From the AP:
Northeast posts 20 pct February home sales drop
Home sales in the Northeast tumbled nearly 20 percent in February from last year, the worst region in the country, as the recession and layoffs made buyers cautious, the National Association of Realtors said Monday.
The median sales price in the Northeast fell under 5 percent year-over-year to $251,200.
Nationally, sales of existing homes fell 10.3 percent in February from a year ago, without adjusting for seasonal factors. The U.S. median sales price slid almost 16 percent to $165,400.
…
Home sales in seven major Northeast cities recorded double-digit declines in February, while median prices continue to fall across the region, according to The Associated Press-Re/Max Monthly Housing Report, also released Monday.The report analyzed sales transactions in nine Northeast metropolitan statistical areas filed by all real estate agents, regardless of company affiliation.
Pittsburgh sales fell the most in the region, plunging nearly 44 percent in February from the year before. The median price there, however, only dipped 1.4 percent to $109,450, the best showing in the Northeast. Inventory fell by more than 23 percent year-over-year.
…
The pink slips on Wall Street haven’t discouraged buyers from shopping around, said John Allegro, a real estate agent with ERA Caputo Realty in New Hyde Park, N.Y.“Open house attendance is up. Activity has perked up a little,” he said.
But few are pulling the trigger yet, according to AP-Re/Max’s data. Home sales in the suburban counties surrounding New York City – Suffolk, Nassau and Westchester counties – look like the stock market. Sales were off by 33 percent in February and the median price fell more than 13 percent to $370,000. The supply of unsold homes also grew by nearly 5 percent, the only area in the Northeast to show an increase.
Nearby in Passaic, N.J., home to many Manhattan commuters, February sales fell 23 percent, while prices dropped nearly 13 percent from a year ago to $311,000.
Frist
“Global recession stalls skyscraper construction”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090323/ts_nm/us_financial_skyscrapers
When’s the re market going to tank and become affordable?
What’s going to happen first, the re market in nj tanks, or Timmay grows his first chest hair?
Carried up from the old thread.
Playboy Enterprises Closing NYC Offices, 100 Laid-Off
Playboy Enterprises is closing its Manhattan office and laying off employees as it struggles with falling advertising revenue and a gloomy economic climate.
Company spokeswoman Martha Lindeman says Playboy employed about 100 people at the Fifth Avenue office in midtown. A majority of those jobs will be lost when the office is expected to close May 1.
Lindeman says some employees received letters notifying them that their jobs were eliminated. Others were given the chance to transfer to Chicago.
The Manhattan office is primarily involved in publishing and licensing work.
Playboy announced in February on a conference call that it would save $5 million annually by closing the office.
I was forced to post this again because the damn string moved up. I want to be damn sure that Wen Jiabao get this damn message:
I’ve had it with the damn Chinese. You know, they just partially arrived at a market economy while clinging to their damn communism and they have the damn nerve to suggest a new damn reserve currency. These punks want to say they’re worried about their damn money.
Let me give you a direct newsflash, Wen Jiabao. DON’T YOU DARE THREATEN AMERICA. You want to talk some shlt huh? Guess what, we ain’t hearing it. Your damn money is safe and we just need to use it for a bit. You weren’t doing a damn thing with it anyway, so I don’t know what the hell you’re worried about any damn way. What the hell were you gonna do with it? Invest in your commie buddy’s damn ruble?
STFU and be happy you have some dollar based stuff to invest in. If you commies keep this shlt up, we’ll see to it that Taiwan is free.
yome says:
March 23, 2009 at 6:12 pm
China calls for new reserve currency
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7851925a-17a2-11de-8c9d-0000779fd2ac.html
Does that mean they will accept devalued dollar at face value?
(100) Clot (prior thread)
I expect them to try. I really do. I even implied that I expected it. But they are aware that they’d be kissing off an overcollateralized loan from borrowers in the demographic that they want. And if they want to do that, fine, I’ll name names and move on to a less sleazy outlet. Hasn’t really been any sweat off my back thus far.
plume (6)-
It’s not you or your collateral. The rate doesn’t exist.
Unless, that is, they want to use your loan as a loss leader.
https://self-evident.org/?p=502
The Treasury helpfully provides an example, which I reproduce here:
Step 1: If a bank has a pool of residential mortgages with $100 face value that it is seeking to divest, the bank would approach the FDIC.
Step 2: The FDIC would determine, according to the above process, that they would be willing to leverage the pool at a 6-to-1 debt-to-equity ratio.
Step 3: The pool would then be auctioned by the FDIC, with several private sector bidders submitting bids. The highest bid from the private sector – in this example, $84 – would be the winner and would form a Public-Private Investment Fund to purchase the pool of mortgages.
Step 4: Of this $84 purchase price, the FDIC would provide guarantees for $72 of financing, leaving $12 of equity.
Step 5: The Treasury would then provide 50% of the equity funding required on a side-by-side basis with the investor. In this example, Treasury would invest approximately $6, with the private investor contributing $6.
Step 6: The private investor would then manage the servicing of the asset pool and the timing of its disposition on an ongoing basis – using asset managers approved and subject to oversight by the FDIC.
Let’s flesh this out by repeating it 100 times. So say a bank has 100 of these $100 loan pools. And just by way of example, suppose half of them are actually worth $100 and half of them are actually worth zero, and nobody knows which are which. (These numbers are made up but the principle is sound. Nobody knows what the assets are really worth because it depends on future events, like who actually defaults on their mortgages.)
Thus, on average the pools are worth $50 each and the true value of all 100 pools is $5000.
The FDIC provides 6:1 leverage to purchase each pool, and some investor (e.g., a private equity firm) takes them up on it, bidding $84 apiece. Between the FDIC leverage and the Treasury matching funds, the private equity firm thus offers $8400 for all 100 pools but only puts in $600 of its own money.
Half of the pools wind up worthless, so the investor loses $300 total on those. But the other half wind up worth $100 each for a $16 profit. $16 times 50 pools equals $800 total profit which is split 1:1 with the Treasury. So the investor gains $400 on these winning pools. A $400 gain plus a $300 loss equals a $100 net gain, so the investor risked $600 to make $100, a tidy 16.7% return.
The bank unloaded assets worth $5000 for $8400. So the private investor gained $100, the Treasury gained $100, and the bank gained $3400. Somebody must therefore have lost $3600…
…and that would be the FDIC, who was so foolish as to offer 6:1 leverage to purchase assets with a 50% chance of being worthless. But no worries. As long as the FDIC has more expertise in valuing toxic assets than the entire private equity and banking worlds combined, there is no way they could be taken to the cleaners like this. What could possibly go wrong?
WFC, MET…all the big mortgage lenders have been playing bait-and-switch since last Friday morning. That’s how long that the feel-good rate Wednesday’s Fed action brought on lasted before dissipating into thin air.
All the banks now know they’re screwed, because a widely-publicized and anticipated rate has now gone the wrong way on them…with thousands of potential borrowers who will walk when they find out what’s really going on.
The Fed has now unwittingly started the biggest shell game ever played.
From NJBIZ:
N.J. partner says WolfBlock firm will disband
The partners of WolfBlock LLP, a Philadelphia law firm with more than 67 lawyers in Roseland and Cherry Hill, voted today to disband, according to a managing partner in its Roseland location.
“The slowdown in the [overall] firm’s core real estate transaction practice and the frozen credit markets, as well as concerns over partner departures, contributed to the decision,” John Fanburg, managing partner, said this afternoon. “Among other concerns was the fact that our line of credit with Wachovia is coming up for renewal on March 31, and the terms the bank offered were not attractive.”
…
WolfBlock will continue its practice “for several months” while clients, employees and creditors sort things out, according to a statement the firm released this afternoon.
From the Daily Record:
Dover leads Morris in foreclosures
The small town of Dover has the highest number of foreclosure sale listings compared to other Morris County towns, county records show.
The Morris County Sheriff’s Office scheduled — but has not necessarily completed — 42 foreclosure sales in Dover for the six-month period from Dec. 4, 2008, to May 31, 2009.
Countywide, 271 foreclosure sales were listed in that period; Dover registered 15.5 percent of the total. Many of the sales are open because their court dates have not been reached.
The total in Dover, which has 18,000 residents, is nearly twice that of Mount Olive, which has 25,000 residents and 24 foreclosure sales listed, the second-highest number in the county; Roxbury, with 24,000 residents and 22 homes listed, has the third-highest number.
While Dover saw 42 foreclosure sales listed in recent months, last year the town saw that same number filed in 11 months, including 25 sales that concluded when the home was purchased for $100 by the bank that originated the mortgage.
…
In other Morris towns, most homes on the foreclosure sale lists are in areas where many houses are typically smaller and less expensive than in other parts of town. The bulk of the Mount Olive homes on the list, for example, are in the Budd Lake section, and most Jefferson homes on the list are in the Lake Hopatcong area. Dover’s are spread throughout town with a higher concentration on the south side, which has more houses that are larger and newer than some other parts of town.
vic (8)-
I bet people who are chronic glue sniffers can come up with better stuff than this.
From the Jersey Journal:
Hudson County’s unemployment rate higher than NJ, nation
When Boris Arce of Union City lost his job last month, he joined a growing number of Hudson County residents: in 2008, 9,400 more people became unemployed in the county, a number nearly equal to the entire population of Guttenberg.
“The problem is that when Wall Street sneezes, Hudson County catches as cold,” said Hudson County Spokesman Jim Kennelly.
According to Keith Davis, executive director of Jersey City’s Employment and Training Program, the county’s financial sector cut 8 percent of its jobs.
“That’s a lot of professional individuals who have worked for their whole lifetime,” he said.
#8 Victorian
What a once-in-a-lifetime offer!
Maybe homeowners can HELOC to get in on this sweet deal!
Clot –
Actually, it is brilliant in its complexity of swindle. Joe6P will never be able to figure out how he has been had. The only hope is that people like Krugman are completely against it. But it is a slim hope, educated folks @ my workplace are completely clueless as to how this works but are happy that the stock market likes it.
Those commies in China really make my blood boil. They don’t want to buy our damn stuff and run up a huge trade deficit and then want to threaten us by complaining about our currency.
Their stunt of running up a huge trade deficit has historical precedent. They did this with the damn British and then insisted that they only wanted to get paid in damn silver and damn near drained the damn metal out of Britain. The only reason this stopped was due to their significant percentage of the population getting addicted to opium. I’ll skip the details about how this happened because it’s not important, but let’s just say that their damn greed was their downfall.
And people call this soc!alism. Well, there is some redistribution going on, it is our wealth being redistributed to the bankers.
Dark times for our country. The govt is desperately trying to keep the credit fueled growth model going. Well, a 30 year cycle is coming to an end and it cannot be stopped. One last puff of the magic dragon.
Dark Days??? Hell, the market was up damn near 7% today. Give me some more dark days like that and I’ll be happier than a pig in shlt. The days of me getting another Heloc have just come closer.
Victorian says:
March 23, 2009 at 10:22 pm
And people call this soc!alism. Well, there is some redistribution going on, it is our wealth being redistributed to the bankers.
Dark times for our country. The govt is desperately trying to keep the credit fueled growth model going. Well, a 30 year cycle is coming to an end and it cannot be stopped. One last puff of the magic dragon.
kettle1 says:
March 23, 2009 at 8:42 pm
“This is a historic moment — the start of debasement of the world’s reserve currency,” wrote Alan Ruskin, head of international currency strategy in North America at RBS Greenwich Capital Markets Inc. in Greenwich, Connecticut. “It feels to many participants that in the grand sweep of history we are witnessing the end of ‘Rome’ on the Potomac.”
ket: Greenwich CT is the 21st century Asbury Park….
Did anyone cath the video of the FedEx plane crashing in Japan? It was on a stardy downward trend, it hit, bounced up, bounced down, then came to a firey end. Could be a simile for the current market. Enjoy the bounce.
Chifi,
And they don’t even get Bruce.
I need a drink…
sl
tard (16)-
Keep going. I’m dying to hear your revisionist spin on the Opium Wars.
tard (18)-
HELOC? Last I heard, a couple of good stock market days don’t replace vanished real estate equity.
Come back when you’ve figured out a way to refi negative equity.
Chi (19)-
“Greenwich CT is the 21st century Asbury Park….”
Will I be able to identify the h00kers by their Lily Pulitzer dresses and prep school pearls?
Grim/Clot/RE pros:
If you are in negotiations with a seller, are your offers/counters confidential? At what point are they not?
Thx
sl (22)-
In for one, in for seven.
Rev (26)-
Confidential? As in, the law requires them to be confidential?
No.
If you’re lowballing, expect that your offer is being shopped around…to the point of being posted on the Jumbotron at Devils’ games.
Krugman on Charlie Rose right now and in rare form. Saying the Geithner plan is Paulson plan wearing fake sunglasses and moving furniture around.
Did somebody poison sas’ French fries?
@28, Got it. Thanks.
Got burned beating a seller down to near a ~2004 price (no offers for a year), and 2 days after hitting a stalemate, it’s under contract for ~$5K more than we were pitching… Asked my realtor how they arrived at that exact number, and he believed the sellers arranged it with another interested party out of spite.
Thanks for the info.
clot, 27
yeah, I can only deal with about 2 right now…
…you know about it.
Story starts as follows:
“You know my family, right?”
sl
Joe Nocera hammering banks on asset valuation by banks and drawing comparison to Japan.
Rev (26)-
Don’t worry. In fact, if you really want to freak the seller out, invite him to shop your offer around. Tell him you’re so sure you’ve got the best offer he’ll ever see that you’re happy to lose to any dope who decides to outgun you.
Shore, 29
moving furniture around.
you mean, like deckchairs? :)
sl
Rev (31)-
That Realtor told you a bullshit story.
Spite? They shopped your offer. All the spite that seller could muster didn’t make the buyer pull the trigger.
The buyer simply wanted to buy, and they showed him your offer as the number to beat.
sl (32)-
You should really start working on increasing your capacity for alcohol.
Clot-
Does anyone go to Devils games?
sl (35)-
I sorta think of the people who work at Treasury as furniture.
clot 39
yeah, dumb as a two by four, and almost as splintered.
sl
d2b (38)-
Only people who get free tickets.
When I lived in LA, you could get free Raiders tickets at grocery stores on Fridays before home games.
Every NFL game I saw in LA was for free.
Too bad the gang battles outside the Coliseum were more entertaining than the games.
Clot, @36
I think you’re right. I just thought they couldn’t do that b/c I’ve asked about other peoples offers, and my realtor says they won’t say — right through atty review. He’d say “it was in the low 400s, so maybe if we offer ~440… I guess that’s why I never understand bidding wars I’d hear about, since how could you engage in one if you didn’t know the other guys offer?
Sorry if I sound like a noob.. This is my fist home buy, and in light of the fact that they can and do shop offers around, I would have altered my strategy. I guess my realtor should be answering these questions, and why I’m shopping blind here.
Well, throw enough seeds out there, something’s bound to sprout. I think I got cocky with a 50% DP, and figured “what are the odds of another strong offer coming along at the same time?” Apparently better than I thought. (well, we’ll see if it gets through closing)
In the mean time, I’ve given up touring the homes that flippers thought maintained themselves and guaranteed a profit at sale. I feel like I’m banging my head against a wall. I’m now looking into land and “turn-key” new constructions.. I’m sure this will result in some more head banging, but at least the home will be new and I can understand the price I pay.
Thanks again for the insight.
Clot and Revelations…
I am also in the newbie boat. What do you think is a good approach by a newbie? Make an offer and stick with it? Negotiate (I don’t know how since other offers are not disclosed)?
Is the game rigged by the seller’s agent? If so, what is the best way to wade through it?
S
Bank of America’s Bernstein Says Sell Bank Stocks After Rally
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ay0Xgdn2tUK8&refer=home
nice….
I know you’re impatient for house prices to drop, Gary, but so are lots of Californians. when you read about how prices have plummeted in CA, it still really mainly applies to places no-one has heard of. e.g.:
The median price in Stanislaus County was $136,250, the report from MDA DataQuick said. That was . . . 66 percent off the market’s $396,000 peak in late 2005.
In the fourth quarter of 2005, just 3 percent of the homes that sold in Stanislaus County were affordable to median- income households, the index showed. Late last year, that figure stood at 71.1 percent.
Now, I don’t even know where Stanislaus County *is*. Somewhere up north, I guess. this is a *huge* state!!! there are a whole *load* of counties.
so, the numbers that you are seeing are true, but they don’t (yet) apply to most places that are comparable to the NJ towns in which you hope to buy. near me in Palo Alto, truly crappy houses are still priced at 1.5 million. no, they’re not selling, for the most part. but the prices haven’t come down yet. go to a really funny snarky site called “burbed”, if you want to see people complaining that Bay Area prices are still totally insane and sellers still entirely delusional.
I think CA had more exposure than NJ to mortgage fraud of the sort in which people strictly bought in order to pull money out and then run off. that is, simple plain old fraud, with no veneer. just a guess. those houses come on the market quickly, since no-one’s trying to drag things out, and as Cindy has said, once the bank prices to sell, the place sells. that speeds things up here in CA.
I also get the impression that in CA we had way more “prime” buyers who were utterly, utterly clueless, who barely spoke English, who were brought in on teaser rates. in Hayward, where my aunt lives, or in Daly City, where a friend of mine lives, if you look at the foreclosure listings, virtually all of the names are Hispanic. these people give up pretty quickly when the monthly payment skyrockets, which makes sense, since there is no possible world in which they could afford real payments on a 600K house with a 50K household income. that speeds things up, once the bank relents and prices realistically (they’re not relenting in Daly City yet; crappy shacks for 575K).
now, we are starting to see things spread, and you are beginning to see Asian and Anglo and Middle Eastern names in the foreclosure listings. this is in places like Berkeley and SF. but in those places, prices have hardly come down. houses just sit, and sit, at delusional prices. sometimes a sucker buys. doesn’t that sound like NJ?
I don’t doubt that the truly costly parts of CA and NJ are going to go down, ultimately. the resets are coming, the jobs are going. In NJ people will hold out longer than in CA before fleeing their monster-loans, because they have friends and relatives around who can help, or who would talk. out here, people are so transient, no-one has a sense of shame, and good for them. folks look at the bills, and their bank balance, and leave.
by the way, I’m not knocking the clueless recent Hispanic immigrants. with some luck, they’ll be able to buy at sane prices later on, when they’re actually buying and not being used as pawns in someone else’s broker-commission scam.
From the Star Ledger:
Star-Ledger publisher announces employee furloughs, pension changes
In an effort to combat declining revenue, The Star-Ledger will stop contributing to its employee pension plan and require full-time workers to take a 10-day unpaid furlough, the publisher announced today.
The newspaper will try to cushion the financial blow to its staff by increasing the amount of money it contributes to employees’ 401(k) plans while it looks for ways to cut costs and weather the recession, said Star-Ledger publisher George Arwady.
From Bloomberg:
Fired Doctor of Derivatives Waits to Cry as Finance Jobs Vanish
Raj and Nita Godhania are drinking Nescafe in their one-bedroom apartment in Princeton, New Jersey. Valentine cards are taped to otherwise bare walls, and a stack of blue Rubbermaid boxes towers over the TV. Their daughters, 12 and 7, have been helping pack.
Merrill Lynch fired Raj on Jan. 22 after he’d worked on the bank’s technology systems for 10 years. He got a promotion in 2006, sold his house in London, gave away the dog and moved his family to the U.S. Now, he’s scrambling to leave before his nine weeks of severance runs out and his L-1 work visa — his right to be in the country — is void because he’s out of a job.
Half a dozen calls to Merrill in three weeks — some furious, some teary — have yielded nothing, says Nita on a wintry February Friday. The New York-based firm so far has refused to pay the family’s $10,000 moving expense, buy four one-way plane tickets or help figure out how to let the children finish the school year, they say. Nita can’t work without a permit, and Raj, 45, has little time to find another company to sponsor him. The two British citizens don’t qualify for U.S. unemployment benefits.
“Merrill Lynch left us on the streets,” says Nita, 39, who now nurses a chronic headache. “I’m just so angry and scared. What the hell is going to happen to us?”
the bergen record is the newspaper that should go out of business. commie rag
Rev (42)-
In that case, your agent was probably shooting you straight. In a multiple offer (or possible multiple offer) situation, the seller sometimes won’t reveal a lot about the other offers. This leaves a nervous buyer to fill in the blanks for himself and often leads him to panic and bid up, as the fear-of-loss instinct kicks in.
http://www.interfluidity.com/posts/1237877649.shtml
From one of my new favorite sites” interfluidity – “Dark Musings”
A few excerpts:
“Of course the whole notion of repairing bank balance sheets is a lie and misdirection. The balance sheets we should want to see repaired are household balance sheets. Banks have failed us profoundly. We want them reorganized, not repaired. A world in which the banks are fixed but the households are still broken is worse than what we have right now. Too-big-to-fail banks restored to health are too-big-to-fail banks restored to power. The idea that fixing legacy banks is prerequisite to fixing the broad economy is a lie perpetrated by legacy bankers.
“…I think that Treasury has already lined up participants for the “Legacy Loans Public-Private Investment Fund” and persuaded them to offer prices so high that despite the put, investors will except to take a major loss. My little conspiracy theory is that the Blackrocks and PIMCOs of the world, the asset managers who do well by “shaking hands with the government”, will agree to take a hit on relatively small investments in order first to help make banks smell solvent, and then to compel and provide “good optics” for a maximal transfer from government to key financial institutions.
Consider a hypothetical asset manager, PIMROCK. PIMROCK reviews a pool of loans held by the bank J.P. Citi of America, and its analysts determine they are worth 30 cents of par value. The bank holds them at 80 cents on its book. PIMROCK agrees to put down $10B to purchase the loans from the pool at 82 cents thrilling the stock markets everywhere. It was all just a bad dream!
Under Geithner’s plan, PIMROCK’s $10B permits a $10B equity investment from the Treasury. Then the FDIC levers the whole thing up, providing $6 of debt for every one dollar of equity. So, $140B of bad loans are lifted from J.P. Citi of America, nearly $90B of which is sheer overpayment to the bank.
Of course, as cash flows evolve, PIMROCK’s $10B is wiped out entirely, as is the Treasury’s investment. The FDIC gets repaid in a bunch of securities worth about $50B, taking a $70B loss. But, as Calculated Risk, likes to say “Hoocoodanode?” These were real market prices, Geithner or his successor will argue. Our private partners lost everything. There was no subsidy here.
Meanwhile, taxpayers will be out around $80B.
Why would PIMROCK go along with this? Because they feel it is their patriotic duty to work with the government for the good of the fiancial system, even if that involves accepting some sacrifices. And because they hold $100B in J.P. Citi of America bonds, and they’ve received assurances that if we can get the nation out of the financial pickle it’s in, there will be no haircuts on these bonds. “Shaking hands with the government” means that nothing ever has to be put in writing.
Welcome to America, 2009. Change we can believe in.
The scenario I’ve presented is a variation on this by Karl Denninger (ht Tyler Cowen.)”
sastry (43)-
You don’t need to know what’s in other offers in order to negotiate.
Sometimes, the game is rigged by the seller’s agent. Most of the time, it’s not.
The best thing you can do is get a good agent. A good agent negotiates all the time and should have good enough instincts to handle whatever situation arises in an offer. That doesn’t guarantee 100% success every time, but it does mean you walk into every offer you make with the best possible chance to succeed.
@ 51 – paragraph 2: except S/B expect. There may be other errors. I am a horrible typist. I recommend just opening the link – there is more.
You gotta love any article that comes up with names like “PIMROCK” and J.P. Citi of America.
#48
Seems pretty heartless of Merrill not to pay for their moving expenses back. His severance pkg. doesn’t sound like it was all that generous either.
grim (48)-
And this guy didn’t know when he got involved with MER that he was entering a shark tank?
Yeah, right.
No sympathy.
#55
Now that I have no job I find myself way more sympathetic to those who are in bad situations. Amazing what a little suffering will do to increase one’s empathy towards others.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstone_Group
Chicago – There is that Peter Peterson name again…
“..50-50 partnership with the founders of BlackRock…”
Cindy (53)-
The banking system has been running a gigantic daylight robbery since late last year.
Now, their follow-on to this audacious robbery of America is to perpetrate the biggest swindle of all time.
I now believe the best possible outcome will be that we get a freshly-scrubbed, newly-capitalized banking sector…ready to lend, open for business…and all of us and our businesses are so beaten and broke that absolutely no one wants to borrow.
BTW, I’d bet everything I have that the above scenario will occur.
“Merrill Lynch left us on the streets,” says Nita, 39, who now nurses a chronic headache. “I’m just so angry and scared. What the hell is going to happen to us?”
Tell Raj to start a hedge fund. Bid high and buy the worthless crap, hell it will only cost Raj .07 on the dollar. If the gunk goes up in value you win. If not, the FDIC is holding the bag. Where else can you obtain a free call with the taxpayers bearing all the risk?
From the Record:
Juvenile detention center workers facing unemployment
Closure of Passaic County’s juvenile detention center is fast approaching, and most of the 154 workers facing job losses appear to have little chance of being reassigned within the county government.
At this point, Passaic County plans to reassign only about a dozen detention officers, nurses and social workers to other departments once the detention center closes on Apr. 10. Another 12 have announced their retirement, County Administrator Anthony De Nova said today.
But for the rest, almost all appear to be headed off the county payroll and to potential unemployment. De Nova said Friday that only nine Passaic County detention guards have applied for positions at the Essex County detention center, where Passaic County’s youths are to be transferred
GM all-
Anyone ever hear of an “as is” verified commitment from a bank regarding the mortgage? It was asked for in place of a pre-qual
thanks coop
ps i asked this last week but didn’t see any answer- my apologies if someone did and I missed it…
The Bloomberg article in #48 is a great read. Lots of anecdotes from laid off workers, not just the Merrill guy. Equal amounts of sympathetic stories and laughable ones (junior bankers who are going to become Hollywood agents cause its just that easy).
Key quote: “The system is convulsing, says Charles Geisst, author of “Wall Street: A History” and a finance professor at Manhattan College in New York. Most of the people who have been turned out of the banks are now, en masse, going to have to find something else to do.
“The jobs are not coming back,” he says. “This time, it’s permanent.”
Mikey, thinking one step ahead of the pack of criminals:
Geithner’s Gift to Hedge Funds
I’ve received several emails with links to Karl Denninger’s piece today. Karl is right on the money, but there is something he did not cover. If we allow this plan to move forward, the boys on Wall Street will play another side of this game and reap billions in profits . . . on both sides.
First read Karl’s piece – http://market-ticker.denninger.net/
Now consider this.
Part 1 – The slick boys on Wall Street will buy bank and insurance company stock cheap. These are the banks and insurance companies that would have been forced out of business, if Tim the Tax Cheat (T3C) had not come up with this brilliant plan that even Paulson didn’t have the guts to pull off. The Wall Street Crooks buy up the stock cheap and load up on options.
Part 2 – Now that they own the bank and insurance company stock on the cheap, they take the trillion dollars from T3C and buy the toxic assets from these banks and insurance companies at insanely inflated prices. Why? Because they want to fill the banks coffers with as much money as possible. This will drive the price of the bank stocks up . . . and the Wall Street Crooks will sell the bank stock and options to the tune of hundreds of billions in profits . . . for themselves.
Part 3 – You might think . . . but what about the losses the Wall Street Crooks are going to suffer from overpaying for the toxic assets? Ah-ha, well that is the beauty of it all. They are only going to suffer very minor losses because T3C is encouraging them to leverage up on these purchases AND go hog wild because T3C is back-stopping their losses and only requiring a pittance of a few pennies on the dollar from them. So the Wall Street Crooks lose a few pennies on the purchase of the toxic assets, but they make billions on the bank stock.
Part 4 – There are two other sides to this. The Wall Street Crooks will also be taking a skim from selling toxic assets to pension funds. This is not the big skim. The big skim is in buying up the equity in the bank stocks that they will pump with our cash. Moreover, guys like Jamie Dimon, Ken Lewis and John Mack will walk away with hundreds of millions in annual bonuses for a “job well done.”
Part 5 – So where are the toxic assets. Actually, by the time this has run it’s course, the pension funds will be holding what is left of the toxic assets and the Wall Street Crooks will have skimmed off the best assets in the barrel for just pennies on the dollar. They will reap huge profits on these good assets, but the taxpayer will not share in this . . . because the Wall Street Crooks will sell the good stuff off the their buddies and associated companies.
Part 6 – The Wall Street Crooks cash in on the T3C back stop for the losses they will take on the crap they overpaid for to pump up the bank stocks and reward their co-conspirators . . . the bank executives referenced in Part 4. T3C doesn’t have the money to pay them off, so we the taxpayer will be the ones left holding the bag. And it will be a bag that our children and our children’s children will be saddled with . . . if we don’t tear ourselves apart as a country before that.
Part 7 – The banks that will go under or be swallowed up, will be all of the well run banks. These are the guys that will pay the consequences for the bad banks. You see, they will not be able to compete with the bad banks, and the bad banks will now have the money to buy up the small banks and run them into the ground.
Market Update – The market is up 6% as I write this . . . and moving higher. We are short the markets and losing quite a bit of money today. Do we bail out? I think not. I think reality will set in. And if it doesn’t, money will not matter. We are just steps away from a complete break down in government. It may take weeks or months, but I still firmly believe the people will rise up in revolt before the end of this summer. Our financial system was all but eviscerated today when T3C decided to turn our fate over to the boys and girls that created the mess we are in. And I close with this . . . not even King Henry was prepared to pull this obscene maneuver. He knew it would end far worse than the 1930’s or Japan’s lost 20 years. T3C was out of bullets and desperate to make friends with someone.
If the plan holds up, our country will collapse. That might take a year or two, but it is inevitable. That is inevitable, as we are throwing our money at the men that created this disaster. If the plan is pulled, the markets will move lower and I would hope our government allows free markets to work, even if that means painful times. Because the pain we will suffer under the latest plan, is pain we cannot recover from withou grave social unrest.
Government needs to address the problems, not create more. Government needs to go after the Wall Street Crooks, not reward them. Government needs to claw back what they stole, put many of them in jail, regulate the conduct of business and to dish out consequences to those that created the mess . . . instead of the people that are at the wrong end of this social and economic disaster.
“Theoretically, an international reserve currency should first be anchored to a stable benchmark and issued according to a clear set of rules, therefore to ensure orderly supply; second, its supply should be flexible enough to allow timely adjustment according to the changing demand; third, such adjustments should be disconnected from economic conditions and sovereign interests of any single country.”
http://www.pbc.gov.cn/english/detail.asp?col=6500&id=178
BC (64)-
This, from a country that just announced yesterday that it’s opening derivatives markets, so that they don’t miss out on the action when things turn happy-happy again.
Fiat paper is the new gold. Benchmarked currency is sooo 20th century.
““Merrill Lynch left us on the streets,” says Nita, 39, who now nurses a chronic headache. “I’m just so angry and scared. What the hell is going to happen to us?””
This sucks big time. Apparently, they intend to follow the law. They should just declare themselves illegals, and get free healthcare, and all the government goodies and they can stay here forever and don’t have to worry about visa. The system is absurd.
The US invents financial coc@ine, and China turns it into crack.
jamil (66)-
What’s absurd is your tedious, tunnel-visioned view of everything.
Clot:
Denninger is probably right. This is just scary.
Grim, et al. Looking for opinions on Hovnanian’s SFHs and the town of Hackettstown. Considering a new one in Hackettstown, wondering what anyone knows about the town. Have two small kids, so education and recreation are a huge factor.
Any comments from folks that know would be appreciated.
-Anth
has anybody here made money with mike morgan?
Clot (58)
…and all of us and our businesses are so beaten and broke that absolutely no one wants to borrow.”
They are so caught up in making it so everyone can borrow that they forgot the demand side.
There is talk here of taxing services. As the population ages, the demand for big-ticket items withers.
Maybe they don’t need a new car but they need to have the car repaired.
What they lose in sales tax for purchases, they hope to make up for with taxes on services…we shall see.
Jamil (66):
“The system is absurd.”
Agreed, but the problems associated with illegal immigration is miniscule compared to the financial ass raping we have been experiencing since 1980.
Clot [65],
Why not? If the trades blow up the fed will increase its swap lines with China and US taxpayers will be holding the bag.
Same as it ever was.
“I now believe the best possible outcome will be that we get a freshly-scrubbed, newly-capitalized banking sector ”
Like I have been saying, take the bank-bailout money and use it to capitalize some ne banks. Let quality flow to those new institutions and let the cancerous ones die. Yes, I knowbinvestors will take a bath. But, investing involves risk and if a bunch of people lose everything because they allowed the companies in which they invested to spin out of control it will serve a cautionary tale and promote prudence in future. To pump good money after bad to “save” imprudent institutions has moral hazard written all over it in 25-foot red letters.
23 clot: “tard-”
What the heck is tard? Are you channeling O on Jay Leno? Can’t you find any other group to insult? Yeah I know I know. Clot without personal insults is like O without teleprompter..Part of identity.
“They are so caught up in making it so everyone can borrow that they forgot the demand side.”
Cindy [72],
There is not one expert/pundit focusing on this. They still don’t get it. The issue is not liquidity, it’s solvency.
As long as the underlying asset continues to crumble and unemployment slides down the slope of hope, bankers will not lend. Lend? Lend to whom?
Got demand?
Shore [75],
That’s called capitalism. Unfortunately, it’s viewed thru the rear view mirror.
KareninCA,
Good post! Real estate seems to be working very much the same in NJ. Plenty of foreclosed properties selling off in places nobody wants to live, (Plainfield), that had been pumped up by subprime. But in the desirable areas, prices are still holding up fairly well, only down 5-10% so far it seems. But eventually, it seems like rising unemployment and an outflow of population will have to drive down prices more. For now, volumes have evaporated faster than prices.
73 stu “Agreed, but the problems associated with illegal immigration is miniscule ”
I meant kicking H1 people out in few weeks sucks.
Anyway, wrt illegals. Not so sure. That’s one part of the problem, ie illegals were large portion of those who bought houses with non-traditional loans, and they were important part of the substandard workforce that built those crappy houses. Besides, the long-term cost of educating, incarcerating, treating illegals is probably in trillions.
By the way, who created the term “Legacy” loan ?
(77) BC Bob
“Got demand?”
Right on brother.
They think it is going to get better? Man, the boomers will be retiring in droves. What do they NEED now? Not much.
Just watch them retrench even further.
Solvency, not liquidity.
Demand, not supply.
Check, check.
re#81 BC Bob “Legacy” loan – the lobbyists did. Pelosi has been using it in her speeches too.
We are all fucked.
Not sure that “boomers will be retiring in droves”. We can’t really afford the good life of retirement right now so we will keep working, unless we think we can live on ss. I see more boomers trying to hang on to their jobs as long as they can to replenish the money they lost in their 401k’s.
“Legacy” loan was created by the lobbyists, Pelosi is using it too.
http://www.fresnobee.com/columnists/walters/story/1278016.html
This article focuses on CA – but you get the point…
“Sales tax revenues fall as our population ages”
“This recession may mark the historic decline of traditional brick-and-mortar retail sales, which had been force-fed in recent years by infusions of home equity loans and other debt. And shrinking sales tax revenues are symbols of that phenomenon.”
BC Bob:There is not one expert/pundit focusing on this.
Peter Schiff is.
(84) House – That is true. I know I will work longer but I’m the minority around here. Many have their places paid for and liquid investments. They are retiring.
I still think there will be enough retiring to have an impact. Add in the loss to the system of the “fake” money and demand is down.
3b [87],
My bad.
From Bloomberg:
Dial-a-Mattress, 1-800-Mattress File For Bankruptcy Protection
Dial-a-Mattress and its brand-name retailer 1-800-Mattress filed for bankruptcy court protection after creditors tried to force it into court protection last week.
Williams-Sonoma 4th-quarter profit tumbles
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Retailer Williams-Sonoma Inc (NYSE:WSM – News) reported a sharply lower quarterly profit on Tuesday as the recession and slumping housing market curbed sales of its home goods and said it could post a loss for the current year.
The company, which operates Pottery Barn and West Elm stores in addition to its namesake chain, said net earnings tumbled to $12.2 million, or 12 cents per share, in the fourth quarter, from $124.6 million, or $1.15 per share, a year ago.
Excluding an asset impairment charge and costs associated with closing stores and cutting jobs, profit was 31 cents per share.
Net revenue fell nearly 27 percent to $1.01 billion, as sales at stores open at least a year dropped 22.3 percent.
Williams-Sonoma said it expects losses for the first three quarters of 2009, with a profit in the fourth quarter, which includes the key holiday shopping period.
For the full year, the company forecast results to range from a loss of 15 cents per share to a profit of 5 cents per share.
—————————————-
No recession here!
Earnings from $1.15 to .12 cents per share and 2007 was no picnic either.
And people think the market is behaving irrationally. I’m surprised we are even in the 7s.
Bernstein, Rosenberg to Leave Bank of America, Spokeswoman Says
Now, all there is left is cr@p.
And look at that trickle down go. It appears to me that consumer discretionary outlets that cater to the wealthier (Starbucks, boat builders, Fortunoff) are the main ones getting hammered in this downturn. The consumer discretionary outlets utilized by the lower classes (Dollar Store, McDonalds) appear to be doing just fine.
Let’s give the wealthy a big fat tax break so they can horde a little more.
And look at that trickle down go. It appears to me that consumer discretionary outlets that cater to the wealthier (Starbucks, boat builders, Fortunoff) are the main ones getting hammered in this downturn. The consumer discretionary outlets utilized by the lower classes (Dollar Store, Fast Food) appear to be doing just fine.
Let’s give the wealthy a big fat tax break so they can horde a little more.
“That’s called capitalism. Unfortunately, it’s viewed thru the rear view mirror.”
Capitalism is when blue collar/lower-level workers lose their jobs, in other cases, not so much.
“Solvency, not liquidity.”
Need a tee shirt, “Got Solvency?”
Shore 95
Madoff’s victim’s T shirt:
“Got Bilk-ed?”
sl
About the Boomers and retirement:
It is one thing to have one’s money tied-up in a yard, extra bed rooms, and tied to high taxes when one is rearing children. Unlike our parents (whose kids flew the coop when our parents were in their 40s), many of us will just be free of a full nest at about the time we retire.
At that point, one starts looking for different kinds of housing options, and ask questions like, ODo I really want to have to go up and down those stairs 100 times a day,” and, “Now that my kids are out of school, is the cost worth it?”
Also, it is one thing to pay $15,000 on a home one thinks is worth 700,000. If the market value drops to 500,000 and the tax stays at $15,000, one has just received a pretty big tax increase. If this is on a house that no longe fits one’s lifestyle needs and one is not using the prime driver of those taxes, education, I suspect there are folks who will conclude it is time to move on. Better to take $50,000 less on a sale and get into a home that allows one to live the way want to, and perhaps tax savings pay for the sales “loss.”
Do not underestimate the boomers “seeing” old age in front of them and wanting to LIVE those years, not just exist.
SL,
Indeed. Or:
My investmet advisor got $800,000,000, homes in France, Montaulk, Palm Beach, Park Avenue, jets, and yachts and all I was left with was this lousy tee shirt (Copyright 2009, writer known ad Shore Guy)
ad=as
#97 shore:many of us will just be free of a full nest at about the time we retire.
That is scary? Are there really that many who are going to be 65 plus before their kids leave the nest.
Are we talking after college graduation? Are you saying there are going to be sizeable numbers of parents in their 60’s with kids still in high school?
#97
Amen to that! At some point the house just becomes a burden. I would like the freedom of just picking up and doing as I please before I am too old and infirm to enjoy life. One can live pretty simply if one is willing to give up some extra room in the house and some of the possessions you own. You gain freedom but you lose space. Depends on what you really want in life before you kick the bucket.
There are many young parents in their late 30’s. By the time a child born of a 38 year old mother and a 41 year old father is launched, at the end of college, mom will be 60, and dad will be older. Now, I know pleanty of women who have continued having children into their early 40s, and every one of them has an older husband. These folks are looking at being child free, at 70. Even if one says, “you are 18, sink or swim on your own, we are still talking about parents who are at the cusp of retirement.
At this point, does one really want to bear the extra costs of a house that no longer fits one’s current lifestyle or interests? Put this way, which would many choose, an extra $10,000 a year in tax or using that to see more of the world, etc.
People will wikllingly squeal like a pig if it will benefit their children, they are less willing to do it for some other people’s children.
The point I was trying to make is that traditionally, the consumer has been relied on to spur the economy and that for a variety of reasons: increased unemployment, no more HELOC money, and an aging populace, that may not be the case going forward.
My hope, of course is that “creative destruction” takes hold and we have more “Google” and “PayPal” dudes step up.
Have a great day.
Cindy
“Greenwich CT is the 21st century Asbury Park”
greenwich was rich before hedge funds existed
#103
Yeah, you are right. As I get older I care so much less about buying things and spending money. The only thing I really want is the time to travel and visit people and the funds to do so. Once my child is done with college the money I am not spending on him is going into paying off my mortgage and not into buying “things”. It’s kind of freeing not to own lots of new toys, which require shopping and maintenance, etc.
got an interesting job offer in San antonio. can anyone comment on that city?
Rich/Grim: I posted this listing the other day, njmls #2906997.
If this thing went under contract I will be utterly amazed. It appears to come on and off the market, with a couple of different realtors.
Can you let me know when one of you guys get a chance. Thanks,
I fit that boomer model. We started our family in our early 20s and by 50 we were empty nesters. Moved from a 4 br 2.5 ba house to a 1000 sf townhouse. Cut my housing costs by more than half and am no longer a slave to lawn mowing, mulching, etc. Don’t miss the burbs one bit.
#102 shore:These folks are looking at being child free, at 70.
That is scary. With all due respect, perhaps some of these people should not have waited so long.
From the Western Swing tune…
When I greet my neighbor with a hi y’all
I’m wealthy as a king upon a throne
You can have your mansion or your cottage small
I’ll just take my home in San Antone
“San antonio.”
The Riverwalk area is okay. The rest of the area, like much of texas is HOT, flat, HOT, tan, HOT, and HOT.
3b,
some friends of mine just had their 1st at 46 and plan on a #2 in another year.
Their kids wont be out of the house before the parents are 66+!!!
“With all due respect, perhaps some of these people should not have waited so long.”
I do not disagree. Nevertheless, there are many people like this. Even if a couple gets married at 30, which is not at all late by today’s standards. After a year and a half they decide to start trying to have a child, and she is preggers within 6 months, and gives birth right around 33. Two years later, they have number two, and they are 35. By the time the kids are launched, not assuming the Gen X boomerang effect, they will be about 60 when child free. Even assuming tossing the kids out before 21, one is still in late 50s, and, again, the pressure to LIVE before old age kicks in and provides an incentive to ditch the child-rearing home for a different place.
.
Ket,
I hope they funded their retirement early.
“.”
!
RE: “Agreed, but the problems associated with illegal immigration is miniscule compared to the financial ass raping we have been experiencing since 1980.”
This has become self parody. See: Red Herring.
3b,
I had the little one at 35. He will get the boot (like all seven of my siblings except for one brother who moved back in for 2 years but paid fair-market rent to dad) at 18, or when I’m 53. If all goes well, I will be in Costa Rica by the time I’m 54. If the PTB continues to F this country, Lil’ Gator might be educated in Costa Rica.
Clotpoll says:
March 24, 2009 at 8:25 am
Mikey, thinking one step ahead of the pack of criminals:
clot: the dude is seriously jumping the shark….he probably has huge losses booked along with his clients…..he wants to go down in a blaze of glory…..when you are this far down and you have a big ego, you may as well try and hit a home run…..
clot: I am not disagreeing with him. The world is rigged. The big boys win. The heist is on. Grow up, and move tactically…stop with the rhetoric. Rhetoric evokes visceral reactions….visceral reactions cause mistakes….
#112 kettle:some friends of mine just had their 1st at 46 and plan on a #2 in another year.
Their kids wont be out of the house before the parents are 66+!!!
Sorry, I could not and would not do that. I do know one guy oldest is 18, late 40’s, 2 other kids, youngest is 11.
Second marriage and he and his new wife are expecting their first at 48!! And would like to have 2!!!!!
And both are concerned about their jobs, and the guy has to pay alimony and child support to his first wife.
I could not do that. Would never sleep at night.
I agree with shore guy,
In this area I would wager that most people have their first child in the late twenties, at the earliest. Many more career oriented woman, many people paying off loans, buying a first place etc.
Easily 60 before the youngest is independent. Is it better to live it up in ur 20’s and settle down later, or married at 22, struggle, get the kids out of the nest early, and then start planning for yourself.
There are obvious advantages to both…..
Qwerty,
F off you sh*t-for-brains far right wing party mouth piece! Perhaps a comparison is beyond your comprehension. After all, your news sources are so narrow that they don’t bother to compare and contrast anything.
And show me the trillions that illegal immigration is costing us and I’ll show you the trillions saved by legal citizens on landscaping and contracting services.
You are back on ignore…which is exactly where ignorami should remain.
Kettle ,San Antonio is referred to as Austin without the music scene. Summers alot like New Jersey, but they start in April and last until October. Riverwalk area is nice and there are some great restaurants.
And the real parody is that all of those Limbaugh’s you choose to provide a mental blow job to regularly use the same techniques that I deploy. Only you are too friggin’ ignorant to realize it.
But San Antonio does not have Leslie Cochran!
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/180/429992505_e8b21413b4.jpg?v=0
#118 Stu: 35 is very reasonable. On top of the financial issues you also need to have the physical and mental wherewithal to raise young children.
You slow down in your 40’s. I had my first at 28, and second at 31.
Shore Guy says:
March 24, 2009 at 10:43 am
“With all due respect, perhaps some of these people should not have waited so long.”
I do not disagree. Nevertheless, there are many people like this.
Shore: Married at 31 & 30. We waited seven years to have kids. It was the smartest decision ever. Those years are the backbone of our marriage that allow us to make the difficult decisions we do today. There is no lamenting anything. We got to enjoy each other while we were young and without distractions.
just looked at the housing prices in san antonio…..
HOLY F’ing S*** the house is only 2X my car payment!!!
last post by “test” was me
Qwerty:
Here’s a really well written piece on the impact of illegal immigration on our economy.
http://tinyurl.com/truthabout-immigration
#79
“But eventually, it seems like rising unemployment and an outflow of population will have to drive down prices more. For now, volumes have evaporated faster than prices.”
don’t forget taxes
Shore Guy, ChiFi,
I knew the Gator for seven years before we were married and we still waited a couple years after marriage to make the little one. Wanted to be financially secure and see the world prior to getting mired into the financial cost and time suckage that raising children requires. I am very grateful that we went this route.
flip side of my comment….I was in the supermarket with my son Hunter on the checkout line. A cute little 3 year old girl was helping her mom check out. She helped swipe the credit card and scribbled the signature for her mom. I want to have some fun with Hunter, so I gave him a shot.
He really didn’t have the manual dexterity to swipe the card, so I helped him. Then the cashier gave him the receipt to sign, and I expected a nice little scribble. He draws one vertical line, then another to the right of it, and draws a horizontal line connecting the two.
He signed with an “H” ????!!!!?????
Just trying to defend home schooling a two-year old…..
“Just trying to defend home schooling a two-year old…..”
Oh yeah, well let’s see how H-man does in an elementary school recess time scuffle with lil’ gator.
You sound more like a proud parent and husband than a home school defender there Chi.
Maybe if they had named Timmay’s plan “The Taxpayers Are Going to be Left Holding The Bag On a Bunch of Sh8tty Assets” it would not have gotten such a warm reception?
Chifi 134
My personal take is that it is not so much whether the child is homeschooled or not as the quality of the parents in conjuction with the quality of the child.
A naturally intelligent child with supportive parents will outperform in the majority of settings.
Congrats on a very bright son BTW.
#97
“Now that my kids are out of school, is the cost worth it?”
*******
I am betting that most boomers will say no, esp as their retirement funds are now depleted. This is why inventory will not be heading down anytime soon.
From my perspective as a buyer, I am looking at a suburban house purchase (like most) primarily from the standpoint of raising kids. Taxes are preferable to private school tuition, but once kids are in college, smart thing to do is sell the house. So really, a suburban house is a 15-20 yr proposition.
The Public Private Investment Partnership found a couple of willing participants (Black Rock (BLK) and PIMCO) to say what a good deal it was. But there are two caveats to that: 1. it is a good deal for private speculators, definitely not taxpayers and 2. the speculators have to think prices are going to go up alot.
Here is how it will work (my interpretation). A private fund puts up $100 in equity and the government puts up $100 in equity. Then the government for certain assets will lend between 3 (for derivatives and securitized assets) to 7 times (for bank loans) the amount. So let’s say our equal partnership puts up $200 in equity and then levers that up seven times so it can buy $1,400 of toxic assets at $.50 on the dollar.
If the assets rise 20% in value to $1,680, the partnership splits the profits (as long as the government doesn’t change the deal in the future, which is a big if given what we have seen lately) of $280 equally. But let’s say the assets decline in value by 20% to $1120. The deal is the private investor can only lose his $100 dollars equity while the public partner (you) will lose $180.
http://www.minyanville.com/articles/index/a/21790
#
3b says:
March 24, 2009 at 10:32 am
#102 shore:These folks are looking at being child free, at 70.
That is scary. With all due respect, perhaps some of these people should not have waited so long.
————————-
That, like most broad generalizations, is a silly statement. Of all the bad decisions people have made lately, having children late in life? It doesn’t even rate as a bad decision.
“got an interesting job offer in San antonio. can anyone comment on that city?”
been there twice and I like it. helps if you like mexican food a lot.
“He really didn’t have the manual dexterity to swipe the card”
And Chifi, this will change when H-man turns 3. I was recently watching my son and a girlfriend of his watching Nick over at a friends. As each commercial ran, both of ’em would say, “I’m gettin’ dat.”
some friends of mine just had their 1st at 46
My parents had my youngest brother when my mom was 42. He’s 20 years younger than me.
This is a little bit different as it wasn’t a first child but the age ranges are about the same.
There are advantages to having young people around the house in your 50’s and 60’s. For instance, you have young able bodied people around to help. This can be very important.
Kettle1 says:
March 24, 2009 at 11:16 am
Chifi 134
A naturally intelligent child with supportive parents will outperform in the majority of settings.
ket: does that include the potty? :(
“Of all the bad decisions people have made lately, having children late in life? It doesn’t even rate as a bad decision.”
RayC…Be careful. Qwerty will pull out his book of anti-diversion tactics and slap you upside the head with it.
Stu says:
March 24, 2009 at 11:20 am
“He really didn’t have the manual dexterity to swipe the card”
And Chifi, this will change when H-man turns 3. I was recently watching my son and a girlfriend of his watching Nick over at a friends. As each commercial ran, both of ‘em would say, “I’m gettin’ dat.”
Stu: It’s sick. They already know stuff. We pull into the gas station and the guy asks cash or credit, and he tells the guy….”Papa pay for gas with credit card.” “Papa give man credit card.” The jump to toys comes in about 5 seconds :( :( :( :-P
I just had my first 8 months ago. I was 28 and my wife was 29. I cannot imagine having the patients to do it in my early 20s or the energy to do it in my late 30s.
The pink slips on Wall Street haven’t discouraged buyers from shopping around, said John Allegro, a real estate agent with ERA Caputo Realty.
ChiFi:
I know. Just from listening to my frugality with the gator, when I pull into the gas station with him he says, “Is the price good?”
i.e economical warfare.
“U.S. seeks expanded power to seize firms”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29847658
-The Obama administration is considering asking Congress to give the Treasury secretary unprecedented powers to initiate the seizure of non-bank financial companies, such as large insurers, investment firms and hedge funds
SAS
Rev (#31)
This is why you have to put a short expiration date on any offer you make (no more than 48 hours, preferably 24 hours) — don’t let them put your offer in their back pocket and then shop it around for another 5K.
If they manage to shop it around in that short of a window, oh well. But you’ll reduce the chance that way.
“Can Private Security Guards Act As Cops?
That’s Exactly What They May Soon Be Doing On The Far South Side”
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/police.private.security.2.966243.html
Anyway, wrt illegals. Not so sure. That’s one part of the problem, ie illegals were large portion of those who bought houses with non-traditional loans, and they were important part of the substandard workforce that built those crappy houses. Besides, the long-term cost of educating, incarcerating, treating illegals is probably in trillions.
This is pure gold. You should do standup.
FYI:
interesting article out of the April edition of Harper magazine, might be worth a purchase at your local bookstore.
Infinite debt:
How unlimited interest rates destroyed the economy
By Thomas Geoghegan
http://harpers.org/archive/2009/04/0082450
FYI:
interesting article out of the April edition of Harper magazine, might be worth a purchase at your local bookstore.
Infinite debt:
How unlimited interest rates destroyed the economy
By Thomas Geoghegan
http://harpers.org/archive/2009/04/0082450
Justin (#147) – It can take a young doctor like yourself many years to build up the required patients to support a family. :)
Everyone calm down, our own Jon Corzine has endorsed Geithner’s plan. Happy Days will soon be here again.
“Gov. Jon Corzine today praised the federal plan to rid banks of toxic assets, but said its success in repairing the financial system depends on whether banks actually sell the assets at their fair market prices — which could go as low as 20 cents on the dollar.”
Way to go out there on a limb Johnny Boy. When will this loser be gone?
from CalculatedRisk;
Mortgage equity withdrawal goes negative in Q4.
That’ll leave a mark…
“young doctor”
shift change.
got C-section?
SAS
Corzine also endorsed Hillary, until she was behind in the polls.
#156 Homeboken… hahaha… patience, patience..
” but said its success in repairing the financial system depends on whether banks actually sell the assets at their fair market prices which could go as low as 20 cents on the dollar.”
If the banks would part with them at market value, there would be no need for the plan. The only purpose the plan serves is to provide a way for the banks to sell ABOVE market value. It is like all of us are chipping in so our neighbor can go guy an overprices place in Aspen although not putting in more than the deposit on a place in Pemberton.
Our view on mortgage deduction: Huge housing subsidy boosts the deficit, benefits the rich
Overly generous tax break helped inflate bubble, distort the market.
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/03/our-view-on-mor.html#more
“You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.”
Winston Churchill
Maybe there is still some Hope for this country. Every poll shows that O’s approval ratings are lower than GWB’s at this point. Heck, even Jimmy Carter was more popular at this point of his presidency.
“New Zogby poll bad news for Obama: job-approval ratings fall to 50-50”
got an interesting job offer in San antonio. can anyone comment on that city?
Kettle1,
You can go into a supermarket and buy a gun. Good times.
“New Zogby poll bad news for Obama: job-approval ratings fall to 50-50″
Is this the same Zogby that stood alone in predicting that McCane would win the election? The same Zogby that continues to perform push polls for the Republican’s?
Jamil, if I ever met you in person, before shaking your hand, I would look for where you were hiding your repeat button.
You can go into a supermarket and buy a gun. Good times.
Let me guess… You don’t catch too many people with 13 items in the “12 or less” line at the Mega Lo Mart?
The pink slips on Wall Street haven’t discouraged buyers from shopping around, said John Allegro, a real estate agent with ERA Caputo Realty.
That’s what you say before you go Caput!!!
“Here’s a really well written piece on the impact of illegal immigration on our economy.”
I’m sorry that I’m late to the party but I had work to do this morning…
Stu this has got to be one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time. Thanks for the great comedy.
Nom,
if i follow up on the San antonio offer, i can setup the texas branch of the greater Nompound organization for when they secede from the union ;)
167: Stu.
Non-sense, as usual.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/national.html
Zogby shows +11 for the Messiah in 2008 elections – the highest difference (most positive for O) of all polling firms.
jamil,
Why don’t you do an advanced Google search of njrereport.com from November of last year and see what you posted.
#148 Gary
Thanks! You just gave me my laugh of the day!
Stu: right. or why don’t we just agree that O’s poll number are the highest in history and claims about his collapsing approval ratings are merely a result of Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy?
Jello for brains Jamil…Now shut your lying pie hole already. We are all sick of it here. Serves you right for following the lies and rants of that fatass oxy-contin popping hypocrite. Get a new MO already.
jamil says:
October 31, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Hmm. Zogby is now reporting that MC is now having a lead of 48-47, first time in weeks. Other polls are also showing tight race.
MC is going to win. Polls are already oversampling dems (polls are assuming party ID gap of 7-8% for dems, while history and gallup’s general party ID pref says it is 3-4%) and O’s support in primaries was always vastly overestimated.
Jamil,
I don’t doubt the O approval ratings you dolt!
Your guy lost, your guy lost, your guy lost!
176: Yes, I was still hoping that country would have had some sense and the impeding disaster could have been averted. Apparently, some Zogby polls (as did some others) had McCain even or up.
You can check all polls (inc Zogby) from RCP.
Anyway, if you want to believe that O’s support is still sky high, be my guest. Even many low IQ leftists have been shocked and feel betrayed. Wall Street people included.
[168] tosh
“An armed society is a polite society”
Robert Heinlein (or was it Ray Bradbury, I can’t remember).
[171] Kettle,
Absolutely. I stayed once on someone’s compound back in the 80’s in Red River country. Annona, Texas, about 4.5 hours N of Dallas. Very nice, if you like hot and flat. Best catfish I ever had.
We went shooting right out back of the owner’s house and I questioned him about why he didn’t have a berm (would have been easy enough as he was digging a new catfish pond nearby) for safety. He said he owned all those woods so it didn’t matter. I said “what if someone is walking through there?” and his understandably texan reply was “well, they don’t belong in there, do they?”
sas –
OCP starting up?
BC (81)-
The first time I saw “legacy loan”, I thought Frank Luntz. That phrase seems to be the result of an incredible amount of focus-grouping…a practice that has Luntz’ fingerprints all over it.
If that didn’t come from Luntz, the industry of creating innocuous terms for vile things has a freshly-minted genius in its ranks.
Stu wins. Jamil loses. Again.
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/03/worst-pollster-in-world-strikes-again.html
Stu (91)-
If Williams-Sonoma is projecting an ’09 ass-kicking for themselves, how many mall-based retailers do you think are not paying rent RIGHT NOW?
Add to that number the ones you think will stop paying rent at any time in calendar ’09, and you’ve got yourself quite a list.
182: Dink.
Impressive article “Because I’m writing this post ahead of time, I’m not 100% certain that the particular poll in question is an Internet poll”
Translation: We don’t really know anything, but let’s speculate.
Stu 176
Wow, that is a beatdown.
I’m sure he’ll accept how wrong he’s been and reconsider his posts.
Rush hates the bailout too. No surprise because he hates all things Democrat.
Never thought that I would agree with Rush on anything, except, of course, the quality of good painkillers.
Jamil,
read the rest of the article.
Does the illegal alien cutting your lawn send the 7% sales tax to Corzine? Probably not, as Corzine provides him with free medical and schooling. Taxes evidently, are only for the legals.
#106 San Antonio – Second everyone else on the Riverwalk – love it! Nice downtown, felt safe after dark, lots of people about. Several Air Force bases there which may serve to stabilize the economy a bit. Lackland is home to Wilford Hall Medical Center which is supposed to tbe one of the best in the military. Several military families I know decided to start second careers there and love it. However, it is brutally hot.
Uh-Oh. Looks like another thread is being destroyed by Jamil. See ya later folks.
Kettle1-
I have relatives in Dallas Fort Worth area and have been to Austin, San Antonio and Big Bend national park.
Downside: heat, heat, incredibly hot. For example, you’ll have to replace the tires and batteries in your car more often than NJ due to heat.
Upside: great food (if you like meat), really beautiful desert scenery within driving distance, pretty nice lifestyle if you have a good job.
Let me know if you have some more general Texas questions. If it’s a good move career wise, I would say go for it.
Does the illegal alien cutting your lawn send the 7% sales tax to Corzine?
Yes, always remember it’s the worker’s fault, not the employer trying to save a nickel.
I’m surprised you’d publicize your employing of an illegal alien. No plans to run for office?
“Taxes evidently, are only for the legals.”
And only those who are not wealthy enough to create an offshore tax shelter.
Schab:
“I’m sure he’ll accept how wrong he’s been and reconsider his posts.”
Never! When a right wing mouthpiece is presented with the truth, they immediately shut down, reboot and present a new untruth. Eventually, the opponent simply gives up and goes on a bender to see what it feels like to be on the other side.
One more thing about Texas, it is bloody hot.
Was just look at the tax records for the “A” Condos in Newport (389 Washington).
Apt. 33J sold in 4/08 for $659k
Apt. 33H sold in 5/08 for $615k
Same exact units, same exact view, same sq/ft (776), just flipped.
Back in Nov. 08 when i went to look at the building, they were selling the Penthouses, (34H and 34J), for $525k.
Again, same units as 33rd floor, but 1 floor higher. The 34th floor ones have better higher end appliances in the kitchen as well.
So one guy lost 8% in 1 month, and 20% in 6 months. Ridiculous, and so sad. This is before 77 Hudson and Crystal Point hit the market too.
Housing in Texas is bad. If you go, rent. I have a friend that will take a major haircut on a house if he moves North. He likes it for now but his options are limited.
With all of the land, housing developments pop up like weeds.
Shore (97)-
Increasingly, a harscrabble end-of-life existence is the best NJ seniors have to envision.
“Taxes evidently, are only for the legals.”
How about sales tax,property taxes,tolls that illegals also needs to pay like us?Chinese cheap goods and illegals help on keeping inflation low in this country.
About San Antonio…
It can’t possibly be worse than Lubbock whose tourism motto (at the time I visited) was ‘Lubbock or leave it!”
chi (119)-
I don’t think that one bad trading day, built on the announcement of a giant, gubmint-sponsored sham, has blown Morgan out.
You also acknowledge that he’s probably right. IMO, investors who get killed are the ones who invest counter to their intuition, not the ones who let intuition (and, dare I say, priciple?) guide them.
I’m not worried about Mikey.
chi (120)-
And people tell me I’m the cynical one here. If so, what does this statement make you?:
“The world is rigged. The big boys win. The heist is on. Grow up, and move tactically…stop with the rhetoric.”
Thanks, Mr. Gekko. :)
Before the 80’s illegals with sss (their own or not)can get good jobs in companies that offer benefits.Company collect all the taxes just like the rest of us.They offer medical insurance.That change after the amnesty in the 80’s.I have not much opinion about it.All i know is there was a benefit on both sides.
Stu (123)-
My fondest wish is to see the US purged of illegals…and be standing in a produce aisle when people begin to whine about $8 heads of iceberg lettuce.
194 stu: uh. So the truth is that latest poll is not 50-50? Or you just started attacking the poll and re-ignited last year’s election debates?
confused in nj says:
March 24, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Does the illegal alien cutting your lawn send the 7% sales tax to Corzine? Probably not, as Corzine provides him with free medical and schooling. Taxes evidently, are only for the legals.
confuse: they pay sales tax and they pay sticker price on medical when they pay….
Somebody clear this up for me…if Corzine loses the election, he gets executed, right?
China ‘Super Currency’ Call Shows Dollar Concern (Update1)
Share | Email | Print | A A A
By Li Yanping
March 24 (Bloomberg) — China’s call for a new international reserve currency may signal its concern at the dollar’s weakness and ambitions for a leadership role at next week’s Group of 20 summit, economists said.
Central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan yesterday urged the International Monetary Fund to create a “super-sovereign reserve currency.” The dollar weakened after the Federal Reserve said it would buy Treasuries and the U.S. government outlined plans to buy illiquid bank assets
“China is concerned about the potential for a slide in the dollar as the U.S. attempts to stimulate its economy,” said Mark Williams, a London-based economist at Capital Economics Ltd. The “rare” sight of a Chinese official attempting to reframe an international debate may be “a sign of China becoming more engaged,” he said.
Zhou’s comments may also signal ambitions for the yuan to play a bigger global role. The central bank this week signed a currency swap with Indonesia, adding to agreements since December with South Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Belarus. It’s also preparing for trade settlement in the Chinese currency with Hong Kong, Macau and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
“There is concern and even frustration among top policymakers in Beijing about China’s high exposure to U.S. dollar-denominated financial assets,” said Brian Jackson, senior strategist at Royal Bank of Canada in Hong Kong.
Yuan forwards rose the most in three months with traders betting on appreciation for the first time since September on speculation that the U.S. policies will weaken the dollar. The 12-month forward rate gained 0.9 percent.
Support for Dollar
U.S. policy makers testifying before lawmakers in Washington today affirmed their support for the dollar.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, asked at a House Financial Services Committee hearing whether he rejected moving toward a global currency, replied, “I would, yes.”
“I would also,” said Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke. The question was asked by Representative Michele Bachmann, a Minnesota Republican.
Premier Wen Jiabao called on March 13 for the U.S. “to guarantee the safety of China’s assets.” China’s Treasury holdings climbed 46 percent in 2008 and now stand at about $740 billion, according to U.S. government data. The nation is the biggest holder of U.S. debt.
Raising Yuan’s Status
China is promoting use of the yuan to smooth currency volatility and to serve “a long-standing interest” to raise its status to that of a global reserve currency, said Ben Simpfendorfer, an economist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in Hong Kong. Such moves are not “a knee-jerk response” to the economic crisis, he said.
“If turning the Chinese yuan into a global reserve currency sounds ambitious, then encouraging its adoption as a regional reserve currency is more straightforward,” said Simpfendorfer.
G-20 leaders will gather in London on April 2 to forge a common response to the financial crisis that has spawned a global recession. The summit will discuss proposals for reforms of the International Monetary Fund.
Flexing ‘Some Muscle’
The timing of Zhou’s proposal is “the latest example of China’s policy of neo-assertiveness in world affairs,” said Glenn Maguire, chief Asia economist at Societe Generale SA in Hong Kong. “China is starting to flex some muscle and generally steer the debate in China’s own direction.”
Zhou’s article highlighted the “dilemma” that countries issuing reserve currencies face in balancing their own monetary- policy goals with other nations’ demand for their money.
The global crisis raised the question of which reserve currency would secure “global financial stability and facilitate world economic growth,” Zhou said. He proposed expanding the use of the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights, which are currency units valued against a composite of currencies.
“The basket of currencies forming the basis for SDR valuation should be expanded to include currencies of all major economies, and gross domestic product may also be included as a weighting,” said Zhou.
Some economists back his case.
“The world economic landscape has been changed since the establishment of the SDR 40 years ago,” said Ha Jiming, chief economist at China International Capital Corp. in Hong Kong. “Specifically, no such reserve currency would make sense without the yuan being included.”
Non-sense, as usual.
Look, you’re a complete farking liar, or amazingly ignorant.
Why keep posting?
yome (208)-
But, Timmay the Weasel Face said China was a currency manipulator?
Manipulator? Leader? Ooh, it is so confusing.
sas, hand me some of those hot French fries. Is Idol on tonight?
Jamil,
I could care less what the poll says. It could be 50-50 or 1-99. What matters is that Zogby polls should not be trusted regardless of the results. Google push polls and their inherent conflict of interest. Now I’m going to drink myself into oblivion.
Next Best Thing for the Economy
Obama Start Capatalizing already
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/24/miron.legalization.drugs/index.html
“But, Timmay the Weasel Face said China was a currency manipulator?”
Clot,
I guess a tax manipulator can spot a currency manipulator?
Coming to a bank near you.
Police deposit box raids net £35m
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7961342.stm
D2B
With all of the land, housing developments pop up like weeds.
wonder how much longer that will go on?
You know what those damn commies didn’t count on? Rock ribbed American patriots like me. If they think for one damn minute we’re going to stand for this shlt, they got another think coming. The question has got to be raised as to why they have so much in USD reserves in the first damn place-they manipulate their damn currency and don’t buy our stuff. When you have people trying to save 80-90% of their damn income like those damn commies do, that ain’t doing jack for the damn world economy. They ran huge trade deficits before with the damn British in the 1800’s and wound up hurting themselves as a result. I’d hate to see them with another addiction problem. I’d hate to see them lose Taiwan or have to give Hong Kong back. We need to suggest this to them so they back off.
They need to understand that if they persist in this kind of talk, they’re going to have to deal with rock ribbed among us and that ain’t gonna be fun.
yome says:
March 24, 2009 at 1:49 pm
China ‘Super Currency’ Call Shows Dollar Concern (Update1)
Share | Email | Print | A A A
By Li Yanping
March 24 (Bloomberg) — China’s call for a new international reserve currency may signal its concern at the dollar’s weakness and ambitions for a leadership role at next week’s Group of 20 summit, economists said.
Every morning I go to get coffee downstairs and scan through the free paper while waiting for the wheat to toast.
-Xanadu pushes back release date
-Xanadu sits atop toxic dump, taxpayers foot bill.
-Xanadu 70% rented
-Xanadu in peril, losing lines of credit
and then today some local govt dope was quoted as saying that the delay of Xanadu would be the equivalent of a crushing blow to the area which saw it as a ticket to get out of the recession.
Xanadu will be many things, except a premier family entertainment/shopping destination.
tard (216)-
The only rocks on you are in your head.
“You know what those damn commies didn’t count on? Rock ribbed American patriots like me.”
You really need to develop some sort of off-speed pitch.
Stu: I don’t know what’s your point was but googling my last year election prediction is hardly relevant. The “truth” is that the latest poll shows 50-50 and I found it very interesting – and relevant to O’s ability to push his marxist legislation through. If you don’t like me or Zogby (obviously, you don’t), fine, but the “truth” remains.
Btw, Zogby has an answer to those critics http://zogby.com/blog/loader.cfm?p=/2009/03/24/zogby-interactive-misconceptions/
zieba (217)-
Xanadu looks like an outdoor toilet for Godzilla.
clot – you now owe me a new pair of underwear.
You know a building really sucks when the best idea for re-purposing it is as a giant paintball venue.
a building really sucks when the best idea for re-purposing it is as a giant paintball venue
Rock! My idea is catching on.
Krugman on Bloomberg right now.
Hey Zhou Xiaochuan,
A special reserve currency that cannot be manipulated or defaulted upon? It’s called gold, retard, and it’s your fault for not buying it. Central banks are the dumbest money in the world. They drive up the value of whatever they happen to be buying for non-economic policy reasons, then turn that asset into sh1t when they actually try to convert it into something tangible.
Oh, you want payment on your US Treasuries? Certainly Mr Zhou, we’ll print you up 10 shipping containers full of $1000 bills and send it off on the next empty containership that carried a full load of exports into the US. You can pile these new bills on top of the mountain of dollar inventories you’re already stashing.
A (225)-
I think this is how CBs actually talk to each other.
“I don’t know what’s your point was but googling my last year election prediction”
““I’m sure he’ll accept how wrong he’s been and reconsider his posts.””
I would click on your link, but I’m currently too smashed to figure out how. Now do I press the right mouse button or the left. La da da di dah. It’s all the fault of the lefties. Must stop reading what I don’t want to hear. La da da di dah.
I’m so done with you half-wit.
Retard101,
What kind of satisfaction do you get from getting abused for making up ridiculously stupid commentaries for people who don’t respect your “persona”?
No real person calls themself “rock ribbed”.
Your masochistic behavior reminds me of Mr Slave in this clip from South Park:
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/154682
Its not limited to subprime….wonder how many of these loans are in NJ?
—————-
Fitch Ratings sharply raised its estimate on projected losses for prime-rated jumbo mortgages packed into residential mortgage-backed securities as the deepening recession leaves more homeowners unable to make loan payments.
“Delinquencies have increased dramatically in prime RMBS transactions as borrowers grapple with the ongoing pressures of declining home values, rising unemployment and lack of refinancing alternatives,” said U.S. RMBS group head Huxley Somerville.
The new estimates for 2005, 2006 and 2007 are three, four and five times higher, respectively, than earlier ones. They now range from 0.97% in 2005 jumbo loan pools to 2.58% in 2007. Losses on hybrid adjusted-rate pools are seen at 1.6% in 2005 and jumping to 4.81% for 2007. The minimum borrowed under jumbo mortgages is $417,000.
“Playboy Enterprises Closing NYC Offices, 100 Laid-Off”
No more naked girls on the roof, that will lead to a depression in our office.
[222] clot
I love it. We can use old NJT buses for flippers.
Also, I did get the lock — 4.625%, no points, 30 yr fixed conforming. Rates on their website ticked up 2 hours later. Booyah!
I once stayed a weekend at a Playboy owned house in Cabo, Mexico. On top of the hill, overlooking the water.
alot of good looking, smooth skinned women around getting sun. That is for sure.
However, their partys are lame & boring. They have so much security & cameras all over there pads, and they have a zero tolerance for any hanky panky.
so, I decided to rent a boat instead.
SAS
Stu, you’re shooting blanks — again.
Ad hominem, non sequitur — it’s truly laughable.
Does President Obama run background checks on his appointees? This guy ran a company that produced more than their fair share of “Pay Option Arms”.
—————–
Obama Names Head for F.H.A.
President Obama named David H. Stevens, to head the Federal Housing Administration….In the wake of the collapse of the subprime lending market, the F.H.A. has become just about the only source of loans to borrowers with poor credit records and low down payments….Mr. Stevens, is president and chief operating officer of Long and Foster Cos., a real estate brokerage based in Chantilly, Va. He has worked at Wells Fargo, the mortgage finance company Freddie Mac and World Savings Bank, a lender based in California.
[195] shore,
“it is bloody hot”
I was dumb enough to visit once over the 4th of July. Damn hot, but if you are running around in tank top and shorts, and drinking beer all day, it’s not so bad. But I would never want to be suited up in downtown Dallas or Houston. Gack.
#229 declining home values.
So if your home is declining in value,than that means you cannot or will not pay the mtg?
Where is it written if the home declines in value you cannot or will not pay it.
If you arre still employed , you pay the mtg.
Heck, my first house was declining every month in value in the early 90’s.
And if we had wanted to sell it at the time, we would have taken at least a 35% loss.
We did not want to do that,so we stayed and we paid.
There was none of this nonsense that Oh, my home is declining in value, I cannot or will not pay the mtg.
2010 (234)-
It’s like O tells his people to give him lists of the most spectacular f-ups and d-bags from which to choose. You really can’t make this stuff up.
Good to see Stevens has good experience on both the RE fraud and mortgage fraud sides of the biz. That should come in handy as he helps prime FHA for its eventual insolvency/seizure/bailout.
So Qwerty. Last year Jamil says the poll says this. Now he says that the Zogby poll results he posted as fact last year is now a prediction.
Please analyze this with your freshman poli-sci analysis.
Better yet, why don’t you just go down on him already.
[227] stu,
Geez, I guess you are smashed. This is the most exorcised I have seen you in months. What’re you adding to the kool-aid these days?
“World Savings Bank” on your resume should disqualify you from any job higher than dog catcher.
Stu (238)-
Leave them alone, and have another drink. They’re having a circle jerk and can’t concentrate properly.
Nom,
Just having some fun. Off to take the little one to soccer.
#207 clot:he gets executed, right?
No, he goes to Washington.
Stu (242)-
“Off to take the little one to soccer.”
When it’s time, bring him to me. It’ll be my pleasure to teach him the black art of two-footed, studs-up tackling.
What about now-popular mixed martial arts?
Then after your tot gets his/her college degree,
apply that mindset to the financial world!
[#236 3b]
I know, you signed your name on the dotted line, you have to pay. Never understood the concept behind “jiggle mail”.
Clot,
do you know of any adult outdoor soccer leagues in NNJ? I’m getting the hankering to lace em up once again.
“Never understood the concept behind “jiggle mail”.”
Why not? Is it written into your contract that you cannot walk away from your home? The banks knew that it was a possibility when giving the loan. They did not do their due diligence. It is a non-recourse loan, no one to blame but themselves.
“I’m so done with you half-wit”
– Surely, you are being too generous.
do you know of any adult outdoor soccer leagues in NNJ?
Morristown had/has a big one. Think they play down at a school on James St.
dink (247)-
Not a bad place to play. Look under “soccer leagues” tab:
http://www.soccercenters.com/
eighth-wit?
Kettle1 says:
March 19, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Take a look
http://govbudget.com/front/?p=spending
Now ask yourself the question: what happens as entitlement programs expand, tax receipts drop and the value of the US dollar drops therefore driving up borrowing costs and increasing our interest payments?
i have no idea, but i sure would like to know!
SRS back on the boil. Boy, Weasel Face really showed us.
yikes (253)-
Can I have “Total Societal Breakdown” for $400, Alex?
Seneca says:
March 19, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Those of you into bulk purchases of shiny stuff, where the hell are you gonna keep it? What does one of those monster boxes weigh? 30, 40 lbs?
Lots of you are talking about buying up all you can but it ain’t gonna fit in your safe deposit box and most wall safes aren’t gonna hold too much coin. So what. You just toss it on the book shelf between Quotations from Chairman Mao and the Betty Crocker Cookbook?
costco has a great safe
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11090711
bolt it to the cement in the basement, tell nobody, sort of cover it up, and who’s going to come looking for it?
oh, and an alarm would help (not on the safe, on your house)
Add “news” papers to the list of bailed out companies. At least George Soros does not have to pay taxes when sending checks to NYT..
“Senate Bill Would Allow Tax-Exempt Status for Newspapers”
“..Under Cardin’s legislation, newspaper revenue would be tax-exempt, and contributions to papers would be tax deductible. ”
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003954802
[244] clot,
“the black art of two-footed, studs-up tackling.”
Too obvious and limited. I prefer full body slide tackles and low hip checks that don’t trip the opponent up, but will lift them off their stride, just like a police PIT maneuver.
Mish, killing it again today:
“Krugman might counter that forcing long-term rates down will lower rates on mortgages. It will do no such thing. Mortgage rates long ago disconnected from the 10-year treasury, primarily because of rising default risk. This is why the Fed has a separate facility dealing specifically with mortgage rates.”
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/03/krugmans-200-billion-lunch.html
[257] jamil
Wow, that’s a potential pandora’s box. Does that mean advertising will no longer be unrelated business taxable income????
OTOH, I could now get Grim his tax exempt status. But it isn’t helpful for the rest of us unless I can also get him public charity status.
So no Stu, your subscription to the NYT will not be tax deductible.
plume (258)-
My fave is while tracking back on the ball, away from the ref, initiating what appears to be shoulder-to-shoulder contact…while actually delivering a bone-powderizing elbow shot to the lower rib area.
No referees can call it, because they can’t see it when done right.
More Mish:
“Geithner and Bernanke clearly do not understand the problem. The reality is are few credit worthy borrowers to lend to and therefore no reason for banks to lend. Moreover, with rampant overcapacity and a slowing economy there is no good reason for credit worthy borrowers to borrow.
Thus, the idea that credit will start flowing again if bad assets are removed from bank balance sheets is patently false.”
What?? You probably don’t call yourself rock ribbed because you’re not. You’re probably some damn little mealy mouthed wuss. I’m rock ribbed because I am and remember that before you try to start something that you can’t finish.
I’m a red blooded rock ribbed American male. and I don’t play that peanut butter packing crap in that little twisted damn cartoon you posted. There’s women and children here looking at this board dammit, don’t post that here.
A.West says:
March 24, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Retard101,
What kind of satisfaction do you get from getting abused for making up ridiculously stupid commentaries for people who don’t respect your “persona”?
No real person calls themself “rock ribbed”.
Your masochistic behavior reminds me of Mr Slave in this clip from South Park:
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/154682
Maybe we could tone down on the insults.
I am sending a donation to this Senator.
Senator Sanders Blocking Key Obama Nomination
By Ken Silverstein
I reported back in February on the case of Gary Gensler, the former Goldman Sachs employee and derivatives cheerleader who President Obama nominated to head the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Gensler’s nomination sailed through the Senate Agricultural Committee but Senator Bernie Sanders has placed a hold on the nomination (as has a second senator who is as yet unnamed). A statement from Sanders’s office said:
While Mr. Gensler is clearly an intelligent and knowledgeable person, I cannot support his nomination. Mr. Gensler worked with Sen. Phil Gramm and Alan Greenspan to exempt credit default swaps from regulation, which led to the collapse of A.I.G. and has resulted in the largest taxpayer bailout in U.S. history. He supported Gramm-Leach-Bliley, which allowed banks like Citigroup to become “too big to fail.” He worked to deregulate electronic energy trading, which led to the downfall of Enron and the spike in energy prices. At this moment in our history, we need an independent leader who will help create a new culture in the financial marketplace and move us away from the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior which has caused so much harm to our economy.
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2009/03/hbc-90004606
Who is Bernie Sanders to block the nomination of the Gensler chap. I am told by the administration that Mr Gensler is “brilliant” much like Timothy Geithner.
Sanders, Kucinich and Ron Paul are probably the only 3 honest people in Congress.
Sean (265),
Is Brooklyn in the house? I love this guy too but the good guys are outnumbered by crooks and cronies.
It’s like bringing a knife to a gun fight.
206.chicagofinance says:
March 24, 2009 at 1:45 pm
confused in nj says:
March 24, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Does the illegal alien cutting your lawn send the 7% sales tax to Corzine? Probably not, as Corzine provides him with free medical and schooling. Taxes evidently, are only for the legals.
confuse: they pay sales tax and they pay sticker price on medical when they pay….
I’m talking Sales Tax on their Earnings which Corzine put in in 2006 for things like LawnCare & Snow Removal, etc. They are not declaring that Income or remitting that Sales Tax. Remember McGreevy & Corzine have come up with all sorts of creative taxes. Like Harwood Floors are no longer a Capital Improvement, rather Sales Tax is due on both Product and Installation Labor 2006. As far as Hospital Costs, my own Inquiry into obscene charges at Warren Hospital NJ & Easton Hospital PA uncovered they are loaded to cover uninsured, much of whom are illegal.
Good thing I don’t visit doctors or have floors in my house. I just let the snow sit where it falls and don’t even bother.
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/overactive-thyroid/photo//090224/photos_pl_afp/d10dee3c9553c8a1bdccd0a8267ee831//s:/ap/20090324/ap_on_he_me/insurers_sick_people
reinvestor101
“I’m rock ribbed because I am and remember that before you try to start something that you can’t finish.”
You want US to fight China? Were you cheering for the Iraq war in the same tone? Bigger or smaller enemy, on your home turf or away, war causes so much suffering that we’d be longing for days of market crashes. When the sh.it hits the fan, we’d have to worry about protecting our family [which we can’t because a nuclear missile may reach us.] All the steel ribs will become plastic in a microsecond.
S
263…U make me hot u hunk of man meat.
jamil says:
“They should just declare themselves illegals, and get free healthcare, and all the government goodies and they can stay here forever and don’t have to worry about visa. The system is absurd.”
People that are envious of “illegals” getting a “free, jolly ride”. If one is undocumented, one cannot leave the US (unless he/she leaves for good). They cannot get driver’s licenses, no affordable health care (unless it’s an emergency).
The family in the story is British, sold their home in London in ’06 (blessing in disguise — may be a good timing of the housing market), and seem to have been doing well. Normally, the company is responsible for return airfare (for the individual, about 0.5k — 10k is an unusually high number).
Also, given that they are British, they can stay in the US as long as they can (they just can’t work and they can’t get unemployment benefits). They are also probably better off going back to UK, wait it out, and coming back after things return to normal.
I am sure it is a bummer for them, but I don’t think they are in a “pitiable” situation.
S
sastry: they must leave the us in few weeks and may return with visa waiver for max 3months, but re-entry will likely be denied if border agent finds about kids going to school.
Clot, Re:Somebody clear this up for me…if Corzine loses the election, he gets executed, right?
No he becomes the acting president of NJEA,with free lifetime healthcare, just like he has given to current members.
Jim
Jamil #273…
You are correct. I was wrong with “staying as long as they want” assumption. Can’t one work around the school part though? At this time, they cannot even work on a H1 visa till Oct 1 (if they find a job quickly and the quota doesn’t get over)…
It is a bad situation to be in…
S
A friend of mine bought a large house (6,000 square feet) in San Antonio last fall. It is actually outside of town in a suburb. His property taxes are $16,000 a year. The house is too big in my opinion.
What??? Look, you can cower in the dman corner if you want to, but the rock ribbed don’t believe in taking no shlt. Those damn commies want to create a new reserve currency. That’s a damn act of war. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF WHAT THAT WOULD DO TO US? YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE DAMN TRUTH.
Sastry says:
March 24, 2009 at 5:18 pm
reinvestor101
“I’m rock ribbed because I am and remember that before you try to start something that you can’t finish.”
You want US to fight China? Were you cheering for the Iraq war in the same tone? Bigger or smaller enemy, on your home turf or away, war causes so much suffering that we’d be longing for days of market crashes. When the sh.it hits the fan, we’d have to worry about protecting our family [which we can’t because a nuclear missile may reach us.] All the steel ribs will become plastic in a microsecond.
S
” Clotpoll says:
March 24, 2009 at 7:44 am
grim (48)-
And this guy didn’t know when he got involved with MER that he was entering a shark tank?
Yeah, right.
No sympathy.”
Actually I disagree. These people are the ones that are regular folks and don’t make the millions in bonuses. Bad decision on their part? Yes. But they played by the rules and know they have to leave. So yes, I can sympathize with them
Unlike the illegals that comes in here, don’t follow the rules, yet have more rights than those that did. They also are the ones that spend as little as possible, take what they earn with them back to their country. Yes taking your money out of NJ!!! Guess who’s paying their taxes on their behalf…
And who’s responsible? YOU! You’re the ones that want to have perfectly manicured lawn but are too lazy to do so yourself. You’re the ones that’s too lazy to have a proper family dinner and eat out in chain restaurants who’s sole objective is to churn out prefab food to the masses for the cheap. You’re the ones that spoil your children so that they drive new cars and not have to work odd jobs during summers to save up for their beater car they will have a love-hate relationship with. So who has to do all this dirty work… oh yeah…
And it’s the government fault as well to turn a blind eye to this. Bringing in cheap labors never works out in the long run. I could have sworn we would learn from our past mistakes. Civil wars have been fought over it before. Yet people never learn.
Yet those that play by the rules get burned hard.
I got excited and let that last post go before I was finished.
Like I said, those damn commies are playing with fire. The rock ribbed American patriots aren’t going to sit idly by while those commies plot against our damn currency. IT’S TIME TO TAKE THEM TO THE DAMN MAT. If you can’t handle it, Sastry, go crawl in a damn corner somewhere and cover your damn eyes while the rock ribbed do what we have to do. THE ROCK RIBBED AMERICANS AIN’T ABOUT TO TAKE THIS CRAP FROM THE COMMIES LYING DOWN.
I got excited and let that last post go
You got all excited thinking about rock ribs and “taking `em to the mat”, huh?
reingester I bet you can really work that mouf of yours you big loser.
vic (267)-
And, much to our entertainment benefit, all three of them are certifiable lunatics.
“Sanders, Kucinich and Ron Paul are probably the only 3 honest people in Congress.”
I’ve mentioned “Rock Ribbed Americans” on several occasions today and it occured to me that some of you here might not understand what that means. Allow me to illuminate for those who may be unfamiliar with this term. In addition to a reference to physical fitness, rock ribbed also emcompasses those Americans who believe strongly in the primacy of America from a political and economic standpoint. Accordingly, those who subscribe to “rock ribness” generally take exception to any potential threat or change that would challenge American primacy. The undersigned counts himself among those Americans of the rock ribbed class and, accordingly, has a problem with Chinese noises about a new currency regime. Those of the rocked ribbed view maintain that US leadership is very much required and we are prepared to address any challenges to it.
Sincerely,
R. E. Investor, 101
I’ve mentioned “Rock Ribbed Americans” on several occasions today and it occured to me that some of you here might not understand what that means. Allow me to illuminate for those who may be unfamiliar with this term. In addition to a reference to physical fitness, rock ribbed also emcompasses those Americans who believe strongly in the primacy of America from a political and economic standpoint. Accordingly, those who subscribe to “rock ribness” generally take exception to any potential threat or change that would challenge American primacy. The undersigned counts himself among those Americans of the rock ribbed class and, accordingly, has a problem with Chinese noises about a new currency regime. Those of the rocked ribbed view maintain that US leadership is very much required and we are prepared to address any challenges to it.
Sincerely,
R. E. Investor, 101
I am not here for long but it seems this reinvestor is a bad colbert wannabe. What’s the purpose if you are not funny?
Sean (265)-
It is indeed an odd day when an avowed soci@list sounds more like Barry Goldwater than any 25 Repugs you could put in front of a microphone.
You’re just itching to get put on the list aren’t you?
toshiro_mifune says:
March 24, 2009 at 6:44 pm
I got excited and let that last post go
You got all excited thinking about rock ribs and “taking `em to the mat”, huh?
You’re just itching to get put on the list aren’t you?
That’s hot.
People here seem to know their economics. So here’s my question. It would have been better to nationalize the banks in a way or another but Geithner et al prefer to keep them up and channel more money to the finance industry, which is clearly bankrupt. Is this their international way to transfer money from lenders to borrowers, meaning from China to US?
I meant wealth not money
alot of you blokes getting carried away with the insults today, take a deep breath.
as for reinvestor101, I don’t think he is a real deal person, just someone out to get your goat. but sadly, he does mirror many peoples perspectives as you travel throughout the states.
To his credit, he has been here on these boards for a few years now and he sticks to his story, for better or for worse, and if you weed through his sillyness, he can say some witty things.
SAS
poor (289)-
I wish the banks were a China/US conduit.
Unfortunately, they are a conduit from your wallet (and your next two generations of progeny) into the their vaults.
poor (290)-
You didn’t get the memo?
Debt = wealth.
Therefore, we have no real underlying problem here.
Is there a roc-rib gap? You know, like a mineshaft gap?
Clot,
Up until pretty recently, I had people I know well tellinf me I was a loser for being debt free. The essential line was, debt,allows one to accumulate more (bigger house, bigger car, fractional jet ownership, etc. — all the trappings.) in less time and is the true measure of success.
So what is the reason for Obama not taking over the banks? It can’t be that he wants us eternally in debt. Also it can’t be that he caters to the industry, as it is not as powerful as it was (?). I thought that there should be some international objective as banks are international entities which will cease to be if taken over.
#293 clot:Any idea what is going real estate wise in Highland Lakes?
Getting goats??? Who has a goat here?? I don’t want a goat. I want my damn money back.
sas says:
March 24, 2009 at 7:18 pm
alot of you blokes getting carried away with the insults today, take a deep breath.
as for reinvestor101, I don’t think he is a real deal person, just someone out to get your goat. but sadly, he does mirror many peoples perspectives as you travel throughout the states.
To his credit, he has been here on these boards for a few years now and he sticks to his story, for better or for worse, and if you weed through his sillyness, he can say some witty things.
SAS
“So what is the reason for Obama not taking over the banks?”
They seem to lack statutory authority to take over “bank holding companies,” as opposed to individual banks.
what a timely release!
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2009-03-24-ford-ceo-pay_N.htm
On the heels of the AIG mess … get the torches ready in Detroit!
This new Toxic asset plan is simply insanity squared, and to match the insanity I am now considering moving all of my assets out of the USA based upon this new plan to bail out the banks and their “Legacy Assets”.
My reason is plain and simple. By involving the FDIC as the latest guarantor in the bailout, they are going to poison the FDIC’s balance sheet with toxic assets. Assets that are comprised of securities backed by the incomes of the perpetually underemployed and unemployed who bought homes with liar loans, homes that they could not afford, homes that were way overpriced and mortgaged at prices that were bound to collapse. These securities the FDIC is not tasked with auctioning and guaranteeing were already doomed to be worth 5 cents on the dollar even before the economy crashed.
Soon our bank deposits will be insured by a federally created Depression era company designed to protect against bank runs that will now have the IMPOSSIBLE task of insuring hedge funds against losses on securities that should have never been created in the first place.
We are truly doomed, and Abraham Lincoln was correct when he said we would be destroyed by an enemy from within.
The NJ ReReport Comedy Hour.
I love goat cheese and kid gloves. Maybe I should get some goats. That’ll thrill the neighbors.
Geitner plan:
malinvestment must be liquidated, since they can’t take it to a bankrupcy court, they will print massive money & credit and everyone pays via inflation tax.
Its a shell game.
SAS
bi says:
March 19, 2009 at 11:22 pm
412#, this is just a simplified exmple. to me this is very unfair to a group of people. for example, some comanies such JP Morgan did not seek tarp money in the first place but now they are subjected to the same penalty.
cry me a river you uninformed imbecile
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ae7belr8ExkM
Susan Wachter’s interview with Bloomberg radio – all housing. “Parts of the country are in depression”
poor (296)-
Banks not as powerful as they used to be?
Hell, they’re even more powerful now than they were when things were good. They can now use their incipient insolvency as a blackmail threat to pry more free money and favors out of the gubmint.
Banks are their own, efficient, self-contained doomsday machines.
What better negotiating tool can an entity have?
Shore (303)-
How are your goat-skinning and tannery skills?
sas (304)-
A giant, complex and complete swindle that will destroy the world financial system.
Revelations says:
March 23, 2009 at 11:16 pm
@28, Got it. Thanks.
Got burned beating a seller down to near a ~2004 price (no offers for a year), and 2 days after hitting a stalemate, it’s under contract for ~$5K more than we were pitching… Asked my realtor how they arrived at that exact number, and he believed the sellers arranged it with another interested party out of spite.
Thanks for the info.
is that for real? damn. got a feeling the house we bought tried (well, the owners) to pull this garbage on us. kept talking up another seller and we never budged. really liked the house (i repeated to my wife: GRIM SAID IT’S JUST A ROOF AND WALLS!) and we held firm and ‘won’
Mish’s coup-de-grace from today:
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/03/geithners-arrogance-knows-no-bounds.html
275 sastry: their h1 visa status has been revoked so they must leave the us immediately. Kids going to school is inconsistent with visa waiver terms and is also implied intent of staying. Automatic denied entry to the us unless they lie to the border agents, eg being tourists. If caught, 10 year ban to the us.
“complex and complete swindle that will destroy the world financial system”
I think I am coming to the conclusion that there only one way the economy can ever come back:
-citizens trade in their consumer power and replace it with political power.
SAS
till then, your just squeeling like a pig stuck under a gate.
SAS
sastry says:
March 24, 2009 at 1:12 am
Clot and Revelations…
I am also in the newbie boat. What do you think is a good approach by a newbie? Make an offer and stick with it? Negotiate (I don’t know how since other offers are not disclosed)?
Is the game rigged by the seller’s agent? If so, what is the best way to wade through it?
they asked 600. we came in at 525. they scoffed – but didn’t reject. got back to us in 4 days … 545.
we said 535k, final.
they thought it over … for a minute and pulled the trigger.
had owned the place for 15 years, so they had a decent profit coming to them. but they also had their ‘dream home’ (a foreclosure on 3 acres) that the rest of the family bought into and didnt fight it.
they had priced at what their neighbor bought for in 2006. so we got about 11% off a 2006 price, which some here surely will laugh at (should have gone for 25!).
also, this is in bucks county, PA. IMO (we looked for a year) this specific town didn’t quite have the run-up in the last 6-7 years (not a ton of new construction), so we’re ok with “only” 11% off a 2006 price.
Got any more fries, sas?
I’m running out to grab a Big Gulp.
3b (297)-
Where’s Highland Lakes?
“Got any more fries, sas?
I’m running out to grab a Big Gulp”
you better hurry, or your going to miss the last hour of the biggest loser reality show.
SAS
Dude, you & me and the lifers here are the biggest losers. Don’t need a damn TV show to tell me different.
“biggest loser”
thats really a TV show.
i first thought it was a joke.
Biggest Loser? is that a TV show about people who bought RE in 05?
ha ha
SAS
I’ve been trained and conditioned for 49 years to respond to marketing, buy stuff and take orders.
I’ve watched so much TV that I can only respond to quick, bloated and overly-emotional appeals to my truncated attention span.
I cannot sit, read, discuss and think long enough to formulate logical opinions on political and financial issues.
Therefore, I can only vote for rich celebrities and people who make me feel good about myself.
I can’t quite place Obama. I am listening to the press conference and he sounds incredibly sincere about trying to fix this system. However, his actions so far do the exact opposite.
There a 2 possibilities which can explain this.
1. He is sincere and is being very badly advised by Summers/Geithner/Rubin. They are basically saying to him that if you don’t do what we say, the world is going to end.
2. He is part of the gang and is an incredible actor.
However, he does not quite have the history of corruption which tends to make (2) a little implausible. However, even if it is (1), it is still his fault because the buck ultimately stops with him. Plus, he has Volcker to advise him.
If it is (2), I hope he starts seeing the light soon before it is too late.
“If it is (2), I hope he starts seeing the light soon before it is too late.”
(2) = (1).
If (1) is the case, all is already lost.
“I’ve watched so much TV that I can only respond to quick, bloated and overly-emotional appeals to my truncated attention span”
Corporate media loves you:)
better get me some fries too.
“TV viewing at ‘all-time high,’ Nielsen says”
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/02/24/us.video.nielsen/
#318 clot; Sussex.
Matthew @ 151, Sastry, and Clot from ~200 posts ago (I can’t post during the day)
Thanks for the comments.
I think I got cocky with a 50% DP, and figured “what are the odds of another strong offer coming along at the same time?” Apparently better than I thought. (well, we’ll see if it gets through closing)
In the mean time, I’ve given up touring the homes that flippers thought maintained themselves and guaranteed a profit at sale. I feel like I’m banging my head against a wall. I’m now looking into land and “turn-key” constructions.. I’m sure this will result in more head banging, but at least the home will be new and I can understand the price I pay.
Thanks again for the insight.
Hi Grim.. in mod for the 3rd time out of maybe a grand total of 10 posts.
I’ll try again…
Matthew @ 151, Sastry, and Clot from ~200 posts ago (I can’t post during the day)
Thanks for the comments.
I think I got c0cky with a 50% DP, and since there was no activity on it, figured “what are the odds of another strong offer coming along at the same time?” Apparently better than I thought. (well, we’ll see if it gets through closing)
In the mean time, I’ve given up touring the homes that flippers thought maintained themselves and guaranteed a profit at sale. I feel like I’m banging my head against a wall. I’m now looking into land and “turn-key” constructions.. I’m sure this will result in more head banging, but at least the home will be new and I can understand the price I pay.
Thanks again for the insight.
jamil says:
March 24, 2009 at 8:32 am
““Merrill Lynch left us on the streets,” says Nita, 39, who now nurses a chronic headache. “I’m just so angry and scared. What the hell is going to happen to us?””
This sucks big time. Apparently, they intend to follow the law. They should just declare themselves illegals, and get free healthcare, and all the government goodies and they can stay here forever and don’t have to worry about visa. The system is absurd.
douche.
The culprit was c0cky.
Looks like Costa Rica is a popular idea for a place to escape to. The owner of Cafe Soundz (punk/goth/industrial record store in Montclair) is selling Cafe Soundz and moving to Costa Rica. I wonder if I can get a pass to that compound.
Yikes [316]
We made a very similar offer here in Middletown. List was 585, we offered 500 with the intention of coming up to maybe 520 or so. Only comp was 525K back in October for a house that needed work. Seller refused to counter and pulled the house off the market one week later.
Clot/Stu –
You might find this very intersting. This graphic shows the marks at which C and the other zombies are valuing their MBS “assets”. C is actually keeping RMBS on their books @ 94% and their CMBS @ 100%.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FM71j6-VkNE/Scka7JcKKeI/AAAAAAAABkA/pS34gaIK1jY/s1600-h/toxic+assets.jpg
““TV viewing at ‘all-time high,’ Nielsen says””
That’s because they removed our ratings box about 6 months ago.
How’s the nut house doing tonight?
Taking this into consideration, it does not seem like the PPIP would work. The whole point of this exercise was for the banks to avoid taking writedowns.
So, the investors would deliberately overpay for the assets. If they are marking these assets @ 95c/dollar, where is the upside for the investor if they make an offer close to the mark?
Victorian,
Not surprised at all. Would have expected no less from these gorilla-sized looters.
re-watching that bernanke interview on 60 mins (via tivo) and the guy got 1590 out of 1600 on the SAT?
impressive.
ironic that the home he grew up in was foreclosed upon by the most recent tenant
Victorian,
Aren’t these marked up to thwart the appearance of insolvency?
In reality, how can they even be marked when it is truly impossible to determine their fair value. Perhaps the gubmint can pay Moody’s or S&P 500 to value them. It always worked in the past. No conflict of interest there.
(261) Clot
A good shot. I prefer an elbow into the stomach, just below the sternum. From there, and keeping the elbow in the gut, either slam fist up to nose or down to nether regions. Good double shot we learned in karate but it is useful for your play. Very painful.
And as for all the talk about rock-ribbed, I am certain I ama rock-ribbed american. They are there all right, somewhere beneath all this fat.
Stu,
I don’t think they are marked “up” per se, but rather are not marked “down”. The banks are basically saying that these assets are worth what they originally paid for them.
No wonder, the “stress” tests were abandoned pretty soon. No sign/word of the results.
I think socipaths have more fun. No shame, conscience, remorse, empathy. Plus you get to be impulsive, unreliable, and shallow.
Victorian,
Stress testing the banks would be like building a bridge made of balsa wood and letting Oprah jump on it.
http://harryallen.info/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/oprah.jpg
Re 323
Option 3 ( impossible, I know)
You are wrong.
#340 Sociopaths. Sounds good to me. I’ve been responsible my whole life. Where do I sign up?
#343 Outofstater,
I’m working on it. Caring and having a conscience don’t seem to get a person too far in life. It’s like saving money for retirement and living within your means. The spenders and borrowers had a good time while I get stuck with the bill and watch my savings and retirement fund get crushed.
I feel like a sucker.
Doh! Sociopaths don’t feel. Need to work on that some more.
outofstater 343
“where do I sign up?”
safeashouses 340
“sociopaths”
http://www.mcafee.cc/Bin/sb.html
You can sign up for lessons with my sister.
-her sisters all hate her
-her father has disowned her
-she is inches from being arrested/committed.
-her downward spiral is painful to watch.
Sure you wanna be this?
sl
Dink says:
March 24, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Stu wins. Jamil loses. Again.
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/03/worst-pollster-in-world-strikes-again.html
jamil reminds me of al sharpton. clueless, ineffective, and grating.
Yikes @317:
Yeah it took awhile, but I got them down ‘almost’ to my magic number. I thought they’d bite for sure. Instead, either someone called for a look or the seller agent did an impromptu open house that w/e, and I think the owners said “give us $5K more than these guys and it’s yours”. They jumped on it (what luck! an unexpected offer of tens of thousands off asking from the sellers!) It hurt a bit b/c I did ALOT of research to get at that number, and someone else sort of fell into it.
#345 Jeez, sl, on second thought, no. That link is a special version of hell I’ve never encountered. I hope you and the rest of your family have plenty of barriers, physical and psychological as protection against your sister. Guess I shouldn’t be so flip. I’m sorry.
reinvestor101 says:
March 24, 2009 at 4:40 pm
What?? You probably don’t call yourself rock ribbed because you’re not. You’re probably some damn little mealy mouthed wuss. I’m rock ribbed because I am and remember that before you try to start something that you can’t finish.
I’m a red blooded rock ribbed American male. and I don’t play that peanut butter packing crap in that little twisted damn cartoon you posted. There’s women and children here looking at this board dammit, don’t post that here.
you’re a fool.
*gosh i fall for his lame, stupid garbage everytime*
(man i’d love to see re-investor in public … you know he’s a shrimpy nothing with moobs and a napolean complex)
3b I have a good handle on RE in Highland Lakes (my town). You looking for a summer place or plan on moving to my neck of the woods?
P.S. Sorry if this link has been posted, but does this make any sense??
http://money.cnn.com/2009/03/20/real_estate/smart_shopping_Senichs/index.htm?postversion=2009032414
“A counter-offer was made and, after negotiations, the seller agreed to $480,000.
Helping make it affordable was the great deal they got on their mortgage. After analyzing their options, they made what many might think is a surprising choice: They financed 92% of the deal with an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM).
…
The Senichs, however, got an initial interest rate on their FHA-insured ARM of just 3.875% for the first five years.
…
Their monthly mortgage payment will be little more than $1,800 a month, a couple of thousand with taxes, and mortgage and property insurance.”
How is their payment $1800/mo? I did some payment calcs and come up with almost $2100. Bigger question is why are they still doing 92% financing with ARMs? ..and calling it “Smart Shopping”?
“Paterson orders 8,900 layoffs”
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20090324/NEWS12/90324026
China May Press G-20 to Guard Its U.S. Assets, Researcher Says
March 24 (Bloomberg) — China’s leaders may press at the Group of 20 summit for specific steps to protect its more than $1 trillion of dollar assets as U.S. fiscal policies risk sparking a “currency war,” a senior Chinese researcher said.
The dollar weakened after the Federal Reserve said March 18 it would buy as much as $300 billion of Treasuries and the U.S. this week outlined plans to buy as much as $1 trillion of illiquid bank assets.
U.S. purchases of Treasuries are “irresponsible” because they may weaken the dollar, Li Xiangyang, of the government- backed Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told a forum in Beijing today. “Chinese leaders are likely to articulate their concern to their U.S. counterparts strongly and ask for specific measures.”
President Barack Obama is relying on China to continue its purchases of Treasuries as the government seeks to fund a $787 billion stimulus package and a deficit this year forecast to reach $1.5 trillion. China’s President Hu Jintao is due to meet with his U.S. counterpart at the G-20 summit in London next week.
“China is a hostage,” said Andy Xie, an independent Shanghai-based analyst who was formerly Morgan Stanley’s chief Asia economist. “China is America’s bank and America basically says there’s nothing you can do to me. If I go down you don’t get paid.”
Treasuries have handed investors a loss of 1.6 percent in yuan terms this year, according to Merrill Lynch & Co.’s U.S. Treasury Master index.
Credit Losses
Demand for the relative safety of Treasuries has been supported in the past two years as finance companies reported $1.2 trillion in credit losses. China boosted holdings of government debt as it lost more than $5 billion from investing $10.5 billion of its reserves in New York-based Blackstone Group LP, Morgan Stanley and TPG Inc. since mid-2007.
Hu Xiaolian， the head of the nation’s currency regulator, said yesterday that China will continue to buy Treasuries and endorsed the dollar’s global role.
Fed purchases of Treasuries are “irresponsible” because of the dollar’s role as a global reserve currency and the possibility that other nations will devalue their currencies should the dollar keep falling, Li said.
CASS is a government-backed research agency that advises policy makers. Li, the deputy director of the CASS Institute of World Economics and Politics in Beijing, said he was previously involved in China’s planning for G-20 meetings.
Reserve Currency
His comments came after central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan urged the International Monetary Fund to work on creating a “super-sovereign reserve currency” that would be stable and independent of individual nations. Zhou’s article was posted on the central bank’s Web site yesterday.
About $1 trillion to $1.2 trillion of China’s foreign- exchange reserves, the world’s biggest, are invested in U.S.- dollar assets, Li said, without citing a source. China’s Treasury holdings climbed 46 percent in 2008 and now stand at about $740 billion, according to U.S. government data.
Li, too, described China as a “hostage.”
“Previously, Chinese officials and academics always felt they had the upper hand psychologically in negotiating with the U.S., as they could easily threaten not to buy U.S. Treasuries any more,” said Li. “Now, that bargaining chip has been taken away.”
The Obama administration sought this month to ease Chinese concern about the security of its investments, reiterating pledges to cut the U.S. budget deficit in half in four years.
China needs more concrete assurances, Li said, without adding what specific measures the U.S. could offer.
The size of China’s reserves makes it hard to diversify away from dollar assets without causing turbulence in the currency and commodity markets, Li said. The reserves “are such a big chunk that it’s too difficult to turn them around,” he said.
Premier Wen Jiabao called on March 13 for the U.S. “to honor its promises and to guarantee the safety of China’s assets”.
We are so f#cked. Time to start the armageddon scenarios.
JBJB says:
March 24, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Yikes [316]
We made a very similar offer here in Middletown. List was 585, we offered 500 with the intention of coming up to maybe 520 or so. Only comp was 525K back in October for a house that needed work. Seller refused to counter and pulled the house off the market one week later.
they didn’t ‘need’ to sell, clearly. our guys did, which is what helped.
the office is a great, great TV show. dwight schrute is a funny guy.
Revelations says:
March 24, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Yikes @317:
Yeah it took awhile, but I got them down ‘almost’ to my magic number. I thought they’d bite for sure. Instead, either someone called for a look or the seller agent did an impromptu open house that w/e, and I think the owners said “give us $5K more than these guys and it’s yours”. They jumped on it (what luck! an unexpected offer of tens of thousands off asking from the sellers!) It hurt a bit b/c I did ALOT of research to get at that number, and someone else sort of fell into it.
it may not close. you never know. wait it out. and then come in at YOUR # (or lower)
“A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have.”
~ Thomas Jefferson
SAS 352 At least Paterson is playing hard ball with the unions. We should give John C. his play book.
356 Very prophetic. Amazing how many of our founders saw the present sit as a threat to the country they were setting up & now here we are.
“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs. ”
Thomas Jefferson
His wisdom speaks truth to self education.
“Geithner Plan Will Rob US Taxpayers: Stiglitz”
http://www.cnbc.com/id/29848741
Fair Haven has cut taxes for the 2nd consecutive year despite less aid from Trenton. It can be done. These NJ towns are simply corrupt, and the sheeple are convinced that it can’t be done any other way. Most of this state is ran by complete morons, we should be ashamed.
http://www.redbankgreen.com/redbankgreen/2009/03/fair-haven-cuts-taxes-again.html#more
james 359 & here we are just as feared. I’m afraid it is to late, happening right now & we are helpless to stop it.
This dude is scary ….
http://www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net/Financial_Tsunami/Thatcher_Model/thatcher_model.html
But you have to admire him.
http://www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net/Financial_Tsunami/Watergating_Spitzer/watergating_spitzer.html
#264
“Maybe we could tone down on the insults.”
agree. plenty of blogs for that
My nomination for quote of the year:
“I can’t fcuking see. Turn on the lights”.
yikes says:
March 24, 2009 at 8:11 pm
bi says:
March 19, 2009 at 11:22 pm
cry me a river you uninformed imbecile
yikes: it is not quite “read my lips you schmuck” but it is one of the best quotes in 2009
#323
“I can’t quite place Obama. I am listening to the press conference and he sounds incredibly sincere about trying to fix this system.”
he sincerely doesn’t get it. he is being advised by people who don’t get it and have never gotten it. despite his rhetoric, he is not an independent thinker, so he just goes along and tries to sell the bejezus out of it.
Chi,
It was a pleasure.
[353] The U.S. had been begging China to appreciate RMB against $$ for a long time, to a little avail – all we’ve got was some 20% increase in value which stopped at the first signs of a crisis. Instead, they flooded these shores with their merchandise and stocked up the huge pile of dollars, T-bonds, etc. Now, they are sitting on this pile and realize that they have exactly zero leverage with us – USD-denominated stuff presents most of what they own, so any attempt on their side to actually do anything to reduce USD dominance will hurt the Chinese more than it will us.