Pent up demand

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  • Housing Market Tracker - Even Mortgage Brokers Want to Stop Foreclosures
    I guess I need to get off my a$$ and buy a foreclosed McMansion since these bailouts (along with every other form of government largesse) will leave my kids so heavily taxed that they'll never afford to live on their own. I need more space.
    Apr 10 10:49 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Chance This Is The Bottom? Zero.
    If you want to really have fun, look at the numbers net of government employment.

    The perma-bulls have had many days in the sun. Unfortunately for them the "expansion" of the last 5 years is turning out to have been largely smoke(credit) and mirrors(leverage). Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain Mr. perma-bull.
    Apr 04 10:01 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • An Insider's Look at the Subprime Mortgage Collapse
    Pepe, enlighten me. Where is this place where those without the gold make the rules?
    Apr 04 08:39 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • The Myth of Gold as an Inflation Hedge
    Right, no overt expansion of the money supply, just plenty of covert action.
    Apr 02 09:41 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Dollar Must Get Weaker Before It Gets Stronger
    Raise your hands: who wants to live in a country where the primary economic activity is building/selling houses to one another. This constitutes a strong economy?
    Mar 25 11:49 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • A Government Rental Agency to Mop Up the Foreclosures
    brokerbila, you are calling for some private or public entity to walk into a falling market and sell puts? Sorry, but to me that sounds like one definition of insane.

    Your little proposal does sound like a good deal for buyers, but let's look at the guy on the other side of the trade. I see a lot of risk. Perhaps your "insurance premium" won't be as cheap as you think.
    Mar 20 08:48 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Housing Market Data - Hints of Bargain Hunter Interest in Foreclosures
    tradersystemguru is right. I have seen some data to the effect that the foreclosures we're seeing right now are mostly HELOC cash-out borrowers. The first big round of rate resets only happened in November, and we haven't even reached reset for the really awful teaser and option ARM loans yet.
    Mar 18 09:31 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • A Government Rental Agency to Mop Up the Foreclosures
    Well then I simply disagree. I think the historical record is replete with examples of well-intentioned government cures that made the disease worse rather than better.

    American society has been living beyond its means for a long time. And now we're going to learn the hard way the consequences of that. To those who propose magic wand solutions, I would only offer the words of one of my mentors about "the hard way". He always said people should just call it "the way" because there was no other path to real learning.
    Mar 18 09:17 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Housing Market Data - Hints of Bargain Hunter Interest in Foreclosures
    Europeans aren't buying in places where 100K gets you a house. They're buying $2M apartments in Manhattan.
    Mar 18 08:17 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Some Perspective on Subprime Mortgages
    Comparing subprime to the total number of American households is irrelevant. The housing market is made up of the houses _for sale_. At anytime only a few percent of homes are for sale. How does the number of junk loans and foreclosures compare with that number?
    Mar 18 08:11 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Housing as an Inflation Hedge: It's Not Magic, It's Leverage
    The capital cost for a home is subsidized by the federal government (mortgage interest deduction). So it ain't free, but it's cheaper than most other forms of borrowing.
    Mar 18 08:00 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • A Government Rental Agency to Mop Up the Foreclosures
    Vikram, you need to examine your premises. You start with the premise that it is desirable to "support" (I read "price floor") the price of housing.

    In my book you are off the track right there. Why are expensive homes a public good? Because financial engineers on Wall Street built an edifice of levered debt on top of them?

    Humpty dumpty can not be put back together again. Anybody with a pulse can see that home values can decline and furthermore that they got way out of line with current incomes. The fact that many "smart" people bet a lot of money to the contrary is not reason for a government bailout.
    Mar 18 07:57 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • A Government Rental Agency to Mop Up the Foreclosures
    You think the free market will take to long? Your "RMC" will be beset by the standard cast of rent-seekers and professional victims looking for their cut of the action in the form of set-asides for the "disadvantaged&qu... and making sure that a certain portion of the business is routed through "approved clearinghouses" (owned by people beholden to the right politicians). You say "orderly mop up" as if the meaning of that is self-evident. There will be winners and losers in the mess, guaranteed. I say let the market decide which column we all fall into, not some committee on Capitol Hill. I think you're buying into the myth of the quick fix. That sort of thinking is exactly why we find ourselves at this particular juncture.
    Mar 17 10:20 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • A Government Rental Agency to Mop Up the Foreclosures
    And enough with the "stabilize the markets" new-speak. I did not fall off the turnip truck yesterday; I know corporate socialism when I see it.
    Mar 17 09:56 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • A Government Rental Agency to Mop Up the Foreclosures
    The reason that you are not seeing vultures in the foreclosure business is that prices have not fallen enough.

    I see no reason why the taxpayer should step in to catch a falling knife that business people are smart enough to avoid. So easy to be brave and bold when it's other peoples' money on the line, eh?

    And you are the one in need of a history lesson. The parties who got a good deal from RTC were the vultures who came to pick over the bones. In no sense did the taxpayer make out on the deal.

    If we have a few more months of high foreclosures, the banks will be forced to liquidate. An unoccupied house quickly deteriorates for a number of reasons. The banks need to take their haircuts at which point the private investment money will flow into these properties to turn them into cashflow-positive rentals.
    Mar 17 09:46 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article

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