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Although Very Difficult To Accept, It Seems Sellers Will Simply Have To Be More Realistic About Pricing

A report from Boston Agent Magazine in Massachusetts. “The number of single-family homes sold in the Greater Boston area in June fell compared to the same month last year. Homes are also sitting on the market longer and price cuts are becoming more common. ‘Homeowners must be careful to price their home properly as the rate of price appreciation has been moderating this year and even declined in some communities. Homes that are overpriced run the risk of sitting on the market for a lengthy period of time and can become stigmatized by today’s saving home buyers,’ said GBAR President Jim Major.”

From Mansion Global on New York. “The housing market in the Hamptons on the East End of Long Island had a sluggish first half of the year, according to Douglas Elliman Real Estate. Sales dropped 8.7% in the second quarter of 2019 compared to the same time last year, the report said. Meanwhile, inventory rose 84.2% year over year, with 2,557 homes listed in the second quarter of 2019, versus 1,388 in 2018.”

“The median sales price fell 4.2% to $850,000 in the second quarter of 2019, compared to $887,500 for the same time period last year. On the luxury side, defined as the 10% of sales, the number of deals was ‘in line with the quarterly average for the past decade,’ according to the report. But the inventory in that category jumped 90% in the second quarter in 2019 compared to the previous year.”

From Keys News in Florida. “Real estate activity on Key Biscayne remains dismal this first half of 2019. Given the relative uptick in 2018, a bounce-back in 2019 seemed possible, but activity actually decreased by 28% for condominiums and 34% for single-family homes, compared to the same period in 2018, according to data from the Multiple Listing Service.”

“One big reason: condos are priced 17% above average sale price. For single-family homes, the average list price is 37% above average sale price.
Remodeled Mackle houses once peaked in the low $2 million range, but these days, the same price will fetch a larger, elevated home built in the 90s or even newer, sales data shows.”

“Although very difficult to accept, it seems higher activity will mean sellers will simply have to be more realistic about pricing from the start. So far, that hasn’t happened. Key Biscayne’s sold condos were on the market for an average seven months, which coincides with Miami-Dade’s sales pace. However, Key Biscayne single-family homes took much longer to sell at an average 16 months. Clearly, only the best-priced properties are selling on the island.”

From Community Impact in Texas. “Shanan Shepherd is co-owner of Shepherd Nelson Realty, based in Leander. Q: What should you tell your Realtor when you first meet? A: If you’re behind on your payments, tell your agent. It’s going to come out, and the agent can be proactive with your mortgage company to prevent foreclosure. But they can’t help you if they don’t know.”

“Q: How long should a homeowner keep his or her home on the market before reconsidering selling? A: If your home hasn’t sold within 60-90 days, then you need to re-evaluate a lot of things. Is your house overpriced? Ninety percent of the time that is the problem.”

From The Real Deal on Illinois. “Mirroring the overall housing market, luxury home sales in the second quarter posted a rebound from a dismal start of the year but continued a year-over-year decline. ‘We’re advising sellers that attracting buyers at this time will require aggressive pricing,’ said Janice Corley, broker/owner of Re/Max Premier. ‘Buyers are quite conservative when it comes to luxury real estate right now. They do not want to overpay. At the same time, there is no shortage of luxury buyers testing the market, so sales in the second half of this year could surprise on the upside.'”

“The suburban luxury market continues to lag the city, with sales falling 13.5 percent in the suburbs versus 9 percent in Chicago, according to Re/Max. The popularity of condos in new Downtown developments has pulled buyers from the suburbs, which already was dealing with elevated levels of inventory.”

From KSBY in California. “According to a recent study by the California Legislature, it looks like home sales are beginning to slow down, and realtors and sellers in San Luis Obispo County shared their thoughts on the real estate market on the Central Coast. ‘The market has actually leveled off due to affordability, we’re not building enough product in California, so we don’t have enough housing and it’s driving houses up,’ said CEO of Century 21 in Arroyo Grande, Jack Hardy.”

“Due to such a small supply of homes in California, buyers began to overpay for houses, which is good for sellers but it’s causing prices to skyrocket, and now California could be at a point where people can’t afford to buy. ‘What’s happening now is we’re not seeing as many multiple offers on the table, what we’re seeing is when you get a good buyer, you’re going to want to work a little harder to keep them on the hook,’ said the owner of Mariani Realty, Robert Mariani.”

“In this case, work a little harder could mean lowering the price of your home to find someone who can afford it. Hardy says it’s not hard to find buyers in the area but it can be if the price isn’t right, ‘there are plenty of buyers in our Central Coast market here, but it is price sensitive if the property is not priced correctly, it’s going to sit on the market,’ said Hardy.

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This Post Has 101 Comments

  1. ‘Due to such a small supply of homes in California, buyers began to overpay for houses’

    Oh dear…

    ‘What should you tell your Realtor when you first meet? A: If you’re behind on your payments, tell your agent. It’s going to come out, and the agent can be proactive with your mortgage company to prevent foreclosure’

    Double dear!

    1. Got this from my credit union today. ARMs are back. And for people who can’t even afford closing costs.

      Our No Closing Costs1 5/5 Adjustable Rate Mortgage provides flexibility and stability as a first-time homeowner or as a current homeowner. With no points or closing costs!

      The bottom end of the market still looks fairly brisk in San Diego while the last of the FOMO 0-3% down crowd rush in with subprime FHA-backed rubbish loans. The top half of the market is looking anemic. Was hoping we’d be farther along in the unwind by now but they are opening the spigots of the emergency reserve tank of subprime slurry. .

  2. ‘Homes are also sitting on the market longer and price cuts are becoming more common. ‘Homeowners must be careful to price their home properly as the rate of price appreciation has been moderating this year and even declined in some communities. Homes that are overpriced run the risk of sitting on the market for a lengthy period of time and can become stigmatized by today’s saving home buyers’

    I read about a dozen Boston articles this morning. Almost all of them were of the “to the moon Alice!” variety. If that was true, what gives with the price cuts?

    1. John Henry’s wife was a former REIC shill. No surprise the Globe ran two “to the moon Alice!” articles today, both of which cite only local Realtors(TM) from the cartel talking about “buy now or be priced out forever”. Meanwhile, I am watching homes sit on the market, multiple open houses, price cuts, in the most desireable towns near Boston.

      Why anyone wants to pay the current prices here for a tattered up 1930s shack to sit in 90 minutes of traffic is beyond me. Any extra money you make from that magical Boston techbro/biotechbro salary is spent on your crapshack, and you get the privilage of spending 3hr a day round-trip commuting with a 9 month winter.

      1. “…Why anyone wants to pay the current prices here for a tattered up 1930s shack to sit in 90 minutes of traffic is beyond me…”

        So you can fit in and tell funny stories at cocktail parties?

        What is really sad is that these long commutes are incredibly hard on one’s physical self. If the carry costs on your overpriced crap shack doesn’t kill you, the commute will.

        And, like so many other things, we all end up paying for this madness via divorce, road rage and higher [auto, medical] insurance costs.

        1. “What is really sad is that these long commutes are incredibly hard on one’s physical self. If the carry costs on your overpriced crap shack doesn’t kill you, the commute will.
          And, like so many other things, we all end up paying for this madness via divorce, road rage and higher [auto, medical] insurance costs.”

          Yep.

          “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” – Henry David Thoreau

          For most people it doesn’t have to be this way but, nevertheless, there it is.

          A nation of dummies.

        2. Octal77,

          Your post really strikes a cord with me. How people cope with this self abuse in order to be the proud owner of a overpriced shack is one of the sad by-products of a mad mad mad World.

          I feel bad for them actually, if they were end-users. Their American dream is going to turn into a nightmare. They probably thought they were going to be priced out forever.

        3. What is really sad is that these long commutes are incredibly hard on one’s physical self.

          Bingo! Don’t forget the lack of sleep because of getting up earlier than one’s biological clock would wish.

      2. “pay the current prices here for a tattered up 1930s shack to sit in 90 minutes of traffic”

        Denver? Boston? Denver???

        1. And DC. And yet again I question why these tech companies don’t fan out among the depressed cities where there is plenty of unused infrastructure. Small campuses of 1000-4000 workers each. You never need to interact in person with more than that. As for workers refusing because there is no “vibrant” culture, I don’t believe it. Even the smallest cities have a couple Sbux, seeral craft brew pubs, and a community theatre.

          1. And yet again I’ll answer this question: because the employees don’t want to live in those places. It’s not just a “culture” issue. As a tech employee, I need to consider the local job pool. If my job at company X doesn’t work out, I need to be able to consider companies Y and Z. If there are no companies Y and Z, well, then I’m screwed, so I’d rather not work in a town where I have much fewer options.

          3. As for workers refusing because there is no “vibrant” culture

            It’s not the “workers”. It’s the managers and the top performers who make enough to live anywhere they want.

          4. No problem, they can work from home from a dingy apt in the Tenderloin while taking in the all the vibrant smells emanating from the sidewalks, if that’s what they want.

  3. ‘Given the relative uptick in 2018, a bounce-back in 2019 seemed possible, but activity actually decreased by 28% for condominiums and 34% for single-family homes, compared to the same period in 2018’

    ‘One big reason: condos are priced 17% above average sale price. For single-family homes, the average list price is 37% above average sale price. Remodeled Mackle houses once peaked in the low $2 million range, but these days, the same price will fetch a larger, elevated home built in the 90s or even newer’

    Translation – Key Biscayne is fooked.

  4. “A 2013 puff piece in the Washingtonian about Comey said basically when Comey called, you’d drop everything you were doing. It gave examples. You were having dinner your wife and daughter, Comey calls, you drop everything and go,” Gohmert began. “The article quoted Comey as saying if a train were coming down the track and ‘At least Bob Mueller will be standing on the tracks with me.’ You and James Comey have been good friends and were good friends for many years, correct?”

    “We were business associates. We both started off in the Justice Department,” Mueller responded.

    The congressman followed up, “You were good friends. You can work together and not be friends, but you and Comey were friends.”

    Mueller added, “We were friends.”

    “That’s my question. Thank you for getting to the answer.”

    How on earth is this not a conflict? The director of the FBI is fired by the President, and the director’s personal friend is named special counsel to conduct an investigation of the President? What would Hwy say?

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/mueller-comey-and-i-were-business-associates

    2. Comey had to of known that Mueller was the walking dead. Anybody that worked with him should of known he needs to go to a old folks home. This is really insulting that the taxpayers paid 40 million for this miscarriage of justice.

      Seeing the condition Mueller was in is just more proof of a fake investigation to cover up something far more sinister.

      1. I am a non-partisan. I believe that if Trump did something illegal he should be held accountable. However, this is clearly a situation where the justice depts. were “in the bag” for Clinton and the establishment, and essentially staged a coup attempt to try to usurp the President and the will of the people who elected him. It’s troubling beyond words.

        1. Yeah. And it’s difficult to get any attention on it when the media is also “in the bag” and is constantly deflecting attention in any other direction but that one.

    1. Well would.it.knot.bee.sumptin’ Iffin’ one was to have the HB.B ll $helter.$hack$ Bu$t + $imilar 2000 $tock Bu$t happen $imultaneou$ly!

      Ph$aw! Knot po$$ible.ever … Knot in A thou$and year$ …

      #1 or #2 on all the crash listed $ince 1929 is:

      Cau$es of the Cra$h:
      Overvalued $tocks. (Some analysts also maintain stocks were heavily overbought;)

      “A market (or a stock) is said to be in a weak technical position on the bull side when the buying power has been exhausted, either in a small or a large way. A campaign of distribution exhausts buying power in a large way because much of the floating supply of stocks is then in the hands of traders and the public. Sponsors and large operators have sold. Those of the public who still hold these stocks are potentially bearish factors because, having bought, they must sooner or later sell, and their selling will bring pressure upon the market.

      This was the case in 1929. The whole market became saturated with stocks held by those who were looking for profit. Public buying power was exhausted. When these holders started to sell, they found little market for their shares.

      As the price of stocks declined, more and more were obliged to sell, or were scared into selling. The load of stocks on the market increased. Margins were impaired all through the list. Every seller helped to force prices down and thus weakened so many hundreds of thousands of accounts. The effect of this was cumulative. Increasing pressure bore down upon the market, which was totally unable to absorb the gigantic offerings. The result was a collapse and a panic that affected everybody in every line of business throughout the world.”

      https://www.marketvolume.com/analysis/stockmarketcrashes.asp

      1. And wasn’t there a housing bubble pop, at least in Florida, just a couple of years before the stocks finally crashed?

      2. What were not present in 1929 were a Plunge Protection Team or central banks woth electronic money presses and unlimited financial firepower to support flagging markets.

    2. What goe$ up when everything else goe$ down?

      Gold logs sharpest drop in about 3 weeks
      Published: July 25, 2019 2:05 p.m. ET
      Gold had climbed 11 of the past 16 sessions
      AFP/Getty Images
      Author photo
      By Mark DeCambre

      Gold futures settled sharply lower Thursday, reversing a morning climb, after the European Central Bank’s decision to signal its plan to ease monetary policy disappointed investors by not including immediate action or details of its likly efforts.

      The ECB said it stood ready to cut interest rates and deliver “highly accommodative” monetary policy, including additional asset purchases, in its effort to push stubbornly low inflation back toward its target amid signs of deteriorating economic conditions in the eurozone.
      …

      1. So a few days ago gold going up signaled a stock market crash and now gold going down so signals a stock market crash? What does not signal a crash? A few weeks the second quarter GDP will come out and it will be weak, I am thinking about 1.3 percent and the stock market and especially gold will be thinking rate cuts and be happy.

  8. All the averages are off less than 1 percent including the tech heavy NASDAQ. It really does not seem like a rough day. It seems like a normal down day after the markets recent highs.

    1. Warning: The stock market could be about to drop through this ‘trapdoor’
      Published: July 25, 2019 11:42 a.m. ET
      Everett
      WAY OUT WEST, Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel, 1937
      Author photo
      By Shawn Langlois
      Social-media editor

      Back in 2007, when Wall Street was careening toward the financial crisis, the S&P 500 split from the consumer discretionary-to-consumer staples ratio, in a sign that appetite for risk was drying up even as the broader market pushed higher.

      Now, as Jesse Felder points out this week on the Felder Report blog, we’re seeing the rare divergence pop up once again, which should have investors at least rethinking their approach to this aging bull market.

      This chart, highlighted in our Need to Know column, lays out the troubling action Felder says could open the “trapdoor to lower stock prices.”
      …

  9. Not very many following that 60-90 day reevaluation suggestion in these parts. Some homes here sitting for years with no adjustment in asking price, or unlisted and then relisted again to reset the clock. Guess they’re fishing for money in need of laundering.

  10. Says CEO of Century 21 in Arroyo Grande, Jack Hardy

    “…In this case, work a little harder could mean lowering the price of your home to find someone who can afford it…”

    From: The real world
    To: Jack ‘share my fantasy’ Hardy.

    Apparently you didn’t get the memo.

    The market has run out of ‘someones who can afford it’.

    What we do have is a lot of ‘someones’ who can barely afford basic living expenses, let alone buy a house.

  12. “What would Hwy say?”

    Hwy50 says: “a picture is worth a thousand laughs”:

    Golf, golf, golf … “iffin’ eye’m President, eye’ll’s bee sooooooo busy working’ @ the White.House, eye won’t have time for golf!”

    Describing his communications with Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, about 20 miles northwest of Washington, DC, Mueller wrote that in October 2011 he informed the club that he was canceling his membership because he lived in Washington so was unable to make full use of the facility.

    He said he requested a partial refund of the membership fee paid in 1994 and was told he had been placed on a list of those seeking a refund, after which he had no more contact with the club.

    Trump’$ Golf Trip$ Could Co$t Taxpayer$ Over $340 Million$

    Chuck Jones |Senior Contributor | Forbe$ | Markets

    He got $punked: 😉

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EAUtyihXkAAH0rh?format=jpg&name=900×900

  13. https://m.boiseweekly.com/boise/boise-regional-realtors-report-shows-record-breaking-home-sale-prices/

    Boise Regional Realtors released its mid-year report, showing a record high median sales price in Ada County.

    The median sales price of a new home in the county hit $354,405, a new record, according to the report.

    “Ada County home prices have been driven by more new homes selling at overall higher prices, shrinking supply of lower-priced existing homes, as well as, increased purchase power due to low mortgage rates, not from speculation as was common more than a decade ago,” Boise Regional Realtors CEO Breanna Vanstrom wrote in a news release.

    New construction homes are gaining a greater share of total sales with fewer existing homes at lower rates. The median sales price for an existing home is $333,495, according to the report.

    This, coupled with an increasing demand for housing and fewer existing homes available at lower price points, is raising the median home price in our area,” Vanstrom said in the release.

    However, low mortgage rates are allowing homebuyers to purchase homes for lower monthly payments, according to the news release.

    The rate in Ada County for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is at 3.8 percent, where it’s generally hovered since 2012, according to the report.

    1. The far flung western cities and towns which are “cheaper than CA” are still setting median price records, like Boise, ID and Reno, NV. That being said, inventory is growing YOY in all of these places. It’s going to be years to sort this mess out.

      1. People are shooting for the moon on prices – and many are getting it. I see listings, and think “no fu$%ing way are they getting that”, then it goes pending in 2 days. Insanity.

        Sub $350k market is bananas.

        I can also confirm that there are still cash offers for over asking price.

    2. Boise sales down 12.1%, Meridian down 14.1% and Eagle down 11.1% in June 2019 vs. June 2018. Meanwhile days on market and inventory have both surged about 20% in June. Prices will not hold up much longer in this scenario.

    3. You can cherry pick statistics. Medians sales price may be up but total number of sales down. There’s can still be velocity due to HCOL refugees but the euphoric feeling is the weightlessness you get near apogee…

      1. Exactly. This was the bay area last year (spring time). Real estate crash will be more like a slow motion train wreck!

  14. ‘inventory rose 84.2% year over year, with 2,557 homes listed in the second quarter of 2019, versus 1,388 in 2018…The median sales price fell 4.2% to $850,000 in the second quarter of 2019, compared to $887,500’

    ‘On the luxury side, defined as the 10% of sales, the number of deals was ‘in line with the quarterly average for the past decade,’ according to the report. But the inventory in that category jumped 90% in the second quarter in 2019 compared to the previous year’

    The Hamptons prices have been falling for at least three years.

  17. Reckon they didn’t get the dtRumpsis memo ’bout: “Hoax, created bye China!”

    Moody’s takes major stake in climate-data firm as environmental risk plays bigger role in ratings, corporate earnings

    MarketWatch | RACHEL KONING BEALS NEWS EDITOR | Published: July 25, 2019

    betting on tougher investor and policy-maker scrutiny of the climate risks that leave companies and government entities increasingly exposed to once-unforeseen costs and opportunities. Four Twenty Seven, which will keep its name as an affiliate of Moody’s Investors Service, tracks heat stress, water stress, extreme precipitation, hurricanes and typhoons, as well as sea-level rise. Its scores and portfolio analytics cover over 2,000 listed companies, 1 million global corporate facilities, 320 REITs, 3,000 U.S. counties and 196 countries. “Moody’s is committed to offering global, transparent standards for assessing environmental risk, and the acquisition… advances our objective of integrating climate analytics into our offerings,”

    2. “’We’re hiring all positions in all branches,’ Arvielo said. ‘Probably the most exciting thing we’re doing is taking new people on. We take people who don’t know what a mortgage is … (and) we teach them our systems.’”

      Bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

  19. It was never about the Russians…Tulsi Gabbard Sues Google for Censorship of Ads

    Gabbard’s complaint accuses Google of censoring the candidate at the very moment when millions of Americans wanted to learn more about her. It also accuses Google of sending Gabbard’s campaign emails to people’s Gmail spam folders at a “disproportionately high rate.”

    The campaign seeks a legal injunction against Google to prevent further election meddling, as well as $50 million in damages.

    https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2019/07/25/tulsi-gabbard-sues-google-for-censorship-of-ads/

  20. Pocket neighborhoods coming to a community near you.
    ———————-
    Making the case for cottage neighborhoods
    By Michele Lerner July 25 at 6:00 AM

    [Highlights:
    10 residences
    at least one homeowner must be 55 years or older
    The 1,490-square-foot houses each have two bedrooms, three bathrooms and a parking space in a carport
    common house with a kitchen and entertainment space and a guest bedroom and bathroom upstairs.
    which range from $750,000 to $800,000 (surrounding nabe is $1M+)
    Condo fee of $469/mo (but that covers a lot: water sewer trash snow landscape)
    + more puffery about front porches and interacting with your neighbors
    ————————

    $700K is a lot to pay for a two-bed house.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/making-the-case-for-cottage-neighborhoods/2019/07/24/8817f43a-7bde-11e9-8bb7-0fc796cf2ec0_story.html?utm_term=.cd6f92e408c0

    1. A fair bit of cottage style evident down here already. Kind of neat with front porches and allies behind houses with garages at rear of house and parallel parking “slips” in front for guests.

      Not for me but I understand appeal. Nostalgic.

    2. Took the in-laws to see a community garden in a very similar neighborhood in El Dorado Hills a few days ago. Looking on Zillow I see it’s almost all 2br for the price of a 3br. Community is called Four Seasons. The garden was kind of cool.

  21. Per the realtor in this news: got to “keep a good buyer on the hook” maybe just me but does sound like either a bad attitude or perhaps a sign of desperation?

    Lots of listing here on barrier islands stagnating and getting stale with long DOMs. Standoff stage perhaps with sellers unwilling or not needing to reduce, and buyers not biting. True, slow time of year, but last year was fairly active so different that way.

    Seeing a pattern on HBB with multiple articles actually showing capitulation to lowering expectations. Somewhat acknowledging that peak is past. Denial phase may be ending. Of course should see some banter from Yun and Olick pop up soon.

    Were ending, I believe, the slow phase of early decline and would expect to see some acceleration soon as confidence erodes. Hopefully.

    1. Slow time of the year? It’s July, and it’s only going to get worse from here.

      For me June’s Pending numbers are going to be the main event. If it’s negative it’s proof positive the game is over. If you can’t sell in June at the price you want what makes you think you can sell in November at that same price?

      1. Sorry. Should have clarified. I am in SW Florida. Our season is Oct through April. After Easter, everybody leaves to go back north. Our 2 county area loses about half the population during summer. Although there is some summer vacation season for families here, activity is very slow.

        Yes, here November would be much better time for housing than summer in our area.

        2. I hear that about Florida, and my apologies for jumping to conclusions. I live in the suburbs where everything revolves around the schools, so to me right now (since school starts within 30 days here) it’s too late.

  22. “What would Hwy say?”

    Hwy50 says: “a picture is worth a thousand laughs”:

    Golf, golf, golf … “iffin’ eye’m President, eye’ll’s bee sooooooo busy working’ @ the White.House, eye won’t have time for golf!”

    Describing his communications with Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, about 20 miles northwest of Washington, DC, Mueller wrote that in October 2011 he informed the club that he was canceling his membership because he lived in Washington so was unable to make full use of the facility.

    He said he requested a partial refund of the membership fee paid in 1994 and was told he had been placed on a list of those seeking a refund, after which he had no more contact with the club.

    Trump’$ Golf Trip$ Could Co$t Taxpayer$ Over $340 Million$

    Chuck Jones |Senior Contributor | Forbe$ | Markets

    He got $punked: 😉

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EAUtyihXkAAH0rh?format=jpg&name=900×900

  23. So Bloomberg is reporting ” Black Homeownership Falls to Record Low as Affordability Worsens”. This is on MSN and just under it Is a K. Harris video announcing her program. I am sure creating more demand increases Affordability because why is it the go to solution by progressives if it does not? Yes, create the problem with your policies and double down. If they would do nothing the market would address the Affordability problem but that does not get votes from the people who get dependent on government

    1. By addressing the affordability problem do you mean drop the prices of homes (presumably by taking the floor out from under the market)? Because then you will anger the people who already bought homes and want to keep the value of their homes.

      No, the gov will address affordability by giving out money for poorer people to buy homes at existing high prices. Buyers get their giveaway and can afford houses, people who bought houses get to keep their home values up. Everybody wins… except for whoever is funding the giveaways.

      1. Everybody wins… except for whoever is funding the giveaways.

        And whoever is trying to buy a house. They get slapped twice.

        1. I guess you mean middle-class people trying to buy a house. If you’re rich you can afford it. if you’re poor you’ll get government cheese. If you’re in the middle, they bleed you dry.

        2. And whoever is paying for the federal guarantees on mortgage deals that private insurers would not touch with a ten foot pole…

      2. Yes, it will anger some people if artificial government demand is removed. However, the productive part of our economy will benefit from lower housing prices. People will move to fill those vacancies in high price housing areas if they could afford a house. Even the transactional costs of moving from high price to high price areas will be reduced. Six percent realtor commission on a million dollar house is $60,000 on a $200,000 house $12,000. Do you think that might be one reason Americans are not as mobile as we use to be? Finally the cost of real estate is part of the cost of production, lower it and our goods are more competitive both here and abroad. The needed and beneficial correction is already happening, we just have to make sure government does not mess it up. I guess if you intend to die in your home it makes a big difference but since I intend to move anyway any reduction in my house’s price will be more than made up in what I will save in the more bubbly markets. Thus, I say bring it on, government stay out of it.

        1. Six percent realtor commission on a million dollar house is $60,000 on a $200,000 house $12,000. Do you think that might be one reason Americans are not as mobile as we use to be?

          I think that is a very good observation Dan. One other reason why I think Americans are less mobile is the rise of the 2-income household. It is difficult to coordinate the changing of jobs for two earners because if a good job opportunity for one presents itself in another city, there might not be another equally beneficial opportunity for the other wage earner in the new city. That has been the case for my wife and I.

          1. Yes, there are usually more than one reason for a major change and I agree with the two income families being another and in fact the major reason. However, I think that lower housing prices allow people to move when both spouses do not have immediate employment. Another reason right now is rate lock, I know I do not want to pay higher even though the present rates are much closer than they were last year.

          3. One other reason why I think Americans are less mobile is the rise of the 2-income household.

            Indeed. I’m getting pinged by companies in SF/SV and the UK daily this week for high level positions, and I have a standard response that I can’t leave the area for the foreseeable future due to ${reasons}. Ignoring the house, which is reason enough to stay put, Mrs Spiffy has a very nice job situation (upper 100s, short commute, very nice work environment, good insurance) and it would take considerably more than what they offer to make a case compelling enough to even begin to consider. Even if it was something like Blizzard for Project Lead on Starcraft 3.

            If I was single, or the Mrs. was stay at home, that would significantly alter the calculus for evaluating opportunities in other places.

          5. Even if it was something like Blizzard for Project Lead on Starcraft 3.

            Ahem. Inquiring minds want to know if that’s a real project :-).

          6. Shit. I might have just outed myself 🙂 I know at least one person here made some correct guesses a while back.

            Let’s just say if it was a real project, and they had to head hunt, I would likely be on the short list.

          7. Let’s just say if it was a real project, and they had to head hunt, I would likely be on the short list.

            Very cool. Let’s just say that my family (including my 70yo father) are big Starcraft fans going back to the 90s. I’m surprised that they think they can improve on SC2 enough to be worth doing it again. I guess they could always kind of force things along by making the Battlefront servers really SC3 friendly and really not SC2 friendly. But shenanigans like that are why we enjoy still being able to fire up the LAN and play the original as a family with the internet required :-).

          8. @Carl Morris – ok, I will out myself and say that I knew a number of the original team – my team got shipments of beta CDs from them and they bitched with smile that the beta CDs we sent them were impacting their schedule.

            I didn’t like it when gaming magazines attributed “new innovations” to those guys when they copied the features I came up with and shipped first…

            And I did turn them down to work on the SC1 remaster.

        2. Oh I get it.. you were the one who invented microtransactions, right? And that’s why somebody broke your knees, right?

          (j/k)

          1. They might have broken my knee for telling a publisher no way in hell can the remaster a certain classic game support micro-transactions, or even be suitable for “live services”… or maybe they didn’t it and that’s all just talk… *whistles*

  25. It looks like Boris Johnson is taking the UK out, deal or no deal. He ordered the biggest purge of ministers in history yesterday. It’s all Brexit people now from top to bottom. And they don’t need a vote. October 31st is on the books.

    2. Hope so. But the Globalist will try a no confidence vote prior to actually leaving. They have had their way for thirty years

    3. So does this mean we won’t hear much talk of a “do-over” vote?
      ❤PJW❤ makes a good point. How could England, who fought and nearly lost to avoid being taken over by unelected officials from Germany, voluntarily to be ruled over by unelected officials led by Germany?

      And Scotland, hah. There’s talk that Scotland would separate from Britain in order stay in the EU. Whatever happened the fiercely independent Scots and their “FRE-E-E-E-E-E-DOM”?? Oh right, they need EU munny. And they would have to erect a physical border with England to keep people from migrating from England to EU and back. What are they going to do, rebuild Hadrian’s Wall? (And I guess Perpetual Prince Charles can’t vacay in Balmoral either.)

    1. Trump tariffs starting with solar, steel and aluminum and then imposed on more than 200 billion in addition goods

  27. However, Key Biscayne single-family homes took much longer to sell at an average 16 months. Clearly, only the best-priced properties are selling on the island.”

    What realtor is going to waste 16 months waiting for delusional greedheads to come around and abandon their wish price?

  28. Hope so. But the Globalist will try a no confidence vote prior to actually leaving. They have had their way for thirty years

  29. Shadow banks the biggest danger for Chinese economy
    25 Jul 2019
    Julian Lorkin

    There is a fundamental weakness in China’s capital markets, says Vic Edwards from UNSW’s School of Banking and Finance.
    Shanghai

    China’s growth rate is likely to stay low, and the country may even slip into recession, according to an academic from UNSW Business School.

    Chinese annual growth slipped to 6.2% in the second quarter, the country’s weakest expansion in nearly three decades.

    “One of the headline reasons is Trump’s tariff war and other actions to limit China’s Belt and Road policies that have had a dampening effect upon the Chinese economy,” says Vic Edwards, a Visiting Fellow in the School of Banking and Finance at UNSW Business School. “But the biggest danger comes from ‘shadow banks’, also known as underground banks.”

    Mr Edwards argues that China has a serious problem in not being able to finance the growth of its private sector as about 70% of all government funds have gone to SOEs with the result that private enterprise in China is being starved of funds. Private companies in need of funds have been prepared to pay 15-25% interest to the ‘shadow banks’ consisting of very wealthy entrepreneurs and private capital providers, located mainly in the Wenzhou and Ningpo regions.

    According to the World Bank and BIS Oxford Economics, the shadow banks have also attracted funds from government-sourced banks and now provide roughly 30% of all capital in China.

    “The shadow banks therefore cause a fundamental weakness and fragility in China’s capital market and may cause China’s market to collapse if not controlled. These shadow banks are relatively unregulated and provide the greatest risk of China falling into a recession in the next two or three years if not controlled and corrected,” Mr Edwards says.

    “President Wen Jiabao asked the China Banking Regulatory Authority to try to closely regulate the shadow banks in 2011 but this only lasted for about two years,” he adds. “Now, the shadow bankers have taken over again and family members of borrowers who default can be kidnapped and never seen again.”
    …

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