Smoke and Mirrors

“The recent activity of sales in markets which are affordable to first-time buyers, are being driven mainly by foreclosures and short sales.”

The REAL Unemployment Rate

 RE Report
The real unemployment rate released on July 2nd by the Bureau of Labor Statistics is now 16.5%, a full 7 points higher than the officially reported rate.
 The June numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, using the bureau’s expanded “U-6″ rate, show an amazing 16.5% rate of unemployment, not the 9.5% that was being reported.
The real rate includes [...]

The ‘SPIN’ from the NAR continues…

RE Report
The National Association of Realtors released Pending Home Sales data today and their findings reveal a One Tenth of One Percent supposed increase. One tenth!
Now mind you, that in any data set, a standard/typical margin of error is + or – 1% to 2%. So the One Tenth is negligible. 0% and may even [...]

National Foreclosures Hit Record High- Yet Again.

  From Bloomberg:
May 13 — Foreclosure filings in the U.S. rose to a record for the second consecutive month in April as banks increased efforts to seize homes from delinquent borrowers.
A total of 342,038 properties received a default or auction notice or were seized last month, RealtyTrac Inc. of Irvine, California, said today in a [...]

Abating or Intesifying

The first quarter survey by the National Association for Business Economics indicates that the economy is at an inflection point, but not quite a turning point, said NABE lead analyst Sara Johnson.
The U.S. economy is still in decline but results from the Q1 economic survey show evidence the recession may be abating
“Key indicators – industry demand, employment, capital spending, and [...]

Enough Said

Commentary
Ben Bernanke’s comments today were so off the charts and just absolutely ridiculous. Clearly revealing that he is but another paid sock-puppet within this left-wing, hidden agenda administration.
We don’t know who it is, but someone has their fist so far up Bernanke’s ass- it’s apparently causing him to spout the rhetorical nonsense of babbling lab monkeys.
Speaking of asses; [...]

Home Sales: Menza-Menz…

 RE Report/Analysis
U.S. existing home sales fell in March, dropping another 3%, while the median price rose 4.2% from February- although that is before any seasonal adjustment variation. Though prices increased from the month before, the y-o-y decline was 12.4%.
New home sales fell 0.6% last month as well, with y-o-y volume down 30.6%. Any notion that home prices are bottoming [...]

CB Richard Ellis- in Bed with Sen. Feinstein and the Obama Administration

RE Report/Analysis
Tax evading appointee’s, broken campaign promises, irresponsible spending, take over of private industries, and corrupt Senators. This new administration has it all in their first 3 months of stinking up the White House.
The only ‘change’ we at RE see, is the continuation of criminal activity and rampant corruption in DC. And, they are at it [...]

Freddie Mac CFO Takes His Own Life

RE Report/Analysis
David Kellerman, who was the current acting chief financial officer for the government sponsored entity mortgage giant, Freddie Mac was found dead at his home Wednesday morning in an apparent suicide. This is according to a report from the Vienna, Va authorities.
Kellerman was named acting CFO at Freddie Mac in September 2008 after the federal [...]

Highest Cost of Living Cities- Unemployment to Income Ratio

RE Report
Here is the latest Cost of Living report from the Council for Community and Economic Research.
The following are the top 5 cities where the cost of living is the highest. The respective  unemployment rates for February and most current median income data were utilized in the analysis.
1. Providence, R.I.
(Providence-Fall River-Warwick, R.I.-Mass., metro area)
Population: 1.6 million
Cost of [...]