The Blog of Author Mark MacKenzie: It's The Housing Market, Stupid!

So I just returned from a meeting with a client tonight and as I am walking out his door he asks me if he notices what is missing. He had one pumpkin next to his door, the other one was missing. So I asked him, "what happened, did some kids smash it?" "No, somebody stole it," he replied. That is ...

Good news out of NAR today as they released their existimg home sales data for the month of September. Existing home sales are up 5.5% month over month and up 1.4% year ovre year. Inventory is down -1.6% month over month and -2.4% year over year. The result is that the month's supply of housing, ...

Colin Barr got it right in an article he wrote for CNNMoney.com today. Everybody is talking about fixing the banking system.  This was what the $700 billion bailout was all about.  But there is a missing piece to this attempt to stabilize the economy, it's called the housing market. The following...

"Housing Bailout Passed In July Making Little Progress"  This is a headline taken from CNBC.com today. I hate to sound so cynical, but why did anybody think that this "bailout" would work. The government proposed that lenders write off loan balances without compensation.  And this concept was the...

You mean the first two stimulus plans didn't work? Shocking. The stimulus/rebate checks didn't save people from losing their homes? The Housing and Economic Recovery Act isn't allowing the housing market and economy to recover? Shocking. The good news is that at least the word "housing" was in th...

So I am in the process of finishing up my newest book, "It's The Housing Market, Stupid!" and in one of the chapters I talk about the events of August of 2007 as well as CNBC's Jim Cramer's reaction to the crisis in the secondary mortgage market where he calls St. Louis Federal Reserve Prseident ...

  I have been talking about this for a while now, the train coming down the tracks - job losses, and how it is going to affect the housing market. The government is still way behind the curve on this thing and they have been for over a year.  Late to identify that there is a problem, slow to reac...

So I get an email from NAR President Richard Gaylord a couple of days ago talking about NAR's 4-point housing stimulus plan. I like Richard, but I believe the 4-point stimulus plan comes up short.  Kind of like an air ball. He proposes four things. 1. Remove the requirement in the current law tha...

On October 16th Warren Buffett wrote an op/ed for the New York Times talking about the fact that he is going "all-in" on the U.S. stock market. He admits that he doesn't know if the market will be up or down next month, or even next year, but he is still making his investment today. Buffett conte...

You may or may not be familiar with CNBC's Diana Olick.  She is one of their senior housing correspondents and she also has a blog. She made a good point today, which I agree with.  The blog entry title is "Behind All The Problems, It's Still About Foreclosures." Here is a specific quote from her...