A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as few original ideas as possible. - Freeman Dyson
Sep 08
Is a stealth shift in policy afoot, to find the bottom in the housing market by getting banks to start clearing out their foreclosed and “ought to be foreclosed” exposures?
via « naked capitalism.
Sep 08
The recent housing bubble in the US was an excellent example of extreme investor myopia in action as one hundred years of historical data were cast aside in favor of the ever popular (but always tragic) “this time is different” mantra. When home values initiated their parabolic rise early last decade, real estate quickly became the latest “can’t miss” investment, spawning a speculative frenzy that drove prices to unsustainable extremes. We often refer to the resulting real estate bubble as the largest in US history, but in order to truly appreciate the magnitude of the move it is necessary to view it in terms of the long-term trend in home values.
via Seeking Alpha.
Sep 08
The Obama administration on Tuesday will launch its most ambitious effort at reducing mortgage balances for homeowners who owe more than their homes are worth.
via WSJ.com.
Sep 08
Ideas are bullet-proof. - Alex Jones, Terrorstorm
Sep 07
More than likely, that era is gone for good.
“There is no iron law that real estate must appreciate,” said Stan Humphries, chief economist for the real estate site Zillow. “All those theories advanced during the boom about why housing is special — that more people are choosing to spend more on housing, that more people are moving to the coasts, that we were running out of usable land — didn’t hold up.”
Instead, Mr. Humphries and other economists say, housing values will only keep up with inflation. A home will return the money an owner puts in each month, but will not multiply the investment.
via NYTimes.com
[Does this make rental housing more or less interesting? Arguments could be made either way. And of course I am speaking of cash flow properties and not "investment" real estate. When I was buying many years ago it was shocking how many brokers could not understand the difference. - Tim]
Sep 07
The total bill for the homebuyer tax credit so far, as reported by the Internal Revenue Service, stands at $23.5 billion.
About $16.2 billion of that is for the $8,000 (Recovery Act) and $6,500 (Assistance Act) grants shelled out to first and second-time homebuyers, respectively.
via REO Insider.
