New Homes Selling Quickly

I guess I was quoted today in an article for the Post Tribune on housing in Northwest Indiana. I will agree that the market in Porter County especially is down about 20% for new homes. I will agree that costs are up due to commodity pricing and government largess. But ... since I gave that interview over a month ago ... the market has picked up quite a bit for this time of year. Why? Frankly because mortgage interest rates have dipped back down in anticipation of rates going back down starting next spring. The cycle is completing its trough.

Post Article

My worry is that there are those pundits and bloggers who seem to be cheering for a housing bubble burst. Why? I can only guess that they would like to see the market drop so they can buy at the low point. There is no bubble, or bubble burst. This is merely the normal market reaction to interest rates, economic cycle, and government overextending itself at all levels.

Bubble Burst Blog

Home Builders have suffered the most, since REALTORs make money even if sellers are dropping prices. Builders are generallly sitting on too many specs. Why? Again I'll be frank, they need the construction activity to pay for their overhead. A little slowdown is actually good for the market since it encourages builders to drop overhead and move to more efficient trade partners. The most battered this winter will be trades since they got a free pass last winter when too many specs were built. Not this winter.

Market Tour (Election Eve)

Oil down slightly, but Nigerian threats and South American taunts keep oil close to $60. Some experts call for major drop to $45 just after election.

Chinese authorities key on oil and energy production in major investments in Africa. I'll go out on a limb here and say that the US is falling behind on business investment in third world.

Mittal Steel CEO takes over new merged company, even though he suggested otherwise earlier. Watch for closure of western production facilities, including Indiana. Here's the problem, two years ago the Amercian economy including Indiana could have handled the shut down of these plants ... now? I think the purposeful slowdown of the housing economy will make these plant shutdowns a real problem. It's time for the Fed to loosen it's grip and let the economy and especially housing run free again.

Here's my favorite statistic of the week: Unemployment falls to it's lowest level in years and the Democrats are complaining about the economy? Why? They want taxes increased and they want to increase the price of oil with a consumption tax and they want to pull out of Iraq immediately. They don't seem to care for Clinton's old mantra "It's the economy stupid"

Want my prediction on elections tomorrow? Republicans will hold the Senate. Democrats will gain the House by 3 seats, Nancy Pelosi will be voted in as speaker of house setting up a mandate election in 2008 for McCain vs. Hillary. In our own state, Republicans will hold House and Senate and major state jobs. I deal with my county predictions on my porter county politics site.

Take the Daily Tech Tour (Tech Crunch)

Have you tried loading widgets on your blog or website? This site is designed to make widget loading and presentation quite a bit easier.

I have particularly come to enjoy the write ups on Tech Crunch, easy to read, graphic, with lots of feeds on the RSS level.

With newspapers showing an ever-decreasing level of readership, including myself, some have decided to venture out into web-based business models. One such model is Topix.net which uses 10 year old bulletin board technology and 3 year old blog technology but boasts a much wider search draw than even Yahoo or Google News. Try it and draw your own conclusion.

Thinking about a smartphone? Crunch Gear has a blog focused on helping you with your choice. This market changes literally every week, so check often for the newest technologies.