Patrick.net

Follow
Befriend
28 comments
Lafayette, CA
Followed by 0
Following 0
Ignored by 1
Ignoring 0
Ignore Nick
Registered Jul 12, 2009

Nick's most recent comments:

• On 11 Nov 2010 in Bipartisain Budget Panel Suggests an End to The Mortgage Deduction!, Nick said:

  Once upon a time there was a country which guaranteed jobs for everyone, free education and health care, pensions comparable with salaries. They squeezed money from their core population to pay for nation building in remote corners of the planet. They sent a great deal of what was left to their satellite countries. You might say they did not have carrier strike groups, but hey, they had more tanks than the rest of the world combined and were not exactly shy of using them. And then 1991 came, money ran out and the country fell apart.

  So it will be historic irony of monumental proportions if the US follows exactly the same trajectory as its previous nemesis. And we know for a fact (see above) that it can happen if the ruling class completely loses touch with reality.

  If you look at modern-day CA you can see it playing out on a smaller scale. The commies will fly this state into the ground unless they are stopped and just a few days ago we learned that there are not enough tax payers even in the SFBA to stop the Dems.

• On 8 Nov 2010 in The Housing Market Is Officially Split, Nick said:

  What about Silicon Valley?

• On 3 Nov 2010 in , Nick said:

  Fisk says

  On the other hand in other places:

  - Houses (and condos) are real buildings of bricks/cement able to withstand dozens of years with no structural problems. Here, including the most expensive SFBA-style areas they are just plywood boxes. And the entire West coast is mostly devoid of high rising apartment buildings so prevalent in Europe.

  - And BTW you can hardly grow anything on those 5-8K sqft you get with a house. So you will not be able to feed yourself in case of a crises. Which pretty much devalues the entire idea of owning a house here.

  - The last decade or so produced a bubble of historic proportions in which RE prices were inflated by millions of people who had nowhere bear enough money. So in contrast to the rest of the world where mortgages (even if they exist) are not given for no-money-down and only 4% to anybody. Until prices get to historic average levels and, say, 50% downpayment is made mandatory the only reason to buy a 60-year old barn for 800K+ is betting on hyperinflation (provided you have savings to worry about in the first place).

  - In America you don't own a house, you rent it from the government for a property tax which could easily be 10K+ (well, unless you bought twenty years ago and enjoy now Prop13). In other places, including your example of Russia, you pay at most a symbolic amount.