Armstrong Economics – by Martin Armstrong
If you apply for a mortgage, you will suddenly encounter the REAL hunt for money. My sister just bought a house and to get the mortgage she had to explain every deposit and cash withdrawal in her account going back five years. My mother had simply written her a check for $400 to reimburse her for picking up some medicine. They wanted her to explain why my mother gave her $400.
Another friend, who lived with his girlfriend for five years and shared an apartment, encountered the full fury of the government’s hunt for spare change. His girlfriend had written him checks for half the rent for five years. He had to explain every one of those checks before they could get a mortgage to buy a home together.
This is completely illegal, yet banks are complying. This is all under the pretense of TERRORISM, whereby they have to know where every penny goes. This is not applying a new law with notice that from this date forward you have to keep track of everything you do with anyone else, as in East Germany, Stasi, this is being applied retroactively. The banks then report that info to the IRS and if you lie somewhere they will convert that to perjury and threaten you with five years in jail. My sister withdrew $2,000 in cash every few months for my mother for incidental purchases. Every one of those cash withdrawals had to be explained. This is between family members; there is no pretense of TERRORISM. We are watching all our privacy and rights vanish before our eyes.
It is no longer good enough that you pay your taxes. Now they want to know to whom you are giving any money, right down to $50. As a matter of law, if I pay a lawyer for work, I must issue a 1099 to document if I pay him any fees. They are tracing every dime.
This sort of red tape will come into play, seriously capping real estate in the housing market. We should expect prices to peak out in general, for this asset class is being hunted. It may be that the high end holds up better, but the low end that needs a mortgage to transact will find it increasingly difficult as the economy turns down, rates move higher, and banks back away from long-term loans.
Cash is rushing into the short-end. The long-end is starting to falter. This should be the same for most real estate markets. This is a 26-year high in Switzerland as well and the rush for condos in Toronto and NYC should top out on this wave where prices depend upon mortgages. Expect the core real estate to peak out with this wave that requires mortgages. This type of unconstitutional tracking of money will eventually discourage people from getting mortgages and as buyers are discouraged in the USA, they will move elsewhere. Caution is advisable.
Nobody should be crawling on their hands and knees to a bank for anything,ever. Period.
YEA, WHAT HE SAID…………………….
I don’t really believe this is new nor illegal. In 1982, I bought a new home and the mortgage company made me account for every deposit, that went into my account, for two years prior, that was outside of my paycheck. All they are looking at is total income and whether or not you are a credit-worthy risk and here you came up with the money for the down payment.
Do I agree with it, no. Has it been going on for a very long time, most certainly.