WATCH: Pueblo Police Investigate Two Separate Deaths Sun, 13 Feb 2011 11:40:00 EST
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The investing hordes are going in for hoarding, a concept that has appealed to military strategists, legendary value investor Benjamin Graham and squirrels.
But as fund companies create more products that stockpile raw materials, emerging challenges suggest the idea may come up short as an investment strategy.
Since 2004, investors have socked billions into U.S. exchange-traded funds backed by raw materials rather than by the usual futures contracts or other paper proxies for physical commodities. As investors buy shares in the funds, the funds typically acquire more material.
Cash buyers represented more than half of all transactions in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area last year … In the fourth quarter of 2006, they represented just 13% of deals.
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The percentage of buyers in Phoenix paying cash hit 42% in 2010more than triple the rate in 2008 … Nationally, 28% of sales were all-cash transactions last year, according to the National Association of Realtors. The rate was 14% in October 2008 …This is a quite an increase in cash buyers. Most of the cash transactions are at the low end – and are frequently investors – although the article mentioned one buyer paying cash for $1+ million properties.
The good news is these buyers won’t ever have negative equity!
Note: The MBA mortgage index is suggesting weak home sales over the next couple of months, but obviously that index doesn’t capture this increase in cash buyers.
Maura Neill, the blogger behind 365 Atlanta.com, was here this morning with a special guest.
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CR: This is an interesting question and hard to answer … the following is from economist Tom Lawler …
How Many Folks Have Lost Their Homes to Foreclosure/Short Sales/DILs Over the Past Few Years?
According to Hope Now estimates, completed foreclosure sales (rounded) were about as follows over the past few years.
2007514,000 2008914,000 2009949,000 20101,070,000
While these numbers are disturbingly high, they are not nearly as large as one would have expected given the surge in seriously delinquent loans and loans in the process of foreclosure. For the latter, here is a chart based on data from the MBAs National Delinquency Survey, which covers over 85% of total 1-4 family first-lien mortgages.
On one side, the completed foreclosure sales understates the number of homes lost, given that many homeowners have lost their homes but been able to negotiate a short sale or (much less likely) done a deed in lieu of foreclosure.