Coming Soon: Fractional Home Shares? Wall Street’s fling with the housing market didn’t go so well (see, “2008 Financial Crash”). Will Silicon Valley’s housing-related ideas fare better? Consider this one, recently floated by a Silicon Valley venture capitalist: “Why not sell a portion of your home? With the right financial vehicle, a sovereign wealth fund...Read More
Shiller: Why Smart Money Can’t Stop a Housing Bubble At least according to economist (and Nobel Prize winner) Robert Shiller, housing is more prone to bubbles than stocks for two reasons: 1) housing supply eventually responds to higher prices, satisfying demand (and then some); and 2) unlike stocks, it’s not possible to short housing —...Read More
Ben Bernanke’s Mortgage “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” –Proverb “This side appears to be brown.” –Joke about what a CPA will answer, when asked what color a horse standing 50 feet away in a pasture is. When clients ask me where I think home prices are headed, my standard Realtor answer is,...Read More
Fear of Missing Out on “Something Better”: Buyers Who Fret About What’s Going to Come On the Market After They Buy “He who hesitates is lost.” “Look before you leap.” –Famous — and contradictory — proverbs. While it’s true that “you never step into the same river twice,” that doesn’t mean the river’s overall features...Read More
Mortgage Rates Pop 25 Basis Points Monday “Economists have predicted nine out of the last five recessions.” –Paul Samuelson Just because economists have been predicting, wrongly, for years now that interest rates are about to rise doesn’t mean that it won’t happen. Someday. In the meantime, there are periodic tremblors, suggesting that rates won’t stay...Read More
Missing the Mark Broad Side of the Barn: 24% Appreciation the Last 3 Years vs. 7% “Housing prices rose 8% in 2012, 11% in 2013, and 5% in 2014, much as Barron’s had predicted they would in each of those years.” –“Nearing the Peak”; Barron’s (4/20/2015) Actually . . . I remember Barron’s making a...Read More
