If you don't like the weather .. - Page 3

 
The leased or rental home has always been a business, its inhabitants
subject to the restrictions of the lease.  And for the owner of such, it is
always an investment.  And it too has become a financial instrument.

In general, buyers of homes have increasingly used their homes for equity
loans, reverse mortgages and so forth.  That part of the equation is the
consumer's "fault", along with the banks.

Even though some investors may mislead otherwise, the house/home is not a
commodity.  Gold, silver, and copper are examples of commodities.

Another week will tell, seeds have been planted for a week today.  The temps
have been increasing the past couple of days, tough to keep the soil surface
moist like this.
--
Dave

Another fallacy, the home.
Its primary purpose WAS to provide shelter, and allow the dweller to proceed
a life within it by their own choices.  The first a need, the second a
right.
Somewhere along the way, its become primary purpose as a financial security
instead.

  "Dioclese" <NONE> wrote:


Originally, homes included land for crops to support the family,
nutritionally and financially. Land value allows farmers to secure loans
for operations and crop insurance. The more valuable the land, the
larger the loan. As farming has become increasingly impractical for
small farmers, the land has become fungible. Now there is just a house,
and yard, if your lucky.

Enter George W. (The Worst President Ever) Bush and his
addresses to the White House Conference on Increasing Minority
Homeownership at The George Washington University Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2002.

Š. I appreciate your attendance to this very important conference. You
see, we want everybody in America to own their own home. That's what we
want. This is -- an ownership society is a compassionate society.
More and more people own their homes in America today. Two-thirds of all
Americans own their homes, yet we have a problem here in America because
few than half of the Hispanics and half the African Americans own the
home. That's a homeownership gap. It's a -- it's a gap that we've got to
work together to close for the good of our country, for the sake of a
more hopeful future.
We've got to work to knock down the barriers that have created a
homeownership gap.
I set an ambitious goal. It's one that I believe we can achieve. It's a
clear goal, that by the end of this decade we'll increase the number of
minority homeowners by at least 5.5 million families. (Applause.) Š And
it's going to require a strong commitment from those of you involved in
the housing industry. Š
-------

Homeownership is also an important part of our economic vitality. If --
when we meet this project, this goal, according to our Secretary of
Housing and Urban Development, we will have added an additional $256
billion to the economy by encouraging 5.5 million new home owners in
America; Š
Low interest rates, low inflation are very important foundations for
economic growth. The idea of encouraging new homeownership and the money
that will be circulated as a result of people purchasing homes will mean
people are more likely to find a job in America. This project not only
is good for the soul of the country, it's good for the pocketbook of the
country, as well.
To open up the doors of homeownership there are some barriers, and I
want to talk about four that need to be overcome. First, down payments.
A lot of folks can't make a down payment. They may be qualified. They
may desire to buy a home, but they don't have the money to make a down
payment. I think if you were to talk to a lot of families that are
desirous to have a home, they would tell you that the down payment is
the hurdle that they can't cross. And one way to address that is to have
the federal government participate.
And so we've called upon Congress to set up what's called the American
Dream Down Payment Fund, which will provide financial grants to local
governments to help first-time home buyers who qualify to make the down
payment on their home. If a down payment is a problem, there's a way we
can address that. And when Congress funds the program, this should help
200,000 new families over the next five years become first-time home
buyers.
Secondly, affordable housing is a problem in many neighborhoods,
particularly inner-city neighborhoods. Š I'm doing is proposing a
single-family affordable housing credit to encourage the construction of
single-family homes in neighborhoods where affordable housing is scarce.
(Applause.)
Over the next five years the initiative will provide home builders and
therefore home buyers with -- home builders with $2 billion in tax
credits to bring affordable homes and therefore provide an additional
supply for home buyers. Š
And we've got to set priorities. And one of the key priorities is going
to be inner-city America. Š
Another obstacle to minority homeownership is the lack of information.
You know, getting into your own home can be complicated. It can be a
difficult process. I had that very same problem. (Laughter and applause.)
Every home buyer has responsibilities and rights that need to be
understood clearly. And yet, when you look at some of the contracts,
there's a lot of small print. And you can imagine somebody newly arrived
from Peru looking at all that print, and saying, I'm not sure I can
possibly understand that. Why do I want to buy a home? There's an
educational process that needs to go on, not only to explain the
contract, explain obligation, but also to explain financing options, to
help people understand the complexities of a homeownership market, and
also at the same time to protect people from unscrupulous lenders,
people who would take advantage of a good-hearted soul who is trying to
realize their dream. . .
http://federalism.typepad.com/crime_federalism/2008/09/george-w-bush-c.ht
ml
------

After 911, when asked what the American people could do for the good of
the country, "The Worst President Ever" told us to go shopping. That is
to say, continue being consumers transferring your wealth to producers.

You don't believe that the former cheer leader could influence the
populous? Then you have never heard of Sigmund Freud's nephew, Edward L.
Bernays.
(Amazon.com product link shortened)
ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid36712667&sr=1-3

There are bubbles that happen without premeditation, and then there is
"pump and dump". Pump up the price when it is low and then dump it when
the price is high and then buy it back when the price is low again.
Guess, who gets screwed? (Read: home buyers)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/business/04penny.html?_r=1
Ex-Leaders of Countrywide Profit From Bad Loans
By ERIC LIPTON
CALABASAS, Calif. ‹ Fairly or not, Countrywide Financial and its top
executives would be on most lists of those who share blame for the
nation¹s economic crisis. After all, the banking behemoth made risky
loans to tens of thousands of Americans, helping set off a chain of
events that has the economy staggering.
So it may come as a surprise that a dozen former top Countrywide
executives now stand to make millions from the home mortgage mess.
Stanford L. Kurland, Countrywide¹s former president, and his team have
been buying up delinquent home mortgages that the government took over
from other failed banks, sometimes for pennies on the dollar. They get a
piece of what they can collect.
³It has been very successful ‹ very strong,² John Lawrence, the
company¹s head of loan servicing, told Mr. Kurland one recent morning in
a glass-walled boardroom here at PennyMac¹s spacious headquarters,
opened last year in the same Los Angeles suburb where Countrywide once
flourished.
³In fact, it¹s off-the-charts good,² he told Mr. Kurland, who was
leaning back comfortably in his leather boardroom chair, even as the
financial markets in New York were plunging.
As hundreds of billions of dollars flow from Washington to jump-start
the nation¹s staggering banks, automakers and other industries, a new
economy is emerging of businesses that hope to make money from the
various government programs that make up the largest economic rescue in
history.
They include big investors who are buying up failed banks taken over by
the federal government and lobbyists. And there is PennyMac, led by Mr.
Kurland, 56, once the soft-spoken No. 2 to Angelo R. Mozilo, the
perpetually tanned former chief executive of Countrywide and its public
face. . .

et cetera, et cetera ad nauseam

We aren't talking about monolithic groups of buyers or lenders here.
We are talking about a populous whose representatives have sold them
out, to be sheared by any glib talking huckster that knows who to
pay-off. This accounts for the stagnation of wages since 1987 and the
United States having the greatest wealth disparity of any industrialized
country in the world.

Enough of this crap. I'm going back to real, healthy manure and compost
now. Took all of my leftover salad seeds from last year and broadcast
them into the lettuce patch yesterday. Did the same with the leftover
root vegetables in the root garden. I tossed on some compost and now I'm
hoping for the best.

Need to broadcast some "Sluggo" to keep the rampaging gastropods at bay
and work on my medicinal herb area.
--

Billy
There are no lobbyists for cover crops and crop rotation. Why?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7843430.stm