Modern American culture can trace its roots on the North American continent to pioneering English settlers. Life on the frontier is harsh, and each family unit is self-reliant. In a frontier society, if people didn’t work, and if they didn’t produce their own food and shelter, then they died. Fear of death from starvation or exposure was very real, and anyone who wasn’t motivated to produce something of value to themselves or others faced the near certainty of painful death. [Read More...]
Many issues compete for our attention in the wake of the housing bust. In the sidebar of the blog is a list of topics of interest I write about frequently. However, the importance of these issues is not equal. Underlying most of them is the central problem of the housing bust: moral hazard. Every decision we make in life has consequences. If we save regularly and invest wisely, the consequences are wealth and peace of mind. If we spend foolishly [Read More...]
A Brief History of the Housing Bubble From 2003 to 2006, American lenders and borrowers inflated a massive housing bubble. From 2007 to 2012, this bubble has been deflating, but the bottom is proving elusive. The housing market is closer to the bottom than to the top, and if a viable solution can be found to bring supply and demand into balance, the tremendous affordability from low prices and low interest rates will help a bottom form in the near [Read More...]
Throughout my posts on the IHB, I make references to what I believe is happening in our local housing market. The IHB serves as a valuable market resource to people considering buying Irvine and Orange County real estate. The message for the first nearly 5 years has been simple: don’t buy a home yet. Over the last couple of years as the plethora of market props have been removed, the message has evolved to the more nuanced advice: buy below [Read More...]
I love Las Vegas. I have family there. It makes me sad to see what lenders did to the people there. I want to do something about it. I want to save Las Vegas. Attention Las Vegas Homeowners, I will save your home. I have assembled a team of real estate super heroes. We are Superfund. The market statistics are pretty grim. Your house is probably worth less than half of its peak value, and it will not be going up any time soon. What’s worse, [Read More...]
The banking cartel has tied up most of the inventory in California. A third to half of homeowners are now underwater and unable to sell without lender approval. Many more borrowers are facing foreclosure as about 15% of homeowners are not paying their mortgages. The lenders already own many properties. Between what they own and what they control, lenders have withheld inventory and kept much of the air in the real estate bubble. I think this is shameful. I want to see the lending cartel crushed. Californian’s [Read More...]
The Debt Star has cleared the planet….. For now fellow IHB readers we’re going to a galaxy far, far away. Circling planet Overborrow_ 92620 are the giant Star Destroyers, each packed with dastardly bankers and fearsome asset managers. The Armada, comprised mainly of BofA, Wells Fargo, Citi, and Chase, has tried their best to level the planet and reclaim it’s wealth. For now, Rebel forces have held off the Imperials believing the longer they stand and fight, the sooner will [Read More...]
Properties are encumbered with too much debt, and buyers in markets where prices have not crashed are being asked to pay much higher prices as a percentage of their incomes than generations past. Today’s buyers are being asked to pay for the excesses of those that came before them and sell out to the money changers. Mom, Apple Pie and Mortgages By ROBERT J. SHILLER Published: March 5, 2010 FOR decades, the federal government has subsidized housing — particularly owner-occupied housing. This [Read More...]
Hang on, Alice, as we bolt through the rabbit hole on an adventure to financial Wonderland. Come with me on a fantastic journey to the Great Lakes to save fish falling prey to evil bloodsuckers, and along the way we will save borrowers from the evil of debt peddler, Louie the Lender Lamprey. The Sea Lamprey and the Great Lakes Prior to canals of the nineteenth century, the Great Lakes were a thriving fishery. With over fishing and the introduction of the sea lamprey through [Read More...]
The Great Housing Bubble cultivated a gentility of entitlement, a sordid societal residue, a system of reliance, a conviction among people that they may possess anything they wish just because; deserving without earning; Grace. Divine acceptance is given; whereas, worldly possessions are earned — a basic truth lost through possessory entitlement. Few construct and contribute to the greater good, and many expect easy money from lenders, Governments, housing and stock markets or free-money Ponzi Schemes. We are impaired by our [Read More...]
“The system of banking we have both equally and ever reprobated. I contemplate it as a blot left in all our Constitutions, which, if not covered, will end in their destruction, which is already hit by the gamblers in corruption, and is sweeping away in its progress the fortunes and morals of our citizens. Funding I consider as limited, rightfully, to a redemption of the debt within the lives of a majority of the generation contracting it; every generation coming [Read More...]
Southern California is a beautiful place. The weather is perfect, there is a lot to do, and the people are generally friendly and keep out of your business. For those reasons and many others, I have chosen to make Southern California my home. However, Southern California is not perfect. The culture is infected with pathological beliefs that have led us to the huge problem with house affordability and the impending disaster in our real estate market. What do I mean [Read More...]
Astute Observations