The Main Problem Is The Price
It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “Booming housing markets in emerging Asia have pushed global residential property prices to a new peak, according to a repor. Consultancy Knight Frank’s global house price index rose 4.6 per cent over the 12 months to the end of September, taking it 4pc higher than its previous peak in the second quarter of 2008. ‘The index’s strong performance has been assisted not just by headline grabbing price rises in Dubai, China and Hong Kong, but also in a number of emerging markets,’ said Kate Everett-Allen, associate at the London-based property consultancy.”
“‘Beirut is a market where it doesn’t matter what you seem to do, the Lebanese will always find a way to survive, thrive and increase,’ said Ian Albert, regional director of consultancy Colliers International. Prices in the city have ‘basically doubled’ over the last ten years, Albert says. Robert Lee, CEO of Manana-based developer Bahrain Bay, believes that while the city’s housing market is unsuitable for the ‘fainthearted,’ property investors could see considerable returns, if they are prepared to wait for regional stability to improve. ‘Some people made a truckful of money when they bought real estate in Kuwait, during the invasion. If you can see through the smoke and make a gut investment, I think you’ll do really well,’ he added.”
“Zhong Jian and his wife are willing to pay double the going rate for a tiny home in a Beijing neighbourhood so their 18-month-old daughter will be eligible to attend a top primary school nearby. Zhong, a 32-year old electronics salesman, said he was ready to pay two million yuan ($328,200) for a tiny home with one room the size of about four king-size beds, in a shabby alleyway. The home, which doesn’t even have a bathroom, sits in a rundown Chinese-style courtyard with other small homes. But the owner still wanted more, so Zhong had to say no.”
“‘I feel very tired and helpless,’ said the weary father. ‘It’s a lot of pressure.’”
“Housing prices must go down to unfreeze the prolonged real estate slump in Ho Chi Minh City, according to local analysts. If the halted projects, which measure an estimated 7,253 hectares in total, are priced at an average of VND5 million per square meter, then investment capital stuck in the industry amounts to VND362.65 trillion ($17.2 billion).”
‘A senior official from the HCMC People’s Committee, who asked not to be named, said there have been no effective solutions to the huge inventory, which he called an ‘extremely serious’ consequence of a red-hot property bubble that burst.”
“Home sales in India slowed this year and unsold inventory with builders has increased. Soaring prices in recent years has led a growing middle class to turn to real estate as a means of generating wealth. Unsold inventory of development properties aimed at that new type of buyer is now a cause for concern, say analysts. The main problem, in a country where almost one-quarter of the population earns less than 50 cents a day, is the price. A 2,000 sq.ft (185.8 sq.metre) apartment in the posh South Mumbai neighbourhood of Malabar Hill costs more than $2 million. That is not far from the average three-bedroom unit in Manhattan, New York City, which costs around $2.6 million.”
“Statewide, Florida has had 11 consecutive months of increased foreclosure auction notices from a year earlier. As the pool of auction properties has increased, the type of buyer purchasing them has also begun to shift, said Daren Blomquist, VP of RealtyTrac. The large investment groups feel they’re doing their homework before they purchase properties but they are more interested in meeting a quota than in ensuring that each house they purchase is of high quality. At the end of the day, he added, they can take a few bad ones here and there.”
“But the fact that longtime local investors are backing away from auctions should be a red flag to the equity firms and institutional buyers that they may be purchasing foreclosed properties at too high of a price, Blomquist said. ‘It’s pretty interesting when you talk to the local guys who have been at this a while,’ he said. ‘They are backing away from the auctions because prices are getting too high.’”
“The maximum Federal Housing Administration-conforming loan limit for homebuyers in Riverside and San Bernardino counties will fall 29 percent from $500,000 to $355,350, a reduction of $144,650. ‘Ninety-nine percent of these buyers use FHA for a reason,’ said Brad Yzermans, a broker with Caliber Home Loans in Temecula, such as a bankruptcy, foreclosure, former short sale or lack of down payment. ‘Essentially, this is shutting out people who are trying to get back on their feet.’”
“If Arizona’s anti-immigrant image persists, it could impede high-wage job creation, population growth and the real estate recovery. Local economist Elliott Pollack said slow population growth is one of the culprits behind Arizona’s lackluster jobs recovery and new residents are needed to spur the housing rebound. ‘The problem is you need people to fill houses,’ said Pollack.”
“Brenda Clarke, a single mother of three on Long Island, New York, said looters at the foreclosed home next door stoked her deepest fears about getting evicted. Scavengers grabbed clothing, toys and furniture that were tossed to the curb by the sheriff’s department last month while the neighbors living in the home were at work. Clarke, who’s been fighting to keep her Islip home for the past five years, begged them to stop.”
“Clarke, whose 15-year-old son began sleeping with a baseball bat after watching the eviction next door, said she feels that she’s living on ‘borrowed time’ as foreclosure looms. ‘I felt like I was defending my own house,’ she said. ‘They’re coming here too. It’s just a matter of time.’”
“‘This logjam has broken and cases that were backed up are going to sale,’ said Michael Hanley, senior housing attorney for a non-profit law firm. ‘The hurt is still coming. We are nowhere near the end, no matter what you hear about national trends and the stabilization of the housing market.’”
“Paul Solman recently sat down with Yale University economist Robert Shiller. Shiller: ‘Back in 2005, during our housing boom, I did a search on the Federal Reserve board website — research papers for ‘bubble’ — ‘housing bubble.’ And I found it was hard — this is our own Federal Reserve — hardly ever mentioned in their research papers. But I found one paper that mentioned that we might be in a housing bubble. So I called the economist up and I said, ‘You’re at the Federal Reserve board. You had worries about the housing bubble. Why didn’t you go for it and say strongly we might be in a housing bubble?’ And he kind of hemmed and hawed and didn’t seem to want to answer me.’”
“‘I had a sense that — and it’s obvious, right? You’re working as an economist at the Federal Reserve board, you can’t say that, I mean, because it would be attributed to your higher-ups; you’re part of an organization. And the Fed chairman is so careful about everything. The Fed chairman is not going to say ‘housing bubble.’ So you down below, lower on the totem pole, are sure not going to say it. So this is what the psychologist Irving Janis called ‘groupthink,’ and he called it ’self-censorship.’ I don’t think the Federal Reserve board censored this economist, but he knows that he’s part of an organization that’s part of our country’s animal spirits. It’s managing the level of our confidence. So he’s just going to keep these doubts to himself.’”
‘Just as real estate brokers are reporting year-on-year declines of as much as 5 percent or more on the prices of homes in Norway, comes another sign that the country’s economy is shifting gears. Bankruptcies and court-ordered business dissolutions were up 15.3 percent nationwide during the first 11 months of the year.’
‘The largest increase was in the county of Telemark in southern Norway, where bankruptcies rose 26.2 percent, reports news bureau NTB. They were up 25 percent in Hedmark County and 24.8 percent in Rogaland in western Norway. Rogaland, home to Norway’s so-called “oil capital” of Stavanger, has otherwise been developing for years into among the country’s most affluent areas and is also where home prices had been rising fastest.’
‘Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler says “considerable momentum” in the New Zealand economy means record low interest rates are no longer appropriate with inflation pressures projected to increase. Mr Wheeler said he would raise the official cash rate (OCR) from 2.5 per cent “as needed in order to keep future average inflation near the two per cent target midpoint”.
‘The momentum in the economic recovery, driven by strong commodity prices, increasing consumer spending and expanding construction is offsetting the impact of a high New Zealand dollar and lower government spending, meaning “it is becoming unnecessary to maintain the current degree of monetary stimulus,” the bank said in the monetary policy statement.’
‘Mr Wheeler has previously indicated he plans to raise rates next year depending on how much the bubbling housing market and growing building activity spill over into lifting inflation, though the pace and scale of tightening may depend on the strength of the currency.’
‘Three years into her home-ownership dream, Martha Orozco has had enough. Stuck in a government- sponsored complex called Parque San Mateo that’s two hours away from her $8,000-a-year job as a hospital secretary in Mexico City, Orozco sees only broken promises and blight all around her.’
‘Power outages drag on for hours at a time. Neighboring townhouses lie abandoned by the hundreds, giving criminals a growing foothold in the community. The stench of overflowing sewage permeates the development. And then there’s the commute.’
‘Among the losers in the housing debacle is Pacific Investment Management Co., the world’s biggest bond fund firm. Pimco said in a June 30 investment report that its holdings in Mexican homebuilders were partly to blame for a 6.6 percent loss in the second quarter of 2013 in its $1.6 billion Pimco Emerging Markets Corporate Bond Fund. It was the fund’s worst quarter ever.’
‘Fox oversaw the issuance of 2 million Infonavit mortgages. President Felipe Calderon, his successor, issued 3 million more. A typical loan for a 50-square-meter (538-square-foot) apartment was about $20,000. Calderon added to the house-buying frenzy with a federal subsidy called This Is Your Home, which helped 590,000 homebuyers with down payments, according to the National Housing Commission.’
“It went from a compelling business thesis to one that got bigger and bigger and borrowed more, and then the music just stopped,” says William Perry, a portfolio manager at Stone Harbor Investment Partners LP, which oversees $55 billion in emerging-markets debt and which finished selling its Mexican homebuilder bonds in May.’
Are all Western central banks trying to achieve 2% inflation? The thing is, incomes generally are not increasing at 2% per year, and the consequence of these policies is that housing and food prices, among other things, are increasing at more than 2% per year.
That’s probably why so much economic policy has been removed from the democratic political process.
Now that that 1% has all the money, the only way left for for them to rise is to grind everybody else farther into the dirt.
Now that that 1% has all the money, the only way left for for them to rise is to grind everybody else farther into the dirt.
They could turn on each other instead.
They can’t take the chance they might spill some of that money in the scuffle.
Like Zuckerberg spending a bunch of money to push amnesty?
There are leading economic commentators (e.g. Krugman) who explicitly state that “Japan is the Model” with their relentless stimulus, 200+ percent debt to GDP ratios. As long as nothing bad happens to Japan, we’re good, so their thinking goes.
HOWEVER - Japan had 20 years of ZIRP with a generally deflationary environment, which prevented a great deal of wealth erosion for the population. Plus, it strengthened belief in the currency.
In the US… we’ve got overt and covert inflation with ZIRP policies, causing a net erosion of wealth. Plus, inflation combined with exuberant currency printing undermines belief in the currency. Also, the temperament of our population is very different from Japan’s.
So… we’re similar in some ways, different in important ways.
‘Japan is the Model’
I recall in one of my higher economics classes, the Japanese reaction to their bubbles came up. The question was, could it happen in the US? The answer given was no, our accounting system would never allow corporations to be put on life support when they should fail. The US system doesn’t allow accounting tricks that keep bad loans appearing as if they are good loans. In the US, we forcefully liquidate bad debt. And this as the S&L melt-down was happening.
$hit….. in retrospect, Japan was likely the laboratory hamster considering they’re our satellite. It “worked” so it gets executed here.
“…Japan had 20 years of ZIRP…”
Don’t forget that Japan has embarked on a huge QE program of their own, which is going to devalue the Yen meaning cheaper prices for their manufactured goods, and it will likely strengthen the dollar meaning reduced exports and lower wages. Currency war.
Parque San Mateo
I just looked that up. It’s in a place called Cuautitlán. That is the boondocks. And I’m sure that Mrs. Orozco doesn’t have a car, so she’s probably stuck riding trains and buses to get to work in Mexico City.
The music …STOPPED? no
RE: Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, how is going in debt HALF A MILLION DOLLARS considered “getting back on your feet” ???
You are right Goon, it doesn’t get you back on your feet. That is why they are lowering the limit to $355,000. That way you can still get back on your feet, but now for only one-third of a million dollars!
Remember 2006? There were countless of FBs wandering around who believed if the bank lent them the money, then they MUST be able to afford it!
Some people will borrow what ever you will lend them, regardless of ability to repay. So lower the feds are lowering the limit. Good move!
“Some people will borrow what ever you will lend them, regardless of ability to repay.”
That is certainly the case, especially when you know from the start that you can walk away from your half a million dollars in debt scot-free if necessary.
The rules of the game make it so easy to party with O.P.M.
‘So lower the feds are lowering the limit. Good move!’
What happens to the people that used these loans in the past few years? I’m not saying the limits shouldn’t be reduced. They shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
What happens to the people that used these loans in the past few years ??
One of two things…Value will drop due to the inability of the new buyer to get that level of financing and the current owner will walk
OR
current owner will stay put even if he may be underwater because the 3% fixed financing effectively gives him a equal or lower payment than renting a equivalent housing unit…
The financing would have to be slashed by 60% or more to make it less than renting the same residence.
‘One of two things’
What’s being missed here is that these are 3% down subprime loans. There’s a reason why you don’t make a loan to someone who has a recent bankruptcy, foreclosure or can’t come up with a down payment. Look at this program:
‘Roughly 967,000 distressed homeowners took advantage of federal programs to obtain mortgage loan modifications intended to stem foreclosures since 2009. But the most recent report from the Inspector General indicates that nearly half of those mortgages modified in the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) are back in default.’
‘When it was first initiated, officials estimated that it would reach as many as 4 million homeowners, but closer to just 900,000 have been helped. And more than 1 million borrowers have been bounced out of the program either thanks to redefaulting after failing to make the first three payments during the trial process, failing to qualify, or for failing to finish a three-month trial.’
‘In Northwest Arkansas the report indicated there had been 1,035 permanent modifications, with a redefault rate of 29%. The Fort Smith metro area reported 175 permanent modifications with a redefault rate of 23%. Nationwide the redefault rate has been 27%.’
And this is in a rising market! Oh boy, what a colossal disaster this is going to be.
“And this is in a rising market! Oh boy, what a colossal disaster this is going to be.”
I have always deeply admired Ben’s clarity of perspective.
Likewise…. and the simple but fundamental truths that are so easily and intentionally obscured.
How can I be overdrawn… I still have checks!
I guess we just found the price ceiling for inland empire houses.
Ho Chi Minh City “…..an average of VND5 million per square meter…”
Hmm, exchange VND for USD = 21,000 to $1
1 square meter to square feet = 10.7
So VND 5,000,000 = $22/square foot. What’s the big deal. Housing Analyst believes houses should cost $60/square foot or less.
H.A. should just move to Vietnam. Problem solved!
HA, Ha, hahahaha!
Should?
They are.
Your depreciating shack was built profitably for $55/sq ft yet you paid a 300% premium.
Those are your losses and your losses alone.
Do you know the difference between what things ‘cost’ and ‘price’?
The site linked below says that median prices in the city are about 6 times that figure. Almost 4 month’s median salary for one sq meter of bamboo box. Pencil that out.
Also mortgage interest rates are 12%
link for ho chi minh city cost of living:
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/city_result.jsp?country=Vietnam&city=Ho+Chi+Minh+City
Nice find Blue…..
Average monthly salary $404/mon or $4,848/year (after taxes btw)
1,000 SF house at $22/SF = $22,000
Purchase price is 4.5 times “take home pay”.
$22,000 at 12%, 30-years = $226/mon or 56% of monthly “take home pay”.
O.K., maybe they should buy a 500 SF house……
Except that the cost per sq ft is $130.
At 30% of take home, that pencils out to less than 100 ft2.
Bubble, or no bubble?
“The Main Problem Is The Price”
ALWAYS.
“The price” is massively inflated 250%+ over long term trend irrespective of location.
“The price” represents crushing losses from which you’ll never recover in your lifetime.
“‘The hurt is still coming. We are nowhere near the end, no matter what you hear about national trends and the stabilization of the housing market.’”
Its not very often we hear the truth about what’s coming for housing…… Today is one of those days.
Considering we’re profitable building new structures anywhere in the country at $55/sq foot(lot, labor, materials and profit), why pay more than $35-$40/sq ft for a 20+ year old house?
Anywhere in the country? Nobody believes this.
ANYWHERE.
The price of concrete is triple somewhere?
Really?
LOLZ
HA
Enough of your fantasy world. In 1984 our new construction first home was $100 sq ft in So Ca. A fact in the Volcker days at 17.5% ARM.
In 1998 was new construction view luxury home (So Ca) was $110 sq ft with a fixed at 8%. We negotiated that deal with more experience behind us.
You pay retail plus 225%. You got ripped off and its agony for you to admit it. Thats reality.
Is Leslie Appleton yun a liar?
And we do it in all 48 states every single day of the year.
On the other hand you pay retail plus 150% and its agonizing for you to think about.
Thats reality.
If people could build for $55 a square foot, new home building would not be at historic lows.
There’s no need to build given the fact there are tens of millions of excess empty houses in the US.
The public doesn’t build anything. The public are not retail suckers.
‘Rental glut may inhibit building’
‘A construction boom has inflated the number of vacant apartments in Halifax, according to a study released Thursday. Apartment vacancy is also increasing in other Nova Scotia urban centres.’
A comment:
‘”The current vacancy number is higher than landlords want. They expect the rate to grow even larger, based on the number of new apartment projects under construction, says Jeremy Jackson, a vice-president with Killam Properties Inc. and president of the Investment Property Owners Association of Nova Scotia.”
and thus, the main purpose of Mr Jackson’s December 3 pseudo-altruistic pitch for yet another nice fat subsidy (with OUR money) for yet another nice fat ‘industry’: http://thechronicleherald.ca/o...
Oh, my … poor little IPOANS … ‘we decided to build way too many apartments and now we’re not making as much money as we want, so let’s take it from the taxpayers.’
As Snowgoose put it earlier this month: “Whatever happened to the concept of supply and demand? Rents should go down to reflect the vacancy rate. By supplementing rents, there is no incentive for the market to respond to that ovesupply. It keeps them artificially high. So who is being subsidized here?”
“Manhattan Apartment Rents Fall as Vacancies Hit 7-Year High”
http://www.sfgate.com/business/bloomberg/article/Manhattan-Apartment-Rents-Fall-as-Vacancies-Hit-5055130.php
Falling rental rates, falling housing prices, collapsing demand, a flood of millions of excess empty houses…..
Would anyone like some more truth?
2nd link is bad.
Only suckers pay retail.
Ben Jones:: As Snowgoose put it earlier this month: “Whatever happened to the concept of supply and demand? Rents should go down to reflect the vacancy rate. By supplementing rents, there is no incentive for the market to respond to that ovesupply. It keeps them artificially high. So who is being subsidized here?”
The politicians and central bankers principles went right out the window when the financial crisis hit.
This is what the Founders understood - ambitious would always try to draw power unto themselves. One does not get to the highest levels of leadership without believing utterly in one’s leadership abilities. This is why we must always fight against central planning and power consolidation.
Power consolidation and economic central planning is a siren song to the leadership.
Eventually such systems become so corrupt and inefficient that they fail of their own weight. But we had something closer to free markets for a long time. Instead of heading into that stagnation and corruption that always accompanies power consolidation and central planning, perhaps it can be averted to the populace’s benefit.
He can do this in all 48 states. True. What he leaves out is the description of how cr*ppy the locations and quality are! He certainly cannot duplicate a quality 1890s house with high end modern amenities walking distance from downtown Rye NY or Concord MA on a good quiet street.
EVERYWHERE. Same house.
You struggle with it because it exposes just how badly and millions of others got ripped off..
You lie!
And worse yet, only a Donkey wants an 1890s firetrap.
Aside from potential variation in labor costs, HA is right, you can build a house for about the same price in pretty much all markets.
HOWEVER, you first need a piece of land on which to build the home, utilities to that home, and permits that allow you to build.
Those costs vary widely.
There’s a globe full of land and 95% of it goes undeveloped.
you can build a house for about the same price in pretty much all markets ??
I disagree…Much more expensive to build in San Francisco…
Wait…… Your the same guy who says he has me on ignore…..
What happened? :clapping:
And last we looked, San Francisco is in the US….. So yes….. We put em up in SF for $55 a square too.
In Concord it’s 1790s :-). I don’t want a house anywhere. I was very explicit in terms of location and quality.
Then go build it Retail Donkey.
An 1890s fire trap is quality huh?
You have some strange notions Retail Donkey.
“Some people made a truckful of money when they bought real estate in Kuwait, during the invasion.”
Realtors are the same everywhere and will say anything to make you ashamed if you do not buy, buy, buy.
That’s why I do my best not to hang out with Realtors or car salesmen. I have enough of both, thank you very much.
Interestingly, I think I may actually buy out the lease on one of my cars; partially to avoid dealing with a car salesman again (if only I could buy a car online easily and at a good price) and partially because I’m so happy with it I’m not sure I want to give it up. I’ve been leasing for a long time, so this is a real shock to me; by the time 3 years came around, I was always ready for something new. But this car, I just don’t really want something else, I love it. Maybe I’m getting old and just don’t like change anymore?
Overtaxed
Spill the beans, what make and model is this car? You sound mighty happy. My 19 year old Volvo (bought new) is almost ready for Volvo heaven.
partially to avoid dealing with a car salesman again
The salesmen aren’t so bad, it’s the snake in the “finance office” who will try to rip you off.
I want Obama to invade some place so I can get rich speculating on the real estate vacated by it’s terrified owners!
“‘I feel very tired and helpless,’ said the weary father. ‘It’s a lot of pressure.’”
Just say ‘No’ to the missus!
If he doesn’t buy her that shanty in the slum, he won’t be “getting any” anymore.
He wants it so an 18 month old can attend a primary school. Obviously thinking prices will rise for many years. He’s speculating.
An electronics salesman. How much can he make? $1,000 a month? And he was thinking of paying over $300k! No bathroom. If you read the article, he wasn’t even going to live there!
He wants it so an 18 month old can attend a primary school. Obviously thinking prices will rise for many years. He’s speculating.”
can’t afford Irvine CA I guess
$1000 a month? Not if the electronics he’s selling includes phones
http://work.chron.com/much-cell-phone-salesman-make-annually-
18991.html
“The average annual salary of a cell phone salesman was $64,000 in 2013, according to the job website Indeed. Most of these jobs do not require college degrees but candidates must have some technical knowledge of cell phones, which shortens the learning curve during training. Other important qualifications include interpersonal skills, a professional appearance and a positive attitude.”
This is in China.
D’OH!
Slithers!
In Soviet Russia, cell phone sells YOU!
“A senior official from the HCMC People’s Committee, who asked not to be named, said there have been no effective solutions to the huge inventory, which he called an ‘extremely serious’ consequence of a red-hot property bubble that burst.”
One could try ending centrally-planned property markets.
“‘This logjam has broken and cases that were backed up are going to sale,’ said Michael Hanley, senior housing attorney for a non-profit law firm. ‘The hurt is still coming. We are nowhere near the end, no matter what you hear about national trends and the stabilization of the housing market.’”
It seems amazing to read the logjam is still in place over five years since the Housing Bubble popped.
‘The hurt is still coming ??
Translation….Your going to have to pay for your housing just like most people…No more free ride…
“Your going to have to pay for your housing just like most people…”
Why would you expect all the special protections for homeowners to ever end?
‘Clarke, whose 15-year-old son began sleeping with a baseball bat after watching the eviction next door’
Does the government provide the special protection of a baseball bat?
Only if it’s made of “green” wood.
Translation…..….. You’re gonna pay a lot less for housing.
“The Fed chairman is not going to say ‘housing bubble.’ So you down below, lower on the totem pole, are sure not going to say it. So this is what the psychologist Irving Janis called ‘groupthink,’ and he called it ’self-censorship.’”
Sometimes I wonder just how much of the current economy depends on psychological factors. Probably most of it, if propaganda is this important. And the biggest illusion is that central banks can control events.
Baghdad Bob ain’t got nothin’ on me.
I think Baghdad Bob is now living in Queens and works as a realtor.
“If Arizona’s anti-immigrant image persists, it could impede high-wage job creation, population growth and the real estate recovery. Local economist Elliott Pollack said slow population growth is one of the culprits behind Arizona’s lackluster jobs recovery and new residents are needed to spur the housing rebound. ‘The problem is you need people to fill houses,’ said Pollack.”
Jeebus. Now I know these folks are either smoking crack, huffing glue or just completely insane. High wage job creation. Are you kidding me? And what sort of housing stock are Arizona’s “immigrants” supposed to inhabit? They’re not going to be taking up residence in fauxdobe townhouses or mini-mansions.
And then there is the question of water resources. I doubt if AZ needs new residents to help with that. But then again, I don’t live there, so maybe the stories of water resource problems are just a myth.
I thought there was a shortage of houses in Phoenix. Opps, maybe not:
http://www.movoto.com/statistics/az/phoenix.htm#city=&time=1Y&metric=Inventory&type=0
Florida has water problems too, not helped by our overpumping of the aquifer. I try to explain that we have a desalination plant to meet demand for fresh water in Tampa, and no one believes it.
“Florida has water problems too,”
And how! The water supply has been seriously degraded. Not to mention it looks like sinkhole activity is on the rise, although that’s anecdotal, I don’t have hard figures to back it up. Florida has exceeds its carrying capacity, IMO. It’ll get ugly when the taps start to run dry.
Now I know these folks are either smoking crack, huffing glue or just completely insane.
Indeed … how are unskilled, semi illiterate illegals supposed to create high paying jobs?
And if a healthy economy is dependent on never ending population growth then we are hosed.
“Paul Solman: But you’re a Nobel laureate who won the prize based, in large measure, on your skepticism about irrational markets, right? I mean, so you would think the Brazilians would go: Oh my goodness; Bob Shiller’s calling it a housing bubble.
Bob Shiller: Some of them did. But I’m sure it stays as a fringe opinion. It’s just to the patriotic forces, that just doesn’t feel good, this alternative view. And, by the way, we have professional economists who could defend any viewpoint with statistics, and they do that.
Paul Solman: Everywhere in the world.
Bob Shiller: Everywhere in the world. Economics is not an exact science. I wanted to be a scientist when I was a child. And I’ve been lamenting ever since that I go into a field where I just can’t be exact, and I don’t think anybody can. What is the economy going to do next? We just went through the biggest housing bubble in U.S. history. It’s off the charts. And now it’s starting to go up again. What to make of that? I mean, are we going back into another bubble economy? I don’t know. I don’t see how anybody knows that.”
‘by the way, we have professional economists who could defend any viewpoint with statistics, and they do that’
You don’t say.
‘are we going back into another bubble economy? I don’t know. I don’t see how anybody knows that.’
And this guy gets a Nobel prize?
Maybe they were hoping that by giving him the prize, he would become a great economist.
Yeah, pros like Glenn Hubbard or Frederic Mishkin? LOL!!!!
Let’s see…illegals, oops, I mean “undocumented immigrants” do
create high paying jobs in the drug trades
and gang activities. Silly law biding US
citizen posters, get with the program.
Is Leslie Appleton gun a liar?
HA
Nature of the REIC. Although commercial is about profitability. Residential is run as an emotional animal. That’s why the hogwash sells.
Answer the question
Answer it Retail Donkey.
Actually, there are studies showing that, except for the kingpins and people near the top of the hierarchy, the drug trade is not particularly lucrative.
You’d be much better off committing financial fraud, especially because the U.S. has established a global comparative advantage for white-collar criminality.
There’s been more than a little drug trafficking in this nabe. It’s not as bad as it was when I moved in, but it’s still around.
Things I’ve noticed: The drug business doesn’t attract the smartest of people. If they’re not calling attention to themselves via flashy vehicles with loud stereos, they’re living in the dumpiest houses on the block. Y’know, the places where there are a lot of people coming and going. And did I mention that a lot of the druggies spend a lot of time sampling their inventory?
All of this makes it very easy for law-abiding neighbors to notice that they’re up to no good. And, yes, we do notify the police.
Racist.
In Colo
Yo, racista? Veras que estas equivocado, mi amigo.
i don’t speak mexican.
and i don’t care if you are mexican and used to live in mexico, if you oppose anything less than unrestricted immigration and amnesty for all, you are a racis.
how do you say ‘uncle tom’ in mexican?
how do you say ‘uncle tom’ in mexican?
There’s no such expression, gringo. BTW, real Mexicans laugh at gringos who are stupid enough to welcome Mexico’s rejects. They also laugh at gringos who are terrified of being called racist.
And real Mexicans are opposed to unrestricted immigration … into Mexico.
i don’t speak mexican.
Mas vale que aprendas, y pronto, mi amigo.
BTW, real Mexicans laugh at gringos who are stupid enough to welcome Mexico’s rejects.”
In California its Indians from around Yucatan.
“BTW, real Mexicans laugh at gringos who are stupid enough to welcome Mexico’s rejects.”
It’s all good. Some gringo’s welcome rejects with open arms. Payday loans, unsecured high interest car loans and variable 30 year mortgages.
I don’t think there are any people in any nation that support unrestricted immigration. It’s the globalist media that pushes this. Sure, there are a few individuals who say, ‘but hamburgers will cost ten dollars’, overlooking what this means for the safety net, crime, etc.
I wondered years ago why it was so many policies that undermine this country are perpetuated. Make it easy for companies to move factories overseas and sell their stuff into the US. We don’t need to make anything, we can thrive by borrowing and consuming. We can run up government debt indefinitely and we’ll never have to pay it back. We can spend more than the world combined on the military, forever.
‘The large investment groups feel they’re doing their homework before they purchase properties but they are more interested in meeting a quota than in ensuring that each house they purchase is of high quality’
Meeting a quota? What kind of investing is that? Wouldn’t that suggest they would pay lass attention to what they were paying?
Think about it. Gotta buy a certain number of houses. The condition of the house is secondary. But what determines if you make money or not: how much you pay, isn’t even mentioned. Where do I sign up?
The notion these guys are somehow getting a bargain is laughable. at a very minimum they are overpaying by a hundred fifty percent.
Just be happy they’re not investing your money.
They are spending your money. Anyone who bids up the price of necessities is spending all of our monies. Houses or food same difference.
When the government does it with deficit spending, it is outright confiscation.
‘Anyone who bids up the price of necessities is spending all of our monies’
The poster named Doom was going on the other day about making $41,000 on a house in one year with a VA loan. What this thinking overlooks is that such a thing should never happen with houses. It just makes us all poorer.
I see posters here saying, “Ooh, get in on the bubble!” Well I remember a time when there was a general lament here that houses had become a gambling device.
‘Britain’s soaring housing market does not need to be held back despite growing fears of a bubble, according to a senior Bank of England official. Andy Haldane, executive director for financial stability at the BoE, said it is still “early days” in the UK’s economic recovery, which is in part being driven by rising house prices amid mortgage easing stimulus such as the Help to Buy scheme.’
“Now would not be the time to be slamming on the brakes on the housing market or any other market. We are in the very early phase of recovery,” Haldane told BBC Radio West Midlands.’
‘executive director for financial stability at the BoE’
So the “director of financial stability” is worried about slamming the brakes on a housing bubble, the very thing which leads to financial meltdowns? This is worthy of The Onion.
‘Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz said the central bank’s policy stance is weighing the risk of a sharp correction in the housing market against the threat that price movements will fall into deflationary territory.’
‘Poloz reiterated the bank’s most recent projection that inflation will reach its target of two per cent, a goal he called “sacrosanct,” in about two years. “Of course, when we are already below target, as we are today, we care more about downside risks than upside ones,” Poloz, 58, said in a speech in Montreal on Thursday.’
The ground isn’t moving. Reduced downside risk is achieved by reducing altitude.
Why is the yearly theft of 2% of the nation’s wealth “sacrosanct”?
“Median New Home Sales Price Drops 4.5 Percent”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erincarlyle/2013/12/04/new-home-sales-price-drops-4-5-percent
Get what you can for your house today because it’s going to be much less tomorrow for years to come.
“The maximum Federal Housing Administration-conforming loan limit for homebuyers in Riverside and San Bernardino counties will fall 29 percent from $500,000 to $355,350, a reduction of $144,650. ‘Ninety-nine percent of these buyers use FHA for a reason,’ said Brad Yzermans, a broker with Caliber Home Loans in Temecula, such as a bankruptcy, foreclosure, former short sale or lack of down payment. ‘Essentially, this is shutting out people who are trying to get back on their feet.’”
Here’s a thought for getting back on ones feet. Save for 20% down and have an emergency fund! Repeating the same mistake and hoping for a different out come truly is insane!
If one is not part of the Long Debt March, one does not always have to be so on their feet.
‘Blackstone Group LP hired Gary DeLapp, the former head of the Extended Stay hotel chain, as president of its home-rental business. DeLapp was president and chief executive officer of HVM LLC, the operators of Extended Stay hotels, from 2001 to 2011.’
‘Blackstone bought Extended Stay for $3.1 billion in 2004 and sold it for $8 billion in June 2007 to Lightstone Group LLC. Blackstone, joined by Centerbridge Partners LP and Paulson & Co., bought the hotels again for $3.9 billion in 2010, the year after it was pushed into bankruptcy.’
Jeebus, this reminds me of the condo kings - Related. They built condo towers in Florida, then bought them back in foreclosure and sold them again!
I was watching these Blackstone fraudsters on B berg TV….. I wouldn’t so much as buy a cup of coffee from those guys.
This is basically the same business model that the “rent to own” landlord uses. You set the payments above what the market rate rent is, knowing full well the unqualified buyers will ultimately fail to pay, then you get the house back after they default.
‘San Diego’s Greedy Bastards Coalition Fights the ‘Zombie Tax’
What gorup is more of a drain on society?
1. Illegals
2. Realtors
3. Wall St Bankers?
4. single moms on food stamps
5. Politicians
6. Lawyers
1. Debt Junkies
Fed chairman.
Economists
Social media entrepeneurs
1. Illegals.