http://jeffreykempe.com Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:12:37 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en It's not that there was no good news from the year.  The surge in Iraq succeeded spectacularly; Islamic terrorists failed, again, to terrorize on US soil; anthropogenic global warming, as we enter our tenth consecutive cooling year, was delivered the final nail, leaving only the hysterics and The Oregonian as True ... http://jeffreykempe.com/2009/01/02/2008-rip/ YYYYAAAAAAWWWWNN. YIKES!! What time is it? ... There's something inherently cleansing about endings and beginnings, even if superficial. Yesterday was certainly Wednesday, today Thursday just like any other week; yesterday it rained, today...it rained; yesterday the malls were open to capture the diminishing remnants of consumer confidence, today the malls are ... http://jeffreykempe.com/2009/01/01/2009-real-estate-the-economy-and-how-we-got-here/ Here's a letter I sent to The Oregonian yesterday: Trying to convince an infatuated Obama supporter to vote for McCain is like trying to convince a twelve year old she isn’t really in love. So this is for depressed conservatives and the many undecided: Vote. Not long ago the headlines were ... http://jeffreykempe.com/2008/10/16/on-the-heels-of-joe-the-plumber/ On September 29, having been down over 400 points early in the day, the DOW sank 777 points - to 10,365 - after the House failed to pass the bailout bill.  The next day The Oregonian announced the fact in an hysterical 90 point headline, part of concerted effort among ... http://jeffreykempe.com/2008/10/08/may-we-please-unbail-the-bailout/ Almost entirely as expected.  Sales down (roughly) 20%; median price now down 10% from peak to $270k, lowest since October, 2006; MSI staying at 9.9 months.  Biggest surprise to me:  Homes going under contract were only down 2%. I still think we'll need to get to ~ $250k to see an uptick ... http://jeffreykempe.com/2008/10/05/september-yawn/ Contrary to Bubbler fantasy, it's impossible to do an adequate job for clients as a part time broker.  There's simply too much involved.  So, for now, I'm sending my license back to Salem.  I've turned my clients over to my brother John - he's just closed one, another is in escrow - ... http://jeffreykempe.com/2008/10/05/a-farewell-to-farms/ I always try to check myself when I'm thinking everyone around me is insane.  Maybe I'm the insane one? But...damn.  There are the every day inconsequentials wherein, for instance, a friend - gay and pathologically liberal - tells me with a straight face and passionate conviction that he's sure Sarah Palin wore ... http://jeffreykempe.com/2008/10/04/surrounded-by-insanity/ A four page bailout bill becomes a four hundred page tome stuffed with fat, and it's done to attract recalcitrant House members to vote for it.  It passes the Senate, and the Dow is down 262 points as I write. When members of congress wonder why 90% of the American public ... http://jeffreykempe.com/2008/10/02/saving-the-credit-markets-exempting-the-excise-tax-on-wooden-arrows/ Not long into my real estate life – sometime in 2005 – our office had a meeting at which the in-house loan originator talked at length about the burgeoning Hispanic market and the loan products designed to meet the growing need, including 100% no-doc loans. When I asked what steps ... http://jeffreykempe.com/2008/09/30/community-reinvestment-act-a-legacy/ I ran into an acquaintance last week at church, an ex-Presbyterian pastor. There's a bit of a difference in our ideology - if Eugene Debs or Noam Chomsky were running for president he'd campaign for them - but our banter is generally friendly as we tease each other about who's had the latest letter published ... http://jeffreykempe.com/2008/09/18/palin-rubes-and-the-rage-of-the-left/