http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060807/BIZ/608070389/1001

-Crashcadia

The only indication I’ve had so far is when I was checking the county records for “sold” prices last winter and spring.

A surprising number of homes had been sold to this or that LLC.

I suppose that might be the tip of the iceburg? People who were buying multiple properties and not just one or two?

No doubt Seattle was targeted by investors due to greater perceived return than places like SF or SD (cough). So guess how many drone “investors” read glowing articles on waterfront RE and turned their eyes to Seattle and around the sound? Seattle isn’t immune from the monkey business we’ve seen southward down the Pacific to Mexico. For investors to keep “winning,” they need support from money rates and local buyer/owner perceptions. Yes–all the nonsense that locals and media spout about their unstoppable home values actually attracts more speculation.

Something I’d like to see are actual stats on the “investor” segment around Seattle–and broken out by investor location. That could be very enlightening. S-Crow, The Tim–anyone have those figures?

When a ship is going down, all the rats end up crowded onto the last part of the ship still above water….welcome to Seattle.

Sue,
You are correct, and from the looks of the size and scope of this credit bubble, we are looking at two back to back recessions with a good quarter pumped in between so that we cant say we had another depression.

For the last two years I have been watching this all unfold. It is like watching a train wreck in slow motion. I am still theorizing how it will work itself out. I just can’t see how we will pass through the economic digestive system without a whole bunch of stink.
Get ready for 10 years of economic hardship.

-Crashcadia

Yes, this is a blast-from-the-past, a gem from the grooveyard of forgotten favorites…

What can it possibly be?

Remember the real estate craze in the late-80s and early-90s…

Remember yachts…

Remember scads of bikini clad beauties…

Remember a short Vietnamese guy being spoon-fed and fanned by dozens of young white chicks…

Ladies and Gentlemen, a man that should need no introduction…TOM VU!!!!

It’s starting, it was an unhealthy economic development that’s turned us all into idiots and now it’s going to reverse.

And I agree Anon, lowering or pausing interest rates is not going to stop it.

There are just too many people out there who are beginning to realize it was all a big credit bubble. Period.

Just how do we get out of this situation?

One scenario is for the Fed to raise interest rates to stem inflation.
This however will collapse the housing bubble. Not that it is not collapsing on its own.

Another scenario is for the Fed to allow for increased inflation. Simply pausing on further interest rate hikes will accomplish this. This however will collapse the dollar and may induce foreign holders to dump their dollar reserves. This would be devastating.

Yet another scenario may play out.
This is where an increase in the price of oil is encouraged, along with a pause in interest rate hikes with further Fed tightening in the future. A pause on August 8 will prop up the GDP and stocks and would be the politically correct action coming into this year’s elections. This will put pressure on the dollar, but an increase in the price of oil will force dollar reserves to be maintained. This is the scenario I think the Fed is attempting to orchestrate. Why take the blame for collapsing the housing bubble when you can blame economic hardships on foreign oil.

I do believe that the housing bubble is doomed no matter what path is taken.
If you have any thoughts on how this may all play out, please share your thoughts, as I enjoy being enlightened by other points of view.

Perhaps all the real estate gurus should recommend the purchase of oil stocks or gold. I think they stand a much better chance of yielding 30% to 50% gains over the next couple of years.