How about it Bonzo and the rest that said all the slashing rate cuts would help us or the economic stimulus package. Now that it is all said and done, what crutch is left to prop up this failed economy?
I don’t mind saying, “I told you so” on this one… I will put money on a ****ty economy for at least another 12 months. Stock market has no hope in the near future. Don’t fall for the next bear market rally. There will be another and maybe even another after that. This is not your mother’s recession… I expect another 2 years of bad news at least…
But now IS A GOOD TIME TO BUY… A CAR that is!!! Just got a 2008 Tahoe yesterday with 0% interest!!!
Not a bad time to buy a house either. . some sellers are taking up to 20% less than what there house is worth. .bad for seller/good for buyers.
I do agree with you on the economy. .hopefully our new president(whomever it is) will do something about all this.
There isn’t much they can do. Everyone is overextended on their credit and have to ride out the storm. It’s going to take a couple of years to wash out. We had a boom for the past 5 years that was falsely propped up by credit cards and HELOC’s. Now that the HELOC’s have gone and everyone is maxed out, they will either be walking away from that stuff, foreclosing, or just simply not getting any new loans. No new loans equal no consumer spending. There isn’t much the president can do at this point except let it ride out…
At 1 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 239 points to 10,989 – the second time in the session that the Dow crossed below the 11,000 mark. Today marks the first day in two years for the Dow to fall below that level.
I feel that it will continue to get worse-Fannie Mae and assoc Freddy Mac are about to belly up as well,Wachovia I am not too sure about yet but could go either way. I see another 1-2 years as well. Does the skineescope work on financial markets as well-patent that thang! As far as buying gas guzzlers, my wife informed me that we are trading her denali on a newer one (yea, an 04 is almost vintage to her) b/c of the 0% apr…[:I][:0]
Epic Failure=When everyday,run of the mill failure just won’t do
IndyMac Bancorp also failed today, with 32 billion, with a ‘b’, in assets. Will be taken over by the FDIC. IndyMac is most famous for not requiring borrowers to fully disclose income. Of course the government didn’t want to step in then for fear it might slow the housing boom.
Now they have to step in, and we’ll pay the tab.
It won’t be the last failure, but lets hope its the biggest.
skinneej, I have intentionally been avoiding this conversation
you, my friend, were right a few months ago. now don’t get ALL the way up on your high horse because this is a two-way street, but you did say that the economy would take a turn downward…and it has…rate cuts would have helped the economy had the dollar remained strong against foreign currencies and oil had kept its ugly ass in check! the recent Fannie and Freddie issues are not helping the dollar (or any financial stocks) one bit…Iran is not helping oil one bit…the rumors are not helping Lehman one bit…yes, things are ugly right now, but I do not think we are in for a two year slump. I think housing will pull us out of this…by the end of the year new home sales will be up and so will the markets.
and by the way I wish my 2007 Tahoe was 0%…
skinneej-1 bonzo-0 I’ll buy you a beer! Scout’s honor.
I know you addressed this to Skinneej, but just curious:
With the current state of Fannie Mae and Mac, understanding that they underwrite 40% of home loans, with the number of banks that will have to write down bad loans, and with the anticipation of tightening by the fed (which will make qualifying harder), where is the money for these home loans going to come from that will buy those houses to get the housing market up by the end of the year?
Obviously you can tell that I have my doubts, but I’d like to know your perspective. (Hope you’re right, since much of my income depends on housing.)
Mandopickr, keeping in mind that I am not an economist or have a “professional opinion”, but my personal thoughts are this:
I don’t think housing will rebound by the end of the year at all. That’s Bonzo’s dream, not my own. If you have some cash right now, there are good deals popping up here and there. My buddy called me the other day about a house that was sold a coule of years ago for 190K and was foreclosed on and is being sold for 130K as we speak. Someone will buy that house and get a good deal on it.
The problem is, I hear (from friends) that banks are starting to tighten up a little. Suddenly they want you to put 10% down on it. Unfortunately, many Americans in that income range don’t have 10% in savings and they probably took a beating in their 401K so are thinking twice about dipping into that for a down payment. So that really makes this an attractive market for anyone looking to become a landlord or who didn’t get into tremendous debt and is looking for a deal. It also goes to say, if you can’t afford the downpayment, or don’t have the credit to buy a house, then you may be looking to rent one (or move back in with the parents). That’s good news for landlords as I suspect it might eventually get a little easier to rent yours out (I hope anyway)!
The housing boom hit Charleston just like it did anywhere and drove prices way up. You could literally buy just about ANY house here no matter what it looked like or how much it cost and then flip it a few months later for more money. Not any more though!!! I drove around a few weeks ago and so a LOT of FOR SALE signs up. The only problem though is that Charleston is still in denial! I caught myself saying, “You want HOW MUCH for that DUMP?!?!? You are insane!” I’m not a real estate guy at all and I am not one to appraise a house, but I know when people are crazy. So, my perspective is that a lot of sellers haven’t faced the reality that they aren’t going to get anywhere near their asking price or they are hoping someone who hasn’t wa
Sorry skinneej, I meant to address that post to Bonzo, based on his post. I think you and I are in agreement. I was just curious as to his perspective.
I don’t see anything good happening for some time. We continue to see double digit increases for our raw materials EACH MONTH. Most recent annoucement, Augusts 1st, 8-10% increase. This is approaching 60% since May 1. Many of these products go into housing, so costs are going up, and prices are coming down. No wonder housing stocks dropped 15% this week.
BUT, as you say, if you’re sitting on a lot of cash, bargains are out there, and will only get better.
Wow, I am losing ammunition for my argument almost daily huh? I heard something today about the first time the DOW closed above 11,000 was like 9 years ago tomorrow! and here we are today closing under 11,000. even a sharp drop in oil couldn’t help out. I’m gonna throw my hands up on this debate and just roll with it. ANYTHING in this world, when it gets too cheap, looks attractive…BUT, how cheap is cheap? United Airlines was at $44 a year ago, today it hit a low of $2.80…Goldman hit a high of $250 back in Oct, now it is $157. IndyMac is gone, Bear Stearns is gone, Lehman is rumored to be next. What will it take for investors to regain confidence? Our homes are our biggest single investment and although the lenders gave money away too easily (with dire consequences, as we are seeing now!) there has to be a point where we check up and say, “No, I will not allow things to get any worse.” Ok, I’m done…my arm-flailing, pie in the sky, optimistic rants are beginning to bore me…let’s all short everything to hell. at least that way we know where the bottom will be!
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