Money is not being printed, it is being sold to banks at low rates to stimulate borrowing. It is a subtle but very important difference. I get the point you are making, but your explanation is lacking. From the US housing perspective the points you highlight above are extremely relevant. Nothing supported the prices that have been achieved in…[Read more]

jayhinrichs wrote:
have to drive 90 minutes for Sushi

Which is obviously why you want to stock trout:)

See Jay, again its Australians (or kiwi’s) not being used to scale:) 300acres of Fir trees is a lot of timber, but looking at it another way it is just a very big untrimmed hedge – in the trues sense of the word:)

I look forward to googling your paddock – it is absolutely stunning country up there. You are very fortunate – enjoy it !!

Jay, when the US collapses into social mayhem from a US$ debt crisis – can you put aside 25 acres for me please? I am happy to pay you for the benefit (maybe in filipino or thai maids if currency is worthless) because I think armageddon Jay style sounds pretty good:)

I will look, thanks for the link but I doubt it. On the surface US banking systems are stupid, but they are technically not. In the case of logging onto Grandpoint it seems if they dont recognise the server as well as the PC’s own ID they treat the log in as suspicious. In otherwords things like peerguardian will self defeat – it has to recognise…[Read more]

Jay, thanks forr taking the time – nice post. You say 'whatever address was on the loan app'. Not true. Because foreign addresses do not fit in many US centric software 'boxes' you get the address in the system that the moron typing it in came up with – in my case frequently (and I mean frequently) an address that is…[Read more]

I didn’t know the numbers you were dealing with. The property press were bleating like Welsh lambs in Spring about the stamp duty increases. Evening Standard property (wed) edition were along the lines of “kill the recovery’ – ‘ruin our livlehood’ etc etc. Argument being that the larger stuff won’t trade therefore lower priced would rise and will…[Read more]

I have not had insurance on a property with CBA, WBC and STG. In fact I have just bought a property this week and didn’t realise I hadn’t organised insurance on it until a mower I bought needed to be noted on the policy. Story got funny then, I simply rang up the broker to get the mower noted on another property in the same street (quicker than a…[Read more]

UK Stamp Duty was increased substantially in the most recent budget (couple of weeks ago). Not a killer, but be aware of it:)

http://www.homestagingconsultants.co.uk/Stamp_Duty_Rates.htm

Ahhh Kyler…
I could use an oldie but a goodie and say the US has never won a war they have not had help with…. Which of course puts you way above Australia who has never won a war:)

VF does the trick. It works and you deal on a people level. Most of my US deals are done with VF – pisses me off no end when you try to do a vanilla deal in Aus…[Read more]

I didn’t mean ‘i’ above in ‘I expect’ I meant ‘we’ etc. Apologies. Having been through this type of thing I take it personally.

BTW property insurance on mortgaged freehold is not in any way required by Aus banks. Which is why it seems so strange to Aus resi’s. If it is compulsory, surely the bank would make some effort to ensure the owner had…[Read more]

Jay,
The thing that is so frustrating is that no one at all actually explains that – certainly not the bank, they usually don’t communicate anything – you are just expected to know. Simple things like an email, mail or a phone call and this would not happen. That type of thing is absolutely unheard of in Australia – why are you expected to ‘know’…[Read more]

Freckle:
Only something like 4% of homes at the worst point in the crisis in the US were in foreclosure. Jay is absolutely spot on with his points above.

Jay – you are correct, Australia basically has no foreclosures. Certainly no foreclosure market. Occasionally you will get a ‘Mortgagee in possession’ sale (REO) but it will be advertised…[Read more]

Cheeves,
Great idea. Don’t count on web guys for support, but keep asking. I did this USRE stuff on my own some 15 years ago and it was HARD. The scammers that appeared post subprime I think have (with luck) all but run their race – the only reason I am posting is to hopefully stop the rip off guys that are left getting another victim.

If you are…[Read more]

Here Here Tx Cash Cow….

Great article.

US guys – in Aus and the rest of the ‘English’ speaking world (and I use the term from BBC America ‘we speak English:)’ ) this not a ‘lets get the US’ thread, it is about how incredibly frustrating it is to deal with a country that put man on the moon, invented the internet and yet seems only able to use…[Read more]

BTW:
60% of my US mail takes 6-8 weeks to get to Australia – MINIMUM.

It took me 10 years to work out why.

One day a letter arrived and it was clearly stamped ‘HAMBURG MAIL EXCHANGE’.

Finally it dawned on me that you have to assume that ALL mail from the US to Australia gets sent to Austria first. To do anything else will (as it did to me and…[Read more]

I will add – I nearly got foreclosed on for exactly the same stupid reasons:) It is not pretty….

Don’t think I am a White Knight, but I finally have what some people might call powerful friends that may help. Its worth the ask… I DO know what you feel because I HAVE been there… The US worker does not think or care when you are in the…[Read more]

Mark,
contact me immediately. I will send you a PM

Four letters E.U.R.O.

I like NZ a lot. However, won’t happen…

NZ is tackling the finance crisis sensibly. Pro Business CEO/PM – Like the work they are doing – a LOT. Australia is stuck in the leftist 1950’s protectionist mindset that will kill us. Why would NZ want to invite themselves into the mire that is incompetent Aus policy making.

Citi were worse than useless for me. BofA are my ‘main’ bank, but mindless fools when you you actually need some banking assistance. Wells set me up an account and were helpful, but it became too hard for me to ‘reset’ all my loan payments – I closed the account. I now have a private bank who I am slowly making the change to, but they also have…[Read more]