I’ve understood since I was 18 or so how real estate develops organically, in a truly free market, so I have known all my adult life how horribly the real estate market has been disrupted by the idiotic intrusions of Rotarian Socialism. It’s all about who can steal a few bucks by strong-...

    The bay-trees in our country are all wither’d     And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven;     The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth     And lean-look’d prophets whisper fearful change;  ...

Once upon a time there were three little pigs, and, although they were brothers and looked a lot a like, they could not have been more different. The first little pig was hard-working and thrifty. He spent very little of his income, saving and investing as much money as he could. He lived with his m...

Bank of America is getting slaughtered by short sellers.  The stock has plummeted to under 10% of its March, 2008 value.  Of course, a few things happened on the way to the slaughterhouse: The bought Countrywide, America’s largest mortgage originator. They bought Merrill Lynch, America’...

Two excerpts from a local article:  Bankruptcy reform could help hard-up homeowners Overwhelmed by debt from credit cards, a $536-a-month truck payment, $8000 in overdue property taxes and two mortgages, the single homeowner is hoping (San Diego bankruptcy attorney) Colwell can remove the $84,000 s...

If you read the news this morning, you’ll find Realtors all over the country rejoicing that President Obama has surged into the depressed real estate market on a white charger, bearing with him an heroic plan to rescue everyone — borrowers, lenders and especially Realtors. No discouragin...

Stefan Swanepoel sent me a copy of his Top 10 Real Estate Trends Report, which was gracious of him, considering that neither me nor any of the Bloodhounds nor BloodhoundBlog itself are mentioned anywhere in the book — at least as far as I could detect on a cursory examination. I don’t mi...

When I was young, my father taught me a very simple story: A man walks by a big room and sees that it’s chest high in manure.  “Quick,” he says “someone get me a shovel.  There must be one helluva horse in here somewhere!” Now the message was always clear: don’t...

I don’t do well in despair. Clarify that. I don’t mean that, when I find myself in despair, I fare especially badly. What is mean is, if despair were a classroom discipline for which one could be tested and graded, I would probably flunk out. I’ve lived through some ugly stuff in m...

I’m responding here to a comment from Dave Phillips, who is to be commended in advance for bearing up to the strain. I will invite President Gaylord to read and possibly respond if you promise to be a good doggy and engage in polite discussion (i.e., avoid inflamed rhetoric like “Rotaria...