Fewer Americans view home ownership positively...

Most expect even further mortgage tightening. We asked Kirk Nace for his thoughts on these views of the US Housing Market and he shared "We have been calling for a fundamental shift in the way Americans view the supposed American Dream. For decades this marketing ploy was incredibly effective in creating a booming industry, we are now faced with the reality that, similar to what we find with most marketing claims, the promise was far greater than the performance. Tens, and ultimately close to 100 million Americans will end up being directly burnt by our having bought into the nonsense. Eventually every tax paying American will become aware that housing is not a dream, it's a nightmare and that instead of being your biggest asset it is for most, their biggest liability."

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire Reuters article.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/28/usa-housing-survey-idUSN2779382120110228?pageNumber=1

NAR may have overstated sales by close to 30% in 2010???

Gee, now there's a shocker, they wanted the public to think that sales were far better than they actually were. Is it any wonder Realtors are considered so incredibly disreputable by the public?

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire CNBC article.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/41719022

The numbers are bad???

The other co founder of Case Shiller housing index sees "lots of negatives out there."

Click on the title above or the link below to review the Bloomberg video.
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/66942742/

Home prices still falling...

Case Shiller co creator sees prices going down substantially, yeah but what does he know? Folks, you've been hearing it all along and I just spoke with Kirk Nace again today regarding the future of the US housing market he once again repeated, in somewhat of an annoyed tone "Prices have at least another 25-30% to drop nationally from where they are today, the sooner the government gets out of the housing market the faster it will happen and the faster a true bottom will be reached, I feel like an echo saying the same things over and over again."

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire CNBC article.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/41715299

Wake Up...it's not a Dream

Fox News report on the upcoming, long overdue, dismantling or scaling back of Fannie, Freddie and FHA.

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire Fox News article.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/02/21/shattered-dreams-end-fannie-freddie/

Take your time...

USA Today reports foreclosures now taking 17+ months and expectations are that this could grow to close to 2 years. We asked Kirk Nace what he feels this means to the US housing market, "The longer it takes to work through the process, the greater the total pain which will be endured. The fact we are still seeing this number grow tells us that we are years away from a bottom in the housing market." For frequent followers of this site, Kirk Nace has been sharing for years that this correction will far greater in both depth and duration than either The National Association of Realtors or our elected officials in D.C. would have us believe.

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire USA Today article.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2011-02-21-unpaidmortgages21_ST_N.htm

Details of the recently reported housing numbers paint another picture

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire CNBC article.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/41620358

Many, many, many more foreclosures are coming

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire CNBC article.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/41604788

Well done piece on the mortgage interest deduction

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire CNBC article.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/41579140

Winners and losers of housing finance reform

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire Reuters article.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/11/us-housing-winners-losers-idUSTRE71A55K20110211?pageNumber=2

Do you still want to wait for prices to drop before you buy?

We hear this all the time..."I'm going to wait for prices to hit bottom before I buy. I can save more money that way." So the question then becomes, are you paying cash?

"Oh no, I'm going to finance of course."

Imagine a few months ago you found "The One" the home that had it all and IF you took action back then you could have locked in at around 4% interest for 30 years, and let's say your payment would have been $1,000 a month (to keep the math simple).

Good news, you decided to wait to "save money" and the home dropped it's price $15,000. Now rates are up around 5% which is only a 25% increase in your cost to borrow. Your new monthly payment is $1,250 per month. So to save $15,000 it will now cost you an additional $90,000 over the next 30 years ($250 x 12 = $3,000 x 30 = $90,000). What happens when the rates go to 6% or 7% or higher? At what point will this home become unaffordable?

So I'm curious...how much longer do you want to wait for the bottom?

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire Yahoo Finance article.
http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/112093/how-buying-a-home-is-likely-to-change?mod=realestate-buy

4th quarter 2010 shows largest housing value drop in 2+ years!

The rate at which prices are further correcting is again accelerating. We asked Kirk Nace for his take "The longer the government tinkers with, and tries to apply band aids to, the housing market, the more total pain it will endure and the longer it will take to reach a bottom from which healing can begin."

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire Housingwire article.
http://www.housingwire.com/2011/02/09/u-s-home-values-post-largest-quarterly-decline-in-2-years

Apparently, it is coming...

Just as Kirk Nace has been telling us for far too long, the costs of borrowing for mortgages is going to go up. The Federal Government currently backs approximately 99% of all new loans being originated, in order for them to reduce this to 50% or less HUGE changes will have to take place and while the Federal Government has been content to spend taxpayer dollars throughout the course of the US housing market collapse, it's probably a pretty safe bet that the private sector will be far more concerned about making loans that actually make sense. This means higher points, fees, interest rates and down payments. As we've been told this will further soften demand in an already weak housing market.

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire Reuters and Bloomberg articles.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/09/us-usa-housing-idUSTRE70R80420110209?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-09/fannie-mae-freddie-mac-could-be-phased-out-under-treasury-s-housing-plan.html

DC is the Best Office Real Estate Market in US - Oh Crap!

If Washington DC is experiencing the best office real estate market in the country . . . click on title above or cut and paste link from below)

Does that mean the government is likely cutting back or growing?
Does that mean even more taxpayer dollars are being thrown away on big government?
How do you feel about that?
I'm pissed!
Since the current administration took office in Jan 2009:

We have seen our debt grow by over 40%
We have seen more Americans out of work than ever in our history
We have more people accepting food stamps than ever in our history
and yet DC and Wall St are booming

How long will you be okay with this?

My friend, Kirk Nace, has long said that we are a nation of followers, afraid to think, afraid to question and willing to just follow along as long as someone else takes care of us, and things are "good enough" because we are apathetic and almost uniformly feel entitled to so much that we haven't earned. Can he be right about yet another oh so ugly reality? Please tell me no.


http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2011/02/16/dc-leads-nation-in-office-recovery.html

We've been telling you it's coming...

Reuters - higher costs of borrowing are on the way. This article explains a few of the options being discussed. Remember Kirk Nace told us long ago that we would return to 20% or more down payments becoming the norm. Will this prove to be yet another issue he accurately predicted well in advance?

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire Reuters article.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/04/us-usa-housing-mortgages-idUKTRE7136K120110204

A do-it-yourself project

Homeowners start fighting back against foreclosures - on their own!

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire CNBC article.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/41406209

CNBC on the state of the US housing market

Sounds familiar, supply and demand issues will rule the day.

Click on the title above or the link below to view the CNBC video.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?play=1&video=1776163448

Wall Street Journal article on home ownership rates in the US.

According to Kirk Nace, "It's not out of the question that we will, over the next 5 years or so, see the overall nationwide rate drop into the low 50's. this is a pendulum and when we look historically we see 60-62% being a stable rate for homeownership. The pendulum had swung to nearly 70% and will in all likelihood swing back to at least the mid 50's, but with the aging of Baby Boomers I expect it bottoming somewhere between 45-52%."

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire Wall Street Journal article.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704254304576116402472968150.html?mod=googlenews_wsj