I Can't Stans No More

Popeye had it right when he used to say " I can't stans no more" and then light into Bluto. He'd be pushed to the brink and then explode. Crusty has been pushed to the brink by the stupid financial press.

I can't stans no more talk about needing a rebound in housing and new home construction. It's idiotic to hope for or expect that they work together. They pull at opposite directions. The last thing America needs is a rebound in new home construction. Now, contractors and construction workers may need a rebound in new construction, but underwater homeowners sure don't. They need a reduction in supply and you don't achieve that by building new homes [the same rant applies to strip malls and commercial flex space].

Years of over building, over speculating, and over leveraging got us into our present situation and the sooner we stop adding to supply the better. We may stop adding to supply sooner if the financial media begins to understand the situation and ceases lamenting the poor new home statistics. What's good for Lennar and Dr Horton isn't good for American home owners.

Home prices aren't going to rise, in over built parts of the country, until those parts are no longer over built. Simple! At present, in process foreclosures, vacancies, and shadow inventory remain excessive. A better economy and population growth will help. So will better reporting and conservative lending.

Since government's pump priming hasn't helped and builders continue to build, what else may be a possible solution to static home prices? It's not an original thought, but the following makes sense. We currently give green cards to immigrants that follow the rules and come to American with substantial cash to open a business. The concept isn't new. If we want to jump start home pricing we need to stimulate purchasing from new buyers. Let's expand our current program that accelerates green card ownership if the immigrant not only opens the business, but also buys a home. Greatly expand the requirements for cash invested in the country and value of the home; and most of all, the number of new, qualifying immigrants we will allow. Our housing overhang and price problems will start to mend as supply contracts.

If we can stans no more we need to quit lamenting poor new home construction until supply recedes and we should consider expanding our immigration pool as a means of reducing supply.