Dreams Don’t Always Match With Reality
The News Journal reports from Delaware. “Whether you’re a home builder or a home buyer, these are times when dreams don’t always match with reality. At the luxury beach community The Peninsula on the Indian River Bay, the tide of recession-driven frugality has pushed one builder toward a less-opulent vision. Faced with the reality that luxury homes aren’t the hot properties they once were, Virginia-based builder Miller & Smith has decided to clear the slate with a May auction, with opening bids at $200,000 for houses that once listed for $890,000 — a 71 percent difference.”
“People attracted to the auction have plenty of chances to find a real deal, said four-year resident Marcy Koppenheffer. After buying their $800,000-plus villa at the height of the market, she and husband Jeff know it has lost some value, but also sense it will bounce back when the economy does. ‘The atmosphere within the community is spectacular,’ she said. ‘It’s our heaven. When we enter the gates, we enter heaven.’”
“Part-time resident JoAnn Schmura, also from Berks County…and husband Barry bought their condo for $472,000, and are seeing comparable properties go for $50,000 less in today’s market. ‘We bought at the top of the markets, but I’ll tell you, we still got a bargain,’ said Schmura, who is a veteran real-estate agent and thoroughly confident people will again scramble for Peninsula properties. ‘Every market is like this. I’ve been in real estate 20 years. It’ll adjust. It’ll flatten.’”
“‘In the first year, we had such demand that people would come days before the property came on the market and they would sleep in their cars. It was crazy,’ said Sandi Bisgood-Woodell, an agent who has listed The Peninsula properties for years.”
“Once its inventory of houses in the 750-acre development is cleared, the builder will continue its efforts there — but with a mind toward a more-affordable experience. ‘It will probably be a little lower price point. We will probably scale down the square footage a bit,’ said Rhonda Ellisor, VP of sales and marketing, about any future building.”
The Washington Post. “Anxious to meet the bank’s demands for quick action, Andrew Garcia and his fiancée, BethAnne Hoffmann, rushed to find financing to buy a foreclosed-on house in a lovely tree-lined Baltimore neighborhood. That was in January.”
“A month later, the bank that’s selling the house broke its own closing deadline. The couple have been in limbo since. In frustration, they turned to their congressman’s office for help. Only then did they receive an apologetic call and a new proposed closing date of April 24 – but still no signed paperwork.”
“”It’s unbelievable. With all we hear about all the homes out there that need to be sold, I have to call my congressman in order to purchase a house,’ Garcia said. ‘If that’s the process, there’s no way we’re going to clear all these foreclosures.’”
The Baltimore Sun in Maryland. “After requesting $4.4 million, Howard County is to get $750,000 in federal foreclosure relief funds from the state to buy, fix and resell bank-owned vacant homes. That would be enough for ‘2.5 homes,’ the county’s housing director, Stacy L. Spann, said recently, though he added that Howard might get a second crack at more money if some funds are left unspent.”
“The other frustration is that the money can’t be used to prevent foreclosures, only to recycle homes already owned by banks, Spann said. ‘It’s not proactive, and there’s no flexibility,’ Spann told county Housing Commission and Housing and Community Development board members recently. ‘It’s a real challenge when you can’t prevent foreclosures.’”
“Nervous consumers have been offered free suits,plane ticket refunds and the chance to return new cars if they lose a job after making a purchase. Now builders and real estate companies are rolling out incentives to pay a laid-off homebuyer’s monthly mortgage in hopes of jump-starting the weak housing market.”
“Long & Foster Real Estate Inc. started a program Wednesday offering insurance that helps pay a buyer’s mortgage for up to six months. With sellers slashing prices and mortgage rates at historic lows, ‘we know there are homebuyers out there that would like to take advantage of buying a home in this market but don’t quite have the confidence to do so,’ said Glen Phillips, chief risk officer at Chantilly, Va.-based Long & Foster, which is one of the largest real estate companies in the Baltimore area.”
The Frederick News Post from Maryland. “Job loss and economic uncertainty continue to plague the housing industry, professionals in the field say. The latest foreclosure figures for Frederick County show the number for March — 188 — up 7 percent from February.”
“More may be on the way. ‘I expect some people have been hanging on,” said Hugh Gordon, branch manager for First Home Mortgage in Frederick. ‘People have been using credit cards, robbing Peter to pay Paul, and that’s running out. They are hoping for a time when the money will come back up, but that’s not happening.’”
“Denise Jacoby, executive director of the Frederick County Builders Association, agreed that job loss is the biggest factor in foreclosure. ‘It is the highest in 25 years,’ she said of the unemployment rate. ‘We need to get people back to work.’”
The Virginian Pilot. “Real Estate Information Network Inc. reported that 799 homes sold last month, up 38 percent from February but 10 percent below the number sold in March 2008. The Virginia Beach-based multiple listing service also reported the median sale price in March was $214,000, up 7 percent from $200,000 in February but down 4.3 percent from $223,600 a year earlier.”
“Home sellers and real estate agents alike hope this spring selling season marks the end of the local housing downturn. ‘Usually by May we know about how our year is going to go,’ said Ron Pearman, regional vice president of Long & Foster Real Estate in Virginia Beach. ‘If we’re going to make it at all this year, it’s going to be between now and September. We’re poised for substantial gains, but we just don’t know for sure.’”
“Pearman said foreclosures now make up about 15 percent of sales monthly. He said he expects home prices to stay below year-ago levels through the summer. ‘We still have way too much inventory right now,’ he said.”
“James Koch, an economist at Old Dominion University, said he expects prices to remain stable through summer, then drop again in the fall. ‘If spring and summer doesn’t bring a big bang, you’ll see the homeowners who have been reluctant to lower prices giving in,’ he said.”
The Charlottsville Daily Progress from Virginia. “During the third week of every month, Eddie Cox sits down with his files to review how much lumber he has on hand, how fast it’s selling and what it cost him. Cox, purchasing director at Roper Brothers Lumber Co. Inc. in Petersburg…spends half a day calculating what the lumber yard’s inventory is worth. His one-page report indicates if it is time to cut prices. It’s been saying for months now that it’s time to cut prices.”
“That trend is happening in lots of businesses - and a steady slide of tumbling prices is already translating into lost jobs and failing companies. Deflation is when prices fall, and keep falling, so that businesses’ revenue drops and owners start cutting operations and laying off people. Because falling prices still aren’t boosting sales, Weyerhaeuser Co. shut 12 Southern sawmills at the end of March. International Paper will close its lumber mill in Franklin at the end of May, idling 123 workers. Announcements of closings and cutbacks at Southern mills are routine these days, Cox said.”
“‘Mills that used to operate 24/7, three shifts, are now barely working one shift,’ he said. ‘It’s like a week doesn’t go by without some announcement a mill is shuttering.’”
“He said mills regularly call to tell him to cut prices to try to move more lumber. When consumers feel there is always a discount available, marking down prices won’t help much, said David J. Urban, a professor of marketing at Virginia Commonwealth University. When consumers ‘hear the same message over and over again, after a while, they begin to ask when is a sale a sale,’ he said.”
The Ashville Citizen Times from North Carolina. “When people of a certain income level consider moving to the Asheville area, they’re drawn to the mountains, the city’s cultural amenities — and high-end housing developments. During the first part of this decade, that segment of the real estate market — typically planned communities where homes start at $500,000 and run into the millions — was white hot.”
“But the downturn in the economy hit the upper end of the development industry hard last year. ‘Last year was a difficult year for master-planned communities and maybe for the real estate market in general,’ said Harry Redfearn, founder and president of Asheville-based Private Mountain Communities, which serves as a sort of real estate clearinghouse for people looking for homes or lots in upscale communities.”
“‘Most of our developer clients were off (in sales) 40-60 percent’ in 2008 compared with a year earlier, he said.”
“The tough times have caused significant problems for some projects: A development in Woodfin is in bankruptcy, and one in Lake Lure stopped sales. Kent Smith, whose company is developing the 127-home Thoms Estate subdivision in the Beaverdam area north of Asheville, knows all about sales and the credit market drying up. Only six lots have been sold so far. At another Beaverdam development, Bartram’s Walk, it appears from land records that developer Beaverdam Land Conservancy has sold only three of 74 lots in the project. The last recorded sale was in September.”
“Other observers, however, say the issues that have created problems for upscale communities are not going away soon. ‘Some of these folks who are superwealthy are superwealthy on paper,’ said local real estate analyst Don Davies. ‘They have assets, but to try to liquidate them (to buy a home in WNC) is difficult.’”
“Speculators have abandoned the market, resulting in an oversupply of product, he added. ‘We’ve got too many of these bigger places competing with each other, which have lots of vacant lots sitting inside of them,’ he said. Davies predicted ‘more Versants,’ a reference to a Woodfin development that is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.”
“An analysis by local real estate agent Scott Raines in late March found that if current sales rates continued, it would take more than 10 years for the market to absorb the 272 existing homes priced at $1 million or more on the MLS for the Asheville area.”
“One might think Seven Falls’ developer Keith Vinson would like nothing more than a return to the burning hot market of a few years ago, but he says he just wants to see steady sales at reasonable prices. He likens the real estate bubble and the continually escalating prices to drug addiction: The economy, and Americans, don’t need to relive that experience.”
“‘Are we going to get back to where it was a few years ago? I sure as hell hope it never does,’ Vinson said. ‘It was exuberance, it was irresponsible. Nothing goes up that high that fast without coming down equally as fast and equally as far.’”
The Charlotte Observer from North Carolina. “Mecklenburg County government, like so many families, made big plans based on ample credit during good times. Now that the county’s income is dwindling, it’s time to scale back. The debt crunch will play out most dramatically in the school system, which traditionally takes the biggest bite out of the county’s capital budget.”
“To get land in the booming Ballantyne area of south suburban Charlotte, CMS agreed to buy 39 acres from a developer who already had it zoned for a small subdivision. The plan was for CMS to build roads and lay utility lines, get the lots ready for construction and sell them to a company that would build the houses. Ballantyne Elementary opened in August, and in September CMS staff told the school board there were interested buyers.”
“Since then, the housing market has plummeted even further. The potential buyers lost interest, says Associate Superintendent Guy Chamberlain, the administrator in charge of construction. Mecklenburg County now has a two- to three-year backlog of developed lots, he said. That means for the foreseeable future, the school will continue to nestle among empty roads bearing such names as Knowledge Circle and Great Future Drive.”
“School board member Larry Gauvreau and county commissioner Bill James say the district’s plan to do roughly $250 million a year worth of building and renovations was unrealistic and wasteful. They call the cutbacks a much-needed reality check. ‘Patronage is easy to dole out when there is no limit,’ James said in an e-mail.”
“Two years ago, James and Cynthia Kwolyk put their Connecticut home on the market. Their goal: Move to Charlotte with its milder weather and nearby relatives. Then their house sat, waiting for a buyer. The family still moved – even though the house didn’t sell for 11/2 years, and they had to drop the price $100,000.”
“Charlotte owes much of its prosperity to newcomers willing to pull up stakes and gamble on opportunity here. But today’s newcomers face a new economic reality. Many can’t find jobs. They’re renting, not buying, expensive homes. They’re adding to the demand on public services, including schools, that are struggling with budget cuts. In a city that prides itself on being a destination – but is now beset by recession – have newcomers become a drag?”
“The Charlotte metro area added 55,368 people for the year ending July 1, 2008 – 3.4 percent more than the previous year. Experts say newcomers have helped boost the local unemployment rate to a record high of 11.7 percent in February, more than double the 5.4 percent a year earlier and the highest figure since modern records have been kept. Local companies are adding jobs, but not enough to offset the growing number of job-seekers and newly laid-off employees.”
“It’s an issue that other growing cities, including Austin, Texas, and Portland, Ore., also face. Portland’s unemployment rate hit 10.7 in February, double the previous year’s. Portland State University economist Mary King attributes the increase not to new arrivals but to the thousands of people who’d settled in the area years ago. Once, she said, Portland was seen as the last affordable city on the West Coast, drawing families in search of relatively low housing prices.”
“Tony Crumbley, of the Charlotte Chamber, said the county’s record-high unemployment rate paints a bleaker jobs picture than he believes exists. He pointed to cities, such as Buffalo, with 9 percent unemployment in January. Buffalo lost 2,200 people last year, while Charlotte’s population soared. ‘There’s nobody left to be unemployed,’ he said. ‘They’ve all moved to Charlotte.’”
The Sun News from South Carolina. “Twenty-two high-end condos at The Pointe development in Myrtle Beach will go on the auction block next month. The listing price for the units was originally $1.5 million to $2 million apiece, but will be discounted by about 69 percent on average, starting in the high $400,000s at the auction, said Craig King, president of the real estate auction marketing firm handling the auction.”
“The developer, Drake Development, has been involved in many projects on the Grand Strand. The Pointe condos to be auctioned were completed in 2008. ‘The developers are down to their last units,’ King said. ‘This’ll be a developer close-out.’”
“King also handled an auction at Broadway Station in September, where 65 condos were auctioned off for a total of $4.7 million.”
From The State in South Carolina. “Home sales in the Columbia area are improving each month as the spring selling season approaches, but sales are still down 28 percent for the first quarter over last year, according to industry data released Monday. Median price was down 6.3 percent for the quarter to $134,000 in Columbia.”
“Statewide, home sales were down 30 percent for the quarter and the median price was down 8 percent to $135,000, the S.C. Realtors trade group reported. Sales in most regions in the state were down between 20 percent and 40 percent.”
“Agents hope more people will follow the lead of people like Kim Cox and her husband, Zach, who weren’t in the market for a new home but decided to buy because of interest rates at historic lows. They bought their first house, which has 1,500 square feet, in Rosewood just two years ago. But with interest rates so low, they decided they could probably get a bigger house now than if they wait two years to buy, Kim Cox said.”
“They locked in a fixed rate of 4.375 percent for 30 years on a 2,500-square-foot house in Saluda River Club in Lexington. Meanwhile, they are renting their Rosewood home and considering refinancing their 5.75 percent rate on it. ‘It’s a scary time to be doing this kind of thing,’ Cox said. But, ‘it was a really good opportunity to take a shot at it.’”
“Prices also are down because the market is correcting for slight overinflation during the boom of 2005 and 2006, said David Patterson, an agent in Columbia. He said he is working some short sales where homes were appraised at 10 percent to 12 percent more than the market would bear. ‘Prices are adjusting to more reasonable levels,’ he said.”
“Patterson said he looks for sales and prices to stabilize or possibly even swing positive by the third quarter. But the biggest factor will be bringing down South Carolina’s third-highest-in-the-nation jobless rate, he said. ‘If the job market is not restored, then we’re still going to have a lot of pent-up demand.’”
“Margaret-Ann Ashburn, broker-in-charge of Russell & Jeffcoat’s Forest Acres office, said it is mainly the upper-end market over $500,000 that is suffering right now. ‘There are some people who are taking big hits on their houses now,’ she said. ‘There are some deals out there.’”
After buying their $800,000-plus villa at the height of the market, she and husband Jeff know it has lost some value, but also sense it will bounce back when the economy does.
Well, I sense Mary and Jeff are REtards. And I betcha I have better psychic powers than they do.
Oh, and by the way, I’m done with men! For forever! And THIS time I mean it! Men are wicked, cruel, oafish meanies, and all they do is make a poor simple farm-girl cry, cry, cry.
Booo-HoooOOOOO! Like that.
What this means is that henceforth all you HBBers that I enjoy nattering on and on to, you will have to stop being men and must become honorary girls. Yes, you heard me, and I’m talkin’ to YOU: Benina Jonesina, Fastette, Mikeena, Muirina, and Primette, etc etc. Ahhhh, quitcher fussing. You’ll get used to it.
(Dudette, since you’re already so surrounded by girls, what with the wife and the 5 midget female henchgirls, this transition will be easier for you, I imagine.)
The rest of you I enjoy nattering on to are already girls, and so luckily you’ll need no adjustment phase.
And the good part about this is, since you’re honorary girls now, this means we can talk about our periods and our pretty shoes we got on sale and how much we like adorable kitties! Hooray!
*claps hands and squeals happily *
“What this means is that henceforth all you HBBers that I enjoy nattering on and on to, you will have to stop being men and must become honorary girls.”
Do gurly-men get to be in your club?
Of course, Professor Bearina.
I’m an artist, a woman and a person… only behave like a “girl” when strategically useful…
Sorry…..
As a hetro, 50ish US American male, with an ex-wife and three daughters (ages 27, 19 and 16) to observe up-close and personal, I know for a FACT that there is NO WAY that my brain can be rewired to handle that transition.
Guess my gay brother will have to take my place.
Do you recommend a sex change operation?
‘Do you recommend a sex change operation?
Heavens, no! That’s crazy talk. How about you just go get a long curly wig and dance around in front of the mirror singing ‘Dancing Queen’ by ABBA into a pretend microphone. That’ll be enough for now.
*assumes enticing sort of whisper *
Come onnnnnn, Professor Bearina, you know you want tooooo….yes, you really really dooooo…..
How about you just go get a long curly wig and dance around in front of the mirror singing ‘Dancing Queen’ by ABBA into a pretend microphone. That’ll be enough for now.
As luck would have it, I do that on a regular basis anyway.
Only I don’t need no wig (shakes adorable, wavy tresses), and sometimes I prefer dancing to the Bee Gees or Brigitte Bardot or Cat Power or Celia Cruz or Melanie or whatever, and sometimes I sing at a baby instead of into a pretend microphone.
So I hope there’s a little leeway in this here transmogrification operation.
I finally get a girlfriend and now I immediately have to be a lesbian? Oly, you’re killing me here! Can I “transition” gradually?
MrBubble
Oooooh! Is it the beautiful and yearned for ‘Bartender Amber’, Mr. Bubblette!? Tell us allll the details!
And since you’re a girl now, tell us the important stuff, like if she likes children and sunsets and hates The Three Stooges.
I feel pretty… Oh so pretty…
“…if she likes children and sunsets and hates The Three Stooges.” I dunno about that, but as we drove by a bunch of cows the other day, she said, “I love those happy cows, but I always end up wondering how they would taste.” Now THAT, to me, is a very good sign…
Rub-a-dub-dub sez MrBubble.
Thanks to whomever posted the “Rage of the Privileged Class”. Made my blood boil quite nicely.
but as we drove by a bunch of cows the other day, she said, “I love those happy cows, but I always end up wondering how they would taste.” Now THAT, to me, is a very good sign…
Well, I know that makes me hot. Hahahahaah!
*assumes enticing sort of whisper*
Not to worry, Olygal — I once went to a Halloween party in drag (my date did my makeup). I am much too scary in a dress and makeup to consider ever making the gender switch on a permanent basis…
So that’s how I got on the email mailing list for sexy bras!
Oh, yes. That’s exactly how.
We allllll know how you got on that list, Mr. Man.
As skinny as I am, even a training bra would be too big! That’s why another puzzlier is how I ended up on another mailing list — this one for plus-size fashions.
That’s why another puzzlier is how I ended up on another mailing list — this one for plus-size fashions.
Yeah, yeah….again, methinks thou dost protest way toooooo much…
(Now, I’m just teasing you. I wouldn’t tease you if I didn’t think you could take it. So don’t come kill me, okay? Not even if you’re all dressed up super pretty and glamorously in a sexy bra when you come kill me.)
Doug in Boone:
Can you explain how we women get on the peeeeenis enhancement mailing lists?
Muirina here!
Hey girlfriend!
Got the man-blues, I see.
Here’s the ticket:
I cooked a nice chicken breasts for lunch not 30 minutes ago.
Olive oil, sea salt, garlic, onions, red bell peppers “sofrito.”
Cooked medium heat over skillet, and slowly adding fresh squeezed orange juice (just a couple of drops from the orange so that it doesn’t burn, yet you have that caramelized browning.
cya girlfriend
Oi, Muirina!
Got the man-blues, I see.
It is so true, Muirina. *snivels a bit and then rapidly segues into indignation, and then rapidly segues right back into sniveling *
Well, I’m sorry you don’t live near me, Muirina, because I want to eat that, what you cooked for your lunch. But I can try it myself, I suppose. Especially that adding of orange drops for caramelizing sounds good.
And, may I add, at this time I’m going to totally forgive you for the frog-leg recipe you posted the other day, and that made me squeal loudly with indignation when I read it, and that is because you have shown today that you are such a great girlfriend.
Yes! Men cut down trees, excavate the land and haul it away, and oint sprinklers at robins’ nests.
that’s POINT…grrr
New it
at me and mine, you pitiable bastard now turned girly-man? -
“Ah! OlympiaGal! Turn Me Not Away!
Regard me, though unworthy.
Condemn me not, for my sins!
Remember me, though unholy.”
Brought to you by, your local Aaronic Priesthood Quorum.
Hmmmm. I either really liked that or else really did not. I can’t decide yet. I suppose it would depend on your intent.
Tell me, cobaltina, were you giggling when you posted that, or weren’t you? (pretend there’s a curious-face emoticon here.)
Oly Gal,
If you were really a man posting as a woman, would you now truly and spectacularly be Olympia Gala?? =
* tries to sing “I Enjoy Being A Girl” and fails miserably *
I’m singing “I Kissed a Girl”……..somehow, it just ain’t working……..
No, no…it was so beautiful. I almost thought I could hear angels singing, it was so beautiful! Really.
O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!
Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.
And now for something completely different…
Is a Movie about Gay Men and AIDS Worth $60 Million and Six Hours? Absolutely.
Angels in America / Ryan Lindsey
Film Reviews | May 12, 2006
In the penultimate scene of the HBO adaptation of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, Harper Pitt, the emotionally frazzled, estranged wife of a gay, Mormon Republican looks out across a dusk horizon from the window of a plane and addresses the audience:
“Night flight to San Francisco; chase the moon across America. God, it’s been years since I was on a plane. When we hit 35,000 feet we’ll have reached the tropopause, the great belt of calm air, as close as I’ll ever get to the ozone. I dreamed we were there. The plane leapt the tropopause, the safe air, and attained the outer rim, the ozone, which was ragged and torn, patches of it threadbare as old cheesecloth, and that was frightening. But I saw something that only I could see because of my astonishing ability to see such things: Souls were rising, from the earth far below, souls of the dead, of people who had perished, from famine, from war, from the plague, and they floated up, like skydivers in reverse, limbs all akimbo, wheeling and spinning. And the souls of these departed joined hands, clasped ankles, and formed a web, a great net of souls, and the souls were three-atom oxygen molecules of the stuff of ozone, and the outer rim absorbed them and was repaired. Nothing’s lost forever. In this world, there’s a kind of painful progress. Longing for what we’ve left behind, and dreaming ahead. At least I think that’s so.”
Can you write me a letter justifying my presence in the ladies room?
Also, does this give us a license to be irrational?
bink, I don’t think we really want to pull back that veil, do we? Personally, I think I’m happier being ignorant of what happens in the ladies room.
Mostly we curse the fluorescent lights ’cause they just do nothing for your skin tone and hope that we look better outside that room than we do inside.
While plying gobs o’ lip gloss, we critique guy’s physiques and faces, hell yes we do.
Personally, I think I’m happier being ignorant of what happens in the ladies room.
Well, drumminjette, guess what? The inside of ladies rooms is inevitably a hundred times less feculent and unsavory than the inside of mens rooms. I know this because I have insatiable curiosity and I also don’t bother to waste time reading doors when I really have to pee.
In a comparison of both, there is no comparison, really. Don’t just trust my word, here—go look for yourself! March right in there! And you’ll see a bunch of silk flowers jammed into a vase on the sink and the scent of fake orchids hovering in the air in one room, and you’ll see a gummy latex thing stuck to the wall above a puddle of some sort of noxious substance in the other.
All the more reason for you to be glad you’re a girl now.
(Plus you can join in complaining about lights and sharing lip-gloss and talking about whether that boy is looking at you or not, and other fun stuff like that)
I *HAVE* seen the ladies’ room before. You have fancy couches and everything….
But we have no lines for us guys, usually, so..I’ll take that. No need to lounge about in the bathroom, you see
Only every 28 days or so.
Can you write me a letter justifying my presence in the ladies room?
You betcha. *pulls out pink pen and holds it poised over pink paper that used to smell like roses but doesn’t anymore because it’s been out of the wrapper so long *
Shall I make it out to you AND the frogs, or just you?…
Also, does this give us a license to be irrational?
Well, YAR! That’s one of the best things about this gig! That and the perfumed pink paper and pretty shoes and a favorite blankey that you bring to staff meetings and stuff like that. It’s awesome. You’ll like it.
“henceforth all you HBBers that I enjoy nattering on and on to, you will have to stop being men and must become honorary girls.”
In solidarity with my fellow girlymen, I will paint my toenails…well maybe just one toenail…the big masculine one on the left. Shall I choose a glittery purple, pink or red?
I will drink my morning tea with extended pinky, and I shall even use a saucer today.
I will pick my underwear off the floor and put down the toilet seat after use. I will make the bed.
I will call my mommy and let her criticize me unopposed. Maybe I will even follow her advice.
I will watch a Meg Ryan or Reese Witherspoon movie, and promise to like it.
Oh God, and don’t forget the near-identical romantic comedy efforts of Kate Hudson! I swear if you’ve seen (1) of her movies, you’ve seen them all.
I ‘will’ have to say I was fairly impressed w/ Drew Barrymore in “Grey Gardens”. Actually very applicable to our current state of affairs. In short one of Jackie O’s distant gold-digging relatives slide into disrepair and insanity in the Hampton’s circa 1973? Yet, other than milk trusts and ex-husbands, refuses to lift a finger to help themsleves! Sound familiar?
Grey Gardens was pretty mind blowiing. Edie Sr. had the wherewithall to save the heirloom family diamonds in an old recipe box beneath the staircase and didn’t notice the tree branch growing through the crack in her bedroom wall, the blackenend, crumbling wallpaper and the racoon and cat feces? Having lived with such finery and servants I guess they couldn’t be bothered with basic sanitation, though the smell must have been over the top. And what on earth did they do all day?
SaladSD,
You have to imagine that much of their squalor was… ‘implied’? The scene where Edie sex’s it up for the gossip rag photog was somewhat telling. If you noticed, they took just a few frames to show him “doing a shoulder check” to see if anyone else was watching?
Also her mother later comes right out and asks why she doesn’t just ’sleep’ w/ the plumber in exchange for some repairs? So I think the director handled those issues delicately and with a semblance of dignity.
I just thought the whole affair was so timely and it works on so many levels? I saw Tim Geithner in there as “Gould” the inept “piano teacher” that gigolo’d his way through life without so much as -ever- putting in an honest day’s work.
Edie Sr. had a history of eccentricity, and according to the British upper class, a fascination with cleanliness and order is the province of the bourgeousie. So yes, she probably couldn’t be bothered with the details of “homekeeping” as Martha Stewart would say.
Eventually Jackie O did pay for needed repairs to Grey Gardens, after the Edies were cited by the local bulding inspector and board of health.
What did they do all day? Hey - they weren’t wage slaves on a cube farm, more power to them.
phillygal,
Right, and they were aristocracy from an era where not only did they know the exact day the Archduke Ferdinand was assasinated ( they actually knew the Archduke! )
Still, it was a story well worth revisiting and I’m glad you brought Martha Stewart up? I thought of several parallels to her as well. The difference is, when MS was confronted by a setback, she fought back all that much harder.
Obviously this was an extreme case but even Ben’s frugal posters can take a lesson in certain aspects of our lives. I see it a lot w/ retirees where they have lifestyles that are beyond their budget but each spouse -refuses- to the one that makes the necessary cuts.
Woman walks into the hardware store in Northeast Harbor (Maine).
Martha: Do you mind if I use this phone? (points to counter)
Proprietor: That one’s for us, but there’s a pay phone outside.
Martha: Do you know who I am?
Proprietor: No.
Martha: I’m Martha Stewart!
Bystander: Do you know who I am?
Martha: Nope.
Bystander: I’m David Rockefeller, and I use the pay phone outside.
(Not entirely consistent with DinOR’s positive assessment of MS, but reputed to be a true story.)
I think it’s highly telling that I viewed the Beales as sympathetic. A metaphor for (literal) conservatism, they were survivors lost in their own microcosm. The PBS documentary on which this was based was at once horrifying and seductive.
We all make our choices….
Hmm…NSO, I don’t like your list very much.
First of all, a little nail polish goes a long way, so I wouldn’t recommend anything darker than a pale dusty rose for that toenail. Guy..oops…I mean girlymen toenails are vast expanses since your feet are so big. It will probably take you 15 minutes or so just to lay down the base coat. You don’t want to take risks with the darker colors.
Extended pinkies aren’t for girls. They are for pretentious jerks - either gender. And people who drink tea all the time use mugs so the saucer is kind of silly.
Underwear, toilet seat and bed making are all good. Well, bed straightening. Making sounds like you are going to change the sheets and all that. Too much work.
I don’t let my mother call me at all because when she does call and I don’t answer she leaves long rambling messages wondering what I could possibly be doing at 9:30 on a week night. It is creepy. I’m sure she speculates about my activities way more than I find comfortable, but if I don’t let her call me, I don’t have to know about it. Also, when I let her call me, she went out of her way to do it when my Dad wasn’t available and couldn’t figure out why I didn’t like it. So, I call them at somewhat regular intervals, but she only calls me for emergencies or to report on medical test results.
I’ve already told you guys that chicks don’t have to like chick flicks. Do a Lord of the Rings marathon, or maybe X-Men. It won’t rot your brain as much. You can take care of the girl thing by lusting after Aragorn/Faramir/Wolverine/etc. If you think the classic chick flick thing is mandatory just watch the first 5-10 minutes to get the set up and then skip to the last 2 minutes for the kiss. That is all you really need.
Hahaha! This’s funny, polly. I already said much of the same to dear NoSinglette, before I read your post. And I notice I even said ‘Hmmm’, as a preface! That’s, like, all Jungian-y.
I especially enjoyed your wise advice about chick flicks. That’s wisdom, there.
Oh yes Polly.
The Lust, I mean Lord of the Rings men. So much eye candy in that movie. Hubba Hubba.
In solidarity with my fellow girlymen, I will paint my toenails…well maybe just one toenail…the big masculine one on the left. Shall I choose a glittery purple, pink or red?
I will drink my morning tea with extended pinky, and I shall even use a saucer today.
I will pick my underwear off the floor and put down the toilet seat after use. I will make the bed.
I will call my mommy and let her criticize me unopposed. Maybe I will even follow her advice.
I will watch a Meg Ryan or Reese Witherspoon movie, and promise to like it.
Hmmm. Well, while I truly appreciate your commitment, NoSinglette, I, a full-time girl, won’t do ANY of that, except for the toilet-seat already being down and the toenails painted pink and purple and red, but that’s it.
I mean, you’re even gonna call your mom and let her criticize you freely?! Look, you’re taking this waayyyyy too far, girlfrien’.
Sigh.
You’re going to be a really annoying girl, is what I think. But I’m quite fond of you, as I’m sure we all are, so we’ll just tolerate yer.
Hahahahaah!
(This is really cheering me up. I’m probably not even going to kill anyone today, I’m gettin’ so cheered up. )
You wear that testicle tiara well today.
Hey…HOLD IT Olygal !
I loved Meg Ryan when she was younger. She could phase into and flick out of an upright organism better than girl I ever ate dinner with and finish with a perky smile. Now THAT…was entertainment !
NSO - In exchange for what?
I penned some half-witty prose in response but alas, ’tis nowhere to be found.
Well, try it again, Blanoina, I urge you.
Especially if it included darling kitties, and had nothing pertaining unto chest-hair or lug-wrenches or other boy stuff like that.
I can’t…….it was an rare moment of witty banter in ye Olde English that rolled off my fingers faster than a chick giving me the brushoff. I don’t recall exactly how it went now.
It was a very long question of why it was bye-bye men, with references to the “bad boy” syndrome so many gals seem to suffer from. It was not offensive to anyone (with no discussion of the above queried subjects) and I was quite pleased, but alas, it apparently went straight to blog heaven (or maybe hell, who knows).
Oh pooh, Oly. An unrepentant tomboy, I tried the girly thing once and felt like a utter dolt.
Do I haaaaave toooooo???
(I grow lovely flowers. Does that count? And frogs. Noisy amplectic ones.)
Done with men eh, OlyG?
Well I know how to make a simple farm girl cry out - or something like that.
Only serious flaws are being at the end of the earth and a penchant for dressing up as cylon six.
Battlestar Galactica women rule.
Done with men eh, OlyG?
Well I know how to make a simple farm girl cry out - or something like that.
Only serious flaws are being at the end of the earth and a penchant for dressing up as cylon six.
Arrr…?
*chokes gurgilishly on mint tea and spews it forth onto desk *
Quick, people! How do you make that one emoticon with the bug-eyes, you know the one; showing about 10 percent astonishment, 20 percent alarm and 70 percent fascination?
‘Cause I need to make it right now! Hurry up and tell me!
and a penchant for dressing up as cylon six.
Oh, my, that’s not a flaw. Nohow.
*thinks about it and faints right backwards off wooden chair, spilling all the rest of the mint tea that was left in the cup *
Is this the one?
If it is type:shock:
Yes, that’s the one, thanks.
Only it should look a bit more fascinated and consideringy. Isn’t there an emoticon for that?
Well, I guess that sort of nuance is a lot to ask of a little round yellow head.
Cut down on the WEED and step away from the computer Olygal or I’m calling 911 on you …Again !
“Benina Jonesina, Fastette, Mikeena, Muirina, Primette, Professor Bearina”
Oh God, laughing so hard I can barely breathe! But shouldn’t it be Ms. Bubble, not Mr. Bubblette?
Come on Olympiagal, you can’t give up on men yet! I mean, there must be one male out there that would worship you and frogs and processed sugar defecating unicorns and has a green thumb and likes to dance in the rain (preferably sans clothing) and has the intellectual capacity to recognize overpriced asset classes.
I mean, have you meet ALL the single men on this blog? (No? Ha! Didn’t think so.) Maybe you just need to open a yahoo e-mail where the guys could send their applications - and pictures of their favorite frogs of course. After all, it was so distressing to see poor bink sitting at that bar in Vegas with his frogs sobbing into his drink because you weren’t there. Men like him should at least be given a shot. (Meaning a chance, not a bullet since I’m unsure how anti-male you are at the moment and what the idiot did to you to make you that way. Yes, sorry boys, even though I’m promoting y’all in general here whatever happened was all the guy’s fault.
First rule of the sisterhood – it’s always the guy’s fault.)
I love my lesbian friends and am not trying to talk you out of any radical life transformations here, but let’s face it the bumpy parts on men and women are very different and if you grew up preferring one it’s hard to change that preference just because “men are wicked, cruel, oafish meanies, and all they do is make a poor simple farm-girl cry, cry, cry.” And honestly is it as stimulating to see a woman dress up in a long curly wig and sing ABBA songs as a man? I mean, that was every slumber party we went to as girls, but a guy who would make such a sacrifice to his masculinity? Now that’s hot. (Ok, not really guys, but I’m trying to get into Oly’s head.)
I mean, you more than anyone should know you have to kiss A LOT of frogs!!!
Here’s a great song
I come home in the morning light
My mother says when you gonna live your life right
Oh mother dear we’re not the fortunate ones
And girls they want to have fun
Oh girls just want to have fun
The phone rings in the middle of the night
My father yells what you gonna do with your life
Oh daddy dear you know you’re still number one
But girls they want to have fun
Oh girls just want to have -
That’s all they really want
Some fun
When the working day is done
Girls - they want to have fun
Oh girls just want to have fun
Some boys take a beautiful girl
And hide her away from the rest of the world
I want to be the one to walk in the sun
Oh girls they want to have fun
Oh girls just want to have
That’s all they really want
Some fun
When the working day is done
Girls - they want to have fun
Oh girls just want to have fun,
They want to have fun,
They want to have fun….
-Cyndi Lauper
Wow!! Great thread hijack, Oly, the best I’ve ever seen.
I still say we need to call 911 on Olygal. It’s the only humane and responsible thing to do. It’s either that or we must offer either Bubble, Rancher, sdd or blink as a male human sacrifice for the common cause. She’s already expresed on numberous occassions that she’s danger to herself and others.
This time, the Washington authorities along with DHS have promised to take away her computer, her beer stash and all 37 of her cats…and deal with her effectively.
They also say, given time, a little electro-shock and aggressive drug treatment, she’ll be happy and content in a Federal Maximum Security Nursing Home with her favorite fluffy blanket, a double-lock restraint chair and a re-enforced pink hockey mask.
Make…the call Ben
; )
me bigfoot me love oly me not no how to post heer veri gud butt thees siz 22 boots r maid 4 stompin eevin tho i go bearfut uzully so no makin no calls
I wish you were handy, Mikeena. I’d bite you. But only a few times, because I’m dispirited today.
No, no, wait….you know, I AM feeling cheered up by all the love, so maybe I’d have the energy to bite you quite a few times.
Woaaa…did you hear that paradigm-shifting howl???
wha, where am I?????
Oly, don’t forget, when dealing with men, the title of this thread is apt:
Dreams Don’t Always Match With Reality
I am definitely not here today, I’m on vacation and will tune in tomorrow, same time, same
station. I understand that most virus’s pass
after a day or two and this has HAL beat by
a county mile.
(HUMS)
You’re so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You’re so vain
I’ll bet you think this song is about you
Don’t you? Don’t you?
The Virginian Pilot (Southeastern Virginia) article was very pro-home sales. It was a total hype piece. The housing prices are still way out of line with local incomes. The Navy people do get housing allowances, which aren’t too shabby though. I’m almost tired of even looking, and thinking about the Raleigh-Durham area.
What’s falling faster right now, house prices or local incomes?
We’re in the “graveyard spiral” right now……..banks won’t stabilize until house prices stabilize……house prices won’t stabilize until US incomes stabilize……….US incomes won’t stabilize until it becomes easier/cheaper to keep jobs here, than it is to do it with Chinese/Indian labor.
Which means that the market won’t stabilize until the typical 3/2/2 sell for about 350 bucks…….:)
In our area, in my circle of friends incomes seem stable. But most of my friends are the better IT people. Many of the higher paying jobs here are gov’t contractors.
There is a disconnect around here too (state capital); no civilian businesses to speak of, mainly State and Federal employees/retirees, lawyers, lobbying firms, etc…….plus a major US Army base in close proximity is causing a minor boom in house construction in proximity to the Fort.
Just had a big round of budget reductions……now the accountants are saying that revenues are around $300m less than forecast…….more hand-wringing ensues. Mostly budget cuts for the outlying peons, no personnel reductions @ the mothership yet.
In my area, seeing a lot of inventory, some homes have been on the market for two years.
In the Philly metro, this autumn will see the first deep cuts in prices. I can’t believe that sellers will stay in that bubblicious state of being for much longer.
Or maybe I can.
We’ll just have to depend on the sellers who are up against it, as far as having to sell. It looks like way too many are still committed to getting their wishing price.
‘The atmosphere within the community is spectacular,’ she said. ‘It’s our heaven. When we enter the gates, we enter heaven.’
Gah. The developers must be lacing the pipes with “angel” dust to keep from getting sued for vanishing equity.
“When we enter the gates, we enter heaven.”
Then why do the angels have horns and chase you around the community with a recent appraisal and a pitchfork ?
SunburntInFL,
And until someone provides another logical explanation, I’m going with that! Heaven!? Lady, losing 71% of your infestment is HELL!
What’s worse is that for those of us that -are- heading that general direction ( and you know who you are ) we’ll only have to enter it once! You.. you gotta’ re-live the whole awful experience every time you drop off a DVD and come home.
“she and husband Jeff know it has lost some value”
A potential 75% haircut is SOME????????????
Surely this has to be the mother of all denials.
Blano,
True. What amazes me even further is that the avg. poster here agonizes more over being 5 days late on their $34.99 cable TV bill than failed developers agonize over defaulting on -millions- of dollars in loans that will never be paid back.
It’s not just their level of denial, it’s almost as if they’re oddly defiant and somehow ‘proud’ that “they had the guts to take risks”. Now, nevermind they’ve managed to drag down millions of innocents that never stood to p-r-o-f-i-t from their misadventures in the slightest and are now out of a job..?
Blano DinOR:
They intend to DIE in that house…so who cares if they lost all their kids inheritance. They cant hear the kids cursing when they are 6 feet under!
————————————————————-
she and husband Jeff know it has lost some value”
aNYCdj,
LOL! Nor their GRANDkids my friend. Yeah, can you -imagine- had that been their Merrill Lynch guy that lost them that kind of money? They’d be calling an attorney, but when they c@rnhole themselves like that “it will all work out in the long term”.
( Shoots self in head )
“Charlotte owes much of its prosperity to newcomers willing to pull up stakes and gamble on opportunity here. But today’s newcomers face a new economic reality. Many can’t find jobs. They’re renting, not buying, expensive homes. They’re adding to the demand on public services, including schools, that are struggling with budget cuts. In a city that prides itself on being a destination – but is now beset by recession – have newcomers become a drag?”
I once compiled some census data on heads of households on Public Assistance in NYC in 1980 and 1990. Only one third were born in New York State; far more came from North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina, etc. Meanwhile, according to the article, those moving the other way have been better off — educated here, taking the benefits there.
Back in the day they put people with troubles on the bus north when they weren’t a net benefit anymore. I wonder if that will repeat — or go in the other direction, now that there will be plenty of cheap housing down there.
as a renter on the sidelines i REFUSE to buy for a dollar more than I absolutely have to, so will keep on waiting.
cheap housing is great for the economy in the long run, great for Gen Xs and Gen Ys. Please DON’T BID UP PRICES! the young have already too much debt burden with student loans, entitlements and deficits from financially irresponsible govs.
All the young should get together to DEMAND the gov to stop trying to re inflate prices. Young Americans should demand respect, the neglect over fixing the entitlement tsunami is bad enough.
But the gov’t is not trying to reflate prices, they are trying to keep families in their homes.
Seriously though, you’re spot on. Keep up the good fight.
“Cheap housing is great for the economy in the long run, great for Gen Xs and Gen Ys.”
Exactly. It will be the one piece of economic good news for the next decade. Great for my teenage kids. And not bad for me, as my houses is paid off on time and I plan to just live there — unless I downsize to something smaller and cheaper someday.
There are huge new apartment buildings with 2bd units asking $1700 near me. In a city with the median household of income of around $50K. There are some 1000 new apartments coming online. I’m thinking of getting a banner made up and hanging it on their fence. Can’t think of what to say? “YOUNG PEOPLE: Boycott this robbery!” or some such. Would be fun. There isn’t enough people speaking out. There was a story about young people fighting back in Spain, and the pic had a guy with a sign with snoopy on a doghouse with a for sale sign next to it with a really high price. I love that sign. I want to reproduce a few.
Renter, as a formerly ( ! oh yeah, very formerly, unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) “young” person, I can honestly tell you that “demanding” that prices not be reinflated ( or deflated for that matter ) will get you absolutely nothing. The minute the average citizen “demands” something from me is when I turn my trusty cowpony around and head over the nearest hill away from them. The general rule in life is that young people turn into old people, and the old people don’t understand what’s wrong with the young people. The prices are what they are, and almost nobody’s going to get housing for what your grandpa paid for his California ranch house in the 1960’s. Not Gonna Happen.
The general rule in life is that young people turn into old people…
I’ve noticed this. And I think it sucks.
…and the old people don’t understand what’s wrong with the young people.
I’ve noticed this, too! And it also sucks! I’ve made up my mind that when IIIIII’m old, I’m not going to hit anyone with my umbrella or call them a ‘whippersnapper’, not unless they totally absolutely deserve it.
silverback1011,
Wait a minute here! When Gramps bought that California ranch house back in the 60’s it probably represented about 3 X his annual income!
Now young CA’s get to foot the tax bill ( Prop. 13 ) AND according to Leslie Appleton-Young should consider themselves affordably fortunate to being paying TEN X their annual salaries! Where we going here?
Oh and just for the record ( show of hands ) how many of you recall your parent’s estimation of their mortgage as a “PITA bill”, just like any ‘other’ bill!?
Personally I don’t recall hearing the old man b!tch about the mortgage in grander fashion than the electric, water & sewer or anything else for that matter?
The scale is totally… different these days. If my old man fell behind on the mortgage ( as he often did ) it wasn’t an escalating issue that rapidly grew out of control! Would forgetting your water bill b/c you were on vacation cause you immediate distress!? NO! You’d just pay 2 months at the same time. No big.
Personally I don’t recall hearing the old man b!tch about the mortgage in grander fashion than the electric, water & sewer or anything else for that matter?
Same here. IIRC, the monthly nut on the Orange County 4/2/2 in the late 60’s was about half a week’s pay for him. He sold in 1971 for $25K. According to zillow its worth 580K today.
InColorado,
As children, I guess we’ll never know the full extent of our parent’s financial dealings? I just recall that my dad was always self-employed and he had good times and bad and I ‘do’ recall creditors calling the house from time to time.
Still and all, I don’t believe they -ever- came remotely close to “losing” the home and later my dad explained that the bank had called him on several occasions just to close the loan out as it was so small? His response was that he was going to enjoy dragging it out and tormenting them as long as he could!
Well, how many of ‘us’ have that kind of luxury? Even before the stock market collapse, I seriously doubt most Americans had but a few months worth of those 4k a month payments socked away in their 401k.
“…..call them a whippersnapper…..”
But you need to reserve the right to tell them to get the hell off your lawn.
They don’t dare enter my lawn, er, yard. Why? Because it’s laden with thorny, spiky things. (This is the desert, after all.)
Another i aways find interesting is how the pendulum swings on attitudes (social and financial) from generation to generation.
I have some young hipster co-workers who regale the office with tales of their “radical” adventures that would have been a snooze-fest in my youth…
The newspapers are full of “dastardly deeds” that used to be considered pranks, although they did arrest the kid who dynamited the water tower - that was going a bit too far even for the 70’s.
“…almost nobody’s going to get housing for what your grandpa paid for his California ranch house in the 1960’s.”
Don’t bet the farm on that…at least not in CA.
‘If the job market is not restored, then we’re still going to have a lot of pent-up demand.’
Help explain this statement to me! Blood vessels bursting, head throbbing, eyes bulging!
Is there a doctor in the house? Edgewaterjohn needs one right-quick…
There is a lot of bizarro world in todays posts.
It only seems bizarre to us but passes . And the drivel is nothing more than more of the same. These RealtorPukes(tm) have been getting away with this chit for decades. If journalists would take them to task on a consistent basis, it would shut down the NAR Lie Machine in a hurry.
It actually makes sense to me, in a way. Real demand is someone who wants to buy a house and has the income to do so. Pent-up demand is someone who wants to buy a house but does not have the income to do so. They WANT a house, they just can’t AFFORD the damn thing. So there is demand, which is “pent-up”.
If you’re a guy, just substitute “Pretty Girl” for “house” and “pent-up” will make way more sense.
Yet another dumbassed quote from an uneducated Realtor(tm).
If the job market fails to pick up, you have no “pent up demand”…..you freakin’ idiot.
People without jobs can’t buy houses. Therefore, theres no “demand”. Maybe they could in 2003-2007; but not now. And probably never again in our lifetimes.
Oh sure, some people still feel entitled to live in a 5bd/3ba McMansion…..regardless of their financial circumstances…..but I really don’t think that the banks are gonna step in right now and make mortgage loans to unemployed people…..and no amount of Realtor(tm) fluff talk and anal sunshine pumping will “bring the market back”.
The Carolinas are falling into the soup line right behind Florida.
..
These articles make it look like NC and SC are in a serious decline now. And it’s kinda funny that the Observer thinks inmigration is causing ‘record’ unemployment. Wasn’t it the inmigration that followed the housing bubble? And isn’t it the contracting bubble that is really causing the unemployment?
That article looks at the Austin internet boom/bust, but doesn’t connect the dots (com).
Ben,
LOL! Never thought of it that way? So… now what term do we use to describe the formerly MEW-flush “Equity Locusts”?
I think most of you forget that in North and South Carolina..a house could be a $10-20,000 trailer…..there are tons of mobile home parks you dont see that in most areas of the country.
——————————-
People without jobs can’t buy houses.
“Speculators have abandoned the market, resulting in an oversupply of product”
Another dumb@ss avatar has swallowed the blue pill and is exiting the Matrix!
Public private partnerships sponsored by TurboTaxTimmay should restore the marketplace to its Zen state of allowing another TooBigToFail to siphon off even more free money from the gov’t.
“Yet another dumbassed quote from an uneducated Realtor(tm)”.
We have dumb-ass uneducated realtwhores in spades here in S.C. and they are now living in pure fantasy!
“The general rule in life is that young people turn into old people, and the old people don’t understand what’s wrong with the young people. The prices are what they are, and almost nobody’s going to get housing for what your grandpa paid for his California ranch house in the 1960’s. Not Gonna Happen.”
sure? do the math on the financial picture of the young. their discretionary income is a third of what it used to be when you were young. the old should chose whether to receive a SS check or receive what they expect for housing. RE is for the most part an inter-generational transfer. in practice i’m afraid is that simple. there’s no way the young can pull all that debt plus expensive housing.
of course it might be the case that the old are thinking they will be able to pay if the young don’t save for their own retirement nor for education of their kids. but why would they agree with that? they don’t believe in SS anyway, why pay for it then?
“Nervous consumers have been offered free suits,plane ticket refunds and the chance to return new cars if they lose a job after making a purchase. Now builders and real estate companies are rolling out incentives to pay a laid-off homebuyer’s monthly mortgage in hopes of jump-starting the weak housing market.”
Let me just guess: The US tax base will be hit up for the cost of these ‘no-regret if you lose your job’ guarantees on home and car purchases. People with no interest in ever owning an automobile or a home will be implicitly taxed to pay for the guaranteed pleasure of those who are interested and sufficiently wealthy to join the Ownership Society.
How long ago did the banking sector rob Americans of their constitutionally-guaranteed economic freedoms? Was it 1913, or earlier?
The banking sector has always done this (or tried to). It’s only been since 1913 that they’ve had government assistance to do it.
Mind you, the banking sector is at least honest in that it has never been an explicit goal of theirs, to create “economic freedom”!
similar with health insurance. why taking for granted that the people working and paying FICA will keep on agreeing on paying health for the old while they are uninsured themselves.
it just doesn’t make any sense.
The talking heads are saying that insurance companies will be the next TBTFs that get massive bailouts. As more economically squeezed people drop their health insurance and more states underfund their social welfare programss, expect to see a runup of unpaid Medicaid and Medicare bills from catastrophic (and often preventable) illness. This will result in more hospital and provider cutbacks and more insurance money being paid out for crappier service.
Health care reform, realistically, is doomed under these circumstances.
Do you mean the insurance companies or the hospitals? Cause a hospital doesn’t have to be very big to be “too big to fail” if the next closest one is a 3 to 8 hour drive away.
I can’t help thinking that health care is or will be the next big bubble to go kerflewie.
I’m starting to think these different sectors of our culture are all simply facets of the same bubble, a global one building up over decades, and US housing was just the first facet to go. Could it really have been one huge credit/currency bubble that shifts around among housing, stocks, healthcare, etc., that is now bursting?
I mean, that the healthcare bubble and the housing bubble and the stocks bubble are not really different bubbles at all. Maybe we’re still just talking about symptoms here and not the core problem.
“Let me just guess: The US tax base will be hit up for the cost of these ‘no-regret if you lose your job’ guarantees on home and car purchases. People with no interest in ever owning an automobile or a home will be implicitly taxed to pay for the guaranteed pleasure of those who are interested and sufficiently wealthy to join the Ownership Society.”
yes, it’s a war against the savers. why wouldn’t they put their money offshore?
I find it now a bit too simplistic to define “owners” versus “renters”, and “savers” versus “spenders”.
“Owners” actually do *own* their house free and clear. The PTB would like to turn us all into “owners”, but not that kind. They *don’t* want us to be “owners” nor “renters”, but another class of dweller for which I don’t think we have a word yet. But that’s what the PTB want us to be, and they want us to use “owner” in relation to that.
As to “savers”, same thing. The PTB want us to be “savers” who are always servicing debt (which I believe they do define as “saving”), not the kind of “savers” whose income is completely their own asset. Again, we need another word for what the government and corporates (are they even different any more) want.
“That means for the foreseeable future, the school will continue to nestle among empty roads bearing such names as “Knowledge Circle” and “Great Future Drive.”
these fluffy-themed street names crack me up . . . and remind me of China doing the same thing to inspire their downtrodden masses of a better future.
et tu, brutus?
It would be fitting if “Great Future Drive” ended in a cul-de-sac.
Better still the local waste treatment plant…
The irony of “Great Future Drive” being surrounded by a bunch of nothing is rather delicious.
My favorite here was when I would go to the trustee sales and there would be foreclosures on Easy Street…
True story from Arizona Slim’s Tucson Street Name files:
Before I hitched up my bicycle-wagons and moved to the Arizona Slim Ranch, I lived just a block north of Easy Street.
And, what Ben’s saying about foreclosures on Easy Street may well be true. After I moved to the Ranch, a couple of longtime Easy Street residents departed this mortal coil. Their property was sold, the lovely old adobe house was torn down and replaced with…
…condos that didn’t sell.
According to my former landlady, the condos were sporting a huge sign saying that they were being offered for $300k. And then they went to being for sale or for rent.
I think they’re all being rented now, and something tells me that the rental income isn’t what the owner/developer/”put other name for the fool who thought of this idea” here had hoped for.
oh yeah, by the way, just for you Olygal, here is yer monthly greeting;
Yer a PIP!
(been on the lookout for a flowery VW bus pulling into my driveway with a Prada wearing grinning hippie chick to jump start my day in a dichotomy of the spotless mind. here’s you YOU, Olygal, creator of mirth & merriment, bringer of color, to this textual black n white chronicle.)
“Agents hope more people will follow the lead of people like Kim Cox and her husband, Zach, who weren’t in the market for a new home but decided to buy because of interest rates at historic lows. They bought their first house, which has 1,500 square feet, in Rosewood just two years ago. But with interest rates so low, they decided they could probably get a bigger house now than if they wait two years to buy, Kim Cox said.”
“They locked in a fixed rate of 4.375 percent for 30 years on a 2,500-square-foot house in Saluda River Club in Lexington. Meanwhile, they are renting their Rosewood home and considering refinancing their 5.75 percent rate on it. ‘It’s a scary time to be doing this kind of thing,’ Cox said. But, ‘it was a really good opportunity to take a shot at it.’”
___
Muirina says:
“Ohhh, my, my!”
Smartish people. Get a new bigger house for less than you paid for the old one. “Rent it out” to qualify for the mortgage for your new bigger house. Stop making payments on the first house and pocket the rent, using it to pay for your second lower mortgage. Wait and see how long it takes the bank to foreclose.
With the backlog, they’ll probably get their new house paid for by the renters for over a year. So… they get a bigger house, a year of free mortgage payments (with which to build up a cash nest egg), and the bank takes it in the shorts, who then passes said taking on to the taxpayer’s shorts.
Ok, just so you know, I’m a manic-depressive and live on a 19th floor with two balconies.
And, you are giving me ideas (very dark ideas.)
(just kiddin)
“People attracted to the auction have plenty of chances to find a real deal, said four-year resident Marcy Koppenheffer. After buying their $800,000-plus villa at the height of the market, she and husband Jeff know it has lost some value, but also sense it will bounce back when the economy does.
————————————————————–
I got a bulletin for you imported part time dreamers on DE’s lower penninsula/Sussex County….. There are now houses in Georgetown, DE (sussex county seat) for $18k. Thats right. Read it again…. 18 thousand banannas. But do keep listening to your realtor friends because they are telling you exactly what you want to hear but it’s not the truth. Lower Delaware is going to simmer back into it’s decades known trade name, SlowerLowerDelaware.
Welcome to reality dreamers.
18 thousand BANANAS? That would make one heckuva smoothie.
“Welcome to reality dreamers.”
Sweet dreams are made of these
Who am I to disagree?
Some of them want to use you
Some of them want to get used by you
Some of them want to abuse you
Some of them want to be abused.
One thing I notice reading articles about developments is that so many are intended for retired people. This post has an article about $500,000 - $1,000,000+ homes in planned communities in Asheville, NC intended for retired people. The South Carolina developments have to be for retired people. There were some articles about condos in Las Vegas intended for retirees. There aren’t a lot of high paying jobs in these places so the high end developments have to be for retirees who are supposed to bring the money with them.
My husband retired 2 years ago and we know other retirees. IMO, its the rare retiree who would want to own multiple homes and travel and go out to eat all the time. You sure don’t spend money on clothing at this stage of life. We’re very mindful that the income we have now is all we’re going to have; we aren’t going to get raises any more. And there is such a feeling of “Whew! We made it.” We got through those years of life when you have to be studying in school, worried about grades, worried about getting a job, worried about keeping a job. Working, in other words. Whew.
Theres an inherent fallacious reasoning in real estate developments that were relying on retirees, IMO.
“One thing I notice reading articles about developments is that so many are intended for retired people.”
The richest generations in U.S. history are now retired or soon to be. That’s been the market to serve for 25 years.
“My husband retired 2 years ago and we know other retirees. IMO, its the rare retiree who would want to own multiple homes and travel and go out to eat all the time. You sure don’t spend money on clothing at this stage of life.”
That’s what retirement was, and will be again. No more three cruises a year. Today’s seniors have all the assets, so the asset price deflation of the past two years has hit them more than anyone.
That in itself could have some economic effects, shifting income between places. Sounds like these retirement destinations will not be the markets they once were.
I don’t know what people think the reality between houses and retirees really is.
For me it means patching concrete, unclogging drains, fixing toilets, troubleshooting appliances, trimming trees, and moving around all kinds of stuff, etc. at my retiree’s house. I can’t imagine what it would be like if she owned a larger house - or more of them!
As I’ve mentioned before, we live in a community of mostly retirees. Single-family house, large enough to host up to four guests (assuming they’re related) at a time. Maintenance does take time, and can be deferred only at your peril. But that kind of work plus routine housecleaning and personal tasks do not consume a great percentage of your time when you have all day every day to do them. There’s still lots of time for golf, tennis, volunteering, socializing.
BTW, we know a remarkable number of retirees who have two houses and who wish they didn’t.
Bill,
I know couples in their 40’s that own two homes and wish they didn’t! I’m just disappointed that most of the low-maint./energy efficient homes haven’t been mass produced for the new retirement reality?
Hell, most of them aren’t anything more than a web page and a pipe dream so far? It’s 2009, would you think you’d have to be designing that ‘yourself’? Modular, mobile, maint. free, low utility bills and cheap. I guess no one has an interest in promoting ‘that’?
“BTW, we know a remarkable number of retirees who have two houses and who wish they didn’t.”
And as the days roll into the coming 20 years, there are gonna be alot who wish they didn’t own any.
Given the fact that the elderly are net sellers of real estate and the aging demography of US citizens, the NAR induced greedspin that the millionare retirees are coming falls dead flat on its face.
I am so glad to hear that there are still so many smart “investors” who still believe they are going to get rich in real estate. When I retire, I want to be the one who rents out your “investment” in Phoenix from November to April because you can’t find anyone willing to sign a year lease. Isn’t it great being a mortgage slave! (Sorry, I mean homeowner).
We need to open up to Cuba.
American’s haven’t swindled or sold those people anything in years and we need fresh meat
Mikela… they have no dinero ..yet..
“……..just want to see steady sales at reasonable prices.”
There’s a lot of things I’d like to see. All my kids graduating from Doctor school…..several million bucks to retire on……..a new Cessna 182 sitting in a private hangar with my name on it……..a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T or Hemi Superbird…….my own, personal, candy-crapping unicorn.
But as they say, put wishes in one hand, and $hit in the other, and see which one fills up first.
I do believe that quote shows that the “bargaining” phase may soon open up.
hey x-gs
I can tell you are a fellow divorced male by the lack of mentioning any female in the wish list.
. . . although I’d take monica belluci, laura san giacomo or catherine bell as a girlfriend. (but they wouldnt take me. heh heh)
btw - thanks to ben for the latitude on the subjects on this thread / levity much appreciated
What he said……
I always thought Linda Fiorentino was the “cat’s meow” myself…….
Or (call me weird), Sandra Bullock.
The brown-eyed, brunette librarian type always worked with me…….and the fact that she hooked up with Jesse James means that she must be attracted to the gear-head type.
x-GSfixer…
You’re not weird. Sandra Bullock and an old fast C310 Skynight would ring my bell any day.
“I can tell you are a fellow divorced male by the lack of mentioning any female in the wish list.”
No, I just think Meredith Whitney was finally able to get a restraining order with some serious teeth.
Hahahahahaha!!!!! Good one!!
““Prices also are down because the market is correcting for SLIGHT OVERINFLATION during the boom of 2005 and 2006, said David Patterson, an agent in Columbia.”
Thats so cute in a 2007 kind of way.
you’ll find your county bought at the peak-
more big gov comin
the county’s housing director, Stacy L. Spann, said recently, though he added that Howard might get a second crack at more money if some funds are left unspent.”
There is Bibb county in GA that is almost done with 2009 revaluations.
The verdict:
Values going up by 30%! If this does not get some pitchforks out then nothing will.
http://www.13wmaz.com/news/local_story.aspx?storyid=63222
“Prices also are down because the market is correcting for slight overinflation during the boom of 2005 and 2006, said David Patterson, an agent in Columbia.”
Master of the Understatement. Snort.
Thanks Ben, for the Mid-Atlantic or DelMarVa thread.
In my neighborhood, a suburb inside the beltway — just outside DC — prices are still way too high. For example, a nearby cutie-pie house — maybe 1400 sq feet, built in the late 30’s, almost no backyard, teeny closets, kitchen etc. — sold for $465K last year and is now back on the market for $540K! Of course, the seller is kind enough to list all the upgrades on the back WITH prices — for example $1000 Kohler bathtub and $400 Pottery Barn sconces. Ugh.
We’ll see what happens.
April 21 (Bloomberg) — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage delinquencies among the most creditworthy homeowners rose 50 percent in a month as borrowers said drops in income or too much debt caused them to fall behind, according to data from federal regulators.
The number of so-called prime borrowers at least 60 days behind on mortgages owned or guaranteed by the companies rose to 743,686 in January, from 497,131 in December, and is almost double the total for October, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said in a report to Congress today.
Ouch
Financial Times
Why the ‘green shoots’ of recovery could yet wither
Martin Wolf
Published: April 21 2009 20:24 | Last updated: April 21 2009 20:24
Spring has arrived and policymakers see “green shoots”. Barack Obama’s economic adviser, Lawrence Summers, says the “sense of freefall” in the US economy should end in a few months. The president himself spies “glimmers of hope”. Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, said last week “recently we have seen tentative signs that the sharp decline in economic activity may be slowing, for example, in data on home sales, homebuilding and consumer spending, including sales of new motor vehicles”.
Is the worst behind us? In a word, No. The rate of economic decline is decelerating. But it is too soon even to be sure of a turnround, let alone of a return to rapid growth. Yet more remote is elimination of excess capacity. Most remote of all is an end to deleveraging. Complacency is perilous. These are still early days.
“Denise Jacoby, executive director of the Frederick County Builders Association, agreed that job loss is the biggest factor in foreclosure. ‘It is the highest in 25 years,’ she said of the unemployment rate. ‘We need to get people back to work.’”
If Denise can see that stable jobs lead to stable home prices\economy and that it doesn’t work the other way around (i.e. propping up high home values)…….why can’t the current administration see it?
“Dreams don’t always match with reality”
Sounds like the theme song for Obama voters.
Well considering we were living in a nightmare the last eight years, I’ll take the dream for now.
Lost in Utah’s use of it in reference to men was much funnier.
One of these days people will wake up and realize that the president is not the “supreme ruler” and we’re all stuck with the same shitty situation because y’all elected the same corrupt sack o’ shits into congress.
Same shit, different label. How can people on this blog be so educated, yet still fall for the same partisan crap?
You tell me.
Like nhz, going to do a bit of an Aussie bubble update:
REITs are going to ground as ‘easy targets’ for banksters and fate (falling property prices) here in the land of the eternal sunshine of unspotted minds.
(I’m pround of the Sydney Morning Spin. This is the THIRD article this week I’ve found that I can actually stash in my files.)
Sydney Morning Herald
Banks suck REITs dry
Michael Pascoe
April 22, 2009 - 12:22PM
The conservative Commonwealth Property Office Fund sent another shiver through the shell-shocked Australian real estate investment trust industry this week when it announced an independent revaluation of 13 properties had cut their combined book value by 11.9% - a $168.5 million write down with more to come in the June quarter when the remaining 62% of the portfolio will be revalued.
Yet falling property values aren’t the biggest problem facing REITs: it’s their bankers.
If the banks were treating residential mortgage holders they way they’re treating REITs, there were would riots and government intervention to prevent angry mobs doing physical violence to bank CEOs and their minions.
In the last recession, banks consciously burned business customers in order to save themselves. Now they’re burning REITs not for the banks’ own survival, but because they can. There’s a near-extortionate exploitation of lending covenants occurring with nary a public scream from the victims.
It’s a story the REITs themselves aren’t game to tell on the record - they’re too scared of what further pain might be inflicted on them - but Citigroup director of property research, Peter Cashmore, fingered much of the behaviour in an interview with me for Eureka Report.
Cashmore believes the banks have identified REITs as easy targets:
“They are transparent. They have hard assets that are easy to value and you can form a view that banks arguably are being opportunistic and are using this current cycle to hit borrowers for higher fees and line fees.
“REITs across the board are finding the banks very tough, no matter who you are. And REITs seem to be singled out as fair game because I guess at the end of the day, there are hard assets that have lives of 25-30 years.”
It’s an important point that the banks are treating the conservative and cowboy REITs the same - re-financing threats hang over them all as ever-higher fees and margins are extracted for the privilege. And heaven-help those that breach loan-to-valuation covenants, whether they be limits of 45 or 65%, they’re treated with equal disdain.
The irony is that while banks are treating REITS like basket cases, they’re having no trouble servicing their debt.
“Certainly on the ICR (interest cover ratio), there’s reasonable fat in the earnings between that and ICR covenants,” said Cashmore.
“In a number of cases, two or three buildings would have to go from occupancy of 90-100% to zero and remain that way before the ICR threshold set by the lenders as part of their covenants are met or breached. That is significant.
“Now that may change, obviously, not so much for rent collectors, but businesses that have funds management or less, shall we say, transparent earnings. But for now we don’t see any stress or notable stress in the ICR covenants to the extent that it would cause a lender to step in.”
But stepping in they are, not formally taking control, but effectively reducing a number of REITs to slave status while fee gouging the rest.
Consider the protests if any other industry with interest cover of two or three or more times and positive net assets was being constantly threatened with appropriation. In off-the-record conversations I’ve had with REIT managers, there’s a view that banks are going after whatever equity they can see in listed property trust, forcing equity raising and the sale of prime properties and then effectively wiping out the cash through higher fees, margins and withdrawal of credit.
With this backdrop, NAB’s threat (http://business.theage.com.au/business/commercial-property-a-big-hole-for-big-four-nab-20090420-acok.html) that the Big Four banks won’t refinance $190 billion worth of commercial loans without government assistance is all the more frightening.
NAB’s submission to the Rudd Bank Senate inquiry blames industry concentration limits and increased capital requirements for their capital strike.
Yet even while defining the crisis, the bank demonstrated that the prudential limits on commercial property lending could yet send valuations into freefall and cause their very carnage the limits are supposed to avoid.
Hence the need for Rudd Bank - something that everyone but Malcolm Turnbull is able to see. There is further irony in the opposition claiming to champion the interests of retail investors in frozen mortgage trusts while endangering the many more in REITs.
Several REITs are already being priced by the market as mere punts in case they survive. Citigroup’s Peter Cashmore believes many won’t.
“I struggle to see whether (they) will survive over the next 12 months, just given where their equity prices are and the debt/equity of these vehicles,” he said. “That is, equity versus debt suggests that they are arguably debt instruments solely and therefore their clients are at the mercy of the debt markets going forward.”
I asked Cashmore how he felt as an analyst, watching viable businesses struggling to survive.
“The thing I find somewhat galling about it is that trusts were created to be tax advantage vehicles that helped with the savings of superannuants. Any income they earned, net income, was passed through in the distribution to the unit holder and any tax advantages were passed through as well. They were transparent, pass-through entities. Now they seem to be caught in the cross-hairs of being somewhere between a listed vehicle and a private vehicle.
“All of a sudden, the debt against these assets is becoming an issue, when in actual fact that’s not an issue that impacts their earnings. Sure, interest servicing costs are going up, but these vehicles are still able to adequately service their debt so the rush to raid equity we saw last year was all about working capital, it was all about the undrawn lines suddenly being whipped away by the banks, because obviously they don’t have to cover that liability, and just had a general lack of appetite.
“I find it somewhat galling in the sense that the REITs that arguably are doing what they were created for - they’re paying out income, they’re committed to the full letter of the law as to what they’re about - are suddenly finding themselves treated like private investors who find themselves with gearing above the level that pleases their lenders. In actual fact, many private investors run up a lot higher gearing than the REITs. The REITs are certainly not under-geared historically, fair comment, but they’re not as heavily geared as private.”
Disclosure: The Pascoe family super fund holds REIT securities - and shares in the banks that are squeezing them.
Michael Pascoe is a BusinessDay contributing editor.
nytimes.com
/2009/04/22/business/economy/22leonhardt.html?_r=1&hp
Nice article and graph of price vs income in different cities.
Here is a list a bear has to love. It goes on through 16 different reasons the prophets of doom will eventually be missed.
But I have some really good news for David: I am going nowhere, and I don’t anticipate any other prophets of doom will have any good reason to leave the playing field for at least several more protracted and painful years of economic chaos. The Bible even notes the bad years number seven. Enjoy!
Financial Times
What we will miss about the prophets of doom
By David Marsh
Published: April 20 2009 20:44 | Last updated: April 20 2009 20:44
For two years now, we have collectively gorged on tales of tears and deeds of downfall. If the bulls really are back and the economic and financial misery is about to end, here are 16 reasons why we will miss the gloomy times.
1. Role-play will be a lot less pleasurable. We have split the world into two pantomimic parts: the evil (the bankers) and the good (everyone else). In future, sorting out villains and victims will require more imagination.
2. The crisis has favoured inexpensive, socially constructive pastimes such as bird-watching, book-reading and communal needlework. More aggressive activities will soon be on the rise again.
3. The prophets of doom have had a field day. Yet we feel strangely comfortable with the Cassandras. We have enjoyed being told that the light at the end of the tunnel signals an approaching train. Now we will have to get re-acquainted with the optimists – a much more dangerous and unsettling bunch of people.
tst