Bits Bucket for May 24, 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.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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More round for your pound: UK’s first Pound Pub slammed for creating ’staggering morning drunks’
The bar is the first chosen as a trial spot for the Pound Pubs across the UK.
Mr Sutton, 31, has insisted anybody who looks too drunk is not served and said: “At the end of the day, if you can only drink ten pints at £3, you are still only going to be able to drink that if they’re £1.50……..
He added: “It’s always been a good pub and it still is, especially now it’s cheaper. They have a good landlord now who’s very caring because when I fall asleep he always wakes me up and that goes a long way.”…….
There are already enough pound shops and they’re rubbish too. All this bar is doing is selling cheap alcohol early in the morning to vulnerable people.
“It’s £3 a pint in here and I pay the extra because it’s civilised and not full of vulnerable people. What we need is a shoe shop and a decent place to buy clothes. What we have are pound shops and a pound bakery and now a pound pub. What’s next? A pound brothel?
“You’ll be able to get drunk, get laid and get a belly full of food for a fiver. What’s the country coming to? No-one would have fought for this country in World War Two if they knew it would end up like this.”………
http://www.mancunianmatters.co.uk/content/120568908-more-round-your-pound-uks-first-pound-pub-slammed-creating-staggering-morning
Oh what a country I live in, no wonder they call it God’s own.
I’ll drink to that
Mr. Baker works at the pound bakery.
Massive, growing excess empty housing inventory.
Collapsing Housing demand.
Millions of newly constructed housing units added.
Cratering population growth.
Asking prices of resale housing 3x higher than construction costs.
Think about it…. with every resale transaction(even though sales are at 19 year lows), the rotting crumbling container holding this toxic mess crumbles just a little more.
Don’t forget:
3 million Boomers turning 65 a year for the next generation
And
Millenials strapped with so much college debt they can’t buy two ply.
This ebay hacking incident is huge, even if it is being somewhat downplayed in the news. Let’s see now:
1) Except for the passwords, personal data was never encrypted. Some of it was even stored as plain text.
2) Some employee log-in credentials were “compromised”. Uh-huh. Many of the “employees” are from grindingly poor parts of the world like the Philippines, or grindingly corrupt, like India.
3) CEO came direct from Bain Capital.
What could possibly go wrong?
Thanks for the reminder. I changed my eBay and PayPal passwords last night.
Question for the peanut gallery:
How often do you change your password(s)?
I do it every once in a while, probably not often enough. However, passwords are the least of people’s worries in the massive ebay hack. Names, addresses, phone numbers and birth dates were NOT encrypted. WTF?
Now, this is a company that polices its customers (its customers, mind you) with more vigor than the NSA. You are tracked when you enter, tracked when you leave. Listings are monitored for things like ivory and other prohibited animal species (leopard skin, for example). They have more rules and regs than you can shake a stick at. They have a VERO program (Verified Rights, for corporations that want to prevent people from re-selling stuff) and a Native American artifact protection program that is second to none. And they don’t care if you are compliant, all someone has to do is complain and they’ll just pull the listing, no questions asked.
You’d think that with all the stuff the company pours their policing energies into, in the name of security, they might wish to encrypt the information of their customers.
Let me tell you how insecure the site really is: a couple years back, I had a piece of artwork up for sale and got a phone call one morning from some lady across the country asking questions about it. First of all, inquiries are supposed to go through email. She was a new member, and didn’t know it apparently, so she called their customer service number and started asking one of their Philippines “employees” for details, lol. They got tired of trying to explain how things work, apparently, so they gave her my phone number!!!!!!!!
Technically, ebay members are not supposed to have your phone number unless and until they actually purchase something from you. And if they DO give out your personal contact info, you’re supposed to receive a notice of the request. I never received one. Ultimately, the lady was harmless and clueless, and in fact I made a sale, but it was a tad unsettling. Yes, I reported it, but that doesn’t mean diddly. If you report, you’re basically reporting to some Filipino who pretends to be concerned, but doesn’t give a rat’s patootie. And they’re the ones in charge of “Trust and Safety”. Like I said, what could possibly go wrong?
Anyway, I speculate that between February/March (when the hack took place) and now (when they’ve all of a sudden “discovered” it), some ebay “employee” (or employees, as the case may be) in Asia departed the company and is enjoying the beach in Bali.
eBay is a ripoff. I wouldn’t sell anything there anymore.
A long time ago, I bought something from Ebay that arrived broken. The person who sold me the item was a cop who was subsequently imprisoned for stealing items from the dumpsters of local businesses, and then selling them on Ebay. I made a complaint through the Ebay “security guarantee” system, but could not get a response, no matter how many times/ways I tried to contact them.
I sued the cop and won. Ebay wouldn’t even ban the seller, who WAS IN JAIL BECAUSE OF HIS SHOP.
I tried telling people about the lack of security, but everyone I knew acted like I was a crazy Luddite because Ebay is cool. People who don’t trust Ebay are not cool. How many online snafus have to happen before people start requiring evidence of security before transacting with a company?
All the time, but only because I can never remember them.
It’s a beautiful morning here in FEMA Region IV
FEMA Region VIII checking in.
The post office is eager to chop y’alls heads off.
http://pmpix.wordpress.com/2013/08/09/usps-logo-a-guillotine/
‘Executive Orders that give USPS power in times of crisis & that everyone would have to report to their local post office;’
So which one is it? Do I report to the FEMA camp, or post office?
FEMA sent out a notice that you report there. But they mailed it at the post office and it got lost.
‘So which one is it? Do I report to the FEMA camp, or post office?’
lol
“So which one is it? Do I report to the FEMA camp, or post office?”
As long as you shelter in place when ordered to and don’t say anything “wrongheaded” outside of a First Amendment zone the dudes that come out of the black choppers will tell you where to go. Unless of course you are on the wrong end of a wrong address “No Knock” raid where they are looking for student loan defaulter or someone who charged $1000 worth of clothes on a stolen credit card. Then the gloves are off.
Mock military invasion rocks downtown Tampa - Story …
http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/mock-military-invasion-rocks-downtown-tampa - 162k - Cached - Similar pages
3 days ago
FEMA Region VIII evening check in, all is well within this Region
Iran Billionaire Executed Over $2.6B Bank Fraud
Wonder if an Iranian billionaire can afford conjugal visits?
Reading some of yesterday’s posts, I almost fell out of my chair seeing that Vancouver is the most expensive market in North America. I mean, I guess I perhaps knew that, but seeing it in black and white really made my head spin.
I’ve been to Vancouver. It’s a nice place. Nicer than a lot of other places in Canada, that’s for sure. But, compared to other expensive RE markets; it’s wouldn’t make my “top 1000″ of places to live. What the h*ll are people thinking paying above NYC prices to live there? Shoot, I think people paying NYC prices to live in NYC are deranged, but, I understand that it’s a very special place and that it’s also the center of the financial universe; so, if you want to make it big in finance, you’re probably going to have to live there. The people living in NYC doing “normal” jobs, I have no idea what they are thinking.
But, back to Vancouver for a minute. Why on earth, given the options you have at 1000+ per sq/ft, would you choose to live there? You could live on the beach in Cali. Or Hawaii. You could live with the Rockies as your next door neighbor in Banff/Jackson/Denver. You could have a lake house in Chicago. You could have a mansion in Dallas. You could have a waterfront home in Miami. Live on the beach in the Keys. Live in the middle of NYC.
I mean, WTF are these people thinking up there in Canada? Those prices make NO SENSE at all, especially when you consider that Canada is so sparsely populated. Having been there many times and driven 1000’s of miles in Canada, there’s a whole lot of nothing up there, and there’s a whole lot of nothing close to the bigger cities. It’s just mind boggling.
I don’t disagree with what you have written.
One observation, and this dates back to the mid 1990’s: Vancouver has been, and continues to be, a gateway for Chinese capital in search of a safe haven.
I don’t remember the exact details, but in the early 1990’s there was an announcement that Hong Kong was no longer going to be under British rule and was going to be returned to China. Leading up to 1997 there was an exodus of capital and Vancouver captured a big share of it.
Hot money seeking a haven doesn’t have time to haggle.
Some local flair probably makes it more susceptible to fraud, like SoCal. People just h
have lower morals there.
Why is that anyways? The Californicators I know just seem to have a deficit when it comes to ethical behavior.
It’s the Asians. They tend to cluster, even when they have $$. We purchased a home back in the early 1990s on the east coast of Florida that had been owned by a couple from India. He wanted to stay in Florida, she wanted to go to Vancouver where her family was. Big point of contention between them.
I’ll bet it was. I can’t imagine what selling a house in FL (pretty inexpensive compared to the rest of the country) and buying the Vancouver (most expensive in NA) looked like. Move out of your 3000 sq/ft waterfront home, buy a 1000 sq/ft shoebox that’s falling down in a crappy neighborhood, pay double the previous amount.
Probably made for some great conversation over dinner.
Because the Canadian government will save them.
Housing Demand Craters In 17 of 28 Dallas, TX Neighborhoods
http://www.zillow.com/local-info/TX-Dallas-home-value/r_38128/#metric=mt%3D30%26dt%3D1%26tp%3D5%26rt%3D8%26r%3D38128%252C274772%252C273698%252C275473%26el%3D0
Boulder, CO Housing Prices Crater 7% YoY; Inventory Balloons As Demand Plunges 11% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/local-info/CO-Boulder-home-value/r_30543/#metric=mt%3D19%26dt%3D1%26tp%3D5%26rt%3D8%26r%3D30543%26el%3D0
Mo Credik, Mo Credik, Mo Credik…
But it won’t work. The fraudsters and shills here are already admitting they are heading for the exits.
Inentory is exploding everywhere and this is being reported. But somehow the question never seems to be, if inventory explodes, what happens to price?
Remember; 2008
“what happens to price?”
Financing, financing, financing tops price, price, price.
Get schmucks thinking in terms of “affordable” (how-much-a-much) and get ‘em thinking about “building equity” and you will end up controlling their thinking (always a good thing).
Financing doesn’t top price. That’s why it is falling and inventory is exploding. They can’t get back to fog a mirror in time to save it.
I think it’s too late for “fog a mirror” to save the day.
I am looking forward to that day when I can tell my lunch bunch “told ya”. It’s still too soon, but I think that by the end of Summer that Broomfield and Highlands Ranch will soon lose their “promised land” status.
Back to the oven!
Neither homeowners nor renters: Antrim County, northern Michigan —
Michigan program offers low-interest mortgages in Detroit, 7 other cities
“As well, the program’s standard interest rates for 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages (4.1% or 4.7%) have been lowered to sweeten the incentive for this new group of borrowers to get into a home.”
And, once again, there it is.
“Sweeten the incentive” and this new group of borrowers will commit to buying a home.
Bahahahahahahahaha
If one wanted to move, say, bananas then he would “sweeten the incentive” by perhaps LOWERING THE PRICE. But if one wanted to move houses he should “sweeten the incentive” by lowering the monthly payments.
And people who are buyers of houses will go for this because people are smart.
Bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Nothing’s gonna save Detroit. Not 30 million. Not 30 billion.
simulating
Yesterday I watched the movie “The Wolf of Wall street” and I picked up on the line whereby a Forbes article was mentioned that trashed the stock trading firm, and (natch) after the firm was trashed it was deluged with wannabe stockbrokers flooding into them so as to get a job selling junk stocks to schmucks so they can get filthy rich.
What a surprise!
Anyhow, here an article about the Forbes article and if you scroll down a bit you will be able to read the original Forbes article.
FWIW.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2013/12/28/meet-the-real-wolf-of-wall-street-in-forbes-original-takedown-of-jordan-belfort/
We glorify crooked money and all money. Plutocracy.
‘after the firm was trashed it was deluged with wannabe stockbrokers flooding into them so as to get a job selling junk stocks to schmucks so they can get filthy rich. ‘
http://maine.craigslist.org/rej/4486509481.html
Cratering housing demand…. cratering cratering housing demand.. it craters more and more with each passing day.
Im sorry you missed out on bernakes asset party.
Keep slepping for wages and going broke as the inflation tax eats away at your take home pay
Slepping, schlepping, tomato, tomato…huh, that doesn’t work.
Murika - third world living at first world prices. Suck it up or off to a FEMA camp for you!
Keep that foreign passport handy.
Mr. Banker says:
The “future” is a time that you do not have to endure living in until it arrives, however the future is also a time from which you can extract money from which can be spent today.
Double today’s spending, triple it if you can.
Spend money that you earn today and at the same time add to our spending money some money that you may just possibly earn tomorrow.
Visit your local banker today and make it happen!
Ignore the ulcers and the night sweats. Relish those fights with your spouse when the bills don’t get paid. Borrow from Peter to pay Paul. It’s all good, you got a wave runner and a Harley. You have a big beautiful house filled with nice expensive furniture. You and your spouse drive new cars. You take planes to resort vacation spots. There is no day of reckoning.
“wave runner”
YOLO
You can retire by reverse-mortgaging the house.
Polly
We went to a baseball game in Toronto last night. Building cranes must be twice as plentiful this year in downtown Toronto. And most of those new high risers are Ultra High.
As for Vancouver - when their prices were about the same as ours many years ago Vancouverites (proper name is Hongcouver) said their prices were going to go up because of the lack of flat land. Anybody been in the Maple farm area of Vancouver ?
An article described a 600 sf Vancouver condo with an ocean view with an asking price of $1million. Trouble was it was in a basement miles from the ocean !
LOL!
In the 2000s when I was staying in L.A. I always chuckled when I would see an add for some beach area house with a “peak view” of the ocean. So a “peak view” can consist of extending your arm all the way out, thumb up. Move horizontally. Now it blocks that same “peak view!”
That is how it is. So spend an extra $300,000 so that you can see a piece of blue ocean that you can occlude by holding up your thumb at arm length!
Oh, but then you don’t have to pay $50 per month AC bills in the summer! Ha!
Was white guilt/(and corollary the white liberal worshipping of blacks) at its worst when OJ got away with murder or when Obama was elected twice?
Watching a special tonight on the OJ trial.
1994 was a year I’d rather forget.
It was a personally bad year for me as well. A family member suddenly became ill and passed away.
Got married, bought a house, first management position. It would have been great had I not bought that friggin’ house.
crater
Strange that not a single known housing liar has posted a comment this weekend on any of the internet media outlets…. Nor here.
Why is that?
Take that back.
Every real estate expert is “predicting” lower appreciation over the next year. No one will predict depreciation. Furthermore, none of them will say why. How are you an expert when you cannot tell me WHY you are predicting something?
I just read something about QE3 being slated to end by October of this year. Is that true? Has Auntie Fed actually released that specific info?