Bits Bucket And Craigslist Finds For December 24, 2006
Please post off-topic ideas, links and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Ah, the joys of being a landlord:
http://dallas.craigslist.org/bar/253049382.html
Oh, I see this link has been flagged down.
It was a landlord whose tenant moved out and left him 54 “ladies play toys” in his property. He wanted someone to come get them and show him how they work
54 is sure a lot. Seems like a lot of ladies are scared of 1.
I think the whole demographics emphasis is overblown. Again goingto state that 1 Einstein is worth 1 Billion others. When society is so constrained with mass of demography like China ideas are sacrificed for the mesh of society and everyone struggles at the expense of individualizm. This is also true of India to a lesser degree. The debate between quantity and quality shifts back and forth in time and we are on the verge of when 1 automated plant will produce just as much as 100,000 Chinese. True there is a huge amount of cannon fodder for grand ambitions but economicly it is harder to keep more people happy than fewer richer people.
……which is why we have to crush the Yankee Imperialists and their running dogs…..
You’re right, cyppok. I think we might see another dark age. We have billions of people who are going to be cannon fodder. When the US consumer stops spending because he cannot withdraw more money from the housing ATM, the rest of the world will need war to keep the their unemployed factory workers busy.
1.3 billion Chinese, with an inexorably growing population, sitting across from the vast, sparsely-populated, resource-rich expanse of Siberia. Russia, meanwhile, is experiencing a net decline in population due to the ravages of alcohol on lifespans and society (one in five Slavic babies is born sub-normal due to the mother’s drinking). Illegal Chinese immigrants are already flooding into Siberia. The Muslim birthrate in the former Soviet Republics and the Caucasus, meanwhile, is FIVE TIMES the Slavic one, and Islamic militantcy is spreading. Any sober generals left in the Kremlin must be very, very worried as they ponder the demographics and their long-term implications. China needs what Russia has - living space, minerals, timber, and oil - and it’s going to get real interesting as China keeps getting stronger and more expansionist, with a potential vanguard already planted in their northern neighbor’s southern region.
Better that China and Russia fight each other than us…..
FDR saved the his socialist friend the USSR from the Germans when the US should have let them fight it out. The US seems to want to meddle in others affairs.
And this post proves we have some sub-normals posting here.
FDR went to war with Germany because Germany declared war on the US….or I suppose you are one those people that think we should just sit back and allow other countries to declare war on us and do nothing?
US for all intents and purposes had joined the war on Germany well before Pearl Harbor. Ever hear of Lend-Lease? US was giving huge supplies of war material to Britain and had “volunteer” pilots fighting the Japanese in China. We weren’t exactly a neutral country in 1941.
Thank you Sammy for straightening out the ignorant-of-history types. Lincoln, Wilson, FDR, and LBJ all had a lot of American blood on their hands.
Man it is hard work trying to be everybodies brain….you two make G W look like a genius.
the lend lease act was enacted on March 11 1941 at that time Germany and Russia had a non aggression pact.
For all intents and purposes is bullshit…we gave material to an ally and allowed US citizens to fight for whoever they wanted to we were not at war with Germany.
US citizens fought in the Spanish Civil war…google the Lincoln Brigade…that did not mean the US was at war with Spain.
We did not go to war with Germany to save Stalin…it is really that simple and anyone trying to defend that position is mentally deficient.
homeownership is possible even with bad credit!http://newyork.craigslist.org/jsy/rfs/252783053.html
Glad tidings. “Recovery is here for real estate” in Arizona.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/viewpoints/articles/1224mcpheters1224.html
That article won’t be much comfort to the FBs and specuvestors who bought in the last 3 years. It’s kind of like saying, “yeah, you bought the high tick on that stock and you may not see that price again for years but over history, the stock market is a great investment!” Doesn’t do you any good here and now.
dont’ forget that you bought this stock on 100% margin and you are getting a guaranteed healthy margin call every month. Going to get old pretty quickly.
It is vital to them to talk up the market. They realize they are staring disaster in the eye, and there are very few arrows left in their quiver.
Clearly The Big Lie is a desperation move. They are willing to sacrifice all credibility forever, but consider it worth the price because their horizon is very short: if they can only maintain sales March through June 07 their work is done. If they cannot, mere credibility means nothing because they will be broke anyway.
They are circling their forces and professional name into a defensive skirmish line, and this last stand is all they have left. This is the hill they have chosen.
heavy enemy mortar attack scheduled this spring.
More like the French at Dien Bin Pheu. Their brilliant generals built their stronghold in a valley, believing the Viet Minh couldn’t possibly haul heavy artillery into place on the surrounding heights. They were surrounded, their supply lines cut off, then relentlessly pounded by the artillery that wasn’t supposed to be overlooking their positions.
Of course, the Pentagon and US political leadership learned nothing from the French debacle, just like today’s leadership (cough) learned nothing from the British attempt to subdue Iraq in the 1920s, with uncannily similar results to what’s happening today.
Or the British under the Seige at Cawnpore
so, is hse buying and lying ?
we may come down less next year ,but it’s still down
how many of those jobs were pounding nails?
… reported sales prices averaged over the whole Phoenix market may temporarily dip somewhat (5 to 10 percent) over the next year ….
That’s is what this economist refers to as ‘recovery’ in the housing market. Tell your friends: Recovery is here! Prices to fall 5% or 10%!
The “new normal” is falling prices…
“… reported sales prices averaged over the whole Phoenix market may temporarily dip somewhat (5 to 10 percent) over the next year ….”
Dreaming is free.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays Ben and everyone!
Off to cook, eat, drink and be merry!
Happy Holidays to you also Carrie Ann , Ben ,lurkers ,and the group .
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!
It is the time of year to spend with family.
Enjoy the time with the ones you love,
Neil
Happy Holidays to Ben and all the posters here!
has any market reached early 2003 pricing yet ?
thats where inflation and prices intersect
I’d say that inflation and 1999 pricing (the last time sensible afforability measurements could be made) intersect at 2001 sales prices in southern CA.
I’d agree with that, Mozo Maz. 2001 prices were already too high in So Cal. The sales momentum was already shifting down in many places. It’s the credit bubble that picked up where the housing bubble left off (2001 prices).
I believe we’ll see 1997 prices (or thereabouts) by the time this is over.
Houston home sales are looking up. It’s different here. Everyone wants to move to Houston and there is a land shortage.
http://louminatti.blogspot.com/2006/12/houston-home-sales-keep-looking-up.html
If you buy a house anywhere in Texas as an investment, you are a fool.
I saw an article a few weeks ago in the Dallas Morning Snooze about Marfa! Marfa! Prices up like 200%. People from Dallas and apparently some glitterati from the coasts have “discovered” it. God help us. Maybe Lubbock or Beaumont will be next.
I’ve been reading about the Marfa scene for the past few years. I’ve been there a few times. There is a small artist colony there, attracted to Marfa for some weird reason.
Ft. Davis, 30 miles north up in the mountains, is attractive. Marfa is a tiny dying ranching town in the middle of a vast plain. Only a crazy person would invest here.
I know some Texas artists that go to way-out west Texas places to work. The isolation is a draw, as it helps them get more done. The landscape is as paintable as any. But the big attraction is that it’s cheap to rent, and these folks don’t make a bunch of bucks, typically.
You guys just can’t understand Texas. People want to live here because of the guns. We all have guns, lots of them. Full-auto, whatever you want, we got em’ and they are cheap. Plus we have food on the hoof. So when you losers on the coast are living out a Mad Max nightmare in the coming depression we will be living large in the Lone Star State…
My interest in guns is one reason I prefer Arizona to California. Let the other states’ citizens be nurtured by their nanny government. I prefer living as an adult.
I want to add: I’m a non-smoker, but when i first moved to Arizona from California, I saw how common smoking was. Although I avoided the smoke, I marveled at how these people were asserting their individual right to do what they want to do. I still say clean air in my lungs is my right and no one has a right to pollute my lungs. I liked the fact that there are no helmet laws in Az too. Arizona is still a relatively more libertarian state than California. I think it’s more libertarian than New Mexico. Nevada, although led by a socialist senator Reid, is still a very libertarian state. It is thrilling to travel to places where there is more freedom and individual responsibility. One feels as if he is grown up.
Bill-You may be right about the Libertarian aspects of AZ but freedom?
I think of my oven when I think of the time I made the mistake of visiting my mother in August when the temp was over 110. That is not freedom when you cannot go outside your own house in the afternoon.
That’s the beauty of Florida. Liberal gun laws, no smoking in bars and restaurants, and no helmet law. I don’t think it could get much better anywhere being a gun owner, non-smoker.
> I liked the fact that there are no helmet laws in Az too.
I have to disagree on this point. I believe in the helmet law. if you want to take the risk of spilling your brains all over the asphalt for the vanity of riding without a helmet, that’s your business - BUT if I have to pay higher insurance costs (auto, medical, etc.) than I say you have to wear a helmet just like you have to wear a seatbelt. Although maybe it’s natural selection for these Darwin Award winners.
than=then
It would be naive to think you are paying less insurance because of seatbelt or helmet laws. When such laws first passed, there was no reduction in insurance premiums.
Such laws are just a demonstration of the brute force of the state, nothing more. In fact, safety would increase if seatbelts and airbags were PROHIBITED, because everyone would drive more safely. I think someone has recently proved that airbags have led an increase in reckless driving.
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if i’m in my car and i get into an accident with someone on their motorcycle, i hope to God that they are wearing a helmet - regardless of whose fault it is.
to say that the cumulative effect of seat belts, air bags, and helmets don’t save lives and reduce medical/insurance costs is just silly.
“Such laws are just a demonstration of the brute force of the state, nothing more. In fact, safety would increase if seatbelts and airbags were PROHIBITED, because everyone would drive more safely. I think someone has recently proved that airbags have led an increase in reckless driving.”
The seatbelt laws and airbags are examples of really stupid laws passed by Gov’t bureacratic nitwits. They should only require wearing of seatbelts on freeways, and the requirements for passengers under 6 should remain but requiring adult drivers/passengers to buckle up when driving 25-40 mph down city streets is rediculous. It is just another means for states to squeeze revenue from law-abiding licensed drivers. in LA Area a seat belt violation is now $85.00, and goes on your DMV record.
As local Cal city revenues dry up due to recession/housing deflation look for more of california’s middle class citizenry to be cited and fined for traffic violations. The traffic school racket just rakes more dough into city/county/state coffers. A family friend had to pay $380.00 for a red-light violation at a camera-scanned intersection. Add trafffic school fees and she will pay over $450.00 in total fees. The State of California/local city gov’ts are running a big revenue-collecting racket thru traffic tickets.
moman wrote “That’s the beauty of Florida. Liberal gun laws, no smoking in bars and restaurants, and no helmet law. I don’t think it could get much better anywhere being a gun owner, non-smoker.”
I melt quite a bit where the humidity is high, so Florida won’t fit me. But the libertarian aspects seem attractive. New Hampshire is the ultimate, but my work base is in the southwest where I include California and New Mexico for my contracting gigs. In the height of the summer at 115 degrees, I spend 5 minutes (at most) outside. Paying $250 in a 2 bedroom apartment (at most) for A/C is a lot better than paying $900,000 for a beach house and then pony up $9,000 to the socialist propery tax collector there in California. $2,000 per year on environmental comfort (max) versus feeding the sociliast keepers in California. I prefer where I’m at for now. It never ceases to amaze me that there are men out there who prefer to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars just so that they do not have to pay $250 per month during the summer for air conditioning. I forgive women who have the sentiment. They tend to be more emotional. Heck. That’s why my sister here is moving to Portland and taking a 30% pay cut because she cannot stand the idea of living in Phoenix next summer!
I’ve noticed it all over California, maybe you’ve seen it in your state as well…
Signs signifying a stretch of a highway or road as being a “construction zone” and ticket fines are doubled, if you are unlucky enough to get a ticket in these areas. More and more, I see no actual construction going on, just a grab at our wallets, vis a vis, the investment in a sign or 2.
Isn’t texas mostly private property thus no shortage of land. I think arizona is close to 97% government land.Forest service, blm, parks, Indian reservations and military own quite a chunk of arizona.
Part of the Texas agreement to join the Union was that we demanded no Federal Indian reservations. Cowboys and Indians was the way of life here. Now there are no more Indians.
That is interesting about the lack of reservations.Texas seems like a very interesting good old boy state. Is it really easy to get fully auto weapons there?
Just look at Dallas, Houston or Austin CL. But look fast because I spend a lot of time flagging those down.
You can pick up a full auto AK at a gun show pretty easy if you make friends with the vendors. *Legally* you need a class three license, but I have never heard of anyone getting in trouble for owning one here without the license…
Except for in the usual nanny-states (CA, MA, NY, etc.), anyone can own a full-auto, just pay the $200 federal transfer tax. Converting to or importing full-auto guns is prohibited, so the existing guns are very expensive.
Some will paint me as anti-gun, but it’s way past that stage…
Guns are here, abundant and not going away.
Do we degenerate into a whoever has the most firepower, wins all, society?
I don’t remember that being part of the American Dream?
An armed society is a polite society. Everyone just needs to mind their own business. Or face severe consequences if they don’t.
I believe you can only own automatics manufactured prior to 1986 in the US and 1966 else wheres - leading to the high cost of these weapons.
“Guns are here, abundant and not going away”
California is one of the communist anti-gun legislation states, with the large LA/Bay area metro regions being the most rabid anti-gun areas. The socialist anti-gun goody-too-shoes gov’t peckerwoods which sit on the city councils in the cal coastal communities have their heads so far up their arses that they cannot see straight. The streets and hoods of LA and the IE are brimming with guns, and virtually every ilegal alien/home grown street gang cruises the streets ands hwys armed and packing. hwy car-to car shootings are LA’s version of the Gunfight at the ok corral. Just last several days there haver been drive-by shootings in the IE which unfortinately have killed a 10 and a 12 yr old .
I am happy to say my colleague, who is in his 20s, a rational software engineer, is a gun buff. He has a storage unit outside of California to keep his guns when his software engineering contract gig is in Cal. I was not much interested in guns until I moved to Arizona ten years ago. The fact that I could participate in one of America’s cherished freedoms makes it worthwhile to own, operate, and maintain guns. It’s a thrill to be able to go target shooting and be among people who would be livid, if you try to take their constitutional right away. Shucks, if I lived in Nevada, I would probably be a frequent customer of a chicken ranch, only because I can. Freedom is great. For those who do not like it, I hear summers in Sweden are fun.
Guns are useful for protecting family and property, especially in states along hurricane alley. Remember people siphoning gas out of cars as they sat in traffic leaving Houston in 2005? When it looked as if we might evacuate in August 2006, I filled up my Silverado 4×4 with gas, bought two cases of water, and a 100-round box of bullets. The curious anti-gun girlfriend asked what the bullets were for, to which I responded that no one would be robbing us or stealing our gas if we were forced to evacuate. Satisfied, she queieted down. God knows all us gun owners hope we NEVER have to use them for anything other than target practice or hunting.
Maybe…it’ll become like Laguna Beach, CA. Eventually, rents and housing will go the moon…and all the artisit’s will be forced to leave.
houston got over 100k katrinies
You gun knuts, government haters and paranoiacs should all commune together somewhere…… somewhere besides the US.
Hey, your kind have the tenderloin in San Fran, why can’t we ‘normals’ have some fun too?
Captain Credit is more a Castro type: the gay district in SF and the not-so-gay socialist killer in Cuba.
Careful…. you guys(girls?) will frighten yourselves out of your own skin. LMAO.
There is a great wikipedia post on McMansions (’fess up if one of our regulars created this entry!).
————————————————————————————————
Origins of the “McMansion”
Starting in the U.S. boom years of the 1980s, the houses now known as McMansions were a new concept intended to fill a gap between the modest suburban tract home and the upscale custom-designed home often found in gate-guarded, lakeshore, or golf-course communities. Some large tracts of these houses have been developed around such communities, while others are built in pre-existing neighborhoods, either in empty lots or as replacements for tear-down structures.
It has been suggested that their popularity may not be purely based on consumer desires. Adjusted for inflation, in terms of square footage and features, a house in 2006 costs about the same to build as a house in 1970. Therefore, in order to increase profit margins over previous years, builders need to build more expensive houses (more features and square footage) on the same tracts.
Although the term “McMansion” is recent, criticism of American architecture based on the perception that it was oversized and artistically bankrupt reaches at least back to the beginning of the twentieth century. As the social critic H. L. Mencken wrote during the 1920s when examining the architecture of suburban Pittsburgh:
Here was wealth beyond imagination - and here were human habitations so abominable that they would have disgusted a race of alley cats…[Architects] have taken as their model a brick set in end. This they have converted into a thing of dingy clapboards, with a narrow, low-pitched roof. And the whole they have set upon thin, preposterous brick piers. By the hundreds and thousands these abominable houses cover the bare hillsides, like gravestones in some gigantic and decaying cemetery. (Mencken, The Libido for the Ugly, Prejudices: Sixth Series, 1927).
In England similar concerns bothered every generation since at least the 18th century such as when Romanticist Dorothy Wordsworth in her Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland (1803) lamented Drumlanrig Castle saying “This mansion is indeed very large; but to us it appeared like a gathering together of little things.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMansion
Bigger is not always better, especially with girlfriends, for instance.
Guess that depends on your personal preferences, no?
US government financial report 2006
http://www.gao.gov/financial/fy2006/fy06finanicalrpt.pdf
Local south of Syracuse observation:
Lots of rentals appear to be vacant…..More ads than I’ve ever seen in local paper. In the past people building homes stayed in rentals for 1+years while kids met people in this school system. Meanwhile, spec homes are sitting….
I noticed my Better Homes Magazine was REALLY thin this month….I’m thinking advertising is disappearing. There was an interesting theme of stories inside:
The Good Buy Girl: Carefully chosen bargains infuse a SF home w/true romance.
The Simple Life: A family pares down their living space to make a dream come true.
Into the Blue: A do-it-yourselfer…..
Back to Basics: An Illinois couple lives with less and makes the most of every nook in their cozy historic home.
I’ve noticed magazine advertising has gone down as well…
Used to subscribe to Esquire and stopped for a year and restarted and the magazine used to have around 20-25 pages of adverts, even before the table of contents, just looked, and they are down to 5 pages now, before the table of contents~
Carrie Ann,
Was there much of a housing bubble in Syracuse?
http://www.artsandcraftshomes.com/
Speaking of magazines, on the recommendation of someone in here I checked out, then subscribed to, ARTS AND CRAFTS HOMES. Got the first issue yesterday and was very pleased, not just with the content of the mag, but also with the affirmation that there is a small but growing movement out there actively committed to the return of quality and originality in homebuilding and renovation.
If scanning, check out last paragraph, why the actress needs to do this:
At 66, ‘Zuzu’ Thinks Life Is Wonderful
By MICHAEL HILL
Associated Press Writer
“Zuzu has a cold again. She sniffles and sucks on a cold pill as she signs autographs for fans lined up to the door in a coffee shop.
Karolyn Grimes jokes that she left her coat open, like her character Zuzu Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” A more likely culprit is the holiday crunch of appearances by the former child actress - from a Victorian festival in Puyallup, Wash., to the Colorado Country Christmas Show and now to Seneca Falls, which claims to be the inspiration for director Frank Capra’s mythical Bedford Falls………
She lost her nest egg in the 2001 economic downturn and relies on these appearances. As she signs, her husband sits beside her and asks, “Cash or credit card?” It’s a job, but she clearly loves being Zuzu.”
Foreshadowing of things to come.
http://tinyurl.com/y2erpv
>She lost her nest egg in the 2001 economic downturn and relies on these appearances.
there must be more to this story. it sounds fishy to me.
“Sometimes Christmas is what you believe,…and don’t make me prove it.” Good ending to the article.
Aristotle: “You cannot directly pursue happiness.”
doesn’t sound like she had a cakewalk in the rest of her life, but still stroking along & tryin ta smile. Can’t ask for more than that.
Outpost.com founder’s sale
The founder of the defunct online retailer Cyberian Outpost, Darryl Peck, has sold his Connecticut home for just over $3 million, nearly $2 million less than its 2003 asking price.
The 10-acre property is in the town of Sharon, about 100 miles north of Manhattan near the New York border. The 10,000-square-foot shingle-style main house has a media room, library, 625-square-foot living room and five bedrooms, including a master suite with an exercise room and a stairway up to a rooftop tower room with windows on four sides. There’s also a pool and a carriage house in which Peck kept sports cars.
http://tinyurl.com/y2l8r9
I remember lots of people in my office buying Cyberian Outpost stock in 1998. If Peck had sold his shares in 2000 and then sold his real estate in 2005 he’d be loaded.
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“If ifs and buts were beer and nuts, we’d all have a hell of a party!”
And that is the trend in this area folks. Refer to my previous post regarding 45% haircut in New Milford, CT.
RENTAL ? is anyone near a city where rents are dropping and there no new condos bringing rents down ?
time to short
AIV ?
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_4890161
Tony and Marguerite Moreno talk about the pain of losing their Thornton home, built and financed by KB Home. “The biggest thing is, it was our home. Our home. Our kids’ home. Our grandkids’ home.” (Post / Cyrus McCrimmon)Carmen Pedrego said the builder assured her she could own a brand-new home for no more than her monthly rent.
But when she came to the loan closing, a surprise awaited her. No one was in the room except a stranger from the title company. And after Pedrego signed a first mortgage loan, the agent produced a second mortgage. They totaled 64 percent of the single mother’s take-home pay.
Because she had already signed one contract, “I felt trapped, like I couldn’t get out of it any more,” Pedrego said. She signed the second and made two mortgage payments, she said, then filed for bankruptcy. This year, she became one of 11 homeowners in a small Greeley neighborhood who have lost new houses in foreclosure sales.
It still amazes me, inspite of how many times I hear it here, how people can be mislead. She didn’t know she had two mortgages and what her payments would be?
Some people!
“The biggest thing is, it was our home. Our home. Our kids’ home. Our grandkids’ home.”
She only made two payments, but she talks it up like there are several generations of Moreno buried there. Amazing!
Now that the bubble has popped, will builders start to better tailor new housing supply to the demographic distribution of homeowners’ needs (small is beautiful)? Or will they just stop building for a few years and live off the bazillions in stock market profits they cashed out at the top in Summer 2005?
Related question: Will McMansions sell at a discount to smaller homes which are less of a deflation risk? (I already see evidence of this in my zip code — 92127 — as some spanking new McMansions are selling at $750K / 3200 sq ft = $234 / sq ft, which is about 26% or so below what the CAR says the price per sq ft is…).
C’mon GS, you know the builders will not stop building until they retire or go bankrupt. So yes they will change tactics– and build what will sell.
I agree that McMansions may sell at a discount. If we have an oil shock again, people will avoid them like skunk entrails. People will also get wise to the cost of upkeep. It’s not as obvious when homes are new.
I predict a crappy early 2000’s era McMansion in 2030 will have the “ring to the ear” that a 1970s Pontiac does now.
Or one of those dreadful AMF Harleys~
yikes…
dude, no diss on the GTO, K?
Ben regarding yesterday’s post:
“What Kind Of Income Does It Take To Afford One Of These Monsters?”
I thought you were referring to houses not kids.
Abraham Lincoln: “God must love poor people, she made so many of ‘em”
Woody Guthrie: “The more you eat…the more you sh*t.”
Charlie Brown: “Doesn’t anyone remember what Christmas is all about!”
As regards the “big issues” discussed yesterday, to think it takes sunlight 8 minutes to travel here to good old Earth…8 minutes of penetrating enlightenment, otherwise, we look like the moon. Sometimes…I wonder what my last 8 minutes of life will consist of? Perhaps, it will be comprised of “irrational exuberance.”
Areas of Phoenix where prices will probably increase the next few years:
Light rail spurs rush of private development
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1224bankingonrail1121.html
The personals are a good indication of economic conditions. The ever present “hear me roar” group is populating the personals as never before.
The most prevalent roarer, “Realtor”!
Do any of the personal ads ruffle their feathers and say they have 5 houses? Actually, maybe the 5 houses have them! Ha!
Do tell! What’s happening on match.com, yahoo personals, e-harmoney, etc. Its been forever since I looked at a sight like those and I’m curious. (I’m engaged.)
Neil
Zalig Kerstfeest!
Flemish Christmas-wishes from France to all of you!
India’s booming real estate now hitting roadblocks:
http://tinyurl.com/ydxaby
(Caution: Poorly written article)
Housing values beginning to correct, interest rates continuing to rise, most buyers opting for variable rate loans.
Uh oh…wife came looking for me to join Forced Family Fun. Managed to evade the first sweep, but spousal search efforts will intensify…so let me pre-emptively wish Ben and everyone a Merry Christmas. Also, for anyone in here lucky enough to be single, attractive, and Jewish, happy hunting at the Matso Ball bashes tonight! (Though you must be distraught at missing “Miracle on 34th Street”).
Simple way to avoid FFF - make sure they live a mininum of 1,000 miles away. Worked for me!
Anyone one in here (male that is!) “single attractive and Jewish” - forget the Matzoh Ball - give me a call!
LOL
The city and county of Honolulu just sent property tax assessment that is based on last years home price which increased substantially. I checked several houses that are listed in MLS and did not find any house that is higher than the assessed value. Either the city grossly miscalculated the assessed value or a steep decline in home values. I believe the latter even though it’s in contrary with the median price.
Imagine if the people know in Hawaii that houses are being sold less than the assessed value. Observations like these would never make it to the media. They do not want to sever their business relationships with the realtors. It’s just too bad. Lucky you live in Hawaii.