October 17, 2006

The REIC's poodle, the discredited Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard, at it again with a "don't panic on housing" piece


So the latest hack from Harvard, REIC poodle Alexander von Hoffman who is a senior fellow at their "Joint Center for Housing Studies" otherwise known as the "Bought and Paid For REIC Disinformation Poodle" at Harvard, put out this bubble article at the Boston Globe, probably at the request of major Boston homebuilders and real estate firms.

What caught my attention was this line: "The Great Depression brought far worse"

Had a good chuckle at that one. Nice way to look at it - kind of like telling someone who just lost their job - "hey, buck up there, getting cancer is much worse"

Again, HP calls for the immediate firing of Nicholas Retsinas, the head of the JCHS, and a cleaning-house by Harvard before their name is besmirched even further. If the JCHS was truly independent, and truly studying housing, they'd be honest about the current situation, the detachment from fundamentals, discuss the out of control lending that got us into this mess, and call for reforms. Instead? We get "there's never a better time to buy!" fluff.

Here's the rest of the lowlights from this discredited front organization for the Real Estate Industrial Complex, and a stain on the good name of Harvard:

Now that prices are subsiding, the downward trend has become a source of anxiety for homeowners, especially for sellers. But it also has implications for the fabric of the city as a whole. The basic question is: Can Boston's reviving neighborhoods withstand the fall?

Before panicking, let's keep the burst of the housing bubble in perspective. After all, the Boston real estate market has been booming and busting since the 1630s, when the Puritans first began divvying up the land around Massachusetts Bay.

The Great Depression brought far worse. Unemployment and deflation crippled the finances of thousands of Boston's working families who could not make their mortgages and lost their homes.

This is not what we're facing.

Absent a prolonged economic collapse, the current bust won't sink a neighborhood or turn masses of people out of their homes.

So although prices may drop here and there, most properties won't become cheap. Newcomers to Greater Boston will still experience sticker shock.

Boom or bust, history shows, Boston's neighborhoods are going to keep rolling in the same direction.

12 comments:

David said...

"So although prices may drop here and there"

They are alreay dropping!

Anonymous said...

Hey,
They could be right. We are in uncharted territory.

Anonymous said...

Absent a prolonged economic collapse, the current bust won't sink a neighborhood or turn masses of people out of their homes.
++++++++++++++++
How does he know this? Does he use a crystal ball?

Anonymous said...

Dear Salt Lake Mortgage Guy,

"A blurb from the National Mortgage News says the latest trend is refinances of option ARMs."

You are right, if the house is worth what they owe.

It is another way to keep the money changing hands, and keep the economy going, until the last nickle is sucked out of consumers.

Anonymous said...

The desperate sellers are killing the comps. That is what will shake out the 100% IO and those thet refi'd out all that unused equity.

Anonymous said...

Don't worry, the fraudulent appraisers will use less comparable comps, and make the innappropriate adjustments to get the value needed.

blogger said...

paintblot needs to take his happy pill today...

FYI - I won't buy a house from a developer/builder in America again. My next house I build.

Anonymous said...

Difference is, the negative spin is backed by facts and solid economics. The positive spin is backed by rhetoric and realtwhores weraring inexpensive perfume.

Anonymous said...

Think it's interesting that the media has begun mentioning "the Great Depression".

The blogs have been doing this for a year now but suddenly the major players are bringing up the big "D".

Even if only to say: the big"D" won't happen AGAIN.

Is that kind of like saying "RE never goes down"?

Anonymous said...

Is that kind of like saying "RE never goes down"?

Wednesday, October 18, 2006 2:23:15 AM
____________

It doesn't! Every home owner keeps telling me!

Anonymous said...

I think we're forgetting something pretty important--there's absolutely NO NEED TO WORRY ABOUT THE HOUSING BUBBLE ANYMORE!!!

Here's why:

Perhaps you have heard of a young man whose wisdom surpasses that of Aristotle, Plato, Kant, and Mill. Perhaps you have heard of a young man whose business acumen far exceeds that of Rockefeller, Carnegie, Gates, and Buffett.

Perhaps you have heard of a young man who is such a perfect physical specimen that he could become one of the all time greats at any sport. Perhaps you have heard of a young man whose cerebral fitness is such that no grandmaster of chess could ever defeat him.

Obviously, the paragon of intellectual, spiritual, and physical virtue of whom I speak is Aleksey Vayner. Just give this young man five minutes and he will devise a flawless plan to get us out of this mess, ensuring boundless prosperity to all in perpetuity.

Anonymous said...

would not want to be in mass.in a depression, with any health problem, as ownership is contigent upon possession of health insurance, a noncontrolable expense, in addition to property tax. i dont see a pollouted sea fisherman, with no gas, paying in trade, or labor these expenses, but then government will help, or is that how we got into this problem? or how to loose property rights, and ownership, to quid pro quid, gov and insurance cos