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Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

August Pending Home Sales Up. It's the last chance to get your hands on the $8,000 First Time homebuyers encentive. September may by up also. The number to pay attention to will be October, that is where the rubber meets the road. The artificial stimulus to buy a home will be gone then let's see where the marget will go.

What Will Happen When Homebuyer Tax Credit Expires?

This discussion earlier was talking about the "cost" to the Government. What cost? It's a tax credit. The "spending" the government is doing isn't spending. They are giving you YOUR MONEY back. You can argue semantics here but, the bottom line is govenment spending, real spending, is the issue. Our government has got to quit preaching to us to get our spending under control. WE have got to get them undercontrol.

The tax credit is a one time shot in the arm. As soon as this goes away the real market will get back in control. As a real estate professional in my market housing was so overpriced I had to laugh, shake my head and wonder what people were thinking. They were paying in some cases 50-75% more than the actual construstion cost (I am being conservative here also).

I am trying not to rant here so, I'll stop now

Unexpected Drop in Existing Home Sales

What the govenment has done for homes and home sales is nothing but a band aid. The tax credit is a one time shot. In addition, it benifits ONLY first time home buyers. It is serving to remove entry level housing from the market.

It is not creating jobs nor is it increasing consumer confidence. There might be more sales if the consumer felt comfortable that his/herjob was going to be there in 6-12 months. Right now the majority of the money is on the sidelines in vaults and T-bills.

We need job growth to get home sales, factory orders, and that 50' big screen.

Residential Construction Has Bottomed

Rose colored glasses

Retail Trends Show Consumers Still Want Values and Bargains

DANG! I should be an analist. Such a FIRM grip on the obvious. Hmmmmmmmmm "......CONSUMERS STILL WANT VALUES AND BARGAINS". I'm wondering when I stopped wanting those things.

We are all idiots for letting things get to the obvious state of overpricing and loss of value for goods, services and products during the last seven or eight years. America is fat and overweight we need to go on the "no money" diet. Reality....what a concept.

Housing Starts: 'Soaring' Is Overstatement

The appearence of a recovery doth not a recovery make. I've had conversations with many of my banker friends, thye continue to pull back from the idea of making new deals. This "recovery" can't be fueled by taxpayer money/investment. Business investment is where it's at jobs first, then recovery.

Rewriting the Homebuilding Handbook

This is a lesson almost on Biblical scale about greed and reaching out for more than we need. I'm hoping that this is a resetting of priorities in the country.

This "recession" is deep. We aren't just going to jump out of it. We are going to be living in smaller homes with fewer frills and less land. We are going to get back to traditional neighborhoods. The housing will be more like what we saw in the '30s and '40s before the post WWII boom.

Downsizing won't be a trend for the near to distant future, it will be a need.

Expecting Improved Housing Starts

Well, there you go. It's the 20th of May and we know the real story, "Housing Starts at the LOWEST Point on RECORD". If you are in the business, you knew this already. It's just ugly out there.

How about an $8,000.00 tax credit for move-up home buyers? Why discriminate? Is that "fair housing". Many of the 1st time homebuyers we see want to use the credit as equity. Get real. Offer the insentive to those who can perform.