The Reality Beginning To Raise Its Ugly Head
Local 10 News reports from Florida. “South Florida’s real estate sellers are no longer scarce. ‘Fort Lauderdale is now becoming a buyer’s market,’ Mark Sadek, chairman of the Miami Association of Realtors, said Thursday. The group’s president agreed. ‘It’s definitely becoming a buyer’s market, especially in the condo sector,’ Carlos Gutierrez, president of the Miami Association of Realtors, told Local 10 News reporter Todd Tongen.”
“In fact, there is such a glut of condos in Miami that some developers have suspended sales and halted construction. ‘I’m surprised we haven’t seen more developers put the brakes on their condo project than we’re already seeing,’ Gutierrez said.”
The Culver City Observer in California. “The City of Los Angeles has in recent years lined the edges of Culver City with large projects dwarfing over the 40 foot height limit imposed by Culver City voters decades ago. Now comes a project so massive it could easily destroy the ’small town’ feel of Culver City. Cumulus would impose nearly 1,200 luxury housing units in a fortress-like complex that includes a 30-story, 320-foot skyscraper at the foot of Baldwin Hills and adjacent to the Expo Line La Cienega station.”
“In 2014 and 2015 Carmel Partners (CP V Cumulus) of San Francisco paid $59,356 to well-connected lobbyists to influence L.A. officials, and gave a total of $4,900 to a council member’s ‘officeholder account’ and the campaign chests of City Council members who were key to backing the project. National and international developers are swarming Los Angeles to cash in on the development craze currently gripping the Los Angeles Department of Planning and elected Los Angeles politicians, creating a glut of luxury housing with a huge 12% vacancy rate, according to the city’s own data.”
The Desert Sun. “After a booming six-year apartment rental market, which hit a low vacancy rate of 4.2% in 2014 and 2015, with a peak of rental prices reaching over 5% late in 2015, the current year seems to be marking a slowdown, especially in major U.S. cities. What may face the apartment surge with greater concern going forward is the one million apartments, throughout the U.S., in various stages of construction development. This comes on top of the 900,000 already constructed during the last three years.”
“Ironically, the benefits of lower rentals will most likely impact the most expensive apartments, which make up the lion’s share of the construction now underway. These seem to be concentrated in New York, San Francisco, Denver, and Houston. With high rentals at their peak, the prospective renters or leasers of the most expensive apartments are already beginning to receive concessions, such as a month or more, rent-free, already noted in New York.”
“Like all types of building booms, the switch to apartment rentals from homeowning may have been overdone.”
The Real Deal. “Commercial real estate has been soaring since March 2009, and that bubble remains intact, though some markets are already causing fear and trembling due to office-space gluts that are now coinciding with withering demand, such as in Houston and in San Francisco. Home prices too have been soaring for years, though in some major cities, the tide has turned.”
“Rents have been rising in parallel. It’s in real estate where an asset bubble becomes a real-life issue for people who don’t even own any assets – they’re paying the price for the bubble. The market needs to have enough people who can afford to pay the mortgage or rent. So the housing bubble is subject to another force: the reality of incomes. And those incomes have been a dreary sight for the past 16 years.”
“Year-over-year rent inflation in June, nationwide, was down to 3.5 percent from over 5.2 percent in June last year, laments Axiometrics, an apartment data services provider. During the glory days of 2014 and 2015, rent inflation ran over 5 percent. ‘But the sky isn’t falling,’ it said. ‘The extremely high levels of 2014 and most of 2015 were not sustainable.’”
“Oakland, ‘which spent more than a year at No. 1 in 2014 and 2015,’ well, it ‘fell off the table.’ In San Francisco, soaring rents led to the ‘Housing Crisis,’ but a phenomenal construction boom has led to a condo and apartment glut. According to Axiometrics, ‘all three Bay Area metros’ – Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose – ‘were among the five largest decreases.’ Mercifully, Houston is not on the list either. Rents actually fell 2.1 percent in June from a year ago, as the oil bust drags on while apartment ‘oversupply is still an issue.’”
“Booming rents and cheap money over the years triggered and then nurtured a construction boom nationwide. But incomes have stagnated. And that reality is beginning to raise its ugly head. Just when there’s a condo glut building up in the teetering housing markets of San Francisco, Manhattan, and Miami, with sales and prices already dropping, and with everyone in the industry praying for foreign investors to bail out those markets, these foreign investors are suddenly pulling back – for the first time since the Financial Crisis.”
The Aspen Daily News in Colorado. “It’s the only plausible explanation. How can something so expensive be worth it? Just because people will pay the exorbitant prices doesn’t mean there’s tangible value. The ‘market’ is after all an inanimate object. The only reason I can come up with for the glut of high priced property is that real estate in Aspen is for suckers. It’s also fair to say that in general, Aspen is a huge rip-off.”
“A local real estate agent told me that the running joke with second home owners in Aspen is that they bought a place here because they were sick of bringing all of their luggage back and forth. It makes perfect sense.”
“The biggest challenge of being a real estate agent in Aspen is probably trying to keep a straight face while telling the customer the asking price. That’s followed immediately by the ‘lifestyle’ pitch where you tell the client how lucky we are to live here. It makes me nervous when we go around telling each other how great Aspen is.”
This made me ponder if the media is reporting a coming or already arrived condo/apartment glut here in Boston. All of the new construction, surging tech prices, young folks moving here to work FIRE….its all very similar to the bay area. The bay area of course receives a lot more attention as historically its had the largest and well known boom/busts.
So I googled Boston Apartment Surplus, Glut, Condo Surplus / Glut independently. What’s funny is a lot of the articles commenting on these terms were from 2005-2007. The most recent articles for 2015-2016 all state “Hot market”, “Prices never going down”, “Historical prices”, “Pent up demand”. Man oh man, just think what they’ll say in 2017…”WTF happened?!?! - Again?”
It sounds like Boston has a long way to fall. A very long way to fall.
It does. One articles talked about a condo boom in the late 80s which led to a market drop off. Developers are STILL seeking any available space in downtown to build a high rise (in front of TD/Boston Garden). I just read the Mayor/governor are streamlining communities (around metro Boston) bureaucratic hurdles to allow development of available land that has zoning/permit issues.
“Whatever you call it, it’s a greater thing than the Bubble 1.0 peak…..”
http://mhanson.com/7-5-hanson-house-prices-ready/
The Top-10 countries visiting Miamire.com in April
2016 2015
Colombia
Venezuela
Argentina
Israel
Brazil
India
Canada
Philippines
Spain
Peru
Brazil
Colombia
Canada
Venezuela
Argentina
India
France
Puerto Rico
Philippines
Ecuador
Georgia Tops Domestic Searches for Miami Real Estate
http://www.miamire.com/miami-blogs
Looks like obama got what he wanted. A low intensity race war.
This will keep blacks voting 93%+ for democrats.
And obama complained about the mess he was handed when he took office…
Just citizens expressing their second amendment rights. What could be more American?
What could be more American?
How about obama attending a racist black separatist church for 20 years but never really paying attention?
“If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun,”
– obama, Philadelphia politcal fund raiser, 2008
Now that’s [the] quote right there.
The Indian Jones doctrine. Also extremely American.
These Americans see themselves as fighting government oppression with firearms, and if you had ever met them, you would have probably learned that many of their grievances against the government were ones you share.
The problem is, they’re black Americans, isn’t it?
you would have probably learned that many of their grievances against the government were ones you share.
Really?
Kill all whites?
Kill all white police?
An all black homeland?
Reparations from those who never owned slaves to those that were never a slave?
Increased quotas, affirmative action, set asides and “special” protections?
Bigger and bigger government to give us more free sh*t?
Special race based safe areas, only certain races can teach certain races, only certain races can police certain neighborhoods?
Support a racist president no matter how bad or corrupt he is because he had the same skin color?
Nope - not a one.
They are raced based marxists and communists.
A huge supporter of obama.
And many of the black and muslim cop killers were members of the Nation of Islam.
Why haven’t we banned this organization?
Why haven’t we banned their flag?
Why doesn’t obama even MENTION them - let alone repudiate them?
Nation of Islam Leader Farrakhan Says, “Rise Up and Kill Those Who Kill Us!”
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/07/flashback-nation-islam-leader-farrakhan-says-rise-kill-kill-us-video/
“Nope - not a one.”
How about:
“Cops should’t shoot unarmed people in the back”?
Not eve that one?
http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2016/07/18/baltimore-officer-learns-fate-in-gray-case/
Highest Ranking Officer Found Not Guilty Of All Charges In Freddie Gray Case
How about.
“Cops should’t shoot unarmed people in the back”?
That cop is being prosecuted for murder.
How about.
When you are a thug who happens to be black on the way home from robbing a store and tries to go after a cop’s gun and gets shot by that very same cop - the racist president shouldn’t
encourage violence or blame the cops just because the thug happened to be black.
Why haven’t we banned this organization ??
Ask Bush….
“That cop is being prosecuted for murder.”
And? Do you agree that this is a good thing?
Terrorist!
You can’t ban a religion or a flag.
You can’t ban a religion or a flag.
Did you fall asleep about the white killer in Charlestown? And all he had was a picture of himself with a small flag on his jacket.
But America has dealt with racist and violent organizations before. Go research the German Bund before WWII and how it was outlawed and banned.
The confederate flag hasn’t been banned.
I’ve read a little about the Bund. I recall that there was letter signed by prominent German-Americans, including Babe Ruth, that denounced them. Wikipedia says that a couple of individuals were pursued by law enforcement, not the organization itself. It essentially disintegrated once American was at war with Germany.
Also, it was not a religion.
Zero to Hitler in 17 posts. Not bad for a monday.
Also, it was not a religion.
You are correct.
One is a philosophy of the extermination of sub humans, invading and making slaves of the indigenous populations, of spreading their philosophy through terror and conquest, of eliminating of all dissent and opposition…
And the other is Nazism.
Somehow I doubt that you know much about the Nation of Islam from reading those dopey right wing websites. It probably has less than a hundred thousand members at this point. Yet somehow you’ve become obsessed with it and you demand that the president repudiate it. Well, I guess that there’s always something out there that you find to get angry about. That must give you great satisfaction in life.
Freddie Gray escalated his police encounter into a physical confrontation… and he lost. As a former repo-man I can’t understand the negro mentality to turn a civil matter (non-payment of auto loan) into a felony assault w/five years prison time over something you don’t own.
Disclaimer: I’ve never owned a cotton plantation or slaves.
Somehow I doubt that you know much about the Nation of Islam from reading those dopey right wing websites. It probably has less than a hundred thousand members at this point.
Yet obama and liberals like yourself bring up the democrat founded and organized KKK all the time which today probably has no more than a few hundred members especially after you take out all the FBI agents.
The Natio of Islam is a racist and terror organization which preaches black supremacy and terror to achieve its objectives. It has close ties to the BLM organization. The last two police mass killers were members or sympathizers of the NoI.
“On a social media site registered under the name Gavin Long, a young African-American man who refers to himself as “Cosmo” posted videos and podcasts and shared biographical and personal information that aligned with the information that the authorities had released, so far, about the gunman.
In one YouTube video, titled “Protesting, Oppression and How to Deal with Bullies,” the man discusses the killings of African-American men at the hands of police officers, including the July 5 death in Baton Rouge of Alton B. Sterling, and he advocates a bloody response instead of the protests that the deaths sparked.
“One hundred percent of revolutions, of victims fighting their oppressors,” he said, “have been successful through fighting back, through bloodshed. Zero have been successful just over simply protesting. It doesn’t — it has never worked and it never will. You got to fight back. That’s the only way that a bully knows to quit.”
“You’ve got to stand on your rights, just like George Washington did, just like the other white rebels they celebrate and salute did,” he added. “That’s what Nat Turner did. That’s what Malcolm did. You got to stand, man. You got to sacrifice.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/19/us/baton-rouge-shooting.html?_r=0
its even worse……
http://www.mrctv.org/blog/obama-police-can-make-job-being-cop-lot-safer-admitting-their-failures
The guy is mistaken Malcolm X accomplished little. He didn’t get attention until the autobiography was published after he died. The nonviolent Civil Rights movement, on the other hand, accomplished quite a bit.
Apparently YouTube is popular with dopey, angry clowns of different colors.
“In many of his podcasts, Mr. Long expounds at length on dating and self-improvement tips for men, arguing that they must display the characteristics of an “alpha” male.”
IIRC, “Spook” made some interesting posts regarding male v. female survival modes… why the male had to be tough because his life was on the line whereas the female might have a chance if considered desirable; a lion pride sort of thing.
Dont forget O wanted a war with China and the Olympic games to fall apart. He also wanted Smith and Wesson to have a great year and helped create Pokemon Go. That dude is busy!
Trump/Pence 2016, they will cut spending and pay off the debts!
Pay off debts while touting a YUGE strong military? Doubtful.
and tariffs wont cost us more and TAX cuts for the wealthy….
freeeeeeeeedom with TP!
TP - toilet paper?
“Pay off debts while touting a YUGE strong military? Doubtful.”
We’ll make our enemies pay for it, just like the wall.
Housing prices dropping in London due to BREXIT.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/london-house-property-prices-asking-real-estate-eu-referendum-brexit-a7142281.html
Wouldn’t it be hilarious if falling London house prices were the catalyst for a great resurgence of young creatives and entrepreneurs, starting businesses and employing each other, while Europe looks on in envy with their 50% youth unemployment rates?
Imagine London infrastructure and climate with Berlin apartment prices. Something like that might finally put to bed the idea that high real estate prices are a good thing.
Isnt Berlin one of the most expensive cities for rent?
The EU already looks to the UK, hence why they’re parliament session post-Brexit was filled with boos and hisses (of jealousy)
It’s not likely that the city that is one of the most expensive in the world will become less expensive than Paris, Berlin, Madrid, etc. One way that that could come about might be if Brexit causes much of the banking industry to leave London, taking tens of thousands of high-paying jobs elsewhere.
Irrelevant.
My Zillow rent Zestimate went up $125/month over the past 30 days and this miraculous increase pushed my house’s hard-earned imputed rent contribution to our fine nation’s GDP all the way up to $2,480.
I am one proud American! I am especially proud of my hard-working house which enjoyed getting a well-deserved raise which helped pump up our economy’s production numbers while I got to relax on the couch.
Great. Now we will tax you on it.
Public union goon pensions will be paid…
“Great. Now we will tax you on it.”
This is imputed rent (as in nonspendable income) therefore there is no way it can be taxed.
Oh wait …
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/03/taxing-homeowners-as-if-they-were-landlords/?_r=0
I can just hear a good Clint Eastwood quote: “Go ahead, see if you can tax my Bitcoin.”
IL to go BK paying pensions
before you laugh check your county and state- u may be screwed too
Woohoo! That coupled with Govt spending contributes to our outstanding GDP. All of this in spite decreasing manufacturing jobs year over year since 2008! Woohoo!! We are defying history with bartending jobs and imaginary equity
2008?
Try 1978.
re-fi now!!!!!
The FED and other central bankers wont let the froth out of the markets.
DOW and NASDAQ climbing despite growing corporate debt, share buybacks with monopoly money, and global instability. Business as usual.
I just watched an Enron documentary from 2005, and my first thought was, “Gee this is remarkably similar to today’s market”, with cooked books, misleading profits, large corporate debts….Hot and frothy! Buy stawkzz!!
Except they went to jail.
Not one banker or CEO in jail under 8 years of obama…
I wonder if this correlates somehow:
https://cut2thetruth.wordpress.com/2014/11/23/financial-murder-conspiracy-48-dead-bank-executives-this-year-list/
That was an interesting URL. Thanks!
How many under Bush and Paulson and the Great Recession, housing crash and too big to fail?
O inherited the shet storm…know your party
Finally got round to watching the Big Short this weekend on the Netflix. Ummmmmm……utterly speechless the corruption in NYC and elsewhere - speechless.
Money addicts are by far the most destructive form of junkie.
However, we have never experienced ZIRP, QEs, and trillion dollars deficits…
—
Why Land and Homes Actually Tend to Be Disappointing Investments
New York Times - ROBERT J. SHILLER - July 18, 2016
Buy land: They’re not making it anymore. That often repeated adage sounds like good financial advice.
But over the long run, it hasn’t been. Despite solid price increases over the last few years, land and homes have actually been disappointing investments. It’s worth considering why.
Let’s start by looking at the numbers…
…Over the century from 1915 to 2015, though, the real value of American farmland (deflated by the Consumer Price Index) increased only 3.1 times, according to the Department of Agriculture. That comes to an average increase of only 1.1 percent a year — and with a growing population, that’s barely enough to keep per capita real land value unchanged.
According to my own data (relying on the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, which I helped create), real home prices rose even more slowly over the same period — a total increase of 1.8 times, which comes to an average of only 0.6 percent a year.
What all that amounts to is that neither farmland nor housing has been a great place to invest money over the long term.
To put this in perspective, note that the real gross domestic product in the United States grew 15.5 times …
I made better profits reselling used Disney movies once they get locked into the “vault” compared to real estate, ha!
I.E. buy Lion King for $20, sell for $45 a yr or so after release.
I had a set of old Mickey cartoons on a DVD, packaged in a tin with a serial #. It cost $20 at Sam’s Club when I bought it for the kids, who ended up not watching it (I guess it was too old school for them).
I wound up reselling it on Amazon a few years later for $200. Also had a similar DVD, with old Disneyland footage, including the entire broadcast from opening day. It came with a reproduction of an old ticket book, complete with A, B, C, D & E Tickets. Again, paid $20 for it, resold for about $150 a few years later.
Better returns than Disney stock itself!
My brother has done the same with extra unopened Lego sets that he bought for his kids - keep for ten years, and then sell for more than original price.
Interesting. I didn’t know lego sets retained or appreciated in value from a collector’s stand point. I knew they did for those special sets, like the massive Death Star from the 90s which they don’t make anymore.
If you all haven’t noticed, there is another bubble documentary on NetFlix called “Boom, Bust, Boom.” It rips on Greenspan.
Wikipedia …
“Boom Bust Boom is an upcoming documentary about mankind’s history of speculative bubbles. It is presented by former Monty Python member Terry Jones. It will be released in 2016.”
Presented by Monty Python’s Terry Jones.
Lol.
Trailer …
https://vimeo.com/119939446
Hey, Greenspan got an award from Enron, lol.
Gotta love how he is idolized for creating “wealth” over his tyranny, while Paul Volcker is hated for making the decisions he was required to.
I stopped watching it when it became obvious it was just another call for “regulation”. Yes regulation will solve everything, always. Those who saw it, did you see the words “foam the runway for the banks” in this film?
Remember the solemn congressional hearings on the “crisis” that resulted in the Federal Reserve being given even more power over the financial system? Did this film mention that, or that the Federal Reserve is a private, un-audited corporation? This is more Krugman type garbage. Create a huge mess and pretend you are the solution to said mess.
They’ve nationalized the housing loan industry; how can you get more “regulated”?
Boom Bust Boom. Whose idea was it to fix an economy plagued by artificially easy money and debt with even more easy money and debt? Higher house prices and stocks were going to save us all. Do you feel saved? Read the headlines.
And not a single Fed Chairmen has ever reacted quick enough to correct their decisions on the markets.
The horrible deal in 2007-2008 was the secret $7 trillion they loaned to the inner circle of the banking cartel. It’s so cute how they hide behind the veil of “Federal” Reserve Bank, when like you said they are private, and their board members rotate in and out of other banking institution roles.
What do you think comes next, helicopter money or negative rates?
What do you think comes next, helicopter money or negative rates?
Something else come next, call it “negative money”.
Something else come next, call it
“negative money”crater.Bigger and bigger government with more and more regulations and higher and higher taxes can solve all problems.
Could you imagine the housing industry or the health care industry or the higher education industry if:
Banker and hospitals and colleges had to eat their bad loans
Not one dime would be guaranteed by taxpayers
Jail for fraud and collusion and price fixing
ALL DEBT could be wiped clean in bankruptcy
Prices would be slashed over-night. And they would stay that way.
All of sudden affordable housing, affordable health care and affordable college would be the norm.
But we can’t have that. It is isn’t fair to someone. And you don’t buy votes that way.
Banker and hospitals and colleges had to eat their bad loans
Since when do hospitals or colleges grant loans? I know for a fact that hospitals will send you to Mr. Banker for a dotted line special if you can’t pay or don’t have insurance. Colleges also don’t issue student loans, the FedGov and Mr. Banker do that.
You are almost there Colorado…
Keep thinking…
There is a type of student loan called the Perkins loan in which the college is the lender. But at this point, it probably represents one or two percent of the total outstanding portfolio.
You are almost there Colorado…
Keep thinking…
How about instead of playing games as you are wont to do, that you instead explain what you mean?
Spot on Ben!
So you didn’t see the Greenspan footage towards the end? That part made me smile.
While it was flawed and omitted some important stuff, it did mention a lot of the things we talk about here.
Ben Jones: They’ve nationalized the housing loan industry; how can you get more “regulated”?
It’s a “public-private partnership” aka a license to loot the public treasury
Paul Volcker is hated for making the decisions he was required to ??
How old were you at that time ??
Age doesn’t matter. The fact that Volcker crushed speculators and fools resulting in a record booming peacetime economy does.
He’s referring to the large number of people who lost their jobs due to Volcker’s policies.
I’m referring to the record booming peacetime economy thanks to Volckers policies.
You’re a CEO. It was good time for CEOs. The high unemployment made workers cheap and plentiful. It wasn’t such a good time for those workers.
Prices fell. It was a good time for everyone.
How old were you at that time ??
dandroidz did not answer my question suppose it is possible he was a adolescent of not even born yet in 1982…Let me tell you my friend, he caused millions of responsible, prudent business people with families to go broke with his blinded sided runs up in rates…
He’s referring to the large number of people who lost their jobs due to Volcker’s policies ??
HA does not give a rats a$$ about those people…
fixt.
“he caused millions of
responsible, prudent business people with familiesspeculators and fools to go broke with his blinded sided runs up in rates…”And don’t be preaching us. We were there.
‘It’s Not a Housing Bubble, It’s Just Expensive’
‘the share of U.S. households that rent is near 50-year highs, helping to drive up rental prices and giving investors across the country incentive to snatch up for-sale homes.’
‘Prices in Austin and the San Francisco Bay Area, among other places, are probably unsustainable, Smoke said. That could be bad for buyers who get in at the top of the market and bad for the local economy if high housing costs spur talented workers to move away. “We could have a housing cost-induced economic slowdown because people can’t make the housing market work,” Smoke said.’
‘The current housing market isn’t without some pockets of speculation, said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at RealtyTrac. A rule of thumb for investors who flip homes is to buy at a 30 percent discount to the local market, he said. That leaves room to fix up the house and sell at a profit. In the first quarter of 2016, flippers in Denver were buying at a 14 percent discount to market prices, and flippers in Orange County, Calif., were buying at an 11 percent discount.’
“They’re riding the wave of rising home prices,” Blomquist said. “They’re not buying low—they’re hoping that they can sell high.”
‘The current housing market isn’t without some pockets of speculation’
http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/?p=9687
“After a few years of hot sales activity, the market for multifamily properties in the North Bay appears to be slowing, not so much from lack of interest among investors but for lack of buying opportunities and pricing uncertainties, according to local experts. In Marin County, there are a number of properties with more than five units awaiting buyers, an unusual amount for the market, according to Katherine Higgins, an apartments specialists with Paragon Real Estate Group in Greenbrae. ‘I’m not sure if it’s the price point or that the prices do not make sense,’ she said. ‘Last year, almost everything that came on market was snapped up in weeks.’”
“Buyers of institutional-level properties, typically with more than 200 units, seem to be getting less aggressive in chasing prices and more cautious about overpaying, said Scott Gerber, another longtime apartment broker, now with Bradley Commercial. ‘It’s no secret rents in San Francisco — one of the major drivers for the North Bay as activity radiates this way — were down in the fourth quarter and moderating at best because of the huge supply built there in last five years,’ Gerber said.”
“There has been such a hunger for properties and competition between buyers that a number of deals have gone into contract before inspection reports were completed and at sale prices that the properties’ rents didn’t seem to justify, Higgins said. ‘It’s been an absolute feeding frenzy for the past two years,’ Higgins said. ‘It’s a bubble in the making. Then the buyers get in and realize they have put in more money to get the property to where they want it to be.’”
flippers in Denver
The scrapes continue unabated. And the duplexes and triplexes replacing them often have no aesthetic commonality with the existing houses in their neighborhoods. Ugly, soulless, and overpriced.
Englewood is getting a brand new Chik-Fil-A.
“Ugly, soulless, and overpriced.”
That really should be on a Billboard somewhere.
Welcome to The Hamptons at Duplex Park
Ugly, Soulless and Overpriced
“Englewood is getting a brand new Chik-Fil-A.”
Bucket-o-gas.
I just read a piece from the Guardian that think-tanks estimate “millenials” will spend almost $70,000 on rent (GBP conversion) compared to boomers who spent $12,000 on rent in their lifetimes. Of course this allows less savings in general, and especially on down payments. So boomers rode the wave and are now the landlords. I’d say its equally applicable to the US, as rent has increased 4-6% YoY like clockwork the last 5 yrs.
$70k on rent or $700k on a rapidly depreciating asset.
Missing from the story:
how much Millenials will pay on interests vs boomers?
Really though? Lower interest on 100% higher prices? I still think the math favors boomers, even with 10-15% interest rates.
My parents first house in the mid 80s in San Antonio was $30,000.
I’d love to purchase a $30,000 home as my first home, even at 12% interest. Instead I’m surrounded by $400,000 homes that are at a minimum of 75 yrs old.
The 15 year old shacks are $400k
Ben posted some data on commercial real estate yesterday indicating the market has become a bit overvalued. Here is another indicator: Office vacancy in San Francisco is growing: ___/
What’s behind San Francisco’s nearly 2% bump in office vacancies? Cushman & Wakefield points to slowing demand from companies in its latest data. Vacancy rates rose 1.6% during Q2 2016. This represented the largest move upward since early 2009, according to SocketSite.
http://tinyurl.com/jezexsm
More positive economic news
“NY And National Gasoline Prices Continue To Fall Despite Summer Driving Season”
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/general-news/20160718/ny-and-national-gasoline-prices-continue-to-fall-despite-summer-driving-season
Yeah and they still haven’t fell to their Feb-March lows amongst the supply glut and tankers parked fully loaded news.
I paid $1.75/gal in Feb, and its still $2.15/gal in my neighborhood. Must fall more.
All in good time.
Yesterday PB posted a quote from a police officer who was shot:
…”In uniform I get nasty hateful looks and out of uniform some consider me a threat. . . . These last 3 days have tested me to the core,” Jackson wrote.
in uniform I get nasty looks
I guess it would do well for cops to do some introspection. Eric Garner strangled to death for selling cigarettes, Kelley Thomas beaten to death, 1,000 citizens murdered each year by cops.
Here is an often quoted statement from Robert Higgs, libertarian:
“The whole Good Cop / Bad Cop question can be disposed of much more decisively. […] We need only consider the following:
(1) A cop’s job is to enforce the laws, all of them;
(2) Many of the laws are manifestly unjust, and some are even cruel and wicked;
(3) Therefore every cop has to agree to act as an enforcer for laws that are manifestly unjust or even cruel and wicked.
There are no good cops.”
You ever think that police only enforce the laws of politicians? They don’t create these laws – just enforce them.
You ever think about that blacks vote overwhelming for the most far left “big government increase taxes more regulations” politicians?
You really think the average cop wants to enforce a Deblaso NYC $13 per pack cigarette tax by arresting an petty criminal selling loosies?
Blacks vote overwhelmingly for a nanny state and then get upset when they get one.
Once again the partisan blinders ignore the equal responsibility of conservative voters in the cop killers.
The drug laws pushed by Ronald and Nancy Reagan in the 80s also increased the incarceration rate and police state. The Patriot Act, NDAA, TSA, DHS, surveillance by NSA were all ushered in by Republicans and renewed by Democrat Obama.
The voters rewarded them. We have a severe police state problem and it’s not just black voters but also social conservative voters who are responsible for it.
you miss the point: it’s not the enforcement of laws but the METHOD of law enforcement that’s out of control.
a simple infraction or minor encounter turns deadly much too often by this warrior, take-no-crap, do-it-NOW & get on your knees/stomach/face-down, hair-trigger, full-on SCREAMING RAGING police officer mentality … looking for any reason to shoot.
people are TIRED of getting executed by unstable enforcers w/guns.
people are TIRED of watching it.
people are TIRED of worrying who’s next?
police are supposed to help.
not EXECUTE us at will.
^That.
To protect and serve not the public but themselves. Local, regional and state LE are very much like the gestapo.
That and the thousands of laws signed in over the years. The cops have always had the ability to kill when they “claimed” their captive had a gun, or to strangle, or to claim the captive resisted (could be true - to save ones own life, but did not work for Garner, he did not resist).
The change is that there are more laws on the books, more things to be a school yard bully about. But it’s worse than school yard bully. It’s trained killers in uniform out for blood.
you fought the FED and lost!
The notion of having a central bank has been desired long before the establishment of the Fed. James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, when they and their Federalist cronies pushed for the nationalist U.S., were favorable to a strong central bank.
They pointed to the hodge lodge confederate states with differing approaches to funding their governments - several issued fiat, and they functioned well without the income taxes. Inflation with fiat itself is a tax, and people were aware, but it was not necessarily severe enough to cause economic crises in the 12 years prior to the Constitution.
It was Shay’s rebellion, which the Federalists used, as ammunition for the nation-state. The Massachusetts taxes were so high that farmers had to sell property to pay. I suppose Massachusetts did not issue fiat.
This all is not really an argument in favor of fiat, but exemplifies that it was usually a tradeoff of high taxes or fiat before the nationalism was finalized by the constitution.
Source “America’s Counter Revolution - The Constitution Revisited” — Sheldon Richman. $7.99 paperback.
“U.S. home builders said they lost a bit of confidence in July due largely to uncertainty over how the housing market will perform in the next six months, though they maintained a positive outlook overall as sales strengthen.
The National Association of Home Builders said Monday its monthly index of builder confidence in the market for single-family homes slipped one point to 59 in July. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected a reading of 60.”
http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-home-builder-optimism-slipped-in-july-1468850402
You never will own your home. Even if you have no mortgage.
2banana’s Rule:
Long term democrat rule + public unions + free sh*t army = misery, ruin and bankruptcy.
—-
A $4.6 Billion Transit Millage Is a Tax Too Far for Detroit
Michigan Capitol Confidential | 7/12/2016 | John Mozena
The other day, I attended a public hearing of the Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan in Northwest Detroit. The Mackinac Center’s analysts haven’t dug deeply into the RTA’s plans and assumptions surrounding its $4.6 billion millage request on November’s ballot. But the rhetoric from the RTA leadership in attendance was troubling — even before we look at the numbers.
One question notably absent until I gave Mildred a card asking about it, was whether Detroiters need to be taxed even more than they are now to receive improved transit services. My colleague James Hohman recently pointed out that Detroiters already pay the highest effective property taxes in the nation, a burden to which the RTA’s 1.2 mill property tax would only add.
High property taxes are a challenge for homeowners and business owners in any community. But in Detroit, high tax rates combine with a deeply broken property tax assessment system to destroy neighborhoods and lives. Roughly one in three homes in Detroit has been foreclosed on in the past decade, pushing people out of their homes and creating real and pervasive human suffering. To add insult to injury, these homes too often stay vacant, become blighted and join the long list of homes to be demolished. Detroit is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to knock down houses that could and should have remained Detroiters’ homes.
We’re literally taxing people in Detroit so much that they lose their homes, then asking other taxpayers to pay to knock down those homes. How can we defend this intellectually or morally?
Improving the coordination of our region’s transit systems doesn’t need to cost us $4.6 billion over 20 years, doesn’t need to add to the property tax-driven blight in Detroit and doesn’t need to create another layer of bureaucracy over the existing regional transit systems. Let’s be SMART — pun intended — about transit funding and whether imposing more burdens is the best way to create jobs and opportunity in our communities.
In Massachusetts they’re toying with the idea of GPS tracking to charge users an annual mileage tax to cover transportation shortfalls. Massachusetts already charges $0.4495 in tax/gal total (in conjunction with $0.18/gal Fed tax) and collected some $650 million in gasoline taxes last yr. I’ve only been working around Boston for 2 yrs, and since I’ve been here they’ve already raised MBTA fares twice now to cover additional transportation shortfalls.
Due to increased vehicle efficiencies, hybrids, and electrics, they’re losing money, so you gotta strangle it out somehow…
Public union goon pensions WILL be paid.
If all they need is a total mileage, then state employees can collect the mileage during the yearly emissions check. Why do they need GPS to track every place I go?
Well, my local city council has long been after a way to tax “cut-through” commuters, and this would allow them to do that.
I see pay-by-the-mile coming to all urban areas eventually. Especially as hybrids and EVs become more popular.
Or simply raise the gasoline taxes to reflect the additional miles driven due to fuel mileage gains.
And remember, every dollar sucked into paying for overpriced housing is a dollar that will not be spent in the “real economy”
Housing is driving up overall living costs in metro Denver:
“It’s more expensive to live in Denver this year than a year ago, and the cost of housing is the culprit.
The rising cost of renting or paying the mortgage on a home in metro Denver has driven up the cost of living, despite the fact that energy costs went down dramatically in the first half of this year compared to the same period of 2015.”
http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/blog/finance_etc/2016/07/housing-driving-up-overall-living-costs-in-metro.html
‘Cumulus would impose nearly 1,200 luxury housing units’
From the article:
‘aimed at upscale employees in nearby Culver City, while acting as a slap in the face to the surrounding South Los Angeles neighborhoods of mostly Black and Latino residents, said the Crenshaw Subway Coalition. The City Council even approved the project without any local hire requirements.’
‘Damien Goodmon, Executive Director of the Crenshaw Subway Coalition, said, “The Cumulus project is the poster child for wildly out-of-scale development that is clearly not for existing residents and feeds concerns like gentrification. We believe in development without displacement and responsible community planning. This is a gross violation of both of those principles. Furthermore, the Cumulus project sends a horrible message to developers that ‘Anything goes,’ which threatens the right of existing residents to the neighborhoods we have built and want to see improved for us.”
The other day someone posted that 250,000 people in LA pay 90% of their income in rent. If that’s remotely true, this is way screwed up.
‘What may face the apartment surge with greater concern going forward is the one million apartments, throughout the U.S., in various stages of construction development. This comes on top of the 900,000 already constructed during the last three years.’
‘Ironically, the benefits of lower rentals will most likely impact the most expensive apartments, which make up the lion’s share of the construction now underway.’
But we’re not building any housing:
‘one million apartments, throughout the U.S., in various stages of construction development. This comes on top of the 900,000 already constructed during the last three years’
And this isn’t counting vast numbers of condos.
“And remember, every dollar sucked into paying for overpriced housing is a dollar that will not be spent in the ‘real economy’”.
Every dollar that is sucked into paying for overpriced housing just might pump up the prices of the comps and these pumped up prices just might be interpreted as WEALTH, something that can be sucked out of these comparable houses and SPENT.
So … it is ALL GOOD!
Party on.
And why can only luxury apartments be built? The prices for land have double of tripled in the past few years:
‘Another surface lot in the booming Golden Triangle has changed hands. Three entities registered to Denver businessman Panayes Dikeou bought 0.60 acres of land at 12th Avenue and Cherokee Street in the Golden Triangle for $4.54 million.’
‘The seller in the deal was Zuni Capital Management, LLC. That group bought the property for $2.08 million in September 2012, according to city records, and more than doubled its money in a nearly four-year hold.’
‘Dikeou’s most recent acquisition is currently shaded by one of the biggest developments in the Golden Triangle pipeline. Eviva Cherokee, a 270-unit apartment tower currently under construction, sits across Cherokee Street.’
The Fainting Goat Pub on Broadway is the best thing that Golden Triangle has going for it. Three levels, with all the college and pro games on levels one and two, and a heated deck with a second bar on the third level.
Barn door left open
All of the horses have fled
Hurry, shut the door!
Markets
As Rates Sink, Housing Bubbles Rise
Canada, Australia and Sweden are among central banks caught between supporting their economies and addressing financial threats
A house built in 1930 in a Vancouver, British Columbia, neighborhood was listed for sale for nearly $2.4 million earlier this year.
Photo: DARRYL DYCK/Associated Press
By Kim Mackrael
Updated July 17, 2016 8:07 p.m. ET
OTTAWA—Low interest rates around the world are fueling a familiar threat of housing bubbles, and central bankers in a number of key economies feel powerless to stop them.
The problem is being acutely felt in Canada, where home prices are soaring even as the country’s energy- and mining-dependent economy slows. Sweden and Australia are dealing with similar surges in the value of homes, leading officials in all three countries to worry about the risk of a destabilizing bust.
In Canada’s hottest market, Vancouver, British Columbia, the benchmark home price rose 32% over the 12 months ended in June, with a typical detached home now costing 1.56 million Canadian dollars (US$1.2 million), according to a Canadian Real Estate Association index. In Toronto, home prices were up 16% during the same period.
Those price gains in two of the country’s biggest cities are likely unsustainable, the Bank of Canada warned in June. Yet even as central bank Gov. Stephen Poloz worries about a potential bust, he said in an interview last week that rising home prices wouldn’t prevent him from driving rates even lower if he believed that was needed to stimulate the economy.
But Mr. Poloz, whose bank has cut interest rates twice since January 2015, also acknowledged that Canada’s ultralow-rate environment is helping to fuel rising house prices and household debt.
…
If the Munster family home was put on the market I am sure it would go for $2.5 million.
Because RE is an investment. It always goes up, no matter what.
Could this happen in the U.S.?
“30-year mortgage may not be on the market much longer
Why one expert thinks it may die off”
July 15, 2016 Kelsey Ramírez
http://www.housingwire.com/articles/37542-op-ed-30-year-mortgage-may-not-be-on-the-market-much-longer
It’s entirely up to your federal government, which supports the existence of thirty year mortgages.
Stupid headline writer. What the article really claimed was that “fixed-rate mortgages may not be on the market much longer”. Article was not about loans being 30-years or not.
Aside from that, with variable-rate mortgages, there will be no re-fi mortages that Wall St and loan brokers make money on. I think they like fixed-rate loans just fine. Follow the profit.
A house is just a box of air sitting on the ground that should be paid-in-full within ten years. Families need to send their kids off to college, pay as they go, buy them cars, etc., not be hustled by the real estate industry.
Bloomberg blog: Frustrated homeowners look to Trump for leadership
Do they like his policies or his anger?
http://www.housingwire.com/articles/37540-bloomberg-blog-frustrated-homeowners-look-to-trump-for-leadership
Trump may be best positioned for voters still dealing with foreclosures or underwater mortgages across the Midwest
They’re not homeowners, they’re loanowners.
There you have it - Hillary is standing up for homeowners…
“While Hillary Clinton was standing up for homeowners, Donald Trump was actively rooting for the housing market to crash and the economy to tank so he could cash in on the suffering of families being thrown out of their homes,” Clinton campaign spokesman Zac Petkanas told Bloomberg Politics in an e-mail.
fixing a debt problem with more debt seems smart.
But hey when u can print cash to pay off bad debt why not?
That’s whats great about paper money.You can just create more of it when sh@t hit the man. All you need is an excuse. Then u confuse everyone by trying to figure out who is to blame.
“fixing a debt problem with more debt seems smart.”
As long as that new origination fee is paid up front. Sweet.
ACLU, NAACP sue to stop Detroit area tax foreclosure auctions
[Wayne] county’s tax sale violates the Federal Fair Housing Act by disproportionately foreclosing on black homeowners, a process driven by Detroit’s inflated city tax assessments, said ACLU Legal Director Michael Steinberg…The city taxed the home of one ACLU client at risk of foreclosure as if it was worth $40,000, while a private appraisal paid by the ACLU pegged its value at $9,000.
The controversial auction has drawn critics for years, who say residents are losing properties because of tax bills that bear little relation to market value. The sale has attracted hundreds of out-of-state speculators and local investors who buy for as little as $500, and many don’t pay tax bills either.
An investigation by The Detroit News in 2013 concluded that Detroit was over-assessing homes by an average of 65 percent, according to a review of state tax appeals. The series prompted state regulators to overhaul Detroit’s Assessment Division.
A long term controlled democrat city with insane public unions and a huge free sh*t army leads to…
…
….
Bankruptcy
Misery
Ruin
Yup. There is no such thing as a “free” house in Detroit.
Even if somebody gives you one, it will come with a hefty 5-figure back-taxes bill. Which explains in part why nobody wants to live there.
Public union goon pensions will be paid
From the Culver City article……
“In 2014 and 2015 Carmel Partners (CP V Cumulus) of San Francisco paid $59,356 to well-connected lobbyists to influence L.A. officials, and gave a total of $4,900 to a council member’s ‘officeholder account’ and the campaign chests of City Council members who were key to backing the project. National and international developers are swarming Los Angeles to cash in on the development craze currently gripping the Los Angeles Department of Planning and elected Los Angeles politicians, creating a glut of luxury housing with a huge 12% vacancy rate, according to the city’s own data.”
First impression I had - could this be the real estate equivalent of LA water agency back in the 20’s as depicted in “Chinatown”?
Homeless Influx….
By Tony Doris - Palm Beach Post Staff Writer 14
Posted: 10:00 a.m. Saturday, July 16, 2016
WEST PALM BEACH — It’s one of the city’s most scenic parks, with a verdant lawn, tennis courts, picnic pavilions and sparkling vistas of the Intracoastal throughout, with Palm Beach mansions just across the water.
Housing issue is the focal point of the problem
The city has a program to give up to $3,000 to eligible people facing foreclosure, or who don’t have money for down payments or security deposits, to help keep them from becoming homeless, Mayor Jeri Muoio pointed out.
From what I’ve seen. besides the uber rich beach homes, most of WPB is either very poor (affordable small houses), or affordable small condo units. I don’t understand why the city has to offer subsidies?
“The city has a program to give up to $3,000 to eligible people facing foreclosure,”
Anything for people who live within their means, don’t go on expensive vacations or out to dinner every week and pay their mortgage on time?
I didn’t think so, just for these folks…
Gloom, Despair & Agony… - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAAKPJEq1Ew - 175k -
“with a peak of rental prices reaching over 5% late in 2015″ “What may face the apartment surge with greater concern going forward”
What?
In addition to charting the housing bubble, HBB’s secondary benefit to future historians is to chronicle the dramatic decline in the ability of American journalists to write a coherent sentence. That Desert Sun article is a spectacular, near-indecipherable doozy of an example.
The writer isn’t a journalist.
“The biggest challenge of being a real estate agent in Aspen is probably trying to keep a straight face while telling the customer the asking price. That’s followed immediately by the ‘lifestyle’ pitch where you tell the client how lucky we are to live here. It makes me nervous when we go around telling each other how great Aspen is.”
It’s funny how so many people in so many areas have this attitude and think it justifies their housing costs. When I lived in San Diego I lost count of the number of times I heard “everyone wants to live here” and “why would anyone leave this area?” After I moved, whenever I visit that area I think “this place is hot, barren, and expensive. Who would want to live here?”
I live in western WA now and constantly hear “everyone wants to live here. We have so much scenic beauty and so many outdoor activities.” On the other hand, I’ve heard people who moved away tell me “it’s rainy and overcast all the time. Who wants to live there?”
Everyplace is “special” to the people who live there. That doesn’t mean it’s special to anyone else, nor does it mean that 70 year old fisherman’s shack is worth half a million dollars.
On the other hand, I’ve heard people who moved away tell me “it’s rainy and overcast all the time. Who wants to live there?”
I’ve heard that from more than one refugee from the Puget Sound area.
After I moved, whenever I visit that area I think “this place is hot, barren, and expensive. Who would want to live here?”
Yeah, those inland valleys in metro San Diego can get pretty toasty in the summer. The coast is cooler, but then you have the ubiquitous “Marine Layer” (code for lots of clouds and fog).
When we announced we were leaving “America’s Finest City” our circle of friends was stunned.
“When we announced we were leaving “America’s Finest City” our circle of friends was stunned.”
Mine were too. I still go down there a lot for work and was telling someone that not having to pay state income tax was a nice WA perk. He came back with “have to pay for government somehow”. When I confirmed that WA did, in fact, have a state government, he replied “but the exits on your roads are spaced way far apart”.
OK, maybe. I’ll take the 10% of my income I don’t give to the state and spent it on extra gas to backtrack from the highway. I suspect I’ll still come out on top.
when we go around telling each other how great Aspen is
About the only reason for anybody to live in Aspen.
I love the Aspen South Park episode from 2002 or so. Everyone was so pretentious and over the top douchey. The kids parents got roped into Aspen by a timeshare presentation promising free stuff, but the catch was they could never leave the presentation.
Amen. It’s sort of strange that places with high rents and housing prices seem to come with the attitude of “why would you leave, its the greatest place ever.” It was very prevalent in SF, and it was weird coming from kids working 2-3 jobs to stay afloat. Surely they could be a bartender in Nebraska or Texas?
Same goes for Boston. A lot of New Englanders couldn’t fathom leaving the harsh winters, expensive housing prices, stifling taxes. All for the sake of 3 months of decent weather (Fall/early Summer) and lobster.
“Surely they could be a bartender in Nebraska or Texas?”
Probably not applicable to SF since they just have “crazy expensive” and “slightly less crazy expensive” areas, but in other areas you almost certainly can support yourself just as well working a busy bar in the suburbs/smaller cities outside the main city. Maybe you won’t make as much, but your cost of living will be half what it is in the city. Then you can “commute” into the city for your social life and still come out ahead.
People torturing themselves living in tiny apartments working low-paying jobs in expensive areas when they could just move to a less expensive area and work the same job is part of the reason prices can get so crazy. If all the people in NYC who live in apartments smaller than jail cells just up and left town, I suspect housing prices in that city would correct rather quickly.
Yep. A lot of people just put up with it to enjoy the city living in their 20s. To me it got old very quickly, always going out to eat/drink, smelly taxis or buses, or the difficult task of grocery shopping with no car or parking for your car. Luckily my work paid for my temporary city living during projects, so I didn’t have to balance 2 jobs.
But in SF all the bartenders I spoke with were working 2 or 3 jobs and living in shady run down areas, i.e. the Tenderloin (dead center of Market St, SF). They cant even enjoy the very city they stubbornly refuse to leave.
Family friend of mine moved to Manhattan, was paying $1800/mo for a room, well their company moved way out of the city. They still live in NYC but now commutes OUT of the city. *face palm
SF, Seattle, NYC or Beantown…. They’re all the same ShantytownGhetto.
‘Same goes for Boston. A lot of New Englanders couldn’t fathom leaving the harsh winters, expensive housing prices, stifling taxes. All for the sake of 3 months of decent weather (Fall/early Summer) and lobster.’
I can probably guess that either they have a good job or family that ties them down. Or they are those native masshaoles that truly love the lifestyle of rooting for the Patriots, Red Sox, etc. I see those people daily.
Look at this lovely propaganda by this ditz:
Cheaper to Rent than Buy in Just 8 States
Of course they casually mention the ‘only’ caveat is that they assume people put down 20%. Yep lots of average folks, especially fresh college grads or youngins entering the workforce have $40,000+ for 20% on the median home price in the US.
“Of course they casually mention the ‘only’ caveat is that they assume people put down 20%.”
I guess when available investment returns are approximately 0%, the opportunity loss of 20% sunk in a house is negligible, provided you are willing to ignore depreciation in the calculation.
However, who puts 20% down these days?
Overcoming Our Inordinate Fear of Inflation
By Noah Smith
Here’s a question: Why do we care so much about preventing inflation?
When I put this query to baby boomers, they tell me that if I had lived through the inflation of the 1970s and early 1980s, I would understand. But this was also a time of slow growth, deep recessions and terrible asset returns. Inflation was hardly the only problem the U.S. economy was facing. So why does it stand out so strongly in our collective memory?
The harm of inflation cited in economics textbooks seems laughably unimportant. For example, inflation generates so-called shoe-leather costs — a term for the hassle of moving money from one’s brokerage or savings account to one’s checking account. This hassle is larger when prices change a lot, since you have to put spending cash in your wallet more often. But in the age of digital-account management, this cost is nonexistent. The same is true of so-called menu costs, a name for the hassle of companies changing their posted prices. In the modern world, these things just don’t matter that much. A more sophisticated argument against inflation is that when companies want to change their prices but for some reason can’t, inflation distorts prices from what they should be, which decreases economic efficiency.
Economists have tried to measure these costs, and found that they’re just as small as we might expect. In 1981, and again in 2000, University of Chicago economics professor Robert Lucas — sometimes cited as the father of modern macroeconomics — investigated the costs of inflation. Lucas’s chosen model told him that inflation doesn’t put much of a dent in human welfare — according to his 2000 paper, 10 percentage points of inflation is only about as harmful as a 1 percent reduction in gross domestic product. In other words, according to Lucas, even a mild recession is worse for people than the inflation of the 1970s.
http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-07-14/overcoming-our-inordinate-fear-of-inflation
Why do we care? Because inflation makes one’s savings increasingly worthless, a point which, incredibly, wasn’t mentioned once in that article. Was it because saving money is passé? Or was it because the whole concept of “savings” has become dangerous, a subversive vote of no confidence in America?
I did enjoy the writer’s statement that, in an inflationary regime, “workers can ask for cost-of-living adjustments in their paychecks, effectively indexing wages to inflation.” LOL. Spoken like a former state employee. Yeah, they can ask.
Overcoming the Fear of Deflation.
Beijing sends nuclear capable H-6K bomber over Scarborough Shoal in new South China Sea escalation.
And we keep B2’s and B52’s on Guam, South Korea, and Diego Garcia. Whats the issue?
the Chinese have caught up. now they are buying us with fake Yuan vs invading us.
I’m curious, what are our interests over there, other than finding a new reason to build more bases and increase military spending? More and more we’re risking confrontation over places almost no one could locate on a map, and for reasons that threaten only our increasingly grotesque image of ourselves.
I guess we are standing up for the little guy who will have their nat gas stolen….. wait!!! OIL!!!
“I’m curious, what are our interests over there”
It’s called suicidal tendencies. The American hawks want to start a thermonuclear war and kill all life on the planet.
Not a bubble, Just Expensive
Yep, nothing to see here, the industry experts are not discussing lax lending, funny federal money, loan guarantees, low down payment/sub prime, rampant home flippers….its merely due to supply. Wait isn’t the USA growth rate for population declining?
The US population growth was 0.7% in 2013. This is the lowest that it has been in a long time (ever?).
At 0.7% growth per year, we add about 2.2MM people per year to the population of the country.
So perhaps about 1MM net new housing units are needed per year to house this population growth.
However, don’t forget that homes don’t last forever…they wear out and need to be replaced (or at least have a huge amount of work done to them). Out of 135 million housing units in the US, how many do you think need to get torn down and replaced each and every year?
The most recent number I’ve seen from a reputable source is about 325k per year. Which, frankly, seems absurd to think this number won’t go up over time…it means that homes last well over 100 years on average.
With record amounts of excess, empty and defaulted houses and condos, there isn’t a need to build more of them.
OT
visited Victoria BC
nice
and quite the boat ride to get there… Did you have tea at the Empress?
Cruise ship
80 miles from Seattle ,but they claim less rain in winter=nirvana
I went out of Seattle a few yrs ago, saw an Orca on the way over. Very nice part of the world, not many stressed people up there.
Cleveland Police Officer on Baton Rouge Shooting: Obama ‘Has Blood on His Hands’
by Pam Key
17 Jul 2016
Sunday on Fox News Channel’s breaking news coverage of the shootings in Baton Rouge, LA, that has killed three officers and injured three more, Cleveland police officer and Police Patrolmen’s Association President Steve Loomis said President Barack Obama has “blood on his hands.”
Loomis said, “The president of the Untied States validated a false narrative and the nonsense that Black Lives Matter and the media are pressing out there to the public — validated with his very divisive statements. And now we see an escalation. This has got to end. We need some leadership in this country to come forward and put an end to this.
http://www.breitbart.com/video/2016/07/17/cleveland-police-officer-on-baton-rouge-shooting-obama-has-blood-on-his-hands/ - 132k -
Let’s see - 11.5 days and counting til I am outta the utopian paradise of Chicago. I do have to say - my 30 years here have been a mixture of blessings and curses and I will come back from time to time for a visit to see old friends and visit a couple of great food haunts that only this city has to offer.
Other than that time to move to a new chapter of life and I look forward to a new chapter - even though Apt and In CO will have to tolerate the presence of yet another flatlander invading ‘their’ territory.
Looking forward to hoisting a few with you guys if we can manage to meet and not have our blood boil on the day’s HBB topics!!!
“time to move to a new chapter of life”
As you ramble through life, whatever be your goal;
Keep your eye upon the doughnut, and not upon the hole.
Irish proverb
Compton, CA was a decent area in the 1950’s, they too got run out.
LBJ took care of that in ‘65.
Miami Beach, FL Housing Prices Crashing; Plunge 5% YoY On Skyrocketing Inventory
http://www.zillow.com/miami-beach-fl/home-values/
Nine Inch Nails — Piggy (1994):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ4S9ydkMG4
the Gerbils — Are You Sleepy? (1998):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t166uLCegqM
Be alive in the years that you were alive in, remember those years…
Apples In Stereo — Science Faire (1996):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0hlOuK04vA
And they’re in Chicago now, but they came from way up north on the North Shore in Zion, IL.
Bye, bye GOP. After the Bush/Cheney mistakes, it really was time.
Republicans will gather this week in Cleveland to officially choose Donald Trump as their nominee. But many of the party’s most prominent members will be missing.
Four of the last five men nominated for president by the Republican party ― George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney ― will skip the event. (Bob Dole, the party’s nominee in 1996, will attend.)
Hillarious is unelectable.
‘Republican National Convention delegates approved a platform Monday that calls for reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act and scaling back the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul.’
‘The Glass-Steagall measure puts presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump and his party in the company of unlikely allies such as Bernie Sanders, the democratic socialist who ran against Democrat Hillary Clinton on a plan that included Glass-Steagall reinstatement, underscoring the blurring of political lines in the 2016 race.’
‘”We support reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 which prohibits commercial banks from engaging in high-risk investment,” said the platform released by the Republican National Committee. ‘
‘Clinton, whose husband signed a repeal of the law in 1999, doesn’t advocate for its return.’
“We believe that the Obama-Clinton years have passed legislation that has been favorable to the big banks, which is one of the reason why you see all of the Wall Street money going to her,” Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort told reporters prior to the platform’s approval.’
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-07-18/republican-platform-under-trump-backs-glass-steagall-s-return
This isn’t a blurring of the lines. It’s one of the rare sea-changes the parties go through. The Democrats have been left standing as the party of neocon war, wall street and globalism.
Yep, that’s good news. I’m glad they’re talking about it. Of course, let’s not forget that the repeal of Glass Steagall was a Republican sponsored bill in the first place, even if it was signed by Bill Clinton.
However, it does represent what’s happening within the Republican party, which it looks as if they’re cleaning house of the neocons and returning to some of its roots.
I watched much of the convention today, and I never watch these things. Whew! What. A. Show. Like a tent revival meets the Emmys. And It was like the Bushes never existed. No McCains, no Romneys, no Lindsay Grahams, no creepy neocons. All gone. It was so weird, but refreshing, too. A whole new spirit. Well, Giuliani was there, but more because he’s a friend of Trump than a neocon. I thought he was going to start seeing visions or something.
And of course there was a lot of that USA USA USA stuff, with the red white and blue getting jammed up the wazoo, but it was more patriotic than the phony neocon stuff.
I have to admit, I was spellbound listening to the two Benghazi guys talk about how it all went down.
And I think there were more African American speakers than at any Democrat function. In fact one of them actually was a Democrat.
And Melania! Wow, she was really something.
Well, looks like a good time was had by all, except for the NeverTrumpers who made their last stand and got blown off by the convention chair.
I was chatting online with a young guy in his twenties who said “It’s OUR party now”. Meaning the young folks inherit. That gave me a lot of hope for the future, even if I won’t be around to see it. I’m glad they’re stepping up. They’re not too happy with us older folks, I can tell you that. Can’t say as I blame them.
An album so dope it deserves its own thread (1996):
Local H — As Good As Dead:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI1×3xGwp8Y
Sounds like a soundtrack for a nervous breakdown.
A preview of coming attractions when the Comrades of Proven Worth at the DNC install their collectivist kleptocracy and have their accomplices at the Fed print away all government and corporate debts. Forward!
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/venezuelas-inflation-is-set-to-top-1600-next-year-2016-07-18-81032112
Merkel’s Mauraders strike again. How’s that globalism working out for you, Germany?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/18/about-20-people-injured-in-axe-attack-on-train-in-germany?CMP=soc_568
Nobody could’ve seen this coming. Nobody…(except for Ben and an intrepid band of free thinkers over at the HBB).
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/07/18/london-housing-bubble-set-for-collapse-dont-just-blame-brexit/
Middle-class Venezuelans found themselves massively outnumbered at the polls by the ever-growing Free Sh*t Army with their votes for socialism. Now the decent, productive people have been pushed into poverty by the collectivist kleptocracy’s looting and mismanagement of the productive economy. For members of the ‘Murican middle class brain-damaged enough to mark “D” on your ballet (and will full recognition the Establishment GOP is just as corrupt and sleazy), take a good hard look at what you’re voting for.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/middle-class-venezuelans-liquidate-savings-buy-food-40670461
How’s that socialism working out for you, Venezuelans?
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_VENEZUELA_COLOMBIA_BORDER?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-17-20-02-11
So a bunch of ‘tards think that by signing a petition they can arbitrarily deprive an unpopular group of its constitutional rights? Already the Constitution and Bill of Rights have been shredded: Obama is right in refusing to go along with a baying mob. Do I like BLM? No. But you have to look at the circumstances that gave rise to this group, and others like it. Driving them underground by designating them as “terrorists” would only further radicalize them and cause many to turn to violence since they have no other legitimate avenue of protest.
A lot of these petition-signers self-identify as prime candidates for sterilization.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/black-lives-matter-barack-obama-rejects-petition-terrorist-organisation-we-the-people-a7143536.html
“Let’s make America safe again” - maybe, just maybe, if we concentrated on economic revitalization and breaking up crony capitalism, we would have fewer disaffected, disenfrancised people acting out violently.
Of course, when 95% of the electorate are functional retards, we’ll most likely end up with more of the same.
Hear hear!
Hilltop(Denver), CO Housing Prices Tumble 10% YOY On Plunging Housing Demand
http://www.zillow.com/hilltop-denver-co/home-values/
“…and with everyone in the industry praying for foreign investors to bail out those markets, these foreign investors are suddenly pulling back – for the first time since the Financial Crisis.”
Here’s to hoping ‘everyone in the industry’ thoroughly enjoys their full plates of black swan guano.
Are foreign bondholders beginning to figure out that Yellen intends to print away all US government debt?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/foreign-ownership-us-debt-slips-200134265.html
There are a lot of people making a nice living of of currency devaluation.
Just borrow and print to pay folks.
Still feeling the Bern!
Marketwatch dot com
Republican platform calls for return of Glass-Steagall
By Greg Robb
Published: July 18, 2016 6:38 p.m. ET
Both parties now want to re-separate investment banking from deposit-taking banks
Republicans and Democrats are both bending over backwards to show that they are not beholden to Wall Street.
The Republican Party platform, released late Monday, calls for the return of Glass-Steagall restrictions on banks. Paul Manafort, campaign manager for presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, told reporters earlier Monday the language would be included.
“We believe that the Obama-Clinton years have passed legislation that has been favorable to the big banks, which is one of the reasons why you see all the Wall Street money going to [Hillary Clinton],” Manafort said.
Glass-Steagall was a Depression-era measure restricting commercial banks from the investment-banking business. The measure was repealed in 1999. Some critics contend that loosening of the banking rules played a role in the subsequent financial crisis.
Manafort’s comments suggest Republicans hope to use the issue against Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee. The measure was a major point of contention between Bernie Sanders and Clinton in the Democratic primary.
The Democratic platform also includes language calling for a modern version of Glass-Steagall.
Party platforms have no teeth. But having Glass-Steagall in both platforms suggests Congress will likely consider the issue next year.
Opponents of the return of Glass-Steagall were swift to react.
…
Brian Gardner, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, said the market may be underestimating the likelihood of a forced breakup of big banks.
“There is an unappreciated risk that Glass-Steagall might be reimposed in 2017 or 2018, especially if Congress seriously looks at changes to the Dodd-Frank Act. We think this is the case regardless of who wins the presidential election,” he said in a note to clients.
…
Why Independence is the New Capitalism
The key issue in 2016 is not whether you trust Trump, but whether you trust yourselves
by Laura Ingraham | Updated 18 Jul 2016 at 6:44 PM
http://www.lifezette.com/polizette/independence-new-capitalism/
How did the RNC’s first day of selling fear to frightened cowards turn out for them?