Greater US Home Sales; Fewer US Home Buyers

Market is down today-- good..

Not a four-figure drop but.. its something.. and yet nothing worth writing about.

So we want to take a moment or two and go back to addressing yesterday's post-- all that BS excitement and happiness that home prices have risen the highest in 7 years.

We explained yesterday many reasons why its all a mirage and this has really no impact on everyday people trying to sell their normal homes to buyers..

But we wanted to address one more reason all that glee doesn't matter in a real world, everyday American sense...

While there may be a greater number of homes being sold today than that the worst part of the current recession-depression,  the sellers may be Americans but the buyers of those homes, mainly the higher priced ones, are Foreigners.

We don't mean immigrants..  That wouldn't be a bad thing..

No we mainly mean foreigners for investment purposes.

There are many websites catered to attracting people in foreign countries to buy up US properties to hold onto for a profit later on..  If you're curious to see, we list a couple below..

http://miamiforrussian.com

http://uschinarealestate.com

So if you go on these type of websites.. pick out your luxurious home or spacious condo-- one that half the time you won't even bother to live in and then buy it.

And everyone is happy--

The buyer is able to hide his/her wealth from the tax collectors of their nation since foreign real estate purchase is just another means of off-shore dumping money...

The seller is more than happy-- usually by this stage its the bank selling the property which was foreclosed upon..

The real estate agent is super happy to be getting a nice commission for really doing little to nothing but assist the foreign well-to-do in deceiving his/her own government..

And all those rats, roaches and other pieces of Shit that profit off Wall Street love hearing how the real estate market is now 'fixed'...

Everyone love it except well.. Americans.  But what do they know.. Our economy is so horrible, most really can not afford new homes.

More people are re-financing mortgages than taking out new ones and even that number has been precipitously dropping even with rates gradually increasing..   Funny isn't it.. all interest rates to make purchases are slowly increasing but the base interest rate set by the Fed keeps Decreasing..

Corporate media makes no mention and thus no one minds..

Let's go back a moment to yesterday..   In Case-Schiller's top 20 city index, Miami was listed at #10 in the nation, experiencing a 10.7% increase in home sales..

The following is from the Miami Herald, 11/7/12-- We think the information is still relevant to the points we are conveying (in blue font):

Venezuelans continue to make more international real-estate purchases in Miami than any other foreign group, 16 percent, while Argentineans have leaped to second place with a 15 percent share, and Brazilians rank third at 14 percent, according to a new report from the Miami Association of Realtors...

 Foreign buyers have played a vital role in lifting Miami out of the depths of the real estate downturn, and the agents came to network and to tap into the city’s allure to international investors and vacation-home buyers.

“I have clients there [in Fortaleza, Brazil] who want to buy here,” said Geovania Heller, one of many Brazilian real estate agents who attended the session Monday. “Prices are still better here than in Brazil.”

Real-estate agents from Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France, among others, joined with a large contingent of Brazilian brokers for the three-day event...

All told, Latin Americans accounted for 70 percent of the international real estate transactions in Miami and Miami Beach. Western Europeans accounted for 18 percent of foreign sales...

Francisco Angulo, an international specialist with Coldwell Banker in Miami Beach, said discretion is important in dealing with Venezuelans in their home country. Forget about taking out a newspaper ad to tout a seminar on buying real estate outside Venezuela: “Nobody will show up,’’ Angulo said. “People want to be low key.’’"

So really this is as good an example as any why the US is becoming a third-world nation.  Others are coming here to gobble up our real estate because our prices are cheaper and home purchasing is a legal means to launder money.

Remember, we mentioned a few months ago there's a loophole in the Patriot Act where real estate agents are not legally bound to inquire where the money comes from on foreign real estate transactions where other entities would be if large amounts of foreign funds were entering the nation.

And understand this-- this post isn't about Xenophobia..

Its actually a severe attack and indictment on the US-- its government and financial apparatus.  This perpetual con game played upon its populace like you would find in non-democratic governments..

No one ever wishes to admit things are bad, much less even a problem exists.. And no one wishes to be honest enough to explain that solutions are ultimately more harmful.

Honestly, who gives a damn in the US housing market is healthy if a vast majority of Americans can't even afford to be players in the real estate game.   They must learn instead to be content to be perpetual renters.

We say this axiom often... 'The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease'

When its corporations or Wall Street, they squeak horrendously loud and have direct access to those in the positions of power and influence to ensure they get all the 'grease' their lice-ridden claws can clasp ...

Average people-- the only hope and its a long shot admittedly is outward open protest and demonstration.. Something akin to the Civil Rights and Women's Liberation movement, the anti Vietnam protests and so on..

This takes time.. patience... work..  Takes talking to friends and neighbors.. creating organizations and merging with others when there's common interest and goals..

There's no guarantee of being heard, but you have a better chance of having grievances addressed when its 100,000 'squeaking' at once vs one or two...

Because 'We the People' are not feared by anyone in power..

And elections just aren't enough anymore.