[Fearful]

Quote from the OCRegister blog piece on the U-Haul moves: “It’s perhaps a modest sign that cascading home prices have lured in some new residents or that those same low housing values have forced many Californians to stay put because they can’t afford to sell.”

Reduced worker mobility is one known effect of falling house prices. Excess state unemployment is thus partly a result of unemployed workers being unable to move to better opportunities. I doubt the claim that excess unemployment is due to unemployed workers moving here, but it could be true to some degree – people attracted here by the welfare state aspects.

I do not know how to reconcile this with the anecdotal reports (e.g. city-city) of price differences.

[Fearful]

Quote from the OCRegister blog piece on the U-Haul moves: “It’s perhaps a modest sign that cascading home prices have lured in some new residents or that those same low housing values have forced many Californians to stay put because they can’t afford to sell.”

Reduced worker mobility is one known effect of falling house prices. Excess state unemployment is thus partly a result of unemployed workers being unable to move to better opportunities. I doubt the claim that excess unemployment is due to unemployed workers moving here, but it could be true to some degree – people attracted here by the welfare state aspects.

I do not know how to reconcile this with the anecdotal reports (e.g. city-city) of price differences.

[Fearful]

Quote from the OCRegister blog piece on the U-Haul moves: “It’s perhaps a modest sign that cascading home prices have lured in some new residents or that those same low housing values have forced many Californians to stay put because they can’t afford to sell.”

Reduced worker mobility is one known effect of falling house prices. Excess state unemployment is thus partly a result of unemployed workers being unable to move to better opportunities. I doubt the claim that excess unemployment is due to unemployed workers moving here, but it could be true to some degree – people attracted here by the welfare state aspects.

I do not know how to reconcile this with the anecdotal reports (e.g. city-city) of price differences.

[Fearful]

Sorry, I do not remember the exact web site name, but I recall beginning with a simple search for “municipal bond prices” and going from there. Best of luck.

[Fearful]

Sorry, I do not remember the exact web site name, but I recall beginning with a simple search for “municipal bond prices” and going from there. Best of luck.

[Fearful]

Sorry, I do not remember the exact web site name, but I recall beginning with a simple search for “municipal bond prices” and going from there. Best of luck.

[Fearful]

Sorry, I do not remember the exact web site name, but I recall beginning with a simple search for “municipal bond prices” and going from there. Best of luck.

[Fearful]

Sorry, I do not remember the exact web site name, but I recall beginning with a simple search for “municipal bond prices” and going from there. Best of luck.

[Fearful]

My experience, should it help: I had assorted CA munis. All varying maturities and sizes, but most longer term (10y – 20y). I sold off 75% in late 2007, and the remainder (odd lots, about $10K chunks) in early 2009. I used Schwab’s bond desk. Supposedly they contacted bond dealers throughout and asked for bids; I did not ask how many dealers, and which ones. My impression was that the larger chunks ($50K) got better bids, at least relative to the recent pricing noted by Schwab. The basic lesson I learned – this was my first venture into direct bond ownership – was that buying small bonds is sort of okay, though you will get a few basis points yield better beginning at about $100K, but selling small bonds is a pretty bad experience. My advice would be to call various brokers and ask at their bond desk what they could do for you and what they would recommend. If you are looking at an assortment of small bonds, you may be out of luck.

There are also muni bond dealers who post their ask prices on the web.

[Fearful]

My experience, should it help: I had assorted CA munis. All varying maturities and sizes, but most longer term (10y – 20y). I sold off 75% in late 2007, and the remainder (odd lots, about $10K chunks) in early 2009. I used Schwab’s bond desk. Supposedly they contacted bond dealers throughout and asked for bids; I did not ask how many dealers, and which ones. My impression was that the larger chunks ($50K) got better bids, at least relative to the recent pricing noted by Schwab. The basic lesson I learned – this was my first venture into direct bond ownership – was that buying small bonds is sort of okay, though you will get a few basis points yield better beginning at about $100K, but selling small bonds is a pretty bad experience. My advice would be to call various brokers and ask at their bond desk what they could do for you and what they would recommend. If you are looking at an assortment of small bonds, you may be out of luck.

There are also muni bond dealers who post their ask prices on the web.

[Fearful]

My experience, should it help: I had assorted CA munis. All varying maturities and sizes, but most longer term (10y – 20y). I sold off 75% in late 2007, and the remainder (odd lots, about $10K chunks) in early 2009. I used Schwab’s bond desk. Supposedly they contacted bond dealers throughout and asked for bids; I did not ask how many dealers, and which ones. My impression was that the larger chunks ($50K) got better bids, at least relative to the recent pricing noted by Schwab. The basic lesson I learned – this was my first venture into direct bond ownership – was that buying small bonds is sort of okay, though you will get a few basis points yield better beginning at about $100K, but selling small bonds is a pretty bad experience. My advice would be to call various brokers and ask at their bond desk what they could do for you and what they would recommend. If you are looking at an assortment of small bonds, you may be out of luck.

There are also muni bond dealers who post their ask prices on the web.

[Fearful]

My experience, should it help: I had assorted CA munis. All varying maturities and sizes, but most longer term (10y – 20y). I sold off 75% in late 2007, and the remainder (odd lots, about $10K chunks) in early 2009. I used Schwab’s bond desk. Supposedly they contacted bond dealers throughout and asked for bids; I did not ask how many dealers, and which ones. My impression was that the larger chunks ($50K) got better bids, at least relative to the recent pricing noted by Schwab. The basic lesson I learned – this was my first venture into direct bond ownership – was that buying small bonds is sort of okay, though you will get a few basis points yield better beginning at about $100K, but selling small bonds is a pretty bad experience. My advice would be to call various brokers and ask at their bond desk what they could do for you and what they would recommend. If you are looking at an assortment of small bonds, you may be out of luck.

There are also muni bond dealers who post their ask prices on the web.

[Fearful]

My experience, should it help: I had assorted CA munis. All varying maturities and sizes, but most longer term (10y – 20y). I sold off 75% in late 2007, and the remainder (odd lots, about $10K chunks) in early 2009. I used Schwab’s bond desk. Supposedly they contacted bond dealers throughout and asked for bids; I did not ask how many dealers, and which ones. My impression was that the larger chunks ($50K) got better bids, at least relative to the recent pricing noted by Schwab. The basic lesson I learned – this was my first venture into direct bond ownership – was that buying small bonds is sort of okay, though you will get a few basis points yield better beginning at about $100K, but selling small bonds is a pretty bad experience. My advice would be to call various brokers and ask at their bond desk what they could do for you and what they would recommend. If you are looking at an assortment of small bonds, you may be out of luck.

There are also muni bond dealers who post their ask prices on the web.

[Fearful]

[quote=sdrealtor]Everytime I see anoncements by publically traded giants for thousands of jobs I wonder how many jobs they will actually cur of the announced figure and how much they are just trying to pimp their stock price up a buck or two……….[/quote]
I worked for a number of years in senior level corporate finance positions, involved in quite a few restructurings and layoffs. The headcount numbers can be fudged a little bit, as there is constantly new hiring and resignations, but ultimately the resulting financial numbers are public and will be dissected in great detail by analysts – and securities litigation attorneys. Exaggerating the numbers is of dubious benefit, and makes the corporation vulnerable. We would only announce the action after the list of names had already been compiled.

[Fearful]

[quote=sdrealtor]Everytime I see anoncements by publically traded giants for thousands of jobs I wonder how many jobs they will actually cur of the announced figure and how much they are just trying to pimp their stock price up a buck or two……….[/quote]
I worked for a number of years in senior level corporate finance positions, involved in quite a few restructurings and layoffs. The headcount numbers can be fudged a little bit, as there is constantly new hiring and resignations, but ultimately the resulting financial numbers are public and will be dissected in great detail by analysts – and securities litigation attorneys. Exaggerating the numbers is of dubious benefit, and makes the corporation vulnerable. We would only announce the action after the list of names had already been compiled.

[Author]

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