We buy houses in Orlando companies – are they credible? written by Eugene Hoffman

Are these “we buy houses in Orlando  companies” credible?

How do I know if the local house buying companies out there are honest and credible?

Well… sometimes they all look the same at the start… but below we’ll walk you through some things to look for in a local house buying company before you should work with them.

Buying and selling houses is a valid and respectable profession that can help communities and house sellers in many ways. But just like any other line of work – a minority of house buyers in any market are the ones who make the rest of us look bad.

There are people who are really great, ethical folks who improve their neighborhoods one property at a time.

And then there’s shady, dishonest people who put money ahead of the well being of their clients and who would sign the contract to sell their own grandmother with one hand while stabbing you in the back with the other – as long as they were making enough money.

Yes, they are out there.

We’ll help you avoid these “shady house buyers” so you can work with honest, ethical, and reputable local companies who can buy your house for a fair all cash offer and close on your schedule.

But let’s not focus on the negative – at least not yet.

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Orlando underwater-mortgage rate among highest By Mary Shanklin Orlando Sentinel

More than a quarter of the owners of mortgaged homes in Metro Orlando were stuck in underwater houses last quarter — one of the highest rates nationally, a new report shows.

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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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