Did you hear the joke about Houston property taxes where the bill on a median value Houston home is only $2360? That’s the comical assumption put forth by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in their 50-State Property Tax Comparison Study. In a rather wonky trip down the rabbit hole, the Lincoln Institute would have us believe that Houston has … Read More
Patrick Threatens Special Session Over Worthless Bathroom, Property Tax Bills
The rift between the “conservative” Texas Senate and the more rational House chamber in the Texas legislature boiled over again this week as Dan Patrick threatened to take his toys and go home if the Legislature doesn’t give him what he wants. More specifically, Patrick has threatened a special legislative session unless the House passes property tax reform and a … Read More
Houston Home Prices Rolling Over In Sea Of Financialization
As Houston home prices roll over in many submarkets across the area, it is interesting to see the pundits and establishment players parade and endless supply of “fake news” to offer the impression that Houston’s real estate market is still a relative bargain. This weekend I came a across a rather humorous piece of “sponsored content” from a major real … Read More
Affordable Homes Vanishing In Houston Housing Hoax
While many in the main stream media continue to report the story of rising home prices in Houston, I thought I would take a few minutes to explain the Houston housing hoax. While your local appraisal district and local politicians may be happy to keep spreading this work of fiction, the fact is Houston home prices are softening in 2016. … Read More
Dallas Fed Chief Calls For Investment In Education While Fed Pays Billions To Banks On Excess Reserves
File this one in the Orwellian chronicles of America. This is the kind of news that writes itself because it is so absurd, such an insult to our collective intelligence that you couldn’t imagine a rational human being with a soul offering up such a steeping pile of horseshit. Enter Robert S. Kaplan, the new chair of the Dallas Federal … Read More
Insult To Fort Bend Taxpayers Is Complete – Schlumberger Announces New $10 Billion Share Repurchase Program
Earlier this week I wrote about how Sugar Land really “scored” Schlumberger. In response to a completely ludicrous piece from HBJ, I detailed how it was easy to pursuade Schlumberger to relocate the rest of their Houston offices to their campus in Sugar Land. All Sugar Land really needed to do was bend over backwards and throw some money at … Read More
Laugher Of The Week: How Sugar Land “Scored” Schlumberger
I have seen some hilarious posts at the HBJ covering our local “business development”, but a piece last week by Suzanne Edwards made my head spin. In the HBJ exclusive: ‘How Sugar Land Scored Schlumberger‘, she trots out the argument that Schlumberger’s choice of Sugar Land for their new corporate offices was achieved by the combination of Sugar Land and … Read More
Mortgage Rates Drop As “Recovery” Drowns In The Sea Of Central Bank Market Manipulations
“Anyone claiming that America’s economy is in decline is peddling fiction.” Barack Obama – SOTU January 2016 2016 has seen one of the worst starts to a year ever for major U.S. stock indices ever, and that means mortgage rates have continued to fall during the first two weeks of the year. For those who were rushing to lock in … Read More
Million Dollar Shack: Insanity In Silicon Valley Drives Middle Class Families Out Of The Market
This is nice little documentary from Michelle Joyce, a middle-class mom living in Silicon Valley. Michelle does a nice job bringing the issues of our national housing policy into the public conversation. Michelle and her husband, like many of their friends, have been priced out of the neighborhood. Unfortunately current housing policy continues to favor wealthy tech titans and investors … Read More
June Unemployment Rate At 5.3%, But Record 93.6 Million Not In The Labor Force
The tragicomedy from the BLS continued today with the June Employment Report. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported an increase of 223,000 U.S. jobs for the month of June and an unemployment rate of 5.3 percent. The labor force shrank in June by 432,000, with those not in the labor force rising by 640,000 in June. That’s how the BLS … Read More