There will be a housing bailout when Hell freezes over........Opps!... Nevermind.

Hell clearly has indeed frozen over

Get ready for the Housing gambler bailout!

House Flippers, Wanna-be real estate kings, Illegal immigrants, and sub prime borrowers who can't pay a credit card bill on time but were given a 1/2 million dollar mortgage nonetheless REJOICE!

Your bad credit, irresponsible behavior, and reckless financial decisions are about to be rewarded!

During the real estate boom billions of dollars in toxic mortgages were made to people with undocumented incomes, and abysmal credit scores with complete disregard to any lending standards.

Recently, the consequences of these idiotic lending practices have been felt by all as foreclosure rates have soared. Banks and hedge funds are losing massive amounts of money, and property values are going down faster than a cheerleader on prom night.

Instead of letting the market play itself out, and letting the bad boys and girls get spanked, the fed is trying to bail out these fools at the expense of the rest of us who actually did things the right way.

... You know... Got a mortgage based on our income, paid our bills on time, had money for a down payment, and actually bought the house to live in, not flip for a quick profit.

The Moral Hazard ramifications of this situation are astounding. People who are not punished for their bad choices will continue to make them in the future, people who did things the right way and see the ignorant and greedy get rewarded for their actions will grow angry, and may be less likely to do things the right way in the future knowing that they will get a far greater reward by being irresponsible.

Read the full story here:

Paulson's mortgage bailout
and
Lenders discuss freeze on intro rates

_________________________________________________________________

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and federal banking regulators are working out the details of a plan to extend lower, introductory interest rates on home loans before they reset at higher levels...

There are an estimated 2.3 million borrowers with poor credit records whose home loans are projected to reset at higher rates through the end of next year. There are fears many of those loans risk default, worsening the nation's soaring foreclosure rate....

Last week, John M. Reich, director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, the federal regulator of the nation's savings and loans, came up with a more modest proposal in which borrowers would get a three-year extension of low initial "teaser" mortgage rates. That plan,would be funded from surpluses in mortgage-backed securities.

______________________________________________________________

So basically to sum up the plan, the borrowers with horrible credit who did not deserve the home in the first place, get to have the low teaser rate locked in for years.

The responsible who got fixed conventional mortgages on good credit, receive no such advantage. The responsible get punished, while the irresponsible get rewarded.

I guess Hell truly has frozen over.

Oversupply of homes for sale reaches 22 year high

Source

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Sales of existing homes fell for an eighth straight month in October even as more properties came on the U.S. housing market, driving the supply of homes up for sale to the highest level in 22 years, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday.

The following facts and figures are staggering...

• The inventory of unsold homes rose by 1.9% to 4.45 million, representing a 10.8-month supply, the highest in at least eight years.

• For single-family homes alone, the inventory of 10.5 months is the highest since July 1985.

• Sales are down 20.7% in the past year and are down 31% from the peak of 7.21 million two years ago.

• The median sales price fell 5.1% in the past year to $207,800. That's the largest year-over-year price decline ever recorded.

This is the part that makes me giggle like a school girl:

As bleak as the data are, the fundamentals of the market don't support a further decline in sales, according to NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun, who said low mortgage rates and job growth should keep sales from falling. While the subprime mortgage market has disappeared, the Federal Housing Administration is picking up its lending.

"I don't anticipate any further major sales declines," Yun said.

Someone needs to give Yun a lesson in supply and demand. Heres one for starters: when you have a record amount of supply, and virtually no demand, prices are going to continue to fall. period.

Never trust a Realtor!

Fed indicates they plan to Destroy the Dollar further.

NEW YORK — The stock market surged Wednesday for a second consecutive session after a top-ranking Federal Reserve official indicated that policymakers could be amenable to lowering short-term interest rates further.

In a speech in New York, Fed Vice Chairman Donald Kohn said the central bank would remain "flexible" and would "act as needed" to prevent the housing crisis and credit crunch from damaging the economy.

After a string of recent comments from Fed officials that they would stand pat, investors embraced Kohn's remarks as a sign that policymakers were reassessing recent signs of economic softness and could cut rates at their Dec. 11 meeting. That would be the third consecutive Fed reduction, after cuts Sept. 18 and Oct. 31.

Source

This is just more pandering to wall street. It is disgusting that the Fed will do anything to save the stock market at the expense of the dollar. How far will they allow the dollar to fall and inflation to rage before something is done?


Perhaps the conspiracy theorist are correct. Won't Americans be much more willing to accept the NAU, and the "Amero" (the proposed new currency between USA, Canada, & Mexico) if the dollar is in rubble.

The Amero and the NAU will be looked at like a savior.

Step 1) Destroy the US Dollar so that the Canadian looney has more value. (Complete)
Step 2) Continue to erode the currency further creating rampant inflation and hardship
Step 3) Propose the NAU and Amero as a solution to the economic disaster
Step 4) Americans gladly hand over sovereignty in order to afford gasoline again
Step 5) Success

Wake up America!

Ron Paul exposes the NAU and the CFR.

The question designed to make him look conspiracy theorist back fired and Americans are waking up to the fact that their national sovereignty is under threat.


The new currency for the North American union. "The Amero"



Proposed Nafta Superhighway.

CNN YouTube Debate was a complete Disgrace

You can read my previous article about the MSM bias and corruption regarding elections here.

This debate was a complete disgrace. Ron Paul received absolutely no time to talk and the two questions he did receive were from people out to discredit him and make him look like wacko.

Question 1: Do you believe in the Conspiracy theory regarding the North American Union?

Ron Paul Schools this Douche Bag

Question 2: Ron Paul, You know you will never win the election, Will you run as a third party candidate?




What I just witnessed was completely shameful, and I am completely convinced that those with power are truly afraid of Paul, and afraid of the revolution that is brewing in America.

Gandhi said,“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

I am fighting mad now.

Detroit area Condo Market a complete Disaster

This article really hits home, you can read my condo story here.

The housing market in the Detroit area is bad. However, people here seem to have an irrational, almost mentally retarded thinking when it comes to the condo market. Although the condo market was booming 2 years ago, now, people here will not even consider a condo when the price is substantially below rent in the area for a similar unit.

It simply defies all logic and reasoning.

I can almost understand in big bubble markets like Miami or California, why buy a condo for 3,000 a month PTI when you can rent the same place for 1500. Very logical and understandable choice by the consumer to avoid that situation.

In SE Michigan for example, it is just downright dumb. Rent Cost 700 a month, Condo cost 550 a month to OWN. They will avoid buying like a plague.

They Psychology has turned so much, and so quickly here regarding real estate in general, but especially towards condo that it almost defies all reason.

I can only hope that eventually people here will realize that if a condos expenses; Mortgage, Taxes, And Association fee's actually cost less than equivalent rent in the area that it IS A GOOD BUYING OPPORTUNITY FOR THE LONG TERM.

I think with people fleeing the state of Michigan in droves, apartment complex drastically cutting prices and offering incentives fighting over the people who are left, the situation will not recover until 2010-2011.


Housing slump wallops condos

Segment is hardest hit as construction, sales plummet

Nathan Hurst / The Detroit News

BLOOMFIELD HILLS -- Metro Detroit's once-booming condo market has hit the skids.

From Downriver up through the northern reaches of Macomb County, condominium developers are slashing prices and offering incentives as they struggle to sell a glut of units languishing for sale even longer than single-family homes. Others are canceling projects that promised to bring fresh development geared toward young buyers into popular suburbs like Ferndale and Royal Oak.

The number of building permits issued for condos in Metro Detroit has plummeted from a 2004 peak of 6,377 to only 692 through October of this year, according to data compiled by the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments.

Caught in the middle of the condo slump is Anne Feighan, a 34-year-old strategic planner, who bought her two-bedroom, two-bath condominium at the SkyLofts Market Square building in Royal Oak for $310,000 in October 2005. Just two years later, it has lost $50,000 in value.

"I wish I would've rented," Feighan said. "It stinks. For me to try and sell right now would be insane. I know that no matter what happens, I'm going to lose money on it."

Condo sales in Metro Detroit are included with single-family house sales in monthly reports from Realcomp Inc. multiple listing service, so tracking the condo sales decline is difficult. But agents, developers and experts say the condo market has been especially hard hit in this housing slump, one of the worst in Michigan in decades.

"Condominiums tend to be much more volatile than any other part of the housing market," said Don Grimes, a senior economic research specialist at the University of Michigan.

"There's more turnover, and the projects tend to come together and fall apart much more quickly than traditional single-family developments."

Recent reports from the National Association of Realtors are pointing to another troubled year for the U.S. housing sector in 2008, with some uptick as the nation's credit crunch begins to ease. Locally, agents and analysts predict a similar situation.

But Grimes said a recovery in the residential condominium sector will follow that for single-family properties.

"Because of the volatility, the eventual gains could be more," he said. "But whatever recovery happens will be later."

Buyers offered incentives

Feighan in Royal Oak plans to wait the downturn out.

Engaged and house hunting, she's resigned herself to leasing her loft at a loss until the market picks back up.

"I'd rather bleed slowly than gush blood all at once," she said. "Every other weekend, there's fire sales on these condos. The builders are desperately trying to get rid of them, and I just can't compete."

For those developers in the condo game, their troubles can be seen in the signs touting incentives for buyers and the empty lots awaiting new construction.

On Hickory Glen Drive in one of Bloomfield Hills' earliest condominium developments, "For Sale" signs are as prevalent as the meticulously manicured lawns and shrubberies.

The going prices on some of the units have fallen below what previous owners sold them for back in the early 1990s.

Jane Figueiredo, who spent much of this year competing with more than 40 other sellers in the nearby Adams Woods subdivision to get rid of her property, upgraded the home, dropped her price and even offered the property for trade.

After nearly a year on the market, she finally got a break-even deal.

But she's sworn off any future Metro Detroit condo buying.

"It was hell," she said of the property's sale. "Never again."

Agents for Admiral Homes, one of Macomb County's largest builders of residential condos, are hoping slashed prices and $10,000-off coupons offered on its Web site will be enough to sell what's been sitting on the market for months in its developments in Chesterfield and Shelby townships.

Downriver, agents are pitching incentives such as six months free of mortgage payments to boost the appeal of townhouses sitting unsold for several years.

Developers shelve projects

Elsewhere, developers have shelved much-hyped projects.

Jason Lewiston, co-developer of the Woodward Ave. Lofts project, planned it for a site along Woodward in Ferndale south of Nine Mile.

But earlier this month, he pulled the plug after presales of the units, which would have cost from just under $200,000 to more than $700,000, went much slower than expected.

In Southfield, the mid-rise luxury 10 Ten project slated to go up on 10 Mile has been canceled as well.

Agents and condominium owners said that they hoped the pullback on new projects would help the condo supply fall more in line with demand.

Cheryl Standard, a 62-year-old Birmingham retiree, said she yanked her two-bedroom condo off the market this summer after people kept passing it up in favor of newer units. She's hoping to move to Florida to be closer to her two sisters, but said she'll have to wait to avoid a loss on her home.

"Who could blame them?" Standard said of the buyers she courted. "I couldn't compete with these developers giving away free cars and mortgage payments. But if there's less building, it'll give everyone time to adjust to a different market."

Standard was told by numerous agents that she would likely have to take a $30,000 or $40,000 hit on her unit to get it off her hands.

But because she bought it just a few years ago, that was more than she could handle.

"I've got friends who've had trouble selling their houses, and I can't help but think this is much more extreme," Standard said. "I feel like I've been locked into a bad situation that just keeps getting worse."

Grimes, the U-M economic researcher, said Standard's inclination is right.

"If you look at real estate losses across the country, condos have been right at the front of the trouble spots," he said. "You see it in a lot of overheated places like Florida, California and Nevada. But in Michigan there's been a continued predisposition toward single-family homes. So while demand for real estate is faltering in general, it's gotten worse in the condo sector."

Source

I have a sinking feeling the Stock Market is about to Crash.

Do you ever get one of those feelings that something catastrophic is about to happen? You have no concrete evidence, and you realize you could be completely incorrect, however you can't shake the feeling that something really bad is about to occur.

I think a perfect storm has been building; a clueless fed, a collapsing housing market, The big banks keeping losses off their books to fudge the numbers and ensure their Christmas bonus. The Countries GNP almost totally based on consumer spending, and worse yet, that spending is almost completely made possible by consumers racking up massive credit card debt. A currency that is rapidly becoming debased while jobs are being shipped over seas.

I just have that "gut feeling" that we are headed towards a meltdown of epic proportions and we are about to see a crash on the level of 87'.

Of course I could be wrong...but you know what they say,"Always trust your gut"

I took the Red Pill and my world will never be the same.

Please forgive me for coming across as paranoid or as some kind of a tin foil hat wearer who is convinced that everything around me is a conspiracy theory, I really do not consider myself to be one of those people.

However... After following Politics and the media coverage thereof for the past 2 months I cannot help but feel we are all clueless sheeple being fed the illusion of choice, democracy, and fair elections when the reality is we have no choice at all.

I have taken the red pill, I have woken up and seen the truth, I can never go back to the peaceful ignorance and bliss that I once knew. My world will never be the same.

I have realized that the presidential candidates are determined by the main stream media and by the people who run the biased and outdated political polls. There two outlets work in tandem to choose the two candidates well before a single vote has been cast.

The main stream media networks are in the entertainment business as well as the "news", so if a candidate has too big of a lead, and it gets boring, Obama starts gaining on Hillary or Romney starts gaining on Giuliani in the latest poll to spice things up, in the end though, the media has already told America that the presidential election will be Hillary vs Giuliani and they better learn to like it.

Evidence

• The debates give an uneven amount of "talk time" to the candidates bestowed with the title of front runners, before a single vote has been cast of course, by the media. This becomes a self fulfilling prophecy because the second tier candidates do not get an equal amount of time to share their positions with the American public and gain favor.

Do you believe its just a coincidence that the candidates who get more time to talk, receive a higher % in the polls? I don't.

• With the exception of the top 3 front runners of both parties, the other candidates are never mentioned and receive almost no coverage unless there is a major event.

I can't tell you how many times I watch the news to see constant coverage of Hillary and Obama, or Romney and Giuliani with no mention of anyone else. It is disturbing.

• Most people have never even heard of Ron Paul period, much less heard enough about him to make an educated decision to consider him for their vote.

It makes me extremely angry that a truly great man such as Ron Paul has not even been introduced to the American public yet. If it was not for me reading other housing and finance blogs on the Internet, I would never known who Ron Paul was either. I would be missing out on a great message and might never have noticed the growing phenomenon that was taking place all around me. The Internet, which remains unregulated, is the only place where "truth" is able to be discerned from the information that is carefully selected and spoon fed to us by the main stream media.

• The media is controlled by the one who has the purse strings. In the case of the major TV news outlets its the big corporations who give them ad revenue.

The bottom line is that what the American public believes to be true is influenced by the media. The media is controlled by the mighty dollar, and the dollar is controlled by the huge corporations that sponsor the news networks.

He who controls the money controls everything.

Hillary has received something like 80 million in campaign donations this year, unlike Paul who received his donations mostly in small sums from regular people, Hillary is indebted and owned by the corporations, lobbyist, and special interest groups that have funded her campaign. Is it any wonder that CNN covers her constantly when those same advertisers, corporations and pharmaceutical industries pay for airtime on their network. They want to see that their horse wins the race.

In short, I have seen the truth...


The truth is that you are a slave. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste, or touch. A prison for your mind.

You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.

Remember -- all I am offering is the truth, nothing more.

While you were eating Turkey, The Dollar was crashing to record Lows, Gold and Oil Soared to record Highs

That sucking sound you hear isn't the leftovers going down the garbage disposal, its the currency being debased.



The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of major currencies, hit an all-time low of 74.484, taking year-to-date losses to 11 percent. In real terms the dollar lost about 0.8% in one day.




Gold came close to $826 an ounce, making a run back toward a recent 28-year high.






U.S. crude oil for January delivery settled at a record $98.18 a barrel, up 89 cents, or almost 1 percent, after heating oil futures hit an intraday record on weekend forecasts of cold weather in the U.S. Northeast.


Source: Reuters


The question remains; Will Bernanke continue to cut interest rates in a futile attempt to stave off the inevitable recession? If another rate cut is in store, his actions will continue to destroy the dollar, and as a consequence, the standard of living of everyday Americans.

Happy Thanksgiving from Housing Fear

Enjoy the feast, however, it may be best to not talk about the housing market!

Starbucks a victim of the Housing Crash?

Now that everyones home equity is vanishing, Inflation is skyrocketing, and a significant amount of your disposable income is going to gasoline. Will you still be buying a $5.00 cup of coffee from Starbucks?

If you're my Fiance', the answer of course is YES!

However, I think its safe to assume that rational, sensible, regular Americans will be cutting back spending. (I hope she doesn't read my blog) ;)

Housing Fear champion Peter Schiff chimes in on this subject on Cavuto;

How does Inflation occur?

When interest rates are low banks have a tendency to over-lend and extend credit very easily, even to high risk borrowers, this increases the money supply in the economy which becomes inflationary. This has basically the same effect as if the Federal Reserve suddenly started printing and flooding the market with freshly minted 100 dollar bills.

The increase in the money supply reduces the purchasing power of the dollar because there are now more dollars chasing fewer goods and services, this causes a rise in prices of goods, thus you have inflation.

Too much money in the economy causes the dollar itself to lo value and it begins to grow more and more worthless. To restore the purchasing power of the dollar, and reduce inflation, the amount of money in the economy has to be reduced which means a recession.

People generally view a recession as a bad thing, but in fact it is healthy for the economy and America is in a desperate need of a recession. Unfortunately Bernanke keeps cutting rates to stave off the inevitable recession but instead his actions are causing rampant inflation and dollar destruction.

A boom is when the money supply increases and a recession is when the money supply decreases. The greater the monetary expansion, the more severe will be the required monetary contraction.

Boom and Bust is capitalism's summer and winter.... THE BIGGER THE BOOM, THE BIGGER THE BUST!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to our federal reserve system we are subjected to a never ending merry-go-round of boom and bust cycles. A boom regardless of how big it is or how long it lasts will eventually disappear and the economy will go back to where it was prior to the boom.

It is healthy for the economy to have a house price collapse and undergo a recession. So why is Bernanke behaving in such a reckless and irresponsible manner?

We need to vote Ron Paul in 2008 to abolish the federal reserve and end the Boom-Bust Cycle, and economic bubbles for good.

The Ben Bernanke Song

This is a great tribute to the worst federal reserve chairman in history.

RON PAUL 300 Parody

Will you appeal your Property Tax assessment this year?

During the inflation of the bubble, local assessors were quick to inflate property taxes and corresponding revenue to pad the government coffers with money based off illusionary gains in real estate wealth.

Now that the party is over, something tells me that local counties won't be quite as quick or generous with the tax reductions, based on assessed value, during the bust as they were with raising them during the boom.

Millions of Americans will be receiving property tax bills in the next 2-3 months that will be grossly inflated and not reflecting the true equalized value of their house. There is a board of review held after the assessments are mailed where property owners can argue the taxable value.

I know that this winter I will be at my local review board, armed with a list of comparable sales, real estate listings, and other evidence that my house is now worth atleast 10% less than it was last year. I will be appealing the assessed value of my home. If I am successful, that of course means 10% less revenue for the county.

Will the township respond by raising mileage rates in an attempt to compensate for lost income due to crashing housing prices?

The housing bubble has far reaching ramifications, and this crisis will be felt by everyone come tax time.

Bears make money, Bulls make money, Pigs get Slaughtered

After reading the previous article I posted a second time, I realized I had overlooked this gem...

Kurt Freck didn't need to see the latest numbers to know that the housing market is getting worse.

He's had the Anaheim Hills home he bought in 2003 on the market for nearly a year and has lowered the price by $100,000 -- a 12% discount from his original asking price of $849,000.

"The good thing is that I paid less than that, but I have definitely lost equity," Freck said. He bought the house for less than $500,000 four years ago.

Freck's story is becoming more common as fewer people have been willing to buy a house at current prices.

Is this guy for real??? Please tell me this is a joke!

The guy paid $500,000 for his house in 2003, and in 2006 he lists it for $849,000 believing he deserves to make a $349,000 profit for residing in the house for 3 years. After no interest in the home for a year he decides to be a real trooper and cut the price by 100K and now only demands a mere $249,000 profit.

FRECK YOU!

If you think the market is bad now, wait until 2009 when your place is worth 450K and you really "LOSE" money. You had your chance to profit from the bubble and you blew it because you got greedy.

Remember Kurt, Greedy Pigs get Slaughtered in the end.

Southern California Home prices drop back to 2005 Levels.

Median Price in Southern California is now down 8% from October 2006.

Bernanke's scheme to save the real estate market by destroying the dollar isn't working out as well as he planned. Toxic loans with no lending standards are not coming back to save the day no matter how low the fed funds rate goes.

Exotic financing was the only way most people could afford to pay $600,000 for a "starter home" in California and without that necessary component to keep the Ponzi scheme alive house prices naturally have to continue to drop in order to reach affordability levels that compare with average income.

Check out the full article here.


I think the amusement parks should create a new roller coaster for 2008 and name it simply, "Housing Bubble". The rides frame will be built to match the housing price graph from 2001 to 2008. I bet it will be a lot more fun riding it down then simply watching your equity vanish on paper.

Ron Paul Speaks for me

I know many of you come to this blog for housing and economic news, and I am sure you all have vastly different political views. I really do apologize if I offend anyone talking about politics, however, I feel that the United States has lost its way, and the leaders in government and the central bank share a lot of the blame for the economic disaster that the country is facing. You simply cannot talk about the problem without acknowledging the cause of it.

The reason why I post so many Ron Paul video's like the one above is because it goes beyond politics. People are so passionate and so fired up about Ron Paul because he gives back hope to so many people who feel disenfranchised by the political system. People who have to choose the lesser or two evils on election day, or worse, get so disgusted they don't exercise their right to vote at all.

It is hard to watch some of these video's on youtube without getting emotional. This one is about the man who gives all those disillusioned people a voice.

Ron Paul speaks for me.