Comments on: Near Record Home Vacancies in US

By: Near Record Home Vacancies in US | UnderwaterHomes.org

Near Record Home Vacancies in US | UnderwaterHomes.org — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:18:48 +0000

[...] Home values dropped 33 percent since 2006, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index, and the unemployment rate in June rose to the highest in almost 26 years. Tumbling home prices and rising job losses have thwarted government efforts to reverse the housing decline at the heart of the longest U.S. recession since the 1930s.” read more [...]

By: thetanman

thetanman — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 03:50:48 +0000

Manny,

The new bubble is what we’ve all been bitching about-government debt. Spending and backstopping $23T dwarfs the sum of all the bubbles in all of history stacked on top of one another. The next bubble after that is the Asian consumer. They are about 10x our population, so the collapse is far into the future. Some of us luckily won’t be here to see it. Read Doug Noland at Prudent Bear, and make sure to skip to the bottom of the page for his analysis. The numbers will make your eyes pop.

By: investorinpa

investorinpa — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 22:35:08 +0000

Christopher,

Agreed…Reading is a dump. He had looked at those 20 due to the prices being cheaper than that of a new car. Most likely will opt for some other areas, but I thought it woudl give some good insight into what’s out there.

By: Christopher

Christopher — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:49:58 +0000

PS….Reading PA has ALWAYS been a shithole.

By: Christopher

Christopher — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:48:04 +0000

A few weeks ago I registered realtyassetmanagement.com domain. It seemed timely I guess.

And just this morning I’ve got an email from a Cali RE firm inquiring about buying the domain. LOL

Anyone got any idea what such a domain name is worth??

By: cvienne

cvienne — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:31:31 +0000

@matt (4:53)

Exactly

By: investorinpa

investorinpa — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:16:11 +0000

@everyone…as an experienced residential and commercial real estate investor, I can tell you first hand there are a LOT of vacant homes. A ton out there. One of my friends has over 100 units and is actively looking at buying short sale properties in blocks of 20 at a time. He recently wrote about what some of these properties were like and the squatters that were inside at the time and having to enter with a loaded gun ready to fire. A good tale of what’s out there in homes that are “vacant” but not really: http://contraryriches.blogspot.com/2009/07/i-saw-some-really-crazy-shit-today.html

By: investorinpa

investorinpa — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:05:13 +0000

@ Eric- Warren Buffett has long stated that the stock market and the economy are 2 different things. The economy is in shambles, as Buffett said. But also, he said the stocks were a better long term investment than government treasuries and other asset classes. He is once again proving to be the oracle of omaha.

People knocked the man for paying $115 for warrants on Goldman Sachs that pay him a 10% dividend…now that their shares are up in the 160 range or so, he’s made a paper profit of 2 billion and is getting a 500 million dividend off of it. He hasn’t done as well on the GE warrants, but is taking home a 10% dividend and I’m sure he’ll cash out at a higher profit when the next bubble (alternate energy) helps out GE.

By: matt

matt — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:53:32 +0000

“BTW, did anyone notice on ZH yesterday where someone bought 122000 puts for Dec SPY at $95. Notional amount $1.2trillion. Somebody is a tad pessimistic for later this year.”

On the other side, someone sold 122000 puts, indicating counterbalancing optimism. Always think about both sides of the trade.

By: cvienne

cvienne — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:07:28 +0000

@dead hobo

“BTW, did anyone notice on ZH yesterday where someone bought 122000 puts for Dec SPY at $95. Notional amount $1.2trillion. Somebody is a tad pessimistic for later this year.”

—

I’m getting to this post late, but I’d be careful in assuming that those PUTS are a “bearish” signal…In fact, it may be just the opposite…

Back in March, when they wanted to “floor” the market, before they started calling up the S&P they started by buying a lot of protection in the June contracts (60, 65, 70)…Basically this tells me that they want to ride this market up with cheap protection (as the VIX is down around 22 now)…

Funny that I should have read your post, I was stuck in a crazy traffic jam for 3 hours this afternoon because they were doing road construction on a one lane bridge over the Potomac River that I had to cross…I was spending my time idly thinking about what to do (because being OVER 956 on the S&P has me a bit flummoxed)…The VERY thought occurred to me to GO LONG the S&P but have PUTS in place in the EXACT same way as you describe)…