Interest Rates Matter

Interest Rates Matter “Consumers have taken the interest rate rise in stride. Expectations for continued improvement in housing persist, and sentiment toward the current buying and selling environment is back on track from its dip last month” Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. Interest rates, like deficits, matter. No amount Read More →

Can Central Banks Really Fix the Economy?- Podcast 8.15.13

Can Central Banks Fix the Economy? Summary of Podcast Ryan and Louis discuss the initial jobless claim data released this week. Louis points out that fewer people not losing their jobs is not the same as people getting jobs. Louis and Ryan discuss St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard’s recent statement on tapering and Read More →

Can the Housing Recovery Continue?

Can the Housing Recovery Continue? Real Estate News Who Will Buy the Houses to Sustain the Real Estate Market? The current real estate recovery is characterized by higher home prices driven by low inventory and high demand relative to the existing inventory. The demand is driven by Fed induced low interest rates that has invited Read More →

The Dark Side of Rising Home Prices

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The Dark Side of Rising Home Prices What’s Wrong With Higher Home Prices? The Real Estate Industry and Media Tout Rising Home Prices as a Good Thing, But Are They? Real Estate News I guess I don’t buy your premise, its a pretty unlikely possibility, we have never had a decline in housing prices on Read More →

How to Spot an Economic Recovery Addict

Economic Recovery Addicts Since the beginning of the Great Recession, dating back to the “green shoots” days of early 2009 and recovery summer of 2010, there has been a crowd of analysts, journalists and pundits searching for signs of an economic recovery. One group of analysts sifts through the data and determines most of it Read More →

Where is the Economic Recovery? Podcast 7/12/13

Where is the Economic Recovery? Summary Ryan and Louis discuss the direction of mortgage interest rates. Ryan notes that Ben Bernanke admitted that the employment situation is not good. Louis notes that when the non farm employment data came out last week and the top line number was better than expected that the market would Read More →

You Can’t Get There From Here – Straining to Regain Real Estate’s Promised Land

You Can’t Get There From Here Real Estate News “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven..” ― John Milton, Paradise Lost As the real estate market gained steam earlier this year, a common anti bubble meme emerged- “this ain’t no bubble, home prices Read More →

…as the Band Played on, the Crowd Called For an Encore

The Economic and Real Estate Recovery is Based On QE “You can ignore reality, but you can’t ignore the consequences of reality” – Ayn Rand It’s raining horrible economic news, yet the real estate and stock markets are staying dry and heading higher. It has been nearly five years since the financial crisis of 2008. Read More →