Tuesday, July 06, 2010

How Is The US Doing Under Obama?

Not so good. I was browsing real estate sites today, and it was really very depressing, unless you are an investor.

I set my perimeters for $150000 or less, and headed to Arizona and Texas. I thought I would find a few properties, boy was I shocked!

Lots of short sales and foreclosures. Look at that, you can get a 3000 to 3500 sqft house in San Tan Valley for $140,000! Winter vacation hear I come!

Or how about this Texas house?

What's the price? $149,900...unbelievable!! What really depressed me was that many of the homes were empty, so where have all those people gone? They have walked away from their homes because they can't afford the payments anymore. It reminds me of the Trudeau NEP reign and how people in Alberta did the same thing, just walked away from their homes.

Obama is spending like mad and it is not helping Americans. Until those homes start to sell and small and medium businesses start hiring again, America is going to stagnate. They will become the next Japan. Printing money is not the answer.

If you don't feel too much like a vulture, you might want to think about investing in some US real estate. Our dollar is close to parity, and after looking at properties in Sun City Arizona, my bones feel warmer thinking about winters down there. Why do Canadians retire and still live in coldville? I know I will keep living in Edmonton in the summer, you can't beat our soil for growing veggies but winter in Arizona sounds good right now. What bothers me is that all their yards are rocks, no grass anywhere, but that's a small problem. Time to plan a trip to Arizona, check out some properties in person, thanks to Obama.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

The U.S. is in the same position as the big banks: too big to fail. By any reasonable accounting standards the U.S. is insolvent. For years the Americans pointed to their low taxes with a sense of pride little realizing that when you decimate the middle class by shipping jobs out of the country you lose your tax base. To make up for this shortfall in revenue, the government turned to borrowing and now the bill is coming due.
In the end, it will be the American consumer who bails the country out. China, India, Singapore, Taiwan and all the rest of the developing world need the U.S. consumer. Without him/her all the economies of the world will collapse. Therefore, in their own self interest, the nations of the world will get together and come up with some new accounting ploy that will create more funny money to keep the world from falling into the environmentalists wet dream - no growth and horse & buggies.

Southern Quebec said...

These homes are not "investments". There are too many on the market for them to go up anytime in the near future. Also, as a non resident you will probably be paying the higher real estate taxes, and don't for get the maintenance. A lot of these places were trashed by the former owners before turning the keys in. Oh, and don't forget, when you sell you are subject to Canadian capital gains tax, and you are required to file a US return.

Maybe not such a great deal.
Texas...home of the original redneck!

MariaS said...

Hunter ... the scariest part of what's happening down south is something nobody is talking about at all. Middle Eastern investors, yes muslims, are buying these properties by the truckloads. They have the money and this the right opportunity for them to gain that hold they have always desired. I read somewhere that an entire street consisting of more than 80 houses has been bought by some estate agent from the UAE, in Detroit. Will the agent renovate and sell only to muslims, you betcha.
This is exactly the kind of thing that happened in the UK starting from 1980 onwards. Huge sprawling properties, castles and such, of the titled lords, dukes, etc. were bought by rich arabs because the brits could not afford to look after these mansions. Look at what has happened to the UK in just 30 years.
Changes like these happen very quietly and without us even thinking about the consequences of our greedy deeds and deals.
A family member is so tempted to buy something in the USA, if not for my hinderance and ice cold shower over the idea, she might have gone ahead. This is not the time to buy anything down south, you will get better deals here in Canada. Have patience.

KURSK said...

Sounds like a good place to winter; away from all the separatists.

liberal supporter said...

Sounds like a good place to winter; away from all the separatists.
Um, the United States is the result of separating from England in 1776, so everyone in the US are separatists.

Anonymous said...

LS, LS, LS. Why would you embarrass yourself like that? The US was a COLONY of Britain. Quebec is physically and legally a part of Canada. Quebec is not a colony of Canada although it acts like one some of the time. So, my dear misguided LS, in you quest to be contentious, you humiliated yourself. Personally, I'd love to ditch Quebec - Quebec wants to separate, fine. But, you'll notice that it never actually has made any move toward separation. Even that stupid referendum had a question which, in no way, asked Quebecers if they wished to separate. The question was convoluted and gave the government a lot of latitude. But, hey, I'd be glad to vote Quebec out of the country - it would save us taxpayers billions of dollars.

liberal supporter said...

LS, LS, LS. Why would you embarrass yourself like that?
Funny how Ann Coulter can talk about murdering judges and then breezily declare it a joke, and you would claim to get it. Yet you are so quick to seek something to bash me with, you'd pretend not to get a quip? Or maybe you really didn't get it. That wouldn't be surprising either.

The US was a COLONY of Britain. Quebec is physically and legally a part of Canada. Quebec is not a colony of Canada although it acts like one some of the time.
Harrumph!

So, my dear misguided LS, in you quest to be contentious, you humiliated yourself.
No, it was my quest to be funny, but obviously it failed, at least with you.

Personally, I'd love to ditch Quebec - Quebec wants to separate, fine. But, you'll notice that it never actually has made any move toward separation. Even that stupid referendum had a question which, in no way, asked Quebecers if they wished to separate. The question was convoluted and gave the government a lot of latitude. But, hey, I'd be glad to vote Quebec out of the country - it would save us taxpayers billions of dollars.
Cue the hate.