Supply and demand are the biggest determining factors in housing values. While getting a lower interest rate loan will reduce a payment in a specific house purchase, the long term effect of low interest rates is simply housing inflation. From a macro/market perspective, interest rates have a supplemental and often artificial impact on values. Rate …
Low interest rates don’t make housing more affordable. Read More »
In the comments section of a reputable housing blog, someone complained that the ‘real estate industry’ was to blame for the collapse in housing (2005-2010). Along with some general complaints about agents costing too much and doing too little, one of this commenters main points was that sometimes buyers should not buy a house …
Is the real estate industry to blame for the mortgage/housing meltdown? Read More »
While I believe that regulation and reform are required to protect us from fraud and abuse of large corporations, it seems that hard work, money and influence can slowly dismantle any regulations designed to prevent corporate bad behavior. According to the LA Times, the power of the Volcker rule has slowly been diluted by …
The door remains open for financial scandal according to LA Times Read More »
Neil Barofsky a former federal prosecutor and inspector general over TARP shares comments at NPR about his thoughts on why there have been so few prosecutions and convictions. First he suggests these crimes would be difficult to prosecute because of their complexity and the difficulty in explaining the crime to a jury in order to …
There are a lot of financial pressures these days. Many are concerned about home values. Job security is harder to come by. Inflation adjusted incomes seem to be dropping. Doubts about the long term stability and cost of Social Security and Medicare. Financial stress seems to be in the air these days, and more people …
