re: When do interest rates rise

I don't disagree with that. Although i think it could be more regional than it was 8 years ago. One thing I read about was some of these developers in large metro areas were doing crowd funding REITs essentially instead of getting traditional loans from the bank. So essentially they open up for local investments to be made into a new 50 family condominium plex per say, if you invest then you get an equity stake. They've eliminated the middle man (banks), but I think there is hidden risk here that the general public has never seen.

To respond to the other point though, I think the Fed is absolutely concerned about the rest of the world and Yellen has made that known. I believe she's more or less a lame duck at this point now and looking for Trump to replace her, should he win presidency. Therefore, she just doesn't want to be the one to be blamed should raising rates be disaterous. But of course that's all speculation.