John Preston

The Housing Bubble: Greenspan's Wayward Son

If low rate policies lead to bubbles, then we should see one developing now.....at least in the mortgage markets...which are the long end of the spectrum.

No, Mr. Schiff, like many who observe and comment on mortgages and housing from the bleechers, the credit underwriting process was the evil issue...not interest rates.......the UW process was in effect a "dialing-for-demand" as in supply/demand....the UW process simply created too many potential buyers ....

There may be other low rate issues the Mr. Greenspan may need to deal with, but the housing bubble was a result of the credit underwriting process.....

Housing Solution: Crashing Home Prices or Cheaper Mortgages?

Why is that the most commonly discussed solution is a "negative"...lowering prices...or rates....??

Mortgage rates, currently in the mid-5% range, are really quite nice....prices are certainly lower than 2006....

Why is it that no one ever talks about raising income levels...????

Income drives purchasing power and value.

One of the little discussed apects of the credit expansion over the past 15 years is that employees were able to "improve" their lives through borrowing...and employers may have gotten a hall pass on wage growth....

It will be interesting to see how employee / employer salary discussions work out in the future....