The problem is prices.

Also, colleges as subprime mortgage brokers.

“You know, every now and then you say something so stupid, but it actually makes sense.”

Larry David

Containers on Grand

“A rare multi-unit shipping container apartment building is ready for occupancy in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. Containers on Grand, designed and built by StarkJames, forges eight one-bedroom apartments out of 16 standard 40-foot-by-8-foot containers.”

“Leaving a metal box fully exposed to a Phoenix summer is a challenging design choice.”

"Buyers are sitting on their hands, and sellers are saying they're not going to change the price."

(The above quote is from a February 2007 article about Dan Marino having trouble trying to sell his South Florida home. Sounds close to what’s going on right now in real estate.)

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“Most portfolios today are positioned for a painless “immaculate disinflation,” and to the extent investors own assets for protection these are bonds that hedge against recession, not gold or commodities that hedge against inflation.

With this kind of portfolio structure, contemplating the possibility of an inflationary boom may be simply too painful. As Upton Sinclair said “it is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on not understanding it.” Accordingly, many investors prefer to look for reasons to disbelieve the data instead of recognizing that their portfolios are wrongly structured. And given the distortions created by reflexivity in financial markets—and exacerbated by indexation, algorithmic trading and other forms of herding—denying reality can continue to be a viable investment strategy for a surprisingly long time.”

Anatole Kaletsky, Gavekal