Since 2005, I have been advising friends, colleagues and anyone else who will listen not to purchase real estate. Although I don’t claim to be an expert on the future or to have uncommon brilliance, I do enjoy reading information. After looking at the data and ignoring all the hype, I realized that property values would not […]

Most newspapers and TV news channels have never had a strong reputation for critical thinking and detailed analysis. They are aware that most of their viewers/readers want the latest news on celebrities and natural disasters. The media doesn’t pay attention to the economic consequences and political actions of politicians because they aren’t interesting enough. Despite this, I

Some people are always sunny optimists. This is good, up to a point. Inventions don’t exist, businesses don’t exist, and relationships can’t be started if someone doesn’t believe in them. Before they purchase stock, investors must believe in the company. As a property note buyer, it is important to believe that the owner of the property will make their mortgage

Our political leaders and some well-placed economists believe that the U.S. economy has begun to recover from the recession. All would be well if the country could get its housing market back on track. My view is that while the housing crisis was a major contributor to the financial crisis, the real estate market is more of

Our political leaders and some well-placed economists believe that the U.S. economy has begun to recover from the recession. All would be well if the country could get its housing market back on track. My view is that while the housing crisis was a major contributor to the financial crisis, the real estate market is more of

Since the start of the financial crisis, politicians have done nothing to save it. It would be difficult to find a single success story from the multitude of regulations and programs that have been offered over the past five years. The national debt has risen by trillions of dollar, and the housing sector is still in limbo. We now

According to politicians and mass media outlets, the Great Correction to Great Recession seems to be going well. Everybody hears stories about the unemployment rate falling, consumer confidence increasing, and the housing market rebounding. It doesn’t matter if you believe it. Even though some statistics indicate that something is not at its nadir, it doesn’t necessarily mean that

Mon Dieu! The title above is the antithesis to what I normally convey, for those who have had discussions with me about politics. My leanings as a moderate fiscal conservative have been to collect taxes only in areas where the government is most effective. These areas include defense, a safety network for the truly poor (not lazy), infrastructure,

Last October, Mitt Romney declared that the housing market must “run its course” and reach its bottom. Although I find little inspiration from any presidential candidate, Romney’s statement was spot on. We need to let the market for housing find its natural bottom and stop supporting it with inefficient and expensive government programs. Although they may have helped slow

The optimism surrounding the European financial crisis has almost disappeared. Many European bureaucrats, central bankers, and politicians had been claiming for months that everything was fine and that the situation was being managed by “experts”. Of course, this was not true. Even in France and Germany, manufacturing output is falling. It seems certain that the Eurozone recession