In the continuing disaster that is the mainstream media's EM08 reporting, no less than NPR's venerated "Marketplace" just fired off an interview with this jerkoff, Leonard Zumpano, who's an academic (U. of Alabama). This is yet another faction, the academics, who with rare exception - like William Black - add their pile of crap to the lawyers's pile, the accountants' pile, uncle scam's pile....
Chumpano today gave his cheerleading effort toward residential real estate. Don't take my word for it, give it a bit and go to their site, listen yourself to today's program:
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/episodes/show_rundown.php?show_id=14
As I've said and let me be clear - now is NOT a good time to buy property. And people and businesses like Chumpano are setting up another battalion of fish who listen to drivel like this and put their futures at stake buying right now.
This should be a crime.
Transcript follows below.
[NOTE: Edited 10/12/15
Coldwell extends homebuying tax credit
Monday, April 26, 2010 - 19:01
TEXT OF INTERVIEW
Tess Vigeland: The government's $8,000
first-time homebuyer tax credit expires on Friday. If you haven't
entered into a contract to buy a house by then -- you're not getting
anything back from Uncle Sam. But you very well may get something back
from one of the nation's biggest real-estate companies.
Coldwell Banker says it will make the credit an option for sellers
participating in its "Buyer Bonus Sales Event." Homebuyers would have
until July 31st to take advantage of the offer. For some insight we turn
to Leonard Zumpano. He teaches finance at the University of Alabama.
Good to have you with us.
Leonard Zumpano: My pleasure.
Vigeland: You know, before we get to
what Coldwell Banker is doing, let's take a bit of a broader picture of
the housing market. Did the homebuyer tax credit actually make people
buy homes?
ZUMPANO: It has. The National
Association of Realtors does an annual home buying and selling survey,
and their numbers indicate that the tax credit was responsible for
approximately 800,000 home sales. To put this in perspective, it
includes the original $7,500 refundable tax credit, the $8,000
first-time homebuyer credit, and the extended credit that allows for
credit for existing home sales.
Vigeland: Well, 800,000 people sounds like a lot.
ZUMPANO: It is a lot in absolute
numbers. But during that same time period, there were five million homes
sold. That's about 16 percent, which is not insignificant. Of all the
reasons for purchasing a home, the tax credit was singled out by 16
percent of those homebuyers.
Vigeland: 800,000 people saying that
the credit factored in, you know, the fact that it is now ending would
presumably prompt a little bit of panic on the part of the realtors
then.
ZUMPANO: One would expect that the
availability of the credit and having a limited life expectancy ending
at the end of the month put people that might have been sitting on the
fence over the fence. So I think there will probably be a decline in
future home sales in the next couple of months, assuming nothing else
changes, like employment and mortgage rates. I think part of the most
recent push from homebuyers who were watching interest rates beginning
to rise.
Vigeland: Well, certainly for Coldwell
Banker this is quite the unique marketing technique. Hey, you know, if
Uncle Sam isn't going to help you out, we will.
ZUMPANO: Yeah, that's exactly right.
But how profound is that going to be and what kind of incentive does it
create? It's difficult to forecast because it may in fact cause other
real-estate companies to do basically the same thing.
Vigeland: Right, that just means we're back in 2004-2005, right?
ZUMPANO: Right, exactly. There is
evidence that the market is beginning to firm up. The most recent
numbers I've seen for part of 2009 show that those states that suffer
the worst in 2007, like California, are coming back. Buyers are being
induced back into the market, and that's happening also in cities like
Miami, which had a glut of condominiums just two years ago. With
employment beginning to stabilize, the prospects for a housing market
recovery are there. You're not going to see the kind of appreciation we
saw between 2000-2005, but I don't ever want to see that again because
that was simply unsustainable and everybody knew it.
Vigeland: Leonard Zumpano is a
professor of finance with an emphasis on real estate at the University
of Alabama. Thanks so much for chatting with us today.
ZUMPANO: My pleasure.
In the continuing disaster that is the mainstream media's EM08 reporting, no less than NPR's venerated "Marketplace" just fired off an interview with this jerkoff, Leonard Zumpano, who's an academic (U. of Alabama). This is yet another faction, the academics, who with rare exception - like William Black - add their pile of crap to the lawyers's pile, the accountants' pile, uncle scam's pile....
