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.

Read More ... 

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.

Read More ...

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.

Read More ...

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?

Read More ...

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.

Read More ...

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
Read More ...

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: