patrick.net

Peter P,

Even your adventurous choices are stodgy! :)

British made vehicles have an incredible depreciation curve, no?

I'm thinking of anything still made in Britain. So Rolls, LandRover, Jaguar, MINI, and Bentleys are all British in my book.

I guess the MINI is holding up pretty well so far. Can't comment on the Rolls and Bentleys. However, Jaguars and LandRovers do not hold up their value well.

The MINI was designed by BMW and built largely with BMW parts, so it should have a depreciation curve similar to the 3 series.

Have you looked into Stanford West? It’s much easier to get into if you have a Stanford affliliation, but it’s not bad. Meets all your criteria, in fact. It’s even sort of on the way to West Menlo…

I have not! Perhaps I should. :) Thanks!

I think it’s the perception of the schools. Yes, LA has good schools too, but the PA schools are the bomb for the hyper-competitive set. Paly and Gunn are where it’s at, if you want your kids to make it… I disagree, of course, but that also, for example, explains why Emerald Hills (Redwood City schools) is so much cheaper than comparable areas near 280.

Sounds reasonable...

Personally, I think high school education is pretty much irrelevant anyway. Parental attention is the most important.

How about living in a reasonable area and sending your kids to an eastern boarding school, if you don't have to get stuck in the bay area? I never liked the BA. Too much superficial, childish happiness. Too many fucking Orientals and the likes bent on making money.

Of course I paid a price for my dislike -- I passed a chance to collect $40mil.

But, there will be other chances.

I passed a chance to collect $40mil.

Everyone in the BA has made at least this....by age 20.

I passed a chance to collect $40mil.

250 HaHa.

There are no HaHa millionaires yet. Even Bill Gates have less than 1M HaHa.

Only deficits exceed 1M HaHa.

"I passed a chance to collect $40mil."

I cleaned out my purse today and found $40 million on the bottom...

SQT,

That's interesting. I'd definitely be up for a mid 90s 5 series priced around $15K.

skibum,

GentleCheetah is just going for the stealthtroll triathlon. He's already a sexist and a postmodernist. However, he is very quiet and rather zen, so I'm cool if he's cool.

Congratulations to GC for completing his events!

I am a Chinese, born and raised in Shanghai. Yes, I am a racist towards many of my own kind.

My observation is not far off the mark: There is a disproportionally high representation of Asians in BA. At some towns, I couldn't tell if I were in China or in US. All they talked about is money, house, money, house, money, house, she-made-it, he-made-it, on and on ......

Wanting to make money is not bad. But anything in excess is dangerous. Besides, the love of wealth is an unhealthy sign of a people. China was conquered several times in the past millenium. There is a reason for that.

Wanting to make money is not bad. But anything in excess is dangerous. Besides, the love of wealth is an unhealthy sign of a people.

I have to agree. In order to attract wealth, one must stop seeking wealth.

China was conquered several times in the past millenium. There is a reason for that.

I am sure the reasons are strictly astrological.

"China was conquered several times in the past millenium. There is a reason for that."

That might have something to do with sharing a very long border with lots of horse riding, bellicose nomads.

You're just pissed because my grandparents kicked your grandparents' butts :P

GC,

Complaining about other people's materialism is best if not followed by bragging about money, especially money you haven't made.

Complaining about other people’s materialism is best if not followed by bragging about money, especially money you haven’t made.

I was just six numbers away from winning the Mega Millions lotto. Six numbers.

BTW, I hate money. :evil:

skibum,

I think there are pluses and minuses to the bureaucratic government. The Han and the Ming dynasties are best known for their eunuch problems, but both managed to exist for a rather long time.

Ultimately, the Chinese were able to maintain a high level of civilization for a remarkably long time. Even when the foreign invaders came, they quickly sinicized and became just like any other government. The Manchus produced a rather high proportion of conscientious and hardworking emperors, and China's problems in the 19th and 20th century can't be directly laid on their administrative abilities.

I think the Chinese never stopped believing they are great people, chosen for a hegemonic role on the world stage. That they were weak for the last 200 hundred years was the problem of foreign oppressors and corrupt governments, but I don't think they ever doubted their destiny. It's not so much a suppressed inferiority complex as a long standing superiority complex.

The eunuch class was responsible for one conquest: Manchurian invasion. But the mongols did come before that. And before that, others.

"A long standing superiority complex?"

Is the same as the "chosen people" syndrome? It is usually developed as an internal response to being on the receiving end of brutal oppression.

One can always outlast one's oppressor as long as (s)he is allowed to breed to numerical superiority.

But wasn’t that exactly the problem? If they were so truly superior, how could they “allow” foreign oppressors and corrupt governments to weaken them?

It is all fate. No free will of a single person can do much to the fate of a nation.

John, there is a much deeper reason for me to say what I've said :)We shall see the long-term consequences ......

skibum,

I don't agree with this train of thought, but I think it goes something like

Foreign devils are able to produce some useful things. And look, dowager empress Cixi used up the navy funds to build her lavish summer palace. And look, the Opium wars were so unfair...we've been a powerful people since those foreign devils were little better than monkeys, we'll rise again and play our deserved role on the world stage.

The feeling is that the Chinese people are superior, even if they are oppressed temporarily by the system.

GC,

I doubt the Poles and the Italians harbored the same sort of global ambition as the Chinese. It goes beyond irridentism. Having a history of a powerful empire for so long, they believe they deserve to be the world's leader.

John,

That’s certainly an interesting reading of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It actually comes up in an even more prominent form in Journey to the West. (Monkey does all the thankless work on behalf of a totally useless monk) There are stock characters and stock themes that repeat themselves in Chinese literature.

The Chinese admire the uber men such as Zhuge Liang and Guan Yu tremendously, much more than the emperor they served. Up to 1976, Mao was venerated as something akin to the God. And if you look at the way Chinese tell their history, they emphasize the doers and risk takers who find dynasties, followed by conservatives who seek to maintain the status quo, and finally the weak emperors who lose the mandate of heaven and their kingdom. Chinese history is heavily involved with thematic story telling.

As for pre-modern Chinese history (I’m thinking of everything after North Sung), NeoConfucianism emphasized those characteristics – not bucking the trend, belief in the Mandate of Heaven, etc. That’s something seeded in the culture.

Also, let me add that "racial identity" is a very lower-class sentiment. It suffices to say that I do and say things to improve the environment in which I live. It's very selfish of me, of course. But generally speaking, I prefer not to use numbers or identify with numbers to strengthen myself. As a matter of fact, I exalt the brave (perhaps lucky) few conquering the many. Is that how every civilization was established?

So when I see a large, homogeneous group congregate -- especially when they feel no compunction about pulling me in and demanding equality, for a variety of reasons -- I sense danger and threat.

OK, I have an observation about the 3bedroom rent here.

The higher end house you go, the more you can negotiate off the asking rent. Why? How many people you know who can afford $4000 rent haven't already bought? My wife and I were considering selling our home bubblesitting last year, we were looking at something around $2500-3500 range, that would have sold for close to $1.5M in the current market.

Anyway, after presenting our credit score, and agreeing to sign a long-term lease of 1-2 years, we were able to negotiate at least $500 off the asking of $3,500 rent, because there were not that many renters willing to pay that kind of rent to begin with. One landlord offered us $2750 for his asking of $3,600, a whopping $850 cut because his house was vacant for over 3 months. So asking is just the start. We know a couple up in Burlingame who are able to get their asking of $2,800 down to 2,100 for a nice house.

We also noticed that there were far more nicer, remodeled homes for rent as compared to before. Half of the landlords we were talking to seem to have recently acquired their "investment", and they typically asked for higher rent than market (but you can always negotiate down if you have a decent profile, e.g. credit score, job, Haha in the bank etc.)

I think Patrick can do a better job to separate the asking price for 3BD apartment and 3BD house. Because apartments are pretty straight forward about what they will charge, and the asking is more reflective of the actual transaction price (perhaps FAB can comment if this is my fantasy). Houses are really all over the place, but based on 6-7 houses I have checked out, the actual price can be substantially lower than asking.

If you track 3BD houses, you also need to track whether the premium of asking over actual has grown or shrunk historically, which is an impossible task. Therefore, I think a better measure is to track apartment asking only, straight and simple. Apartment always serves as an alternative to keep individual landlords honest, if you charge too much, people can always move to apartments.

skibum,

I think the Chinese suseptiblity comes from more immediately from their recent history. The Chinese have gone through a huge amount of change in their lifetime. They're also still very naive to the workings of a capitalist economy. Thus, they're more likely to lose their bearing and go with what's hot at the moment. The mass psychology is not so different from those of the Dutch tulip speculators or the San Diego condo specuvestor.

GC,

I’m not actually offended by any of your comments. However, you do seem awfully boastful about your uber man status. That, in my mind, makes you a fun target for teasing :P

I put in a bid on a $1.8 million shitbox that was 85% over
asking price.

The realtor laughed and danced around the room like an imbecile
as that song "Safety Dance" blared through the radio.

Then she popped open a cork on a bottle of cheap Courvasier, poured
us both a drink...kissed me gently on the cheek and toasted her hefty
ass commission.

Then she said, "Mike, you're really a stupid ass for going 85% over asking price, but I guess there's one born every minute, huh? You know it's gonna take you a year and a half appreciation before you break even on your investment...and after that, you're home free."

I told her, "Yeah, I know. I'm a dumb ass but I really like it...it's precious. I can wait the year and a half for the appreciation equity to catch up. Besides, it's so full of intangibles, like that painting of the St. Paulie Girl on the bathroom wall. Besides, five years from now I'll be big pimpin' it."

Michael,

Hilarious! I love "Safety Dance"!

HARM,

for diversification into foreign currencies, there are many choices. The simplest one is to exchange into the currency that you like and hold time deposit directly. If you know for sure CAD and AUD are the ones you target, then just set up a FX account and exchange into them bit by bit.

Alternatively, you can put money in a bunch of high grade FX bonds like BEGBX (open-end mutual fund), GIM (closed-end ETF) or FCO (closed-end ETF). You can go to etfconnect.com to check out GIM, FCO.

I personally prefer GIM the most because the yield is good as well. The 5.35% shown on the etfconnect.com or yahoo finance doesn't include the year-end special bonus yield which it consistently delivers in the last few years. If you include the year-end bonus, that brings the yield close to 9.7% at around 8.5. Also, it holds strictly sovereign treasury bonds in a basket of currencies.

FCO however is more concentrated on the former British empire, UK, Australia, Canada account for over 50% of the currency exposure. The yield is however lower at around 5-6% a year.

I like closed-end funds better because I can get the same thing for a discount to NAV, unlike open-end mutual funds when I need to pay the market price. Therefore, you are paying less for the same yield. And of course, I never pay premium over NAV for any closed-end funds.

Ha, ha!

Astrid, that song's totally goofy.

Can you picture the scenario I listed above with that song blaring out.

Zany!

Steven,

NEVER TAKE LESS THAN A HA HA! HA HA! HA HA! HA HA!

Sorry, can't help myself. I'm kind of useless, but Hate to Rent and SFWoman should be good leads.

I am a believer of Jared Diamond, to a certain extent.

Therefore, I also believe that Chinese were the chosen people, just like the Egyptians, Romans, for a long period in history because of their exposure to great soil, weather, water, etc. Going forward, I believe Chinese staying in China are NOT the chosen ones, but whoever that land in America will continue to be the chosen ones precisely because of the soil, weather, water, resources, and the system that these favorable conditions breed.

The land in China has been over-farmed, water over-polluted, resources depleted, population has grown to a level entirely unsustainable by the environment, unless Chinese population drastically decreases, I see collapse instead of revival.

Owneroccupier,

I think with globalization, we'll soon be thinking about the future of humanity, rather than of individual peoples. The question is the sort of bottleneck events we'll encounter on the way.

ps,

I'm rather fond of the bloody minded, roving Englishmen (usually 2nd and 3rd and 4th sons) on their civilizing mission.

Have I ever mentioned that Frank Kingdon Ward is my personal hero? How's that for obscure?

Steven,

Don't pay attention to Ha Ha's suggestion. He constantly bombard this board with his opinion that engineers should be paid at least $150,000/yr. Knowledgable individuals on this board have debunked this claim numerous times. $150K is an unusually high wage for engineers, even in the high paying Bay Area.

Wait for others to respond to your quiry.

I am grateful for the British rule in Hong Kong, without which Hong Kong would have remained a no-name, poverty-stricken fishing village in China. Without Hong Kong's investment in China as a head start, there would have been Pearl River Delta, the largest labor-intensive manufacturing base in the world.

British may have screwed up India and Pakistan, but they have done more good to the Chinese than not. If not for the British, most of the treasures sitting in the British Museum would have been destroyed in the Cultural Revolution. The most promising cities in China today are all ports that were built by British colonial powers, which obviously didn't intend to be nice to the Chinese in the first place. The sad truth is, Chinese are even less nice to themselves compared to the colonial rulers.

ps,

You've made me so happy! Sometimes I think I (okay, and a bunch of fussy garden writers) am the only person who remember Kingdon Ward existed. :P I don't hypenate because I still think of it as his middle name. Also, hypenation is too much in vogue nowadays, so I avoid it for all my Edwardian/Georgian crushes.

I do agree that the Europeans with their 19th century "great games" and Americans with their anti-Communism efforts, has created a very messy legacy in SE Asia, Africa, and Central Asia. However, I will still remember them romantically.