"RE BUST" is like turning on the news only to discover Franscico Franco is still dead.
The out-of-town cops are just going halvsies on a buy for appreciation deal. A classic sign of several things but I'll just mention that it is a sign of a market top.
Vegas is so funny. For years the builders were using the lack of buildable land as their excuse for everything. The last few BLS auctions were withdrawn for low prices and now land goes begging. If things get worse in California the state may allow general gambling. That happens and last one off the strip turn out the lights.
Does anyone else want to know what "a couple of out-of-town cops started using it for an occasional vacation getaway" means? You know, I'm not sure I do.
first you assert that it's annoying that people can't talk about vegas w/out referencing gambling, then you make implications about leather-clad mustachioed cops buying in vegas as a crash pad for their ecstacy-fueled binges down at the 'dude-on-dude ranch'? Shameful.
Does anyone else want to know what "a couple of out-of-town cops started using it for an occasional vacation getaway" means? You know, I'm not sure I do.
Could it be collection in kind on speeding tickets? I guess not, it will be considered as moral hazard!
"... (talking) about real estate speculation as if it were only a form of slot-machine playing but with bigger tokens ... erases the complicity of those who asserted that real estate price appreciation is a matter of "fundamentals"....
You mean like BB, who said in the Spring, 2005 that housing prices were driven by "fundamentals"?
That's not very nice, picking on our highly esteemed Federal Reserve Chairman. He's not just another Washingtonian power-groupy (like AG) you know, he's an ordained Academic from one of our most prestigious universities.
I was wondering whether the getting-away cops bought the place, rented the place, or, you know, squatted. As it were. But I knew as soon as I raised the question of intermittent occupancy you all would make lascivious jokes about it. Sigh.
Who said they bought the house? Wouldn't the story have read "until a couple of out of town cops bought it..."?
Perhaps it is a way to avoid hotel costs, or maybe someone figured to have them show up within 30 days of each visit to keep the house "occupied" for insurance purposes.
Perhaps they thought they were doing a public service. Making a local "presence" that would help the place avoid becoming a crack den or marijuana factory, etc. Or maybe they just thought that they could use that as an excuse, in case anyone got nosy.
It raises an interesting question about how a community might benefit from offering to let cops, firefighters, paramedics, and other generally underpaid "first responders" live in vacant homes just for the benefit of their presence.
My apartment complex has a lot of cops living in it. When I first came to look at the place, I was slightly concerned about the number of squad cars parked near the rental office. I asked about it, and the rental agent gave me that look, observing that most people were relieved to know that police officers lived in the building. I said, oh, yes, well if they live here, then I'm relieved too. I was afraid they had been "visiting."
"...it erases the complicity of those who asserted that real estate price appreciation is a matter of "fundamentals"..."
"House prices have gone up a lot," Bernanke said in an interview on CNBC television. "It seems pretty clear, though, that there are a lot of strong fundamentals underlying that."
Think we'll get a mea culpa? Or how about five Hail Mary's and ten rate cuts?
You're on the right track. First, holders of high concentrations of foreclosed property will welcome specialized squatters, as you suggest. firefighters, cops and gardeners are especially welcome. Then, overburdened bankers will realize that squatters who practice good housekeeping and hygene are a plus, and invite them in - discreetly. Far fewer signs of abandonment after some up-tight squatters move in. Real estate offices will cater to squatters and websites will spring up to give squatters the scoop on locations that are hot for a squat.
asty, dirty minds aside, elsewhere in the story, the lady says she lives in a gated community. I guess this means no one is watching the gate to keep out squatters?
So, if I want a cheap vegas vacation, I just need to pick up a police costume from the party store on my way down?
That's kind of the thing about my apartment complex: the presence of all those squad cars in the parking lot says to the casual drive-by observer either 1) there are cops living here, behave yourself or 2) the people who live here get the cops called on them quite frequently.
I like to think it's both, because 1) means I'm less likely to be burglarized and 2) means I'm less likely to be hopelessly yuppified. (It's yup enough already.)
Treating those failed speculators as mere crap-shooters now, it seems, is kind of convenient for the "House" experts. Is this part of the overall strategy to get on with the loosening case, by minimizing the view that those BAD speculators were mere gamblers (like you and me), and don't need special punitive treatment?
How much loosening do you figure they would need to rescue the affordability issue and allow the plundering to continue?
calmo, I tend to think that "speculators as mere gamblers" (instead of "people who listened to Greenspan") gives cover to those who want us to stay the course or tighten. If they're just gamblers, well, so, they just lost a throw. That was "in the rules" to start with, even if these people were too caught up in the gambler's fallacy to see it. We need not worry about them.
OTOH, if you see speculators as perfectly rational agents (why not take 100% teaser-rate financing on a potential flip if someone's dumb enough to offer it to you?), then you are recognizing that this is supply problem on the financing side as much as a demand issue, and so you have to deal with the fact that easing would make even more speculating "rational."
Quite honestly I think a lot of this is just butt-covering by the press. Having gone along quite gullibly with the "fundamentals" story, they now don't want to ask why they didn't see through that. So it's better to pretend like the "fundamentals" story never existed, and speculators were just buying lotto tickets like people do. Human nature. Things happen. Nothing to see here, move along.
The cop story reminded me of a discussion of the Blackstone Building in Gary, Indiana:
Frank, the last owner of the Blackstone Bar and Grill, had some stories to tell. I found him outside of his new place on Virginia Street selecting melons. The only thing he said he misses about his old building is its location. Of the structure itself, he said, "I don't think that it is a landmark. It is a plain old building needing repairs. There are plenty like that in Gary." He also added: "The Gary police ran it. Blacks were not allowed into the Blackstone twenty-five years ago." For three years Frank paid the eight-hundred dollar monthly rent to three Gary policemen, later finding out that the building was owned by the state of Indiana. "The laughed when they took my last check," he said, and kept picking melons.
"Folks from Phoenix would still go to Vegas. That's were we go for a taste of culture and sophistication."
Yeah it's a lot closer than Europe and its got everything, almost, that Europe has to offer (Paris, Venice, the Pyramids) including Michelin starred restaurants if I am not mistaken.
Perhaps the laws concerning negligent misrepresentation should be modified to create, for any member of the general public who feels himself adversely affected, a viable cause of action against those whose predictions concerning the future value of real estate prove too rosy. And how about that Vegas bus driver who was "told to expect" that the mortgage payment on his $278,000 home would be $1,300?
Cops have a hard time separating their jobs from their personal lives. They tend to treat their spouses the same way they would a prisoner. So, to a cop going somewhere on vacation is a "getaway" in the same way that a bank robber gets away with a crime, or used a getaway vehicle.
Beat ya!
o i'm not happy with the labels yet!
A good link to anyone who is intersted in LV R/E stats:
http://www.lasvegasrealtor.com/stats/statindex.htm
Aug sales are similar to July (in single family)
"RE BUST" is like turning on the news only to discover Franscico Franco is still dead.
The out-of-town cops are just going halvsies on a buy for appreciation deal. A classic sign of several things but I'll just mention that it is a sign of a market top.
Vegas is so funny. For years the builders were using the lack of buildable land as their excuse for everything. The last few BLS auctions were withdrawn for low prices and now land goes begging. If things get worse in California the state may allow general gambling. That happens and last one off the strip turn out the lights.
OT, but it anyone else just a little worried about the $ index right now...
INO Equities Stocks Indexes - U.S $ INDEX (NYBOT:DX) Price Chart and Quote
Does anyone else want to know what "a couple of out-of-town cops started using it for an occasional vacation getaway" means? You know, I'm not sure I do.
first you assert that it's annoying that people can't talk about vegas w/out referencing gambling, then you make implications about leather-clad mustachioed cops buying in vegas as a crash pad for their ecstacy-fueled binges down at the 'dude-on-dude ranch'? Shameful.
Does anyone else want to know what "a couple of out-of-town cops started using it for an occasional vacation getaway" means? You know, I'm not sure I do.
Could it be collection in kind on speeding tickets? I guess not, it will be considered as moral hazard!
Some label suggestions:
"The House always wins"
and
"I just love a man in uniform"
"... (talking) about real estate speculation as if it were only a form of slot-machine playing but with bigger tokens ... erases the complicity of those who asserted that real estate price appreciation is a matter of "fundamentals"....
You mean like BB, who said in the Spring, 2005 that housing prices were driven by "fundamentals"?
That's not very nice, picking on our highly esteemed Federal Reserve Chairman. He's not just another Washingtonian power-groupy (like AG) you know, he's an ordained Academic from one of our most prestigious universities.
Even with so many vacant homes, the builders are still building EVERYWHERE in Las Vegas!!!
You know, this is getting tiring, being right all the time.
I called that the indices would pop a little this morning, but that the big boys would sell into as quick as they could.
Well, that's what's happening.
Check the Yen before the market opens.
And now, by God, the yen is beginning to look like it's strengthening. Look out below.
fjr,
Yes, Bernanke and Plosser and sweating like pigs over the dollar.
If the dollar toilets, it will Iraq look like a walk in the park.
The absolute dead last thing the US wants is for the rest of the world to think we're irrelevant.
How could that happen?
The consumer rolls over dead. Well, God love the consumer, but get the ICU bed ready.
The dollar rolls over dead. Well, that's what your chart is showing.
No dollar. No consumer. What else do we have to offer?
Just one thing. Puke bonds.
Not enough.
Dirty, dirty minds some of you have.
I was wondering whether the getting-away cops bought the place, rented the place, or, you know, squatted. As it were. But I knew as soon as I raised the question of intermittent occupancy you all would make lascivious jokes about it. Sigh.
re: out of town cops
Who said they bought the house? Wouldn't the story have read "until a couple of out of town cops bought it..."?
Perhaps it is a way to avoid hotel costs, or maybe someone figured to have them show up within 30 days of each visit to keep the house "occupied" for insurance purposes.
Perhaps they thought they were doing a public service. Making a local "presence" that would help the place avoid becoming a crack den or marijuana factory, etc. Or maybe they just thought that they could use that as an excuse, in case anyone got nosy.
It raises an interesting question about how a community might benefit from offering to let cops, firefighters, paramedics, and other generally underpaid "first responders" live in vacant homes just for the benefit of their presence.
My apartment complex has a lot of cops living in it. When I first came to look at the place, I was slightly concerned about the number of squad cars parked near the rental office. I asked about it, and the rental agent gave me that look, observing that most people were relieved to know that police officers lived in the building. I said, oh, yes, well if they live here, then I'm relieved too. I was afraid they had been "visiting."
"...it erases the complicity of those who asserted that real estate price appreciation is a matter of "fundamentals"..."
"House prices have gone up a lot," Bernanke said in an interview on CNBC television. "It seems pretty clear, though, that there are a lot of strong fundamentals underlying that."
Think we'll get a mea culpa? Or how about five Hail Mary's and ten rate cuts?
JS
Dirty, dirty minds some of you have.
i believe you started it...
Tanta,
You're on the right track. First, holders of high concentrations of foreclosed property will welcome specialized squatters, as you suggest. firefighters, cops and gardeners are especially welcome. Then, overburdened bankers will realize that squatters who practice good housekeeping and hygene are a plus, and invite them in - discreetly. Far fewer signs of abandonment after some up-tight squatters move in. Real estate offices will cater to squatters and websites will spring up to give squatters the scoop on locations that are hot for a squat.
There will be red-lining, mark my words.
swap rates are comin down down down...
asty, dirty minds aside, elsewhere in the story, the lady says she lives in a gated community. I guess this means no one is watching the gate to keep out squatters?
So, if I want a cheap vegas vacation, I just need to pick up a police costume from the party store on my way down?
"If things get worse in California the state may allow general gambling. That happens and last one off the strip turn out the lights."
Folks from Phoenix would still go to Vegas. That's were we go for a taste of culture and sophistication.
That's kind of the thing about my apartment complex: the presence of all those squad cars in the parking lot says to the casual drive-by observer either 1) there are cops living here, behave yourself or 2) the people who live here get the cops called on them quite frequently.
I like to think it's both, because 1) means I'm less likely to be burglarized and 2) means I'm less likely to be hopelessly yuppified. (It's yup enough already.)
Treating those failed speculators as mere crap-shooters now, it seems, is kind of convenient for the "House" experts. Is this part of the overall strategy to get on with the loosening case, by minimizing the view that those BAD speculators were mere gamblers (like you and me), and don't need special punitive treatment?
How much loosening do you figure they would need to rescue the affordability issue and allow the plundering to continue?
calmo, I tend to think that "speculators as mere gamblers" (instead of "people who listened to Greenspan") gives cover to those who want us to stay the course or tighten. If they're just gamblers, well, so, they just lost a throw. That was "in the rules" to start with, even if these people were too caught up in the gambler's fallacy to see it. We need not worry about them.
OTOH, if you see speculators as perfectly rational agents (why not take 100% teaser-rate financing on a potential flip if someone's dumb enough to offer it to you?), then you are recognizing that this is supply problem on the financing side as much as a demand issue, and so you have to deal with the fact that easing would make even more speculating "rational."
Quite honestly I think a lot of this is just butt-covering by the press. Having gone along quite gullibly with the "fundamentals" story, they now don't want to ask why they didn't see through that. So it's better to pretend like the "fundamentals" story never existed, and speculators were just buying lotto tickets like people do. Human nature. Things happen. Nothing to see here, move along.
. . . and websites will spring up to give squatters the scoop on locations that are hot for a squat.
hmm, hotsquat.com is still available. time to write up a new business plan and start shopping it around.
I am beyond happy with the labels, I am ecstatic about them.
The labels are providing meaning to my existence.
Lab Rat,
Great idea! Might want to consider a sister site "HauteSquat.Com" for the more discriminating squatter, too.
The cop story reminded me of a discussion of the Blackstone Building in Gary, Indiana:
Frank, the last owner of the Blackstone Bar and Grill, had some stories to tell. I found him outside of his new place on Virginia Street selecting melons. The only thing he said he misses about his old building is its location. Of the structure itself, he said, "I don't think that it is a landmark. It is a plain old building needing repairs. There are plenty like that in Gary." He also added: "The Gary police ran it. Blacks were not allowed into the Blackstone twenty-five years ago." For three years Frank paid the eight-hundred dollar monthly rent to three Gary policemen, later finding out that the building was owned by the state of Indiana. "The laughed when they took my last check," he said, and kept picking melons.
"American Ruins", Camilo Jose Vergara
"Does anyone else want to know what "a couple of out-of-town cops started using it for an occasional vacation getaway" means?"
Trist.
Extra-martial.
Probably on city time.
i b3 in ur naybrhud
skwatin in ur inv3stm3nt
I wonder what LV hookers are going for now that the free spending times are fading away.
"Folks from Phoenix would still go to Vegas. That's were we go for a taste of culture and sophistication."
Yeah it's a lot closer than Europe and its got everything, almost, that Europe has to offer (Paris, Venice, the Pyramids) including Michelin starred restaurants if I am not mistaken.
Perhaps the laws concerning negligent misrepresentation should be modified to create, for any member of the general public who feels himself adversely affected, a viable cause of action against those whose predictions concerning the future value of real estate prove too rosy. And how about that Vegas bus driver who was "told to expect" that the mortgage payment on his $278,000 home would be $1,300?
It's "tryst" -- finally a topic on this blog I kow something about.
Cops have a hard time separating their jobs from their personal lives. They tend to treat their spouses the same way they would a prisoner. So, to a cop going somewhere on vacation is a "getaway" in the same way that a bank robber gets away with a crime, or used a getaway vehicle.
Kerik + babe.