HAPPY BIRTHDAY LELDA WILL!

Nick Will — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:22:54 +0100

Today is the magnificent celebration of the birth of a giant walking the earth, my mother, Lelda Will. Congratulations and Happy Birthday to a mother who was born to be a mother first and foremost, to the most resilient person I've ever known or will know, the most inspiring person one could ever hope to know, and on top of that and in large part because of all that... the very best business partner I could have ever imagined and had the great fortune to join in a common journey together, each dRead More...

NEW WEBSITE IN LAUNCH MODE!

Nick Will — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 00:15:15 +0100

We're going live! After over FOUR MONTHS of planning, from design, to content, to really easy to use new features to help buyers search and sellers sell, to new ways of featuring our listings and featuring our agents as we prepare to launch a full-on agency, to industry-leading training and support for agents on the log-in private intranet site, it's happening as we speak. The team of designers and project managers in California who've been working closely with our office to build the new site aRead More...

NEW WEBSITE COMING!

Nick Will — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:23:23 +0100

We're excited to announce that within the next couple of weeks, Will & Will Real Estate Brokers will be launching a new, custom website that will have new features to better support our visitors, our clients, and our agents. You can expect an even easier & faster layout, even better presentation of our own featured listings, more frequent blogging, multi-media content, an easier way to search the entire Houston MLS than anywhere else, many seller and buyer resources - and our current andRead More...

Sideways Blogging

Nick Will — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 14:55:08 +0100

Okay so I'm remiss not to have posted in almost a month, but frankly not a lot has changed - we're still on a bumpy path sideways, and that's to be expected. It fits the fundamentals and the fundamentals, while they could have shifted, they haven't. There's nothing really new going on, and that includes continued volatility from which everyone should be making money, upward and downward.

Yesterday, September 6th, everyone was freaking out about uncertainty in Europe. Today Germany'sRead More...

This Is What Sideways Feels Like

Nick Will — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:59:44 +0100

This is what sideways feels like. We dive onto the banana slide in the back yard and tumble off the end into the grass. Our knees hurt and we don't go back to the line to do it again. Then the sting wears down, the water is spraying, everyone's having a good time, and we throw ourselves down onto the banana slide again... rinse repeat... rinse repeat...

I haven't posted in the past couple of days because... nothing... has... changed... Nothing. Nothing happened today that we couldn't Read More...

S&P: What The French Have That We Don't

Nick Will — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 17:08:44 +0100

France has a AAA credit rating from S&P, though it too is threatened by S&P. What other countries does S&P believe deserve a higher credit rating than The United States?

AAA countries according to Standard & Poor’s:

Austrailia

Austria

Canada

Denmark

Finland

France

Germany

Guernsey

Hong Kong

Isle of Man

Liechtenstein

Luxembourg

S&P = Standard & Political

Nick Will — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 17:05:02 +0100

Smart investors don't give a flip about S&P. Why do we even have credit rating agencies? Must we really outsource our own thinking to some big company that overvalued the mortgage-backed securities that turned out to be worthless and led to the biggest recession since the Great Depression? Records show they didn't even understand what they were rating then. Why should we think it's any different now?

I don't think we should. The 10-Year Treasury is at c. 2.5%. The world is begginRead More...

A Serious Sell Off?

Nick Will — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:02:08 +0100

Okay yeah I know what's going on today around the world and indicators etc. But there is no good fundamental reason for today's market sell-off. None. Nothing is different today substantially from yesterday or last week. Strong corporate earnings with generalized cautionary notes of total CYA for Q3, but still... Strong earnings. Corporate balance sheets with fat cash. 10-Yr Note at 2.46%. This is generalized fear with no basis. That equals opportunity.

Buy buy buy. Borrow borrow borrRead More...

A Little Bit of History Repeating

Nick Will — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 01:48:39 +0100

It's all just a little bit of history repeating...........

We tend to have short historical memory. Ronald Reagan signed bills to raise the debt ceiling 18 times. George W. Bush did it at least 7 times. Typically, doing so is so routine -- and such an obvious need for the economy -- that the bill to do so is one page. And now we have this manufactured crisis.

Let's review: If the United States of America defaults on its loans or can't pay for all Read More...

To Veto Or Not To Veto

Nick Will — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 01:44:11 +0100

Okay so here's what we got:

It took until today for a 2nd degree "veto threat" of the Boehner plan, which Wall Street and CBO has also warned would not avoid a downgrade in our AAA national credit rating by S&P. Key to understanding the current political theatre is bearing in mind how presidential elections are won in the end: within 2%. So winning the presidency, after the primaries, is thus: scare the base + motivate the base + independents = 51%.

More Debt Debate: POTUS Speaks

Nick Will — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 01:35:48 +0100

I'm amused now, July 25th, reading my most recent post foretelling the path of the debt ceiling debate from two months ago. Up until today, I have stood by my last post. But tonight, the President has called a national address on all news and network channels. Why? Today, the markets (to be clear, by "markets" I mean the stock and generally traded markets; I once was deposed as a witness by a dim-witted attorney who didn't understand the context of how I use the word when he cited a blog post ofRead More...

Texas Veterans Loan Program!

Nick Will — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 05:00:00 +0100

The following is courtesy of James Kelley of VABenefitBlog.com. Its contents are purely attributable to the author.

Despite the poor national economy, the Texas real estate market has actually been doing quite well, especially when compared to the rest of the country. With record low prices and interest rates, Texas recently took the award for the “strongest post-crisis” economy in the U.S., according to an article in Housing Wire. And the state’s housing market iRead More...

Is A Mobile Home "Real Property?"

Nick Will — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 05:00:00 +0100

By "real property," I mean real estate, not personal property. A real estate brokerage helps people and entities buy and sell real estate. We're not licensed to broker the buying and selling of personal property. So this question about mobile homes isn't merely theoretical for us.

Essentially, if you're buying valuable acreage with a mobile home on it, is it like buying land with a boat on it, or is it like buying land with a house built on it?

Apparently it's Read More...

Why Pacific Japan Uses Nuclear Energy

Nick Will — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 23:45:52 +0100

From The Christian Science Monitor:

Japan has touted nuclear power as key to reducing carbon emissions to 75 percent of 1990 levels by 2020. The public remains wary about the push, with one poll showing that 54 percent of the population feels anxious or uneasy about nuclear power. Shunsuke Kondo, chairman of Japan's Atomic Energy Commission, told the Monitor then that his nation's nuclear power plants were built to withstand all but a "once in 10,000 year" earthquake.

Mortgage "Servicers" Fail in Court

Nick Will — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 01:32:49 +0100

This article in Bloomberg shows that the system by which the housing bubble was created at the Wall Street level is under attack judicially, and it has been for some time now in various states.

“MERS and its partners made the decision to create and operate under a business model that was designed in large part to avoid the requirements of the traditional mortgage-recording process,” Grossman wrote. “The court does not accept the argument that because MERS may be involved with 5Read More...

Houston Economy Points Upward Again

Nick Will — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 16:11:48 +0100

From the just released National Association of Purchasing Management, all signs of future economic activity are extraordinarily positive for Houston.

Economic activity in the Houston area has been positive for the last fourteen consecutive months and strengthened another 1.6 points this last month. This is an indication that positive economic growth is continuing in our area. ... Reading’s over 50 indicate production gains over the near term; readings below 50, show coming contraction. .Read More...

Balance the Budget Yourself! New Interactive Chart!

Nick Will — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 15:15:05 +0100

I am elated this morning that The New York Times has put forth an interactive chart containing the many options put forth by the Deficit Commission recently announced. It lists a long menu of options, both revenue reform and spending reform options, and you can - like a game - select cuts and revenue plans to come together to balance the budget by 2015 and/or 203o or both. It tracks the impacts of your decisions with an interactive chart at the top, showing the effect of each of your decisionRead More...

Frozen in the Dark, Blinded by the Light

Nick Will — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 16:34:05 +0100

The Labor Department announced this morning that about twice as many jobs were created last month than analysts were expecting. Good news. No, fantastic news. No double-dip.

On many levels, the October report was much stronger than expected. Forecasters had been expecting a gain of only 60,000 jobs. The report also revised the numbers for August and September, showing 110,000 fewer jobs losses than previously estimated. Hourly wages were slightly higher, too.

Something Nice To Say? This Economic Moment.

Nick Will — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 22:24:20 +0100

Yes, momma did say if you don't have something nice to say... you know... It's been a while since I've posted here, which can mean when that happens that a) we're super busy, or b) I don't feel like I have much nice to say. Fortunately this dry spell has mostly been because we've been busy! :-)

Still on the eve of the midterm elections (I voted early today), I wonder what "nice" I have to say. I've been preparing a lecture, "Current Economic Trends," that I'll be deliveringRead More...

Private Sector Creating Jobs; June & July Revised Upward

Nick Will — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:34:51 +0100

From the Associated Press about today's jobs report:

"Both June and July's figures were revised to show the private sector created more jobs in both months. The July figures were revised upward to 107,000 from 71,000. June was revised upward to 61,000 from 31,000. The revisions reflected smaller losses in construction, temporary help services and non-census government jobs. Still, hiring has now been weak for four straight months."

I could complain that of the two secRead More...

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