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It will never get as bad as it did in the '30's. There are too many entitlement programs available for the masses that weren't available back then.
....
We are already in a depression, it just hasn't bit us hard yet. It will.
Hmmm...I had a nice steak the other night, shrimp last night, and typically something good every day for lunch (double bacon cheese burger from Matt's Chicago Dog the other day--DE-LISH!). Far stretch from the bread and water folks ate back in the early 30's. My wife just got a raise at work, we bought our first house less than a year ago, bought a new car less than 6 months ago, and just sold a fricken boat load of stuff on eBay this past week (which ironically means other folks out there have money to spend too) which will enable me to go have a shopping spree at Bass Pro and the like this weekend. Another far stretch from the 30's. Depression? Where?
Read the few threads being started here on our forum about house sales...things are starting to show, houses are just beginning to move. I smell a turn around sooner than folks think. Just start believing that news rather than the news about who's closing up shop next!
Hmmm...I had a nice steak the other night, shrimp last night, and typically something good every day for lunch (double bacon cheese burger from Matt's Chicago Dog the other day--DE-LISH!). Far stretch from the bread and water folks ate back in the early 30's. My wife just got a raise at work, we bought our first house less than a year ago, bought a new car less than 6 months ago, and just sold a fricken boat load of stuff on eBay this past week (which ironically means other folks out there have money to spend too) which will enable me to go have a shopping spree at Bass Pro and the like this weekend. Another far stretch from the 30's. Depression? Where? Read the few threads being started here on our forum about house sales...things are starting to show, houses are just beginning to move. I smell a turn around sooner than folks think. Just start believing that news rather than the news about who's closing up shop next!
I'm glad that you are doing so well steve and had to share it in w/the rest of C/D.....Next time I go out for steak and shrimp, I'm sure I'll rub it in the peoples faces like you just did.
I'm sure next you'll tell us that "Over 90% of the population is working" (because unemployment is less than 10%)...right?
Hmmm...I had a nice steak the other night, shrimp last night, and typically something good every day for lunch (double bacon cheese burger from Matt's Chicago Dog the other day--DE-LISH!). Far stretch from the bread and water folks ate back in the early 30's. My wife just got a raise at work, we bought our first house less than a year ago, bought a new car less than 6 months ago, and just sold a fricken boat load of stuff on eBay this past week (which ironically means other folks out there have money to spend too) which will enable me to go have a shopping spree at Bass Pro and the like this weekend. Another far stretch from the 30's. Depression? Where?
Read the few threads being started here on our forum about house sales...things are starting to show, houses are just beginning to move. I smell a turn around sooner than folks think. Just start believing that news rather than the news about who's closing up shop next!
Exactly. If you live within your means a recession or depression won't really affect you directly.
But then again, not everyone was poor during the depression.
Hmmm...I had a nice steak the other night, shrimp last night, and typically something good every day for lunch (double bacon cheese burger from Matt's Chicago Dog the other day--DE-LISH!). Far stretch from the bread and water folks ate back in the early 30's. My wife just got a raise at work, we bought our first house less than a year ago, bought a new car less than 6 months ago, and just sold a fricken boat load of stuff on eBay this past week (which ironically means other folks out there have money to spend too) which will enable me to go have a shopping spree at Bass Pro and the like this weekend. Another far stretch from the 30's. Depression? Where?
Read the few threads being started here on our forum about house sales...things are starting to show, houses are just beginning to move. I smell a turn around sooner than folks think. Just start believing that news rather than the news about who's closing up shop next!
Funny how the CO has an article in today's paper and the smell isn't too pretty. The gloomy outlook reported is from people in the homebuilding industry, not an opinion maker, like me.
Charlotte builder Hays Castleman has cut the price several times on this SouthPark-area house his company finished last summer.An interested buyer can't close because he's unable to sell his house in New York.
Chris Corl's custom-home company started these SouthPark-area houses early last year. Since then, the Charlotte-area market has slowed amid a national recession. A lot of people are calling, and a potential buyer is visiting Saturday, Corl said, but “people are cautious about these big decisions right now.”
Charlotte-area home construction tumbled even harder last month than the grim drops reported Thursday for builders nationwide and finished 2008 at the lowest level in years.
In Mecklenburg County, builders bought permits for just 86 single-family houses last month, the second consecutive month of 70 percent declines from the same month a year earlier. That was well off the 500-plus December levels prior to this downturn, and the lowest of any December since at least 1995, according to Observer analysis of county data.
For the year, Mecklenburg house permits were down 54 percent, to 2,734, compared with 2007.
For the eight-county area, all residential permits were down 63 percent in the fourth quarter compared with the last three months of 2007, according to Newton Graham Consultants, which uses public data compiled by a Rocky Mount firm.
Nationwide, residential builders bought 49 percent fewer permits last month, marking a record low.The pace of homebuilding nationwide fell to the lowest level since the government began compiling the records in 1959.
Homebuilding, a key economic driver, has shriveled amid a deepening recession as anxiety rises over job losses, sinking stocks and falling home values. The Charlotte market, which held up longer than many, has been further wounded by the sale of Wachovia and mounting problems at its behemoth Bank of America. Both banks are slashing jobs.
“Housing is driven by growth in the economy,” said Adam York, a Wachovia economist. “We expect the economy to be weak for sometime locally and nationally, so there's little incentive to start building.”
That's had homebuilders pushing Congress to help boost sales. But York said, “The economy is in too bad of shape for a simple tax credit … or a lower mortgage rate to overcome all the downside we're seeing in the economy.”
A decimated homebuilding industry is bad news for jobs at many levels. Experts estimate that building 100 single-family homes puts 284 people to work, including carpenters, lawyers, appliance sales people and convenience store employees selling soda and cigarettes to construction workers.
Uptown commercial and condo building has so far offset many of the job losses in home construction. For the Charlotte area, construction employment was down 5 percent in November, the most recent number available, compared with a year earlier. Nationwide, last year ended with 8 percent fewer construction jobs than 2007.
There's no way to track the loss of construction-dependent jobs.
Charing Cross Partners, a small custom homebuilder in Charlotte, had four employees including a marketing person last year. They're all gone, said Hays Castleman, one of two partners in the firm. The company is sitting on lots for building in the primo SouthPark area, waiting for a market rebound.
The partners have cut more than 20 percent off the price of a SouthPark-area house finished months ago, and it's still sitting. One would-be buyer can't seal a deal because he can't sell his house in New York.
“There's still people interested but they're scared to pull the trigger,” Castleman said.
Builders are gripped in a downward spiral.
Weak sales and rising foreclosures mean a glut of houses on the market. Tighter consumer lending means fewer people can buy. Those who have good credit are reluctant to buy because of job uncertainty and the potential for further home price declines. Lenders, staggered by mounting real estate loan losses, are loathe to make construction loans. That means builders have to shell out more for interest rates and put more of their own money in projects.
And buyers, knowing builders have houses to unload, want fire sale prices.
“A lot of buyers have turned into somewhat of a vulture,” said Jake Kent, president of K2C Real Estate Solutions in Charlotte. “We've had houses where we reduced 15 percent, and we still don't get a buyer.”
One problem he and others are finding is that they can't get loans to build spec houses. But buyers, surrounded by choices, don't want to wait.
“Buyers want to come in, see it, love it, live in it,” Kent said.
Chris Corl of Carolina Construction Group of Charlotte is hopeful the construction slowdown will give sales a chance to catch up with what's available. His inventory includes two huge, partially built SouthPark area houses priced at more than $2 million each. He started both early last year.
“I didn't think the market would go down any further, but I'm encouraged by a new president,” he said. “Eventually the buyers and investors will come back.”
Until then, however, he said “We aren't starting new stuff.”
No wonder, a national index of builder confidence is at record single-digit low this month.
“I think now, we just all try to get rid of what we have and wait,” Castleman said.
[quote=MrConfigT;7131666]Exactly. If you live within your means a recession or depression won't really affect you directly.
best advice today!
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