What does ‘08 have in store for our economy and the housing market??

I hope everybody had a Merry Christmas and is looking forward to fun New Year’s celebrations with friends and family.

For those of you that have been reading this blog since 2005, you know that my feelings regarding housing and the economy were not very positive as a whole. You cannot have hundreds of billions of dollars lent out to people that have no ability or inclination to make their ‘adjusted’ payment. Well, it seems there are a few more people that agree with me now…they just happen to be much ’smarter’ and have a much larger reading audience.

Here are 3 good articles to carry you through to the new year. Funny how these 3 articles were together on the front page of the Drudgereport.
Home prices post record annual drop… (duh…we knew THAT was coming!)

PAPER: Housing foreclosures largest since Great Depression… (I have asked people many times: when was the last time that Interest Only mortgages were popular? It was the late 1920’s…right before the Great Depression!!)

CHEER: Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Bank Crisis may make ‘29 look ‘walk in park’… (Hmmmm… 1929 eh? See the previous sentence.

Stay tuned for more in 2008!

SoCalMtgGuy

Politicians and Bush say ‘F-you’ to RESPONSIBLE Americans and extend the housing bubble 5 more years (at least)

I don’t have time for a long post right now, but I will expound on this later.

Today marks the day that America goes bankrupt in more things than just it’s finances. We are bankrupt in personal responsibility, integrity, risk assessment, and admitting our mistakes. But look at the bright side…I have found the ‘next BUBBLE’ that exists in pandering, blaming others, and crying to politicians to save people from their own poor decisions.

By pushing this off 5 years, you did nothing more than make this worse for the long term. We will not be able to get to the real market value of these ‘assets’ by government stepping in and selectively helping irresponsible people. Not to mention the message it sends to the rest of the country.

Read the comments at the bottom of this article about the situation. Looks like more people than just me are pretty fed up with things. Here is a quick sampling:

dear mr. president - i have been advised of a rent increase in my rental apartment - i can’t afford to pay the increase (and maintain my overextended lifestyle) but i wopuld like to stay anyway - do you think you could add a rider to your little mortgage rescue plan that saves my aprtment for me - thanks - oh and after that could you put a freeze on my cellphone bill - thats too high also.

boy are we all suckers for getting fixed rate mortgages -or waiting until we could afford a house before we bought it- or saving our money - or being fiscally responsible - who knew our president would be effectively subsidizing peoples mortgages - who knew that the government would bail out the people who bit off more than they could chew

I am absolutely disgusted by the pandering of our politicians…both to Wall Street and the borrowers that made poor financial decisions. We didn’t share in the profits for those 5-6 years of Real Estate bubble madness…but now it is OK for us to share in the losses.

There will be more to follow later on. I need to gather my thoughts, get some more work done, and get a workout in. I take personal responsibility for more than just my ‘financial’ health.

Stay tuned…this thing just got extended a few more YEARS!!

SoCalMtgGuy