Comments on: The Housing Bubble Crisis Becomes a World Economy Crisis http://blog.bharper.com/content/2007/08/the-housing-bubble-crisis-becomes-a-world-economy-crisis/ the blog of brandon harper, yet another nerd on the internets. Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:29:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Sean LeBlanc http://blog.bharper.com/content/2007/08/the-housing-bubble-crisis-becomes-a-world-economy-crisis/#comment-59732 Sean LeBlanc Tue, 21 Aug 2007 22:13:54 +0000 http://blog.bharper.com/content/2007/08/the-housing-bubble-crisis-becomes-a-world-economy-crisis/#comment-59732 This is one thing I wished I had been wrong about...I remember reading an article in The Economist in 2005, pretty much agreeing with it, and telling some co-workers about it. They more or less blew me off. I hoped it was wrong, as I just bought a house about a year before. I wrote it off as yet another example of someone dismissing something because it isn't the usual fluffy-bunny fairy tale people usually like to tell each other...this is the article, BTW, but it's not available unless you are a subscriber (I no longer am, my sub ran out): http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_id=4079458 Now it looks like it's coming about. This same magazine also mentioned that housing has historically been a *terrible* investment - about 3% rate of return when you look at the long view, not just the anomaly of the past 20 or so years. That's something that people will still argue with me about. I tell them it was the Economist saying this, not me, and anyway, it's clear that the current rate of growth is unsustainable - the rate before the bubble popped, I mean. I think when people argue against this stuff, it's just cognitive dissonance, which I can understand, I suppose, even if it is irrational. That number of 3% is also referenced here: http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/real_estate/0704/gallery.stocks_v_realestate.moneymag/index.html Anyway, I think it's not a bad idea to have something "real", it's just something that people shouldn't have treated as a bottomless ATM machine with no future consequences...I just hope I can hang onto mine. Interestingly, WSJ recently had an article about people who crunched the numbers and decided that renting made more fiscal sense for them. Now I just hope the Peak Oil stuff is wrong, too....ugh. This is one thing I wished I had been wrong about…I remember reading an article in The Economist in 2005, pretty much agreeing with it, and telling some co-workers about it. They more or less blew me off. I hoped it was wrong, as I just bought a house about a year before. I wrote it off as yet another example of someone dismissing something because it isn’t the usual fluffy-bunny fairy tale people usually like to tell each other…this is the article, BTW, but it’s not available unless you are a subscriber (I no longer am, my sub ran out):

http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_id=4079458

Now it looks like it’s coming about.

This same magazine also mentioned that housing has historically been a *terrible* investment - about 3% rate of return when you look at the long view, not just the anomaly of the past 20 or so years. That’s something that people will still argue with me about. I tell them it was the Economist saying this, not me, and anyway, it’s clear that the current rate of growth is unsustainable - the rate before the bubble popped, I mean. I think when people argue against this stuff, it’s just cognitive dissonance, which I can understand, I suppose, even if it is irrational. That number of 3% is also referenced here: http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/real_estate/0704/gallery.stocks_v_realestate.moneymag/index.html

Anyway, I think it’s not a bad idea to have something “real”, it’s just something that people shouldn’t have treated as a bottomless ATM machine with no future consequences…I just hope I can hang onto mine. Interestingly, WSJ recently had an article about people who crunched the numbers and decided that renting made more fiscal sense for them.

Now I just hope the Peak Oil stuff is wrong, too….ugh.

]]> By: Brandon Harper http://blog.bharper.com/content/2007/08/the-housing-bubble-crisis-becomes-a-world-economy-crisis/#comment-59112 Brandon Harper Tue, 14 Aug 2007 22:57:27 +0000 http://blog.bharper.com/content/2007/08/the-housing-bubble-crisis-becomes-a-world-economy-crisis/#comment-59112 I live kind of out in the ghetto-- basically hwy 36 and Federal. My zip code is Westminster, but Federal Heights is across the street, and Denver is just down the street. I live kind of out in the ghetto– basically hwy 36 and Federal. My zip code is Westminster, but Federal Heights is across the street, and Denver is just down the street.

]]> By: hubs http://blog.bharper.com/content/2007/08/the-housing-bubble-crisis-becomes-a-world-economy-crisis/#comment-59110 hubs Tue, 14 Aug 2007 22:26:44 +0000 http://blog.bharper.com/content/2007/08/the-housing-bubble-crisis-becomes-a-world-economy-crisis/#comment-59110 what neighborhood do you live in? what neighborhood do you live in?

]]> By: Brandon Harper http://blog.bharper.com/content/2007/08/the-housing-bubble-crisis-becomes-a-world-economy-crisis/#comment-59061 Brandon Harper Tue, 14 Aug 2007 05:32:48 +0000 http://blog.bharper.com/content/2007/08/the-housing-bubble-crisis-becomes-a-world-economy-crisis/#comment-59061 That's crazy. Good luck finding another place to get your mortgage through. I wonder how much the minimum credit rating required to get a normal loan will change in the coming months, etc.. That’s crazy. Good luck finding another place to get your mortgage through. I wonder how much the minimum credit rating required to get a normal loan will change in the coming months, etc..

]]> By: kinshay http://blog.bharper.com/content/2007/08/the-housing-bubble-crisis-becomes-a-world-economy-crisis/#comment-59047 kinshay Mon, 13 Aug 2007 21:08:39 +0000 http://blog.bharper.com/content/2007/08/the-housing-bubble-crisis-becomes-a-world-economy-crisis/#comment-59047 Me and the wife are buying out her ex, we closed on Thursday, July 26th. Because of the three day right of recession, we were not getting funded until the 31st. On the 30th, the mortgage company went bankrupt, due to the drop in value of the properties they held mortgages on. At least rates dropped in the meanwhile... Me and the wife are buying out her ex, we closed on Thursday, July 26th. Because of the three day right of recession, we were not getting funded until the 31st. On the 30th, the mortgage company went bankrupt, due to the drop in value of the properties they held mortgages on. At least rates dropped in the meanwhile…

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