nyonyamansor09

When a newspaper croaks, a loyal and important servant to its community is lost. Or that's what the obituaries say. The truth is, a dead newspaper scarcely bears any resemblance to the mythical beast that will be lionised when the printing presses shut down and the plastic bag full of paper and ink stops landing on lawns each morning.  The Advocate, its death assured as a marsupial on a Tasmanian road at dusk, will be one of those lionised newspapers. It shouldn't be. The Advocate's turf is one of Australia's most economically disadvantaged electorates, something that goes hand in hand with low education levels. It's almost assured when The Advocate recycles a press release or culls stats to craft a story, the readership won't find themselves digging any deeper. Forget them trawling ABS spreadsheets for reality.  Sean Ford, senior journalist amongst a bunch of 12 year olds, knows this. He's The Advocate's "resident numbers man" (yep, that's...

"Australian's deserve a lot better, especially on Melbourne Cup day." - Wayne Swan You've really got to wonder about the brain-dead, no real world experience, "thinks they're playing West Wing" staffer, who cooked that one up for Wayne Swan. Really, who has the cheek to raise interest rates on Melbourne Cup day? Clearly it's Australia's right to gamble in peace - on horses and houses. Cheap populism takes no courage. Wayne Swan has no courage and Joe Hockey has no courage, because the easiest scenario here is to hook into a faceless bank and continue to ignore the elephant in the room - Australians are addicted to debt. They continually mainline it into their veins, while hitting a full pipe at the same time. And who acts as the enabler to this situation? The politicians who won't suggest fiscal responsibility. Apparently being so indebted that a rate rise could push you over the edge is someone else's fault. Where is the encouragement to...

It's not everyday a guy blows himself up on the North-West of Tasmania. Guy Fawkes night isn't that popular any more, which stops the most industrious Dads passing down their backyard knowledge of fireworks to their kids. First National Real Estate CEO, Ray Ellis, however is an exception. Yesterday, Ellis and his unnaturally large set of Captain America white teeth, found himself sitting on a box of dynamite with a quick burning fuse after suggesting , well I'll copy/paste so you can regale in the comedic horror: "SELFISH" baby boomers are keeping generation Y out of the housing market, First National Real Estate chief executive Ray Ellis believes. Mr Ellis paid out on what he called the "most self-indulgent, spoilt, want everything for nothing generation that ever existed" in an exclusive interview with The Advocate during a visit to the North- West on Wednesday. He wants governments to encourage boomers to move into smaller homes to free up housing for...

Apologies for the lack of anything substantial this week, unfortunately I do have employment and other things going on. Needless to say little has changed in Tasmania - except for it getting worse. Burnie listings have exploded, so much so, I feel like a bear handler from a former Soviet state when talking about it - I could be up on cruelty charges, it's almost poking a caged animal with a stick at this stage. Devonport continues to rise and Launceston looks like it's about to blow after adding another fifty plus listings before the week is out. After reading Jeremy Grantham's latest "Night of the Living Fed" newsletter at work today, I had hoped to present it as some super new news, but David Llewellyn-Smith squeezed me out on that front. I will say, in a moment of Chris Joye pomposity, I'm taking credit for Grantham's follow up, given the fact I made sure GMO was fully aware of the the howling from Australian vested interests to his bubble claims. Take...

It’s only taken six weeks and I can officially get high on the smell of my own farts. This morning a North-West reader alerted me the local newspaper, The Advocate, had written a story questioning any housing shortage - going so far as to suggest there might be a bunch of empty houses around the state. I ran out and grabbed the paper, in the process half expecting pig poop to land on my head at any moment. Upon reading the article I found myself as pleasantly surprised as anyone could be in this situation – don’t kid yourself, the weekly Domain real estate lift out is probably the ventilator keeping this newspaper breathing. Now anyone who’s read this mangy mess of a blog would quickly realise The Advocate story had my fingerprints all over it. After all, it was only last weekend I drove a dagger into the heart of any spruiker cunning enough to suggest the North-West had a shortage of housing. And a month earlier I suggested Tasmania was currently building a new dwelling for every 1.84...

Well eventually I knew there would come a time I had to do some real work maintaining this blog, I couldn't get by on smart arse comments and poor sub-editing forever - I just needed a hook to get me going. It came in the most depressing way, as I was informed several people I knew were sitting on a second property - a second empty property - a second empty property they'd renovated and hoped to flip. 'Hoped' being the operative word. As previously mentioned the, details are too depressing for words and if I went into them I'd probably turn all Glenn Beck as I start blubbering at the prospect of the financial Armageddon these people face. Putting two and two together I quickly find the properties listed online, pictured dead empty - then something clicks. If you're someone like me - with too much time on his hands and a mild case of undiagnosed asperger's - you notice a few patterns and being the relentless and lifeless fool I am, I decided to follow them. T...

In 2005 it probably seemed like a good idea - $560k for this 3x2 in Devonport. Five years pass and at $500k, no one seems to think it's a good idea any more.  This, after an initial listing at $569k, six months back. I can only speculate what was happening back in June 05 when over half a million was laid down for something, that frankly looks like a block of flats, but I suspect there was a lot of real estate agent bluster and a whole lot more of rampant house hormones on behalf of the buyer. It wasn't a $560k house then and it sure as hell isn't a $500k house now. So how did the owner find themselves thinking $560k was a good buy? It's here I'm reminded of a article written by Peter Schiff back in 2004. Schiff visited a rental house in Orange County, California. Out of interest, Schiff asked the agent how much the house was recently bought for. The agent replied 1 million dollars, Schiff then inquired as to the holding costs and taxes, adding them to the loan cos...

I pulled the covers down and flicked on CNBC this morning, just to catch trader, Mark Fisher being asked how he’d get the US housing market moving again. While I found his answer slightly odious, it was clear he’d nailed how to get anyone to buy anything. Make them believe it will be more expensive tomorrow and they’ll buy it today – which let’s be clear, also pushes up the prices today. Fisher’s plan was simple – hand out green cards to any foreigner who wanted to live in the US and intended to buy, and live in (no renting out), a house. If people had no incentive or concern pushing them to buy today, they wouldn’t – especially if they thought prices would be cheaper tomorrow. The idea green card would probably work – high net worth individuals having access to US residency on the purchase of a house, clearly there would be some house price pressure. Yet, it’s the psychology behind the ‘more expensive tomorrow’ idea that the real estate and building industries understand and conti...