This is the third of a three-part series on real estate trends. This post focuses on farmland and highlights some things I heard at the annual convention of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers. Farmland trends Agriculture is a $3 trillion industry in the United States, and $2.4 trillion of that is […]
This is the second of three posts regarding trends in real estate markets. The first was on commercial markets. Next time I will discuss trends in the farmland market. Observations in this post were gleaned from my participation in the 2014 convention of the National Association of Realtors. Here are some of the trends Realtors […]
In recent weeks, I have participated in national conventions for the CCIM Institute, the National Association of Realtors and the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers. I have had numerous conversations about commercial, residential and farmland property trends. This is the first of three posts with my takeaways from these meetings. Commercial Markets […]
Dramatic growth in household debt preceded both the Great Depression and the Great Recession. Both episodes also were characterized by large, persistent declines in consumption. During the crises, highly leveraged households aggressively sought to reduce their debt burdens by postponing consumption. This was especially true of those that experienced large house price declines. Highly leveraged […]
Wouldn’t it be great if you could just tell every business owner to raise the wages of their employees? Then everyone would be happier and better off. Right? The mantra I’ve heard is that “increasing the minimum wage lifts people out of poverty.” This statement is partially true. If you have 100 workers making $8 […]
The Texas Association of REALTORS® announced in August that sellers could now fill out their disclosures using Docusign. Seems simple enough, right? There are several specific things you must do in order for this process to work smoothly. Gracy Title Tech Talk to the rescue! We have given you the exact instructions to send your […]
In my June 19 blog post, I mentioned that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had a new overseer (conservator), and he was talking about making it easier for Americans to buy a home. After years of super-conservative mortgage lending, Mel Watt told the world he was going to try to help more people buy a […]
It’s no secret that most of the things we buy today are made by Chinese workers. We buy other things from European and Japanese workers, and we buy oil from the Middle East. When the U.S. dollar gets stronger compared with the currencies in these countries, it buys a lot more stuff. That’s exactly what […]
In my previous blog post, I mentioned that all the trillions of dollars the Fed has “printed” actually has not been printed. The new money has largely been parked in the form of excess reserves in the largest banks. The post concluded that as long as the money remains parked in excess reserves, inflation is […]
For the past six years, many people have asked me why we don’t have runaway inflation in this country. They tell me how the Fed has printed trillions of dollars and that it is only a matter of time before we see the dollar collapse and prices spiral. Here is my opinion on why this […]