Archive for August 4th, 2009

Want To Save The Planet? Grow The Economy!

I don’t write as often as I should about global climate control as I view most of the movement as a cynical effort to impose an economy killing philosophy on those who can least afford it. I feel somewhat obliged tonight to pass on a couple of truly incisive opinions. The first I am shamelessly […]

How Real Estate Can Become A Security

Here’s a question for you. When does a condo become a security? The answer is when you try and sell it as an income producing property and make certain statements about the return an investor might expect. That’s an oversimplification but essentially how the SEC views it. Why does it make any difference in the […]

GMAC Set For More Federal Assistance

Guess who’s back for a second (third or fourth?) bite of the federal apple. Your favorite government owned auto finance company — GMAC. It seems that the $3.9 billion second quarter loss ( it lost $2.48 billion in Q2 2008) has put it in a bit of a bind so it’s talking with the Fed […]

The Lonely Condo Owner – My Story

I suspect that you’ve seen the article about the New Jersey firefighter, Victor Vangelakos, who is the only occupant of a 32 story condominium in Fort Myers, Florida. Mr. Vangelakos is less than thrilled about the turn of events. From USA Today: Vangelakos, 45, his wife, Cathy, and their three children are the only residents […]

Pending Home Sales Increase But Are They Keeping Up With Supply?

The NAR announced that pending home sales rose for the fifth consecutive month. The Pending Home Sales Index,1 a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in June, rose 3.6 percent to 94.6 from an upwardly revised reading of 91.3 in May, and is 6.7 percent above June 2008 when it was 88.7.  The last time there […]

Trump Suckers Another Bank

Could we get Sheila Bair to simply decree that any bank that loans Donald Trump money to buy a company out of bankruptcy that he put into bankruptcy is immediately subject to FDIC conservatorship? From the WSJ: Real-estate mogul Donald Trump, his daughter Ivanka, and Dallas-based Beal Bank overcame competition from bondholders in bankruptcy court […]