Pent up demand

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106 Comments

    • Tue Mar 18th 09:17 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      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.
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    • Tue Mar 18th 08:17 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      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.
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    • Tue Mar 18th 08:11 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      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?
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    • Tue Mar 18th 08:00 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      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.
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    • Tue Mar 18th 07:57 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      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.
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    • Mon Mar 17th 10:20 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      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.
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    • Mon Mar 17th 09:56 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      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.
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    • Mon Mar 17th 09:46 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      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.
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    • Sun Mar 16th 22:27 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      A Government Rental Agency to Mop Up the Foreclosures
      Ah, you sound like a guy who never heard of a "government solution" that you didn't like. No thanks.

      You're right that the traditional foreclosure model is not going to cut it anymore. However, I am certain that the market will innovate in short order. Versus this hair-brained scheme to create another bureaucracy that will never ever never die.
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    • Fri Mar 14th 11:44 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Subprime Write-Downs More Than 50% Done? Write-Ups Coming Next?
      Tony Soprano has been all over this site pumping stocks. Yeah, a negative consensus is a buy signal - except when it isn't.

      This thing has been spun from day one as a subprime problem. That is what they are feeding the masses. As freedomrenter says, who cares if they wrote the subprime down to zero. Only after the Alt-A, option-ARM, and HELOC losses been counted will I think about becoming a buyer. In the meantime I stay in cash and watch my insurance policy (commodities) pay off, and keep my powder dry.
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    • Tue Mar 11th 16:46 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Spitzer: Self-Destruction
      jaytrade, if this was just an affair I could agree with you. But paying for it is illegal. Not that it makes any difference, but Spitzer sure as hell knew it was illegal. He has to go, and I hope he faces a criminal charge for it as well. This is a "government of laws not government of men" thing.
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    • Tue Mar 11th 16:25 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Spitzer: Self-Destruction
      Forget the sex. Dear old Eliot is a career politician. How is he able to afford to drop 5 grand on a prostitute?

      So, zenalgorithm, Spitzer discovered too late in life that he'd really rather screw high class pros instead of being the devoted family man he marketed to the voting public? How tragic for him.
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    • Tue Mar 11th 11:24 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Bill Gross Calls for More Bailouts, Profits from Thornburg's Misfortune
      Typical limousine liberal. Act like this is a populist issue, and that the issue is "keeping people in their homes", when the issue is propping up the value of collateral on the bankers' books.
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    • Fri Mar 7th 11:07 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Here's Why the Fed Has No Credibility
      I think he's saying the Fed doth protest too much against the accusations that they are chasing the news feed. In this case they won't alter the FFT; they will inflate the old-fashioned way. Print money and then distribute via the TAF.
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    • Thu Mar 6th 07:54 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      The Case for Foreclosure: Law of Conservation of Homes
      This article is spot on. I believe the reason for the strong undercurrent of panic about housing prices is that so many boomers have not prepared properly for retirement. Why bother, when they could always count on cashing out their house?

      Any "solution" that props up home prices comes directly at the expense of people like myself, who have young families and would like to own a home. I refused to make myself a debt slave to buy an overpriced crackerbox. From my point of view, the insanity is finally ending and I look forward to getting a chance at being a homeowner.
      View article »
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