Stilltitled

If I were a seller, I would take the risk out of the calculation. Time does not necessarily equate to money here for the seller.
—Pamel Liebman, CEO of Corcoran

The standstill that existed after Lehman Brothers has been broken, and it was the sellers that cried ‘Uncle.’ …The sellers who want to sell are reducing their prices. The ones that aren’t, are either sitting on them overpriced or waiting for another day.
—Pamel Liebman in Bloomberg

We will probably get a little worse before it is going to get better because unemployment is likely to continue to rise after the recession ends this year.
—Jonathan Miller, Miller Samuel

The market took a nose dive and business virtually stopped in September. Now you are seeing people at least spending money again. I am not saying it is a different world; buyers are still looking for value.
—Dorothy Herman, President of Prudential Douglas Elliman

A government that works, some conservatives fear, is dangerous stuff. It gives people ideas…it’s a gateway drug to broader state involvement in the economy and hence a possible doomsday scenario for conservatism itself.

…government fails constantly when conservatives run it because making it work would be, for many of those conservatives, to traduce the very laws of nature.

…This is the perverse incentive that is slowly remaking the GOP into the Snafu Party.

…”You didn’t really think government could work, did you?”
—Thomas Frank in the WSJ

I think we’re going to see a temporary substantial improvement. I emphasize the words temporary and substantial.

…We’ll get a bounce for a few quarters and then it will fade out. We’re now going through the getting-better phase for a while…I don’t worry if they have instruments to do it. What worries me is the political hurdle they’ll be facing.

…The Fed can set the benchmark rate to be near zero and yet longer-term rates have a life of their own. The benchmark rate may not matter nearly as much as it used to.

—Martin Feldstein

—MBA mortgage purchase/refinance application index – down 19%: from 548.2 to
to 444.8 in the week ended June 26.
—MBA refinancing index – down 30%, the lowest in seven months
—MBA purchasing index – down 4.5%

Evidence that the housing market is at or near bottom is strengthening. The housing market will remain exceptionally weak this year, although the freefall has ended.
—Celia Chen, Moody’s Economy.com

At this point, people are thinking the fall is over. The market is predicting the declines are over…My guess would be that home prices are going to level off — they’re not going to keep falling…At this rate, it’ll be down 12 percent and I suspect it will be down less than that because of the improvement that we’re seeing [by year-end] … [but] I am not optimistic that we’re going to see any sharp rebound.
—Robert Shiller

These numbers are really showing that there’s been a change in mood. For these numbers to go up in eight states, I was quite taken aback.
—Karl Case

—Case Shiller Declines 18.1%, YoY, less than the estimated 18.6% and less than last month’s 18.7%
—13 of 22 markets slowed their YoY decline, vs 10 of 22 last month
—21 of 22 markets slowed their MoM decline or grew, vs 11 of 22 last month
—8 of 22 markets showed MoM growth, vs 3 last month
—Phoenix and Las Vegas continue to lead the overall declines, with 54% and 52%, respectively
—Dallas and Cleveland showed MoM growth of 2% and 1%, respectively, though Cleveland’s CAGR from 2000 remains negative.

While one month’s data cannot determine if a turnaround has begun, it seems that some stabilization may be appearing in some of the regions.
—David Blitzer, chairman of the S&P index committee

I’m very concerned about the rise in delinquent mortgages and foreclosure actions. [President Barack Obama’s plan to create] sustainable, payment- reducing modifications is a positive step that should show significant benefits in the coming months.
—John Dugan, Comptroller of the Currency said in a statement released with the quarterly report that showed delinquencies double on prime mortgages from 1.1% in March 2008 to 2.9% in March 2009. Delinquencies went from 250,986 in March 2008 to 661,914 in March 2009

a newspaper is an advisor who does not require to be sought, but who comes of his own accord, and talks to you briefly of the common weal, without distracting you from your private affairs.
—de Tocqueville, from Democracy in America, Chapter Six

These whiffs of optimism we’re getting are well founded. We’ve priced in the normal exit of a bad recession. In the U.S., there could be a new dawn of profitability.
—James Swanson, chief investment strategist, MFS, with $134b AUM