Search results

Because Junior graduates from college and needs a place to live so he rents a home. Because Sally's job at the factory is going so well she wants to move out and get a place of her own. Because a tiny drop in housing prices, coupled with a slight uptick in interest rates from a year ago mean...

Since I buy and hold income producing real estate, I really hope that trickles over here to my neck of the woods. There are a bunch of folks like me just waiting for the price of housing to drop some more so we can justify buying it for rental property. This is what I think is forming a bottom...

If you're at the bottom, it is implied that sales, planning, and spending just plunged. You also have to factor in the age of the data. Folks like me who think we're near the bottom are taking these things into consideration, but also looking at how sales are reacting currently. I track...

I might have agreed with you when oil was creeping up and the economy was sputtering. Higher oil costs would increase the cost of manufacturing which would have to be passed on, while a simultaneous bad economy would hit us at the same time. I don't think you can have stagflation unless you...

Last I read, Oil was up on news that OPEC did not agree to cut supplies, but they may do so in February. Just wanted to say that the fact that oil is up makes no sense to me. If OPEC could not get the support among its members to raise prices now, while demand is less, how can we really...

Hey, I don't trade for a living, but wish I could and this place is great for economics. But, I do have an MBA, so I thought I'd share my perspective. Unfortunately, most MBA programs all teach the same stuff in the same way. If you believe that education changes your thinking, then you...

Toll Sees Glimmers of Hope for Housing Source: Business Week Publication date: December 6, 2006 Toll Brothers (TOL) Dec. 5 said its profit took hits during the recent quarter, as the weak housing market continues buffeting the luxury home builder. But CEO Robert I. Toll also...

It is 7 quads in one area forming an apartment complex. I'm (hopefully) buying each quad for $200K. Rents from each quad will range from $2000 to $2400 a month, and I need about $2000 per quad to break even based on my cost of capital, taxes and insurance (excluding maintenance). I would...

This is a little off-topic, and this question will eventually get buried under an avalanche of arguments about how dire the housing bust is, so I figure no harm in asking here. I respect the hell out of you guy's viewpoints even if I don't always agree. I'm looking at taking a very big bet...

I gotcha now. Sounds like you're talking about brand equity or good will of the U.S. ...that stuff can go negative too... SM

No one? Anywhere?

Oh man, I like your posts Hydroblunt, but a lack of cash flow doesn't equal bankruptcy when you have vast assets. Otherwise, I'd be bankrupt. :) I'd gladly step in and take over the United States estate, even if that meant taking on their debt. I could sell off Mt. Rushmore, the statue of...

It is interesting. And the dollar is plummeting. Hey, for fun, I ran a sensitivity analysis on interest rates vs housing prices. If interest rates were to rise a full percentage point from their current value, it would offset a 10% drop in the homes value. So basically, if home prices...

Well...the latest housing report showed the prices dropped a little bit, but sales were up, meaning that the backlog of unsold houses decreased. My interpretation of this data, (and I admit that I'm a housing bull with a long-term perspective), is that prices dropped enough to where sales are...

Cool post. Thanks for the history lesson. A couple of follow up questions: 1. What is your perspective on buying and holding income producing properties right now? 2. When inflation was on a tear in the late 70's, was it generally good, or generally bad to be holding income producing...

I'd buy gold if I could leverage it ten to 1, let someone else pay the interest on the leveraged portion so I could hold it indefinitely, have my holdings in gold increase over time and gain a tax deduction for the depreciation of the gold while I own it.

Scaredy cats run too early.

Since I'm so vocal, I'll play. I have mortgages on my home and several rental properties. I would like to move up to a bigger more expensive house. But I feel that whether the prices of houses go up or down, it won't matter because interest rates move inversly so the payments would probably be...

The value of the dollar fell out from under it, so the cost of commodities and labor to build the house went way up. For the national averages (the flyover states), compare the cost of houses to their replacement cost. You just about can't build for less than $100 a square foot because the...

Gotta agree. Nationally, we've bottomed. That isn't a "tough call" when you consider how many times the national average has declined. It almost never does, because to compare the housing market to stocks, you'd have to have: 1. more stock market traders every day 2. stocks would have...