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Sappy
letters to sellers return in tight supply market - (www.ochousingnews.com) One of the most ridiculous features of the housing bubble rally was when
buyers would write emotional letters to sellers to try to make their offers
stand out in the crowd. In 2004 in particular as the Option ARM permitted
buyers to raise their bids to ridiculous levels, competing bids well over
asking price prompted sappy letters to appeal to a seller’s emotions to get the
deal. Now, with the federal reserve lowering interest rates below 3.5%, we face
a similar infusion of affordability allowing buyers to raise their bids. The
tight supply engineered by the banking cartel is causing the buyers to bid over
ask again as they compete for the few properties available. The return of the
ass-kissing letter is another sign of the success the cartel is having in reflating
the housing bubble.
Spanish banks' bad loans hit new high in November - (www.reuters.com) Spanish banks' bad loans reached a
new high in November, data from the Bank of Spain released on
Friday showed, with loans that have fallen into arrears rising by 2 billion
euros to 191 billion euros, or 11.4 percent of the outstanding portfolio. This
compared with an 11.2 percent bad loan rate in October. Non-performing loans on
the books of the country's ailing banks have risen
steadily since a decade-long property boom ended four years ago, with the
country in its second recession since 2009
and one in four Spaniards out of work. Analysts expect bad loans to keep rising
in the coming months and concerns remain about the health of the banking sector,
despite an injection of emergency cash from the European Union of more than 40
billion euros ($53 billion).
Algerian hostage crisis prompts international oil companies to
evacuate workers - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Norway’s Statoil, London-based oil giant BP and Spain’s Cepsa started
evacuating workers and their families from Algeria on Thursday in the wake of
an attack by Algerian troops on hostage-takers at an isolated natural gas
facility in what might turn out to be one of the most lethal incidents in the
history of the industry. Statoil said it could confirm the safety of only eight
of its 17 employees who had been working at the In Amenas gas facility. Five of
those employees escaped Wednesday, and three Algerian employees were found safe
Thursday. The company said the Norwegian government was flying in medical
personnel. Statoil and BP decided to evacuate nonessential personnel from two
other gas processing plants in Algeria — In Salah and Hassi Mouina. At least
three planes were expected to leave Thursday night bound for London, Statoil said, adding that
about 40 of its employees would be on board.
Marble
Fortress Cracked: Falling DC Rents - (www.thedailybeast.com) When I moved to the District in 2007, it was pretty easy to find a one
bedroom apartment close to downtown for $1500. It might not be the most
attractive apartment you ever saw, but it would have an actual separate bedroom
and a full kitchen. Five years later, the $1500 one
bedrooms are thin on the ground, especially if you want to be walking distance
from work. That's one of the reasons that I've been reluctant to label
our soaring home
prices an actual bubble; while home prices have certainly leapt
upwards, they're roughly tracking the rising rents. The comments sections
of local real estate blogs are filled with outraged residents who simply refuse
to accept that anyone could possibly charge that for a rental. But now rents in DC have
started softening. While demand has certainly risen--DC has been gaining
population for the first time in decades--in normal times, it might easily have
been absorbed. Though DC's restrictive housing regulations do restrict
supply, there are still plenty of sites within the district borders that could
be built on. And houses are being subdivided into apartments at a pretty
brisk clip.
Own
a house in a flood zone? National flood insurance rates set to skyrocket. -
(www.patch.com) There was no mincing of words: recovering from Sandy will be difficult,
and a decision on federal flood insurance made months before the storm struck
will make things even harder. Brick residents got the low-down on the difficult
decisions that loom in the future for many families following Sandy - brought
on mainly by the impending flood insurance hurdle that could cripple
already-strained finances for many - at a series of Sandy Information Fairs
held at Brick Township High School Saturday morning. Brick is the first town in
New Jersey to offer such information sessions, said Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis.
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