patrick.net

Next come the markdowns . . . then the eroded gross margins.

thunderlips11 says

more chic Target (pronounced "Tar-zhay").

Depends where the Target is. LA, In South Central, it's pronounced "Tar-ghetto"; in West Hollywood, "Tar-gay".

Costco and other big box retailers came along and slowed down Walmart, it was bound to happen, to much market share - plenty to go around.

Kind of a waste, trucking product to two warehouses, and two different store chains, each stocking less to compete, just more running around in circles, the American way.

Can't win, and the stuff they sell you is mostly inferior junk, I finally went into a Costco about three months ago for the first time, looked more like the wholesale Walmarts, also you have to get a membership, you have to join a club - ridiculous.

Wouldn't a tax cut for top earners solve this?

bgamall4 says

Check out this chart. Housing inflation is raging. This froth is a bubble:

http://wallstreetexaminer.com/2013/09/25/housing-recovery-is-an-illusion-while-housing-inflation-rages/

It's not just housing, general inflation is rampant.

Call it what you want, it's not affordable.

I make over 50k a year and I'm priced out, typical local property tax bill can cover my rent for 6 months. I tried owning for 8 years, I was flat broke, totally not worth it!, property tax payment was only $100 less than the mortgage payment, and the upkeep, forget it, at least now I'm on track for retirement again - 55 and over senior housing here I come.

CDon says

That aside, if you need housing to beat all other classes of investments
before you buy, you will never buy, nor should you. Most people believe housing
is basically an inflation hedge, and nothing more. Yet, if $$$ is the end all be
all for you, go with growth stocks, and rent as cheaply as you can for the rest
of your life.

I wonder if there are some of these investment ballers out there with 6/7 digit account balances in their taxable trading accounts as they live with less than reputable characters in the cheapest tiers of apartment complexes. Hopefully their neighbors that live check to check and have no choice but to rent in that tier don't find out about their more fortunate brethens...

I know I'm wrong. That's the fun of it. I think I'm a logical guy, but on this one I'm completely wrong, and it sucks.

So rather than fight it, I just embrace it.

Housing only goes up. I don't want to believe it, but that's just the way it is.

exfatguy says

So rather than fight it, I just embrace it.

Housing only goes up. I don't want to believe it, but that's just the way it is.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/hLFYx6xlhB0

You should link the article instead of linking to your blog where one can find the actual link.

Very lame self promotion.

Here for people who wonder what the hell he's talking about (the link isn't even obvious):

http://www.businessinsider.com/shiller-starting-to-worry-about-a-bubble-2013-9

Lol @ the retard who puts the entirety of his personal business out there for all to see, has it bite him in the ass, and then goes on to call others retards.

That's some fucking chutzpah!

Call it Crazy says

The Professor says

Zombies are not real.

What?? Really?? You just ruined my night!!

Everything is relative. To the people of Haiti, Zombies are real. Maybe not the flesh eating Hollywood version, but, never the less.

http://www.livescience.com/23892-zombies-real-facts.html

There are lots of programs for first time home buyers - they just aren't traditional banks - there is an extensive network of CDFIs and other non-profits that are providing lots of opportunities for First Time Home Buyers to join the party:
http://www.deadlinenews.com/2013/03/30/silicon-valley-nonprofit-buys-rehabs-homes-for-first-time-moderate-income-home-buyers/

https://www.nhsid.org/what-we-do/home-lending

http://lowcountryhousingtrust.org/loan-programs/view/affordable_housing1

The idea that its hard to finance a home for a First Time Home Buyers is an Urban/suburban/country legend.

Quigley,

It's almost like a company town. You work for and buy everything from your employer.

freak80 says

It's almost like a company town. You work for and buy everything from your employer.

And now Walmart sells Rx pills too. CAFO feedlot capitalism is the future of the Matrix economy, with the employees on food stamps and the customers on Obamacare, all plugged into the local cable company watching "Big Brother".

CAFO?

I'm not sure which persons are worse: realtors or church leaders.

Yeah, I'm having trouble choosing sides on this one.

bgamall4 says

Goldman says

there is an extensive network of CDFIs and other non-profits that are providing lots of opportunities for First Time Home Buyers to join the party:

They aren't buying. They aren't biting. If you are Goldman as in Goldman Sachs, get a life and quit screwing the middle class.

It's game over as Smaulgld extentuated....the artificial appreciation will continue deteriorate from here on out

bgamall4 says

freak80 says

Quigley,

It's almost like a company town. You work for and buy everything from your employer.

Think how much more they could buy if they were paid more.

How would that help shareholders?

bgamall4 says

freak80 says

Quigley,

It's almost like a company town. You work for and buy everything from your employer.

Think how much more they could buy if they were paid more.

But they're not entrepreneurs. They didn't work hard. They haven't earned it.

If you speculate in derivatives, run a bank or hedge fund, sell real estate, or just import goods from China to sell to people here, you are a wealth creator.

Tax cuts for the wealth creators give them the money to create things, and build products. And, as we learn from real estate, supply creates demand. The consumer, seeing houses or products - or, in technology markets, solutions - steps forward to purchase these products, creating a spiral of more products and, in turn more demand for them.

Remember: production creates demand. Why do you think we have seen the shrinking wealth gap between rich and poor over the past 30 years?

Tax cuts have made us all happier, healthier, and better off, and every dollar cut from government spending, with the sole exception of military spending, creates greater efficiencies in capital allocation that improve the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the quality of our personal and sexual relationships with both people and animals.

I truly believe that the tax cuts of 1981-1988, and then, particularly, the tax cuts of 2001-2009, have created the heaven spoken of in scripture, but here on earth.

Uh, didn't most financial planners take a bath in 2007, having succumbed to the same hysteria and blindness as the economists who wiled away the hours penning multi-volume descriptions of the beautiful new wardrobe the emperor was sporting?

Criminal.

Clearly she's a practiced hand.

Good thing the FHA is a non-government entity, else one could be forgiven for thinking that the federal government has been propping up housing since Franklin Roosevelt.

Nah. Only a crank conspiracy theorist would say that. And the false flag trilateral commission puts chips in all their brains.

Oh, look: a hologram!

chicken feed. compared to Obamas 10 trillion

....well then what was all this bragging about making a profit " just more spin" for the deteriating housing market!

bailouts 4 all are zirptastic!

get used to it, not going away in your lifetime

God wants you to buy a house! Name it and claim it! Don't worry about the mortgage Ts & Cs, God will make it happen!

Call it Crazy says

What about the 535 in DC, they certainly can be considered zombies, can't they???

I would rather have 535 zombies running DC.

My earlier point was that First Time Buyer have been participating in this current Real Estate frenzy, and I suspect many of them have been sucked in by the claims of last time to buy real estate while interest rates are low......
http://realestateresearch.frbatlanta.org/rer/2013/08/examining-reported-decline-in-first-time-homebuyer-share.html

No I'm not pro Real Estate- I have a First Time Buyer (or potential buyer in my family) who really believes that she will never be able to buy a home if she doesn't buy NOW! I can dissuade her from this false belief.

If Bernanke is printing billions, whats another few million?

The way this country is going I think we'll need another term for debt. First we got to millions, than to billions, now in trillions... what comes after trillions? Is that Googleions?

egads101 says

dodgerfanjohn says

Lol @ the retard who puts the entirety of his personal business out there for all to see, has it bite him in the ass, and then goes on to call others retards.

That's some fucking chutzpah!

why don't you try to link ONE, JUST ONE of your posts that:

1. showed some data or analysis.

2. correctly presages any market or real estate move that actually happened.

3. shows any level of thinking above moronic.

You've been on patrick.net long enough, 850 comments, 23 threads. There must be one that shows an IQ over 80 for you right? right? We'll wait...

Oh I don't need to do that. I'm just some random firing off posts that may or may not be reflective of what I really beleive say and do.

You however have been proven to lack common sense...through your own idiocy no less. Yet you have the temerity to insult the intelligence of others.

You are truly the village idiot.

How about creating taxpayers for revenue instead of reinflating the housing bubble?

In another thread glad we came to the conclusion Zombies are real and are running Washington D.C.

Brainless, dead flesh, incapable of any real thought.

My financial advisor said to take out a reverse mortgage on my home and invest in life insurance, but only the really expensive policy sold by his company.

sbh says

from Washington's perspective, if you don't want to see housing values rise you're just a taker

"Communist pedophile" is the proper term for such people.

sbh says

one of the 47% who sees himself as a looser in life

Complete with people who get off on rubbing that fallacy in your face...even on this site. LOL!

The Heritage Foundation is a known far-right think-tank & propaganda mill.

If a person gets most of their information from such sources, they are going to have a warped view of reality.

Cic,

*BOTH* parties spend huge amounts of money. Dick Cheney famously said "deficits don't matter."

To say deficits are mainly Obama's fault is absurd!

There's plenty wrong with Obama and all other politicians. But blaming him for most of the national debt is ridiculous.

The problems still exist; just different players. The so called "cash buyers" are investors that have "borrowed" money at very low rates. If the house investment/portfolios do not produce a profit; if they cannot hold long enough to produce a profit; we have the same problem as before 2008. Also, many of the foreclosures happened in 2008 because many, many people lost their jobs. Today, we need 2 incomes to pay most mortgages. When just one income is lost, the house is lost.

Again, I do not know if this will crash. I am still looking for our home at a good price within our budget and plan to live there until we cannot anymore...hopefully a long time.

But it remains to be seen...there unfortunately, are so many "shoes that could drop" ....

Call it Crazy says

You wonder why this country is so f*cked!!!!

If the country is f*cked, it's because of the lies and misinformation being spread around by far-right and libertarian "think-tanks" and propaganda outlets. Examples: Fox News, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, the Heritage Foundation, the CATO institute, and others.

Yeah, the far-left has it's kooks but they don't have a whole network of "news" outlets promoting their ideas.

The country is turning into an aristocracy. 400 individuals have *half* of the net-worth of the entire nation!

Money buys politicians. Therefore money buys laws that can totally screw everyone else. What's to stop the top 0.1% from buying a law that reduces their tax rate to zero? Heck, they could buy a law that turns the 99.9% into slaves. But of course a significant part of the 99.9% slave population will still believe that the wealth will eventually "trickle down" to them. Idiots.