patrick.net

The question for speculators is how long will the fake market last, and when to get out before the next leg down.

In the meantime, a lot of deadbeats are getting long rides on free rent, so that their houses don't threaten the value of the bank's portfolios.

His comments on the lack of housing data transparency and the difficulty of getting real information, not phony publicity ops, speaks reams, the market is simply being manipulated to keep banks solvent.

You can't really blame speculators for dumping their money in real estate. The stock market is too volatile. Tech has taken the skin alive from other investors (Zynga, Facebook).

Honestly, where else are they going to stick their money? A money market account? It's like rats on a sinking ship, looking for the biggest piece of floating wood to avoid drowning. Housing is that "piece of floating wood" at the moment, at least until it's completely waterlogged under the weight of the amount of rats jumping onto it.

One thing will always remain true, there are going to be rats who don't realize they need to jump off until it's too late.

Michael Olenick who wrote this cannot cannot find his own bottom, how is he gonna find the bottom for housing.
This is what Warren Buffett said. Who do you think has more success behind his predictions.
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/306749/20120229/real-estate-forecast-2012-warren-buffett.htm

War says

Who cares what either one of them said.

Prices are falling.

LOL. You are so funny.
Did you know yesterday Apple became the most valued company ever to be traded in the history of mankind?
Apple rocks, not sucks.

War says

Nonsense.

Inflation adjusted, CrApple has to cross $900 to go to exceed microsofts record.

http://money.msn.com/investment-advice/article.aspx?post=dd692b5f-f523-4f06-bb3a-730f4853ab43

Why would you lie about something so blatantly false?

Microsoft is dying. All these years trying to improve their operating system and it still does not work. Apple should just buy Microsoft and throw it in the garbage where it belongs.
It's only a matter of time before Apple, a company that defies gravity hits $900 per share.
"An apple a day...keeps the doctor away"

robertoaribas says

Very picturesque verbiage! That's what makes you such a good fiction writer! But prose aside, real estate actually lives in a world of facts...

I suppose we'll see my friend. I actually do hope you aren't one of the rats who gets stuck drowning Roberto. You seem like a cool dude with an active lifestyle, and a cute girlfriend, it would be a shame if you couldn't take her on one of your legendary mountain hikes with your trusty retriever steadfast by your side because you were too overburdened by the stress of holding non-performing assets.

Unfortunately, I have had the (mis)fortune of working for the exact institutions whose expertise is to profit off the misery caused by speculation and bubbles, for nearly 20 years, so I tend to see things for what they are, and the current bump in this low inventory environment is pure speculation IMO.

Unlike true fundamentals (job and wage growth, lower unemployment, positive hiring forecast, true economic growth) which are strong timbers ready to lift the weight of a growing economy, speculation is more akin to a collapsible plastic table, ready to bend and fold at the first sign of trouble. When the collapse does come, it will be hard and fast. I've seen it happen too many times before.

And really? the entire Phoenix metroplex to get the 7,000 per month sales figure?