tagged w/ Housing
-
Has the political class learned nothing from the housing debacle?
***This article has been chosen as a discussion topic on PFP Movement Radio, http://www.blogtalkradio.com/pfpmovementradio Friday night at 6pm-8pm. Please Call In To The Show, 347-633-9636. COMMENTS will be included in the show so feel free to discuss or ask questions here on current.com as they will be addressed during the show. This article will also air on Freedom Hour Saturday at 9pm-10pm on Movement TV http://www.peacefreedomprosperity.com/?page_id=36***Has the political class learned nothing from the housing debacle?
***This article... more
-
-
Check out the successful Oxen Picks that are bullish on this certain solar stock and are saying no no no to a certain ETF that has more downward momentum.Check out the successful Oxen Picks that are bullish on this certain solar stock and... more
-
-
Mayor Bloomberg has deceived the residents of new york city with his promise to drastically end homelessness with his 5 year plan.
Picture The Homeless a grassroots nonprofit organization has decided to do something about it, being led by it's membership, the homeless. They set out to create a tent city in East Harlem,NY and afford other homeless individuals and families a safe and secure place to stay, eat and organize for stable housing.
The NYPD did not approve of such action being taken by the homeless and friends and decided to take action.Mayor Bloomberg has deceived the residents of new york city with his promise to... more
-
-
Both parties pushed for bigger and bigger government in the housing market. They both rallied behind Freddie and Fannie and both of parties continue to ignore personal and economic freedom. Vote this up if you are tired of the corporate welfare bailouts and government creating bubbles through subsidization and protectionism not to mention the low interest rates from the Federal Reserve.
***This article has been chosen as a discussion topic on PFP Movement Radio, http://www.blogtalkradio.com/pfpmovementradio Friday night at 6pm-8pm. Please Call In To The Show, 347-633-9636. COMMENTS will be included in the show so feel free to discuss or ask questions here on current.com as they will be addressed during the show. This article will also air on Freedom Hour Saturday at 9pm-10pm on Movement TV http://www.peacefreedomprosperity.com/?page_id=36***Both parties pushed for bigger and bigger government in the housing market. They both... more
-
-
The Dutch have been fighting the rising and falling tides for centuries, building dikes and pumping water out of areas that are below sea level. Now, rather than fight the water infiltrating their land, the Dutch will use it as part of a new development called ‘New Water‘, which will feature the world’s first floating apartment complex, The Citadel. This “water-breaking” new project was designed by Koen Olthuis of Waterstudio in the Netherlands, and will use 25% less energy than a conventional building on land thanks to the use of water cooling techniques.The Dutch have been fighting the rising and falling tides for centuries, building... more
-
-
Federal Reserve Exposed by MSNBC
***This article has been chosen as a discussion topic on PFP Movement Radio, http://www.blogtalkradio.com/pfpmovementradio Friday night at 6pm-8pm. Please Call In To The Show, 347-633-9636. COMMENTS will be included in the show so feel free to discuss or ask questions here on current.com as they will be addressed during the show. This article will also air on Freedom Hour Saturday at 9pm-10pm on Movement TV http://www.peacefreedomprosperity.com/?page_id=36***Federal Reserve Exposed by MSNBC
***This article has been chosen as a discussion... more
-
-
The annual rate of US new home sales jumped 11% in June, government figures have shown, a further indication that the housing sector is over the worst.
The Commerce Department said sales hit a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 384,000 in June, against an upwardly-adjusted rate of 346,000 in May.
June's sales figure was the strongest pace seen since November 2008.
However, the median sale price was $206,200, down 5.8% from May and 12% lower than a year ago.
New home sales have now risen for three months in a row.
"The data will reinforce the developing thinking that housing market has bottomed and that economy has stabilised and will grow in the third quarter," Jim Awad, managing director at Zephyr Management in New York, told Reuters.
Last week, the National Association of Realtors said that sales of previously-owned US homes had risen for the third month in a row in June, and at a quicker rate than expected.
However, it also found that prices remained depressed, with prices still down 15.4% on a year ago with the average sale price at $181,000.The annual rate of US new home sales jumped 11% in June, government figures have... more
-
-
Industry experts concur that there is a strong correlation between increased fraud and distressed real estate markets. The 2008 current housing market, suffering from an increase in inventory, lack of sales, and a high foreclosure rate, provided an attractive environment for mortgage fraud perpetrators who discovered methods to circumvent loopholes and gaps in the mortgage lending market. Lenders, builders, sellers, borrowers, and other market participants employed and modified old schemes, including:
Property flipping
Builder-bailouts
Seller assistance
Short sales
Air loans
Foreclosure rescues
Identity theft
New mortgage fraud scams, which have surfaced due to tighter lending practices include:
Reverse mortgage fraud
Credit enhancements
Condo conversions
Loan modifications
Pump and pay
To get more details on the FBI report, go to the FBI websiteIndustry experts concur that there is a strong correlation between increased fraud and... more
-
-
Las Vegas housing sales broke a new all-time June record. Unemployment still tops 11 per cent but the Nevada city saw sales of 4,702 single-family homes, up from the record 4,414 in June 2004.Las Vegas housing sales broke a new all-time June record. Unemployment still tops 11... more
-
-
Saturday's edition of my three times a week talk show.Watch the show here on CURRENT TV on Tues, Thurs & Sats.
In today's show :
I ate all the wrong things.
Maureens Spanish experience.
Back home.
Ice Age 3.
Blood, Sweat & Tea.
A favour.
What's it like to never be really cold ?
Too much meat.
Retiring to a different country.
Any invites for dinner ?
Amy's fashion advice.
Never buy a house built on a flood plain.
What does it say on the bag ?
A better time with James ?
More Ebay stories.
Cooking tips from Ketan.
Could I be one of the new Vandella's ?
£90 for a pair of jeans !
Leigh does a talk show.
A heavy going mass.
Healthcare in Spain.
Someone knows Martha Reeves & Mary Wilson.
The sermon went on and on.
Why no organ ?
Different flavour cheese.
chris@unitedkingdomtalk.co.uk
WWW.UNITEDKINGDOMTALK.CO.UKSaturday's edition of my three times a week talk show.Watch the show here on... more
-
-
"It’s been interesting, to say the least, watching the public reaction to my Rolling Stone piece last week. I of course expected that some kind of highly unpleasant response would come my way from Goldman and its allies in the press, but I admit to being surprised a little by the form this response took. Obviously I don’t want to dwell on this business, because it’s beyond boring when someone in my position complains about his critics, but I feel like I have to say something about at least a few of the talking points of the inevitable Goldman counteroffensive, which in various forms (letters sent to me personally, public comments) have reached my desk in the last few days.
The most ludicrous of these, and the one that surprised me the most, is the accusation that my article was anti-Semitic propaganda. The first letter I got on this score I actually mistook for a joke sent to me by one of my friends. Then I got another one which I quickly realized was not a joke at all. “Isn’t it convenient,” it read, “that an Arab-American writer for Rolling Stone looks at Wall Street and picks the most prototypically Jewish firm around to demonize.”
The last time I heard something similar was a few years ago, when Debbie Schlussel, a severely dimwitted Detroit-based right-wing pundit, railed against my supposed Arabness after I wrote an article about the Lebanese population in Dearborn, Michigan. I wrote to her to let her know that I’m actually Irish and Filipino, and not at all an Arab, but never got a response. This time the charge is a little different, as several writers complained that my article was “a rehash of every classic anti-Jewish conspiracy theory” and “a pale copy of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”
[continues at link]"It’s been interesting, to say the least, watching the public reaction to... more
-
-
asherp
-
added this
-
3 years ago
- |
-
Inspired by the infamous Japanese house design style -- the pit dwelling -- this pyramid house, designed by Makoto Tanijiri and built in Saijo Japan, definitely stands out.
There isn't much to say about this design as the house pretty much speaks fo itself (mutiple pictures at the link). The text undernath the images give an insight into the home's layout.
I quite like it personally.Inspired by the infamous Japanese house design style -- the pit dwelling -- this... more
-
-
An excerpt from the website, by Kevin Bauman:
"The abandoned houses project began innocently enough roughly ten years ago. I actually began photographing abandonment in Detroit in the mid 90’s as a creative outlet, and as a way of satisfying my curiosity with the state of my home town. I had always found it to be amazing, depressing, and perplexing that a once great city could find itself in such great distress, all the while surrounded by such affluence.
Brush Park, on the outskirts of Detroit’s entertainment district was always an area of interest to me. For as long as I can remember the area, housing large houses and mansions, sat largely abandoned just a stones throw away from the Fox Theater, and not far from Wayne State University, the Masonic Theater, and even the central business district. How could an area that was obviously once a wealthy enclave in the city become an example of the downfall of American cities?
For years the area had signs advertising the redevelopment that was about to take place. It finally began to happen, with the construction of the new ballpark for the Tigers, and Ford Field for the Lions. New condos, and town homes began to appear amidst the rubble of burned out mansions turned apartments. Some of the houses were so large they became “loft condos”. As the entertainment district flourished, and Brush Park began to transform into something new, I realized the other approximately 135 square miles of Detroit was largely ignored. The excitement about Detroit’s “rebirth” took center stage, while much of the rest of the city was becoming largely abandoned. Even Brush Park itself was still largely abandoned, but with the remaining tenants of Brush Park buildings being pushed out, and many of the old houses torn down, I moved on to other areas, where Detroiters were attempting to make a life among abandoned and burned out houses. Often times, the neighborhoods were almost completely abandoned. In these neighborhoods I encountered concerned citizens, packs of wild dogs, 20 foot high piles of toilets, and houses with the facades torn off, filled with garbage.
As the number of images grew, and a documentary style emerged, I switched from mostly black and white, to color, and decided to name the series 100 Abandoned Houses. 100 seemed like a lot, although the number of abandoned houses in Detroit is more like 12,000. Encompassing an area of over 138 square miles, Detroit has enough room to hold the land mass of San Francisco, Boston, and Manhattan Island, yet the population has fallen from close to 2 million citizens, to most likely less than 800,000. With such a dramatic decline, the abandoned house problem is not likely to go away any time soon."An excerpt from the website, by Kevin Bauman:
"The abandoned houses project... more
-
-
When Robert and his wife moved away from Las Vegas in search of a better life, they never thought they'd end up homeless in LA's notorious Skid Row district. But that's exactly where they are today.
Rather than stay in shelters or an SRO (single room occupancy hotel), Robert and his wife choose to stay outside on the streets. Shelters, he said, separate men and women, and SRO’s are downright nasty (he's right; I know from experience!). Furthermore, the hotels that accept welfare vouchers tend to attract crime, drugs, sex offenders, parolees, and gangs.
The day we met it was his wife’s birthday, but they weren't celebrating. They were spending the day waiting in line for services at a homeless drop in center.
I don’t have words for to describe Skid Row. Los Angeles' police chief called Skid Row the worst social disaster in America. To me, the most accurate depiction of Skid Row can be found on the links below. Please take a moment to watch the first and fifth video. They’re short, but very powerful.
Can this really be America?
http://www.goodmagazine.com/section/Features/on_skid_row_introduction
// more stories http://invisiblepeople.tv // follow http://twitter.com/hardlynormalWhen Robert and his wife moved away from Las Vegas in search of a better life, they... more
-
-
If an e-mail popped up in your inbox promising a house for $100, you'd expect to see it sent from guy in Nigeria asking you to wire him several thousand dollars first.
But this depressed housing market dream is real. And Detroit, Michigan, artist Jon Brumit and his wife Sarah are living it.
The couple never counted on owning a home.
"It's not that we have a little money," Jon Brumit said, laughing. "I'm saying we have no money."
But the couple began entertaining the idea of a permanent nest when their friends Mitch Cope and Gina Reichert, also artists, started taking advantage of foreclosures in the city, where the average home price dipped to $11,533 in April, according to the Detroit Association of Realtors.
Dragging down the average are homes are long abandoned or foreclosed on that are selling for pennies on the dollar. Detroit already had the lowest market value houses in Michigan before the latest rounds of job losses at GM and other huge employers, market analysts say.
"Those artists are doing a good thing; they are at least helping to stabilize neighborhoods that would be all but lost," said Mike Shedlock, an investment adviser who blogs frequently about Detroit's economy.
For less than a few thousand dollars, Cope and Reichert snapped up a dilapidated bungalow in a north Detroit neighborhood called "BanglaTown," for its unexpected mix of Bangladeshis, African-Americans, Polish and Ukrainians and the occasional shady character.
Scrappers had cleaned the house to the bone. The copper had been stolen; the electrical wiring was stripped.
But no matter. Here was a chance for Cope and Reichert, who run a popular Detroit art store, to rehabilitate the 1920s brick house into a bastion of energy savings, with solar panels, LED lights, recycled wood and high-end insulated windows.
They're installing a security system that exemplifies elegant efficiency with hurricane-proof windows and steel doors replacing burglar bars. They are also experimenting with running their air-conditioning on a car battery.
MORE @ LiNKIf an e-mail popped up in your inbox promising a house for $100, you'd expect to... more
-
-
Construction of new homes jumped in May by the largest amount in three months, providing an encouraging sign that the nation's deep housing recession was beginning to bottom out.Construction of new homes jumped in May by the largest amount in three months,... more
-
-
Some people backpack for fun. They consider carrying all of their food and belongings in extreme heat with no running water or facilities a sport. But for millions of Americans living without permanent home, this lifestyle is a never-ending nightmare.
When I met Janine one month ago, she was living in one of Sacramento's now infamous tent cities. She works as a gardener, but does not earn enough income to afford or sustain permanent housing. She says she cannot stay in area homeless shelters because there are not enough beds to meet the demand. Janine has been closely involved in the debacle surrounding Sacramento's tent city. She even spoke about the issue to city council.
Even still, her efforts to improve her situation didn't matter the morning we met. The day I met Janine, tent city residents were told that if they didn't pack their things and leave, they would be arrested. She had saved up enough money to put her belongings in storage, but still did not know where she is going to spend the night. Needless to say, on that dark day, she said her future looked grim.
One of Janine's wishes was for everyone to be on "safe ground," a term used to describe a proposed location where the homeless can camp legally with access to basic needs. I still hope her wish comes true.
// safe ground http://www.sacloaves.org/safeground/
// more stories http://invisiblepeople.tv // follow http://twitter.com/hardlynormalSome people backpack for fun. They consider carrying all of their food and belongings... more
-
-
Rule #1 broken: Do whatever you have to do to keep your job
Mark Horvath was a top TV executive in Hollywood and then lost it all. Out of work and with a home going into foreclosure, Horvath quickly became homeless. With no income or a roof over his head, Horvath still had to do something. So he started Invisiblepeople.tv, a personal first account video blog designed to give homelessness a face and voice.
Horvath eventually got a job at a homeless shelter and began to tweet passionately about the day-to-day madness of homelessness. Read his feed (@hardlynormal) of more than 6,500 updates and you’ll see he’s not the face homeless agencies would want you to see and hear.
Repeatedly, Horvath has been told by homeless service agencies and government officials that there are legal consequences to what he’s doing and he should simply stop. The agency has a process to deal with homeless problems and that involves meetings, assignments, and budgets to acquire to make things happen, said Horvath. Having been homeless, Horvath doesn’t think that’s the way to handle the issue. He’s all about exposing problems publicly on Twitter (Twitter reviews) as they’re happening. He doesn’t want to wait for the issue to be brought up in a private meeting.
In an effort to scare Horvath, he’s been warned multiple times, “Be careful, people are watching.” The threats haven’t slowed him down even though he knows he’s going to be laid off in a week with no severance. He believes his efforts have all been successful because he’s been getting the word out on homelessness and got all the homeless agencies up and connected on Twitter.
Horvath has no anger towards his soon to be former employers. “These are not bad people. They are just insecure and don’t really have their priorities straight. It’s not about who has the most effective marketing, it’s ALL about getting people off the streets,” said Horvath, “I’ve lost everything except my laptop, my car and some furniture. A normal person would just be taking care of themselves, a rule breaker puts others before himself.”
****my comment
first let me say i am honored. the response to this is amazing and i am grateful for mashable and David for giving me this exposure.
please know that the conversation needs to be about poverty and homelessness, not me! The secondary topic is YOU are the answer. the point is that YOU can do something to change YOUR world. break the rules, change the world, make it better!
this article makes you believe I'm attacking homeless services agencies and i am not. there are lots of great people giving thier all to help others and they need to be supported.
transparency makes people feel uncomfortable and because as far as i know i'm the first doing "reality twittering" while helping homeless it scares some people.
my goal is to come along side these great organizations to augment what they are doing. often a nonprofit has to show what great victory they are doing and people detach from that. they say, "look what they are doing, that's so cool we don't have to do anything, the issue is solved" .
homelessness is a growing crisis. the issue is far from solved and getting worse. invisiblepoeple.tv shows the crisis as it is, real, raw, and uncensored. then it's up to YOU to take action. you either ignore and go to another website, or you talk about it, share the links, gather canned goods and take it to your local food bank, or financially support a homeless services agency in your area.
for more information on what i do please visit http://pitch.pe/4732
14 years ago i was homeless on Hollywood Blvd because of 20 years of bad decisions. i've been laid off a few times in the last 8 months and the article is correct i'm close to homelessness myself.
right now the world is insane. if i look at what is going on i go crazy so instead i focus on what is directly in front of me. i cannot help people in NY or Chicago, but i can help the homeless of Los Angeles. how YOU change THE worldRule #1 broken: Do whatever you have to do to keep your job
Mark Horvath was a top... more
-
-
Houseboats don’t generally go anywhere. Typically they’re just a floating house that’s tied up to shore and even have utilities hooked up.
That’s great and all, but what’s the excuse for houseboats being some of the funniest looking dwellings on the Earth?
Here's a gallery of twenty houseboats that will probably leave you saying WTF…Houseboats don’t generally go anywhere. Typically they’re just a floating... more
-
-
I found Joanna via Twitter. I was contacted asking for help moving a homeless woman’s belongings into storage. I documented the story within the story and the issues happened behind the scenes on Whrrl. (Link Below. Please take a moment to view it and send to a friend. It’s an important story people need to be familiar with when working with people living on the streets.)
Joanna’s story is powerful… and common. Thirty days ago, she was “kicked to the curb” (literally) by sheriffs enforcing foreclosure orders. Since then, she’s been living on the streets with all of her worldly possessions.
Sadly, Joanna is not new to this predicament. She has been in and out of homeless for nearly 20 years. She wants to work, but claims she is “financially and physically disabled,” she says she has a PhD in homelessness.
This interview was not easy for me; it hit really close to home. But she shares some valuable insights, the most important being that homeless people are exactly that… people.
I hope you watch all the way through, her closing sentence blows me away
// Joanne's story on Whrrl http://whrrl.com/story/show/2052
// more stories http://invisiblepeople.tv // follow http://twitter.com/hardlynormalI found Joanna via Twitter. I was contacted asking for help moving a homeless... more
-
