Bits Bucket for March 5, 2014
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
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Did you buy the Crimean crime dip?
Markets
Crimea and punishment
Mar 3rd 2014, 14:11 by Buttonwood
EQUITY markets are suffering their second Ukraine-related sell-off within three trading days, as the Western powers react to the de facto Russian occupation of the Crimean peninsula. European stockmarkets have fallen by 2% or so and there has been a rise in the traditional safe-haven assets such as Treasury bonds and gold.
While the parallels with the 1930s are uncanny—a great power using the threat to minority populations as an excuse for military intervention in smaller neighbouring countries—it seems highly unlikely that any military action on the part of the West will occur. Despite, or perhaps because of that, the scope for economic penalties on Russia is a serious possibility. That is why the Russian stock market is down more than 11% at the time of writing, while the fall in the rouble has pushed the Russian central bank into increasing rates by 150 basis points, from 5.5% to 7%.
Russia has foreign-exchange reserves of $453 billion so this is not the equivalent of Suez in 1956, when an American threat to cause a run on the pound caused the British government to abandon an ill-judged foreign intervention. The Russians also have the potential to retaliate by hitting the value of Western investments, such as BP’s holding in Rosneft, which has dropped in value by $1 billion overnight. Nevertheless, a 150 bp rate rise will have a significant economic impact and the Russian financial elite has a lot of money overseas which it will not want to see threatened.
As mentioned in a previous post, the past 20 years have taught investors that these geopolitical storms tend to blow over quickly, and one suspects that is the consensus view this time round. There are two (inevitably speculative) reasons for wondering whether this time might be different, to use that dangerous phrase. The first is that, while Western nations may accept that there is little they can do to evict Russia from Crimea, their attitude towards the Putin regime will have changed; it will be much harder to take the line that with a little bit of encouragement, he can be persuaded to co-operate with the West. Relations may be hostile for some time, as of course they were before 1989. Steen Jakobsen, chief economist of Saxo Bank, refers to this as a “reverse Berlin wall” moment.
Secondly, there are many other nations with Russian minorities in the former Soviet Union. This is the second Russian military intervention in recent years (Georgia in 2008 being the first) and there will inevitably be nervousness in other countries (the Baltics, for example) about the scope for the Putin doctrine to be extended.
…
Putin’s favorite dip?
Are you willing to accept below-target economic growth in China?
March 5, 2014, 2:18 a.m. ET
China Willing to Accept Below-Target Growth -Government Official
BEIJING–China can accept economic growth slightly below its stated target, a government spokesman said Wednesday.
The target should be seen as a forecast–not a minimum acceptable growth rate, State Council spokesman Xiang Dong said. “People think it means we have to reach 7.5%,” Mr. Xiang said at a news conference. “Actually, whether it’s 7.3% or 7.7% it’s still about 7.5%.”
China is still a developing country and economic growth is important in solving challenges, he added. It is willing to adjust monetary policy in response to changing circumstances.
…
Like they have any choice.
They could always go further into debt in order to further goose those growth rates.
At some point pushing on the string just won’t work.
That won’t necessarily stop them from trying. Just look at the Fed, for example.
“At some point pushing on the string just won’t work.”
At some point we’re all dead. Seems to still be working.
Maybe everyone in China should turn their thermostats up a bit; It works for us.
I suspect that the typical Chinese home dwelling is unheated.
Hearing more & more grumbling about China not hitting their target and the rolling effects that may have…ECB ready to take rates down further…I get the feeling things are on the edge…
CO- looks like Colo is spending most of the big sales tax from pot on drug ed etc. Insurance cos cover pot addiction so there may be no money net from the BIG pot sales tax
-your thoughts?
I’m in VA and we are proposing fines vs a pot industrial complex
I haven’t been following the issue or the numbers, so I really don’t know. One thought that crosses my mind is that the pot taxes are also subject to TABOR restrictions. Since the economy has been running on fumes for the past 15 years or so, Colorado has not reached its TABOR taxation and spending restrictions, which in my opinion is a very telling metric as to how the economy is really doing.
Here in the Centennial State, the state has to refund taxes collected in excess of TABOR limits, which in the past has been done via a credit on the state income tax form. The last time the happened was in the late 90’s.
I read that about 80% of the CO BIG pot tax bonanza is spent on drug ed etc. W some left for schools(smoke for the schools) but the expenses come later-after folks get high for a few months. I’m 59 and can’t remember sht. Can imagine if I was still doing dope.
“I’m 59 and can’t remember sht. Can imagine if I was still doing dope.”
Maybe it’s because of your past use? :confused:
“CO- looks like Colo is spending most of the big sales tax from pot on drug ed etc. Insurance cos cover pot addiction so there may be no money net from the BIG pot sales tax
-your thoughts?“
That money should go to gawd’s children so they can crush their neighbors and continue building the apartheid empire.
“I’m 59 and can’t remember sht. Can imagine if I was still doing dope.”
Maybe it’s because of your past use? :confused:
Dave’s not here
http://www.metrolyrics.com/dave-lyrics-cheech-and-chong.html
Maybe that should become the new Colorado state motto
I was in CO today on business (back now), a comment from our breakfast meeting is that the CO MJ trade is pretty heavily regulated, and so while the tax numbers aren’t “in” yet, it is possible that the increased tax revenue is going to mainly offset the cost of the regulation.
Looking to snap up some sweet deals in Boulder?
At the Boulder, CO chapter of The Liars Club I’m sure.
Do you have any near-junk Chicago debt in your portfolio?
Bloomberg News
Chicago Cut to Three Levels Above Junk by Moody’s Ahead of Sale
By Brian Chappatta and Tim Jones
March 05, 2014
Chicago’s credit rating on $7.8 billion of general-obligation debt was cut one level to Baa1 by Moody’s Investors Service, citing “massive” pension liabilities for the third-most populous U.S. city.
The reduction, on the 177th anniversary of Chicago’s incorporation, follows a three-step downgrade in July for the city of 2.7 million. The outlook remains negative, meaning the rating may be lowered further.
The decline to three levels above junk “reflects the city’s massive and growing unfunded pension liabilities, which threaten the city’s fiscal solvency,” analyst Matthew Butler said yesterday in a report. “The size of Chicago’s unfunded pension liabilities makes it an extreme outlier.” The two most populous American cities, New York and Los Angeles, have ratings of Aa2 from Moody’s, the third-highest level.
…
Moody’s downgrades Chicago amid pension crisis
By Melanie Hicken @melhicken
March 4, 2014: 7:07 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Moody’s Investors Service rating agency downgraded Chicago’s creditworthiness Tuesday, citing the city’s “massive and growing” pension hole.
After years of avoiding the issue, the city of Chicago is facing a massive spike in its annual bill for the pensions it promised current and retired workers. Next year, the city’s required contribution will more than double to $1.07 billion.
…
check your county dude
they retire at 55 you work till death- then they dig you up and you work some more- fair?
+1…except around here its at 50…
Which will go bankrupt first, Chicago or Illinois???
Chicago, since cities can legally go bankrupt.
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2013-07-20/state-cant-declare-bankruptcy.html
bankruptBankorruptLOL—nice one.
I have to go, it is going to be a busy day, but here is an excerpt from a link which will post soon, which explains why Obama policies the last five years have only prolonged the recession:
Prior to the 1930s, recoveries from a panic, as they were called, took about 12-18 months. The great depression of 1920 (the one that you’ve probably never heard of) lasted about that long. Why? As historian Thomas Woods wrote, “Harding cut the government’s budget nearly in half between 1920 and 1922. The rest of Harding’s approach was equally laissez-faire. Tax rates were slashed for all income groups. The national debt was reduced by one-third.”
“going to be a busy day”
I thought your job was posting GOP propaganda.
Never say Dannyboy doesn’t earn his Koch paychecks.
The weird thing is, Dan is on the opposite side — he’s supposed to be opposing environmental degradation. I’m the one that works for Koch Fluffers.
Right, and don’t forget that the increase in global temperature correlates quite well the decrease in the number of pirates.
Chicago will wait for the final decision in Detroit before they pull the trigger…IMO, many municipalities are waiting on that ultimate decision…The ripple effects are going to be significant…Meredith was spot on…Just early…
Same difference.
Now that you are accustomed to 30% stock market gains, are you ready for years and years of 4% returns?
Love the bull or get gored by it.
Why you’ll be stuck with single-digit stock returns for years
March 4, 2014, 4:47 PM
The powerful U.S. bull market is turning five years old this Sunday, and as if to celebrate, the S&P 500 (SPX +1.53%) hit a record high on Tuesday. Are you inclined to light a birthday candle or a memorial candle?
Considering the yearly returns one respected stock strategist expects from the market over the next 10 years, you might want to do both.
The U.S. market advance that started on March 9, 2009 is the second-most powerful bull market in the past 70 years, lagging only the bull that broke out in August 1982 – so far. Yet retail investors have only recently begun to trust stocks again after getting burned in 2008 and early 2009.
Main Street buyers are notoriously latecomers to Wall Street parties, but more retail buyers could find their way into stocks now that mutual funds’ crucial five-year track records show no trace of the 2008 market meltdown, says Jeffrey Kleintop, chief market strategist at LPL Financial. As recently as August 2013, the difference in the five-year annualized return between stocks and bonds was about two percentage points. Nowadays stocks beat bonds over five years by 20 percentage points, because the broken pieces of 2008 have been vacuumed away.
Now that the slate is clean, what can investors expect from the next five or 10 years? Will new stock buyers enjoy anything close to the roughly 25% annualized returns the S&P 500 has delivered since March 2009?
Not likely, Kleintop contends. Historically, a lower-priced market generates higher expected returns, and vice versa. With the S&P 500 priced slightly above-average at 18 times trailing 12-month earnings, U.S. stocks in Kleintop’s view are poised to bring mid- to high-single-digit gains over the next 10 years, plus dividends. And that’s after a possible recession and bear market, he adds.
The Bull is dead. Long live the Bull.
…
If you hold stocks for the next 10 years your might average a return of 4.0%. But I don’t expect years of 4% returns.
I expect a crash to restore the possibility of greater gains.
If I expected years of 4.0% returns, I might shift from cash to stocks. But that isn’t good enough for the risk, so I’m holding out for a better deal.
53%
are you ready for years and years of 4% returns?
Optimist.
That was just my teaser for the MW story. I honestly have no idea what the stock market will do over the next several years, other than to note that it may presently be historically overvalued…
Have you learned that a house is a rapidly depreciating asset?
Did you know that housing is massively overpriced?
Did you know that a house eventually depreciates to zero?
Riverside,CA up +3.0 in one month +$10,000 in one month
http://www.deptofnumbers.com/asking-prices/california/riverside/
Orange County,CA up +1.7% in one month +$9,000 in one month
http://www.deptofnumbers.com/asking-prices/california/orange-county/
Los Angeles,CA up+1.0% in one month +$5,000 in one month
http://www.deptofnumbers.com/asking-prices/california/los-angeles/
San DIEGO,CA up+4.0 in one month +$19,100 in one month
http://www.deptofnumbers.com/asking-prices/california/san-diego/
San Francisco,CA up +6.5 in one month +$40,000 in one month
http://www.deptofnumbers.com/asking-prices/california/san-francisco/
San Jose,CA up +4.5 in one month +$29,000 in one month
http://www.deptofnumbers.com/asking-prices/california/san-jose/
Sacramento,CA up +6.1% in one month +$18,300 in one month
http://www.deptofnumbers.com/asking-prices/california/sacramento/
The market is booming;
But where are the buyers?
Inventory is looming;
Realtors are liars
Gotta say, this is my favorite of your repeated posts…
Gotta say, this is my favorite of your repeated posts…
+1 It really should be an engraved plaque. Truth.
Love this, HA!
Gotta love HBB slam poetry.
We used to have HBB haiku threads. For instance,
Buying REALLY high always brings about depression once you realize what you did.
Riverside County, CA Housing Demand Craters 12% YoY; Now At 10 Year Lows
http://www.zillow.com/local-info/CA-Riverside-County-home-value/r_2832/#metric=mt%3D30%26dt%3D1%26tp%3D6%26rt%3D6%26r%3D2832%26el%3D0
Riverside,CA up +3.0% in one month +$10,000 in one month
http://www.deptofnumbers.com/asking-prices/california/riverside/
Banana dance
I can ask $50k for my 12 year old Chevy truck but where are the buyers?
That’s why housing demand has collapsed to 10 year lows in Riverside County.
The stealtors must be cannibalizing themselves.
Obama’s Pseudo-Scientism. Too hot? Too cold? Regardless, it must be global warming. By Victor Davis Hanson
Black hawk loves this author’s writing style and he totally agrees with his article today. Give it a try and see if you don’t agree.
http://m.nationalreview.com/article/372447/obamas-pseudo-scientism-victor-davis-hanson
Hump day.
It’s also Ash Wednesday.
I think that for Lent people should give up “snapping up” houses to flip.
Oxide, DJ and others.
The NY times has an article that discusses the oilfield business in west TX and southeast NM. All I can say if I needed a job, I’d be packing my bags for west TX.
And with all this money floating around you know they’ve got to have a lot of parties. Got any country and western songs DJ?
“Domestic Crude Oil Drives a Cautious Refining Revival.”
You assume that you or the average Joe has what it takes to be a roughneck.
Don’t limit your thinking; Just because roughnecks earn money doesn’t necessairly mean they will keep it.
(Think in terms of parasite and host.)
Getting rich is easy. Staying rich is hard.
History is *full* of people who make/have made $40-$50-$60 bucks an hour yet are flat broke before next payday comes around.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go back to shopping for a lift kit for my Ram 2500.
oil burner?
Don’t limit your thinking; Just because roughnecks earn money doesn’t necessairly mean they will keep it.
(Think in terms of parasite and host.)
Good point. Years ago a brother in law worked on a project at Hoover Dam. He’s a civil engineer and he told us that on payday that most of the $40/hr workers would head straight for the nearest casino as piss their paycheck away.
I can party like a redneck……
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQML3jIC_9I
Why would you be telling oxide where to go if she needed a job? She has a job. Plus an education.
It is Dj who can’t get a job, but that is mostly because he refuses to do anything to get one other than walk around his neighborhood trying to give receptionists resumes. At least, that is what he tells us. Plus he has a resume up on Monster, but can’t understand why the only offers are for 100% commission positions when he has no degree and his last full time work experience (that he has told us about) is from the 90s.
The point is that Mz Craterton needs a 2nd job to cover her losses.
Pretty sure oxide has a federal job.
And that changes the fact that she paid a 250% premium on a depreciating asset in what way Liberace?
It doesn’t change it. I’m just pointing out the odds she’d move anywhere random for a different job are close to zero.
What does moving somewhere have to do with getting a second job Liberace?
I was asking about the skillz for the roughneck jobs primarily for DJ. I read one article about a 37-year-old women who went to work as a truck driver in North Dakota to support her family two states away. It was a lot more than driving the truck. She had to rig up a lot of hoses and manually open big valves and avoid breathing in toxic gases which could make her instantly sick. I probably wouldn’t have the strength to keep that up for very long. I don’t know what DJ’s abilities are.
‘the skillz for the roughneck jobs’
The oil business is like any other. The guys who work on the rigs themselves are just part of the work force. They need accountants, lawyers, geologists, HR, office staff, logistics, etc.
Irrelevant for a guy who thinks that people should hire him because if they did, he could walk to work from his current apartment. Employers care about what is good for them, not what is good for the person they hire, unless what they want is so bad for the employee that they can’t keep anyone in an essential position. Even then, some of them don’t care that much. Your employer is your employer, not your mom.
Miss Polly.
Oxide had asked a couple of days ago regarding this subject for DJ.
Ben is correct in that nearly every business and every industry is affected. The oilfield industry pays decent wages, pulling others out of their jobs and creating labor shortages for most.
I’m busy learning as much as I can about the industry as I think it’s prudent. Besides if they pay $100k for a truck driver, how much would they pay for someone with a degree and management skills?
That goes for anyone. They’re talking about sources. of petroleum that could last for 30 years.
BH
‘learning as much as I can about the industry’
Re-tipping drill bits is a good angle. I knew of a company in the 70’s/80’s that was buying worn bits by the ton, welding new teeth onto them and re-selling the bits. Fantastically profitable.
Presumably roller bit…… And they’re very costly.
I should clarify. They weren’t welding new teeth onto the bits, they were welding a titanium alloy onto the worn teeth and building them back up. They would have a team of welders doing this.
They bought the used bits in bulk from Exxon, in Louisiana. trucked them up to north Texas, re-tipped the teeth (and did anything else the bit needed to function), then drove them to the rigs as needed.
‘And they’re very costly’
Yes, as I recall they were buying the bits of various sizes for $2,000 a ton (way back then) and selling the refurbished bits for thousands each.
Besides if they pay $100k for a truck driver, how much would they pay for someone with a degree and management skills?
Given how so many truck drivers around the country make much less than 100K, and how truckers are mobile by nature, I kind of doubt they are really paying 100K for a truck driver. From what I have heard, a roughneck in the field can make that kind of money IF he works a lot of OT. And it’s hard work.
I agree but they’re working long hours because of the shortage of truckers.
What would be the pay for a driver who worked a 40-hour week? What sort of living expenses? I’m guessing that someone could make about $60K without too many overtime hours, and pack away about $20K in a year if they were very frugal. (very rough guessing)
Oxide. I’ve been told $25 per hour. So yes $60k is possible. I don’t know about living expenses. One guy told me they were renting RVs for $800 a month.
Being a roughneck is a last-resort sort of thing.
Amongst my endeavours was part owner of an oil service business. Once I asked my controller to give me the paychecks for the week to scan over them.
About 20% of them were for $5,000 for the week - after tax !
However, that was shutdown season. Generally 6 tens at double time and a half.
Every type of job is needed in Canada’s tar sands. Today they work 20 tens straight and then get flown home for ten days. They have their own room in a trailer free, including food. Safety is paramount. If you get shipped home due to a safety infraction you probably will never get another job there. But it depends.
Being a roughneck is a last-resort sort of thing.
Or a first-resort sort of thing—one of my brothers worked as a roughneck for a while during the time-period when he was avoiding going to college.
Dirty, dirty work; I still remember the grunge that his work-clothes used to leave in the washing machine. He would come home literally coated in either drilling mud or dirt (was never sure which).
I “save” to live another day.
This is silly.
Ethics Wiki
Problem Reaction Solution
Problem Reaction Solution (Latin: Ordo ab Chao) is a mass mind control system. It is used to make changes to the law that the citizens would not accept otherwise.
1.Create a problem
■ Terrorism, financial crisis, etc.
2.Manufacture a reaction
■ Let the mainstream media only broadcast/print the side of the problem you want to show
3.Provide a solution
■ wars, corporate tax-cuts, welfare budget cuts, etc.
The latin phrase Ordo ab Chao literally means Order out of Chaos
“This is silly.”
Ah, but it is so effective. Expect more.
A thought: If a career is dependent on solving a problem then the career will come to an abrupt end if the problem is ever solved UNLESS another problem will somehow arise to take the solved problem’s place. Hence the incentive is to always have a problem to solve. If a problem to be solved is not at hand then a problem will somehow have to be created.
“Never underestimate the power of incentives.” - Charlie Munger
If a problem that needs to be solved is in the form of a project (i.e. land a man on the moon) then the focus on and the funding for solving the problem will diminish once the project is completed.
But if the problem is an ongoing problem, such as national defense then the focus and the funding will never come to an end unless (gasp) world peace somehow breaks out, which means the incentive for those involved with national defense will have an incentive to make sure that world peace will never be at hand.
“national defense”
What was the last war that wasn’t started by the US?
It is difficult to create an endless list of future problems, but not hard at all to address the symptoms eternally. Big Pharma figured that out long ago. My brother was in consulting and had this on his office wall:
http://demotivators.despair.com/demotivational/consultingdemotivator.jpg
omg! I love it.
Hillary pulls the Nazi card
Washington Post - Hillary Clinton says Putin’s actions are like ‘what Hitler did back in the ’30’s’
“Former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday compared Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression in Ukraine to actions taken by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler outside Germany in the run-up to World War II.”
‘what Hitler did back in the ’30’s’
Yeah, Sean Hannity went on like that yesterday while I was driving. I was going to count the number of times he said “evil”, but it was too much. Interesting how much the CFR crowd (like Clinton) agree with people like Hannity.
i work with a lot of people who were in the military pre-1991 u.s.s.r. collapse. they have much residual hatred for russia.
what the ‘real journalists’ need is to get the millenials on board with this new war.
i’m in the middle of reading ‘winds of war’ by herman wouk and am currently at about mid-1940, when fdr was pimping for ‘lend-lease’ to britain against a reluctant congress.
Just read that book last year– great one!
Washington Post - Hillary Clinton says Putin’s actions are like ‘what Hitler did back in the ’30’s’
Putin has really rattled the Banking Clan’s cage. I guess Hitler also gave the banksters the bird back in his day.
And while Banksters love wars, they don’t like them when they are fought in their backyards. It’s hard to collect interest when your customers have been conquered by an unfriendly power.
‘As the Euromaidan protests in the Ukrainian capitol of Kiev culminated this week, displays of open fascism and neo-Nazi extremism became too glaring to ignore. Since demonstrators filled the downtown square to battle Ukrainian riot police and demand the ouster of the corruption-stained, pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovich, it has been filled with far-right streetfighting men pledging to defend their country’s ethnic purity.’
‘White supremacist banners and Confederate flags were draped inside Kiev’s occupied City Hall, and demonstrators have hoisted Nazi SS and white power symbols over a toppled memorial to V.I. Lenin. After Yanukovich fled his palatial estate by helicopter, EuroMaidan protesters destroyed a memorial to Ukrainians who died battling German occupation during World War II. Sieg heil salutes and the Nazi Wolfsangel symbol have become an increasingly common site in Maidan Square, and neo-Nazi forces have established “autonomous zones” in and around Kiev.’
‘In a leaked phone conversation with Geoffrey Pyatt, the US ambassador to Ukraine, Nuland revealed her wish for Tyahnybok to remain “on the outside,” but to consult with the US’s replacement for Yanukovich, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, “four times a week.” At a December 5, 2013 US-Ukraine Foundation Conference, Nuland boasted that the US had invested $5 billion to “build democratic skills and institutions” in Ukraine, though she did not offer any details.’
“The Euro-Maidan movement has come to embody the principles and values that are the cornerstones for all free democracies,” Nuland proclaimed.’
So confused…
Putin is Hitler?
The Ukrainians are Nazis?
So who are the “good Nazis” and who are the “bad Nazis” in this war?
It’s hard to keep track of. But Clinton says Putin is behaving like Hitler, not that he’s a Nazi.
“So who are the “good Nazis”
The ones we gave $5 billion to.
‘So who are the “good Nazis”’
More accurately, who are the “good Nazis” du juor?
Crimea is full of Russians and Crimea off and on has been a Russian state and Russia has a major naval base there. The rioters to the west in Ukraine are NewNazi and hate Russians. The Russians are not blowing things up or hurting people yet, are they? How can this be a threat to the USA?
Who sais that it’s a threat to the USA?
You mean Hannity hasn’t gotten the memo yet? The first person to say the words “Hitler”, “Nazi”, or “world war” loses.
+2 Phony….Thats exactly how it operates on many levels…
Hello Realtors®
hello stealtors
Where’s Amy Jokem the Twitter Queen. Valuation website put that twitter account with less than 4000 followers at a value of $84. Pretty sad actually to have so few followers when you are featured on such a trafficked website. I think Lola has a better monetization scheme with his ankle pants greenshirt webcam shows.
Is there any “profession” that is more dishonest and unethical than Realtors®?
Giving those people authorization to sell used houses is like Hannibal Lechtor getting a degree in culinary arts and opening a restaurant.
He’s a fabulous cook.
Easy answer….Politicians…
For GS, Goon Squad a.k.a. Got Stoned
http://mises.org/daily/6676/Says-Law-and-the-Permanent-Recession
Mortgage Purchase Applications Collapse 19% YoY; Demand Falls to 1995 Levels
http://247wallst.com/housing/2014/03/05/mortgage-loan-rates-slid-last-week-mortgage-applications-rise/
Is this for new purchases or refis? My guess is refis are getting ready to drop off a cliff.
You know what it is Liberace.
My guess is refis are getting ready to drop off a cliff ??
Already have…Layoffs everywhere in refinance units…Everyone who could Refi already has…
I think this may effect a free spending basketball dad ( coach ) I know.. in the mortgage business.
He doesn’t say much more about it. not a talkative guy outside of basketball. As a matter of fact most of the basketball dads are in the Mortgage business.. They have been flush with cash, new cars, new shoes, travel ball all over the place. I wonder if this will change now ???
Palm springs, Las Vegas, Reno, Phoenix.. a busy spring ahead.
15 degrees outside, a foot of snow on the ground, but good to see all the bike racks full in Bmore and DC today.
http://www.picpaste.com/28d49a966c199b8fca3ce8bf0bc4844b.jpg
LOL @ clown car commuters.
Liberace!
No snow on the ground outside. Highs to be in the high 50’s today.
Best biking weather is weather around the high 50s. You should try bike commuting a few days a week.
If you knew what the bike commuting options from Loveland to Broomfield were, you wouldn’t recommend that.
Boulder has the best bike path network for commuting within Boulder. The northern burbs not so much. Despite the extensive bike path network and expanding light rail lines, metro Denver is pretty clown car.
Are the bike paths wide enough for motorized couches and easy chairs?
If you knew what the bike commuting options from Loveland to Broomfield were, you wouldn’t recommend that.
You mean US 287? Yeah, that does come across as suicidal.
And yes, Denver is very car centric.
“…good to see all the bike racks full…”
I commute on a Co-Motion Americano, which is too expensive to park where I can’t see it. Fortunately I have a large office/utility space at work. I’ll be back on the bike in a week or two; f**king winter.
I use my beater bike to get to the train. I have another one I keep at work in the parking garage. But you make a good point about bike theft–I wouldn’t rule it out even though I use a kryptonite lock. This particular bike rack is right in front of the station and there are always Amtrak cops around, so at least some comfort there.
make a good point about bike theft–I wouldn’t rule it out ??
Pbear turned me on to southern California Craig’s list where I found a nice Gary Fisher at a significant discount…It just got stolen two weeks ago… : >(
It makes me happy when adults on bicycles get hit by cars.
Unless they can’t afford a car.
WTF??? You’ve said your worst now, BigV.
Yeah, that was quite douchey.
Very interesting link. Apparently you can tell a lot about someone’s likely voter sentiment by their names.
http://www.claritycampaigns.com/names/
My name is 57.3% Republican. This site also tells you the probability that people with your name own guns, attend church, and have a college degree.
FWIW, I looked up Jesus and he’s extremely likely to be a Dem. Teabillies are MAF right now!
I just looked up Darnell and Cletus. No surprises on either as far as party identification.
I was surprised that only 54% of Cletuses have guns at home.
More South bashing today, Mr. I-95 Corridor?
The following percentages are for Dems.
73% of Jose’s
72% of Antonio’s
72% of Francisco’s
72% of Pablo’s
72% of Pedro’s
72% of Luis’s
72% of Mireya’s
71% of Maria’s
71% of Enrique’s
70% of Manuel’s
70% of Alberto’s
70% of Adriana’s
And so on …
Anyway, it’s obvious why the GOP is pandering (unsuccessfully) to the Hispanic demographic.
since the bushbad hispos have embraced welfare
el free-o
I think the plural of that name should be “Cleti”.
RAL, what do you think of this RE listing?
http://www.sothebyshomes.com/nyc/sales/0018793
The furniture is just so overbearing. I’m sure it’s all extremely valuable, but it has this awful, effete look to it.
I do kind of like the candelabras, though… (pre-empting the Liberace joke).
Whatever the furniture is, there’s too much of it. Would make an awesome bed and breakfast.
… as if an elitist NYC coop board would ever let that happen.
It is a $46 M townhouse with 11,000 square feet. What co-op board?
I missed that. Still would violate zoning, clearly. Esp in DiBlasio’s NY.
The “fabled” corner, with “celebratory parties”, and “5-8 bedrooms”.
This person is trying to hard.
I mean too.
I saw people commented yesterday about soy or tofu being terrible for people. In my case, I don’t eat much. I use soy milk in coffee or as a sweetener when cooking or making a kale shake; we use about a 1/2 gal every 10 days-2 weeks. And I eat tofu maybe 2-3 times a month. But in any case, I’m not that worried about it. Several years ago I decided to cut back on meat and dairy almost entirely. Naturally I have to get protein from other sources, but that’s not all that interesting of a discussion, you can easily look up many ways to do this.
The real benefits I’m after are eliminating the health risks of meat in our society — it’s bad for the environment, it’s not sustainable, the use of antibiotics & steroids is rampant, and the cleanliness issues are off the charts.
———————-
Meat and cheese may be as bad for you as smoking
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140304125639.htm
Date:
March 4, 2014
Source:
University of Southern California
Summary:
A high-protein diet during middle age makes you nearly twice as likely to die and four times more likely to die of cancer, but moderate protein intake is good for you after 65. But how much protein we should eat has long been a controversial topic — muddled by the popularity of protein-heavy diets such as Paleo and Atkins. Before this study, researchers had never shown a definitive correlation between high protein consumption and mortality risk.
What about designer protein (e.g. whey)? I.e. is it the protein per se which is bad for you, or the packaging (saturated fats, cholesterol, etc.)?
Replying to myself to add– everyone has to make their own choices about food, I don’t think giving up meat would work for most in our society. As a whole, we would probably be better off stopping subsidies for meat & dairy because it would cut the rates of certain chronic diseases. But that’s because meat & dairy would become less affordable and production of them would use less other resources (energy, corn, fresh water, grazing land).
Some people can eat meat/dairy and be healthy, so this isn’t to preach. There are obese vegetarians (small %) and very healthy people who love meat. I just question whether we as a society should be subsidizing it and then pay the medical bills later. Medical bills that we know are inevitable for conditions that are preventable.
You hate our freedoms just like Michael Bloomberg and Michelle Obama.
And you’re not a real American unless you have 10 pounds of partially digested red meat in your colon.
“And you’re not a real American unless you have 10 pounds of partially digested red meat in your colon.”
Coffee on the keyboard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LMAO!
The first thing a Paleo would ask is if the study controlled for grass-fed vs. industrial animal proteins.
Great point.
Toxins (i.e. DDT) are most concentrated in the apex predators as they accumulate them from their prey. They’ve introduced so many edible food-like substances into human diets that it would be hard to detect a cause for specific abnormalities- too many variables. Better to eat some real food prepared by hands you can trust.
Like I’m going to listen to anyone who follows a fad diet. Atkins, now Paleo, next week ketosis, next year _______.
The production of meat on a scale like we have now, where it is affordable to the average person, requires a LOT of “cheating” and shortcuts. Not to mention subsidies. And unless you raise the slaughter and store the meat yourself, you really have no idea WTF is going on. Even IF you could ensure how the animal was raised, you have the issue that grass fed, organic, free range beef is very expensive. If you’re REALLY purchasing this product, you will cut back your consumption a lot. Prices would increase dramatically.
BTW, oxidation of saturated fats and amino acids is pretty intense… I really doubt it’s all about what the animals are fed.
BTW, oxidation of saturated fats and amino acids is pretty intense…
Can you elaborate on that? I didn’t follow…
How many different ways can the weather possibly screw up the economy? I’ve lost track…
If not weather, it’s overconfidence as BernaQE explained the other day.
More bad economic weather hits private-sector hiring:
March 5, 2014, 9:13 a.m. EST
Private-sector hiring remains weak, hurt by weather
By Ruth Mantell, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Private-sector employment slightly picked up in February but remained slow after unusually poor weather, Automatic Data Processing Inc. reported Wednesday.
Private-sector employers added 139,000 jobs last month, up from a revised 127,000 in January, but down from 205,000 in February 2013, according to ADP. Economists had forecast that private-sector hiring somewhat slowed down last month, with employers adding 160,000 jobs, compared with an originally estimated January increase of 175,000, according to a Dow Jones Newswires survey.
“February was another soft month for the job market. Employment was weak across a number of industries,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, which prepares the report with ADP’s data. “Bad winter weather, especially in mid-month, weighed on payrolls. Job growth is expected to improve with warmer temperatures.”
Trends also show weakness: Over the quarter that ended in February, private-sector employers added an average of 153,000 jobs per month, down from 196,000 during the year-earlier period.
U.S. stock futures pared gains after the ADP report.
…
“More bad economic weather hits private-sector hiring”
If your wages are weather dependent then you really need to seek other employment. Up my way people work in all conditions; same for a former co-worker who is now in Williston, ND; it’s 24/7 work, plus or minus 40-degrees!
If it’s cold enough for coffee to freeze, then people can’t work.
Gross’s Pimco Total Return Had $1.6 Billion in Redemptions
Alexis Leondis, ©2014 Bloomberg News
Published 10:03 am, Monday, March 3, 2014
March 3 (Bloomberg) — Redemptions from Bill Gross’s Pimco Total Return Fund slowed to a ten-month low in February, the first month after the resignation of Chief Executive Officer Mohamed El-Erian.
Investors pulled a net $1.6 billion from Pimco Total Return Fund in February, the least since May, according to an e-mailed statement from Pacific Investment Management Co. Net redemptions have decreased this year from the fund, which lost its title as the world’s largest mutual fund in October.
Withdrawals slowed at Newport Beach, California-based Pimco despite a leadership shakeup triggered by the resignation of El- Erian, who shared the role of chief investment officer with Gross and was considered his heir apparent. Gross appointed six deputy investment chiefs after El-Erian on Jan. 21 announced he would be leaving in mid-March.
Pimco Total Return, which is the firm’s largest fund and accounted for about 12 percent of its $1.9 trillion in assets as of Dec. 31, has stemmed the rate of withdrawals as investors returned to fixed-income strategies last month. Bond mutual funds attracted $2.9 billion in the week ended Feb. 19, the most since the week ended May 22, according to Washington-based Investment Company Institute. Investors started fleeing bonds in May after then Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke talked about reducing its unprecedented asset purchases.
Record Redemptions
…
AZ Housing Demand Collapses 19% YoY; Falls to 10 Year Lows
http://www.zillow.com/local-info/AZ-home-value/r_8/#metric=mt%3D30%26dt%3D1%26tp%3D6%26rt%3D14%26r%3D8%26el%3D0
Yet they are building hand over fist on every square foot of land. Much new house supply coming on the market at inflated prices. It’s musical chairs where instead of pulling one chair per round, there is one more round where all the chairs but one will be pulled and 10 kids still in it. Everyone wants that one chair, but that ain’t gonna happen.
Mommy’s will be comforting a lot of boo boos from the fallout.
Sacramento Co, CA Housing Demand Dives 13% YoY; Flirts With Low Set In Previous Collapse
http://www.zillow.com/local-info/CA-Sacramento-County-home-value/r_3017/#metric=mt%3D30%26dt%3D1%26tp%3D6%26rt%3D6%26r%3D3017%26el%3D0
From the ‘real journalists setting the narrative’ department:
‘ECB May Repeat Deflation Mistake That Triggered Lost Decade in Japan’ - ‘the ECB…has resisted quantitative easing and its balance sheet has shrunk almost 30 percent since a June 2012 high of 3.1 trillion euros ($4.26 trillion). By contrast, the Federal Reserve has held its key rate near zero since 2008 and a third round of asset purchases has swelled its balance sheet beyond a record $4 trillion.’
“The obvious message from Japan is you have to be aware of the risks and lean against them more,” said Mackie, who added the ECB should be buying as much as 1 trillion euros of bonds.’
Message; more QE, and pronto.
Now this:
‘Younger buyer’s wealth has not bounced back as fast as the prices of homes. Americans under age 40 have only recovered a third of the wealth they lost after the recession began in 2007, while older households are back to pre-crisis levels, William Emmons and Bryan Noeth, researchers with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, said in a report last month.’
“It’s a huge problem,” said Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist for the California Association of Realtors. “We have a ladder of homeownership and need first-time homebuyers beginning the process of owning, building equity and trading up to have a healthy housing sector.”
Lots of messages on this one. First, it isn’t that higher house prices don’t create jobs, etc. It’s that people aren’t getting “on the ladder”.
“The decline affordability is acute in California. ..“It certainly has made it very hard for first-time buyers,” Appleton-Young said. “How do you compete with all cash? You don’t.”
Now Leslie, you’ve thrown a softball to the “journalist”, haven’t you. Of course there’s a way to compete.
“The Federal Housing Administration, the biggest source of financing for first-time buyers, has raised the cost of borrowing and tightened underwriting to cope with losses on mortgages it insured as the property bubble burst. Under a Housing and Urban Development pilot program, first-time buyers who go through housing counseling will get a discount on the mortgage insurance premium, FHA commissioner Carol Galante told reporters yesterday.”
Now for the sob story;
‘Rohrig, the software specialist, doesn’t have much cash for a down payment. So he plans to purchase with a loan from Key Corp., which provides up to 100 percent financing for buyers who qualify. “I want to get in there as soon as I can because I have the feeling in another year or two it won’t be possible,” Rohrig said.’
See, we just need to loosen up credit requirements, get young people to take out zero down loans. We need Affordability Products dammit!
There shes….in all her glorious BS…. LesterAppletonYun.
Aside from any realtor, US congressman, Lereah and Yun, is there anyone who lies more than this woman?
Anyone?
“real journalists”
http://www.infowars.com/feinstein-youre-not-a-real-journalist-unless-you-draw-a-salary/
http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-77395010/
“The obvious message from Japan…”
is that credit fueled prosperity is short lived and ends painfully.
Honey, do you smell gas?
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/04/us/new-jersey-explosion/
Another exploding subdivision! Proving, once again, that human beings are not up to the point of handling natural gas, let alone nookular energy.
Private contractor: Oops, looks like we struck a gas line, yuk-yuk!
“Honey, do you smell gas?”
Only when a realtor is near.
Lol, I’m tellin’ ya.
For me it would be a nightmare to live in a condo or nabe all hooked up to natural gas, living under the constant threat of explosion. Poor woman, there she is going about her business one moment and being blown up the next. Because of some idiot contractor. Not much different than living in some area where bombs fall.
Manassas, VA Housing Prices Dive 9%; Excess Inventory Skyrockets 40%
http://www.movoto.com/manassas-va/market-trends/
“But the high percentage of “stale listings” — properties that have been on the market for more than 30 days — is magnifying the effects of already low inventory levels.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/where-we-live/wp/2014/03/05/heres-why-your-home-isnt-selling/
CRATER!
I know that this is unrelated, but I think it’s arrogant when people refer to DC as “Washington”. There is already a state with that name.
Agreed. Also, “DC” takes fewer keystrokes.
The marginalization of Rand Paul, as presented by “real journalists”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2014/03/04/rand-paul-is-the-odd-man-out-of-the-gop-on-foreign-policy/
Because Rand Paul has committed the sins of not supporting war in Ukraine, not supporting war in Iran, not supporting the “Christian Zionists” (his words), not supporting funding the military industrial complex, and not supporting the scamnesty.
JiminyCripps….. what’s not to like?
Don’t go all heavy breathin’ about basket case Rand Paul. He flip-flops like a hooked trout. And he ABSOLUTELY supports the shamnasty. Today, anyway. Tomorrow, maybe not. The day after…Oh, wait.
He’s a globalist. People shouldn’t confuse him with Ron.
Rand Paul sucks.
We want Ron Paul back.
yeah, rand sucks. but he must be doing at least a few things right if he’s pissing off the statists/globalists.
and in the post-citizens united ruling political environment, no one like ron paul will ever be elected again.
While the shenanigans that went on were BS, the primary reason Ron Paul didn’t get nominated for president was he didn’t get enough votes. The people in this country are going to decide if they want that sort of change in policy.
This is why I find the reaction to the President wanting to bomb Syria so encouraging. There was a groundswell of opposition so strong that it was dropped almost immediately. We have that power available to us anytime.
“We have that power”
Does that power extend to stopping the Scamnesty? Doubtful…
While everyone keeps saying both sides are for it, it never seems to get done.
Real Estate Broker Pleads Guilty To Bank Fraud
http://www.ksby.com/news/former-slo-real-estate-broker-pleads-guilty-to-bank-fraud/
it’s good to be a 0.01%
wall street journal - superrich pushed prices of top-tier homes higher in 2013
number of people with more than $30 million in net assets also rose
‘estate agents, rejoice. the rich are getting richer and more confident, and there is nothing they like more than buying fancy homes.
new data from a global study of ‘ultra-high-net-worth individuals’ — the top 0.01% — shows a stark rise in house prices in the most desirable parts of cities across the world.’
the rest of the article is behind subscriber paywall, but that doesn’t matter, because any additional discussion of this is just ‘class warfare’.
and those occupiers need to go occupy a shower and get a job!
and speaking of parasite pigmen
wall street journal - chase for private-equity talent picks up speed
banker newbies are targets for buyout shops on the prowl
‘this week has been a great time to be a young gun on wall street.
some of the greenest bankers have been beneficiaries of a frantic race among private-equity firms eager to hire them.
competition to recruit young bankers out of their two-year analyst-training programs at big wall street banks is an annual ritual for private-equity firms. but this year the fight for … (fade out behind subscriber paywall)
any subsequent discussion of this, as i’m told by my 0.01% betters, is the path to kristallnacht.
Because the rules are different when you’re a 0.01%er pig
New York Times - A Standoff of Lawyers Veils Madoff’s Ties to JPMorgan Chase
“It remains one of Wall Street’s most puzzling mysteries: What exactly did JPMorgan Chase bankers know about Bernard L. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme?
A newly obtained government document explains why — five years after Mr. Madoff’s arrest spotlighted his ties to JPMorgan and later led the bank to reach a $2 billion settlement with federal authorities — the picture is still so clouded.
Federal regulators at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency sought copies of the lawyers’ interview notes, the government document and other records show, hoping they would open a window into the bank’s actions. The issue gained urgency in 2012, according to the records, when the comptroller’s office conducted its own interviews with JPMorgan employees and discovered a “pattern of forgetfulness.”
So the super-rich are getting ripped off by other super-rich people and “estate agents”. Fine with me. They get to pay higher property taxes too.
everything the 0.01% have was stolen from the 99%, so it’s not about the super-rich ripping off the super-rich.
March 5, 2014, 9:07 a.m. EST
Why it’s easier to rob bitcoins than banks
There are “an infinite number of ways you can screw up and lose your bitcoins”
By Quentin Fottrell
On the heels of hundreds of thousands of bitcoins disappearing from the now bankrupt Mt. Gox trading exchange, bitcoin bank Flexcoin announced that it was robbed of all of its coins, making clear the potential vulnerabilities of investing in digital cryptocurrencies—and trading them online.
…
From yesterday’s comments:
Neuromance: Somehow, I don’t think they’re looking at the whole PITI-UMF* versus rent. [...] The realization that has really blunted my interest in buying is that even when the mortgage costs go away, the carrying costs of a house do not go away. And they are not insignificant.
oxide: Renters pay utilities and fees too, especially the new shiny places. It’s more like PITI+M. Have you looked at the rent vs. PITI+M equation for the rest of your life? Not just the year you look to buy, but for life?
I think there are three numbers to consider:
1) Carrying costs for houses with a mortgage: PITI-UMF
2) Carrying costs for houses without a mortgate: TI-UMF
3) Rent: R-UF
One has to use the actual scenario for one’s situation. Like typically, people will rent smaller places from landlord companies. In that scenario, utilities will be less than if one is heating/cooling an entire house. Fees will be spread out over all the renters and likely incorporated in rent.
So, if someone is considering renting ‘The House Of Their Dreams’ from an FB versus buying it, it’s probably cheaper over the long run to buy it. I mean, of course. You’re paying the landlord for all of his bubble-era expenses plus some gravy and not having the principle of the PITI-UMF applied to your net worth. But in another scenario, renting an apartment in a multi-family unit, that has a very, very different cost structure.
Net result: people need to consider the actual carrying costs of a house (PITI-UMF, then TI-UMF) versus rent (R-UF) to determine if renting is cheaper than buying, for a year, 10 years, a lifetime.
my electric bill is less than $30 eight months of the year.
meanwhile, debt donkey writes checks for heat, water, sewage, garbage, property taxes, et cetera.
and gets to spend her weekends at loan depot or blowe’s throwing more money away.
and gets to shovel and mow and rake her equity.
I think it’s good to have a heterogeneity of opinions on the blog. I certainly do think there are good reasons for buying. But people need to consider these while being fully informed. No realtor or lender is going to voluntarily bring up the issue of house carrying costs. But it’s a significant issue that buyers should consider in order to understand the impact on their net worth.
$200 a square foot is the current minimum asking price where I live.
$250-300+ if you want anything more than a crack shack.
Give it time. As we already know, the state of CA, Denver and a few other choice cities are soon to be holes in the ground.
I would like to point out that in most places in CA you need to have your own refrig,washer,dryer and furniture. Plus you pay rent,garbage and trash pick up,sewage,street lights,Gardner unless you mow your own,gas & electricity, and water. This is the norm here in salinas.
Who pays the depreciation?
Increases in rent pays for the deterioration.
As for actual depreciation, reg’lar old revenue over time pays for that.
In one complex, the commercial company owned the buildings outright, having amortized/depreciated the purchase cost years ago. Now that a major expense in upkeep, i.e. the PI for them, was gone, did they give the renters a break on rent? Eff no. They just packed away our rent money for capital costs like tree trimming or repairing a basement or realigning the gutters. Now that they were able to use money no longer needed for PI to save for large maintenance costs, did they give us a break on rent? Eff no. They simply raised rent with market forces and pocketed more profit.
It’s easy to make more money when you have a paid off complex. Mr. Banker was probably fuming.
LOLZ.
Back to “there is no ceiling to rental rates” lie eh MzCraterton?
Someone pays for the deprecation….. and it’s always the person on the deed. You’ll find that out eventually.
They simply raised rent with market forces and pocketed more profit.
Would you do anything different from that, if you owned the complex? Eff no, you’d want to make a decent return on your investment.
More “there is no ceiling to rental rates” magic?
I already know what the score is with you.
I never said anything about “no ceiling”—that is YOUR wording, and you are seriously confused.
All I was implying is that even oxy would tend to rent her complex (if she owned one) at the market rate. She wouldn’t drop rents just because she paid off the mortgage; she would expect to charge a market rent, and earn a decent rate of return.
No ceiling on rents? Heck no I didn’t say that. The phrase “market rent” means that rents can go either up or down, depending on what the market can afford, and the aggregate demand. Afford has to do with incomes; aggregate demand has to do with incomes as well. And aggregate income in this country hasn’t been doing so great…
So yeah, there’s definitely a ceiling.
“So yeah, there’s definitely a ceiling.”
That’s better.
A spread sheet places no value on freedom from debt slavery.
A spread sheet cannot warn you that there is a massive housing bubble. It amazes me that anyone who still reads here could be so oblivious to the freight train rolling down the tracks.
People also have to consider the actual bubble-era-expenses of the landlord, versus the rent that they are paying on the house. For instance, my bubble-era landlord paid cash. His annual opportunity cost is about 2x my annual rent. I have saved so much money on rent, that I have been able to purchase enough cash-flowing real estate (with cash) to cover my own rent. I only had to pay about a third of the price that my landlord is trying to sell the house for. AND I paid no interest.
And I can move whenever I want for any reason without having to worry about selling anything.
So yeah, you need to consider the rent, the price of the house, the future price of the house, the price of houses in other places, and what else you can do with your cash (other than just buying that house right now).
Incredible!
Sounds like you are working the gold mine, or at least letting it work itself, while your unfortunate landlord is swallowing coal dust.
“Being strapped to decades of mortgage debt will never feel like a real life.”
Mortgage debt borrowed from the bank will never feel like real wealth.
decades of mortgage debt feels like being strapped into a coffin.
and waterboarded.
and having your fingernails pulled out with pliers (as in the film syriana).
and having a funnel full of fire ants stuffed in your nostril.
here’s your 1098 form, loosers! keep telling yourself how clever you are for paying a dollar to get a quarter back.
Zillow now shows Phoenix house prices per square foot as being flat. This is after Movoto has been showing them decreasing for a few months. Inventory is now significantly higher than it was before the Blackstone intervention, so I think prices should go back to where they were before that too. The houses for sale these days are newer.
anyone know what blackstone and the rental roll up InWESTERS are doing now?
buying or selling
Neither. They’re trying to get their houses rented, and at the same time trying to find bond-holders so they can dump their commercial loans. They aren’t doing very well on either front.
Google is using its sizable power and cash to put a real estate company on the map. Google Capital, a fledgling venture capital arm of the Internet behemoth, announced Wednesday it is investing $50 million in Auction.com, a growing online real estate marketplace.
“Auction.com has quietly built one of the largest marketplaces on the Web,” said David Lawee, a partner at Google Capital, which launched last year. “We think Auction.com can fundamentally change how real estate, and particularly commercial real estate, can be bought and sold, leveling the playing field for smaller investors.”
Auction.com is known as the least reputable auction house for real estate. They have many complaints against them. They are fond of illegaly witholding deposits, refusing to provide state-mandated information, etc. Figures Google would team up with them. After the 23&Me debacle, Google is becoming more and more of a joke.
They’re bad news. Overpriced listings fall of MLS and weeks later appear on Auction.com better known as Autism.com.
Take a Bite Out of Crime. When you see a realtor, notify your local law enforcement agency.
lock up your daughters, pets, and prescription medications when a realtor is in the area.
They’re not hard to spot. Normally a property logo emblazoned on the back window of a brand new luxury SUV. They even conveniently advertise their address to forward on to your local law enforcement.
Oh my word….. Look at all the houses for sale in one small neighborhood of San Jose, CA.
http://picpaste.com/pics/9b668e9d9e0cbba0ee1c43c78c5a82d9.1394046220.png
San Jose, CA Housing Demand Falls 9% YoY; At 4 Year Lows
http://www.zillow.com/local-info/CA-San-Jose-home-value/r_33839/#metric=mt%3D30%26dt%3D1%26tp%3D6%26rt%3D8%26r%3D33839%26el%3D0
Good work if you can get it…
Bernanke’s $250,000 fee for speech puts him near top of food chain
March 5, 2014, 12:25 PM
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s reported $250,000 for a speech in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday puts him in rarefied air of public speakers, experts said.
With one speech, Bernanke exceeded his $199,700 annual salary as Fed chairman in 2013.
…
It’s just a token thank you. No doubt there are a thousand other entities beholden to this Bankster Boss who will show their gratitude for pillaging America in years to come. Corruption is now considered such the norm that it is flaunted in the public view.
They could pay him that every day for the rest of his life and still not come close to the money he’s made for them. He’s cheap, cheap, cheap.
More owners of moderately priced homes are also becoming landlords, reducing the supply for first time buyers. Thirty-nine percent of owners looking for better homes plan to keep their current house as a rental, Redfin Corp., a Seattle-based brokerage firm, said in a report last month.
“Being a landlord was not something that many people looked forward to in the past and now that’s much more of a norm,” Redfin Chief Executive Officer Glenn Kelman said.
Younger buyers’ wealth has not bounced back as fast as the prices of homes. Americans under age 40 have only recovered a third of the wealth they lost after the recession began in 2007, while older households are back to pre-crisis levels, William Emmons and Bryan Noeth, researchers with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, said in a report last month.
If you knew you could sell your rental home for more in future, cause “real estate always goes up, alot,” wouldn’t it make sense for you to become an accidental landlord rather than sell now.
“pre-crisis levels”
The crisis is over?
Only if you’re a 1%er.
Stop it! You’re scaring the rich with nightmares of Kristallnacht.
http://www.gocomics.com/tomthedancingbug/2014/01/31
LOLZ
Does this winter have the worst economic weather on record?
March 5, 2014, 2:06 p.m. EST
Weather obscures economic conditions: Beige Book
Employment up only gradually
By Greg Robb, MarketWatch
Reuters
Cars and trucks are gridlocked on the I-75 interstate highway after a rare snowstorm in Kennesaw, Georgia, January 28, 2014.
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — U.S. economic conditions in January and early February were difficult to discern due to severe cold weather, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday.
In sector after sector and region after region, the weather played havoc on conditions, the report said. There were 119 separate mentions of the word “weather” in the so-called Beige Book.
…
janet the weather girl has confirmed that weather is bad for things an stuff
+1
This is an all-purpose observation, and hilarious. Note you can substitute any role for “weather girl” and any noun for “weather”, and the comment is just as hilarious.
Thanks.
Canadian Mounties Override Civilian Rule to Arbitrarily Ban, Confiscate Firearms
RCMP turned thousands of law-abiding Canadian gun owners into criminals overnight
Adan Salazar
Infowars.com
March 5, 2014
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are acting on their own authority to arbitrarily re-classify, ban and ultimately confiscate certain rifles, contemptible actions for which Canadian citizens seemingly have no recourse.
Last Wednesday, the RCMP made good on its past threats and turned tens of thousands of Canadians into criminals overnight when they re-classified the Swiss Arms Classic Green carbine, a Swiss-made rifle featuring military-style characteristics, declaring it “prohibited” even though the model has been sold in Canada since 2000. Until Monday, the Canadian feds hadn’t even offered an amnesty period for gun owners to turn in their newly illegal weapons.
Although the high quality rifles cost anywhere from $3,000 to $4,000, the Canadian government has made no indication it intends to compensate, purchase or otherwise reimburse gun owners, or gun shops, for their surrendered firearms.
On Friday, after the country’s Public Safety Minister had publicly stated he would “take action” against the assault on law-abiding citizens’ rights, the Mounties again banned another gun, a Canadian version of the CZ 858, which had been specifically modified to meet domestic laws.
Troubling to many Canadians is the RCMP banned these guns without the authority of elected officials. “The elected government of the day had already made it clear it did not want to go this route. The Mounties did it anyway,” Sun News’s Brian Lilley reported.
“It is a dark day when police, not the people’s elected representatives, can suddenly transform thousands of ordinary, law-abiding Canadians into criminals with the stroke of a bureaucratic pen,” writes the Winnipeg Sun’s Lorne Gunter.
As Gunter explains, the High River gun grab of June 2013 set the precedent for mass gun confiscation. Mirroring scenes from the fallout of Hurricane Katrina, Mounties in the wake of a devastating flood “decided arbitrarily to break into the homes of nearly 2,000 law-abiding residents and strip the places of guns because they feared residents’ anger might be turned on police or politicians once the town’s forced evacuation was lifted.”
“The government needs to rein in the Mounties or they will find they’re no longer in control,” Lilly declares. “That means the government not only needs to override the decree from the Mounties, but strip them of any power they have or think they have to do this again.”
One gun shop owner expressed to CBC News that Mounties are disarming citizens to have a monopoly on force. “There is a movement within the RCMP and they don’t like to see guns in the hands of anybody but themselves.”
Canadian gun owners who refuse to relinquish their firearms can face jail time up to three years, Sun News reported.
Of course, the irony of the RCMP’s ban and confiscation is that they are targeting a gun the Swiss government actually entrusts its citizens to arm themselves with, illustrating the Mounties and Canadian government’s draconian disdain for its people’s rights.
aim for the head !
Facebook to Place Guns in Same Category as Porn
Bloomberg group to push gun control through Facebook, which is now restricting pro-gun free speech
Kit Daniels
Infowars.com
March 5, 2014
Through sweeping policy changes, Facebook is now treating gun-related content as pornography on its social media site, including restrictions on users under 18 from seeing firearm-related content and the forced indoctrination of gun control propaganda targeted at users interested in firearms.
Facebook is now pushing gun control propaganda in addition to restricting pro-gun speech.
Facebook’s new policies, which apply to both its namesake site and its photo-sharing subsidiary Instagram, were announced today in conjunction with the gun control group Moms Demand Action, which spent the past month pressuring Facebook to restrict free speech on firearm-related topics.
Additionally, in a huge push to brainwash the public, Facebook will also provide free ad space to Moms Demand Action and Mayors Against Illegal Guns for gun control propaganda targeted at gun owners and other users interested in gun-related content.
The new policies include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Users under 18 will be banned from viewing Facebook pages where guns are advertised, which will likely include brick-and-mortar gun shops
- Moderators of gun-related pages will be forced to announce gun laws at the top of their page
- Users will be forced to “acknowledge” gun laws when prompted, even if the laws do not apply to them
- Facebook will delete posts that indicate a seller is willing to sell across state lines, which likely also includes legal FTF transfers between gun shops, meaning that a gun store won’t be able to announce that it is willing to legally ship a firearm to an out-of-state buyer
- Facebook will recommend that gun owners undergo background checks when purchasing firearms even if they are not legally required to do so
Moms Demand Action pushed for the new policies under the guise of preventing “illegal gun sales” despite the fact that Facebook does not actually sell firearms or provide payment transfers between third-parties.
“You cannot sell firearms on Facebook and Instagram,” Bob Owens, the editor of Bearing Arms, wrote. “There are no shopping carts and no e-commerce applications on either site for the sale of any item, of any kind.”
Owens also pointed out that both Moms Demand Action and Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which are spearheaded by the anti-gun former mayor Michael Bloomberg, object to gun owners using social media sites to discuss firearms.
“Some of those discussions do involved conversations on buying, selling, or trading firearms, [and] some of these conversations are used to set up physical meetings, in which actual transfers can take place, offline,” he added. “But what these prohibitionist cults desire is nothing more than the censorship of free speech.”
Not only that, but these two groups are also using Facebook to brainwash the public into accepting gun control.
Zuckerberg what a piece of sh*t.
I don’t know anyone under the age of 25 who uses facebook regularly.
And you think mobile advertising is gonna save you?
And you just had some kind of audit
And your mind is moving slow
Go ask Lois
I think she’ll know
Lois Lerner Pleads the Fifth Again at House Hearing on IRS Scandal
March 5, 2014 - 10:05 AM
By Melanie Hunter
(CNSNews.com) – Lois Lerner, former director of IRS exempt organizations, invoked her Fifth Amendment rights again Wednesday before a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on the IRS targeting American citizens for their political beliefs.
“On the advice of my counsel, I respectfully exercise my Fifth Amendment right and decline to answer that question,” Lerner said in response to a slew of questions by Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) regarding the IRS targeting of tea party and conservative groups.
Issa read a statement that Lerner made on Oct. 19, 2010 that said, “The Supreme Court dealt a huge blow, overturning a 100-year-old precedent that basically corporations couldn’t give directly to political campaigns. And everyone is up in arms because they don’t like it. The Federal Election Commission can’t do anything about it. They want the IRS to fix the problem.”
“What exactly ‘wanted to fix the problem caused by Citizen United,’ what exactly does that mean?” Issa asked Lerner.
“My counsel has advised me that I have not waived my constitutional rights under the Fifth Amendment, and on his advice, I will decline to answer any question on the subject matter of this hearing,” Lerner said.
“So you’re not going to tell us who wanted to fix the problem caused by Citizens United?” Issa asked.
“On the advice of my counsel, I respectfully exercise my Fifth Amendment right and decline to answer that question,” Lerner said in response.
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/melanie-hunter/lois-lerner-pleads-fifth-again-house-hearing-irs-scandal - 46k -
Go ask Lola, I think she’ll know
…and in housing related news (unlike much of this blog today)…
The new Flood Insurance plan is scrapped…..
The House voted to spare homeowners from steep increases in flood insurance premiums by rolling back reforms to the federal program that were adopted by Congress only two years ago.
The Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act (H.R. 3370) passed by a 306-91 margin Tuesday evening. The Senate passed a different version of the bill, Jan. 30, so the House and Senate would have to resolve these differences before the measure goes to President Barack Obama for his signature. Or the Senate could simply pass the House version.
‘The Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act’
This just in; the Obama administration announced they were postponing several parts of the HFIAA indefinitely due to problems with the website.
I’d settle for an affordable Congress.
The political ping-ponging is driving me bonkers.
Sinkhole Insurance. Ed reform. Health care. Flood insurance. Retirement. Windstorm Insurance. Stocks.
How is an average person supposed make informed decisions? I guess it’s always been like this, huh?
I would love nothing more than a really boring life.
It’s mentioned frequently in listings:
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/160-Ingrid-Pl-Oldsmar-FL-34677/2109264576_zpid/
LPS put out their new Mortgage Monitor this week.
http://www.lpsvcs.com/LPSCorporateInformation/CommunicationCenter/DataReports/MortgageMonitor/201401/MortgageMonitorJanuary2014.pdf
My favorite measure of distress (and coming distress), the non-current loan rate, is on page 28 (showing it by state). From earlier in the report, it looks like foreclosure activity is ramping up. Page 28 should tell us where that foreclosure activity will mainly occur.
So, when does open enrollment start for YOUR healthplan? October?
Obama’s extension of existing healthplans (for another year…through the end of 2015) means that massive premium hikes due to a more unhealthy mix of ACA enrollees won’t be felt immediately before the midterms.
Why won’t anyone call him out on this?
I saw one comment on the WSJ article about this delay that I thought was perfect, that Obama is slowly repealing his own law…
Pass something, pass anything. Save my Presidency!
Kind of sad:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/bitcoin-ceo-found-dead-singapore-apparent-suicide-article-1.1711585
Don’t let a bus driver hear you say the “G” word or your goin’ down.
Talk of a loaded gun on TriMet bus gets man arrested
By Bill Gallagher Published:
Mar 4, 2014 at 10:29 PM PST
Last Updated: Mar 5, 2014 at 5:12 AM PST
PORTLAND, Ore. — A TriMet bus driver overheard a passenger talking about being armed and called the police. The man had no gun but was arrested anyway.
This happened Tuesday afternoon near the intersection of Northeast 82nd Avenue and Sandy Boulevard.
As officers approached the bus they received word that not only was the man armed, his gun was “cocked and loaded”.
Numerous officers converged on the bus and confronted the suspect. He had no gun. Police arressted Patrick O’Brien Nolin, 41, and took him to the Multnomah County Jail on a charge of Interfering With Public Transportation.
http://www.katu.com/news/local/Talk-Of-A-Loaded-Gun-On-A-Bus-Gets-Man-Arrested-248498531.html - 170k -
I used to carry a rifle to school, for team practice.
Blue!
I saw your message. I’d love to connect this summer.
hbb muggy at g m a i l dot com
no spaces
I’ll be in Syr area on either side of Jul 4th
I mean “We.” The missus will likely join us, which means no guns.
“Former SLO broker charged with federal bank fraud”
A former San Luis Obispo real estate broker is facing federal prison time for illegally flipping houses that he purchased in short sales.
Timothy William Barnes, 37, pleaded guilty Monday to committing bank fraud. Barnes, a San Francisco resident, owned and operated Apex Properties Real Estate Brokerage in San Luis Obispo. Barnes is accused of orchestrating a property-flipping scheme in San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles, Pismo Beach and other Central Coast cities that netted him more than $500,000 in profits between January 2010 and September 2012.
Barnes understated the value of homes in documents he submitted to banks that he was asking to approve short sales. He then sold the houses at higher prices. Often Barnes concealed higher offers he had already received and simultaneously negotiated the short sale and resale of the houses.
Short sales can occur when the value of a property drops below the amount of money owed on the mortgage. In that instance, a bank can agree to a short sale, in which it accepts less than the total owed on the loan.
The FBI and the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Office of Inspector General investigated the Barnes’s property-flipping scheme. FBI agents raided his downtown San Luis Obispo office in September 2012.
Barnes is scheduled for sentencing on June 16. He faces a maximum of 30 years in federal prison.
I saw this on the intertubes. Here’s the part that’s surprising:
‘Barnes understated the value of homes in documents he submitted to banks that he was asking to approve short sales. He then sold the houses at higher prices.’
There ain’t no way this can be concealed for long. It’s public record. Here we have a really stupid UHS about to sit in prison for a long time.
I posted the article here yesterday. This is nothing for these used house pimps. Go ahead and google realtor + arrested or realtor and any other sordid detail if you don’t believe me. It’s reads like a friggin’ police blotter; a real live crime wave but the arrests and prosecutions are just the outcome. Look at the problems this business enterprise called National Assocation of Realtors is causing. Massive market distortions as a direct result of their members willingness to flat out commit felonies. We’re talking crimes committed in 2013. If I shookdown a sub-contractor for so much as a free lunch, I’d lose my job, blackballed from the business forever and for certain be investigated by LE or some public entity as we do gazillions of business for govt.
Look… the success of an organization is commensurate with their willingness to police themselves. And as far as any reasonable person observes, NAR flat out refuses to do so. NAR is nothing more than a seething $hitpot of criminals.
Is bitcoin dead?
Bitcoin Is Dead
11:35 AM, Mar 5, 2014 • By JONATHAN V. LAST
“Bitcoin” is the most widespread, cryptographically-secure Internet currency. It was created in 2009 by someone (or someones) who referred to themselves as “Satoshi Nakamoto.” Once it was released into the wild, the bitcoin currency ecosystem operated on a public, inalterable schedule. We know exactly how many bitcoins there are in existence today (12,446,725) and how many there will eventually be in total: when the 21 millionth bitcoin is minted, the plates automatically self-destruct. (This is a metaphor, of course. There are no minting “plates,” and nothing’s going to actually explode.) If you want to read the whole Wikipedia entry on bitcoin, have at it.
The genius of bitcoins is that they’re completely untraceable. Cash-money is anonymous and liquid, but even it has limitations—it must be used in face-to-face encounters; dollars have serial numbers on them, and if The Dark Knight is any guide, paper notes can be surreptitiously marked in many ways. But if cash is liquid, bitcoin is totally frictionless. As such, it is the first piece of computer technology to pose a fundamental challenge to the nation-state. That’s because the minting of legal tender is one of the base functions of government. And the person (or persons) who created bitcoin did so with the explicit goal of undermining the idea of sovereign governments.
…
ft dot com
March 6, 2014 5:03 am
Bitcoin exchange chief found dead in Singapore
By Jeremy Grant in Singapore
Singapore police are investigating the “unnatural” death of Autumn Radtke, a US citizen who was chief executive of one of a growing number of bitcoin currency exchanges based in the Asian city state.
The 28-year old cloud computing expert was found dead last week in an apartment in Singapore.
Ms Radtke was recruited by Singapore-based entrepreneur Douglas Abrams in 2012 to head First Meta Exchange, which a bitcoin dealer that Ms Radtke’s Linkedin profile describes as “an early pioneer in digital banking and virtual currency”.
Singapore police said that they had discovered a woman’s body lying motionless in an apartment after they had “received a call requesting assistance”.
“She was pronounced dead at scene by paramedics. Police are investigating the unnatural death,” a police statement said. A spokesman confirmed that the case involved Ms Radtke.
The final post by her on her Facebook page was a link to an article in Inc., an online publication, entitled “The Psychological Price of Entrepreneurship”, chronicling the stress of running a business.
“The First Meta team is shocked and saddened by the tragic loss of our friend and CEO Autumn Radtke,” said a statement on First Meta’s website. “Our deepest condolences go out to her family, friends and loved ones. Autumn was an inspiration to all of us and she will be sorely missed.”
…