Scott Adcox

I’ve read two articles in the WSJ this week about the housing market, and now I’m less certain than ever about what’s going to happen in the next year.

Is 2010 the Year of the Short Sale?

If 2009 was the year of the foreclosure (and loan modification), then 2010 may be shaping up as the year of the short sale.

I’d say 2011 is more realistic, unless they are predicting a slew of short sales starting in Q1. Our experience with trying to purchase short sales is that they take a long time. How long? We’re not really sure, because we haven’t made it to the end of the process yet. But five months seems to be a reasonable expectation for a minimum, and that’s just for the bank to get back to you with a yes or no.

I’m interested to see what is going to happen when, by the time the bank responds to an offer with a “yes”, the house is no longer worth the amount that was originally offered. Because, some people think we’re still in a housing bubble:

Rental apartment vacancies are reaching record highs. Many segments of the housing market are still oversupplied. And the core demographic in the country—the baby boomers—are reaching the age where they’re more likely to downsize, buying less house in the years to come.

Throw in the tax credits, artificially low mortgage rates, and the fact that the fed is still buying mortgage backed securities, and it’s hard to make the case that the housing market is not still artificially high.

It seems like the easiest way back to a true(r) market would be for banks to sell off their bad assets as quickly and efficiently as possible through the short sale process. Quick and efficient doesn’t seem to be the order of the day, however.

Women linked to Tiger Woods – At least he has a better eye for talent than Bill Clinton.

Shashi Tharoor: Why nations should pursue "soft" power – If this is true, please explain to me why chicks always dig the guy who can beat up everyone else.

Surf’s up as biggest waves in five years come to Hawaii after North Pacific storm – Sick.

About Those ‘Tax Cuts for the Rich’ – I guess it's time we start paying our fair share after all. And I'm not rich.

More Regulation to Help the "Underserved"? – If a man was smart he would try to figure out where this will create a bubble, invest there, wait for the bubble to inflate, then get out before it bursts. If I man was smart…

Changes hit home for appraiser – Hooray for regulations! Increased cost to the consumer AND reduced income for the service provider! Yay!

America’s Best Bang-For-The-Buck Cities – Cool…we unwittingly moved form the #22 city on the list to #18. Look how smart we is.

Apple’s Lala Acquisition – I have high hopes for what is possible here, but my hopes for an Android app are diminishing.

An iPhone App to Track How Badly AT&T Sucks – But it works right out of the box. And if it stops working, you can pay someone else to fix it.

16 Reasons Why We Might Unfollow You On Twitter – A pretty good list here. I can't say I disagree with any of it.

Sentinels Of Freedom Golf Ball Drop – Great Idea for a great cause!

Pelosi Open To The VAT – Gasp! Shock! What? She would actually consider a new tax? The hell you say!

Post Rapture Pets – No matter what you do or don't believe, you have to admit this is a smart business model.

There’s No Excuse For This – Windows mobile 6.5 – Just to needle @raowen: "It's an interim product, and a vain attempt to hold onto the thinning ranks people who still choose Windows Mobile despite not being somehow tethered to it until the tardy Windows Mobile 7 comes out, whenever that may be."

Moore proves Libertarians right – And being a libertarian is downright heart breaking: "I'd imagine it's like being a Cubs fan, except there usually isn't much hope for next year."

The iDontFart App – Proceed to AT&T store. There's now a reason to own an iPhone.

UT’s Supercomputer Breaks Petascale – Let loose the Kraken! My sources are telling me that a poor ol' country boy's head just exploded in the UTCC.

Apple Quits Chamber Of Commerce Over Global Warming – Apple isn't stupid. They realize there's too much green to be made in "green" to even begin to question it. This is a marketing and sales decision, not an environment/community decision.

What if Only the Rich Recover? – WSJ – Don't call it a comeback!

XKCD Strikes Again – While you’re at it, can I get a drink holder attached to the end of each arm?

Rich People Fleeing High Tax States – What? Unbelievable! The gov’ment should do something about this!

Rowland Burris Blames Bush For Olympic FAIL – And I thought it was just because the IOC member are all racists.

Dell uses social media to gather employee ideas – This is going to be happening more and more as management becomes comfortable with the tools.

What Google Wave Can Do – I will be checking all of this out as soon as the people I invited get their invites. Right now, there’s no one for me to collaborate with.

10 Things Every Kumbaya Blogger Should Know | Copyblogger – When you solve actual problems, even if you (yikes) make a buck on it, you’re doing good work.

The Cocoa Beach Air Show | Metromix Brevard – If you aren’t able to get tickets to the Brevard/Miami rugby match this weekend, here’s another option.

Knoxville Rugby at Heart of Dixie Tournament – Look for Okie and Colonel Kurtz to make return appearances. We cannot guaranteed gravel slinging pickup trucks or soiled sofas.
Indian farmer’s daughter is most bad-ass woman in the world – Boing Boing – In a phenomenally bad-ass series of moves worthy of a Tarantino screenplay, 21-year-old Rukhsana Kausar attacked him with an axe, then shot him dead with his own gun.
Kids leave mother passed out drunk in minivan FLORIDA TODAY – So sad.

Via Instapundit, an article on how Florida’s government is driving away residents and businesses with oppressive taxes. Well, yeah…isn’t that what happens when you run things like a government?

Luckily, there’s at least someone in the State Legislature who wants to run Florida like a business with things like cost-benefit analysis. For politicians, that usually means “how much will it cost the tax payers for me to get the benefit of votes in the next election?”

We shall see.

This is hilarious!

I think we should also explore running federal vehicles through title pawn services and getting payday advances on quarterly tax filings.

Oh wait, I guess we are kind of doing that already.

HT Mises Economic Blog

I was wondering the other day if/why the equal protection clause doesn’t protect people from the injustices of a graduated tax rate. Sure enough, someone else has wondered that already.

I guess since taxes are inherently punitive, “protection” doesn’t really come into play. I don’t remember reading anywhere that we are guaranteed equal penalty under the law.

I don’t expect anything to be changed, I was just wondering.

From Michael Silence:

Again, your great-, great-, great-, great-, great-, great-grandchildren will be paying for this one.

Yet the critics of Tea Parties typical retort is “aren’t 95% of you getting a tax cut?”  Well, I’m not sure how you feel about it, but it still doesn’t make stealing from your posterity to pay for it ok.

More Americans wary of U.S. tax man this year

“Folks are not paying their taxes because they are spending it on necessary living expenses…”

How dare they! What right do they have to feed, house, and clothe their own families?

Here’s an idea:  Transportation secretary says taxing how much we drive may replace gasoline tax.

We simply must punish Wal-Mart by taxing them at a higher rate. Of course, that will never be passed on to the consumer. Retail – Wal-Mart’s global sales break through $400bn.