Three years.
Ten million views.
6,000 posts.
Trillions lost.
A world economy in shambles.
And housing prices almost back to where we started.
HousingPANIC ends.
It's been a journey HP'ers, and an honor. When I started this blog, I knew how it would end up, I just didn't know how we'd get there. And now we know.
I saw HP as a story, with a beginning, a middle and an end. It was a tragic story, a classic rags to riches to rags tale. And every good story, every good book or film, has a good time to end. For HousingPANIC, that time is today.
The election of Barack Obama last night, as predicted here for years, is that good time to end. After eight long years under the worst president in US history, hope returns. Hope that the guilty will be punished. Hope that the laws will be reformed. Hope that we can dig ourselves out of this national nightmare. Hope that we can confront the challenges of our time.
And so I end the blog on hope. After the anxiety, after denial, after fear, after desperation, panic, capitulation, despondency and depression, comes hope.
But what a journey it has been. We were a ragtag, unorganized and unfunded motley crew of average folks back in 2005 who knew something was wrong in America, and around the world, and didn't know where to turn.
Everywhere we looked, home prices were skyrocketing to unjustified levels. Mortgage fraud was encouraged. Debt was seen as wealth. Price to rent and price to income didn't matter. Loans were being given to anyone who could fog a mirror. Housing porn shows ruled the airwaves. Realtors were telling us if we didn't buy now we'd be priced out forever, and that year-round-golf justified high home prices. Our fellow citizens were queuing up for home lotteries. And the world had lost its mind in an orgy of fraud and gambling on housing.
Meanwhile, our politicians sat back gladly as the Housing Ponzi Scheme inflated, taking straight-out bribes from the REIC to remain quiet. Our REIC-advertising supported media again deserted us. And the madness continued.
And it looked like the madness would never end.
And then, spectacularly, it ended.
And now we're left to pick up the pieces.
Trillions have been lost. Lives have been ruined. Future generations will be forced to pick up our tab. And empty and unwanted homes litter the land.
Yet the thieves have not been arrested. Laws are not enforced. Realtors practice their lies, restraint of trade, and deceit. And around the world, home prices are still falling and will keep falling until they make economic sense again.
But now, on the 5th of November, 2008, it's time for HousingPANIC to end. It's time to rebuild. It's time to reform. It's time to arrest the guilty. It's time to root out the corruption. It's time to address our ills. It's time to hope. It's time to renew. It's time to reinvent. It's time to move on.
Thank you to all my fellow bubble bloggers. For most of us this was simply a calling, a passion, a desire to serve our fellow man. A fight against the evil and corrupt. And we have won.
And thank you to the HousingPANIC community. The HP'ers. The brown shirts and the chicken littles and the tin foil hatters. History proved us right, and our detractors wrong. You have won.
I'm going to keep blogging, but on all the issues I find interesting that are confronting America and the world, not just housing. More on the new blog in the next post.
I'll turn off comments here tonight. This body of work will then be complete. I hope future generations, when they're studying this bubble, the biggest financial bubble in human history, enjoy this real-time view of what happened, and how it happened. The HousingPANIC blog will hopefully remain here on this lonely little corner of the internet forever. It should serve as a warning to the folly of man. And it should serve as a beacon of hope. That the little guy stood up and said no more. No more.
Peace out.
It's been an honor.
-Keith
November 05, 2008
And then, on the 5th of November 2008, three years and one historic worldwide housing crash later, HousingPANIC came to an end.
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102 comments:
I think for the end of HP, there should be nominations and awards for HP's first and only effeys.
I'd like to nominate all the people who:
- said they would never hire anyone who didn't own (homedebt) a house.
- think renters are losers.
- cheerleaded the bailouts. They didn't help save housing in the end.
- thought debt was a virtue and saving and prudence were for suckers.
To all these people I'd like to nominate you for an effey. Go to hell, fuck you, you punk ass bitches.
Keith, Housingpanic might be over, but I guarantee you the seeds have been sown for the next chapter: U.S.CurrencyPanic.
It will happen, the U.S. Dollar will collapse in the next 2-5 years, and there will be social breakdown, riots and panic.
Thanks for everything, Keith. I know this took a lot of time and effort on your part, but I think you helped open a lot of eyes (including mine).
-Tangelo Mozilo signing off-
great blog ketih...i hate to see you leave just to go create a blog just like a million others but oh well.
good luck with soot and ashes...i will not be clicking their though.
This here site saved my a--.
If I didn't find HP - I'd be another FB.
Thanks for the warnings, advice and the occasional laugh (I'm talking to you Andew Hac)
It is often a thankless task, and it ought not to be.
Thank you for all your hard work, and a job well done.
Keith,
Thanks for the memories. By far and away my favorite blog. It will be missed but like all things it must come to an end.
As for the regular posters and anon's, thanks for your many insights. This blog was like a secret soceity back before the housing panic went mainstream. Now that it is, it only seems approprite to put an end to this classic tale of yet another mania and crash.
Keep the faith and remember lessons learned. We will see this material again.
-SRI
Thanks for all your hard work Keith, it's been a pleasure. Best of luck in the future.
And a very special thanks to Alan Greenspan, for giving America exactly what it asked for, allowing us to destroy ourselves and our corrupt, unsustainable way of life.
John Galt and Ayn Rand salute you. Now we can begin rebuilding America towards a vision of how it can, and should be.
Thanks Keith. You saved me from what would have been a huge mistake. I'll continue to read your new blog, but I won't forget this one either.
Thanks for your hard work and insights, Keith. It's great to end on Hope--just like Pandora's Box.
Jersey Girl
Keith,
I discovered your blog about 3 years ago and I read it almost every day. Sometimes I post comments.
It is because of your blog and others like you that I learned about the housing /credit bubble. I am grateful.
I will be checking in on your new blog.
It will be difficult for the world economy moving forward. We will now have to pay for the excesses of the deadbeat debtor Repug's whose policies have endangered and bankrupted us all.
No wonder the world was cheering the change in our election.
Deregulation, trickle down economics are only good for those at the very top until their excesses threaten to destroy the world financial markets. Mindless wars, no bid contracts, corp's that pay no income tax even the ones that suck tax dollars out of system and the rest of the crony capitalists have almost destroyed us. And those who deliberately created huge bubbles have added to the greatest financial crises since these same polices caused the great depression.
Wall street can not exist without main street. Wall street has forgotten the importance of the shareholder. Those nameless faceless people who own the corporations that are traded daily. Wall street has forgotten the consumers who buy the products that create the profits. Wall street has dismissed the taxpayer who provides the funds for many corporations that profit from government contracts.
Goldie Locks was nothing more than a fantasy built on massive bubbles.
Restoration and balance to the financial markets, the tax structure, and regulation is necessary. Absence balance, we will not restore confidence in the markets or government.
Restoration of law will make us a world leader once again.
Ella
Goodbye, Auf wiedersehen, Do svidaniya!
Good work. I'm sure you will be happy to get your free time back.
Keith,
Thanks. The work here has helped a lot of people.
I will really miss HP though.
Please, do keep it online. There are so many funny things I remember and would like to be able to reference again. Thank you again.
Keith,
It's been real. Thanks for all the effort you put into HP, the opportunity for me to blog here, and for saving me a boatload of money.
Over and out,
I've Had It.
Thanks Keith,
I have been reading and contributing to this blog almost since the beginning.
We didn't always share the same point of view nor the same intensity. But your arguments and positions helped me and my family avoid the greatest financial mistake of our lifetime - buying a home in South Florida circa 2005.
So if for no other reason then that...thank you Keith.
Fabian Gordon
AKA
Veritas_Faust
bye asshole, its about time
Last day? Good job, Keith. May you preside over the trial of Angelo Mozilo.
An to senor "Dopes": You still suck.
TULIPS!
TULIPS!!!!!
BUY BUY BUY!!!
Thanks for a very infomative blog, Keith. And please get a tinfoil hat :-)
Let's have a short reunion on the day the NYTimes becomes a penny stock.
BTW, your picture there looks like the poppy field in the Wizard of Oz.
In the immortal words of the famous Canadian comedy duo, Wayne and Shuster, I give you their closing song...
Well I see by the clock on the wall. That it's time to bid you one and all.
Goodbye (Goodbye) So long (So long) Farewell (Farewell) Adieu (Adieu)
Be good (Stay Well) Bye Bye (Keep Warm) Relax (And Eat) Take Care (Stay Loose)
Adieu mon vieux. A la prochaine. Goodbye 'til when we meet again!
Thank you Keith for all your hard work on HP, and for telling it like it is...Bravo.
God Bless You Man! How Can I (WE) Find You In The Future?
"bye asshole, its about time"
F off
Thank you Keith.
Jim
San Diego
Thanks for your hard work, Keith.
Keith, thanks for providing a place to vent.
Smug Bastard
"Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one."
- Charles Mackay
This blog saved us from a lot of heartbreak and headaches...
My thinking has been rewired... why even get debt in the first place?
meh
Good job keith... great job... hopefully things will go up from here... even tho we know otherwise...
i will miss this blog considerably.. hopefully we wont have a need for another....
I hope Andrew Hac keeps posting somewhere.
Thanks Keith for all the hard work put in to keep this a great, informative and fun blog.
Like all good things, it eventually has to end - but at least you went out on a high note!
Bye to al the rest of y'all - I may not have agreed with some of you, but it was a blast hearing what you had to say.
I'll keep this bookmark and check in from time to time to see what else you have to say Keith.
Like a lot of people, I'm wondering what I'm going to do with my time now its all over bar the shouting.
Good luck mate, and enjoy your freedom!
Speedingpullet
Thanks for blogging from a , let's say "unconventional" standpoint. It's nice to know that everyone wasn't drinking the kool-aid. And was willing to point out what exactly was going on in the world and housing market
Keith,
Very sorry to see this blog end – and on my birthday of all days!
Thanks for taking the time to create and maintain this very entertaining and informative blog. You deserve a Mammoth pat on the back for your contributions to truth and justice.
And I also want to say thank you to all the people who posted their thoughts, comments, and opinions here on HP. You have provided quite the education, which one never receives in grade school or college!
May all of you take the knowledge which you have gained from HP and share it with the still-ignorant masses.
-Andrew
Why stop while the party is still going on?
Still a lot of pain & lies to come, Obama or not.
But anyway, I whish you the best for whatever you'll be doing next. It's been a pleasure reading your lines, fellow monkey.
Farewell!
Awww, how sad. I am going to miss this blog.
Thank you Keith. Move the links onto the new site please.
It's been real. I will not read your new blog until you come to realize that Obama represented the same fake change that Bush represented in 2000. The same bailout obsessed democrats control Congress and the same empire building faction controls the military and you are so completely naive to believe Obama will do anything to bring hope to anyone. The only wasted vote are the ones caste for a Democrat or a Republican.
Keith
You did an outstanding job on this blog and I look forward to your new venture.
Thanks for creating a campfire for us gather round when the world was screaming "buy a house."
All around me are people in over their heads with years of financial anxiety ahead of them, at best.
Thanks to you, I stayed strong and resisted the bait.
Thanks Keith. Take care and thanks for the last 3 years!
I came here in September 2006, which turned me on to the Casey Serin story, which then turned me on to the entire Bubble story.
It was a fun ride, guys.
Remember, Remember the fifth of November. The Housing Panic Blog.
I for one, see no reason, why Housing Panic should ever be forgot.
Everything is going to be good now!
It's a
GREAT TIME TO BUY REAL ESTATE!
So long HP. I'm still not sure why you're going away.
I'll always remember the dudes at cocktail parties and weddings back in 2005 talking about how "the housing market might start to flatten, but the prices can't possibly go down". And my fellow recent college grads clamoring to get their hands on their first 'investment property' as quickly as possible (investment property defined as hugely overpriced condo in a third-rate suburb). I held my tongue at the time but I knew something was wrong. How could prices get so high with incomes not changing? I did not know what was going on, but I knew it made no sense and stayed out. I underestimated the hit the broader economy would take though, and perhaps was wrong to doubt the doom-sayers that my screen name was meant to poke fun at, but this blog did help reinforce my conviction to stay away from the homedebtorship koolaid and make sense of what was happening. Thank you for that!
Well done Keith. I have been reading your site for a couple of years and trying to educate acquaintances along the way with the material I read here. What amazed me the most during the past year were the deer in the headlight reactions I received from EVERYONE when I explained to them that an economic tsunami was about to crash down upon the country and the world. The response in the end was, “Oh my god, I am so sorry, you were right.” Thank you for taking the time to keep the thousands of visitors to this site up to speed the last few years. Extra special Karma to your account.
Bill
Maryland
Keith-- What are you talking about? Throughout the Mountain West, we've barely started down. HousingPanic ain't even here yet, much less the end of it.
And it's funny how the "end" of panic and all the pretty flowers just suddenly appear after Obama gets elected. C'mon, things aren't really going to change much.
End on a high note and leave them wanting more....
Do not post again :)
"bye asshole, its about time"
One last comment from Greg Swann...
Keith,
In 2007 yours was one of the first blogs I found. At first you and the other bubble bloggers looked like conspiracy nut whackjobs. Over time your arguments began to make sense. Then I found Patrick.net, Ml-Implode and thru ML the Ticker Forum.
There I found hundred's of financial geniuses, and with their wisdom I was able to preserve what wealth I had.
Thank You Sir, for lighting my path.
All the best.
May the road rise to meet you.
-Lee.
Thanks for this blog Keith. It has been a daily staple in my life for the past couple years and provided me with invaluable information during that time!
Thanks again!
Hi Keith,
In the immortal words of Sarah Palin to Joe Biden, "Say it ain't so, Joe!" Remember how she asked his permission to use his name when she first walked out on stage? In retrospect, it wasn't be folksy or down-home; it was simply a set-up, just so she could deliver that cutesy line and not appear rude. :)
I've been following and posting for years @ HP under different names (Benji Franklin, Adam Smith, etc), and will miss the posts.
But I think you're right: we've seen that Americans are NOT as stoopid as the GOP thinks, and the dirty campaigning with all the Goldwateresque tactics was soundly rejected by voters (well, perhaps not resoundingly, but enough to pull off victory). We're finally going in the right direction, and the long national nightmare is finally over.
The GOP forgot that while people can be SCARED into submission, the effect only lasts a short time. Luckily they hit upon the Wright/Ayers thing for so long, that voters looked into it and dismissed it after tiring of the ranting.
FEAR, especially UNFOUNDED FEARS, is not as powerful a motivator as HOPE. Obama is about nothing, if not HOPE.
So it IS a new dawn, a new day, a time for change. And with that, it seems like a good time to seal this blog as a PERMANENT record of what transpired in these years.
We know bubbles are actually a reflection of human psychology, and their tendency to form is actually a testiment to HOPE, as well: an eternal optimism that an investment is "a sure thing" that could NOT turn on you, when we all know the real world doesn't always work like that.
Still, I think HOPE should be allowed to overpower cynicism, as the latter is a negative energy that cannot sustain us long-term (and besides that, it just sucks to be cynical all the time, looking at everything with a jaundiced eye).
If only momentarily, we need to suspend our doubts, our fears, our disbelief: none of us can accurately predict what lies ahead, but hopefully we won't forget that we can SHAPE out futures to SOME extent, as hope springs eternal.
We can do no better than to TRY to modify our futures, and not let the future modify us.
And there always WILL be a need for those who care about TRUTH to seek out the prior experiences of those who came before, who walked down the very same path they're tracking, and are seeking to confirm what truth they already know in their gut. Maybe this site will serve as confirmation for those people.
Later days,
Chris
Thank you for opening my eyes. Three years ago I was confused as to how people who'd been evicted from rental homes, been through bankruptcy, and lived paycheck to paycheck were able to afford new homes and BMWs.
Then I found your blog, and you answered all my questions.
Three years later, those same people--who were running around acting as though they were affluent, rushing to get real estate licenses, renting new cars every two weeks, buying 2nd homes, cashing out their equity, driving hummers, partying their asses off, telling people it's stupid to pay off your home, and that housing only goes up--are now divorced, drowning in debt and alcoholism, foreclosed upon, and desperate.
You called it. I tried to tell them, but my warnings fell on deaf ears. A lot of families from my kids' school are now torn apart because they laughed in my face and wouldn't listen.
Thanks, Keith, for saving a lot of people from drinking the kool-aide.
Keith-
Just wanted to say thanks to you for all your efforts on this blog. I started looking fo information back in 2005 as to why I couldn't afford a house in spite of the fact that I have above average income. Your blog was the first I found speaking of what I knew was out there. I looked at all sorts of MSM sites at the time but they, as we all know too well, were silent...or more likely...just plain had their heads up their asses. It's an interesting mental image that many people of supposed "responsibility" had their head up their ass while intentionally fucking the entire public deep in the our asses. :-)
Again, I thank you for being on the leading edge of the modern investigative journalists or commentators that were, at one time, actually employed by newspapers and now are forced to work for free and self worth to do the much needed, valued, and very much appreciative work that you have done here.
You single handedly put me on my path of discovery and self education about economics, politics, and journalism and I quite sure that everyone who came accross your blog experienced the same wonderful experience of discovery. Thanks to all of you folks who have provided comments as well. I learned from you also. Not only did I find out that I am not alone in all of this but you gave me perspective as to what is out there. Yes, even you, DOPES. DOPES enlightened me to the fact as to how mean and selfish people can be. Thank you DOPES for educating me on the dark side of humanity. I am now more aware of the complete idiocy, selfishness, and greed that humanity is capable of. I will never ever trust the advice of any individual who is only interested in giving me such advice bases on his own income. What a complete jackass you are.
Keith, again, many thanks to you. I wish you the best that life has to offer in this brave new world. And if you happen to bring yourself back to your home town of Phoenix, what a shit hole it is, I hope you run across some of those in that angry mob of spoled brat, greedy McCane supporters and give 'em a good punch in the nose for me. I have been there on business and I have never seen so many blonde blue eyed self accomplished population in all my life. They deserve what's comming to them.
Yes, I am angry, but in time will heal and become a nicer and wiser person soon. I hope we all will.
But in part Keith, you were responsible for pointing out the dangers to all of us who have discovered your thoughts on this blog. Thank you so much. And thank you fellow HPers...I wish the best for all of you who continue to hold on to hope and strive for a better future for all of us and our next generations to come.
Gary in SF
GOBAMA!!
Thanks Keith, First time commenting, but long time reader from Vancouver, BC. The housing bubble is finally bursting here now too. I have been the lone voice amongst my friends/co-workers/neighbours for awhile, who have thought I was wearing a tin foil hat when I said that prices were going down, but thanks to this site and others I knew better.
Oh, and Yeah Obama!
Keith,
Thanks again..I loved reading HP everyday..Hope is again alive and well..God Bless You and the New United States of America.
Peace out :)
Eric
sooooo does this mean its time to buy lol!!
Thanks for a series of satiric and to-the-point posts on the Bubble of Bubbles. Russia picks up the job with its own mini-blogs on the subject amidst the still-prevalent "it won't happen here" views of the majority. Given the time lag between the two property bubbles, I hope that we too will come to realize that mortgage wizardry is the exact opposite of the sought-after "affordable housing", and that there are things more valuable than a square meter.
It's been an honor to read your blog for all this time. Thank you for your tireless efforts to talk sense into Americans.
I'll miss this blog, but glad you're having a new one that I can follow.
Congratulations and thank you for an excellent and insightful blog.
I don't question your decision to shut down the blog. You've chosen a significant moment in history and, really, what more is left to say?
However, I do find a little irony in closing the "HousingPANIC" blog before the real housing panic begins. We've seen the effects of a few ridiculously risky mortgages in a handful of inflated markets in good economic times. Now we begin to see what happens when the collapse spreads to regular mortgages throughout the rest of the country during a severe global economic recession.
I fear that in a couple of years you will look back on this day and feel a little like a Realtor who in Nov 2006 proudly proclaimed that prices have dropped 3% and that was the best time ever to buy...
Best of luck,
rw
Thanks for everything Keith.
You have done a great service for all of us.
The whole world will need to take a bite of the shit sandwich that has been made over the last few years, but we do now have some hope for the future.
And our concerns and predictions once laughed at have now been validated.
Best of luck to you in life, and all future endeavors you choose to endure.
DA
Keith,
Thanks to you for hosting the show for so long.
Thanks to all the HPer's for the great insights and for offering so many links for additional information.
This has been a great place to visit.
Now, I'm going over to the new site for the "house warming". Will there be pie?
like i said thirty years ago...i am not a consumer..i am a customer........................and customairily...i am always right......
Thank you for your work, Keith, and good luck with your new blog. I won't follow but go back to work instead.
and now how the hell can i make a few more bucks to spend...................
Great blog ... more housing panic to come over the coming years ... we've only gotten started!
i learned a lot. thank you.
Thanks Keith and the rest of the HP'ers for having me along for the ride. Let's meet in 10 years for the reunion...
aloha eric
Keith,
Thanks so much for your time, hate to see HP go, but glad you'll still be blogging at your new site. HP has been a fantastic source for the truth, and a great affirmation to those who knew that the bubble was B.S., but found themselves alone in a sea of stupidity.
To paraphrase another HP'er from some months ago, its sad that all us "radicals" ever wanted was for housing prices to have some relation to reality, what a hangover the next few years are gonna be...
Thanks again.
It's a good time to end it. You have already missed on a lot of predictions and turned 180 degrees on some views. You don't want to miss more predictions and have to come full-circle on your predictions.
It's all in the archives.
U.S.CurrencyPanic.
It will happen, the U.S. Dollar will collapse in the next 2-5 years, and there will be social breakdown, riots and panic.
------------------------------------
your limiting yourself.
It will be worldwide currency panic.
God bless you sir and may God light your path in life.
-Miguel V.
So long Keith, it's been great. You were the first thing I read every a.m. Can't bring up housing around the wife for ANY reason! But you sure saved my ass! Thanks again.
Vic Hentz
Thanks for a very informative and entertaining blog. I didn't agree with everything you said, but I've come to respect your opinion. Good luck in the future.
Keith, you were way ahead of this situation, and you spread the word while our media stayed silent. Thank you!
Nassim Taleb has written that he only valid narrative of history is the one which was writtern as events unfolded. History decribed in hindsight is devoid of nuance and appears inevitable. The contents of this blog and the commentary of your readers will be a great source of material on the swing of public opinion and media coverage over the last three years.
Finally - congratulations for pulling the plug on this project with perfect timing. Your Housing Panic thesis was proven correct beyond any doubt and there is nothing more to add within the scope of this forum. The future can and should be covered elsewhere.
Thanks Keith
NME
I read your blog every day. Nice work. Will be a dedicated reader of your new blog. Thanks!!!!!!
Thank You Keith!!!!!!!!
Keith, GREAT JOB and THANK YOU!!!
The first step in fixing a problem is to clearly identify the problem. You identified the problem LONG BEFORE the MSM, talking heads, and "experts".
You told it like it is...no holds barred!!! In fact, you had the guts to attack the bad guys and kudos for that too.
Thanks for everything, Keith.
May the wind always be at your back.
Keith you are THE ONE. Have read you everyday from the beginning.
You will be so missed - you have no idea :-(
You are loved !
It's been an honor, too, to have read this blog. Thanks Keith and see you on S+A.
Thank you Keith, you saved our family from making a horrible financial decision that would have had consequences for years to come. Truly, truly, I thank you so much for all the time and effort you put into this blog.
It's been an "E-Ticket" ride here (old Disneyland ticket for the best rides), and thanks for all the humor and insight!. . .I agree, we end on hope that Obama will restore the American reputation to the international community. . .All I wanted here was the ability of a poor Navy or Marine guy and his wife to be able to afford to live in San Diego, and return this town to the real people, not the $12 Martini crowd of mortgage brokers and real estate 6% salespeople. Job finished!!!
Keith:
Thank you. You saved me, and at least one other, from some very bad home purchases.
This blog has meant so much, to so many. And it taught so much, to so many. We have all lived together through "interesting times."
Yes, they are not over . . . but, I respect your right to leave on your own terms. Fare thee well, whereever you chose to journey.
Joseph
Downtown Orlando, Florida
thanks for the always entertaining posts. see you on the other side.
peace out from phoenix
Thank you, Keith. I've enjoyed this blog immensely.
This has been a truly magical time.
You won.
And we will be waiting for Greg Swan's concession speech for a long time, overdue as it is. For Greg Swan will bawl balefully in private, but he will never ever admit that he has been very publicly very foolish.
Oh yeah now things are just peachy... you haven't seen nothing yet... these will be called the good ol' days mark my words... times are going to get way, way uglier... we are at the tip of an iceburg... and it you think Obama can save you, get your head out of the sand and put on your straight jacket... no government can do anything with the collapse that is coming... it may look good for a time but it's going to be global and disasterous - guaranteed!!!
HP was an excellent blog and great entertainment. I've been a follower from the beginning and ofter called sour grapes during the high times. However, now that the truth has been told and the great unwinding is underway, I like all of you, feel vindicated. Thank you, Keith and good luck in your future endeavors.
-Hermes Aurelius
thank you keith! i am moving to your district when you return to the US and run for office.
is there anyway to get a collage of all the pictures on this blog? keith surely you have them stored somewhere. your choice of images with the associated text was profound.
Thank's Keith.
It's been a fun ride ( I personally hate it when people say that, but it seems to fit here).
Please promise me that Susanne will be a part of Soot and Ashes. Life just won't be the same without her.
Thank you, Keith
You are a true American Hero.
Keep up the good fight! I'll see you on your new blog.
Jymkata
Thanks for all the hard work and fun keith.
signed,
mort
buzzsaw
straw buyer
etc.
". these will be called the good ol' days mark my words... times are going to get way, way uglier."
I agree, it could be getting a lot worse, very soon. I hope all the people have to pay for their mistakes, without taking down the rest of us. In the debtors' efforts to keep their lifestyle, they may end up bankrupting us all.
Just look at what Paulson is doing, buying up banking stock?! What is going on? Why isn't this front page news along with the election?
Thanks Kieth!
Ive enjoyed your insightful, humorous, and well written blog for years. Take care and God Bless America.
Keith, it has been a pleasure to read HP for the last 3 years. I've been a lurker since the beginning but this site embodied my view of what was going on and I looked forward to seeing each new post. Glad you'll still be around in some fashion or another.
Keep up the good work.
GameOver
Keith;
You are the living proof that the truth always prevails. I was never interested in buying real estate or stocks, but you still helped me save a few bucks by not buying WSJ or NYT daily trash anymore.
Blogging at this level is a full time job. You have single-handedly maintained and entertained the crowd of HPers for 3 years. You deserve to pause and take some time off. It was a joy reading this blog on a daily basis. You'll be sorely missed. Take good care.
Bummer, it's like watching the last episode of Cheers.
You know, I can remember thinking something was wrong in 03 and by 05 I knew there was a huge disconnect. I just couldn't talk to anybody about it because they were all drinking the same koolaid. Your blog was the only one I could find on the internet at the time. It was the only place were others believed as I did and since then it's been a daily stop. I don't think I ever posted, just read to get information and to often be entertained. You've helped another family navigate through a strange time and to see the world with different eyes going forward. Cheers to you and your commitment to keeping it going as long as you did. You will be missed.
Thank you Keith. This has been great infotainment.
Keith,
In the spring of 2006 I knew that the housing market was in trouble and I was dissatisfied with what I was reading in the MSM. At the time, I received a daily copy of the Washington Post and I would read the Real Estate section on the weekends. I recall the articles providing much optimism with little substance to back it up.
So I asked myself where I could get the real truth. Then I thought there might be a DC or Baltimore-based real estate blog (I live in between these cities) that had better data and local observations than I did. So after a Google search, I ran across the Bubble Meter blog. The second blog I ran into was yours because Bubble Meter suggested a few blogs, including yours.
I loved your biting commentary and hilarious pictures so I was hooked. I took a picture of the Bubble Bench in the Vienna, VA area and sent it to you, and you posted it on your blog. Through your blog I found several other great real estate blogs all over the country, and I can honestly say I minimized any possibility of poor decision making because of you.
I will be sure to be a frequent viewer of your Soot and Ashes blog. Thanks for everything.
P.S.: Will the sock puppet still make an appearance on your new blog?
I found your blog last August by accident, so glad I did. Everyday when people were turning to the news, I was looking to see what you had predicted. I soon realized that ..hey, this guy is SMART! I started listening, while I don't have much, what I do have was saved. Thank you for being there for all us little guys.
And, as promised, that's it folks. Thanks again for visiting and participating, and thanks for the kind words. The HP community is one of the most entertaining and informed on the net, and is what kept this blog going the past three years.
Join me and your fellow HP'ers over at sootandashes.com if you're so inclined.
Be careful out there. Be careful where you place your trust. Be careful where you get your information.
And be hopeful that things will get better.
With that, I'm turning off the comments here, and bid you good luck and good health.
It's been an honor. We went out on top.
-Keith
My brother and his wife are just baaaarely crawling out from under their mortgage...now... in 2018. The housing market crash hurt so so many people. Thanks so much for all of your posts and for this great site. Great stuff, god bless.
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