Housing prices down again

[thomas44]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/12/27...jor-us-cities/

Seems to me that when mortgage interest rates are right around 4%, and nobody is buying, you've got a seriously bad economy, regardless of what the lame-stream media would have us think. Apparently, we're supposed to believe that we're in some kind of "recovery". I'm not buying it.
I don't pretend to be an economist, but it seems to me that we need to get big government out of the way for this economy to turn around.
Also, I'm a free-market capitalist, but I'd like to see our manufacturing
base make a big comeback and quit seeing "made in China" on everything. I thought I read a news story recently about how China puts tariffs on our products that they import. Maybe we should return the favor ??
This isn't meant to be a political rant as much as it is an exploration of what we as a country need to do to rebuild our economy. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Tom

[raven818]

Lots of successful business men and women have been on Fox. To the person, they all said they couldn't have opened and maintained their business today because of of the new regulations.

Everybody on the right says they will change the regulations. maybe they believe they can. But once a rule of law is placed into the huge government bureaucracy, it's totally new ball game to get rid of it.

The new tax cuts ( coming out of your SSI )are being paid for by adding a $17 monthly fee to all who buy new home in 2012. If homes don't sell, paying for the two month extension will take longer than the 10 years that's now being projected to pay it back.

Regulations are the growth killers.

[Bobitis]

It's all statistical bs and has no value in the real world. Just more crap the the fed has given the media to spoon feed the ignorant.

Why does the economy suck? Because no one is hiring (cept the government).
Why is no one hiring? Because the fed can't pass any legislation that makes businesses comfy.

I reckon it like 'extending' the payroll tax cut fer another two months. Then what? Do it again? That's gonna make a difference in an employers mind? Hell NO! It just puts off any decision for another two months. That's supposed to help?

I didn't own a home till I was almost 40. What does that have to do with anything?

What truly amazes me is how they figure the employment rate. The IRS has all the statistics. They know who's working and who's not. They have records that span decades. Seems like a simple audit would tell us the truth, eh?

Oh no, can't have that.... It would be so easy to put out the truth, yet the fed avoids it and throws out some crap that the people will believe.

Why are housing prices down?

Because people DON'T HAVE JOBS!

Simple s***.

[thomas44]

Well, yeah. I agree Bobitis, and I wasn't asking why the economy sucks, or why housing prices are down. I understand WHY. My point of discussion is...what do we do to fix it ? I get tired of the Republican vs. Democrat arguments. I'm more interested in real solutions for our economy. As I see it, the solutions begin with deregulation, cutting gov't spending(probably deeper than anyone elected to office is willing to cut), cutting taxes, completely replacing the tax code with a flat or fair tax, and cutting off gov't bene's to illegals as well as closing our borders to illegals. And that's probably just a start ! Who is willing to do these things ? Is anyone ? I seriously have my doubts. The thing is, if we think our economy is bad now, what happens when we just keep accumulating more and more debt, and we don't create real jobs ? I'm kinda scared by that scenario. I feel like I'm just thinking aloud and rambling so I'll sign off now. Good night.

[terryu1]

Right on here! I saw the other day where the median income for senators 25 yrs ago went up from around $225,000 to $750,000 while the median household income for a US citizen sent from $20,600 down to $20,500. a $100 DROP in 25 yrs. The sad thing is that median income had been rising each year until it went into a tailspin several years ago and dropped like a rock in recent years.

[carver]

Originally Posted by Bobitis

It's all statistical bs and has no value in the real world. Just more crap the the fed has given the media to spoon feed the ignorant.

Why does the economy suck? Because no one is hiring (cept the government).
Why is no one hiring? Because the fed can't pass any legislation that makes businesses comfy.

I reckon it like 'extending' the payroll tax cut fer another two months. Then what? Do it again? That's gonna make a difference in an employers mind? Hell NO! It just puts off any decision for another two months. That's supposed to help?

I didn't own a home till I was almost 40. What does that have to do with anything?

What truly amazes me is how they figure the employment rate. The IRS has all the statistics. They know who's working and who's not. They have records that span decades. Seems like a simple audit would tell us the truth, eh?

Oh no, can't have that.... It would be so easy to put out the truth, yet the fed avoids it and throws out some crap that the people will believe.

Why are housing prices down?

Because people DON'T HAVE JOBS!

Simple s***.

Right on! But we haven't seen it at it's worse yet! It will get a lot worse in the next few years.

[raven818]

The mouth in DC is pushing for employers to hire vets. That's a good thing for him to vocalize to the stupid non business owner.

OK, you hire a vet. The feds give you 7,500. How do you manage to pay them the balance of the salary, that's beyond the 7,500?

Business' are scared to death to make any moves toward expanding, or rehiring if someone leaves, and rightfully so. Yet, he's promising anyone who hires a vet a $7,500.00 tax break.

The big thing in the back of the employers mind is, can I do with less employees? How do I manage to pay them ( the vets ) the balance of the salary, that's beyond the 7,500, if I don't know if I'll even be open tomorrow?

Obozo knows that. He's well aware of the fact that business owners know it too. It's just more of his mumbo-jumbo, garbage.

I don't know how many here remember the " open mike " faux-pas, where he turned to Biden and said " I got a gift, Joe " at a political rally and the crowd was going nuts cheering for him.

Yeah, he's got a gift. When I was a kid, the odds were good that I'd get my mouth washed out with soap, for the kind of lies coming out of his mouth.

[jjmitchell60]

I am currently planning a nice size cabin (small house actually_) on one of my farms as a getaway and as a place my family can stay when they come in (have a brother in CA and a son in the military). The ONLY good side I see in even lower home sales is the cost to build is going down as well as to materials. From the time I started this project, a couple of months ago, till the time I will order the material; they expect the material I need to build the cabin to be between 10 and 25% less. Now that is 10-25% drop in price of material in a span of 3-5 months. What is fueling the lower ho,e sales is the high unemployment rate thus less can afford a new home but also the banks are NOT lending money like they used to to even sound borrowers. My bank used to want the borrower to have at least 20% down but now they are asking sound current customers to have at the least 30% down and new customers with a very sound credit score as much as 50% down. People cannot buy when they are expected to come up with 50% of the purchase price unless they are selling a current home and then it is a circle as to the buyer of the existing home having as much as 50% down.
The under 100 Sq ft cabin (more counting sleeping loft) will run me around $10K once i am finished and that is with my son, son in law, friends, and myself doing the labor. I will have very little labor costs involved. Now IF I hired that done I would be looking at around $100 a sq ft so that is a huge savings. As is I will not borrow a dime but if I had to pay to have it built, I would have to borrow and at that would have to have at least $20K down being I have so much equity in all my properties. Coming up with $20K in these days is a crap shoot because with the way the wind blows in DC these days, we have no idea as to IF we will have any jobs in the future. We are runni g near 10% unemployemnt by the governments math but actually we are running a good 25% unemployment rate if you truly count the ones who have given up or have just left the work force for good to live on entitlements.

It is a problem that I am afraid will not be solved anytime soon.

[dons2346]

We just received our new valuation on our property in WA. It dropped $25K but I'll bet the taxes will go up to make up for it.

[Cryptic]

Originally Posted by thomas44

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/12/27...jor-us-cities/

Seems to me that when mortgage interest rates are right around 4%, and nobody is buying, you've got a seriously bad economy, regardless of what the lame-stream media would have us think. Apparently, we're supposed to believe that we're in some kind of "recovery". I'm not buying it.
I don't pretend to be an economist, but it seems to me that we need to get big government out of the way for this economy to turn around.
Also, I'm a free-market capitalist, but I'd like to see our manufacturing
base make a big comeback and quit seeing "made in China" on everything. I thought I read a news story recently about how China puts tariffs on our products that they import. Maybe we should return the favor ??
This isn't meant to be a political rant as much as it is an exploration of what we as a country need to do to rebuild our economy. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Tom

My home has been on the market for many, many....many months. The falling interest rates aren't enough to bring a buyer my way.

The economy has people thinking they'd rather use the funds they have to fix up the homes they currently live in, instead of moving on to a newer, or, perhaps larger home.

People say it's a buyers market...Unfortunately for me, there are no buyers .

The numbers presented are public eyewash....

[raven818]

Originally Posted by Cryptic

My home has been on the market for many, many....many months. The falling interest rates aren't enough to bring a buyer my way.

The economy has people thinking they'd rather use the funds they have to fix up the homes they currently live in, instead of moving on to a newer, or, perhaps larger home.

People say it's a buyers market...Unfortunately for me, there are no buyers .

The numbers presented are public eyewash....

+1

[Archie]

What can we do?

Replace the 'regulate everything, tax and spend' group with 'laissez-faire' thinkers.

Someone said they were tired of 'democrat-republican' arguments. Sorry, ignoring the argument is what caused this mess.

Right now, businesses and prospective jobs are being crowded out of existence due to over regulation of just about everything, and over taxing the remaining profits of what gets made.

ANY vote for ANY Democrat (or Ron Paul) at any level will simply encourage more restrictions and raise taxes on everyone. Like it or not, that's the way it is.

[Cryptic]

I think you all are good luck! My house is sold! (Providing things go well with inspections...)

After several days of negotiations, we've come to an agreement. Their offer came in way low. A counter on my part urging them up another 25k, and, viola! I have a contract!

I'm 30k short of my asking price, but, I'm gonna take the money and runnnnnnn!!!

Yippee!!!

[BobMcG]

Wow, down again? There's just gotta be a silver lining to that. I mean, my taxes just came in the mail and I can't wait to see how much they've come down.

[raven818]

Originally Posted by Cryptic

I think you all are good luck! My house is sold! (Providing things go well with inspections...)

After several days of negotiations, we've come to an agreement. Their offer came in way low. A counter on my part urging them up another 25k, and, viola! I have a contract!

I'm 30k short of my asking price, but, I'm gonna take the money and runnnnnnn!!!

Yippee!!!

WTG...it's a tough market. I'm happy to see it work out for you.

[thomas44]

Originally Posted by Archie

What can we do?

Replace the 'regulate everything, tax and spend' group with 'laissez-faire' thinkers.

Someone said they were tired of 'democrat-republican' arguments. Sorry, ignoring the argument is what caused this mess.

Right now, businesses and prospective jobs are being crowded out of existence due to over regulation of just about everything, and over taxing the remaining profits of what gets made.

ANY vote for ANY Democrat (or Ron Paul) at any level will simply encourage more restrictions and raise taxes on everyone. Like it or not, that's the way it is.

Yes, I am definitely tired of the Republican/Democrat arguments. It's time for ideas. Pro-growth, pro-business, pro-commerce, anti-big government ideas. And they need put into place very quickly in my estimation. The country has yet to feel the full impact of Obama's horribly destructive policies, so I fear we'll still be on a downward spiral for quite awhile until alot of this stuff is repealed and completely eliminated. (especially Obamacare). I'm just very, very concerned for our future as a country. What will we leave our children and grand-children ?

[Cryptic]

Originally Posted by raven818

WTG...it's a tough market. I'm happy to see it work out for you.

Thank you! I'm keeping my finger's crossed and hoping things go well.