Friday, September 30, 2011

Foreclosure's Impact

After visiting our Oshtemo neighborhood yesterday morning I was taken back by the large number of foreclosures in a relatively nice subdivision. Arriving at the neighborhood, I was impressed with the neatly mowed lawns, detailed landscaping, newly paved roads and sidewalks, and the overall orderliness of the community. After seeking out some of the foreclosed properties in the area, we witnessed a stark contrast between these homes and the rest of the neighborhood. Front lawns were left in shambles, exteriors were poorly kept, and trash was scattered around. My overall takeaway from this experience was my recognition of just how far the debt and foreclosure crises have spread. Even more affluent groups are being forced into foreclosure as they struggle to deal with financial management and declining home values. This just goes to show that no one is safe from these struggles and all groups of people must be aware of the consequences of their spending habits.

Portage houses

In a way I was surprised at the inconsistencies between the streets of the neighborhood we visited in portage. The first street we drove down all of the households were in good shape and well maintained so I figured the rest of the streets would be the same. The shape of the second street we visited really surprised me. There were two foreclosed houses that looked like they had been hit by a hurricane and a few houses that were still inhabited that were in nearly as bad of shape. Coming from a small town I'm not used to seeing neighborhoods like this.

Remodeling Instead of Selling

Many homeowners are having a difficult time with home values falling. They are unable to sell; therefore, many decide to remodel. With the economy still having troubles and unemployment around 9 percent, homeowners should be careful about spending to remodel. This article three tips on remodeling. Remodel because you want to live longer in the house not to try to make up for losses in the housing market. Pay in cash to avoid racking up debt and using home equity lines of credit. Consider low cost alternatives. Here is the article: Unable to Sell, Homeowners Remodel

Adjustable Rate Morgages

Adjustable rate mortgages are becoming popular again with borrowers. The ARM was responsible for the housing boom and crisis. The ARM allows a homeowner to pay a fixed rate over a period of time; however, when this is term is over a borrower's payments will go up if interest rates have. So the current problem with ARMs is that interest rates are already so low that they have nowhere to go but up. Here is the article: Adjustable Rate Mortgages Make a Comeback

Bright side of a bleak housing market

Even though mortgage rates are at a low since 2005, it is still harder to get a loan nowadays because of the housing crisis that started in 2006. This is good to see so people with bad credit cannot get loans. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have enacted the strictest qualification standards in a nearly a decade to obtain a loan.


http://www.philly.com/philly/business/130825843.html

Not Just a College Town

Our exploration into the surrounding neighborhoods proves that we are not just Kalamazoo College and Western Michigan. There are many struggling families that may or may not make it out of this recession without having their house condemned... many already have. We are so engrossed in our classes and campus-wide drama and practices of many sorts but we forget sometimes the devastation brought about by the housing market crash and the other economic issues. It has hit frighteningly close to home but until yesterday has felt a million miles away.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

North Side Adventures

Today during our group exploration of the North Side of Kalamazoo I was fairly shocked to see as many empty houses as we did. Not only were the houses abandoned but they seemed as though they had not been touched in some time, with grass growing tall and many spots of the house needing serious repair. Something else that really shocked me was the condition of the sidewalks. I noticed a tremendous difference between the quality of sidewalks in my neighborhood and the ones on the north side. It was strange to see public things like sidewalks in such disarray. What can the city do to make neighborhoods like this more attractive to potential home owners?

Portage

When going on the trip outside of K, I was pleasantly surprised with Portage. When I went, I was in the neighborhood past the highway on Westnedge. The houses that were foreclosed on were in rougher shape but the neighborhood itself was in great condition. The houses were all well kept and the streets and sidewalks were in great condition. We drove around for awhile and the people looked a little but for the most part everyone seemed very nice and we did not seem out of place.

Detroit's Aging Infrastructure

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Power-failures-reveal-aging-Detroit-infrastructure-1418465.php

Here is a short article about Detroit and its infrastructure that is rapidly deteriorating and outdated. Mayor Dave Bing is in a tough spot, though, because it is so hard to get money into that city right now to change it. The population is declining and people have no money. Not all big cities are able to build and sustain good infrastructures.

Interesting sights on our Tour De K

today on our Tour De K experience we went to the north east side of Kalamazoo to the streets of Shasta, Cammaron, and Saville. once we were there we all got out of our cars and began to walk around the communities, we split up to go down different roads to get different houses. it was a very interesting neighborhood to me, one house/yard would be very well kept and seemed brand new and then the next house down would be vacant and run down. this was very interesting to me, one side of the street would look like a whole different world and time than the other which just seemed weird to me. i came across a condemned house along with many for sale and some foreclosed houses with papers posted on the windows and doors. the thing that stuck out to me was that only a few houses seemed like they kept up on their yards and lawns and some looked like they hadn't seen a lawnmower in years. it was a very interesting and eye-opening experience on today's trip to north east Kalamazoo and to experience a different community other than my own.

5 guys in a car

Today as our group drove around the Washington Ave area, it was interesting to see actually how run down the area was. There were a lot of condemed houses, some scary instances and saw some guys unloading potential stolen speakers but it was wierd that the condemed houses were boarded up but not gated up or anything, so we kind of assuemd that some homeless people still found ways to get in so they could have a home. It was also curious that one street would look pretty ratty but then we went one street over and it didn't look that bad at all. We couldn't figure out why that was but interesting to just drive around some of the streets and see the houses, and the looks we got from people.

Getting out of the K bubble

Getting out and exploring the home market in Kzoo was very interesting.  It definitely is very shocking how many homes are run down and are considered "low income".  What does the city of Kalamazoo need to do to change this image?  Does this housing market scare people away from the city? 

Scary Thought

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/30-year-mortgage-at-record-low-401-2011-09-29-100200?siteid=bnbh
This article makes me wonder if people will take advantage of this opportunity to buy a house for themselves or try to make profit out of this.. I know that Olefson claimed that there are fewer people attempting to go into the housing business now days, but these are the same people who over draft from their credit card and who make big gables to get a bigger house without acquiring appropriate knowledge in this field.. The fundamental of all these issues is that people lack the minimum degree of comprehension in order to perform certain economic procedures.

I pray that the mortgage interest rate is going down simply because they don't have enough people to make the ideal profit.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

What Americans are Spending Their Money On

This is an interesting link that talks about what majority of Americans are spending their money on. Housing is the largest expense accounting for more than a third of Americans' expenses.

Mortgaging in Trouble

http://news.businessweek.com/article.asp?documentKey=1376-LS5IVM0D9L3501-7L0REBHAGJ83N4M5RDL2MTHO0A

As we can see from this article Freddie Mac is struggling and plays a role in why the housing market is so bad today. Freddie Mac's big time rival Fannie Mae is not doing so hot either. These mortgage finance firms need some serious bailouts and help in order to get back running and improving the economy.

To Buy a New or Foreclosed House?

Here is an article from the Wall Street Journal. It talks about how people do not want to buy new houses because they simply do not want to spend the large amount of money. Instead they have a vast amount of foreclosed houses that they can choose from to buy. The biggest factor in this is that they are saving money, which in today's economy is a big deal. However, buying a new house has its benefits because it's a better product and houses being built today are built for they way in which people live today rather than a few decades ago. One of the most important part of buying a house though is to ask questions to get a good understanding what exactly is being purchased.

Michigan Foreclosure Update

This is a recent article from the Grand Rapids Press providing an update on the current foreclosure situation in Michigan. Some of the numbers should be a bit disturbing to us Michigan residents- 1 foreclosure for every 349 homes (the sixth worst rate in the country), third highest total number of foreclosures, and a 24 percent increase over July numbers in homes receiving first notices of foreclosure. It is also interesting to make note of the RealtyTrac CEO's quote where he says that the increase in first notices may be a result of lenders finally getting through various documentation issues. This theory closely relates to our discussions from the last week in that it points out the issues that fraud and easy-to-sign mortgages have caused (i.e. poorly organized documents, falsely stated information, manipulated numbers, etc.). Hopefully this can serve as an easy-to-read update on our current situation.

http://www.mlive.com/business/index.ssf/2011/09/realtytrac_number_of_michigan.html

Benefit by Attracting Retirees

I recently read an article entitled, "Affluent Retirees are Attracted and Retained," which considers the growing population of active retirees, and their potential impact on communities. It discussed the significant role scenic beauty, recreational opportunities, and climate play in a retiree's decision to move, and how the disposable income could be as advantageous to the surrounding community as that of a new business. In addition, the assets of these mobile retirees can positively affect commercial and industrial financing, and they are also "positive" taxpayers because they don't use many of the services they pay for through taxes, such as public schools. Recognizing and targeting this influential, growing population could prove incredibly beneficial for communities ranging across the country.

Health Insurance and the Housing market

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/28/business/28insure.html?ref=business
The study discussed in the article above shows that there has been an increase in health insurance costs. With this in mind. To what extent do you think rising health costs are affecting the efforts to recover the housing market.
I think that if health costs keep rising then the housing market is going to stay under for a while since people would rather have their health bills payed and live in communities were housing is cheaper and allows them to spend on other things that are important to their well being.

Wasting Resources

Relating to our class discussion on Tuesday, here is an ABC news article about gas companies having to burn off natural gas because it is too expensive for them to build pipelines.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/business/energy-environment/in-north-dakota-wasted-natural-gas-flickers-against-the-sky.html?_r=2&hp

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

new school plan

I went to a meeting today about the new school plan. In the next years, there is a plan being set in motion to completely revamp and renovate k's campus. . Right now K is planning on changing their landscape. Adding parking and making K's campus more visible are just two things on the agenda. How might this change the realty market in kalamazoo?

Impatience Prevents Foreclosures

I just read an article entitled, "How Excitement Killed A Home Buying Dream," which discusses the foolishness of home buyers as they are unaware of the long process. They assume that once an offer is accepted and they pre-arrange their finance, that everything is fine until settlement day. However, there are many other factors that can affect the final mortgage approval. People are unaware of these possible influences, and spend a large sum of money (and credit) on furnishing the American dream, which puts them in a huge hole when future problems arise. Once again, ignorance and impatience can have an extremely negative impact on credit.

Wall Street Firms Sued

http://moneywatch.bnet.com/investing/blog/investment-insights/us-set-to-sue-wall-street-over-mortgages/2544/

This article is about 17 Wall Street firms being sued over  inadequately disclosing the risks of some mortgage loans totaling $200 billion.  Major companies mentioned as part of the lawsuit include Bank of America, Citigroup, Barclays and HSBC.  These lawsuits were placed on these companies earlier this month.

Who wouldn't want a free ride?

Here's a nice little article where the White House addresses problems with free riding and its affects on health care and other governmental policies.



Fixing the "free rider" problem is not the purpose of the individual mandate | Philip Klein | Beltway Confidential | Washington Examiner

Bankruptcy and Mortgage Defaults

http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2010/05/17/did-bankruptcy-reform-create-more-mortgage-defaults/

Good blog post about the reform in bankruptcy law and its impact on mortgage defaults around the United States.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Two U.S. Housing Trends

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-housing-markets-directions-14570439

This ABC News article uses an example of a house in Detroit for sale versus one in Birmingham to show the two different housing markets that currently exist.

Housing Bubble on NPR

I was listening to NPR today and they touched on the housing bubble. Here's the link to the post they added to their website with some quick facts.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/09/26/140820598/s-p-may-face-federal-charges

Cool link

http://finance.yahoo.com/loans/article/113499/new-jumbo-mortgage-rules-expensive-markets?mod=loans-home

Very interesting but frightening for those that have these types of loans

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Fannie Mae cited for failing to stop robo-signing

Here is a good article on how Fannie Mae did not do a good enough job in monitoring foreclosure proceedings from 2006-20011. Fraud is obviously an issue in this article. Anyway to make a quick buck seems to be the easy way out.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g0tibAqfBNQ-ek6fL4Muz7wu2-LQ?docId=8fcd00795e08439583b9804dd2c5da9d

Is the American Dream Slipping Away?

I found a very interesting article about the American Dream and it explains how different economical classes feel about the changing of the American Dream. The American Dream about "if you work hard you'll get ahead" is only still believed by a few of our population, the middle class and up still has hope while the rest feel like it is slipping away. Check out this article to find out if it is possible for Americans to get ahead.
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/27/opinion/la-oe-rodriguez-dream-20100927

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Government advice for foreclosure

just in case you wanted some helpful advice from the government about avoiding foreclosure.http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/topics/avoiding_foreclosure

Mortgage

This site has tons of interesting articles on the mortgage subject, check it out!  http://www.realestatebriefings.com/category/mortgages/

Friday, September 23, 2011

Housing Market

I found an interesting article about the foreclosure problem in the housing market. I hope you enjoy it. http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2011/03/housing_markets

A nice little video on credit card rates

A very short video on credit card usage.   And I read this morning that debit card charges are going up for small retailers.  Cash anyone?

Thursday, September 22, 2011

The "dream" of instant gratification and profits

I feel that the dream for today's generation changed because of the influence of credit, loans, and the easy way to earn a fast dollar. People of today had the choice when they entered their first job to take it slow, save, and not enter the world of gambling possible debt vs. profits. But since credit cards/loans, a fast road to profits in toying with equity, and the "dream" (a picture perfect home/life) was all in reach while the bubble was at its best, they decided to gamble in the bubble and see the instant gratification of reaching the "dream" at a much younger age than their parents. This choice ended up hurting most because greed and a need for more and more profits ended up backfiring when the bubble burst, and I believe that the resulting foreclosure crisis is a good way to see how the dream changed and why.

The American Dream, changing with the times

This article presents an interesting view on the economic and social factors that have lead to changes in what we consider "the American Dream." The 40's and 50's were the birth place of the dream. Hard work and sacrifice were rewarded by a healthy, steadily growing economy. The success of these decades continued through the 60's and 70's, but merely succeeding was not enough. Instead, it was expected that the aforementioned qualities of hard work and sacrifice would lead to a "full and rich" life. The economic uncertainty of the 80's gave birth to new ways of looking at the dream. People questioned if the American Dream was still a reality. Social factors such as increased divorce rates, more cases of sexually transmitted diseases, and declines in education all forced people to question whether or not the American Dream could be found beneath the chaos and instability of everyday life. As we know, with the 90's and early 2000's came the housing bubble. Suddenly the American Dream was back in full swing. It wasn't long until that dream faded into today. Now, what will tomorrow bring? Can we overcome high prices and risky markets to rediscover the dream of the mid 1900's?

http://www.knowledgenetworks.com/know/2004/fall/article8.html

Camparing past and present

I say that they are comparable in the sense that the "American Dream" has changed. They worked their butt off as you said to get what they wanted. Those things, for the most part, they seemed to get but those same things today for our genereation we take for granted and even beyond. Everyone has cell phones now a days for instance which wasn't even a thought for our past genereations. For us, our "American Dream" is so much more than of our past generations so I think its fair to say that the American Dream has changed which is what makes them comparable. The next generation's dream will be different too as technology keeps advancing.

Refinancing Troubles

There is a heavy interest in lowering barriers that prevent homeowners from refinancing at the current low rates. Freddie Mac reports that the going rate on 30-year, fixed rate mortgages of 4.09% is a 50-year low. Approximately 28 million mortgages carry rates above 5.1%. More than half of these borrowers could each save an average of $2,600 in the first year by refinancing. These savings would sum up billions of dollars spent else where in the economy. The Fed's low rates normally would cause refinancing. However, that is not happening. Fannie and Freddie, in efforts to protect themselves, levy hefty fees and rules on borrowers that are riskier. These fees and rules can discourage homeowners from refinancing. For further reading see: Addressing Housing Troubles Will Speed a Slow Economy

Class and Opportunity

We often say that people should have saved and waited patiently instead of borrowing money. In reality, not every American had the financial inflow that allowed them to make savings that would have upgraded their living standards. America is systematized in a way that the lower class citizens have a remarkably low chance of elevating in the economic world. This bias cycle contributed in blinding the lower class citizens from realizing the fatal ending to this bubble. They thought it was the one hit to get the American dream. It's not my intention to justify people who are in serious debt, but it is another factor to recognize.

you just can't compare

I do not think it is fair to compare our generation with generations of the past. It is true that our grandparents worked hard to obtain their possessions and achieve "the american dream." The fact of the matter is that the landscape of the American economy has changed since early 20th century. For starters, the United States was the manufacturing center of the world. Unskilled laborers could afford to buy homes and save money. This is no longer the case. The few jobs in production that are left do not pay enough to sustain a family. Nowadays, to break out of poverty, a college education more often then not required. When looking back on the past we cannot forget that it was a different time back then, or overlook the economic hardships that people faced throughout the last century. It is important to keep things in perspective and not just dream about a past generation that never existed.

Making a profit off foreclosure

Anyone have heaps of money on hand and want to flip a few houses in Kalamazoo?

http://www.forbes.com/2008/06/17/smart-foreclosures-profit-forbeslife-cx_mw_0617foreclosures.html

Obama's Foreclosure Plan

Under Obama's plan, governments were given 275 billion dollars that was meant to help homeowners in danger of foreclosure. This becomes a problem because there are only about 2.5% of American homeowners that even qualify for Obama's plan. Not to mention about half of those who actually do qualify for this foreclosure plan will more than likely redefault and risk losing their home again. Five times as many houses could have been saved if Obama's plan just paid off mortgages instead of giving the money to the banks. Where do we go from here? What is the next step that we as a nation need to take?

Housing Starts Decline

U.S. housing has fallen more than expected in August. It decreased 5% from the prior month. It is currently at the lowest level in three months. It continues to remain one of the weakest industries in the economy. New home sales have been weak because of the competition from cheap foreclosed properties. Here's the article from the Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904194604576582451182341820.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Copier Jam

There was a recent story on Fox News that said many people were eagerly awaiting the Federal Reserve's statement and had to wait because of a printer glitch. There was fear in many of their faces because they thought the Federal Reserve was going to be late on their statement. So for all the 9-to-fivers who experience this... its not just you it happens at the top as well... What ever happened to pen and paper?

The American Nightmare

The American dream is not dead. To me, it is about being able to enjoy the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and that is still alive in this country. The truth is people have just abused the dream, turning it into a nightmare for some. People in this generation have frankly taken it for granted. There is a sense of entitlement and everyone wants to live excessively and beyond their means. This was not the case for our grandparents generation aka the greatest generation of all time. They survived two world wars, the depression, the cold war, korean war, and the vietnam war. They could never take the "dream" for granted. They had seen the world at its worst but persevered through it. Our generation has never seen anything like that and forgot about what it is to work hard and pull your own weight. On a lighter note, i do believe the scene is changing. Unfortunately it took a near-depression like economic catastrophe to wake people up but people's attitudes are different now. The American Dream is constantly being redefined. Hopefully, the nightmare part is over.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Wealth disparity growing

Wealth disparities over the past 10 years or so.  If the wealthiest 5% are getting wealthier and everyone else is treading water, what happens to the American Dream?

Death of American Dream

I do not believe the American dream is "dead". I think people have just lost sight of how it is achieved. People today have a sense of entitlement where our grandparents didnt. They worked hard for what they had and thats what we need to continue to do.

The Credit Card Issue

It's almost pathetic that this credit card issue is still going on. It is understandable for people who had no choice but to be in a serious debt, and I feel sorry for those people, but the other miscellaneous reasons resulting in over-draft could have easily been prevented. I wish the credit card companies could show the statistics of amount and the % of the people who over draft in order for the new borrowers to be cautious of this vicious trend and educate themselves to become better owners of the card. Understanding the system and the tendency of credit card owners and to differentiate oneself from the majority of the population is extremely crucial.

American Dream

The American Dream has changed a lot. With so many people unable to pay their debts there has a shift in what the dream really entails. I would say people people stopped chasing the classic dream and are now just trying to get by....day after day

The New American Dream

The American Dream is what you want to make it. It is the idea that here, you can do whatever you want and have whatever life you want but you have to go out and get it. Some things, like credit cards, make it more manageable to achieve but it also has messed up the economy and our personal lives but spending too much money that you don't have.
I'm not gonna say its dead, but it has changed from the 50's dramatically with the likes of credit cards and other things that allow us to spend money we don't have. In the 50's people were happy to have just cars and jobs and working electricity. Nowadays, we take all of that for granted and only want more.

The "American Dream"

As one witnessed in the recent videos, the original "American Dream" is almost viewed as silly by the general population today. With technology advancing year to year, people are more interested in keeping up with the Kardashians than the Jones's. One cannot say the "American Dream" is dead, only that it has drastically changed faces to something that most Americans aren't proud of.

What is the American Dream?

I do not think that the American dream is dead.  I believe that it has changed through the generations.  People's ability to focus on a certain task for an extended period of time has diminished.  BUT, it is up to future generations, like ours, to change this attitude.  Get back to working hard for everything we want.  Realize that hard work goes a lot farther than the "now" attitude and that you will feel more accomplished if you earn something by a great work ethic.  Also, our ability to in a sense believe that we can do anything is very much a part of the American Dream and we must maintain this attitude and reflect it upon future generations!  

American Dream Goes Plastic

The American Dream idea was created by and for European immigrants at the turn-of-the-century. They left their homeland for the opportunity to control their personal destiny and succeed with hard work and perseverance. It was a journey and a desire to benefit from their efforts and control their financial future. Credit has helped evolve the idea by granting today's population the opportunity to quickly satisfy their feelings of materialistic entitlement. I mean, people wouldn't have to use credit if their parents and grandparents had worked harder and left them more money...

Death of the American Dream?

I would argue against the idea that the American Dream is dead. I feel that the people who doubt that the American Dream is still real are those people who have faced some sort of adversity in their lives and have given up on their dream, believing that it is impossible to achieve. However, there are still many cases where people have been able to make a name for themselves or rise up in the face of adversity and achieve their goals. An example of the American Dream in action is Mark Cuban. He was able to come from a working class family and eventually become an entrepreneur and billionaire at a very young age. While this is an extreme example of the American Dream, it proves that the there is still hope for many people who believe that they can improve their current situations through hard work and perseverance.

The American Dream, where'd it go?

As Olefson said, it's more a matter of mindset than ability that has erased our grandparents' "American Dream." Of course we still want a big house in a nice, safe neighborhood, but we don't make the sacrifices and put in the time to get it. Thanks to credit cards and the availability of loans though, we have no incentive to put in the time to get what we want, when we want it. To me, the issue here is more a societal concern than an individual concern. It's not that we're lazy and unwilling to work, it's that we don't have to.

The American Dream

The American Dream was once the reason why we prospered for so long. It gave individuals hope that they could find a job and the job they chose would benefit their community on a smaller scale than jobs today. It used to mean that everything was done for the greater good, and it was done daily. There was milk men that brought milk every morning or every other morning without a lid because families bought milk to drink milk not to store it in the fridge for weeks. The grocery stores were stocked weekly and people bought groceries to cook a meal with, again not to store foods in the pantry that were loaded with preservatives.

To bring this back to our reading about the credit era, this is all indicative of our the hard work our grandparents used to do to earn what they bought. They worked all day to earn a paycheck that would pay for their house, their family's food, their car, and maybe after a few years they would take a trip. But now it is buy as much food as your house can store to limit the trips to the grocery store, which has been quadrupled in size in order to cater to every potential customer, and with all the groceries our credit card could pay for... we end up going out to eat.

The dream of another country

When I came to this country, my parents had been here already for 4 years. They had promised that they would come back to mexico only after saving enough money for us to live comfortable in Mexico, but they ended up just bringing me and my brother over here to Kalamazoo after 4 years of saving. In mexico they had engraved in most of us that it was the "promise land" and the land of "dreams", but I was surprised from the start to see that if you get caught up in today's culture of spending and instant gratification, your "dream" can be cut short to stressful bills that may never end. I saw this through my aunt, who was years younger than my mom and dad, yet had more material things than my whole family because of her 4 credit cards and loans.
My family, for certain reasons I wont give, is not able to receive benefits such as credit, loans, and social security, and I believe that that is one of the main reasons why we are not in debt, why we prioritize what is important and necessary with luxuries and instant gratification. It always surprises people that I talk to when I mention that my 02 Jetta was paid in full cash, or that all of our cars are paid in cash, or that we have lived in a trailer park for about 8 years but we have saved enough money to pay for a decent loan for a home.

The death of the American Dream????

What was it?  Is it gone?  The real news according to the Onion

Your thoughts?

Monday, September 19, 2011

"Officially as Bad as the Great Depression"

http://www.cnbc.com/id/43395857/US_Housing_Crisis_Is_Now_Worse_Than_Great_Depression
Here is an interesting article that ties in greatly with all of our readings. It includes information that details how this housing crisis is as bad as it was during the Great Depression. It sheds some lights on the fact that some states are doing better.

forclosure and the kalamazoo housing market

A recent Kalamazoo alum bought a house in Kalamazoo for just over 70,000. Kalamazoo must have one of the cheapest housing markets in the country. Back home in Los Angeles, a small home in a bad neighborhood easily goes for 200,000.

I also watched the youtube videos on foreclosure. I found this article talking about how banks are circumventing foreclosure costs by selling houses after they have been seized but before they are entirely foreclosed on. foreclosure article

Friday, September 16, 2011

"Going Green"

In our reading in "Foreclosure Nation" it mentions the first step of getting out of this plastic, debt-filled-though-often-denied age we're living in would be to spend more cash; cash we actually have. It will have gone full circle from what our grandparents and great-grandparents did... worked for the money they were going to spend. We have gone away from that so long that it is coming back to hurt us. Now reverting back to the ways of back-when will help, slowly but surely.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Diversity & Segregation in Detroit

We saw today from the map in class that the Detroit Metro Area is very diverse, but also very segregated. There are many distinct neighborhoods in Detroit that are clearly set apart from one another, such as Mexicantown, Hamtramck, etc. Do you think that there is another Metropolitan area in the United States that rivals the diversity as well as the segregation of the area?