Rent Increases have outpaced Income growth 2 to 1 by Zillow

If rent is rising much faster than the growth of income there is only two possible outcomes in the long run. Either income will have to catch up with the debt load American families are taking on or the economy will force deflation to occur at a quick pace. Families will not be able to pay for the curent American lifestyle.

The world is facing a slow down. The economist say the main reason for the falling price of gasoline is because of slow down in demand world wide. The falling price of gasoline is not enough of a stimulus to drive an increase in spending in most parts of the world. Debt loads are way up everywhere. Because of the deflation and lower demand soon American exports will decrease and jobs lose will occur.. Very soon many oil well rigs will begin shutting down and a large number of people will loose high paying jobs. There are 1500 rigs drilling for oil in America today, but according T. Bone Pickens more than 30 percent of wells will lay down and layoff crews.

The question of the day is what will happen to rising house prices and will families and communities be able to cope with a decline in revenues?

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Brooklyn Is Now the Least Affordable written by Jacob Davidson

 The study gauges affordability by measuring the percentage of the locality’s median monthly household income that is required to make monthly payments on a median-priced home in the area.

This study was based on a study of 475 counties in the United States. The statistics I have read about other parts of the world is most of the US single family homes are currently still affordable as compared to the worst three markets I have read about. Hong Kong, Canada (Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary) and London are much less affordable than most of the United States. It appears I need to study more about New York because prices have risen so much in the last eight-teen months.
Gene Hoffman

Read More by Mr. Davidson.

 When RealtyTrac ran the nation-wide numbers in October, payments on a median-priced home required 26% of the average household income. In Brooklyn, by contrast, where the median home costs $615,000 and the median household brings in only $46,960, home payments take up about 98% of a regular family’s wages. That’s less affordable than Manhattan — and even than San Francisco, where half of all homes sell for $1 million or more.

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Contracts to buy homes fall for 8th straight month by Josh Boak, The Associated Press

Inventory has been increasing for the number of homes on the MLS. Sales have slowed a little here in Central Florida so the slight decrese in prices in not seasonal.

Gene Hoffman

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes fell for the eighth straight month in February, a sign of slow real estate sales over the next few months.

 The National Association of Realtors says its seasonally adjusted pending home sales index dropped 0.8% to 93.9. The index has fallen 10.5% over the past 12 months.

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Sell butter and make $$Millions$$ greasing the political wheel BY FRANCISCO TORO

Venezula has more oil offshore than any county in the World an yet people are lined up arounf the block to buy one stick of butter and a roll of toilet paper. Gene Hoffman

A recent New York Times article about the protests in Venezuela reported that "demonstrators condemn a wide range of perennial problems, including… shortages of basic goods like sugar and toilet paper." This has become a meme in coverage of the unrest, as just about every story mentions these "shortages" as a reason for the student demonstrations. The word has become a kind of shorthand for the chaos and decay of the Venezuelan economy, driven by bolivarian socialism's uniquely self-destructive mix of economic policies. But how, you might wonder, does government policy cause a toilet-paper crisis?

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Investors closely monitoring Pimco after internal strife

The thirty year bull market for bonds maybe ending soon. The bond market is a huge market. Currently billions of dollars are leaving bonds. Soon interest rates rates will creep up because people will want their money to work for them. The dollars will chase higher returns and interest rates will go up. Many people believe the stock market has peaked. I am suggesting this will have a domino effect in the next two months. Get out while you can and find a safe place for your money.

The investors, including retirement systems, have formally put Pimco on "watch lists," a signal that they will keep a much closer eye its performance than usual. It could eventually lead to reductions in the amount of money they allocate to funds at the firm, whose full name is Pacific Investment Management Co and which has $1.91 trillion in assets.

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Short Sale Valuation Problems by Realtor.org

 In this article it directs a Realtor to the necessary online form to dispute a valuation of a Fannie Mae listing price. Fannie Mae is in a fight against investors. Fannie Mae is helping the Banks sell their foreclosed properties at a much higher price to first time home buyer than the property is really worth. Invests will not pay the high  price of HomePaths' homes. Realtors have the right to dispute the value and a good Realtor should help an investor that wants to buy it.


January 23, 2013

Beginning in the latter part of 2012, a number of REALTORS® across the country reported that Fannie Mae had started jeopardizing short sale transactions by requesting purchase offers at significantly higher prices than market values. REALTORS® continue to report that Fannie Mae’s actions have led to a decrease in the number of Fannie Mae short sale transactions, an increase in the number of borrowers going through foreclosure producing further negative effects on surrounding property values. As a first step to address these concerns, Fannie Mae expanded its online HomePath for Short Sales tool to help speed up its escalation process in order to review problematic transactions more efficiently.

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U.S. Housing Market Mortgage Purchase Applications Running Out Of Time by Doug Short

The article and chart from Doug Short shows that wages have been declining. In Fact it shows median wages have declined to 2005 level. following the decline is mortgage applications. Both wages and mortgage application peaked at the end of 2006, What the chart doesn't show is the huge rise in the median price of a house. The median price of a house has rose 14% nationally. In Florida where I live prices rose over 20% in 2013. With house prices rising and wages on the decline house sales will decline in 2014 if one of two things do not happen soon. Either the twenty percent of people who are not looking for a job anymore find a good job or prices of houses must decline. If income remains the same most sellers will bot be able to find enough qualified offers to float the market.

by Gene Hoffman

U.S. Housing Market Mortgage Purchase Applications Running Out Of Time by Doug Short

For 2013, one of the main stories in housing was the cool down in existing home sales numbers over the second half of the year, in spite of the relative strength in GDP. What was the main reason for this? Follow the data and the answer appears. When interest rates spiked we did not see the mythical sideline home buyer rush to the market place. Rather what we saw was a collapse of the mortgage purchase application index.

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Immigration Minister Chris Alexander reveals contradictions in citizenship law by Jenny Uechi

Should I or should I naught by Gene Hoffman

Should I or should naught get my Canadian citizenship. I had the choice to have dual citizenship before I was eighteen, but then the law changed. Now the opportunity has arisen once again. I would love to live in Vancouver or better yet Victoria Island. It is above my pay-grade because all the rich Chinese have moved there and they bought up all the nice homes. Their houses are now priced as the second highest in the world(I have an article on my blog site).

Read about the new Canadian immigration policy by Jenny Uechi

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Christopher Alexander tread a fine line between sympathy and sticking to government script when speaking about the overhaul to citizenship law proposed by the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act.

Speaking at the Sutton Hotel ballroom on Tuesday at an event hosted by the Canadian Club of Vancouver, Alexander spoke about the injustice suffered by Lost Canadians: legitimate Canadians whose citizenship was removed due to archaic and often blatantly discriminatory provisions of past laws. While the majority of Lost Canadian cases were resolved in 2009, it continued to exclude people born before 1947, as well as creating a whole new category of stateless children born abroad.

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Colorado's marijuana firms beg banks to take their cash By Kim Gittleson of BBC

The Federal Government has found a way to punish people who try and make a living growing plants for profit. They are doing in a similar way(but different) they control the gun owner's bullets. The US has contracts with all the major manufactures of ammo to sell Homeland Security 85% of their product to control supply. This has driven prices more than the 3% inflation(CPI) that is reported. In the article I have attached the BBC article that explains how the US Fed is trying to control the the Marijuana Industry. First they they need to get an idea how big the market is and then they will find a way to get their "cut". The mafia usually wants about 50- 50. We will have to see what history brings.

Look what happened in Montana and how voters changed their minds on Medical Marijuana to De-crimalized system allow people to grow pot for their own use. Other states have done this and it appears to work better in my opinion.

by Gene Hoffman

Article  By Kim Gittleson of BBC

"Let's just say we have a couple of armed staff," he says.
The owner of Pink House, a marijuana dispensary in Denver, Colorado, Mr Klug has armed his employees because he has been unable to find a bank that will accept the thousands of dollars of cash he takes in each day since recreational cannabis became legal in Colorado on 1 January.
"Even armoured cars have been told not to do business with us," says Mr Klug.

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Home deals worth checking out by The Courtant

Let me try and give you an idea how the Fannie Mae, the banks and the Realtors are over charging people with bad credit. Read the last line of the article first. If you do not understand what I mean call me , email me or leave a comment.

Gene Hoffman

email: bearlakegroup@gmail.com



If you're planning to shop for a home in the coming few weeks, here's an early spring buying season come-on that just might save you some money if you qualify.
Fannie Mae, the largest mortgage investor in the country, has a bulging portfolio of houses acquired through foreclosures nationwide. Roughly 31,000 of these properties are listed on its HomePath (www.homepath.com) resale marketing site. To move them quickly out of inventory, Fannie temporarily is offering qualified owner-occupant purchasers — but not investors — cash incentives toward closing costs of 3.5 percent of the purchase price. But you have to submit your initial offer no later than March 31 and close by May 31.

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How big is a house? Average house size by country by Lindsay Wilson

I read an article today(02/2014) in Reality Trac that the median income need to purchase a median price house in San Fransico is $228,000. That was a staggering number in my mind, but what is even worse is the median price of a house in England. I say this because the median square foot of a house in England is 884sF and the median cost has gone over $400,000. That equates to $450sf. The reason prices increase so much in 2014 is because of a loosing of loan qualifications at the beginning of 2014.

Hong Kong has the most expensive housing on Earth by income; plus their median size house is 484sf in size. The second most expensive homes by income is in Vancouver Canada. I have an article about that in my blog.

Gene Hoffman

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The Vampire Squid Strikes Again:by Matt Taibbi Rolling Stone Magazine

Call it the loophole that destroyed the world. It's 1999, the tail end of the Clinton years. While the rest of America obsesses over Monica Lewinsky, Columbine and Mark McGwire's biceps, Congress is feverishly crafting what could yet prove to be one of the most transformative laws in the history of our economy – a law that would make possible a broader concentration of financial and industrial power than we've seen in more than a century.

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Cost of owning a home is spiking in 2014 By: Diana Olick CNBC

Supply and demand will balance out soon and I believe home prices will decline a small amount in the next two years before the next election. In order for a seller to find a qualified buyer two things must happen. A seller must be willing to a sell at both an affordable price and the home must appraise at the selling price. Second item the market must be big enough to attract dozens of qualified buyers with strong incomes and having good, well paying jobs.

Article by:  Diana Olick    CNBC

The sharp rise in home prices in 2013 caused two conflicting results: The return of positive home equity for hundreds of thousands of borrowers and considerably weaker affordability for an equally Read More... large pool of potential homebuyers.

While positive equity allows more borrowers to move, weaker affordability keeps them in place. So which will be the greater driver of housing this spring?

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‘Boomerang buyers’ could boost market by Kimberly Miller

JUPITER, Fla. — Some housing experts are trumpeting changes that allow foreclosure sufferers to buy back into the American Dream sooner than they probably imagined, calling 2014 the year of the “boomerang buyer.”
Revisions made over the summer to Federal Housing Administration guidelines and technical updates in November to Fannie Mae loan approval systems have opened the door for some former homeowners to buy again just one year after foreclosure.
Founders of the San Diego-based company AfterForeclosure.com said last month that millions of banned borrowers nationwide will be eligible for a mortgage this year, while Jupiter, Fla., mortgage broker Skip McDonough said his firm is already doing deals with homebuyers who were forced into default during the housing bust.

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Banks Loosening Mortgage Lending Standards by Philip van Doorn

It feels like 2006 again. I believe the mortgage market is heading to financing sub-prime borrowers. This smells bad to me.

Gene Hoffman

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The decline in mortgage activity in the United States continued in January and big banks, including Wells Fargo (WFC) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) are responding by lowering their underwriting standards.
The Mortgage Bankers Association projects that originations of one-to-four family mortgage loans in the U.S. will decline to $1.116 trillion in 2014 from an estimated $1.755 trillion during 2013, with the wave of refinancing slowing as long-term interest rates have risen.
According to a preliminary estimate from Inside Mortgage Finance, the issuance of single-family mortgage-backed securities by Fannie Mae (FNMA), Freddie Mac (FMCC) and Ginnie Mae totaled $67.8 billion during January. That's down 10% from December and is also the lowest figure since January 2009.

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Housing market pits younger buyers against older homeowners flush with equity by Wall Street Journal

Housing sales will continue in 2014 much like sales were in 2013 with one difference. First time home buyers are through. Cash buyers will make up a larger portion of the market.

GeneHoffman


HOUSTON, Feb. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- While rising home prices are leaving older homeowners flush with increased equity so they can buy new or second homes -- increasingly outright with cash -- younger people are finding it more difficult to buy into the American dream of homeownership with price tags that outpace their income growth, according to the latest BBVA Compass research.
"For these prospective homebuyers, home prices have risen faster than their incomes during the recovery," BBVA Compass economist Jason Frederick wrote in his 2014 housing outlook. "Currently, home prices are now on the high end of a historical relationship between median home prices and median family income, and young families will need to see faster income growth and save additional money to make a larger down payment."

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Republican Party Platform of 1956

This was a viable program and at the I was born this was the direction the United states of America was heading.


President Eisenhower has given the world bold proposals for mutual arms reduction and protection against aggression through flying sentinels in an "open sky."
We support this and his further offer of United States participation in an international fund for economic development financed from the savings brought by true disarmament. We approve his determined resistance to disarmament without effective inspection.
We work and pray for the day when the domination of any people from any source will have ended, and when there will be liberation and true freedom for the hundreds of millions of individuals now held in subjugation. We shall continue to dedicate our best efforts to this lofty purpose.
We shall continue vigorously to support the United Nations.
We shall continue to oppose the seating of Communist China in the United Nations.

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Bitcoin Plunges as Exchange Halts Withdrawals Due to Technical Problems by Matt Egan

Bitcoin tumbled as much as 37% on Friday after the crypto currency’s leading exchange temporarily halted all withdrawals due to “technical” problems caused by increased withdrawal requests. The decision by Tokyo-based Mt. Gox to “temporarily pause” all withdrawal requests highlights the uphill battle facing the relatively young digital currency.

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Report: Seriously delinquent mortgages persist across South Florida By Paul Owers

South Florida's seriously delinquent mortgage rate has declined over the past four years but still remains the highest of the nation's 100 largest metro areas, a new report shows. As of the third quarter of 2013, 15.8 percent of all first mortgages in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties were at least 90 days past due or already in the foreclosure process, according to the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research group based in Washington, D.C. The three-county region has posted the highest seriously delinquent mortgage rate since the third quarter of 2009, when it was 23.7 percent. The group began tracking mortgages on a quarterly basis in early 2009. RealtyTrac Inc., an Irvine, Calif.-based company, releases monthly figures on homes in some stage of foreclosure. The Urban Institute data go beyond that to include loans that are nearing the foreclosure process. While the housing market is improving, "it's far too early to say the crisis has passed," said Rob Pitingolo, author of the report.

Why the Housing “Recovery” is a Farce – Illustrated by Two Charts By: Louis Cammarosano

The economic recovery has been touted in terms of stock and real estate market gains while employment and wage growth have been non existent. During the housing “recovery” the home ownership rate has fallen to an eighteen year low.
We have blamed this unsustainable high price/low sales housing “recovery” dynamic on the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing programs (QE) whereby the Fed buys trillions of dollars worth of U.S. Treasuries and Mortgage Backed Securies (MBS’s) from the Too Big Too Fail (TBTF) banks with money they print out of thin air with the ostensible purpose of stimulating the economy by keeping interest rates low. In reality, QE has been an enormous continuation of the 2008 Troubled Assest Relief Program (TARP) bailout whereby the Fed continues to remove MBS’s from the TBTF banks’ balance sheets by spending trillions of dollars to buy them from the TBTF banks.

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10 Virtual Assistant Services for Your Business by Sara Angeles,

As a business owner, your time is best spent running and growing your business — not getting bogged down by routine tasks and growing to-do lists. Virtual assistant services save you time by allowing you to offload tasks to highly efficient remote workers, wherever you are. From administrative duties to making sure your personal life doesn't fall into shambles, virtual assistants help busy business owners stay more productive and organized at a fraction of the cost of hiring a full-time employee. Here are 10 virtual assistant services to help you get started.

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'Time Is Short' On Debt Ceiling, Treasury Secretary Says By Mark Memmott

Warning that "simply delaying action on the debt limit can cause harm to our economy," Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew repeated Monday that he believes Congress should act soon to raise that limit so the federal government avoids even looking like it might default on its debts.
"Time is short," Lew also told an audience at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization founded by four former Senate majority leaders — Republicans Howard Baker and Bob Dole; and Democrats Tom Daschle and George Mitchell.

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What is the qualified mortgage? By Jim Gay

Oh boy, more government regulations affecting consumers seeking mortgage loans that are eligible for Fannie Mae, FHA and Freddie Mac pricing. Could this be the last? We can only hope. However, for now the letters QM or qualified mortgage need to be understood and dealt with, like it or not. It is one of the final pieces of the Dodd-Frank Act. Whew!
On Jan. 10, QM went into full swing. It contains two main terms we all need to understand: “ability to repay” and “qualified mortgage.” Ability to repay is merely a refocus, once again, on the borrower’s income, credit and liabilities. If you have a mortgage, you surely went through this taxing scrutiny. It is the name of the game. So, what’s new? Extra scrutiny on the borrower’s income calculations and a new limit of 43 percent debt-to-income ratio.

A qualified mortgage is defined somewhat differently than mortgages have been for the last three decades. Negative-amortization loans, interest-only loans, loans exceeding 30 years, and balloon loans are not allowed. Also, a limit has been set on the fees normally paid to the mortgage companies or banks and may not vary even for the benefit of the borrower. Generally, under QM, the limit of points and fees associated with a home loan is now 3 percent of the total loan amount.

What is wrong with this? It sounds like these new QM rules will keep consumers from making unwise mortgage decisions. Yes and no. Qualified borrowers have long enjoyed the options of interest-only loans, balloon loans with lower rates, and amortizations longer then 30 years, but not any more.

Remember, also, that these rules are only for loans eligible for Fannie Mae, FHA and Freddie Mac, which means that jumbo loans are not part of the QM definition.

Most of the details in the QM regulations test the resolve of lenders and homebuyers will never see the complexity involved. So what is the bottom line for the consumer? Associate yourself with a lender possessing experience and knowledge to guide you through any new regulation.

All regulations that make the lending world more complex have the result of shrinking the available lenders that can complete your home loan. For the last three to five years, mortgage companies and loan officers have been leaving the business. Eventually, this trend may result in higher costs for loans because of less competition.

For the family looking to buy or refinance, my continued advice is to find a trustworthy and knowledgeable loan officer as an ally and proceed to accomplish your goals. Ignore the new QM regulations implemented on a national level. Let your chosen loan officer deal with any changes in the mortgage world.

The Nation's Housing: Mortgage experts sound alarm at massive identity theft, data breaches by NewsOK

Downward pressure is being applied to home prices, however because new home starts have been at historically low levels prices may push higher. When new construction picks up in class B apartments in 2015 we may see a stabilizing effect. FHA buyers may take longer to get an approval in 2014.

Eugene Hoffman

The Nation's Housing: Mortgage experts sound alarm at massive identity theft, data breaches

  The numbers of affected consumers are as yet impossible to predict, but mortgage credit experts warn that the recent massive data breaches at Target, Neiman Marcus and other retailers could have significant side impacts on some real estate transactions in the coming months, as damaged credit files depress scores and jeopardize loan applications and home sales.
The Target breach alone could touch as many as 70 million credit and debit card customers, according to the company. Neiman Marcus said that data on 1.1 million of its customers may be vulnerable to fraud. Data security researchers report that at least six other merchants have experienced data breaches from point-of-sale malware similar to what was used in the Target thefts.

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Paper Money vs. Gold Money by Michael Edward and Vincent Cate

This article is very easy to follow and states the facts about the future value of our fiat money printing.

In 1913 the US took a big step away from gold when it authorized the Federal Reserve to issue paper notes that were only 40% backed by gold while claiming they were fully convertible. This fell apart when people tried to exchange their paper money for gold in 1933. Instead of admitting the central bank was bankrupt, the government confiscated everyone's gold, made it illegal for them to hold gold, and devalued the paper to $35 per oz of gold. At Bretton Woods the US agreed that central banks around the world could redeem $35 US for 1 oz of gold. As countries tried to exchange their dollars for gold it became clear US did not even have enough gold to back the dollars returning from overseas. Instead of admitting the central bank was bankrupt, the US said it was "closing the gold window". In reality this was stealing from billions of people. By the time the dollar:gold ratio went from 35:1 to 800:1 the government was able to stabilize the dollar by buying up dollars using gold and raising interest rates to 20%.

"I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you" - Friedrich Nietzsche.

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Western Gold bars have disappeared. Why Germany wants its gold back

Peter Krauth

After spending more than 50 years in foreign hands, Germany's gold is finally going home.
In a recent watershed decision the Bundesbank, Germany's central bank, has decided at least half of its gold should be held in its own vaults.
Since the Bundesbank is the second-largest gold holder in the world, that's going to mean moving 54,000 bars of the shiny metal.

So why does Germany want its gold back, and why now?

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Is the Housing Sector a Drag on the US Economy? by rcwhalen

The S&P/Case-Shiller 20 City Index rose at a 13.8% annual rate in November.  This proves that the US housing market continues to recover, right?  The headlines in most news stories and economic commentaries indicate that the housing market is continuing to improve and with it the US economy.  But if you dig into the numbers a bit, the reality in the housing market is a good bit more subtle than the headlines suggest.
Indeed, it can be argued that the US housing sector has not really recovered significantly and remains a major drag on US economic growth. Back in November 2012, I predicted that housing would be a drag on the US economy and could even drag us back into recession.  The reason?  The failure by Congress and federal regulators to restructure under water borrowers would eventually become a dead weight, limiting growth and job creation, as well as home price appreciation, as it did from the 1920s through until the early 1970s.

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LocatePLUS Announces the Next Generation Skip Trace Tools by PRWEB

LocatePLUS, the leading provider of cost effective, personally identifiable information in the US, is proud to announce the latest in affordable searches and reports in an easy to use interface. The latest data, and easy to assemble reports, empower customers to solve more cases faster like never before. An improved log-in experience features a convenient format that enables everyone to harness the full potential of the LocatePLUS proprietary data retrieval system.
Free VIP training and complimentary customer support are included with every subscription to guarantee a successful user experience. Skip trace professionals, law enforcement, collection services, attorneys, bail bondsman, financial services, repossession companies and private investigators please contact sales to find the right plan that fits a usage profile and budget.

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Housing Bubble 2.0: "More Flipping, Bigger Profits, In Less Time" With 156,862 Homes Flipped In 2013 by Tyler Durden

Late 2013 pending home sales may have been horrible, and were blamed on the weather (though as even Goldman notes "The broad-based declines by region suggest that colder-than-average weather was likely not the primary driver, given slightly warmer-than-average temperatures on the Pacific coast in December") , but it appears the weather had zero adverse impact on that other, most pernicious home "selling" activity: flipping.
The topic of home flipping is not new here ("Flip That House" In These Bubbling Cities, Housing Bubble 2.0 Edition: "25 Markets Where Flipping Homes Is Most Profitable", etc) - indeed that best-known flashback of the last housing bubble is easily one of the best indications just how fragile the current housing bubble truly is as investors gobble up real estate not with the intention of keeping it but merely to sell to the next greater fool, in the process setting marginal prices based purely on the availability of cheap money, money which has now been tapered by $20 billion in the past two months. However, to get the full picture on just how pervasive "house flipping" has become, we go to the source, RealtyTrac, which has just released its 2013 summary of this troubling trend.
In summary:

• 156,862 single family home flips — where a home is purchased and subsequently sold again within six months — in 2013, up 16 percent from 2012 and up 114 percent from 2011.
• Homes flipped in 2013 accounted for 4.6 percent of all U.S. single family home sales during the year, up from 4.2 percent in 2012 and up from 2.6 percent in 2011.

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Everyone In America Is Even More Broke Than You Think by the Huffington Post

The massive and growing gulf between rich and poor is one of the direst challenges facing the U.S. economy. Highlighting this gap, more than half of U.S. wage earners made less than $30,000 last year, according to an analysis released by the Social Security Administration on Tuesday. That's not far above the $27,010 that marked the federal poverty line for a family of five in 2012. We've created this infographic to help visualize the skewed income distribution in the country. Where do you stack up?

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Derivatives: The $600 Trillion Time Bomb That's Set to Explode by Keith Fitz-Gerald

Keith Fitz-Gerald

Do you want to know the real reason banks aren't lending and the PIIGS have control of the barnyard in Europe?

It's because risk in the $600 trillion derivatives market isn't evening out. To the contrary, it's growing increasingly concentrated among a select few banks, especially here in the United States.

In 2009, five banks held 80% of derivatives in America. Now, just four banks hold a staggering 95.9% of U.S. derivatives, according to a recent report from the Office of the Currency Comptroller.

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We buy houses Orlando- Sell your house fast- stop foreclosure

Welcome...if you're Looking to Sell Your Property , you've come to the right place!

We represent a network of literally thousands of real estate investors and a handful of very specially trained Realtors that focus on "non-traditional" or "creative" real estate solutions ".

If you are like most sellers, you want to explore how to sell your property fast and hassle free. We can help! That’s what we do...

We Buy Properties Fast... regardless of condition, equity, or situation. We’ve handled just about every situation you can imagine. We buy with cash. We even have many creative solutions available. We are experts.

For example, did you know there are at least a 12 Different Ways to Sell Your Property that Realtors won’t tell you about?
 Most Realtors are not trained on these options and don’t know about them. Some Realtors know about some of these options, but don’t talk about them with you because many of these solutions simply don’t pay them a commission.

These transactions include Fast Cash Offers from investors, as well as wraps, options, auctions, swaps, shorts, assignments, and many more...

These transactions usually involve selling your property to our network of investors who compete to buy your property quickly, in any condition, and regardless of the amount of equity in the property.

Our investors buy properties for all different purposes including to keep as rental properties, or to resell, possibly after making improvements, or to resell with owner financing and/or on a rent-to-own plan, or even to just live in themselves.

We’d like to talk to you about your options! We'd Like To Buy Your Property!

Our offers can even sometimes be combined with traditional listings using what we call "combo plans" that allow sellers to work with specially trained real estate agents and investors simultaneously to provide property owners with both a plan A and plan B for selling their property.

Wanna hear more? Feel free to explore our website and Let Us Know How We Can Help!

 We can buy cash is part of a national network of investors and Realtors that specialize in buying properties FAST using advanced, non-traditional, real estate techniques that are squarely focused on the client. We’ve studied the market and created a website for you to use to help you pick the solution that best works for your unique needs. We would love to have a conversation with you so that we may understand your specific situation and work together to find a solution that best allows you to achieve your goals. Together we can come up with a targeted solution that helps you.

Traditional Real Estate involves hiring a Realtor to list your home on the MLS while waiting for a buyer, with a conventional loan, to show up with an offer.

Traditional real estate works for many, but it typically takes a long time, can be very expensive, and is less and less suitable for the millions of sellers that want or need to SELL FAST, don’t want the hassles of dealing with Realtors and a parade of picky buyers, and in many cases do not even have the equity, repair resources, or the luxury of time needed to pursue traditional real estate solutions.

If you want to SELL FAST, we can help and have methods for buying homes QUICKLY regardless of the home’s condition, the seller’s financial situation, or even the amount of equity in the home.

We specialize in solving difficult problems. We’ve seen it all and that’s why we know we are positioned to find your solution.

At we can buy cash, we are wholeheartedly focused on helping people that need to sell their homes and are having difficulty working through the traditional channels that don’t meet the needs of homeowners in today’s market. We offer truly unique solutions because each and every homeowner has their own goals and together, we can achieve them.

My opinion of inflation looking at housing prices. The Case Shilling History of Home Values

What is the True rate of Inflation

The inflation rate reported by the US Government has been more or less 3% since 1990. Three factors may effect our "Standard of Living" regardless of the CPI calculations. One is the rising cost of housing shown by the Case Shilling "History of Home Values. The CPI is calculated based on the "House Price - Rent Ratio. The second factor is the "Declining Median Household Income adjusted for Inflation". A Third factor  is the staggering cost of education.



 Housing cost almost doubled between 1995 and July 2006. The chart to the right is from The Case Shilling Report. Housing cost typically make one-third of a family's budget. If the biggest part a family's budget rises eight percent a year the "True Cost of Inflation" must be much higher than the 3% stated value of CPI the government is reporting. It is true that housing values came down fifty percent in many parts of the US, but in 2013 the median housing cost rose again by nearly thirty percent.

The American family's "Standard of Living" has been declining because of improving productivity (overseas jobs and robotics).  The chart below shows both the actual median income and the "True Value" after adjusting for inflation.

For more information
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Median Household Income in the United States inShare5 First off - what is median household income? According to the U.S. Census Bureau, "household median income" is defined as "the amount which divides the income distribution into two equal groups, half having income above that amount, and half having income below that amount." The U.S. Census Bureau currently publishes median household income data from 1967 until present day. Year No. of Households Nominal $ Inflation Adjusted $ 2012 122,459,000 $50,099 $51,017 2011 121,084,000 $49,158 $51,100 2010 119,927,000 $48,415 $51,892 2009 117,538,000 $48,916 $53,285 2008 117,181,000 $49,406 $53,644 2007 116,783,000 $49,341 $55,627 2006 116,011,000 $47,317 $54,892 2005 114,384,000 $45,496 $54,486 2004 113,343,000 $43,544 $53,891 2003 112,000,000 $42,560 $54,079 2002 111,278,000 $41,624 $54,127 2001 109,297,000 $41,458 $54,766 2000 108,209,000 $41,262 $55,987 1999 106,434,000 $39,985 $56,080 1998 103,874,000 $38,127 $54,702 1997 102,528,000 $36,210 $52,784 1996 101,018,000 $34,704 $51,720 1995 99,627,000 $33,238 $50,978 1994 98,990,000 $31,338 $49,429 1993 97,107,000 $30,210 $48,884 1992 96,426,000 $29,473 $49,122 1991 95,669,000 $28,875 $49,529 1990 94,312,000 $28,506 $50,994 1989 93,347,000 $27,391 $51,681 1988 92,830,000 $25,693 $50,776 1987 91,124,000 $24,489 $50,389 1986 89,479,000 $23,339 $49,764 1985 88,458,000 $22,109 $48,063 1984 86,789,000 $20,948 $47,181 1983 85,407,000 $19,494 $45,760 1982 83,918,000 $19,032 $46,082 1981 83,527,000 $17,974 $46,205 1980 82,368,000 $16,542 $46,995 1979 80,776,000 $15,090 $48,520 1978 77,330,000 $13,575 $48,655 1977 76,030,000 $12,132 $46,842 1976 74,142,000 $11,311 $46,548 1975 72,867,000 $10,531 $45,788 1974 71,163,000 $9,921 $47,019 1973 69,859,000 $9,226 $48,557 1972 68,251,000 $8,520 $47,596 1971 66,676,000 $7,896 $45,641 1970 64,778,000 $7,651 $46,089 1969 63,401,000 $7,292 $46,449 1968 62,214,000 $6,673 $44,785 1967 60,813,000 $6,140 $42,934

A popular topic of conversation at the dinner tables in 2013 has been "the Rich are getting Richer and the Poor are getting Poorer". Huge blocks of people in certain demographics are being squeezed possibly on three fronts. Students graduating before 2006 were able to get a fair paying job, get married and then buy a house at double the cost(after adjusting for inflation) of the previous generation. Also the chances are in 2009, when the foreclosures started this same demographic had huge student loans along with a high mortgage.  Many of these same people lost their job in 2009 so they lost everything, including their homes. Why then does not the CPI rate of inflation show this triple threat to our "Standard of Living?


A possible answer is the CPI rate is based on the price of home rentals. The price of renting a home rose at a steady rate until 2006/07 rents started rising faster. When the housing market crashed in 2009 rents only slightly declined. Renters had leases that stabilized their rent price. In 2010 when it was time to renew their leases people moved in two directions. The group of renters that lost their good jobs moved their families in with family or friends. The group of people who kept their job upgrade their home but was able to keep the same rent price range. That means people without income did not rent and people with income paid the same amount of rent. Therefore the calculation of rent prices for the CPI indicator calculates the inflation rate of housing at a low rate of inflation.

The people hurt by this effect were low-rent landlords and people who had both a high mortgage payment and student loans. In 2010 when people moved out of the leases many people were able to move into a much nicer neighborhood with better schools for the same rent price. Thousands of low-rent landlords had houses they could not rent. Landlords had long term vacancies and were not able to sell their properties for any price. Remember nobody was buying houses in 2010, The pace of existing home sales fell twenty-seven percent.

In conclusion three factors destroyed the "Standard of Living" for millions of Americans. Any one of the three factors may have affected the financial prosperity of millions of Americans, but some people experienced all three. Whether paying too much for a house during during the feeding frenzy for a seven year period or loosing a job during the "Financial Melt-down" combined with debt from credit cards or student loans caused millions of Americans to live with lower discretionary income. The time may have come where paying for a college education will not provide the life style benefits as the previous generation did.

Take a look.


Cost of education in 2013 dollars. This is staggering rate of inflation not shown in the CPI inflation

rate.

Read more about college tuition.

from:
 

The Boom And Collapse Of America's 'Subprime Generation' by Chris Porter

Talk about an amazing reversal of fortune! This may be the most amazing, underreported demographic fact today.

• 30-34 year olds in 2012 had the lowest homeownership rate of any similarly aged group before them!
• Five years prior, this exact same group had the highest homeownership rate at 25-29 years old than any group before them!

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/home-ownership-rates-by-demographic-2014-1#ixzz2rKN2PBhb

Vancouver’s housing prices 2nd most unaffordable in the world By Peter Meiszner

An urban planning think tank says Metro Vancouver has the second-highest housing prices in the world when compared to local incomes.
Demographia compared urban areas with over 1,000,000 residents in OECD countries around the world.
They say Vancouver’s “strong urban containment policies” have caused the city’s affordability to “deteriorate markedly.”

The average house price in Metro Vancouver is $670,300, which would require 80 per cent of the average median household income to service the mortgage. That’s more than 2.5 times the 32 per cent guideline set out by Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

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Built-to-Rent New Homes on the Rise by Daily Real Estate News

Thousands of single-family homes are being built to rent rather than sell, The New York Times reports. More home builders and investors see it as an income-generating investment at a time when the pool of first-time home buyers is shrinking.
The percentage of homes built specifically as rentals was 6.2 percent in 2012 — a record high, according to Census Bureau figures.
For example, in the Atlanta area, a five-bedroom, three-bathroom new home that may have sold for less than $200,000 can fetch $1,300 a month in rent.
“New homes still command a premium with renters,” the Times reports.

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| -A A +A Housing Starts Soften After Last Month’s Highs by Daily Real Estate News

New-home construction posted its largest percentage decrease since April, a big fall after last month’s surge, the Commerce Department reports. Housing starts dropped 9.8 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of just under 1 million units.
The drop follows a sharp rise in November, in which new-housing starts had accelerated to the fastest pace since February 2008.
Single-family home construction, which makes up the largest segment of starts, dropped 7 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 667,000 units. However, total single-family housing starts still mark the highest monthly total in 2013, except for November. Multifamily starts fell 14.9 percent for the month.

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High housing costs are killing the American Dream By Joshua Holland, Moyers & Company

Historically, economic and geographic mobility have been intertwined. Studies have shown that the number one reason that people pick up and move to another community is for work: Americans move out to move up.

But something has happened. In the 1980s, we began to stay put.

Here’s Timothy Noah in December’s Washington Monthly:

In the early 1950s, about 3.5 percent of all American households moved from one state to another in any given year. This proportion held up through the 1970s, and then started to fall around 1980. By 2006 interstate migration had dropped to 2 percent, and by 2010 to just 1.4 percent, or less than half the rate of the early 1950s. The latest available data, for 2011-12, shows interstate migration still stuck at a mere 1.7 percent. Though it may not square with our national self-image, America today is a nation of people who tend to stay put, with a population that is no more mobile than that of Denmark or Finland.

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UPDATE 2-IMF sees higher global growth, warns of deflation risks By Anna Yukhananov

WASHINGTON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund raised its global growth forecast for the first time in nearly two years on Tuesday, saying fading economic headwinds should permit advanced nations to pick up the mantle of growth from emerging markets.
But the IMF warned richer nations were still growing below full capacity, and it added the specter of deflation to its long list of risks that could derail the nascent recovery.

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Wells Fargo to stop short-term cash-advance loans by McClatchy-Tribune

In November, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency directed banks to evaluate a customer's income, expenses and ability to pay before providing a deposit advance loan.

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Bove Slams Regulators' New Payday Lending Rules

 Why should banks be allowed to lend to consumers at annual interest rates as high as 300%?

Because the alternative is far worse, according to Rafferty Capital Markets analyst Richard Bove.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency late last year issued new rules to govern "deposit advance products," which everyone else calls payday loans.  These short-term loans -- called "payday loans" by everyone else --   are made to checking account customers in anticipation of direct deposits of salary payments or other regular direct deposits.

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Foster Introduces Legislation To Reduce Burden For Underwater Homeowners by Congressman Foster

Posted By Rep. Bill Foster, Community Contributor 3:08 p.m. CST, January 14, 2014 Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Bill Foster (IL-11) introduced H.R. 3856, the Homeowners Debt Relief Extension Act. The legislation would reduce the tax burden for underwater homeowners by extending the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007. “With millions of struggling homeowners still underwater on their mortgages, now is not the time to cut off this tax credit,” said Foster. “We shouldn’t be offering up millions in tax breaks to oil and gas companies, while leaving working families, still struggling to recover from the recession, with a bigger tax bill.” A recent report showed that a third of Illinois homes are still “deeply underwater,” meaning that more is owned on the mortgage than the home is worth. When homeowners receive loan modifications through their lender, or sell their home for less than they owe, the reduction or cancellation of debt is considered taxable income. Since 2007, Congress has extended this tax relief to homeowners who have received such modifications, so that they are not liable for taxes on the difference between the house’s value and the loan modification or sale amount. Unfortunately, this tax relief expired December 31, 2013, leaving struggling homeowners under more financial stress. The Homeowners Debt Relief Extension Act would extend the tax relief for underwater homeowners until January 1, 2016 for debt forgiven after December 31, 2013. These costs would be offset by repealing a break in taxes for oil and gas companies under the Internal Revenue Code’s Section 199. These deductions are no longer necessary for oil and gas companies, which are making billions in profit each year.

The Crisis in Pensions and Retirement Plans

Source: Accounting-Degree.org

Paperless Accounting: How to Streamline Your Real Estate Bookkeeping by Kenny Estes

Back in August our book keeper moved on to greener pastures and I figured it would be a great opportunity for me to take over his responsibilities: keeping records for 8 LLC’s and ~200 properties.  I wanted to learn the ins and outs of accounting and fix some inefficiencies along the way.  I told myself I’d do it through one tax season.  Turns out…bookkeeping sucks.
Somewhere along the way I decided to overhaul the system and roll out paperless accounting.

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Investor Animal Spirits Spread to Companies Worldwide By Simon Kennedy and Rich Miller

Companies around the world are starting to share the exuberance that inspired investors last year.
As executives gather in Davos, Switzerland, this week for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, business confidence is rising, with a weekly gauge compiled by Moody’s Analytics Inc. at its highest level since the survey began in 2003.

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Reasons Why Existing-Home Sales Slowed in November

Sales of previously owned homes fell 1.2% in November compared to one year ago, the first year-over-year drop in nearly 2½ years, the National Association of Realtors said on Thursday.
The report shows that the overall tally of home sales in 2013 will exceed last year’s level, even though December’s figures won’t be completed for another month. This is largely because of exceptionally strong sales gains during the three quarters of 2013. Sales have declined in each of the last three months at a seasonally adjusted annual rate.
Here are five reasons why sales have slowed:

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JPMorgan settles Madoff case for $2.6B, or 2 weeks revenue Scott Cohn CNBC

It will cost JPMorgan Chase nearly $2.6 billion total to settle allegations that it turned a blind eye to Madoff's epic Ponzi scheme. No individuals from the bank will be penalized, however, and putting behind one of its biggest scandals will cost the bank less than two weeks' revenue.

Why you may ask. 

Chase was Madoff's primary bank for years, and it structured and sold investment vehicles tied to his purported returns.

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Shadow Government Statistics Analysis Behind and Beyond Government Economic Reporting by John Williams'

Consumer Price Index Has Been Reconfigured Since Early-1980s
So As to Understate Inflation versus Common Experience

• CPI no longer measures the cost of maintaining a constant standard of living.
• CPI no longer measures full inflation for out-of-pocket expenditures.
• With the misused cover of academic theory, politicians forced significant underreporting of official inflation, so as to cut annual cost-of-living adjustments to Social Security, etc.
•  Politicians look to expand further the concept of artificially-suppressed cost-of-living adjustments in current budget-deficit negotiations, through the use of the Chained-CPI (see Special C-CPI Supplement at end of this document).
• Use of the CPI to adjust retirement benefits, private income or to set investment goals impairs the ability of retirees, income earners and investors to stay ahead of inflation.
• Understated inflation used in estimating inflation-adjusted growth has created the illusion of recovery in reported GDP.

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FHFA Recovers Nearly $8B from Banking Institutions in 2013

As conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, theFederal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), recovered nearly $8 billion on behalf of taxpayers in 2013 through settlements with financial institutions.

FHFA sued 18 financial institutions in 2011 alleging violations of the federal Securities Act of 1933 and in some cases, alleging fraudulent activity, related to sales of private-label mortgage-backed securities to Fannie and Freddie between 2005 and 2007.

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