As has been widely reported last week, a VP at Wells Fargo was just fired for hanging out at a $12 million Malibu mansion the bank had foreclosed on. My reaction was something along the lines of “Hey, what the hell?” With around 3 million foreclosed homes in the US, we should all be brainstorming…
Real Estate
Dear Deadbeat States, Please Pay Your Mortgages
I don’t like to point fingers or anything, but it seems that in July 2009, only 7 of our 50 states were responsible for 67% of the nation’s property foreclosure filings. That’s right, two thirds of the foreclosures are in…well, I’ll let you name the states. That’s right. California, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and…
Roundtrip: Housing's Back to Square One
Was it fun for you? It’s been an amazing 8 year period for housing. Floyd Norris shows us how eerily similar the rise and fall of home prices and inflation have been: From the New York Times: During the period, the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller 20-city composite index of home prices rose almost 21 percent….
The Two Horsemen of the ETF Apocalypse: UMM and DMM
Allow me to introduce you to an investment product so disgracefully ridiculous that one could only assume it was launched on a dare. Very quietly, on June 30th 2009, some firm called MacroMarkets LLC (co-founded by the otherwise well-regarded Robert Shiller) launched two ETFs that purport to be able to give investors 300% of the return or it’s inverse of the…
What is Donald Trump Worth?
The question of what Donald Trump‘s net worth is may be like asking “what’s the meaning of life?“. The answer is different to everyone and the most interesting part of the question is the search for the answer, not obtaining the answer itself. Donald Trump’s true net worth, therefore, is unknowable. From the Wall Street…
These Little Piggies Went to Market
Apparently, there is an explosion in new equity offerings and even new debt offerings coming from the REIT sector. The Real Estate Investment Trusts are raising cash from investors while they can, and high-profile deals have already gotten done by Simon Properties (SPG) and Kimco (KIM). From FT: There is an appetite from institutional investors…
Johnny Upside: "I'm All About Distressed Assets, Yo!"
Today we bring you another interview with Johnny Upside (read the first one here). Johnny’s a Wall Street hotshot armed with an MBA, very little brain power and a limitless ego. Today, Johnny discusses his new venture, Distressed Asset Investing. The Reformed Broker: Hey Johnny, what’s happening? Johnny Upside: Happening? IT’S ALL HAPPENING, BABY! TRB:…
America's Most Miserable Cities in Forbes
More depression porn…Forbes has a funny-sad slide show up of America’s Most Miserable Cities (yes, I know they all are miserable right now) and the list will not surprise you. Flint, Michigan is, as usual, right in the mix. The city that gave rise to the comic stylings of docu-slanderer Michael Moore and became a…
Can I Buy a House With Money From My IRA?
From the Mailbag: Dear Josh, Thanks for writing this excellent blog. I am one of the fortunate few sitting with 80% of my IRA in cash over the past 9 months or so. My wife and I are house hunting and since we want nothing to do with the stock market or mutual funds right…
