The housing crunch hits the northeast....

Houses in Westford, Mass:
It is spring, and house sales are supposed to rise at this point.

I'm not sure how they have been going, but as I see from the average house prices in Westford Mass, they prices look to be falling.

I see that the average # of houses on the market in that town seems to have hovered aroung 51-52 for the last few months.....so I'm not sure if that means things are even selling.



Houses in Litchfield, NH:
Here is the graph for Litchfield, NH...the town I live in. I am surprised to see that it looks as though house prices are rising....but then, oit might be the fact that prices in the town were low to start with, and have actually been down about 12% from evaluation for the past year.

It's all a very complex picture....but it looks like selling and buying a house has become a much higher stakes games in recent months.

Good luck to all.....

Today's Sad News......nothing too new I suppose.....

The news headlines below are really nothing new.....but when I read them today, I realized how messed up things really are.

I think I have commented in earlier BLOG posts that things seemed to be sinking yet stocks seemed to be floating along.....unaffected.

Well, today the market is a bit choppy, but nothing compared to the sort of headlines we are seeing as I type. (below)

______________________________________

Top Stories

As of 27 minutes ago

Consumer Confidence Drops to Lowest Point in 5 Years- AP

Soaring gas prices and weaker job prospects made Americans gloomier about the economy in April, sending a widely watched measure of consumer sentiment to a five-year low, a private research group said Tuesday.

• U.S. Home Foreclosure Rate Soars 112 Percent- AP
• Home Prices Plunge at Record Rate of 12.7 Percent- AP
• Stocks Lower With Investors Wary of Consumer Data, Fed- AP
• Merck Hit Hard By Cholesterol Drug Rejection- Reuters
• Millionaires More Bullish on Stocks, Real Estate- Reuters
• Up For Grabs: $42 Bln of Newspaper Ad Revenue- Tech Ticker
• Bernanke's Burden: Way Beyond This Week's Fed Meeting-

Buffet thinks the downturn will be longer than people expect.....

I liked the graphic above because I think the problems we have a nation have to do with each and every one of us....OK, perhaps thats too broad a net....but it has to do with our collective mindset.

The mindset I am refering to is our "get it now, pay later" instant gratification actions that we have clung to as a country for the past 20 years or so. I'd say that savings has been a passe concept since about the '80s, and that the way to make money has been to go out on a limb and "risk" things on margin.

Ok, the margin might not be exactly defined as it might be with a brokerage account....it might mean mortgaing your house to the hilt and using that money to say buy another house or even worst, the creature comforts you want.

Well, as the above poster indicates.....none of us thinks we had anything to do with our slide...."my effect is but a pisshole in the snow".....but together, we can cover a lot of area!

I'm not exactly sure that this is WHY Warren Buffet believes the downturn is going to be worst and of a longer than everyone thinks.....but when I heard that, I felt he was right.

What do we need to do to protect ourselves thought.....at least those of us with some savings.

I just don't know.....it is a scary thought though.

Here are the words of Buffet himself:

"This is not a field of specialty for me, but my general feeling is that the recession will be longer and deeper than most people think," Buffett said. "This will not be short and shallow.

"I think consumers are feeling gas and food prices," he added, "and not feeling they've got a lot of money for other things."

Staples apparently has a place to park your "Economic Stimulus" windfall!

Well, the people at Staples seem to think they have the answer to our economic woes.....well, maybe their economic woes anyways. :-)

They have a web page that you can visit when you get your "Economic Stimulus Windfall payment". (my words, not theirs or those of President Bush)

I guess we all have to do our part....so let's all get out there and SPEND like there is no tomorrow!

Is the Future INFLATION OR DEFLATION?: Here is a vote for Deflation.....not what I wanted to hear

Check out this BLOG that seems to be describing a future of Deflation......not a pretty sight.


I will have to study what they are saying because quite frankly, it is all going over my head right now.....but if we are going to suffer deflation, it would be critical to know NOW! (save, save, save....cash is king)