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The Wisconsin housing statistics are now in for May of 2012. Here is an excerpt from what the Wisconsin Realtors Association (WRA) had to say:

“Wisconsin home sales recorded strong growth again in May, continuing the trend that began last summer. Sales of existing homes were up 18.9 percent in May 2012 compared to May 2011. In addition, median home prices in the state rose 1.5 percent to $138,000 relative to the same month last year"

“It’s good to see Wisconsin’s housing market continuing a robust rebound from the depressed levels of the recession,” said Rob Keefe, Chairman of the WRA board of directors. He noted that the monthly growth rates have been in the double digits since July 2011, and that year-to-date home sales are up over 20 percent in the state. The South-Central region was up 18.5 percent.

Below are the number of Home Sales and Median House Prices for the state of Wisconsin, Rock County, and Dane County. These stats include Janesville and Madison. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions pertaining to these figures. As you can see, home sales have been increasing substantially this year. Both Dane and Rock counties are showing marked improvements in the number of homes sold.

If you would like some insight into how much your home is currently worth, I would be happy to provide you with a free comparative market analysis. This is a report that gives a close estimate to what your home might sell for in your current local Wisconsin real estate market. Has your home value fallen below what you currently owe? A short sale may be right for your situation. Visit the following page on Wisconsin Short Sales.

The Wisconsin housing statistics are now in for April of 2012. Here is an excerpt from what the Wisconsin Realtors Association (WRA) had to say:


“The strong pace of existing home sales continued, with 10 straight months of double-digit sales growth. Home sales rose 19.5 percent in April 2012 compared to April 2011, according to the most recent monthly report by the Wisconsin REALTORS^® Association (WRA). Home prices were also up for the second straight month, rising 2.4 percent to $128,000 in April compared to April 2011."


“After several years of a stagnate housing market, it’s encouraging to see sustained growth in home sales, especially as we enter the summer, which is the prime season for home sales in the state,” said Rob Keefe, Chairman of the WRA board of directors.


The WRA says an improving state jobs market is helping home sales. Since December, the state has added nearly 18,000 nonfarm private jobs even as government employment fell by 3,400 based on seasonally adjusted estimates.


Below are the number of Home Sales and Median House Prices for the state of Wisconsin, Rock County, and Dane County. These stats include Janesville and Madison. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions pertaining to these figures. As you can see, home sales have been increasing substantially this year. The median sale price in Dane County has risen approximately $8,500 year over year. In Rock County Wisconsin, the median sale price has fallen, $2,450, year over year.


If you would like some insight into how much your home is currently worth, I would be happy to provide you with a free comparative market analysis. This is a report that gives a close estimate to what your home might sell for in your current local Wisconsin real estate market. Has your home value fallen below what you currently owe? A short sale may be right for your situation. Visit the following page on Wisconsin Short Sales.


The Wisconsin housing statistics are now in for February of 2012. Here is an excerpt from what the Wisconsin Realtors Association (WRA) had to say:

This increasing sales trend began last summer and has continued at a healthy pace throughout the fall and winter. “It’s very encouraging to see sustained growth in home sales,” said Rob Keefe, Chairman of the WRA board of directors. He noted that sales over the last five months have seen growth rates in double digits without any distortion from federal incentive programs.

“We’re hopeful that the combination of moderating prices and low mortgage rates will carry this momentum into the next six months, which are the prime homebuying season in Wisconsin,” said Keefe.

Below are the number of Home Sales and Median House Prices for the state of Wisconsin, Rock County, and Dane County. These stats include Janesville and Madison. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions pertaining to these figures. As you can see, home sales have been increasing substantially this year. The median sale price in Dane County has fallen approximately $10,000 year over year. In Rock County Wisconsin, however, the median sale price has risen almost $10,000, or 13%! Have we hit bottom in Rock County for home prices??? I certainly hope so.

If you would like some insight into how much your home is currently worth, I would be happy to provide you with a free comparative market analysis. This is a report that gives a close estimate to what your home might sell for in your current local Wisconsin real estate market. Has your home value fallen below what you currently owe? A short sale may be right for your situation. Visit the following page on Wisconsin Short Sales.

Today NAWRB announces the appointment of Elizabeth Goodchild to the national trade group's board of directors. "We're excited to announce Elizabeth's new role with the organization. We went through a rigorous vetting process to fill this vacancy, and Elizabeth has all the skills and passion we were looking for in a new Director. Her business's specialized real estate services, relocation, distressed asset disposition, and short sales, plus her experience in publishing and education makes Elizabeth a natural fit for our board," said Patno. 

Goodchild will serve in her new role until bi-annual elections scheduled to be held in early 2013. NAWRB, a trade group representing women-owned businesses in the housing economy, is one of the most visible trade groups in mortgage default media and generates over $200,000 a year in media attention on behalf of its member businesses. 

To read the full press release click here: NAWRB Board member Elizabeth Goodchild.

It’s Women History Month.  Let’s honor those women who have changed our lives.  As a national women's association, NAWRB pays homage to influential women all month.  “Being persons, then, women are citizens; and no state has a right to make any law, or to enforce any old law, that shall abridge their privileges or immunities.” Susan B. Anthony proclaimed during the suffrage movement.

The Wisconsin housing statistics are now in for December of 2011. Here is an excerpt from what the Wisconsin Realtors® Association (WRA) had to say:

"What is encouraging is to see monthly home sales continue to outpace last year's levels," said Rob Keefe, Chairman of the WRA Board of Directors, noting that home sales in December were 11.3 percent higher than December 2010".

"If home sales are to continue to grow, we will need more robust job growth going forward, but a falling unemployment rate is a welcomed sign" said WRA President and CEO Michael Theo.  The [Wisconsin] unemployment rate dropped more than a half percent over the last two months to 7.1 percent in December 2011.

Below are the number of Home Sales and Median House Prices for the state of Wisconsin, Rock County, and Dane County. These stats include Janesville and Madison. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions pertaining to these figures. As you can see, home sales have been increasing substantially this year. But as you can also see, all prices are dropping in this market.

If you would like some insight into how much your home is currently worth, I would be happy to provide you with a free comparative market analysis. This is a report that gives a close estimate to what your home might sell for in your current local Wisconsin real estate market. Has your home value fallen below what you currently owe? A short sale may be right for your situation. Visit the following page on Wisconsin Short Sales.

National Association of Women REO Brokerages to launch new website Monday

Be sure to visit National Association of Women REO Brokerages' new website this Monday, January 23, 2012.  NAWRB has a refreshed looked and is fill with lots of information, tools and resources.

Be sure to check it out:

www.nawrb.com

We would like to hear your feedback on your experience.

New Year’s Resolutions

With all the holiday cheer, it’s time to sit down and take to paper all of the goals that we will strive for in the New Year.

• Revamp your office – make it more efficient and organize those piles of files sitting around
• Challenge your self – take one those tasks that you have been procrastinating with
• Invest in a good time management calendar or make it a point to use your Outlook calendar.  Learn a new feature on your outlook that will increase your productivity.
• Get up-to-date with technology – see how you can optimize your technology
• Start that social media forum – see what’s trending and make sure you don’t fall behind
• Modernize your marketing plan – how can you tap into a new market, create a niche
• Volunteer – Get involved in your community – you will enjoy every minute of it!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The Wisconsin housing statistics are now in for November of 2011. Here is an excerpt from what the Wisconsin Realtors Association (WRA) had to say:

"We are definitely closing out the year on a strong note," said Rob Keefe, Chairman of the WRA Board of Directors, noting that the seasonal pattern of home sales typically slows as winter approaches. "The strong market of the last few months has pulled sales in 2011 nearly even with the 2010 level," he said. Keefe noted that year-to-date home sales through the end of November are now less than 1 percent below last year, and that is without any bump from the federal government to stimulate existing home sales.

"This is clearly a buyer's market, and while inventories are down from October, they still remain high at more than 14 months," said WRA President and CEO Michael Theo. "This means buyers will be in the driver's seat for the foreseeable future. The economy did get a little good news in November with an improvement in the national unemployment rate and even an uptick in consumer confidence and consumer expectations"

Below are the number of Home Sales and Median House Prices for the state of Wisconsin, Rock County, and Dane County. These stats include Janesville and Madison. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions pertaining to these figures. As you can see, home sales have been increasing substantially this year. What I find most interesting in November's data is that Rock County Wisconsin home prices are actually increasing, while Dane County Wisconsin home prices have been decreasing. Both counties continue to have an uptick in the number of homes sold.

If you would like some insight into how much your home is currently worth, I would be happy to provide you with a free comparative market analysis. This is a report that gives a close estimate to what your home might sell for in your current local Wisconsin real estate market.

It's coming up on 2012 and I wanted to take a look at some predictions I had made for 2011 and just how well I did....or didn't do.

In my blog, "More Housing Predictions for 2011 part 2" one of my predictions was, "Lack of substantial job growth"

Well, I would say I was pretty on target for that prediction. I had mentioned that I didn't believe the underlying problems to the economy were going to be addressed and therefore, we couldn't expect a robust recovery, if one at all.

In my blog, "More Housing Predictions for 2011 part 2" one of my predictions was, "Government Home Retention Programs prevent a Real Estate Bottom."

Once again, I would say I was pretty darn accurate about real estate not hitting a bottom. The Federal Government hasn't released any new statistics on the recent success or lack of success on their foreclosure prevention programs however, with the increasing or steady number of NODs and Foreclosures, I would suspect that we haven't hit a bottom yet and yes, a lot can be laid at the feet of our government who is instructing banks to avoid foreclosing. I remember at the start of 2011, when I was out doing relocation assistance negotiations, people had been in their homes for 4-6 months before I showed up....now it's more like 14-24 months......no bottom in sight anytime soon.

In my blog, "More Housing Predictions for 2011 part 2" one of my predictions was, "Energy Prices will Rise to Un-precedent levels"

Now, on this prediction, I can't really say I was spot on but, I can say I was close. You see, we never made it to $5.00 a gallon for gas but, commodity prices in general are skyrocketing. In fact, most commodities like, cotton, sugar, gold and others are reaching record levels or surpassed record levels. This is obviously a sign of inflation concerns, higher cost, weak dollar. So, I won't say I was spot on but, I will say I was on track with this one.

In my blog, "More Housing Predictions for 2011 part 2" one of my predictions was, "Credit Tighterning"

I predicted that credit tightening would continue and it would become increasingly harder for the average citizen to get a loan......have you tried to get a loan lately......you better have a 650 fico and at least 15% down.

In my blog, "More Housing Predictions for 2011 part 2" one of my predictions was, " Unforeseen National Crisis"

More specifically, I predicted that obviously I can't predict a unforessen national crisis but, I am glad to say that on this prediction, I was wrong. At least, I am not aware of a "national crisis" of global concern.

All said and done, I would say I was pretty accurate....maybe a little skimpy on details but, 2012 predictions are coming and I assure you, I will detail those predictions up.

Case Shiller report shows a deceleration in the annual growth rates in 17 of the 20 MSAs. Housing generally leads the economy out of a recession. This time its not, housing is simply suffering. Not only is money tight but job creation is still a big hurt. In some cities, the decline over the last year was quite sharp.

David M. Blitze,chairman of S.&P.’s index committee tells the NY Times that a double-dip could be confirmed before spring. He goes on to say the series is now only 4.8% and 3.3% above their April 2009 lows. Certainly nine cities set new lows, and with the only positive news concentrated in southern California and Washington DC, the data point to weakness in home prices.

S&P sounds dismal, indeed. David Wyss, S&Ps chief economist tells martketwatch that The recovery in home prices has not only stopped, it's going in reverse, that it's going to get worse before it gets better

Some Balance Is Needed

Artificial Stimulus
The tax credit
First, the index to a positive spike due to the tax credit, an artificial inducement to buy. Well it worked, and we saw buyers flood the market. But comparing new data to a spike that doesnt represent normal market behavior, but a artificial spike in home sales due to the tax credit can skew the true picture.

Seasonality
This is the slowest part of the year for home sales and must have something to do with the steep decline

Weather
Could the weather have been worse for the mid west and east coast? Winter is traditionally a poor indicator of market health.

Certainly, this market needs no excuses and Im not second guessing S&P, but lets not lose perspective - winter data is hardly a leading indicator for housing markets and there is more to the story than the data is expressing.

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According to Royal Bank of Scotland analysts, using data from corelogic, "The month-over-month price decline in November was the largest in 2010."

The most recent CoreLogic (CLGX: 19.11 -0.21%) Housing Price Index, scheduled for public release next week, will show home prices dipped 3.35% nationally from November 2009 to November 2010.

(http://www.housingwire.com/2011/01/06/home-prices-go-haywire-coast-to-coast)

Because the last prediction I wrote last week was such a success, I thought to myself, why don’t I blog a bit more about my predictions so, here it is.

I predict that 2011 may actually end up seeing the highest number of foreclosures in our nations recorded history.

Reason # 1: Lack of substantial job growth.

 I do believe that with the extension of the Bush tax cuts the Federal Government passed a couple weeks ago, our Government instilled some…….just some…..confidence in the business community to spur a very modest growth. You have to keep in mind, the extension of the Bush tax cuts was a tax hike prevention or, in other words, the business community is at a wash, one way or another. To elaborate a bit further, the business community had already been working under the cuts with no growth so, an extension of the cuts isn’t going to do much to grow the economy because, it really doesn’t change the underlying systemic fundamental problems. I am not saying that we should have allowed the tax cuts to expire because if that had happened, we would have made problems worse by raising taxes on everyone in a distressed, possibly depressed economy. I am for the cuts but, I don’t believe they are going to make that big of a difference because, the true problems are not addressed. The cuts were nothing more than a lesser of 2 evils.

Reason # 2: 5, 7 and 10 year ARMS (Adjustable Rate Mortgages) adjust in 2011.

During the height of the sub-prime mortgage bubble, we saw people getting  5, 7 and 10 year ARMS. Take 2011 and count back  5 years and you get 2006, the early days of the bubble build up, 7 years back you get 2004, when sub-prime lending was really breaking out of it’s shell and of course, 10 years back, 2001 when people hadn’t even heard of sub-prime lending. My point is, in 2011, 3 different types of very popular sub-prime, bubble building ARMS are going to reset, this is more resetting than we have every seen during this crisis. I can’t even imagine the carnage.

Reason # 3: Government Home Retentions Programs Prevent a Real Estate Bottom.

HAMP is the single greatest home retention failure of this Obama White House. 75% or more HAMP participants default out and end up in foreclosure however, what HAMP does do is buy these people time. In some cases a year or more. So, John Smith, homeowner is 3 months behind, applies for HAMP which takes an additional 2 months to get preliminary approval, John pays his preliminary discounted mortgage regularly for 5 months and then defaults off, 6 months for the bank to catch up with the default and file foreclosure paperwork and 3 months to foreclosure and evict, then 6 months before the home hits the market. Add it all up and you get 25 months or 2 years before a home hits the market from the time the homeowner defaults. So, look at it this way, Government has contributed 2 years worth of underlying inventory to an already 3-5 year inventory of distressed property simply because Government wants to save people’s homes in the name of reelection. This is bad no matter how you cut it.

Reason # 4: Energy Prices will Rise to un-precedent levels.

It was just 2 days ago that BP (British Petroleum) announced that they are re-working their 2011 budget with the premise that gas prices in the US will rise to $5.00 a gallon. Fuel cost effects every aspect of our daily lives. It’s not just how much you pay at the pump. It’s how much it cost the truck delivery man to deliver the goods to your local grocery store. Over 90% of the goods you buy at a grocery store get there from a truck and that truck can only get there when it fuels up its tanks. If that fuel increase goes up on that trucker we can expect to see prices for individual goods to increase as well. A absolute correlation between prices of goods and price of logistics is fact and this is a law of supply and demand that can’t be broken.

Reason # 5: Risk of inflation becomes a real concern in 2011.

Instead of speculating about inflation, 2011 will be the year we actually start talking about what percentage inflation will rise. Increased trade deficits, continual devaluing of the US Dollar, continual movement towards a green agenda and, high federal debt will move inflation up. This will be done in order to stem off a collapse of the dollar because of continual devaluation.

Reason # 6: Credit Tightening.

As a direct result of the foreclosure fall out that I predict will occur in 2011, we will see an increased credit tightening. Now, personally, I don’t see this as a bad thing, I am of the opinion, a home is not a right, it’s something you earn and if you can’t earn it, you don’t deserve it. None the less, since the Community Re-investment Act, this country has been on a drunken binge of “everyone deserves credit” and it had everything to do with our real estate bubble however, times are changing and banks are going to have no choice but to tighten credit standards so they can reduce their risk for losses. This will increase housing inventories and work towards a further across the board housing price drop but, it gets us closer to a bottom and the ability to rebuild.

Reason # 7: Unforeseen National Crisis.

It was once told to me that luck favors those who are prepared and bold. Unfortunately, this Country as a whole is not prepared and our threshold to make big bold global decisions has all but disappeared since the Obama administration has taken a apologetic, appeasement stance on the World stage. This has done nothing but embolden our enemies and provided safe havens in countries that are less than cooperative. I can’t predict an unforeseen national crisis but, I can imagine a “what if’ scenario and it’s not pretty. The best I can say here is that we should be preparing for the worse and hoping for the best but, that is most definitely not happening with most Americans, let along our Government.

In conclusion:

Any one of the above reason I listed is enough to truly hurt the housing industry. If you couple all of these things together in one hit, it stands to reason, can the housing recovery even take place in 2011. My opinion is no, a housing recover won’t take place in 2011 because if we were to resolve any one issue, we would still have 6 others threatening the recovery. In other words, the housing industry has too many uncertainties, Government influence and, was much more devastated by the Community Reinvestment Act and sub-prime lending than anyone wanted to really tell the American public. I hope for the best but, I have prepared for the worse.   

NAR Existing Home Sales

Existing home sales which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, rose 5.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.68 million in November, but are 27.9% below the cyclical peak of 6.49 million in November 2009, which was the initial deadline for the first-time buyer tax credit. Median existing single-family home prices rose year-over-year in 77 of 155 metropolitan areas and fell in 76 metro areas.

NAR Pending Sales

A forward-looking indicator, rose 10.4% based on contracts signed in October from in September. The index remains 20.5% below a surge to a cyclical peak in October 2009, which was the highest level since May 2006.

Rent Vs Buy

The argument for affordability has a few key components. Price, cost of money and a comparison to a similar property rental.

Price
Home prices are running about 22% less than five years ago. Its hard to know when price has reached a point where willing buyers step up, but pending sales clearly point to a slowing trend. The Commerce Dept. report showed that new home sales rose 5.5 percent to an annual rate of 290,000 in November from the revised October rate of 275,000.

Price will continue to decline and increase affordability. There are some that think a double dip is in progress and we will see continuede price declines through 2011 or 2012.

Cost of Money
Lower tax rates just extended for another two years may boost growth. Mortgage rates responded by increasing to a six month high with rates up more than half a point in just the past month. NAR President Vicki Golder, points out: A decade ago, mortgage rates were almost double what they are today, and they’re about 1.5% lower than the peak of the housing boom....So still historically low.

Rates remain low and are still well below where they began the year. Low mortgage rates are an important factor affordability, which in October was the highest on record

Rent Comps
Rents increased for the second quarter in a row. Asking and effective rents increased by 0.5% and 0.6% respectively in the third quarter and vacancy rates dropped from 7.8% to 7.1% nationally.To summarize, price is dropping but cost of money is rising and so are rents. Most areas havent reached a balance between the cost of renting and the cost of buyi ng, probably the main arguement for home prices continuing to descend to meet a willing buyer.

Rule of thumb: Homes are probably fairly valued at about 15 times a year's rent. So, for example, if you're paying $15,000 a year to rent a place, think twice about buying a home that costs more than $225,000. Fifteen times is the historic average.

Your home is not a growth stock. You should look to justify multiples higher than 15 to 20 by considering personal needs, proximity to schools and transportation, your own cash flow situation and job security.

It would also be advisable to get a sense of what the property would likely rent for and see how far that rent would go towards paying the mortgage should you have to move. Home sales are slowing and if you find yourself a reluctant landlord, be sure you can carry the mortgage.

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Housing Predictions for 2011

Normally, I am not in the business of predicting trends, simply because I believe all real estate is local. However, due to the economic condition of the Country and World, I do believe 2011 will be a year that either makes or breaks the real estate industry in the next 3-5 years.

A Government divided:

It is my opinion that a divided Federal Government is a lesser of many other possible evils. As we learned from the first 2 years of the Obama White House, a Government who is unified under one party banner is a Government run amuck. The citizens of this great Nation saw laws pushed through that in a time of a divided Government wouldn’t of had a chance in their current form. To broaden the perspective a bit more, I see a divided Government as a check and balance on the party agendas and special interest groups. Granted, with the size of the Government we have now, we will always have corruption and back room deals but, it is fairly certain now, with debts at their current levels, our Country can’t continue with the size of Government we currently have. In other words, a small Federal Government means less spending, less debt and a better ability to route out corruption, prosecute offenders and return God given freedoms back to the citizens.

By now, you may be wondering what a divided Federal Government has to do with housing in 2011. I predict that as a part of posterity measures that will be introduced by Tea Part Republicans we will see a draw back if not a complete withdrawal of many of the current failed housing recovery programs. I don’t know exactly what the fall out of these programs will be but, I submit for your contemplation that, we will see an increase in foreclosure inventories. An increase in foreclosure inventories means further drop in prices and hopefully a bottoming out so that we can rebuild the industry.

Local Government Bankruptcies:

I really do believe that 2011 may be the year we see small local Governments fail and declare bankruptcy. We are see huge debts that are causing local Government to straddle the line of financial failure and continued debt spending. With continued public pressure and Federal Government spending cuts, many of these debt heavy local Government could find themselves with no options other than Bankruptcy. Local Government will cut all spending except for necessary public works, like utilities and law enforcement. As part of their local Government spending cuts, unions will find themselves in courts fighting tax payers for their pensions and services will suffer.

This scenario will directly impact housing because buyers will keep their money in their pockets due to the uncertainty that will be created. Housing prices will further drop, equity will be lost, foreclosure inventories will rise.

In conclusion:

For many of us, this sounds like a epic tale of the fall of a great nation in history however, for some of us, we are able to see the signs, read them and understand what they mean.

Granted, the future is never written in stone and we do live in a Country with the most resilient people in the World so, I am optimistic.

How can I be so optimistic you may ask, well………it’s because I know this Country has within it’s awesome foundation a faith in all that is good and therefore, an ability to make tough decisions that will put us back on the right track. In the meantime, it could be hard, it could get nasty, we may see our fellow man hurt and suffer but, we will unite, we will come together and re-learn what it means to be charitable, what it means to be close to family, what it means to look out for one another. I believe we are a divinely inspired Country and as these times turn our face back into the light of inspiration our minds will be centered on the greatness of God and the darkness of the future lights up and becomes much less daunting otherwise.

The catalyst for a man to make a permanent change is when he is on the edge of an abyss. The abyss seems to be coming more into view.

The threat of hyperinflation is more real as Russia and China announce that they are renouncing the U.S. Dollar for and will use domestic currency in bilateral trade.

So, what does that mean to you, average American.

Well, first you need to understand that the only reason the US Dollar was chosen to be the World reserve currency is because, no other currency in the World was as stable as the US Dollar.

Now, that has all changed. With the Fed doing these “Quantatative Easements” which is essentially monetizing the debt, the world is wising up and moving out of the dollar.

It just dosen’t make any monetary sense for these countries to hold onto US Dollars because they are loosing money due to the fact the Fed is monetizing the debt. To make this a bit more real for you to understand, imagine for a second, you and I are countries. So, let’s say…..I want to sell you something, anything but, you can’t pay for it right now, you need to pay for it in six months, when we ultimately settle. Now, here is the problem. If your currency that you pay me in isn’t stable and it’s value drops 10% over that 6 months well, I just lost 10% on my deal.

Now, translate that to how America is purchasing money from China in the form of loans. China isn’t going to continue to loan because even if they charge us higher interest rates, we are devaluing our money so quickly, they still end up loosing millions, billions and possibly trillions of dollars before the bill is even due!

So, what does China do? They start selling off their dollars by renouncing the dollar and moving all their trade deals to their own domestic currency. In other words, they will flood global markets with so many dollars that instead of seeing dollar values drop 10% over 6 months, we can see it drop 10% in hours.

In other words, domestic US prices of goods and services will skyrocket equal to the amount of loss and because this will create panic with in the US financial system, you will see a run on banks which we all know, they don’t have the cash to pay out because of the real estate bubble bursting.

I am normally not a doomsday type of person however, when countries start announcing that they are no longer trading their goods and services in US Dollars but, instead they start selling those dollars to try and recoup whatever they can, I am afraid we may have slept through the wak up call.

The point is, the more Quantatative Easement we do, the more we end up screwing foreign countries and the less powerful our dollar becomes against other currencies. The biggest fear is that ultimately our country could end up moving towards a more socialist society in response to this mistake the Feds are making.

The IBT reports:

“We agreed to expand the possibilities for application of national currencies during trade and economic contacts,” said Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin after holding talks with the Chinese premier Wen Jiabao.

However, the move is not aimed at challenging the dollar but to protect their economies, as the countries started exploring other options in the wake of the global financial crisis.

With Russian ruble already trading on the Chinese exchange, yuan trade in Moscow is expected to begin in early December.

The bilateral trade between the two countries is estimated to reach above $50 billion by the end of 2010, according to the Russian government. A major chunk of the trade is transacted in US dollars currently.

You may not have ever heard of Techwood Homes however, that doesn’t negate its pivotal role in American history, our history.

Techwood Homes was the first public housing project in the U.S. Located in Atlanta Georgia, it was completed in August of 1936. However, keep in the back of your head that it wasn’t till November 1937 that it was opened and dedicated by the trumpeter of Social Housing, Franklin D. Roosevelt, himself.

Now, it’s also important to know why America decided to get in the business of Government housing. The reality is, America had a concentrated number of poor and most all of the poor were living in slums. These were not nice places. In fact, many municipalities contributed large majorities of all their criminal activities to the slums and the poor who lived in them. So, in many ways, the American Government got into the business in the name of reducing or eliminating crime and yes, if it also progressed the Socialist Agenda…….well, that was a side benefit that wasn’t talked about much.

Now, the Techwood Homes were posh. They had bathtubs, electricity, ranges, garages, laundry facilities, library and even a kindergarten on site. By all accounts, they were nice, for what they were.

The sad part of this story was, the irony behind what eventually happened to Techwood Homes. You see, it became what it was supposed to prevent, a nest of crime, corruption and an example of urban blight.

After Techwood Homes were developed, many other Social Housing units sprung up in many urban settings, namely, New York, Chicago, New Orleans and San Francisco. Unfortunately, I can’t think of a single one that was ever trumpeted as a triumph…..I wonder why?

In 1996, Atlanta decided to destroy the Techwood Homes, it was an embarrassment to the city and because they were entering the world stage due to the Olympics, they couldn’t allow the blighted structures to stand.

The fact is, where you find poverty, you will almost always find high crime. It doesn’t matter how nice the house is, where the house is located, who maintains the lawn and plumbing, poverty is an incubator to criminal activity.

The Progressive leadership learned their lesson and decided that Social Housing, in the sense of large institutional style structures just weren’t a good way with progressing their agenda to provide government housing in their socialist society. I guess they never realized the power of poverty.

Shortly after these failed attempts, it became a political death nail in a politicians preverbal coffin however, it didn’t stop the agenda. It was during this time we saw private sector subsidy’s in the form of Section 8 housing and others.

Well, the socialist mantra, to never let a good crisis go to waste has never had such gusto. You see, during this housing crisis, which was engineered by progressives through the Community Re-Investment Act, they now see the light at the end of the tunnel. That’s right, a Progressive crafted crisis will give them the ability to forward their agenda and provide Social Housing through programs such as HAMP and other Foreclosure Prevention programs.

Yes, I am saying it and I am not apologizing.

I believe this housing bubble was engineered, crafted and laid in plan through the use of the Community Re-Investment Act and in turn, the Progressive dream of every American to have a home, laid down by F.D.R. can now be accomplished because no politician has the fortitude to tell people if you can’t afford your home, get out!

Make no mistake, I am all about saving people from foreclosure but, I also know that unless a homeowner has a job, counting peoples unemployment benefits as income so they can get approved for HAMP is a recipe for a bigger disaster or better yet, a door way for more Government assistance and possibly eventually allowing the Government to cancel the homeowner’s debt and remain in the home through a bank the Government has institutionalized or taken over……let’s say ….I don’t know…..Bank of America.

I do believe, it’s Obama’s agenda, along with the Progressive party, to either cancel the debt of homeowner’s who are struggling to make their payment or at least, give enough government subsidy that the homeowner can keep their homes under the waving flag of social housing. Be careful America, we are treading on dangerous ground.

No matter what camp you are in, tax the rich or cut taxes to small business, the sad reality is that with a national debt of over 13 Trillion and an unfunded liability of over 70 Trillion, we are all going to see tax increases at some point, liberal, conservative and libertarian alike.

I would like to take the housing conversation past the money and focus more on where you stand on the moral and ethical questions. Granted, when we talk about hosing, we can never get rid of the money issue however, just follow me on this.

I have heard some people say that Americans are going to have to sacrifice, pay for their mistakes, get out of the homes, sell them off, write off the losses and get on with your lives.

I have heard some people say that we can’t throw these people out on the street, it’s cruel. People are humans and deserve a home and since most of these people have legitimate hardships or were victims of predatory lending, we should help them.

So, what argument is the correct argument? Which one is right and which one is wrong? Better yet, do we have to have a right and wrong answer? Can we just say we should take each situation on a case by case scenario?

Personally, I don’t think it’s fair for anyone to have to pay for another’s mistakes. I feel this way because as a kid, whenever my siblings did something wrong, guess who got in trouble……….me! Why, because I was the eldest. For whatever reason, my mother saw it as my responsibility to ensure my sister and brother were doing things correctly. In fact, I remember a specific time when my sister went into my room, took out my Star Wars actions figures, played with them, didn’t put them back and my mom walked into my room, stepped on Darth Vador, screamed out an explicit word and yanked me off the bed and ordered me to clean my damn room. No matter how many times I told her that my sister made the mess and should be responsible for cleaning it up, she insisted I do it. In fact, the more I mentioned this wasn’t fair, the more in trouble I got. The whole time, my sisters is outside my window in the back yard playing, never once aware that I got in trouble and had to pay the price for her bliss.

I once heard a man say something to the effect that we as Americans should all be willing to step up, pay our fair share of taxes and help these people out who are struggling to keep their homes. Ok, great, so why don’t we all step up, pay our “fair” share of taxes and help people keep their automobiles, furniture the paid for on credit from Rooms to Go, the 42 inch plasma flat screen, the high end Create & Barrel cook wear. In fact, I have a better plan…..why don’t I go out, get a credit card in my name, head down to the projects, hand it over to any Joe Blow I see and say…….go get what you need because I think it’s the right thing for every American to give their funds over to the less fortunate.

My point is, if I am going to be forced to hand over my hard earned cash to the less fortunate, I would much rather do it directly than handing my money over to the Government and letting them making the decision on what is best for Joe Blow.

People who don’t want to pay taxes aren’t because they are cruel, mean, wealthy, conservatives who don’t want to help the less fortunate. Most of us are people who grew up with nothing, were on food stamps, AFDC, Medicaid and knew what it was like to go to a local Church’s clothing closet, had free lunches at school and love Government grill cheese, who can’t now imagine simply giving our money over to a corrupt government who has moved away from our GOD giving liberties outline in our divinely inspired constitution because they want more power over those who don’t have the means to make decisions for themselves.

Government is not the source of charity, our neighbors, churches, friends and family are.

A tax hike to help out Joe Blow through a government program isn’t utopia, it’s communism.

If you want the people to give more and help more, take the shackles of government regulation off the community church and let the God fearing, God loving, Gospel preaching, Bible toting, Spirit filled, WWJD masses step up to the plate…………………because they will!

Raising taxes to pay for the mistakes of others through a corrupt government is theft by any other definition.