Bits Bucket for June 14, 2012
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
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“The only statistics you can trust are those you falsified yourself” is a quote attributed to former British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill
Recently on the web I’ve seen two changes that will change statistical counts. In the UK there is a legal obligation to eradicate child poverty by 2020. To do this at present they would have to ensure that no child lived in a household with an income less than 60% of the median in 2020. They haven’t got a snowballs chance in hell of making it and they know it; so the solution is
Poverty measures should be changed, says Duncan Smith
A consultation on how best to measure child poverty will begin in the autumn.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18436795
In the US much is made of the Initial Jobless Claims; the lower the better and an easy way to change this is to prevent people claiming.
Should seasonal workers be allowed to collect unemployment checks in their downtime?
A growing number of states are saying no.
From school bus drivers to ballet dancers to lifeguards, many workers whose jobs only last for a portion of the year have traditionally been eligible for jobless benefits. But now states across the country are starting to crack down, trying to save money and rescue insolvent jobless funds.
http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/31/news/economy/seasonal-unemployment-benefits/
You’ve got to hand it to politicians they never miss a target, they just redefine it.
“In the UK there is a legal obligation to eradicate child poverty by the year 2020.”
Lol. The unrestricted power of legislatures.
If they are able to legislate the eradication child poverty at all then why wait until 2020, why not do it now?
Why not, say, legislate the balancing of budgets while they are at it? Or maybe legislate world peace?
…or the tides.
Even thouugh such legislation may be undooable there it’s tough for one to speak out against it because to do so would frame one as being against the eradication of child poverty, words one’s political opponents would just love to hear. Thus such legislation gets passed with little opposition.
This is the kind of crap politicians love: A legislative proposal which everyone knows is impossible to achieve but which nobody dares oppose, lest they get demonized as a political villain.
Agreed, it’s much easier to legislate feel good drivel like this, as opposed to finding real solutions.
Make POVERTY a CRIME!!
Outlaw poverty. If you are poor, you go strait to jail.
That’ll fix ‘em.
I hear you get three meals a day in prison. I’m surprised more of the extreme poor don’t commit crimes just for the food and shelter.
I have considered it as a retirement strategy.
I think maybe more goes on inside the walls than we hear about, as a rule. You know, hazing…and stuff.
“If they are able to legislate the eradication child poverty at all”
Just change the definition. We do it all the time.
Maybe they should change the name of their program to “The War on Poverty” and model it after our War on Poverty so as to draw on our successes.
I’m reminded of President Johnson’s “War on Poverty.”
Did we win it yet?
(Apologies to combo — I fired this one off just before seeing your similar post…)
No. Well over 40 years and $1.5 trillion plus destroyed housing values due to integrating section 8 into once decent neighborhoods.
“From school bus drivers to ballet dancers to lifeguards, many workers whose jobs only last for a portion of the year have traditionally been eligible for jobless benefits.”
Don’t neglect to include construction workers on the list. A woman I used to work with had an ex-husband who worked construction during the warm months and collected unemployment during the cold months, year-in, year-out. I’m pretty sure he was not the only one doing it.
My father was a bricklayer, cant work if its snowing or too cold to pour concrete. So every year he’d collect a month or two, if he couldn’t find any inside work.
—-Don’t neglect to include construction workers on the list
The folks in western ski resorts are notorious for this. Collect unemployment in the warm months while working the coastal resorts of Mexico.
Or they work the ski resorts in the Southern Hemisphere. Not sure I could live in perpetual winter, but there it is.
Yeah I knew guys who’d collect and then “dingbat” on the side doing residential jobs off the books.
Huh? How can you get all kids above median? move them from one household to another?
I’m confused. It sounds very Wobegone-ish.
It is above 60% of median - still Wobegone-ish. And indicative of those who don’t really understand math.
I think it would mean proportionally more childless couples and singles below 60% of median. And the potential to remove children from homes that are below 60% of median.
Get the kids above the current median. Of course that will move the median higher.
What a nice narrative they already have, ready to go…
“Now that the backlog of cases is slowly starting to clear, lenders are beginning to play catch up with bay area foreclosures delayed by the robo-signing scandal of 2010.”
http://www.tampabay.com/news/tampa-bay-area-foreclosures-tick-up-in-may/1235156
*Posted prior to start of government contract hours 14 JUNE 2012
“*Posted prior to start of government contract hours 14 JUNE 2012″
LOL, man, chill. I wasn’t even thinking of you in my contractor rant. I was focused on alleged fed contractors.
Those folks that now outnumber regular federal employees? The ones that are the very heart of “smaller government by privatizing?”
Those federal contractors?
“Those federal contractors?”
Yep, you nailed it, turk. I pretty much knew that this “federal contractor” “privatization” thing was one huge money suck, but I didn’t realize all the implications until I read that Rolling Stone article.
It allows the fedgov to do things that direct government employees couldn’t get away with. Really horrible things, actually. “Software engineers” busily coding away for what? Enhanced spying on fellow citizens? Contracted spooks (by which I mean “spies”) dreaming up elaborate traps for meth-addled gomers in the heartland? TSA goons (ooh, I said “goon”) getting their jollies fingering babies and old ladies? Gun running, weapons trading, soldiers of fortune. Private prisons paid per prisoner.
Cost of goobermint balloons with the onslaught of private contractors.
“I didn’t realize all the implications until I read that Rolling Stone article.
It allows the fedgov to do things that direct government employees couldn’t get away with. Really horrible things, actually.”
Get used to it, because the ‘privatization’ juggernaut is quite likely to go into hyperdrive over the next few years…
“Get used to it, because the ‘privatization’ juggernaut is quite likely to go into hyperdrive over the next few years…”
Really? I doubt it. It’s pretty much been in hyperdrive for a while now, and there’s got to be money to pay them. Oh, wait…(hmmm, mumble-mumble medicare mumble-mumble social security mumble-mumble food stamps)
LOL! I just got it! Like those employee-leasing firms. Citizens get “fired” by the US and give up their SS numbers, and sign citizenship contracts with corporations, who collect the taxes, take their cut and submit the remainder to fedgov. Awesome!
LOL! I just got it! Like those employee-leasing firms. Citizens get “fired” by the US and give up their SS numbers, and sign citizenship contracts with corporations, who collect the taxes, take their cut and submit the remainder to fedgov. Awesome!
Don’t give them any ideas.
“Don’t give them any ideas.”
haha yes.
Doesn’t have to be federal. State, county, city contracts are the same. I saw a bid IBM did when we subbed with them - it was all “500 hours design” and “2000 hours programming” and just big vague blocks of numbers like that. And that’s before change orders, of course.
“Get used to it, because the ‘privatization’ juggernaut is quite likely to go into hyperdrive over the next few years…”
I know a couple of guys who used to work as full-time employees of the government, one for Uncle Sam, the other for California State. Now they both work as federal contractors — the kind who hire other contractors to do work for Uncle Sam. One of them has at least doubled his pay, and the other is officially retired, but making a very good livelihood in his ‘post-employment’ years. Both of them must also be doing a much better job now than when they had high-level positions in government, as they are now part of the private sector.
“smaller government by privatizing”
Keep buying the lie, taxpayers
Which is why the “One cent solution” makes so much um, sense.
Effective ASAP every check drawn on the UST will have one penny per dollar docked to pay down the deficit. That means Lockheed Martin and Viacom, Israel and Jordan, Congress members and Medicare providers, SSD and food stamp recipients, tax refunds and federal grants and subsidies, school districts, Big Ag, Big Oil, Big Pharma, military vets and active duty personnel ad nauseam, will all have to make a small but proportionate contribution to our shared responsibility.
Then next year ANOTHER penny per dollar will be docked from THAT sum, and so on for an estimated four years until the debt is retired.
To my mind the simple elegance of this plan is hard to argue, as everyone will contribute in proportion to their responsibility in amassing the debt, but I’d be interested to hear the boards’ thoughts to the contrary.
“I’d be interested to hear the boards’ thoughts to the contrary.”
Not from me. I like it. I’ll even contribute an extra roll of pennies to the cause.
This is the first I’ve heard of it. Your idea, or is this being floated out there by another person or group?
Of course, the problem with new taxes and stuff like that is, once instituted, they don’t go away. Like the war, I mean, income tax.
This is the first I’ve heard of it. Your idea, or is this being floated out there by another person or group?
Penny Plan and the Ryan Budget
March 29, 2012One Cent Solution
The One Cent Solution team is a big fan of Congressman Paul Ryan and his efforts to address our fiscal crisis. He’s been a leader on these issues like nobody else, and he deserves our praise.
Moreover, his latest budget has lots in common with the Penny Plan. Like the Penny Plan, it keeps the focus on the problem — excess federal spending. And … Read more >
One cent solution
http://www.onecentsolution.org/
It is actually a 1 percent solution. For someone collecting $1000 per month from SS, it would mean a drop of $10 per month the first year and $40 per month the 4th year, barring any inflationary adjustments.
Would federal contractors find a way to use cost overrun clauses of their contracts to make up the difference? Would some of them sue for breach of contract? Would lowest bids be 1.01% higher to account for the 1% reduction?
From the website, now it is 6 years. Plus a cap on spending afterward.
“The One Cent Solution is beautifully simple: If the government cuts one cent out of every dollar of its total spending (excluding interest payments) each year for six years, and then caps overall federal spending at 18 percent of national income from then on, we can:
•Reduce federal spending by $7.5 trillion over 10 years.
•Balance the budget by 2019.
Moreover, instead of using inflated budget “baselines” to claim nonexistent spending “cuts” a common practice in Washington, the One Cent Solution calls for real cuts. Under the One Cent plan, the sum of all discretionary and entitlement spending will have to go down from one year to the next, by one percent or more.”
Sounds like austerity.
Also from the website:
“Under the One Cent Solution or “Penny Plan”, not all programs must be cut by one percent. Congress may determine that some programs are too critical to cut, but that would require that other programs be reduced more so that the total amount cut is equal to one cent for every dollar each year for six years.”
Some are more equal than others.
There is also this nugget:
“Every family in America can reduce its overall spending by one percent per year, and they know the federal government can too.”
Families that are increasing in size would find it difficult to reduce necessary expenses by 1% per year. And this assumes that there is no inflation.
They don’t even have to grow in size, as kids get older, they become more expensive: clothes cost more, they eat more, etc.
Anyway, I can’t wait to watch spending continue growing if Romney wins. Just remember how spending under the previous GOP Admin went from 2 trillion to 3.1 trillion when they make promises to “starve the beast”. Spending increased 55% during the Bush Admin, with 6 years of GOP majorities, as opposed to 22% during the first four years of the current admin.
This is one of the reasons I quit being a Republican: they like spending even more than the Dems, and that’s saying a lot, as the Dems love to spend money.
“LOL, man, chill. I wasn’t even thinking of you in my contractor rant. I was focused on alleged fed contractors.”
No problem, we’re good!
*Posted after close of government contract hours 14 JUNE 2012
*Posted after close of government contract hours 14 JUNE 2012
It’s been another productive day here at the Uncle Sugar gravy trough
Thank you, taxpayers. The squad didn’t read the Rolling Stone article so don’t understand what has you so riled up. We run a pretty clean shop here, BTW. It was a lot worse back in 2010 but they actually did a big purge (yes, layoffs) when the contract was awarded to a new contractor. While actual Feds are nearly impossible to fire, contractors can and do get let go. Oh the tales we could tell were it not for confidentiality agreements. Some of these tales may get told on Capitol Hill someday…
“Posted prior to start of government contract hours 14 JUNE 2012″
The propaganda troll brigade probably doesn’t care. Since they routinely lie about almost everything, they will later accuse you of spending their tax dollars posting during work hours.
“accuse you of spending their tax dollars posting during work hours”
Nothing to see here, folks. Just the invisible hand of the free market at work. Bootstraps, rugged individualist, job creator, et cetera…
*playing with John Galt action figure in taxpayer funded sandbox
grover norquist on bath salts
Calgon - Take Me Away!
Foreign buyers bullish on Florida housing even if Floridians are not
“To the snowbirds of Canada, the sunseekers of Europe and flight capitalists of Latin America, Florida sends you all a great big Thanks! for buying homes here in such abundance.
When it comes to international buyers snapping up housing in the United States, Florida property remains the runaway favorite. The state tallied 26 percent of international sales in the country, says a new National Association of Realtors report for the year ending March 2012.”
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/realestate/article1235159.ece
*Posted prior to start of government contract hours 14 JUNE 2012
I’m in Tampa this week. There are hardly any signs of the recession here.
Granted, one week is not much time to get anything more than a superficial overview, but I have been across town a few times already on the non-Interstate regular streets, and there isn’t much sign of hardship.
“I’m in Tampa this week. There are hardly any signs of the recession here.”
Have you taken Fletcher from 1-75 to 275? A real study in contrasts.
Having said that, however, I can’t vouch for the city of Tampa, but as a resident of Hillsborough County, of which Tampa is a part, I can say that it is a well-run county and has been for a while. It could have been a lot worse here, and I kept waiting for various disasters that never came. It does a lot more for its residents than even the residents realize. In some ways, it’s rather progressive for an area that’s supposed to be conservative. It’s not like we don’t have some major problems, we do, just like everywhere else. But I have to say that the county government works hard to mitigate the problems. And they do this rather quietly, without blowing their horn much. There are lots of goodies here for lower income folks and unfortunately word seems to have gotten out, hence we see an influx of people from other parts of the country and outside of the country coming here, looking for those goodies.
As to Tampa, ever since they got the Republican convention, there’s been an effort to clean up its act, so it might be a bit of a Potemkin Village effect you’re seeing.
The closer to 275 on Fletcher and Fowler the more seedy. When I was in Tampa for 14 months there were panhandlers at every intersection. By the time I left the city council restricted the beggars.
I am seeing more panhandlers in my area (Eastside Seattle). Panhandler index, anyone?
I am seeing more panhandlers in my area (Eastside Seattle). Panhandler index, anyone?
I had a meeting with a prospective client yesterday morning. One of those office parks with lovely landscaping.
After I left the meeting and was waiting for the bus, I heard a clattering and screeching noise. Sort of like what you hear when you see a member of Team Shopping Cart.
And that’s exactly what it was. The noise made by a homeless guy and his filled-to-overflowing cart.
Metro Denver is full of panhandlers on every intersection. 95% of them are male, 99% of them are white, and most appear to be in the 40 to 60 age range.
“I’m in Tampa this week. There are hardly any signs of the recession here.”
No doubt, I just said to my wife, “Is it still spring break?”
Traffic is nuts.
Reservations are tight at Applebees.
Harvard center forecasts uptick across country
The US housing market, and the Boston area in particular, have likely reached bottom and will slowly start to recover this year, according to Harvard University researchers who are scheduled to release an annual housing report Thursday.
For this year, Harvard researchers’ view of the Boston area is even brighter, primarily because the local economy is in relatively better shape than elsewhere in the country, and housing values did not fall as much
“We are definitely going to be in front of the trend,’’ said Alex Coon, market manager for Redfin in Boston. “I think 2012 is going to be the base that the recovery for housing is built on.”
http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/articles/2012/06/14/housing_prices_may_soon_start_to_increase/?p1=News_links
Can the Harvard Real Estate Group please start disclosing in all of its press releases the source of its funding?!?!
You want to know the smartest guys in the room? The Harvard Real Estate Group. Collect the money, slap the Harvard logo on some NAR/MAR drivel, and hit “send”. Brilliant. And the press and the public eat it up, thinking if it is Haaaaaavvvvaadddd that it must be good.
Exactly. I did some research on who contributes to UCLA and USC Business Schools R E Depts, and of course all the heavy hitters in the REIC were big contributors. But of course their housing analysis was objective. Hey, we’re a university after all…LOL
But Harvard is different, it’s an Ivy League U. LOL
Bad Chile, you nailed it.
“I think 2012 is going to be the base that the recovery for housing is built on.”
It appears the housing market has reached a permanently high plateau.
South Boston then on to Punai.
Critics blast Hub’s ‘loose deal’ to cut State Street taxes
Critics are slamming Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s administration for offering Hub financial giant State Street Corp. an $11.5 million tax break to shift some operations to South Boston’s planned One Channel Center.
“The last thing State Street needs is another corporate tax giveaway,” Jason Stephany of activist group MassUniting said yesterday after the Boston Redevelopment Authority announced a possible 15-year property-tax deal for the Boston-based firm.
From the comments section:
“I was told by a Administrative person who worked in the office of the former Unit Head, that State Street plans by the end of 2013 to move almost all of the Fund Admin operations - which is about 725 people, to Mumbai and Punai where “Syntel” will perform all of these jobs leaving several hundred Massachusetts residents out of work.”
Escalade drivin’, cell phone usin’, beer buyin’ welfare cheats!
Oh wait, they’re “job creators”. $11 million can employee a lot of maids, gardeners and pool boys.
Food stamps and government contractors are bankrupting this country!
LOL. Yea the $11M local city tax subsidy is what’s causing the bankruptcy of the country. The 50 million people on food stamps….that’s nothing.
We spend about 100 billion on food stamps and school lunches. That’s about 2.7% of the federal budget. Sounds like a real budget buster.
What is interesting is that we can feed 1/6 of the population with 1/37th of the budget.
heeheeheeheeehee: “Audit-thee-Pentagon!” + $ell $urplus Green Zone Halliburton paint in $torage somewhere in Iraq.
Damn straight. The govt is entitled to 100% of State Street’s money. How dare they allow those rich evil bastards to keep any of it?
Jeez dude, straw man? You’re equating not handing out more tax breaks to 100% confiscation. That was lame even by your standards.
‘House Hunters’ houses aren’t always for sale?
by Carol Memmott on Jun. 13, 2012, under USA TODAY News
Millions of TV viewers tune in to HGTV’s long-running House Hunters regularly; some people even claim addiction to the show. Who doesn’t like snooping in other people’s homes?
The show has a prospective buyer or buyers tour three properties, giving their critiques along the way on closet space, countertops and wall colors. At show’s end, one home is chosen for purchase.
But how real is “reality” on the show? An account posted by one home buyer on the popular Hooked on Houses blog, causing a mini-uproar on the Web, says the show is almost completely staged.
Jensen also wrote, “They didn’t even ‘accept’ us being a subject for the show until we closed on the house we were buying. So then when they decided to film our episode, we had to scramble to find houses to tour and pretend we were considering.” She added, perhaps most surprisingly, that “the ones we looked at weren’t even for sale. … They were just our two friends’ houses who were nice enough to madly clean for days in preparation for the cameras!”
Jensen, who loved the show and who currently lives in Omaha, says she’s only talking about this now because her hairdresser encouraged her to blog about it. “They actually let you know in the middle of applying online (that it’s not all real),” she says in an interview. “They say you have to be near closing on the house you’ve already picked, because they don’t want to waste their time on anyone who’s still in the decision-making process. And we knew we were a good fit because we already had a new house but hadn’t moved in.”
http://tucsoncitizen.com/usa-today-news/2012/06/13/house-hunters-houses-arent-always-for-sale/ -
’says the show is almost completely staged’
Next thing, you’ll be telling me Ted Nugent didn’t ‘just happen’ to buy a gun from that one company, or that the Kardashians weren’t really planning to sit by the pool last Tuesday.
400K budgets are NOT real for most people.
Plenty real if the couple has a 150K combined income. However, I love it when, at the beginning of the show, they ask “what’s your budget” and then, using your downpayment to goose it, come up with a higher number. Very few people seem to have the 20% downpayment.
And, sadly, many of these folks have no business in the price ranges they are looking into. 400K with a new baby, Dad is a high school teacher, Mom is staying home? Come on, no way, that number should be more like 175K, not 400K.
“Plenty real if the couple has a 150K combined income. However, I love it when, at the beginning of the show, they ask “what’s your budget” and then, using your downpayment to goose it, come up with a higher number. Very few people seem to have the 20% downpayment. ”
That and inevitably the contestants, errr I mean buyers will say my budget is $200K. The first house they see is $199K. The second is $205K and the third is $255K. And the hostess, err I mean realtor says, “well this is a little above your price range, but look how much more amazing it is than those 2 POS we saw in your price range”.
BTW, where are you getting 400K from? The houses they saw for the show were in the $130K range. In Austin $130K actually buys you something decent.
“Plenty real if the couple has a 150K combined income”
Even on 150k that is still a big nut just for the house payment, if they go FHA they are looking at up to $2300/mo. Take home pay would be $8500ish. Sounds doable until you lose one of those incomes.
Maybe I’m old school, but $400k still sounds like a lot of money for a house if you are not rich…and $150k combined is not rich it’s middle to upper middle class if they have no kids.
Prices created by ZIRP are not REAL.
Reality TV isn’t real? Get the **** out!
The last two grafs of the story are wonderful:
Jensen says she’s shocked by people’s reaction. “I didn’t think people believed it as much as they do.”
She has no hard feelings about her experience, although she doesn’t watch the show anymore. “I haven’t had cable for years.”
To which I say:
I’ll bet that times are such that she’s had to drop the cable. When money gets tight, cable is one of those things that can easily be cut out of a budget.
“cable is one of those things that can easily be cut out of a budget”
Yes, if you don’t have an addict for a partner.
I dropped cable 20 years ago, not because of the cost, either.
I dropped it for 3 yrs, but OTA reception was terrible after the digital switchover.
Use a powered digital antenna…it works and put it near a window facing the transmitter…
If Montana is like Colorado, there’s probably a hill in the way, blocking a clear signal.
Not really, we are out in the valley with a clear shot to both TV mountains. Hubby got some dinky antenna from Radio Shack that didn’t help, and I didn’t look into it. Next time I will because all we do is watch the same old local news and weather and not much else.
You can get news and weather online, and with a lot less flufftalk too.
One of the more annoying trends in the internet is posting the news videos without a transcript. They make you watch a commercial and a 4 minute segment, instead of skimming the transcript for the 15 seconds worth of useful content. I feel like screaming Joe Friday “just the facts ma’am” at the screen.
One of the more annoying trends in the internet is posting the news videos without a transcript. They make you watch a commercial and a 4 minute segment, instead of skimming the transcript for the 15 seconds worth of useful content.
And here I thought that I was the only one with that particular complaint.
Not to mention the boredom that quickly sets in. The ‘Net is awash with talking heads vids, and to me, they’re a big turn-off, click-away, or whatever you want to call it.
I’ll bet that times are such that she’s had to drop the cable. When money gets tight, cable is one of those things that can easily be cut out of a budget.
They were students for the last few years (they sold that house and he went to law school).
Might be 20/20 hindsight, but all the video segments of the buyers discussing their decision — usually in some carefully-chosen café — did feel fake. Real people don’t act well.
I guess now, when I watch the show (occasionally, since I don’t have cable), I can determine which house they already closed on, simply by how fake their reaction is when they walk into a house for the “first” time.
I thought this was public knowledge years ago. Watch closely and you can usually tell which on the buyers will pick because…drum roll…they’ve already picked it.
Next thing you’ll tell me is Sandra Rinamato…..
(One of the few shows I miss by not having cable).
But how real is “reality” on the show? An account posted by one home buyer on the popular Hooked on Houses blog, causing a mini-uproar on the Web, says the show is almost completely staged.
Jensen also wrote
Wow, I can’t believe this is getting discussed here…small world :-). “Bobi Jensen” is my sister. Among the family we’ve been laughing the last few days about how this made the news. Yeah, the whole thing was staged.
Her’s was apparently somewhat less staged.
Others have mentioned that they’ve changed their budget by 20% or more and the house prices so that their friends don’t have too much info about how much money they actually make or how much their house cost.
All the shows on HGTV are exactly the same.
“Take a Bite Out of Crime! Eat a Realtor!”
Even with foreclosures on the rise, banks will reposses fewer homes this year, experts say
Posted: 12:01 a.m. Thursday, June 14, 2012
By Kimberly Miller
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
West Palm Beach —
More new foreclosure cases were filed last month statewide and in Palm Beach County than in April or May 2011, but experts say many of the homes will never end up in bank hands.
Increasing efforts by lenders to negotiate short sales will divert distressed properties from the foreclosure pipeline, which saw an 83 percent jump statewide in new filings in May compared to last year and a 16 percent increase from April, according to a report to be released today by RealtyTrac.
The higher foreclosure numbers were reflected in Palm Beach County, where the clerk and comptroller noted a 62 percent increase from last year and a 3.6 percent bump up from April.
Still, RealtyTrac CEO Brandon Moore said banks are recognizing the benefits of short sales over processing a lengthy foreclosure, meaning more properties will sell before being repossessed.
“Disposing of distressed homes pre-foreclosure sale can benefit lenders and servicers because homes sell at a higher average price than bank-owned homes,” he said, noting that the average price of a short sale nationally is $27,000 higher than the average price of a bank-owned home.
During the first quarter of the year, the number of short sales in Palm Beach County was up nearly 54 percent compared to the end of 2011, RealtyTrac found. On an annual measure, they were up 38 percent.
“I don’t know if there is more willingness by banks to do short sales or if they’re just getting better at it,” said West Palm Beach-based Realtor Sherry Lee, who has more than 20 short sale listings. “I know every time I do a short sale, I learn something new.”
Lee said some of her clients have missed only one or two payments, while others have a final foreclosure judgment against them, but have persuaded the bank to delay the auction based on a pending short sale.
“We try to help people no matter what stage they are in,” she said.
But overall foreclosure activity, which includes new filings, notices of foreclosure sale and bank repossessions, was down nationally last month from the same time in 2011, marking the 20th straight month where total filings decreased.
“We’re not seeing the increases in new foreclosures translate into bank repossessions so those numbers are still down year over year,” said RealtyTrac spokesman Daren Blomquist. “We know banks were holding back last year.”
Blomquist said new foreclosure filings were artificially low in 2011 because banks were still reviewing their paperwork and legal procedures in light of the robo-signing scandal.
The number of Palm Beach County homes repossessed by banks in May dropped 44 percent compared to last year and 13 percent from April, according to RealtyTrac.
Palm Beach County Clerk Sharon Bock said she’s concerned about how her office will handle the increase in foreclosure filings after a $2.5 million budget cut that will begin July 1.
“We expect that our foreclosure division is one that will be heavily affected by these budget cuts,” she said. “My fear is if the trend of increased filings continues as it has in recent months, we will not have the ability to keep up with the volume.”
Palm Beach County has about 39,000 pending foreclosure cases.
The FIRE sector did learn one thing from the previous Savings & Loan disaster: don’t foreclose too quickly and make sure accounting laws have been put into place to help you carry the would-normally-be-in-the-real-world, liability.
and make sure accounting laws have been put into place to help you carry the would-normally-be-in-the-real-world, liability ??
Yep, and almost zero borrowing costs to go with it….
omigod, you’re right. It was all too recent and they learned all too well!
We’re fooked.
Short Sale Hell for the buyer.
seller/bank 1 buyer -1
long process, “as is” condition, comps pump up price. Seller makes $ to leave, buyer gets the bills for “as is”. Even termite work falls in the buyer’s court. (So Ca)
“Short Sale Hell for the buyer.”
Did anyone ever think about who the victim home loaners were planning on selling to before they were victim homeloaners? Well I have, in fact I know my first DBLL was planning on selling his brilliant refied real estate investment to me. In Oct. 2005 before he took his family back north where he went on to buy another house 2 months later he said to me….
It will be good for you to get a chance to live in this neighborhood and see how great it is for the kids because in a year or two I will probably sell this place. I asked him… Well what would you be asking for it? He looked at me with a cocky smile and said… Well I don`t know, we`ll have to see what it`s worth then.
As the story played out he stopped making his Washington Mutual loan payment sometime in late 2006 or early 2007 after his pick-a-pay neg am loan adjusted up and the market adjusted down. At one point they called me and asked if I wanted to buy it for $310k and they would be making no money on the deal, I declined so they collected $1,700 a month rent until 2010 when they completed a short sale for $150k.
Short People
Randy Newman
Short Sales got no reason
Short Sales got no reason
Short Sales got no reason
They got great big loans
And the owner cries
I was robo signed
And the banker lies
Well I refied twice
But I thought I knew
I could pay it off
When I sold to you
Well, I don’t want no Short Sales
Don’t want no Short Sales
Don’t want no Short Sales
Round here
Randy Newman - Short People - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbhBNEUNyRc - 166k - Cached - Similar pages
Unknown
Thanks for the this happened to us
story. I hope they (DBLL) get what’s
coming to them. I disdain that type.
“I hope they (DBLL) get what’s coming to them.”
So far this is what has been coming to them….
Finding the Right Program
May 31, 2012 … Hardest Hit Fund (HHF) … You might also what to find out if you are eligible for a mortgage modification under HAMP. … Your answers indicate that you may be eligible for the Home Affordable Refinancing Program (HARP).
http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/modification_eligibility.html - 84k - Cached - Similar pages
Forclosure Activity Up???
http://economywatch.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/14/12203711-foreclosure-activity-jumps-in-troubling-sign-for-housing-recovery?lite
Right here in Phoenix AZ there is such an inventory shortage that people are out bidding each other to buy a house (you know this is a great time to buy!). Then the mortgage companies appraisals tell the buyer their house isn’t worth that much.
IMO this Housing Bubble story should have been over a long time ago. But when will it be over? 5 years? 10 years? More?
“this Housing Bubble story should have been over a long time ago. But when will it be over? 5 years? 10 years? More?”
Interesting. I take note of the “foreclosure activity up” headlines this AM. I think, at long last, we are in the final act. Will be over in 2014.
I see the market bottoming in many communities. Others will be bouncing along for a while. Coming soon to CA: economic expansion hindered by lack of housing……
“…economic expansion hindered by lack of housing…”
Did you catch that story Ben posted about all the shadow inventory soon to hit the market in Arkansas? I don’t suppose there is anything like that soon to happen in California, as the bubble was obviously far worse in Arkansas than here…
“I think, at long last, we are in the final act. Will be over in 2014.”
Consider the possibility that peak foreclosure may be just before the intermission. We are nowhere near a correction of the credit bubble, much less the desperate overshoot. Biggest credit bubble in history…
Though we’ve discussed it for years, many of the posters here wishfully thought the whole thing is over and drank the koolaid already.
I sat next to a businessman from Boston on the plane last night. Selling high speed cameras. Business is great. He bought a house to flip a few years ago, built a 500 ft2 Master Bedroom addition and is underwater. He’s considered buying another nicer house and then walking on this one. Hasn’t consulted a “lawyer” yet. Doesn’t care if his credit is trashed. He’s holding now, because word in Boston is that the correction is over and the market is recovering.
DC/NYC/Boston
Not that I consider Mr. Facial Hair any authority, but one headline I read yesterday was sort of along the lines of “Paul Krugman calls a Depression, MSM snoozes”.
I think TS is about to really HTF. I’m noting the utter confusion at fedgov level. I mean rampant, mind-numbing confusion. Everyone’s playing in each other’s sandbox, for one thing. Here’s Timmay bloviating about Syria. Really? Who made him Secretary of State? Doesn’t he have a domestic economy to sort out? Obama’s administration is leaking like a Haitian refugee watercraft, seems the snakes are turning on each other. (Whassup with that?). Justice is in the gun-running biz. I could go on. My point is that the fedgov seems to be in such confusion, it’s almost to the point of meltdown.
And remember when the meltdown comes, it seems to come suddenly. Juggernauts have a way of lumbering along for a while even with mortal wounds, especially when there are so many with so much invested.
“Not that I consider Mr. Facial Hair any authority, but one headline I read yesterday was sort of along the lines of “Paul Krugman calls a Depression, MSM snoozes”.
Mr. Facial Hair called a recession for 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 as well.
suddenly? The political leaders of all the countries seem to be working together to cut all the fuses and stop all the chain reactions. Maybe when they fall down there will be some “sudden” something?
“seem to be working together”
I wish I could remember where I read it, but someone once wrote that the problem with the whole “world domination” theory is that there’s always a disgruntled elitist or two who starts getting squeezed out, or gets double-crossed, or has their own agenda, etc. And then things start breaking down. I think the whole Euro thing illustrates this nicely.
One thing (and you can count on this) that saves us is that these turds are actually fundamentally incapable of working together over the long term. Sooner or later someone gets screwed and then the accidents and poisonings and frame-ups (DSK anyone?) start to happen.
I also noted this in the Rolling Stone stoner arms dealer article. When the time got near for the one partner to collect his millions in commission, the founding partner started to manuever. And of course, it was another contractor that got beaten out making a false accusation that led to investigation that ultimately brought down the house of cards.
“I think TS is about to really HTF”
Like I’ve been saying lately, things are really not that good out here in bidding war land. Fuel prices are still high, food prices are still high, housing costs are still high and wages are flat if you’re lucky enough to have kept your job.
This effort to keep the financial geniuses flush with cash is killing the middle class, I see it every day.
palmetto
Your post Mr Facial Hair, etc… rant was funny. I almost peed in my skirt. LOL Clever and true.
Aww, thanks, Awaiting. At least somebody still loves me. In the past week, I think I’ve managed to alienate just about everyone on this blog.
LOL, the goobermint contractor thing was really the capper, eh?
I feel bad if it touched a nerve with Muggy, it wasn’t meant for him. I may not always agree with him, but he’s a decent chap, hard working, devoted father, means well and really tries his best to make sense of his life in the crazy-arse state called Florida. It really has been hell for him here and I hope he finds a place that brings peace to him and his family.
Aww, thanks, Awaiting. At least somebody still loves me. In the past week, I think I’ve managed to alienate just about everyone on this blog.
C’mon, palmy, you still haven’t alienated me. How ’bout a skinny bicyclist joke?
“C’mon, palmy, you still haven’t alienated me.”
Awww, shucks, I thought you were pissed at me.
Same here. How about Old River Rat jokes?
See, Palmy, you at least have some of the HBB women on your side (myself included). We can’t help it if you guys are at each other’s throats.
‘when will it be over’
Ask someone from Japan.
They would just be making a wishful guess too, right?
RIP, Euro.
Not likely to end without some ugliness. It was obvious to some outsiders to be a stupid idea from the start, but it was a mania.
Meant to reply to RIP Euro.
ISTR reading, in the last year or two, that the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, was almost crowing with glee over his country’s decision to stay out of the Eurozone.
And, as much as the Celtic side of me hates to do this, I’ll have to agree with the English. It was something well worth staying out of.
Hola or perhaps I should say lepa!
Hate to break it to you Slim but you ain’t likely to be Celtic, especially if your families from Cornwall.
Another wave of immigration arrived during the Neolithic period, when farming developed about 6,500 years ago. But the English still derive most of their current gene pool from the same early Basque source as the Irish, Welsh and Scots. These figures are at odds with the modern perceptions of Celtic and Anglo-Saxon ethnicity based on more recent invasions. There were many later invasions, as well as less violent immigrations, and each left a genetic signal, but no individual event contributed much more than 5 per cent to our modern genetic mix.
http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/mythsofbritishancestry/
LOL. Would you settle for any whose ancestors spoke Gaelic are Celts?
So we’re of Basque descent? Cool.
I’ve always admired how the Basques have gone their own way, much to the chagrin of the Spaniards. But I could do without the ETA violence.
I had a great grandmother who was Basque. She was from Bilbao.
I think the majority of people are Basque, normally in DeNile.
Are you perhaps 1/32nd native american? That seems popular these days.
Loreena McKennit (musician) traveled the world looking for the origins of the Celts. 15 years and three albums later, she wound up in Northwestern China, wondering if that was the origin. I don’t know where the line of “Celts” begins, but China seems a bit too far.
Young adult labor market, my anecdotal evidence:
I go into fast food restaurants, lots of young, attractive teen girls working the counter, 30-40-something guys cooking.
I go into sit-down restaurants, lots of young attractive girls as hostesses, slightly older young ladies as waitresses. 30-40 something guys as cooks.
I go into retail stores. Lots of young girls working retail, few young guys.
My son’s female friends, most have jobs in retail or fast food. His guy friends, all putting in a dozen job aps a week, with not even a call back for months. One of his friends signed up for the military (US Navy). A-B student, 4 years of ROTC, 85-percentile on ASVAB… 6 months wait for a spot in bootcamp so he leaves in November.
Darrell,
This is nothing new. Fast food joints always put the pretty girls at the cash register and the guys cooking in the back.
Out here the fast food “cooks” are all illegals. In some cases even the cashiers are illegals too.
We have a new wave of immigration here in Fla, Caribbean/West Indian. On steroids. Looks like they’re shoving out the folks from south of the border, too. Or maybe just replacing those who have either left or gone on permanent goobermint teat combined with under the radar income sources. Mostly in food service/domestic/health care, not seeing it yet in landscaping or Ag, although many from the West Indies do participate in sugar cane ag here in Fla, because it’s a job those from south of the border won’t do. Very dangerous, for one thing, much more so than pickin’ termaters, strawberries or oranges.
Where I live there are very few illegals. I mean like maybe 1% of the population few.
Amazingly enough fast food is cooked and served, hotel rooms get cleaned, lawns get mowed, farm labor is performed. All done with American labor.
“American” is just immigrant TNG.
Where are you exactly?
“Where are you exactly?”
I don’t want to say. You’ll all move here to the last illegal free area in the country
North Dakota? No thanks.
When I worked fast food, I cleaned up. And that’s all I did.
Boss fired me because, in his words, I was non-productive.
Well, bossola, you just fired me for doing the job I was assigned to do. But, since I hate this place, I’m glad to go.
I later heard that the company fired him.
So there.
War against Boys & Men?
A-B student, 4 years of ROTC, 85-percentile on ASVAB… 6 months wait for a spot in bootcamp so he leaves in November.
Just an FYI, but when I enlisted in the army back in the mid 90’s, I had a 6-month wait for Basic. I was college-educated with a 98-percentile on the ASVAB. Basically had my choice of any mil occupation, eyesight not withstanding (wanted to fly choppers, but my eyesight it awful).
Being the hard-charging, head-strong, inexperienced 20yo who thought he had something to prove, I chose 11B… Infantry. I don’t regret it, but I hope my children choose better than I did.
If I were a young pup, I think I’d see if I could be accepted to the military photographer training program. The instruction is done at Fort Meade — for all the services — and I know someone who recently went through it. She said it was excellent.
Lol… reminds me of the movie Full Metal Jacket.
Animal Mother: “You a photographer?”
Joker: “I’m a combat correspondent.”
Animal Mother: “Well, you see much combat?”
Joker: “I’ve seen a little on TV.”
Animal Mother: “You’re a real comedian.”
Joker: “Well, they call me the Joker.”
Animal Mother: “Well I got a joke for you. I’m gonna tear you a new a******.”
In ‘86, I showed up at the recruiter mid-January, and was off to bootcamp in early February.
I’ve heard that there’s almost a year’s wait before a recruit can go to USMC boot camp. Reasons: Lousy economy and no “hot” wars. Well, other than Afghanistan…
What a far cry form the days when we had to draft young men to serve. Now, thanks to “economic conscription” they’re beating down the doors for a chance to be sent to the middle east.
in my second life i want to be a hot chic.
Spain house prices fall at steepest rate on record
MADRID | Thu Jun 14, 2012 8:53am EDT
(Reuters) - Spanish house prices fell at the sharpest pace since current records began in the first quarter, data showed on Thursday, deepening a property market slump and serving up more bad news for the country’s battered banks.
Prices dropped 12.6 percent year on year, national statistics institute INE said. The fall was the biggest since the data series began in 2007, easily beating the previous trough of 7.7 percent in the second quarter of 2009.
Spain’s banks were left high and dry after a housing boom collapsed four years ago, saddled with billions of euros in bad debts related to the property sector, while sky-high unemployment has driven a sharp climb in unpaid loan rates.
…
Those Germans better hope the Rhine doesn’t freeze over like it did in 406.
We had a recent wave of immigrants in the North West of England. They speak Spanish (or at least the kids do) the adults tend only to speak English (we English ain’t good with languages, we just shout louder in English until the natives understand us), the families left these shores up to twenty or thirty years ago for a better life in Spain, now they are returning. I can only think it’s the weather that’s attracting them back; although one of the kids dads told me it’s because the building trade has died in Spain and they can’t live on the meagre pickings that are left.
How is the Spanish bailout working?
Euro Watch
Spanish Cost of Borrowing Soars After Rate Cut
Paul White/Associated Press
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany is seen on a screen at the stock exchange in Madrid on Thursday.
By DAVID JOLLY and MELISSA EDDY
Published: June 14, 2012
PARIS — European leaders were facing increasing pressure on Thursday to respond to the euro crisis, as Spanish 10-year bond yields hit the 7 percent level that has served to trigger full international bailouts of other euro zone members, and Italian borrowing costs rose sharply at a debt auction.
Spain’s borrowing costs soared after Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the country’s bond rating late Wednesday, with the yield on the 10-year bond touching 7 percent for the first time in the euro era. In Rome, the national Treasury sold 4.5 billion euros, or $5.6 billion, of debt, including three-year bonds maturing priced to yield 5.30 percent, up from the 3.91 percent it paid to move similar securities last month.
Higher borrowing costs threaten the $125 billion “bailout lite” Madrid worked out with European officials to recapitalize its banking sector, as that deal was contingent on Spain being able to continue tapping the bond market for its regular financing needs. For both Spain and Italy, rising yields endanger hopes that the countries will be able to overcome their problems without full bailouts, because high interest rates make refinancing unsustainably expensive.
…
Badly
Spain’s borrowing costs have risen to another euro-era record, with lenders demanding a higher interest rate.
The yield on benchmark 10-year bonds hit 7% in early trade, a level which many analysts believe is unsustainable in the long term. It later fell back slightly.
It came as Moody’s cut Spain’s credit rating to one notch above “junk”.
Italy also saw borrowing costs rise, selling bonds repayable in three years with a yield of 5.3%, up from 3.9%.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18438044
Those interest rates are on the boil, and soon the boiling water will start splashing out of the sides of the pot.
FWIW:
The Biology of Bubble and Crash
WHAT happens to your body when you take risks? What happens to it when you make or lose money?
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/opinion/sunday/the-biology-of-bubble-and-crash.html?src=recg
This is an interesting report about the foreclosure rental program
Private Equity Has Too Much Money to Spend on Homes
Funds planning to invest more than $6 billion to buy and rent foreclosed homes are finding it easy to raise money. The difficulty is spending it.
The number of low-cost foreclosed homes coming to market has dropped, bulk sales have been slow to materialize and prices are recovering in markets such as Phoenix, making it hard for private-equity firms, hedge funds and pension systems to buy as many homes as they need.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-13/private-equity-has-too-much-money-to-spend-on-homes-mortgages.html
How many homes does a pension fund need?
The more that make them money, the better.
But I wonder whether they buy property title insurance for these homes?
Foreclosures spike 9% in May
CNN | 6/14/12 | Les Christie
Foreclosure filings in May spiked 9% compared with a month earlier, according to an industry group.
RealtyTrac reported that 205,990 U.S. properties received filings last month, including default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions, marking the first monthly increase since January.
Bank repossessions climbed steeply, up 7% to 54,844, after hitting a four-year low in April.
The industry had anticipated that there would be a new wave of foreclosures once the industry resolved the “robo-signing” issues, which came to light in late 2010. A settlement was finalized last April.
Robo-signing put the methods used by the banks to repossess homes under intense scrutiny. That forced lenders to slow the foreclosure process to make sure their paperwork was legal and proper.
“That forced lenders to slow the foreclosure process…”
How about “allowed”? The banks have a vital incentive to not foreclose.
Tax and Spend you way to prosperity…it never works but we keep on trying!
Flatten California!
City Journal | 06/14/2012 | ARTHUR B. LAFFER
Six years ago, I decided to leave Rancho Santa Fe, California, for Nashville, Tennessee. That’s a major undertaking for anyone, but particularly for a 25-year resident of Southern California, dragging his whole family and company along with him.
I’ve had a lot of company of late. Firms, people, investments, and tax revenues are fleeing California, repelled by the most onerous antigrowth business environment in the United States. California’s after-tax rate of return for doing business lags so far behind other states’ (especially zero-income-tax competitors such as Texas, Tennessee, and Florida) that the exodus shouldn’t surprise anyone. Yet the state’s Democratic leadership is pushing a November ballot measure aimed at raising income and sales taxes in order to make up for lost revenue.
Taxes are indeed a big part of California’s economic problem. At 10.30 percent, the state’s top marginal personal income-tax rate is the fourth-highest in the country, and its top marginal corporate income-tax rate of 8.84 percent is 25 percent above the national average. Excessive taxation is an equal-opportunity tormentor, afflicting labor and capital, poor and rich, men and women, old and young. In the short run, higher taxes on labor or capital will reduce after-tax earnings. Some people will violate the law and fail to report taxable income; others will use legal options, including tax deductions and credits, to reduce their payments. In the long run, residents—those who can afford to, anyway—will vote with their feet and leave the state, shifting the tax burden to lower-wage workers, as well as to immobile land and property.
California’s income-tax system is also the nation’s most progressive—and that’s not a good thing. Progressive tax systems magnify tax-revenue volatility, with lots of money pouring in during periods of growth and the till running dry during downturns. This volatility occurs because wealthy people, who pay more taxes in a progressive system, experience sharp income swings from boom to bust. Depending disproportionately on the wealthy for its own revenues, the state experiences the same swings. This dynamic has a bad effect on politicians, who go on spending sprees during booms and then raise taxes during busts, harming competitiveness.
Worse, a highly progressive tax structure means that the most productive California residents and businesses—the primary employers of others—wind up taxed the most on the margin. State government figures show that in 2008, 61.3 percent of all personal income taxes—by far the state’s most important source of revenue—were paid by filers with adjusted gross incomes of over $200,000, who constituted just 4.1 percent of the population and earned 34.5 percent of all income. It’s a wonder that California has any entrepreneurs or venture capitalists left.
In the late 1800s, economist Henry George, a Californian, neatly summarized the main points of a good tax system. It should “bear as lightly as possible upon production—so as least to check the increase of the general fund from which taxes must be paid and the community maintained,” he wrote. It should be “easily and cheaply collected, and fall as directly as may be upon the ultimate payers—so as to take from the people as little as possible in addition to what it yields the government.” It should be “certain—so as to give the least opportunity for tyranny or corruption on the part of officials, and the least temptation to law-breaking and evasion on the part of the taxpayers.” Finally, George argued, a good tax system should “bear equally—so as to give no citizen an advantage or put any at a disadvantage, as compared with others.”
As of March, California has a projected general-fund deficit of $9.2 billion—and that doesn’t include local government deficits or the state’s growing unfunded entitlement and pension liabilities. Governor Brown is intent on raising taxes to avert further spending cuts. But with California’s unemployment rate at 10.9 percent—among the highest in the nation—raising taxes on those still holding jobs will only make things worse. The governor should recall his old enthusiasm for the flat tax, which the state needs more than ever.
Nor can you cut your way to prosperity if you are running huge trade imbalances.
GoonMan,
We know you cannot tax and spend your way to prosperty, would you care to speak to your solution of borrow and spend your way to prosperity?
We look forward to your answer.
Who are you talking to?
The goonman…. 2banana.
Tennessee coffers are pretty plump these days as there is a 6% tax on interest and dividends above a small exclusion. I assume that’s why the ultra-rich retire in NC. But we have enough 1%ers the money flows in. Gov Haslam (R-.1%) latest endeavor is trying as hard as he can to do away with the inheritance tax. Hope this doesn’t mean daddy (mr Pilot Oil) is in ill health.
Lord thousands of young and not so young females will be crying over this.
Westlife’s Shane Filan falls victim to Ireland’s financial crisis as he is declared bankrupt following collapse of his multimillion-pound property empire
32-year-old singer revealed to have debts of £18million
Shane and his brother Finbarr had borrowed millions from several banks in their native Ireland
Plan to build 90-home estate never reached fruition with only half being built
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2159045/Westlifes-Shane-Filan-declared-bankrupt-property-empire-crumples.html#ixzz1xmRQGpzl
The inhumanity of it; on second thoughts considering some of the songs Westlife sang he’s probably guilty of crimes against humanity.
This tag teams with a plethora of recent articles of professional athletes who made millions in their primes that have gone bankrupt in very risky business investments.
I guess they “swing for the fences” (pun intended) instead of making 2-5% a year on their millions…
Wasn’t there a guy who won like $100 million (after taxes) on Powerball or something and his goal was to grow it to 1 billion? I wonder whatever happened to him?
I mean, jeez, isn’t 100 million enough?
Brad Duke, 2005. And no, he’s nowhere near achieving a billion with the $85 million one-time payout (after taxes) on his $220 million win. What a total loon. Sadly he’s probably still doing better than most lottery winners; aren’t 75% of them bankrupt within 5 years?
“What happened to Millionaire Brad Duke the lottery winner that wanted to become a billionaire?”
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091216143304AAPp1Pv
A well deserved Pounding?
http://urbansurvival.com/week.htm
Hats Off to Senator Bernie Sanders:
Your $4-Trillion Bailout Tab
With global economic collapse in the wings, at least someone in Washington has the balls to tell-it-like-it-is on the bend-overs and bailouts that accompanied the Housing Collapse:
“Jamie Dimon Is Not Alone During the financial crisis, at least 18 former and current directors from Federal Reserve Banks worked in banks and corporations that collectively received over $4 trillion in low-interest loans from the Federal Reserve.”
$4T total in 1, 3, 5 day loans. No more than $100B out at a time for a couple years.
I wonder how much my credit union would have loaned me by now if I had to roll the loan over every day….
$170K * 365 * 5
Wow, my credit union has loaned me $310 million for my house.
My Vermont relatives adore Sen. Sanders.
I can assure you that my PA parents do not have similar feelings for their senators. And don’t get me started on McCain or Kyl. Just don’t.
I like Sanders too. He’s the only Democarat who is honest enough to call himself a socialist. You gotta respect the man for that.
Sanders is an Independent. He usually votes with the Democrats but is not one himself.
Look out, Arizona, Georgia has you on its foreclosing mind…
Foreclosure activity jumps in troubling sign for housing recovery
6/13/2012 Assembly OKs legislation to create “Homeless Bill of Rights”
If enacted, measure will be first of its kind in nation
STATE HOUSE – Being homeless does not deny a person basic human rights, nor does it deny them access to necessary services and fair treatment.
http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/News/pr1.asp?prid=8447
Oh yeah
Rhode Island unemployment rate rises to 11.2 percent
May 18, 2012 12:02 am
CRANSTON, R.I. — Jobs figures released Friday by the state Department of Labor and Training show the unemployment rate for April rose slightly to 11.2 percent from 11.1 percent in March.
It’s the third consecutive month the unemployment rate has gone up.
The number of unemployed Rhode Islanders — people actively seeking employment — increased slightly in April to 62,200, from 62,100 in March.
“The numbers show the economic recovery in Rhode Island has ranged from very weak to non-existent,” said Charles J. Fogarty, director of the state Department of Labor and Training.
Hey - it is Rhode Island.
A more corrupt, high tax, democrat controlled and public union dominated state you will not find (on a per capita basis).
They should fence it in and use it as tours for school kids to show them how to totally bankrupt a once prosperous state (along with Detroit, Chicago, etc).
Seems to me that currency union was promised as a way to increase prosperity for all parties. However, in economic downturns, it means wealth transfer across country borders, between countries with ethnically and culturally distinct populations. A piece of data gleaned from the Euro experiment.
Probably, the best way for Europe to proceed towards greater integration would first be with a free-trade zone and a free-travel zone. Eventually, decades, perhaps centuries in the future, people will look around and realize that the country borders are much less meaningful as the population becomes more homogeneous. Only then would a political union be naturally occurring.
Or of course, they can do it like the US, have a civil war where one country dominates and takes over. But they’ve tried that a couple of times in the past with little progress
Chancellor Merkel Says Germany Will Lead Crisis Fight
By Tony Czuczka and Patrick Donahue - Jun 14, 2012 8:59 AM ET
Bloomberg
Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected quick solutions proposed to fix Europe’s financial crisis such as joint debt sharing, saying Germany can’t save the world economy alone and fellow Group of 20 countries must help.
Merkel signaled a showdown with global peers at the June 18-19 meetings over ending the crisis that has made Spain the fourth euro-area country to need a bailout and driven up Italy’s borrowing costs. Finding a solution is a “Herculean task” that requires European nations to embrace “political union” step by step, giving up some national powers in the process, she said.
Merkel pushed back against her critics, pressing the U.S. and Japan to reduce their debt, urging China and other emerging economies to make exchange rates more flexible and saying the world must “resist the temptation” to spur growth with deficit spending.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-14/merkel-says-germany-will-lead-crisis-fight-g-20-must-help.html
The money flowed across the borders in good times and bad. The difference is that in good times you can borrow into existence all the money you need to fund the imbalanes. In bad times, it becomes harder and harder to keep borrowing the money you need.
Hey - it is good to be the king - I mean in a public union….
The only place I know where one can steal from their employer or have sex with a minor and not get fired from your job…….
=========================
2 Disciplined Mpls. School Employees Keep Their Jobs (MN)
KSTP | 6-13-12 | jay kolls
Two employees admitted to misconduct but will keep their jobs in the Minneapolis Public School District. Transportation Services Manager Alonzo Anthony admitted he improperly took nearly $3,000 from the district. His punishment is a five-day suspension without pay and reimbursement. Jennifer Scott is a special education instructor. She admitted to inappropriate professional boundaries with a student. She also had been reprimanded in the past for missing more than a dozen days of work on two separate occasions. Her punishment is a two-day suspension without pay. Both employees keep their jobs.
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Arbitrator reinstates 40 state employees in Irene fraud
The CT Mirror - June 14, 2012
A state arbitrator has reinstated 40 of the 103 state employees who resigned, retired or were fired after being implicated in the improper receipt of disaster relief after Tropical Storm Irene.
The reinstated employees must make restitution and serve suspensions ranging from 15 to 60 days, according to an announcement Wednesday by AFSCME Council 4. The employees obtained aid under the Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or D-SNAP.
“While some state employees may have engaged in fraud regarding the D-SNAP program and have been dismissed or resigned from state service, these employees were found to have made errors that the arbitrator found warranted discipline, but not dismissal,” said Sal Luciano, executive director of Council 4.
“Look, I think that, broadly speaking, Republicans and Democrats don’t want to see, especially at a time when the economy needs all the fuel it can get, don’t want to see us raising taxes on the middle class. So, for example, some of the Bush tax cuts, did some good things for the middle class, and certainly don’t want to see, especially at this time, tax increases on the middle class.”
- Democrat National Committee communications director Brad Woodhouse
Wait what? I was told for 12 years that the eeevil Bush tax cuts didn’t help anyone but billionaires. Now all of a sudden the tax cuts did good things for the middle class?
That’s weird.
I wouldn’t say they didn’t help anyone but the billionaires. But the very wealthy did benefit far more than the little people, as the massive transfer of wealth to the 1% will attest.
That brings up an old memory. In 1982 I had a summer job working with the surveyors in my local township government. When Reagan’s tax cuts came into effect, one of the younger regular employees mentioned that his tax cut gave him enough extra take-home pay to be able to buy a six-pack of beer every week. So, yeah, those Republican tax cuts did help the non-rich, but they didn’t do much.
For what it’s worth, those surveyors had a union. In other words, they weremember of a public employee union.
The proper name for the party is Democratic. “Democrat” describes someone who is a member.
You are not going to overcome this Rush Limbaugh talking point.
Then you are ignorant. Obama ran on a platform of “let the Bush cuts expire only on those that earn more then $250K”. It was called class warfare.
Feeling pissed off today.
We saw a house last week that is perfect for us. Oddly enough, it is identical to the one we have been renting for the past 13 years (built at the same time. same layout, etc.) but the downstairs has been finished and it is on a large lot and has views from every window.
Overpriced, per comps, by almost 100K. No appliances. Ok, so the seller left the water heater and the garbage disposal. Other than that, move-in ready, in the neighborhood we want, etc.
The listing agent says that if the seller doesn’t get his fantasy asking price he will let it go back to the bank.
At a reasonable price, PITI on this house would cost us $300 month less than our rent.
So, I researched it. The greedy seller is on the Planning Commission for the city gov’t of a smallish city near Sacramento. Appointed by the mayor.
So now my pissed off plan. Going to put in an offer at 100K less than asking - which is what it’s worth (it won’t sell at his price) - which will be rejected. Then send a letter to everyone the a$$hat works with him. The dude has no right to be in a position of power, for permits, planning, development, etc. when he has mismanaged his own finances and RE so badly.
I’m just mad, that’s all. Here in the city, banks are selling REOs for “cash only”, no inspections. Vacant houses sitting unsold for 2-3 years. Inventory down almost 50% YOY. Bidding wars on anything decent.
I have no desire to be a perma-renter. The market here turned on a dime this Spring and as I waited for prices to be on par with rents, whoops, I was 6 months too late. WTF!?
Gonna steal bitter renter’s user name.
You might want to sleep on this decision.
Then send a letter to everyone the a$$hat works with him. The dude has no right to be in a position of power, for permits, planning, development, etc. when he has mismanaged his own finances and RE so badly.
You might want to sleep on this decision.
Why? It’ll make me feel better, and it’s no more effective than posting on a RE blog. What’s to lose?
You might just send a letter to his bank. Ask at the register of deeds. Of course chances are he’s just a slice of a tranche somewhere but it doesn’t hurt to look.
Hear, hear!
I live next two BofA beauties, but they don’t technically “own” them yet. The previous “owners?” A realtor and a property appraiser… make the arsonist the fire chief.
The psychology on the way down does not bode well for us. Nobody is going to cut us a break, even if you promise to feed the squirrels.
Nobody is going to cut us a break
Not really looking for a break, just a way to vent.
This house will either go to auction and some investor or would-be-landlord will snap it up with all cash, or it will go to the bank and sit vacant for a couple of years…
…while I keep renting and waiting.
or it will go to the bank and sit vacant for a couple of years…
At which point you might be able to contact the bank and buy it for $100k less than he wants if that really is FMV. If they’re unloading them at less than FMV they’d probably love to get a market offer if, of course, they give you the time of day to begin with.
I can run some comps for you if you need more/want another opinion.