Causative Role for Non-US Immigrants in Bubble and Pop Land?

[gdcox]

It is noticeable that , with the exception of the down at heal rust belt, the focus of the housing bust has been in areas whose demographic dynamism is driven by immigration from outside the USA. Is it just possible, that the influx of people with a different attitude to risk (even 2nd generation) and/or lacking past knowledge of booms and busts US style have actually been the prime driver in all this. Yes the brokers were crooks and the banks stupid, but if say all the immigrants had been from elsewhere in the USA and not from outside the USA, would it have made a difference?

I ask because I had previously assumed that the main driver of the concentration of the ‘bubble and pop’ in these areas (south and central Cal, Arizona, Nevada and Florida) was that it was ENTIRELY driven by the amount of sunshine (and the impact that has on demand) which metaphorically went to the head of buyers.

[Rich Toscano]

Ah, gdcox, you give us Colonials too much credit. No, you’d like to think that Americans learned from the dot-bomb bubble only a few years prior (or that San Diegans had learned from their housing bust 10 years prior to that) but that’s not how it happened.

The vast majority of the hordes of people offering up the new paradigm arguments for real estate were American citizens. Memories appear to be very short here in the states when it comes to get rich quick schemes.

Rich

[Rich Toscano]

Ah, gdcox, you give us Colonials too much credit. No, you’d like to think that Americans learned from the dot-bomb bubble only a few years prior (or that San Diegans had learned from their housing bust 10 years prior to that) but that’s not how it happened.

The vast majority of the hordes of people offering up the new paradigm arguments for real estate were American citizens. Memories appear to be very short here in the states when it comes to get rich quick schemes.

Rich

[Rich Toscano]

Ah, gdcox, you give us Colonials too much credit. No, you’d like to think that Americans learned from the dot-bomb bubble only a few years prior (or that San Diegans had learned from their housing bust 10 years prior to that) but that’s not how it happened.

The vast majority of the hordes of people offering up the new paradigm arguments for real estate were American citizens. Memories appear to be very short here in the states when it comes to get rich quick schemes.

Rich

[Rich Toscano]

Ah, gdcox, you give us Colonials too much credit. No, you’d like to think that Americans learned from the dot-bomb bubble only a few years prior (or that San Diegans had learned from their housing bust 10 years prior to that) but that’s not how it happened.

The vast majority of the hordes of people offering up the new paradigm arguments for real estate were American citizens. Memories appear to be very short here in the states when it comes to get rich quick schemes.

Rich

[Rich Toscano]

Ah, gdcox, you give us Colonials too much credit. No, you’d like to think that Americans learned from the dot-bomb bubble only a few years prior (or that San Diegans had learned from their housing bust 10 years prior to that) but that’s not how it happened.

The vast majority of the hordes of people offering up the new paradigm arguments for real estate were American citizens. Memories appear to be very short here in the states when it comes to get rich quick schemes.

Rich

[sjglaze3]

Just a quick comment from a non-US immigrant, I think the opposite holds true. I’m from England where ARMs are the norm and there’s no such thing as a fixed rate mortgage (at least when I bought 15 years ago). So as a buyer, you are aware from the start that mortgage payments could go up or down. Another consideration, after watching the housing bust of the late 1980s/early 1990s in the UK, is that you can’t just walk away from your mortgage in England. Sure you can hand the keys back but the gesture is meaningless and the debt still stands. It seems in the US, you can mortgage yourself to the max, then just walk away when things get rough and owe nothing. The only consequence is a bad credit report. THIS is what creates a profligate attitude to risk.

[sjglaze3]

Just a quick comment from a non-US immigrant, I think the opposite holds true. I’m from England where ARMs are the norm and there’s no such thing as a fixed rate mortgage (at least when I bought 15 years ago). So as a buyer, you are aware from the start that mortgage payments could go up or down. Another consideration, after watching the housing bust of the late 1980s/early 1990s in the UK, is that you can’t just walk away from your mortgage in England. Sure you can hand the keys back but the gesture is meaningless and the debt still stands. It seems in the US, you can mortgage yourself to the max, then just walk away when things get rough and owe nothing. The only consequence is a bad credit report. THIS is what creates a profligate attitude to risk.

[sjglaze3]

Just a quick comment from a non-US immigrant, I think the opposite holds true. I’m from England where ARMs are the norm and there’s no such thing as a fixed rate mortgage (at least when I bought 15 years ago). So as a buyer, you are aware from the start that mortgage payments could go up or down. Another consideration, after watching the housing bust of the late 1980s/early 1990s in the UK, is that you can’t just walk away from your mortgage in England. Sure you can hand the keys back but the gesture is meaningless and the debt still stands. It seems in the US, you can mortgage yourself to the max, then just walk away when things get rough and owe nothing. The only consequence is a bad credit report. THIS is what creates a profligate attitude to risk.

[sjglaze3]

Just a quick comment from a non-US immigrant, I think the opposite holds true. I’m from England where ARMs are the norm and there’s no such thing as a fixed rate mortgage (at least when I bought 15 years ago). So as a buyer, you are aware from the start that mortgage payments could go up or down. Another consideration, after watching the housing bust of the late 1980s/early 1990s in the UK, is that you can’t just walk away from your mortgage in England. Sure you can hand the keys back but the gesture is meaningless and the debt still stands. It seems in the US, you can mortgage yourself to the max, then just walk away when things get rough and owe nothing. The only consequence is a bad credit report. THIS is what creates a profligate attitude to risk.

[sjglaze3]

Just a quick comment from a non-US immigrant, I think the opposite holds true. I’m from England where ARMs are the norm and there’s no such thing as a fixed rate mortgage (at least when I bought 15 years ago). So as a buyer, you are aware from the start that mortgage payments could go up or down. Another consideration, after watching the housing bust of the late 1980s/early 1990s in the UK, is that you can’t just walk away from your mortgage in England. Sure you can hand the keys back but the gesture is meaningless and the debt still stands. It seems in the US, you can mortgage yourself to the max, then just walk away when things get rough and owe nothing. The only consequence is a bad credit report. THIS is what creates a profligate attitude to risk.

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

I believe that American Risk-taking is what made this country great. It is both cultural and also possibly genetic, in that most Americans have descended from those who took a risk to leave their homeland in search of something better.

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2007/02/risk_taking_cap.html

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

I believe that American Risk-taking is what made this country great. It is both cultural and also possibly genetic, in that most Americans have descended from those who took a risk to leave their homeland in search of something better.

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2007/02/risk_taking_cap.html

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

I believe that American Risk-taking is what made this country great. It is both cultural and also possibly genetic, in that most Americans have descended from those who took a risk to leave their homeland in search of something better.

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2007/02/risk_taking_cap.html

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

I believe that American Risk-taking is what made this country great. It is both cultural and also possibly genetic, in that most Americans have descended from those who took a risk to leave their homeland in search of something better.

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2007/02/risk_taking_cap.html

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