Economy

Real Estate Crowdfunding & Investing – RealtyShares

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Invest in real estate alongside thousands of savvy investors. Invest as little as $5,000. Over 1,500 properties funded. Browse properties for free.

Source: Real Estate Crowdfunding & Investing | RealtyShares

How can you tell when a financial bubble is about to burst?

Part of our routine is watching a lot of HGTV.  I know prices are insane when I can’t afford to downsize.  I just viewed a recent construction local listing priced 35% higher per square foot than my house.  New construction is over 50% higher per square foot.

Stick a fork in it.  It’s done.  Air is leaving the balloon.

Need more proof? Read this.

I Decided Not to be a Writer – I’m OK With That

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Nearly half of Americans would have trouble finding $400 to pay for an emergency. I’m one of them.

Source: Many Middle-Class Americans Are Living Paycheck to Paycheck – The Atlantic

Neal Gabler is a visiting professor in the MFA Creative Writing and Literature Program at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. He is the author of a forthcoming biography of Edward Kennedy and five other books.

Ever since my undergraduate days I’ve dreamed of being a writer.  Not only do I love to write but I have to write.  I write almost every day.  I just don’t get paid to write.  Having just read Neal Gabler’s article I feel the decision to pursue a different line of work and become a non-writer was a good decision.  I just never thought that 40 years later I would be doing what I did for a living as a 22 year old kid fresh out of college.

No regrets.

“This Is A Ridiculous Joke” – An Abandoned, Rotting Vancouver House Is Listed For $7.2 Million – Zero Hedge

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Source: “This Is A Ridiculous Joke” – An Abandoned, Rotting Vancouver House Is Listed For $7.2 Million | Zero Hedge

Welcome to peak insanity.

You might ask what does this have to do with underwriting?  Great question.  Here’s your answer:

Back during the savings and loan crisis in the US (yes, I’m old) I remember seeing lots of lender initiated life insurance applications to cover mortgage debt.  The applications were made years after the loans were on the books.  One app sticks in my mind.  Like any good underwriter I asked for and received a financial statement.  The valuation of the real estate seemed high to me.  I told the underwriter to decline the case based on inadequate finances.  I was questioned on my decision.

One of the properties (there were multiple properties listed on the balance sheet) was in the same city the underwriter lived in.  I said go drive by the house and you tell me if you think it’s worth $800,000 based upon appearance and location.  The next day he walked into my office.

“It’s an empty lot.”

Hey, at least there are buildings on this $7.2 million property in Vancouver!

 

326,000 Native-Born Americans Lost Their Job In November: Why This Remains The Most Important Jobs Chart | Zero Hedge

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According to the BLS’ Household Survey, while 375,000 foreign-born workers found jobs in November, a whopping 326,000 native-born Americans lost theirs.

Source: 326,000 Native-Born Americans Lost Their Job In November: Why This Remains The Most Important Jobs Chart | Zero Hedge

Interesting statistics.  Just sayin’, you know?

Chilling Thing Hershey Just Said About American Consumers – Wolf Street

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Hershey has put its corporate finger on an increasingly bedeviled American economic reality where businesses are confronted with this “bifurcation”: Selling to those few who benefited from the Fed’s monetary policies and the asset bubbles these policies have engendered; and trying to sell to the middle class whose stagnant incomes are being eaten up by the soaring costs of housing (result of Housing Bubble 2), healthcare, college, cars, and a million other things. These people have gone into debt to keep their head above water and thus have become the over-indebted modern-day proletariat that lives from paycheck to paycheck, without savings or emergency funds, struggling to make ends meet, and they simply have trouble spending money they don’t have. And businesses are now catching the drift: it’s going to be tough out there in this Fed-engineered economy.

Source: Chilling Thing Hershey Just Said About American Consumers | Wolf Street

The current state of our world economy explained in simple terms a child could understand:  Chocolate sales.