LeeCarlson

S&P/Case-Shiller Shows Housing Continues To Worsen

In my view, the real estate market ,... after the stock market crash,....became the new hot place to put your money. And most investors have a really dumb mind set,...they don't check out the investments they are making.
Being a Realtor for 26 years, I personally would not buy a house or condo at this time because it has a MINUS return on investment !!
I have had the recent experience of selling a condo at what I thought was a high price considering it's condition, only to find out the day after the closing, it was back in the MLS, by another broker at a MUCH HIGHER price. Fortunately, after being on the market for several months, the seller reduced the price considerably and sold it to another investor, (AT A LOSS !) and the new investor, spent a ton of money rehabbing the place, only to find that it was not salable at the new higher price. ! Brilliant thinking by these investors !!!
Way too many investors have a "herd" mentality !... "If 'Mr. Jones' did it and made money, then I'll do the same thing !",... No real market analysis, no looking at what else is on the market, no looking at recent sales, etc. so in fact it bacame the blind leading the blind.
Unfortunately, all this buying and reselling pulled up the market prices so fast that NON-Investors, had to pay prices for homes that were really overpriced in the first place. !!!
Sad to say it but Realtors participated in this insanity because it was another commission ! If they gave good advice to an investor, and the investor didn't like it, there are hundreds more Realtors out there who would let the investor go thru with a very high purchase price. So, who is to blame ,...It's just really investors who didn't get educated about the market !!! When you are playing with big bucks, you must become aware of the risks !!
LC, Clearwater

Eleven Good Points On Residential Real Estate

Hi SJDiii,..I totally agree with your assessment of the market. I too sell in Fl, primarily in the Clearwater area, and it is a lot worse in Fl than in most states. We were invaded by "investors" who made really bad decisions and are now trying to just get their money back, and in addition, everyone and his brother suddenly became a mortgage broker, and lenders went along, until the investors found thet they couldn't find a tenant and couldn't sell, The newspapers are full of Auctions and Forclosure sales and the end of the downturn isn't in sight ! Even with prices fropping, there are no sales ! ...You are right about NAR, a real waste of money we have to pay those guys to give out bad advice and to continually hear them say things aren't so bad.!!! They need to learn how to just "tell the truth !

Fed Beige Book's Benign Economic Picture Contradicts Real Estate Reality

Paul is right to some extent,..the treasury is flooding the world with bonds that are worth less each day, and trade deficits are enormous and have been for some time.
What it means is that the weaker dollar is forcing the oil producers to start to set prices by the Euro, not the dollar because the dollar is becoming worthless. This is already happening ! When the Euro first came out, it was pegged to the dollar and now the Euro is worth about 30 pct. more than the dollar.
The last few Presidents have listened to very bad advice. They agreed to Free Trade,..instead of Fair Trade. We cannot continue to import everything we need and pay with dollars that are worth less every day. That means imports are getting more and more expensive but our brilliant Fed. Reserve thinks this can go on forever !
On the plus side,..when the dollar gets cheap enough, jobs will come back to this country. This is one reason that oil is more expensive ! The dollar isn't worth much anymore and so it is being sold by a different standard, EURO's !
The Fed. thinks all they have to do is print more money to solve the problem but any first year student of Economics will tell you this cannot last long before the dollar won't buy anything from overseas and things purchased from this country are going to get less and less expensive for foreigners. !!
This country's products will become cheap again,..to foreigners, and they will be coming here for vacations , Disneyland, and winterhomes ! What we really need is a whole new bunch of people on the Fed. Reserve who really understand economics ! LC