I think blogs are the most important thing to happen to mass communications since the invention of the printing press. The people, not businesses, not the government, not the MSM, are in control of the news and message now.
That could be bad, or that could be good. But the people report, the people debate, and the people decide. Not the pathetic Fox News. Not the ideologue New York Times. Not the stuffed suit Tony Snow. And especially not the corrupt David Lereah.
Thank you for contributing. A blog with one voice would be extremely boring (like the MSM). It's the community that makes (or breaks) a blog. Please think of HP as a bizarre dinner party, and you are all invited guests, even Richard and Borkafatty.
There are kids and women in the room, so please keep it clean. Don't threadjack, don't bore, don't swear, don't hate, don't feed the trolls, and have something interesting to say.
I'll close with this. My goal in creating HP and blogging away today (when I should be working harder!) is simply this.
I want an America where a young couple out of school can save for a down payment, take out a 30-year fixed, and for a reasonable share of their monthly income buy the house of their dreams again. A place they can raise a family, and make a home.
I don't ever in my lifetime ever want to see people treating houses as get-rich-quick lottery tickets. I'm sick of watching over-consuming Americans, and their obsession with physical things, and how they look to others. Scottsdale, Arizona in other words.
Thanks for listening, thanks for participating, and good god, let's get this housing crash over already.
Peace out,
- Keith
November 02, 2006
HousingPanic hits 2,000,000 views. Thanks HP'ers for making the blog
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43 comments:
Way to go! Congrats on 2 million. . .agree - the MSM is SO 20th century. Everyday I laugh at the quotes on Dow Jones Marketwatch - "surprised economists" "unexpected drop in GDP" "worse than expected". . .and I say to my growing group of friends who read your blog - "WE KNEW IT ALL ALONG!"
Everything is going according to the predictions on this site - massive growth in inventory of unsold homes, huge drop in sales, upswing in foreclosures, and a real drop in prices (at least here in SD) of 20% already. Can recession be far away? Will the stock market crash by December (I still hold by my 9800 DOW by Dec. 31). . .stay tuned.
Can we all just agree that MATT DRUDGE is a nasty faggot who shills for the Republican Party and should be outed and then permanently ignored?
Thanks! When that's done I'll feel a lot better. I'm so angry over these liars and turds like Limbaugh attacking Michael J Fox.
"Rush Limbaugh -- a fat, draft-dodging, drug addict, jacking his maid up, having her buy dope for him -- that fat sunuvab!tch -- I mean, enough bad stuff can't happen to him." — Don Imus, Oct. 25, 2006
http://www.azcentral.com/blogs/index.php?blog=164&blogtype=Bizblogs
Home Depot aisles emptier
11/01/2006 11:03:30
Have you noticed that the crowds at the Valley's home improvement stores are a little thinner these days?
Believe me, I am not complaining. It's much easier to find someone who works there to help you when fewer shoppers are vying for their attention. But it's got to be a sign that not only the housing market but home renovations are off from last year's frenzied pace.
Fewer people are taking money out to do home renovations, according to national figures. Unfortunately sagging home prices in some areas are hindering people's ability to tap their equity for home improvements.
Bubba,
Good link. In a worrying kind of way....
Cheers, Haggis
Right Keith, Fox is pathetic, yet beats the others in viewers all day long. You are a loser, period.
Congrats Keith,
You’re famous. Clicks to you.
I, for one am addicted to the fun characters on HP and the really funny insults. Might as well enjoy the melt down.
I am really just here for the pictures.
Don Imus is ugly and chews nicotine gum.
Our MSA (Southern US) remains affordable. Houses are still selling. The average price for a 3/2 2 car garage 15 year old house is about $175,000.
Keith,
A hearty congratulations! You are one opinionated prolific blogger.
I am a huge fan of your blog!
David
Bubble Meter Blog
re 101,
where in the South? In the red neck Bible belt? I live in the South and a 2 br 1 ba, 900 sq foot home is $200,000.00 to $285,000.00, three years ago same house was $80,000.00 to $125,000.00.
P L E A S E.
Oh yea, you'r a flipper.
Unfortunately Keith your vision will never happen - the housing crash will cause a deep economic depression...
and in a dozen years or so when everyone should be pulling out of it - PEAK OIL will have already have passed and its horrible implications in full swing...
we (globally) will not be able to pull out of this deep economic depression because of lack of CHEAP energy and a die off of the human population will ensue.
A die off of at least 80% (that H. Kissinger alluded to in 1978). This die off of the human population may wipe us cleanly off the planet. Some say 95%.
So you see Keith - the housing crashing is the trigger - and the trigger has been pulled.
Congrats! Well Done!
Thanks for getting back to your point!!!! Get rid of all the making fun of Jesus, Latinos, Arabs and Rednecks... you're going to lose your audience.
Thanks for getting back to your point!!!! Get rid of all the making fun of Jesus, Latinos, Arabs and Rednecks... you're going to lose your audience.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
el wrong O.
congrats also from germany
The collapse of the housing bubble will not destroy America and we will not be thrust into global financial meltdown and depression. The fact that the housing bubble is allowed to pop shows that the US economy can self-correct. The housing bubble was bad for America because it represented an unprecedented rise in indebtedness of our working young.
Now we read articles about vets back from Viet.. (er) Iraq that are homeless because of the high price of housing.
In addition to life and liberty, no person should ever be denied food, health care, education, and shelter. Our society has already been struggling with astronomical price increases in health care and education, and now we must struggle with astronomical shelter prices.
Bottom line is that more affordable housing will strengthen our economy and society in the long term. If only the cost of a college education bubble would burst...
The collapse of the housing bubble will not destroy America and we will not be thrust into global financial meltdown and depression. The fact that the housing bubble is allowed to pop shows that the US economy can self-correct. The housing bubble was bad for America because it represented an unprecedented rise in indebtedness of our working young.
Now we read articles about vets back from Viet.. (er) Iraq that are homeless because of the high price of housing.
In addition to life and liberty, no person should ever be denied food, health care, education, and shelter. Our society has already been struggling with astronomical price increases in health care and education, and now we must struggle with astronomical shelter prices.
Bottom line is that more affordable housing will strengthen our economy and society in the long term. If only the cost of a college education bubble would burst...
To bad that 2 million was not Dollars huh!
I better keep quite, otherwise my Idea for a subscription based Housing Panic Newsletter might slip out..aww! there I go again thinking out loud!
congratz Keef
What first attacted me to this site was the pictures. Reading opinions that were surprising, shocking and just plain factual got me hooked.
Two million and growing.
Congrats Keith!
http://www.321gold.com/archives/archives_authors.php?author=Richard+Daughty
Keith,
I think you will like these essays, a lot.
Keith,
Love the blog, I think I have almost been posting for a year. So you have kept my attention.
Scottsdale, Arizona in other words
The SAME goes for Irvine/Newport Beach California...
Nice work, Keith, congrats to you and all of you guys (and gals).
I read this blog as much to get information about the housing bubble as I do to observe this (relatively) new phenomenon of blogging. Because I'm a natural pessimist, it occurred to me that blogs may play a similar, negative, role to the unusually mild summer experienced across Europe prior to WWI. In that case, the warm weather facilitated much discussion in the cafes, restaurants, bars and public spaces in Paris, London, Berlin, etc. This increased level of discussion was mostly one-sided and patriotic pro-war sentiment spread and solidified and resulted in the wide public approval of war on both sides. Not really a good thing.
But your blog provokes debate and the spread of information and cogent argumentation, rather than polarizing opinions, unlike the MSM. So my fears have so far been unfounded, is what I'm trying to say in my boring fashion. But it's because you give opinion and don't censor opposing comments, even from the lunatic fringe, that's what makes this style of blog such a good thing.
Keep up the good work.
"don't censor opposing comments, even from the lunatic fringe"
Bull CRAP!!!
Sieg Heil!!!
The "Thinker" wrote that the collapse of the housing bubble wont create depression". Well thats correct, it will create both WAR and Depression. Unless the current financial system is put through an orderly government surpervised bankruptcy re-organization, which cancels all "derivates" and other "illegal" claims agains the US Economy then we can expect not only a big bang or something akin to that but we can expect to see more chaos and war gripping the planet. "911" happened on the heels of the major stock market collapse of 2000-2001 period.
The move for war is driven by the desperate need of desperate financier interest to remove governments, including the United States and install instead fascist regimes which will impose terrible austerity on the population in an attempt to save their bankrupt financial system.
Does the name Franklin Delano Roosevelt ring a bell with anyone? We must do now what FDR did back in the 1930's in order to prevent absolute destruction of whole nations.
Congratulations Keith! What first brought me to this blog was a link that somebody posted in the “Discuss” section at the bottom of a Yahoo news article on housing, back in the spring.
The interesting opinions, intelligent comments,informative financial discussions, and the wonderful anecdotal housing tales are what keeps me here.
But the infantile name-calling and hate posts have got to go!
To all the regulars - Richard, Bork, FMW, Hunter, Tabasco, LV, FoxW, Thinker and others - the Mammoth tips his shot glass to you. You make this blog what it is.
Thanks!
-Mammoth
And they said it wouldn't last... Ha! You got the last laugh, Keith.
Congrats and keep up the good work.
Alex
let's get this housing crash over already.
------------------
And this from the UK post
http://tinyurl.com/y9p3wa
if this is true your wish for a crash is right around the corner.
2 million hits, Big Deal!
When borkafatty's 1.75 million of them.
Keith, we are still waiting for the Housing Panic Podcast.
Keith said, " want an America where a young couple out of school can save for a down payment, take out a 30-year fixed, and for a reasonable share of their monthly income buy the house of their dreams again. A place they can raise a family, and make a home.
I don't ever in my lifetime ever want to see people treating houses as get-rich-quick lottery tickets. I'm sick of watching over-consuming Americans, and their obsession with physical things, and how they look to others. Scottsdale, Arizona in other words.
Thanks for listening, thanks for participating, and good god, let's get this housing crash over already."
Boy, what bad happened to you in Scottsdale that you hate Arizona so bad? There are many, many worse places to live than Phoenix.
Nice dream but never going to happen in your lifetime. Oh, but then again, since you are educated and tech savy you can still buy a nice house in most parts of the USA on your single income of 50,000GBP ($90.000 is a healthy income for one). And what if your wife/boyfriend/lover wants a career? Most people want to work so with two incomes (add one more income to yours and you can more than afford a home in 80% of the USA).
And what planet did you drop off of that a young couple straight out of school (I hope you mean College, not highschool) can buy the "house of their dreams?" Don't you think part of the problem is so many peolpe out there buying their "dream house" they can't afford? What ever happened to buy small, what you can afford, take out a fifteen year mortgage, pay off as much of the principle, trade up and roll all the equity into a house (not a plasma tv or Hummer) and do it again. By the time you are 50 you should have your dream house and paid for!
Growing up in Arizona you must be envious of all those coasters (CA/NY/MA) that did hit the lottery on their homes at the rest of our expense, so maybe a little bitter? Or did you sell your house a year too early in Phoenix and loose some money? Anyway, I agree that homes are not LOTTERY tickets, but neither is stocks, gold, commodities, or anything else one invests in or spends their money on. Some things will retain value (inflation adjusted) than others but in the end all things have intrinsic value that doesn't change, just the fiat money price changes.
Nice fantasy though.
Kieth said:
"Thank you for contributing. A blog with one voice would be extremely boring (like the MSM)."
Then he said:
".. the people report, the people debate, and the people decide. Not the pathetic Fox News. Not the ideologue New York Times. "
A recent NON-partisan study of the network news (channels ABC, NBC, CBS) ... finding that 77% of network news stories about Democrats were favorable, while just 12% of reports on Republicans were positive. 77 to 12!!!! Yet you continue to whine about "pathetic Fox News". Print media appears to be just as biased. So where does one go to escape the Communist News Network (which I still visit daily) and the Associated (with terrorists) Press? I would say blogs are ONE place to go, ...
but when Keith says "The people, not businesses, not the government, not the MSM, are in control of the news and message now.", I have to conclude that that's pretty much exactly what Rush Limbaugh says. The Liberals have CONTROLLED the media for what, 50 years? In the last few years they've lost their iron grip (and are now VERY pi$$ed). The opposing voice has emerged and Keith thinks it's a bad thing! LOL
Irony can be so ironic sometimes. (Police Academy reference)
This is for sure the Jerry Springer show of all housing blogs!
"finding that 77% of network news stories about Democrats were favorable, while just 12% of reports on Republicans were positive. 77 to 12!!!!"
That same study showed that 99% of stories about beating your wife were negative, only 1% positive.
Only 1%!
Try to do a positive story on the GOP and our incompetent leadership. It's tough dude.
"Bush today didn't directly kill someone with his own hands - next on Fox!"
foxwood - what happened in scottsdale is that my eyes were opened as to out of control debt fueled consumer spending in order to keep up with the neighbors
It grossed me out.
Panicearly:
I'd love to get rid of the TV, but the wife is glued to it. It's a big waste of time and money. Cost almost $2K, it's HDTV, and the cable bill is $70 per month.
"::In addition to life and liberty, no person should ever be denied food, health care, education, and shelter. ::"
What are you, some kind of commie? I agree, if the person pays for it out of current income.
Someone said (paraphrase) "The Law in its magnificent equality forbids both the poor and the rich from living under bridges..."
Exact quote:
The writer Anatole France once observed, “the law, in its magnificent equality, forbids rich and poor alike from sleeping under bridges and begging for bread in the streets.”
Why don't all you bozos realize that both political parties suck, but the Democrats suck worse as they are for restrictions on both the economic realm (onerous regulations, carbon taxes, higher taxes, etc.) and the moral realm (hate speech codes, etc.).
Which of the two parties would legalize drugs? Neither.
How many people on this board would consider themselves libertarian-thinking or leaning? I believe the libertarian party is populated by nihilists and anarchists, but the policies, aside from foreign policy, are easiest to live with.
Do you guys really think the Democratic party is a viable alternative to the Republican Party?
How many of you are honest enough to consider yourselves socialists?
Keith said, "foxwood - what happened in scottsdale is that my eyes were opened as to out of control debt fueled consumer spending in order to keep up with the neighbors
It grossed me out."
I'm glad it takes so little to gross you out. A lot more Americans need to become more sensitive to needless spending. Seeing all those chinese made toys is enough to gag me. People spending $20 or more for a toy you can't give away at a yardsale or the Goodwill. Money down the drain (or should I say to China).
Still, I lived in Phoenix and didn't see many of my friends "out of control" in spending. A couple, but most were not. Then again, most of my crowd is over 30 and I know that a lot of people under 30 seem to spend, spend, spend with no thought of tomorrow.
Still, have you seen the obscene consumption in California? Having left there at 17 to go to college I've always marveled at the game there. Not only will they spend $600,000 for a shack they still buy all the toys, second homes, big vacations. And New Yorkers or Miamians? When Californian friends would visit Phoenix they would marvel at what they saw as "'wealth" in Scottsdale. Why? At least up until 2005 there was real money being spent. A lot of homes were bought cash or with large downs from people moving in from California/NY etc and buying their toys with cash or a least could afford the payments since they didn't pay through the nose for a house.
And Russia? Did you read about their 88 billionaires and huge number of millionaires and paying $1.2 mil for a cell phone or a custom car? Or the guy who spent 40 million on a wedding in Cannes, France? He even dismantled a Russian Orthodox church and had it re-erected in France for the wedding. Talk about obscene?
You live in London now so I am sure you can see displays of wealth and consumption that makes people in Arizona look like amatuers.
congrats Keith! you have the best bubble blog on the net.
keep it up!
With the same hand full of idiots listing everyday!
Congrats!
It's a Good Thing (tm) that there's an excess inventory of homes. Now let's all move to outfit these homes with passive solar heaters and windmills, and reliance on foreign debt and foreign oil will forever be a thing of the past.
Chuang Tze sez: 'The common people are sages.'
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