From FreeThinker, a DJ that lives in KeyWest.
He posts on my board on the FOOL.......
Just got off phone with my good buddy who works for NOAA here in Key West.
We are close to Tropical Storm Chris turning into Hurricane Chris.
A few hours ago, Chris had sustained winds of 65 MPH. A cat one hurricane has winds that start at 70 MPH.
The track so far takes it right down the smack center of Hurricane Alley and dead over Key West. The storm . . . most likely to turn into a hurricane later today . . . is scheduled to hit us late Sunday or early Monday.
Here's the latest nhc.noaa.gov
If this sucker hits as a category 3 or higher, you can expect Key West housing prices to take a very quick fall from their already amazing big dump this year.
By the way . . . an update on my apartment house: after several blown negotiations, this place, originally on the market for $2.8 million, was sold last week for $1 million even. This deal is done and final. I'll explain what happened later. But just know, the blood is in the gutters down here. And I ain't buying til it floods the streets. Give this another 2 to 3 years, especially with a trillon or so in ARMs resetting in 12 to 18 months.
Key West has got an open class warfare in words going on in the newspapers about town. A sure sign the top is in if I ever have seen one. Add that to your arsenal of tools that the Bubble has burst: when lesser blue collar mortals can only bitch about no affordable housing, you can bet the market is approaching a top, has hit the top, or is bursting and the workers aren't realizing it yet.
Higher rates, resetting ARMs, foreclosures, huge inventories which would take 5 years to sell at todays rate of sales, and on and on. Fools buy here. Never seen anything like this in my 16 years of living here. People everywhere losing their minds as they realize their Housing ATMs have run out of cash and they are stuck with a fast depreciating asset which can't be sold at the click of a mouse. Upside down is the new reality for a growing pool of folks down here.
It's getting uglier by the day too. Higher real estate taxes just passed by the county government which piles on the already huge rise in insurance payments, means more homeowners are selling out for whatever they can get from Northerners. Many, many oldtimers have thrown in their hands and are running away from Key West to lick their wounds.
Add in a good sized hurricane, and I'll be one of the last cockroaches still standing and waiting for the opportunity of a lifetime.
Still buying gold, oil, commodities and soon . . . uranium and water. Dividend payers keep reinvesting. Just worked 38 night straight and put a pile of money aside for purchases of real gold coins, uranium, and water plays.
And one more thing: anyone who thinks this Housing Bubble bursting will not affect their insular communities is not paying attention to our growing Empire of Debt and what it is portending for the future of America.
I am seeing jobs disappearing left and right. Two years ago, all the real estate agents in this town were flush with cash and buying Champange Room visits at my stripclub. Today, none of them are present and accounted for. Their ads get smaller in the paper. No more full page ads.
Last week, 3 properties sold between here and a Key 30 miles away. Three properties. Who bought these things, the 3 Stooges?
I've got time, money, and patience. And I plan to write a letter to the Editor here as an unwashed member of the Mishite tribe who has had it with all the egg sucking New Money Boomers who think this economy is stronger than it has ever been. I'll re-post that letter after I write it.
Anyway, just playing catch up around Fooldom and catch up on my sleep.
Tougher than the rest,
DJ Rock
p.s. Looking for the down time of a hurricane. I'll take photos and post them this time around... |
