dstark
July 26, 2015, 10:40pm
21
@Doct , wow! Nothing does come easy!
Sounds like your daughter is in the right place! She’s getting married! Your daughter is going to live near you!
You are retiring!
CT1417
July 27, 2015, 2:40am
22
@DocT —you mentioned that real estate is in the toilet in CT. Do you think that is statewide? I will admit that I haven’t been following closely, but it seems that houses are still selling quickly in SW CT.
DocT
July 27, 2015, 2:46am
23
I live in SW CT. Prices are considerably below the peak unlike a number of other states where they have exceeded their peak. Things will always sell quickly if they are correctly priced. Unfortunately, correctly priced means a much lower price than at the peak.
sax
July 29, 2015, 12:29pm
24
Just read that home ownership fell to its lowest level in 5 decades. It is the lowest reading since 1967.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-28/u-s-homeownership-rate-falls-to-lowest-since-the-1960s
dstark
July 29, 2015, 2:29pm
25
@sax , nice link.
I don’t know what was most surprising. The housing ownership number, incomes are still below 2008 levels, or 5 decades ago gets us back into the 60’s instead of something like the 30’s!
dstark
July 31, 2015, 9:12pm
26
This is a good column…
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-07-31/money-tells-us-who-benefits-from-bailouts
Even the Federal Reserve’s zero interest rate policy (ZIRP), in place for so long that there hasn’t been a rate increase in more than nine years, is there to help rescued banks. For years after the financial crisis, their balance sheets remain festooned with so many bad mortgages and soured loans that an early increase in rates would have put those portfolios at huge risk. Now that prices have mostly returned to pre-crisis levels, it is considered safe to increase the fed funds rates, which we all know will have a significant impact on mortgage rates. With foreclosures down tremendously from their peak, the banks can tolerate interest increases. Despite plenty of evidence that the economy could have absorbed interest rates increases almost two year ago – the economy met the Fed’s own parameters at that time – bank mortgage portfolios were still shaky, and not in shape to deal with rate increases. More losses that could have compromised the banking industry’s health were likely.
So if you think that it is just a coincidence that rates are likely to rise only now, when bank balance sheets can tolerate them, you haven’t been paying close attention.
What am I seeing? Cranes and babies.
(Cranes = construction equipment, not the baby-bringing storks
dstark
August 1, 2015, 5:45pm
28
I like this area…Bend, Ore.
Used to be one of those best places to retire.
Maybe it still is.
For young people…not so good.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Bend-s-housing-market-too-expensive-for-young-6406504.php
).