Mr. Rawles,
I read the article on the housing bubble on SurvivalBlog and would like to add a bit of evidence to the claim. I currently own a home in Orlando, Florida and haven’t sold in five months. This is unheard of for that region, but it is just not me all the houses in the area having the same problem. Here are a couple of quotes from my real estate agent on the Orlando market:
“I just returned from a real estate conference in Tampa. The main topic was the large amount of time listings are sitting the market before they sell. And, the huge inventory of homes available.
There are six times more homes on the market right now than this time last year.” The Denver market seems to be doing similarly. My sister is a real estate broker and she heard at a recent conference 50% of all homes for sale in Denver are in foreclosure.
The bubble is bursting. – Sean
Jim,
Your book “Patriots” radically affected my life: I only wish I had read it pre-Y2K. I live in Nebraska where the farmers are struggling with historically low prices and unprecedented costs for producing their products. Because of their relationships with their creditors(i.e. bankers) they have no choice but to continue going further
into debt. If they don’t plant, they will be foreclosed on, but if they do plant,they are probably going to lose even more money. They lose no matter what they do. In spite of the unprofitable nature of farming, the price of land is continuing to appreciate and taxes are rising, making it even more unprofitable. In the last week there have
been rumors that farmers are receiving unsolicited cash offers for their farms from foreign (Chinese) investors. Jim, I believe that in the event of a dollar collapse, we could end up in a situation like that of Argentina, where foreign corporations own the farms and refuse to sell their products for worthless dollars. Additionally, we are
now a net importer of food. Finally, I believe that the rise of Aztlan is attracting the notice of the people that can be awakened and a mass exodus of refugees from the Southwest is about to ensue.
This will have a profound impact on the food supply as investments in this region will become speculative and as the farm laborers become more militant.
In conclusion, while I believe a housing collapse is inevitable, I think that agricultural land in the Northern states will continue to appreciate as long as financing is available. Thanks for all you do. – Neb