San Antonio's One of the Strongest Housing Markets (Howe, Selma: sale, amphitheatre)

[cwh]

Originally Posted by Dopo

The "official" unemployment rate doesn't count lots of people

Merrill Lynch Estimates Real Unemployment Rate at 13.9% | The Economic Populist

IF you want say the actual unemployment numbers are 14%, you are going to have to recognize that 95% is considered full employment.

As far as 14% numbers, BLS reports various degrees on unemployment, from strict to a more lax number like mentioned above.

IF there was actually 14% unemployment it would be obvious even to the most optimistic people.

[TexasWeatherman]

Originally Posted by kevcrawford

People keep talking about the "foreclosure crisis" but isn't the number something like 1 in almost 500 homes are in foreclosure?

While that's still too many, that's VERY few homes compared to those paying their bills and doing things the right way. This "crisis" is being made out to be MUCH worse than it is by the talking heads on the news and in the government, who are USING this to get legislation passed that under normal circumstances most people would be calling them idiots for.

Instead they're now our "saviors".

It's not as bad as everyone is saying, people. 10 years from now we're going to look back and see how people have used this to systematically try to destroy our country.

Citibank and Bank of America are insolvent. I call that "bad".

We're paying the price for years of horrendous trade and budget deficits.

Is Obama exagerating the threat? Absolutely. Could his rhetoric be making things worse? You bet. But Obama is probably closer to reality than the years and years of NAR propaganda that helped lead to this crisis. Pure emotion inflated the housing market. Pure emotion is deflating it. Overnight, "I better buy a house before I can't afford one" changed to "I better sell my house before it loses value", which then changed to "I'm 50k under water. Who the heck did my mortgage get sold to so I can mail them the keys?!"

[cwh]

Originally Posted by TexasWeatherman

Citibank and Bank of America are insolvent. I call that "bad".

We're paying the price for years of horrendous trade and budget deficits.

Is Obama exagerating the threat? Absolutely. Could his rhetoric be making things worse? You bet. But Obama is probably closer to reality than the years and years of NAR propaganda that helped lead to this crisis. Pure emotion inflated the housing market. Pure emotion is deflating it. Overnight, "I better buy a house before I can't afford one" changed to "I better sell my house before it loses value", which then changed to "I'm 50k under water. Who the heck did my mortgage get sold to so I can mail them the keys?!"

The trade and budget deficits are not so bad. This was caused by the government pushing freddie and fannie to give more loans. They created the market for the risky loans.

Cheap loans and we got ourselves a nice bubble.

[banker]

An interesting article:

The Economy: Why it feels even worse - (1) - CNNMoney.com

Granted this is on a national level - but it plays into the mentality of our country right now.

[voyager674]

im not buying it

[firstclassflyer]

Originally Posted by voyager674

im not buying it

No one's buying anything..that's part of the problem.

[rd2007]

I totally agree with you on that one FCF and I blame the media for it. I can't even stand to watch the news anymore because of all the lies and manipulations of words. I think people are hording money because they see all the doom and gloom on the news and of course they do not want to be a part of it. There are certain areas that are hurting (california, nevada, arizona, and florida hold over 50% of all foreclosures), but most of that can be attributed to greed and sheer stupidity.
My main worry about the housing market in SA is the influx of people from the above mentioned states. I would normally call them the retarded states, but I'm sure that's not acceptable. I worry that they will bring their greed and ignorance of financial reality with them and try to destroy our market too.

BTW, since I'm a big opponent of people posting incorrect opinions, here's who to blame for the current situation: Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending - New York Times They should be held 100% accountable and severely punished, instead of virtually reelected..

[banker]

More data that shows things are getting worse not better....

Economy shrinks most in 26 years (http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/Economy_shrinks_at_worst_pace_in_25_years_.html - broken link)

It will be interesting to see how the housing market reacts to this news.

[cwh]

Originally Posted by banker

More data that shows things are getting worse not better....

Economy shrinks most in 26 years (http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/Economy_shrinks_at_worst_pace_in_25_years_.html - broken link)

It will be interesting to see how the housing market reacts to this news.

Actually economic leading indicators are starting to turn positive. And that is even before the government starts taking money out of our right hand, to give back to our left hand.

[rd2007]

I like that description of the "stimulus" cwh. Someone should draw a cartoon of obama pickpocketing a guy and then handing him his own cash. Just give me credit for it.