was done by city council despite unanimous objection by the a-joining neighborhoods.
Funny you should mention being homeless in SC. Here’s another take on the situation from someone who wasn’t exactly living in luxury in a Charleston shelter.
BTW, this guy managed to set $2,500 aside from earnings at bottom of the barrel jobs in and around Charleston.
How’d he do it? Thrifty spending and aggressive saving. His words, not mine, but I’ve found that they work quite well.
A report from The New York Times:
OSAKA, Japan - Like many members of Japan’s middle class, Masato Y. enjoyed a level of affluence two decades ago that was the envy of the world. Masato, a small-business owner, bought a $500,000 condominium, vacationed in Hawaii and drove a late-model Mercedes.
But his living standards slowly crumbled along with Japan’s overall economy. First, he was forced to reduce trips abroad and then eliminate them. Then he traded the Mercedes for a cheaper domestic model. Last year, he sold his condo - for a third of what he paid for it, and for less than what he still owed on the mortgage he took out 17 years ago.
“Japan used to be so flashy and upbeat, but now everyone must live in a dark and subdued way,” said Masato, 49, who asked that his full name not be used because he still cannot repay the $110,000 that he owes on the mortgage.
..For nearly a generation now, [Japan] has been trapped in low growth and a corrosive downward spiral of prices, known as deflation, in the process shriveling from an economic Godzilla to little more than an afterthought in the global economy.
“The US, the UK, Spain, Ireland, they all are going through what Japan went through a decade or so ago,” said Richard Koo, chief economist at Nomura Securities who recently wrote a book about Japan’s lessons for the world. “Millions of individuals and companies see their balance sheets going underwater, so they are using their cash to pay down debt instead of borrowing and spending.”
There’s a half-off sale in the world’s tallest building.
Even with an address at the iconic Burj Khalifa, rents for residences in the tower are not immune from Dubai’s real estate crash. Indeed, nearly a year after it was inaugurated with a massive water-and-fireworks display, about 825 of the tower’s 900 ultra-luxury apartments remain unoccupied, according to Better Homes, a real estate brokerage in Dubai.
The cost of renting a studio with floor-to-ceiling windows, marble fixtures and wooden floors has dropped to $1,815 a month from $3,025, while a one-bedroom apartment is available for $2,722 (it used to be $4,536), the brokerage says. Two-bedroom residences are expected to get $4,310, down from $7,183. Interested parties “call every few days and go for a viewing,” says Imad Ben Khadra, a Moroccan expatriate who owns two 1,000-sq.-ft. one-bedroom apartments he purchased in late 2008 for about $950,000, both of which he is trying to rent out. “We got some offers [from prospective tenants], but nobody confirms.”
Keep on Dreaming Mr. Khadra. He paid close to 30x current yearly rent and they haven’t even come close to hitting bottom. Look at that occupation rate. Ouch.
In Dubai you pay your rent for the year up front.
What a bubble that was and still is…
Based on rents - a one-apartment bedroom should go for around $250,000. That is a 75% haircut already!!!
Imad Ben Khadra - voted #1 FB of the day.
I can’t imagine wanting to live there even if the rent was a dollar a month.
Looks like the Dems are getting all wee-wee’d up…
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has taken out a $17 million line of credit for use in the final weeks of the campaign, signaling the party leadership’s commitment to having the money to counter an onslaught of millions of dollars in pro-Republican TV ads.
The new line of credit was disclosed in a DCCC report filed Thursday night with the Federal Election Commission.
Campaign’s Big Spender
Public-Employees Union Now Leads All Groups in Independent Election Outlays
WSJ - OCT 22, 2010
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is now the biggest outside spender of the 2010 elections, thanks to an 11th-hour effort to boost Democrats that has vaulted the public-sector union ahead of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO and a flock of new Republican groups in campaign spending.
AFSCME, the public-employees union, has vaulted ahead of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to become the largest campaign spender of 2010.
The 1.6 million-member AFSCME is spending a total of $87.5 million on the elections after tapping into a $16 million emergency account to help fortify the Democrats’ hold on Congress. Last week, AFSCME dug deeper, taking out a $2 million loan to fund its push. The group is spending money on television advertisements, phone calls, campaign mailings and other political efforts, helped by a Supreme Court decision that loosened restrictions on campaign spending.
“We’re the big dog,” said Larry Scanlon, the head of AFSCME’s political operations. “But we don’t like to brag.”
The 2010 election could be pivotal for public-sector unions, whose clout helped shield members from the worst of the economic downturn. In the 2009 stimulus and other legislation, Democratic lawmakers sent more than $160 billion in federal cash to states, aimed in large part at preventing public-sector layoffs. If Republicans running under the banner of limited government win in November, they aren’t likely to support extending such aid to states.
“We’re the big dog,” said Larry Scanlon, the head of AFSCME’s political operations. “But we don’t like to brag.”
Sure you do Larry, but can you lick your own balls?
There is a whole lot of panicking going on this go round, afraid their tap to “free” money will be cut off.
One thing I do know is, if and that’s a BIG IF a bunch of spendthrift libs get shown the door and true conservatives replace them and don’t start cutting spending they will get de-nutted next go round.
There are growing numbers who have had enough of this “free” money crap.
deep spending cuts will send the country into another deep recession…which it may not be able to come out of.
on the other hand…trillion dollar deficits are not a very good alternative.
we’re pretty much damned if we do and damned if we don’t.
prepare accordingly.
spending a total of $87.5 million on the elections..
and in return, government employees preserve multi-billions in salaries and pensions..
Looks like an excellent investment.
The Times has the Chamber of Commerce with the highest spending.
So who is buying the government? Overpaid executives or overpaid public employees? And once the election is over, will the adjust the share of the spoils and get back to jointly grabbing more at everyone else’s expense?
Based on who owns what, I’d bet the Cof C is spending more to buy the federal government, while ASCME is spending more to buy state and local government. Both are in favor of buying off today’s seniors, and borrowing against the future of younger generations.
We can thank the Supreme F’n Court .
You could probably throw in Foreign governments as well. They can now make unlimited campaign contributions using shell companies.
They already did. The Riatys did it for Clinton. Gave $ and Bill made a monument of the Escalante Wilderness. Locked up most of the low sulfur coal in the US. The other source was Indonesian low sulfur coal controlled by the Riatys. Should I mention Loral helping the ChiComs, Charlie Tre and more Chineese money. (Eyes Glaze Over). Throw them ALL out !!!
AFSCME
Every time I see that acronym, I can’t help but think of this goofy video (language warning):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3mw49mk_x0
George Soros contributed $100 k to promote Prop 27 which is the status quo attempt to keep REDISRICTING in the hands of Pols rather than the people. He gave a million to NPR and they fired Juan Williams for him. NO on 27, No on 25, YES on 23, NO on 19.
http://www.whatisbipolarnation.com/
In southern California, Norris said he sees the foreclosure mess gaining momentum.
“The cat’s out of the bag,” he said. “And the lawyers are going to have a new cottage industry stopping foreclosures and going after people who have already purchased them.”
Norris has received calls from foreclosure buyers who had upgraded the homes and were ready to sell them when a former owner sued for their return.
“There still might be concern about past foreclosures,” Lawler, the economist, said. “We don’t know if refiled papers will be accepted or approved by the courts. And it could be different depending on the state.”
..A former senior vice president for risk policy at Fannie Mae, Mr. Lawler emerged in 2006 darkly predicting an abrupt end to the housing boom.
Known for his sense of humor, he injected heavy-metal music into his PowerPoint presentations and called attention to an announcement by a former Playboy playmate that she was getting into real estate.
His predictions proved prescient, and after 22 years Mr. Lawler retired from Fannie Mae, starting his own consulting firm and serving on an advisory board for one of John Paulson’s hedge funds.
This guy is one of the very few people who actually recognized the bubble for what it was..
Yeah, he used to post here. I wonder where he got the material?
‘Friday, May 20, 2005
So Long Playboy, Hello Real Estate
‘”It feels as if Playboy’s Playmate of the Month for May is speaking for the entire country. Fort Lauderdale native Jamie Westenhiser, 23, told the magazine recently that she is ditching her modeling career to take up real estate investing.”
“In the magazine’s May issue, Westenhiser poses, leaning on a computer desk next to a stack of books with titles including ‘All About Escrow’ and ‘Real Estate Principles.’ In her playmate data sheet, she writes that her ambition in life is to have a ’successful career in real estate.’”
http://thehousingbubble.blogspot.com/2005/05/so-long-playboy-hello-real-estate.html
A great comment on that thread:
“Alvin the Apocalyptic Ant said…
Is there anything hotter than a Playboy Playmate who understands the intricacies of the escrow process? I need a cold shower!
Now they’re not just ringing a bell, they’re sounding off sirens!
Who’s left to join this ship of fools? Is the Pope gonna quit and become a mortgage broker? Is Terry Schiavo gonna rise from the dead and announce that she is planning to do some condo conversions in Boca?
I used to study semiotics—the examination of signs and symbols and how they can be used to signify larger meaning within systems and cultures. So I get kind of worked up when I see stories like this.
If this ain’t a sign, I don’t know what is.
It’s like driving down a deserted highway and seeing a sign that says “Dead End”. But you proceed. Then a few more signs crop up, “Road Ending”, “Danger”, “Cliff Ahead”. But you proceed. Then an entire forest of signs, “Stop Now!”, “You’ll Be Sorry”, “The End is Near”. There are car parts and body parts strewn across the highway. There are vultures circling above. Black smoke rises in the distance. But you proceed.
And you go off the cliff…
As you plummet, you notice something very strange. There are no more signs.”
And then there was this about the same time:
‘Bikini Clad Realtor: “It’s Got People Thinking”
‘The number of new realtors is booming and Realtor Wendy Heath in Long Beach has taken marketing to a new level. “A blazer and slacks just don’t cut it for one local real estate agent. Heath chose to wear a bikini on a billboard she posted earlier this month. The advertisement is turning heads quicker than a Naples Island open house.”
“‘It’s kind of flipped people out,’ said Heath, who reported receiving almost as many calls from Realtors upset with the ad as those voicing support. ‘A couple of agents are having a fit about it, but that’s because they just didn’t think of it first.’”
“In a competitive business like real estate, people are increasingly being forced to find creative ways to get people to remember their names, marketing experts say. ‘The problem is everybody has a (real estate) license nowadays, and unless you differentiate yourself, it’s tough to make a living.’”
http://thehousingbubble.blogspot.com/2005/05/bikini-clad-realtor-its-got-people.html
Bubble signs everywhere if you think about it. A bubble is just a financial version of a “fad”. You can’t have any real, meaninful growth without some kind of innovation. There has been no innovation whatsoever for the last ten plus years. Look at the architecture (faux med-style done as cheaply as possible being the norm), movies (crappy re-makes of 70s shows like Starsky and Hutch, etc), and cars (shitty retro-looking camaros and mustangs etc). NO INNOVATION. In the 60s they were sending rockets to the moon, now we are all excited about a stupid phone. Without anything truly new or innovative we will be trapped in the pathetic aftermath of the last stupid bubble. We are all idiots.
‘In the 60s they were sending rockets to the moon, now we are all excited about a stupid phone’
Well, I would say a better phone today is more relevant to me than a moon landing that nobody even remembers. Otherwise, a good rant. But back to the original post I replied to:
‘This guy is one of the very few people who actually recognized the bubble for what it was.’
Oh yeah, the few like Alvin the Apocalyptic Ant:
‘Now they’re not just ringing a bell, they’re sounding off sirens! Who’s left to join this ship of fools? Is the Pope gonna quit and become a mortgage broker? Is Terry Schiavo gonna rise from the dead and announce that she is planning to do some condo conversions in Boca?’
You think we would be wise to be buying condoze?
well.. i didn’t start posting until maybe late ‘06, and this blog was one of the very few places that the very few bubble-watchers could gather. A couple years earlier and the HBB might have been the only place for all I know..
So, no doubt he got some material from you.
His nick was Alvin..
I hit the “Post a Comment” link and it opens an encrypted page where I could possibly leave a comment. Why is that 5 year old page still operational?
Why wouldn’t it be?
why? You’ve updated stuff.. I assume that while some was just for improved looks utility, some might be due to network attacks or vulnerability..
I don’t know anything about it, but my guess would be older page formats might be non-functional.
I just went through a bunch of 2005 posts…it’s actually easier to navigate those archives than the ones from this site.
Yeah, google probably supports blogspot better these days. I abandoned that 1st site cuz the software froze up around 700 posts and somebody (?) deleted all my blogs one night. Anyone remember how the guy in the UK discovered that, claimed them and turned it back over to me? But only after a reporter from the LA Times called and put them on the spot.
Anyway, I don’t think blogs were designed to handle this many posts and comments. For example, this is post 6241 and yours is comment 1845624.
http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/?p=6241#comment-1845624
Are you all tuned into Peter Schiff’s radio show? 6-8 M-F est
http://www.wstcwnlk.com
Tea Partiers getting played? Imagine that.
“Mid-term elections getting bought by foreign agents and multi-national corporations; funding conservative extremists in the US”
http://tinyurl.com/25xgjon
There shouldn’t be any question that corporate interests want you wager earners to vote against your own economic interests.
wager “earners”.. i see you’ve wised up a little.
Against your own economic interests? Tell me something, Mr. Anti-corporate, anti-business:
How do you earn a wage without a job, and how do you have a job without business?
it’s only two dots.. and yet the Left cannot connect them.
Of all the wage slaves to respond….
Leave it to RunJoeyRun to make apologies for the corporate elite.
speaking of apologies..
Apologize for making up that sentence (“Mid-term elections getting bought by foreign agents..) and putting quotes around it, as if it were taken from the article.
“Leave it to RunJoeyRun to make apologies for the corporate elite.”
It’s his job. Everyone needs to make a living…
We all know what the score is with RunJoeyRun.
Hey RunJoeyRun…… how about big money interest buying an election??
So much for right wing virtue and values.
RE:
May you never EVER have to have another dose of chemo in any way shape or form for any reason ever again.
Amen
Congrats!
a
HOUSING: Foreclosure moratorium takes hold locally
By ERIC WOLFF - ewolff@nctimes.com North County Times - Californian | Posted: Friday, October 22, 2010 12:52 pm
A Bank of America foreclosure moratorium took hold last week, dramatically reducing the number of homes sold at auction or taken back by the bank in the last two weeks in North San Diego and Southwest Riverside counties, according to a North County Times analysis of data from Foreclosure Radar.
Lawyers deposing officials of Bank of America and other lenders exposed problems in their foreclosure procedures, including a pattern of officials signing hundreds of documents a day without proper review. On Oct. 8, Bank of America Corp. became the first major lender to announce a moratorium on foreclosure sales in all 50 states as it reviewed its processes, and it was joined five days later by GMAC Mortgage Corp.
In the first week of the moratorium, starting Oct. 12, the number of houses foreclosed in the region plummeted 27 percent from the previous week, to 173 foreclosure sales, according to ForeclosureRadar.
Much of the drop can be attributed to Bank of America’s subsidiary ReconTrust NA, which handled 23.7 percent of the region’s foreclosures in 2010. Bank of America became the country’s largest lender and mortgage servicer after it purchased the troubled the mortgage lender Countrywide Mortgage in 2008.
Since the moratorium began officially on Oct. 12, ReconTrust took back two properties in the area.
“Bank of America was within the typical range of sales that they’ve shown for the last three months,” said Sean O’Toole, CEO of ForeclosureRadar. “Until the week of Oct. 11, at which point their sales dropped dramatically and have continued through the following week.”
…
Foreclosure Fairy Dust
Did Bank of America really review 102,000 foreclosures in two and a half weeks? Yeah, right.
By Timothy Noah
Updated Friday, Oct. 22, 2010, at 6:47 PM ET
Bank of America claims to have reviewed 102,000 foreclosures in the last two and a half weeksOn Oct. 1 Bank of America said it would temporarily halt foreclosures in the 23 states where foreclosures require a court proceeding so that it might review the seizures in light of reports about industry-wide irregularities. (See my previous column, “Ask George Bailey.”) The bank pledged to “amend all affidavits in foreclosure cases that have not yet gone to judgment.”
Seventeen days later, the bank said it had completed its review in these 23 states and would resume foreclosures starting Oct. 25. (It will continue the review it began Oct. 8 of the remaining 27 states where foreclosures do not require a court proceeding—and where the likelihood that anyone will care about fake notarizations, missing documents, and the like is therefore more remote.) In effect, the bank said on Oct. 18 that it had reviewed 102,000 foreclosures, figured out whatever may have been wrong with them, and was ready to get back to the business of seizing and selling off these delinquent properties.
The foreclosure crisis was brought on by bluffing and corner-cutting banks (or foreclosure mills subcontracting for those banks) that had too many defaults to process at once. Might a similar bluffing and corner-cutting be the hallmark of Bank of America’s Evelyn Wood-style review? One can’t be certain, but three clues suggest the answer is “yes.”
…
Talking Business
Big Problem for Banks: Due Process
By JOE NOCERA
Published: October 22, 2010
Earlier this week, Bank of America, the nation’s largest consumer bank, reported its third-quarter earnings. It was a very good quarter; putting aside an accounting charge — a very large, $10.4 billion accounting charge, admittedly — the bank reported $3.1 billion in profits. It was the third consecutive quarter that Bank of America had earned more than $3 billion.
During the ensuing conference call Tuesday morning, there was the requisite chest-thumping from Brian Moynihan, the chief executive, and Chuck Noski, the chief financial officer. But there was also something else: tough talk about two big legal problems the bank faces as a result of the subprime bubble. Not surprising, it was the latter that caught my attention.
Like everyone else, I’d been reading with amazement the stories about one of those legal problems: the robo-signing scandal that has ensnared all the banks with mortgage servicing subsidiaries, Bank of America included. That’s the scandal in which a tiny handful of employees had signed — or allowed others to forge their signatures — on thousands of affidavits confirming that the banks had the legal right to foreclose on properties they serviced. In truth, they had often never seen the documents proving the bank had that legal right. In some cases, the documents didn’t even exist. As a result of the mounting publicity, many big banks had halted all foreclosures while they reviewed the legality of their affidavits.
Mr. Moynihan said that, at Bank of America, at least, the foreclosure halt in 23 states that require judicial proceedings was over. It had reviewed some 102,000 affidavits and — guess what? — no big problem! “The teams reviewing data have not found information which was inaccurate” or that would change the plain facts of foreclosure — namely that the homeowners it wanted to foreclose on were in serious arrears.
Thus the bank’s central position is that, since it is so doggone obvious that the homeowners can’t pay their mortgages, the fact that the affidavits might not have complied with the law shouldn’t cause anyone to break into a sweat. At one point Mr. Noski actually said, “I think it’s a big issue because people are losing homes. It’s not a big issue” for the servicers. Glad he cleared that up.