Bits Bucket for October 27, 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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Spokane, WA Sale Prices Collapse 25% YoY; Sellers Slash Prices As Demand Craters
http://www.zillow.com/spokane-wa-99224/home-values/
Bloomberg headline - Pending Sales of U.S. Existing Homes Rise Less Than Projected
Less than projected? LOLZ
CRATER
Hello and greetings from Northern Virginia! Still been here less than a year since relocating from Norfolk, VA. I ended up renting a town house, but keep an eye on things as I’m paranoid rent will jump heavily after 2 years. So far nearby houses for sale seem to sit — and there are a ton of them. On the rental side, there isn’t much. Similar units to mine generally have asking rents $300+ more. I found mine through craigslist. I have seen some nearby townhouses with $490K asking prices and zillow records said purchase price was $500K in 2008 or 2009.
I do drool over the nearby houses that have full walk out basements (arcade/pinballs!) but who knows about jobs. Switching jobs could mean huge change in commute and that up here could mean huge amounts of time stuck in traffic. It is my goal to climb the salary ladder more.
Sit back, bank your cash and watch prices continue to fall.
welacome to NVA -inventory tripled in my hood 22151
Ru ready for a 30 pct stock market meltdown?
New York Markets Open in: 0:56:00
Futures: S&P 500 -0.2% DOW -0.1% NASDAQ -0.0%
Three reasons to expect a 30% market meltdown
Mark D. Cook: 3 reasons why you should expect a 30% market meltdown AFP/Getty Images
Stock futures flatten; focus on Fed
I’ve been ready for years, but have been through all the emotional stages to where I’ve finally reached acceptance. Rigged markets. What can you do? Even if there was such a meltdown, the following day there’d be a 31 pct surge.
How would you characterize the market action in 2008/2009? Wasn’t that the meltdown?
That was one of many on the horizon R._Fraud.
Need to Know
‘Monsters under the bed’ threaten market’s seasonal boost
Published: Oct 27, 2014 7:36 a.m. ET
Critical intelligence before the U.S. market opens
By Shawn Langlois
Markets reporter
The Fed‘s long-awaited nuking of quantitative easing may scratch the record on the bull party, which just brought the S&P roaring back to its best week of the year. Maybe another troubling Ebola headline will do the trick. Or some sort of terrorist disruption. Then there’s Europe. Always Europe.
These are the “monsters hiding under the bed”, according to trader Stephen Guilfoyle, who tells us to get ready for “Santa Claus vs. the Fearsome Foursome” this week.
“I went out on a limb earlier this year, calling for 2,152 on the S&P 500 by year’s end,” he said. “Even more than making money, I really love to ‘not look stupid’, so you know what I’m pulling for. But there are serious threats to the marketplace at this time.”
…
Will the advent of Ebola cases in NYC possibly catch Wall Street traders’ attention?
Market Pulse
Boy, 5, being observed in NYC hospital for Ebola
Published: Oct 27, 2014 8:50 a.m. ET
By Jennifer Booton
Reporter
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — A 5-year-old boy from Guinea is being observed in isolation at Bellevue Hospital in New York City, according to several media reports. The boy has not been tested for the virus and was not under quarantine, ABC reports, but had a 103 degree Fahrenheit fever and was vomiting, according to the New York Post. The New York City Health Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment or confirmation. So far, four people have been diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S. Bellevue is one of a handful of area hospitals that are capable of treating highly infectious patients, including those with Ebola.
30 percent? By the time things got to 15 percent territory they’d be calling for QEEEEEE
The Fed
Fed will hold market’s hand as it ends QE3
Published: Oct 27, 2014 10:29 a.m. ET
By Greg Robb
Senior economics reporter
The Federal Reserve is in no hurry to raise rates.
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The Federal Reserve will go out of its way this week to send soothing signals to investors already unnerved by recent market volatility and worries about the global economy.
There are no press conferences or updated economic forecasts after the U.S. central bank’s two-day meeting Tuesday and Wednesday and markets will be left to look for signals from the Fed’s policy statement, which will be released at 2 p.m. after the talks conclude.
In the statement, the Fed is likely to announce that it will stay the course and end its third round of bond buying, otherwise known as QE3, economists say. For months, the Fed has been signalling its intention to end the program at this meeting.
As a result, November will be the first month in 37 months that the Fed will not be buying longer-term securities, said Michael Gregory, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets.
The Fed has purchased $1.6 trillion in Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities since September 2012, said Michael Gapen, economist with Barclays.
…
Why do they keep referencing 2012? They’ve been doing this since late 2008. What was the longest pause - 1 month?
Yeah, but stocks only go up.
I hope so. I have orders in for UPS and GE about 15% off of todays price.
Russian Ruble in free-fall. At what point will this start affecting the larger global economy, i.e. if Russia defaults on its foreign debt?
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/Currency/USDRUB?countrycode=US
So much for the oil/nat gas deal the Russkies cut with the ChiComs. Will they still be building those Siberian pipelines into CH\hina?
The “former” Goldmanites who run the EU are starting to sweat.
http://wolfstreet.com/2014/10/25/the-mother-of-all-jobs-in-the-eu/
“Unless Germany steps up to the plate soon to temporarily stop the rot – namely by giving Draghi the green light to unleash his no-holes barred bond buying program, followed by the mutualization of Europe’s debt through the creation of euro bonds – Europe’s fragile unity could unravel surprisingly quickly.”
The EU is stoking their lunch hoping Germany will pickup the tab.
Yep, they expect the Germans to pick guarantee the entire continent’s debt.
Then wonder why far-right “populist” parties are gaining ground.
Who will be first to call the pending crash of the Wall Street-Federal Reserve looting syndicate’s Ponzi markets?
http://www.businessinsider.com/hussman-the-stock-market-is-crashing-2014-10
Does news of risky lending in China concern you?
Why Risky Lending Is a Problem in China
10/26/2014 6:00PM
Banks are nervous after a string of suspected fraud cases. Sabine Bauer of Fitch tells the WSJ’s Enda Curran why banks need to be vigilant.
Markets
Troubles in China Rattle Western Banks
Detention of Agile Property’s Chairman Came as a Shock
A worker cleans an apartment block in Beijing, October 18, 2014. Reuters
By Enda Curran
Updated Oct. 27, 2014 2:24 a.m. ET
HONG KONG—When Chinese property developer Agile Property Holdings Ltd. said this month that its chairman was taken into custody by authorities, the disclosure was a shock to Western banks that lent the company money.
Foreign lenders in China have been stung by a string of suspected fraud cases and problem loans in the country as Beijing investigates company executives and seizes assets in a crackdown on corruption.
Agile Property has a large debt payment due in December and has been scrambling to raise funds. It has agreed with bankers at HSBC Holdings PLC and its unit Hang Seng Bank Ltd. , and Standard Chartered PLC for an extension of the $475 million loan.
The company canceled plans at the start of the month to raise 2.75 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$355 million) through a rights issue. A few days later, the company said it would try again, this time with the fundraising backed by the controlling family, meaning they would have to buy any shares not bought by investors.
When news came that the chairman was taken into custody, it was a shock to banks such as BNP Paribas , HSBC and Standard Chartered that had agreed to underwrite the original offering, and who also have lent the company money.
“It was a surprise to all the banks. We didn’t know,” said one executive at a Western bank with direct knowledge of the matter.
It isn’t clear whether Mr. Chen has been accused of wrongdoing. In China, authorities have broad leeway to hold prospective witnesses as well as suspects.
Agile’s shares have fallen 13.3% since a trading halt was lifted earlier this month, and are down almost 50% for the year. Its bonds have regained some ground after a sharp selloff.
A spokesman for Agile referred to disclosure statements made to Hong Kong’s stock exchange.
Half a dozen Western lenders also are locked in legal battles over exposures of around $1 billion linked to a suspected fraud at Qingdao port.
In another widely reported case, a group of banks including Nomura International lent $60 million to Chinese shoe company Ultrasonic AG just months before company funds went missing and its then-chief executive disappeared. That prompted the company, which is based in Cologne, Germany but has many of its assets in China, to talk with creditors to avert insolvency proceedings.
The executive later emerged, telling Chinese media that he had lost his cellphone while in the Philippines and that he hadn’t absconded with company funds. But the company’s chief financial officer has since resigned, citing a lack of progress in finding the missing money.
The spate of suspected fraud cases and growing fears that loans won’t be repaid has raised questions about the effectiveness of scrutiny applied by banks to borrowers.
“In China, nothing is what it appears to be,” said Violet Ho, senior managing director, Greater China at Kroll, the investigative consulting firm.
…
“In China, nothing is what it appears to be,” said Violet Ho, senior managing director, Greater China at Kroll, the investigative consulting firm.
That’s the money quote.
When Chinese property developer Agile Property Holdings Ltd. said this month that its chairman was taken into custody by authorities, the disclosure was a shock to Western banks that lent the company money.
That _would_ be shocking to Western banks, as we have so thoroughly trained them that their executive class will be free from any repercussions after they loot companies here.
Are you enjoying cheaper gasoline prices?
Goldman slashes oil forecast as shale dominates
Published: Oct 27, 2014 8:41 a.m. ET
By Ben Eisen
Reporter
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Goldman Sachs expects oil prices to tumble into the next year as shale gas production continues to expand and oil supply outstrips demand, the investment bank’s researchers said in a note on Sunday. Goldman lowered its forecast for WTI crude to $75 per barrel in the first quarter of 2015 from $90, and cut its Brent expectations to $85 a barrel from $100. Oil prices have been on a prolonged slide in recent months amid a supply glut.
…
Since this firm helped drive the futures price on the way up, will they also help drive it on the way down?
Isn’t that the definition of “doing god’s work”?
Goldman has a long history of telling their “clients,” the muppets, one thing and then secretly betting against them.
wall street journal subscriber paywall article blurb
new alarm sounds in u.s. over ‘lone wolf’ attacks
new york hatchet attack shows danger of self-radicalized terrorists
gotta whip the badge lickers and uniform fetishists up to the appropriate level of fear so big daddy government can pass more laws to erode your civil liberties
Truth.
And the Free Shitters will go right along with it.
do you remember how fast the patriot act was passed after 9/11?
because it was already written, and it was just waiting for a ‘pearl harbor event’ (exact language from a 1996 policy paper from the project for the new american century)
a recent new york times article about libertarianism quotes some one as saying that radical islam is like herpes, but it isn’t a.i.d.s.
and hypocrites like 2brony have no problem borrowing more money from china to fight the war on terrism that america will never win
????????
When have I EVER said that?
Obama has added more to the national debt than every other administration before him - combined and accounting for inflation.
Entitlements = 55% of the federal budget and is growing
Defense = 15% of the federal budget and is shrinking
And the free sh*t army votes…
Obama is a fiscal conservative per FOrbes.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/05/24/who-is-the-smallest-government-spender-since-eisenhower-would-you-believe-its-barack-obama/
Who Is The Smallest Government Spender Since Eisenhower? Would You Believe It’s Barack Obama?
It’s enough to make even the most ardent Obama cynic scratch his head in confusion.
Amidst all the cries of Barack Obama being the most prolific big government spender the nation has ever suffered, Marketwatch is reporting that our president has actually been tighter with a buck than any United States president since Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Breitbart dot com pimps the fear
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/10/26/Leaked-DHS-Report-Reveals-13-Suspected-Terrorists-Illegally-Entered-Canada-From-US
And to all you Drudge link clickers, remember that the World Net Daily website (with the exception of Patrick Buchanan) are Christian Zionist sh*tbags who would run over their own grandmother for Israel
In order to bring the Rapture, all of the Jews must be gathered in Israel, then all of the “true Christians” who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior get raptured up to Heaven
Pretty selfish of these “true Christians” considering they never say what happens to the Jews and other left-behinds after they get raptured
And in 2016, we will once again have a foreign policy based on this belief
Pretty selfish of these “true Christians” considering they never say what happens to the Jews and other left-behinds after they get raptured
Most of them have Calvinist influence, which means that they believe that the elect were predestined for salvation, while the rest have been predestined for damnation. Since you can’t fight predestination there’s no point worrying about what happens to the “left behind”
Jesus/Palin in 2016.
“foreign policy based on this belief”
I think you are making this stuff up, or just going along without thinking.
I am reading a history book about the 14th century. It is pretty amazing how the Europeans considered the Jews to not actually be human beings. They were illogically blamed for the Black Plague and were exterminated by the thousands by the so-called Christian. The leading Christians were not acting on fundamental belief, they were after the money and made up a bunch of BS. The mob just enjoyed the blood and the BS and went along.
What is he making up?
Maybe he will elaborate on what “this” refers to.
“this” = the belief system of many Christian Zionists in America.
Thomas Jefferson wanted us to have freedom of religion, and this includes freedom from religion.
I want a foreign policy that focuses on real threats/challenges like China and Russia, not one based on the emotions of people who believe the Earth is 6,000 years old.
OK, but I am not convinced that you have ever met a person who actually believes the Earth is 6,000 years old and who also has determined the US foreign policy, or read the papers of such. Can you tell us how far back the policy of being an ally to Israel goes, and what led up to it?
That thing about Jefferson, did he actually say he wanted us to be free from religion? You’re not making that up, are you? Of and From are close in spelling, but I don’t think they mean the same thing.
BTW, only my opinion, but if there is to be this Rapture, I rather suspect that running over your grandmother is not the path, so they would be paving the way for others rather unselfishly.
“I am not convinced that you have ever met a person who actually believes the Earth is 6,000 years old”
I used to live in Cincinnati, which is right across the river from the Creation Museum, so yes I have.
http://creationmuseum.org/
See also (this is linked from the Creation Museum website)
https://answersingenesis.org/age-of-the-earth/how-old-is-the-earth/
OK, I won’t go to the links, I am somewhat careful what windows I open. I apologize and I do understand why you would be frightened to the point of hysteria.
Consider though that one does not have to have a particularly dangerous-to-others religious bent to be a maniac. It may well work the other way around, with psychopaths putting on the clothing of sheep or rightness in order to command control and extract wealth. I think Jefferson was a very thoughtful man, but he didn’t practice what he believed was right towards his fellow man where money was at stake.
What a silly idea, a museum of creation. Hell, I’ve got that in my backyard. No money it that I guess.
Blue Sky,
all you gotta do is read Article 11 of the 1796 USA treaty with Tripoli. While it does not say the USA was not founded on religion, it DOES say the USA is by no means a Christian nation.
Amen.
washington post article excerpt
‘former homeland security secretary janet napolitano is supporting executive action by president obama to change immigration policy if congress fails to pass a broad overhaul, citing what she calls her successful 2012 push to delay deportations of many younger immigrants’
and the day after the election, with the stroke of a pen, obama will amnesty 40 million neuvos americanos, all of whom will vote democrat for life
forward
Hope and change
I have a phone and a pen
I am really good at killing people
and the day after the election, with the stroke of a pen, obama will amnesty 40 million neuvos americanos, all of whom will vote democrat for life
I have my doubts. While the electorate has a short memory, I don’t think they would forget that. IIRC, all prior amnesties have been bipartisan.
“have been bipartisan”
January 2015, after the new majority Republican Senate and increased majority Republican House are sworn in, Speaker Boehner will declare “impeachment is off the table” just like Nancy Pelosi said after the 2006 election.
You heard it here first.
new york times - the bushes, led by w, rally to make jeb ‘45′
‘when jeb bush decides whether or not to run for president, there will be no family meeting a la mitt romney, no gathering at walker’s point in kennebunkport to go over the pros and cons. ‘i don’t think it’ll be like a big internal straw poll,’ said his son, jeb bush jr.
but it there were, the results of the poll are pretty much in. as mr. bush nears a decision to become the third member of his storied family to seek the presidency, the extended bush clan and its attendant network, albeit with one prominent exception, are largely rallying behind the prospect and pulling the old machine out of the closet.’
george p. bush says dad ‘moving forward’ on 2016
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article3386681.html
‘forward’
where have we heard that before?
bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Jeb has a Mexican wife and speaks fluent Spanish.
Obama had the blacks no matter what a fool he is…
Jeb may do the same with the Hispanics. And there are a lot more of those than blacks
The problem for Jeb is that most Hispanics want to join the you know what army. Unless he promises to substantially raise minimum wage and hand out Green Cards like they were Halloween candy I don’t think he’ll capture their vote. He might also be counting on the Hispanic TradCon vote, but Hispanics are not as socially conservative as most people think they are.
I just hope Jeb Bush is as good as George Bush.
LOL!
Jeb is a Wall Street marionette. Let’s not forget the most important constituency of all.
I’m trying to imagine how it will look to outsiders, if yet another Bush were to be elected Prez. Then consider that another leading contender (?) is Hillary, whose husband was Prez before. How healthy can our democracy and political system be if such a limited range of people can contend for high offices?
Maybe just look at what each family has done to benefit society.
Bush….not so much.
The American electorate has already established that 95% of them are slack-jawed cretins as evidenced by their votes for Obama, McCain, and Romney. I don’t need to “imagine” how this must look to outsiders.
fox news - mama june silent after more photos of her with convicted child molester surface
‘a series of eyebrow-raising photos hit the web over the weekend, which showed shannon spending time with mark mcdaniel, a convicted sex offender who was recently released from prison after serving 10 years for aggravated child molestation.
to make matters worse, one of the photos showed mcdaniel with his hand on shannon’s 9-year-old daughter alana ‘honey boo boo’ thompson’s arm.’
I’m glad I don’t watch TV anymore. When I’m staying at a hotel, I might turn it on, only to hear the word ‘threat’ ten times a minute.
I hear “senseless tragedy” a lot. That was the theme of the Bucs game yesterday.
ONLY thing I watch on TV anymore are sports.
HGTV is good for a laugh.
Now this is really, really confusing
Bloomberg - Arctic Ice Melt Seen Doubling Risk of Harsh Winter in EU
“The decline in Arctic sea ice has doubled the chance of severe winters in Europe and Asia in the past decade, according to researchers in Japan.
“This counterintuitive effect of the global warming that led to the sea ice decline in the first place makes some people think that global warming has stopped. It has not”
Huh?
Those warmist warmers want to have it both ways, why don’t they make up their minds already?
Fortunately, when articles like this make my head hurt, I go to www dot drudgereport dot com and click on some random article about unseasonably cold weather somewhere, and then I feel better for the next five minutes
A change in any weather means we really need bigger and bigger government, more and more regulations and higher and higher taxes.
And that is all you really need to know…
I remember Reagan:
Reagan grew the size of the federal government tremendously. Reagan promised “to move boldly, decisively, and quickly to control the runaway growth of federal spending,” but federal spending “ballooned” under Reagan. He bailed out Social Security in 1983 after attempting to privatize it, and set up a progressive taxation system to keep it funded into the future. He promised to cut government agencies like the Department of Energy and Education but ended up adding one of the largest — the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, which today has a budget of nearly $90 billion and close to 300,000 employees. He also hiked defense spending by over $100 billion a year to a level not seen since the height of the Vietnam war.
Luckily Obama is a fiscally conservative./
Then why is the debt increasing by about 1 Trillion per year, at the same time the government is realizing record tax receipts?
And if government is so conservatively watching spending, why is the DC area one of the most expensive places for real estate in the country with the hottest growth rate? Don’t tell me it’s because ‘everyone wants to live there’.
I guess you heard it on the internet so it must be true.
7 Things The Middle Class Can’t Afford Anymore
In summary:
Vacations
New vehicles
To pay off debt
Emergency savings
Retirement savings
Medical care
Dental work
http://www.businessinsider.com/7-things-middle-class-cant-afford-2014-10
As a renter, I don’t have these problems
I think your unmarried status has more to do with your carefree lifestyle.
eating red pills for breakfast again today, eh rockstar?
breakfast of champions!
“New vehicles”
“Very few people who earn the median income can afford to buy a new car or truck.”
I make good money, and I can’t justify the cost of a new vehicle once depreciation, insurance, value based registration, etc., are summed-up; I get sick thinking about it. Little wonder that the auto industry is on fed.gov life support.
for the bargain price of $4,000 a square foot, you can live in tent city
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-27/miami-building-boom-spreads-into-downtown-s-tent-city.html
With a brokerage account full of cash, what’s “a’body” to do?
For those of us who do not short stocks (I never did and am too lazy to learn) the next best thing is to set target buy prices without the short. A 60 day GTC limit of your favorites at 50% of their peaks is a fun thing to do. Renew every 60 days. A big hit can happen.
My favorites are Toyota, Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, Hess Oil, Whole Foods Markets, VmWare, Master Card, Ford, and Chevron. I used to own shares of HES, WFM, VMW and MC.
50% discount is not a dumb idea. If the buy does not happen you still have cash. But I really want to get back into individual stocks as soon as they are undervalued.
Take a cash shower?
everyone does….that is why they bounce back so fast. I have orders at 15% less…nada
Did you dump your Treasury bonds too soon?
Credit Markets
U.S. Government Bonds Rise to Start Week
German Report Raises Concerns over Eurozone Growth, Boosts Demand for Haven Assets
By Min Zeng
Oct. 27, 2014 9:35 a.m. ET
Treasury bonds strengthened Monday as a disappointing report out of Germany raised concerns over the growth outlook in the eurozone and boosted demand for haven assets.
In recent trading, the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was 3/32 higher, yielding 2.260%, according to Tradeweb. Yields fall as prices rise. The yield was 3% at the start of the year.
The closely watched Ifo Institute’s survey’s lead indicator for Germany fell to 103.2 in October from 104.7 in the previous month. The gauge fell for a sixth-straight month and stood at the lowest level since December 2012.
“The report is giving a little boost to Treasurys to start the day,” said Larry Milstein, head of government and agency trading at R.W. Pressprich & Co. in New York. “More evidence of the global slowdown gives the Federal Reserve more time before it has to raise interest rates.”
…
Gene Simmons (of rock band Kiss) advice:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/gene-simmons–speak-english-if-you-want-to-make-it-big-131232982.html
“You have an advantage if you don’t smoke, don’t get high, don’t take vacations and don’t get married in your ’20s,” he says. “At the outset, all those important decisions you make in your life are either going to further you in your advancement to making a lot more money or you’re going to be wrapping fish for someone.”
Beyond that I would add - if you don’t get married until your late 30s, if you put health and fitness as the number one priority over career and career over relationships. Because if you are obese and got your relationships, it means nothing when you die in your 40s or early 50s from poor health habits.
any time a single guy asks a married guy what marriage is like, they always say ‘it’s not that bad’
they never say ‘it’s great’ or ‘i love it’
because ‘not that bad’ is the best thing they can say about it
My husband said just one thing I ask - if I die, don’t get married again right away. (Why I have no idea.) I said, don’t worry honey, if you die I’m never getting married again.
Marriage is great… but I would never do it again
real journalists revealed
‘reporters on the ground aren’t necessarily ideological, attkisson says, but the major network news decisions get made by a handful of new york execs who read the same papers and think the same thought.
often they dream up stories and turn the reporters into ‘casting agents,’ told ‘we need to find someone who will say …’ that a given policy is good or bad. we’re asked to create a reality that fits their new york image of what they believe,’ she writes
http://nypost.com/2014/10/25/former-cbs-reporter-explains-how-the-liberal-media-protects-obama/
sharyl attkisson will be found face down in a ditch with a bullet in the back of the head
see also
‘a former cbs news reporter who quit the network over claims it kills stories that put president obama in a bad light says she was spied on by a ‘government-related entity’ that planted classified documents on her computer.’
http://nypost.com/2014/10/27/ex-cbs-reporter-government-related-entity-bugged-my-computer/
the most transparent administration in history
Cuyahoga County OH looks to borrow $50 million to raze abandoned buildings
“CLEVELAND, Ohio — If Cuyahoga County Council approves a plan Tuesday to borrow $50 million for the demolition of vacant buildings, some of the region’s most blighted communities could see demolition crews within a month.
But limits on how much money each community can receive per application cycle could bog down the process for the hardest hit of all – Cleveland.
The city is home to more than 6,000 condemned, wrecking-ball ready structures.
The proposed plan, however, dictates that each city, village or township [in Cuyahoga County] can only apply for up to $1 million for the first round of funding. If there’s still money left over, communities can request an additional $2 million.
Cleveland, with as many as 12,000 abandoned buildings and entire streets that are virtually uninhabited, would need about $120 million to completely meet the city’s demolition needs.”
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/deutsche-bank-lawyer-found-dead-apparent-ny-suicide-093336050–finance.html
As big money makes preparations for a major market meltdown, what are you doing?
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/these-real-estate-agents-walked-into-real-life-houses-of-horror-2014-10-27
Sandy!
‘As big money makes preparations for a major market meltdown, what are you doing?’
DWTS marathon weekend, of course!
Oh my word…
Sale Prices Plunge MoM and QoQ in Mclean, Vienna, Arlington, Ashburn, Fairfax, Herndon, Annandale, Alexandrida, Haymarket, Burke Virginia(DC Metro)
http://www.zillow.com/va/home-values/
http://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2014/10/26/mgk-dancing-at-monster-mash-party-stopped-by-police-over-disputed-event-permit/#.VE7VxmdNT-k
http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2014/10/23/some-builders-like-new-mortgage-rules-but-toll-calls-them-dumb/?mod=WSJBlog&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wsj%2Fdevelopments%2Ffeed+%28WSJ.com%3A+Developments+Blog%29
Bob Toll making sense?
Encourage this behavior and you get more of it. Currently there is a subprime auto loans boom. And what does it yield? Higher car prices for the consumer, wealthier Wall Street, backed by the government and buyers losing their cars and whatever money they put into it.
The way the markets/bailouts are structured, the executives know they can make maximum profit now, and if the company is run aground, they still have so much money that their grandchildren won’t have to work. They suffer no legal or financial penalty. Look at Angelo Mozilo. Or Dick Fuld. Or Joe Cassano.
The privatize the profits / socialize the losses model is alive and well. Encourage this behavior and you get more of it. And ultimately, if you can simply make a promise to pay, and stop paying, the promise doesn’t go away - the taxpayer makes good on it. This all leads to higher prices for those who follow the rules.
Encourage and enrich those who flout the laws or profit off those who flout the laws, and eventually you’ll get social and economic breakdown and 3rd World levels of corruption.
In a Subprime Bubble for Used Cars, Borrowers Pay Sky-High Rates
By Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Michael Corkery
July 19, 2014 12:36 pm
NY Times
An affiliate of the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies, Prestige specializes in making the loans to people in bankruptcy, packaging them into securities and then selling them to investors.
“It’s been a hot space,” Richard L. Hyde, the firm’s chief operating officer, said during an interview in March. Investors are betting on risky borrowers.
Much like mortgages, subprime auto loans go through Wall Street’s securitization machine: Once lenders make the loans, they pool thousands of them into bonds that are sold in slices to investors like mutual funds, pensions and hedge funds. The slices that include loans to the riskiest borrowers offer the highest returns.
Rating agencies, which assess the quality of the bonds, are helping fuel the boom. They are giving many of these securities top ratings, which clears the way for major investors, from pension funds to employee retirement accounts, to buy the bonds.
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/07/19/in-a-subprime-bubble-for-used-cars-unfit-borrowers-pay-sky-high-rates/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
A couple of sketchy characters I know have been driving nice cars over the past several years, multiple new cars. I knew about the subprime auto loan boom, and my only question was, where is the government insuring this? Or is this just a curiosity of the way the market is structured? So that, the company leadership can extract a tremendous amount of money before the company is run aground, and the consequences are not their concern, being shielded from legal and financial consequences?
Weird thing in the LA neighborhood I monitor: new inventory has suddenly slowed to a trickle in the last couple of weeks. It started to slow around the time the stock market started showing slight volatility.
I would have expected at least some speculator “panic selling” at the first sign of RE and stocks rolling over. So far, it seems like the opposite - almost as if speculators have been trained not to sell into a possible correction, because they are expecting more stimulus.
Is this an LA anomaly? How has inventory been in your area since stocks got bumpy?
where I live ( Ventura co.) homes that are in good shape are selling, fixer’s don’t sell very well.
2 co-workers sold their homes but they only received one offer no bidding wars. Both homes has extensive ( expensive ) remodeling work done.
I’m noticing a somewhat similar phenomenon in Portland. Older but remodeled homes are pending or sold at absurd prices. Brand new in-fill homes, on the other hand, tend to be bigger, even more absurdly priced, and seem to be going pending faster. These are $600k-$800k homes in what should be a sub-$350k neighborhood.
(The older, remodeled shacks are in the $450k-$650k range.)
And they’ll never be paid for.
Region VIII
And may the odds be ever in your favor Region VIII
Where is 10 to 1 ?
Region VIII checking in.
Everyone Must Check In
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qSvRarzQgY - 182k -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZRa5_DHgl4 - 330k -
Can’t Find Any Inflation? Here’s A Place To Start
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/27/2014 15:14 -0400
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-10-27/cant-find-any-inflation-heres-place-start - 121k -
Here’s a laugh:
Teens of Generation Z bullish on homeownership
Inman News, Oct 24, 2014
The 13- to 17-year-olds of “Generation Z” believe home ownership is a more vital component of the American dream than graduating from college, getting married or having children.
———-
Which of the following best describes how you will find your future home? (Of those respondents who said they expect to own a home)
Response / Percent of respondents
I’ll find it with help from a real estate agent / 59%
Sure.
Discussed on podcast:
Poll: Teens Aged 13-17 Bullish on Home Ownership/Real Estate Agents
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-10-21/existing-home-sales-jump-highest-sept-2013-midwest-tumbles-53
Less than a week after the NAR reported September existing home sales which surged at a 5.17 million annualized pace, the highest since September 2013, rebounding from the August drubbing which was also the worst miss in 2014, today the NAR flip-flopped and disappointed sellside expectations of a 1.0% rebound following the August -1.0% decline, rising a modest 0.3%, and less than half the 2.2% expected increase from a year ago, rising only 1.0% Y/Y. This was the third miss in the series in the last 4 prints.
May have been posted,
Anyway we have millions in mortgage fraud, drug dealing and shop lifting. Now he’s probably sentenced his son to prison, what a guy.
Caldwell man allegedly orders son to shoot him to delay going to prison
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