patrick.net

skibum,

Nice catch re the Merc article. So far the dq news report has not made it to the front page at sfgate.com. I'm waiting to see what they publish.

Ben’s blog is back up.

Not quite. The main page is there, but no content. But at least we know he's "working on it".

SFWoman,

I guess that's the value in a Kelly or a Birkin bag. Hellaciously expensive but timeless.

I am not sure how the bailout can actually happen. Has anything this massive ever been bailed out ? LTCM is nothing compared to the bubble we have.

After none of the stock market crashes, were the investors bailed out. I don't even even think it's practically possible.

On the other hand lowering rates or ZIRP is not out of the realms of possibility. What effect it might have is an interesting debate and we did that many weeks ago.

But bailout ? That's being paranoid.

The only LV bag I have isn’t really LV but a knockoff my Mom got in Thailand. I wouldn’t buy it myself, but hey, I’ll take a cheap bag as a gift. I know women who’ve paid $250 for a knockoff. Silly for a purse.

LV bags are quite well-made though. I personally like them.

RE: bailouts for this mess, I predict the target for a Fed bailout will be the mortgage/MBS/credit industry. After all, this is as much a credit bubble as it is a housing bubble. The FB's who default or "short" sell? They walk away with bad credit ratings. The ones holding the bag are the suckers who bought these MBS products from the issuers who bought them (eventually) from the loan originators, who in turn sold them off asap to get rid of them and pocket a profit. Hedge funds (and a surprising number of mutual funds), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be the poster children of this mess, just like LTCM was and the Keating 6 (or however many of them there were) before them.

CB Says:

“These bags are really easy to be taken care of, it’s made of PVC and you can just wipe it with a damp cloth”. PVC, maybe he became a RW and made lots of money since.

That way, when Paris Hilton pukes from drinking too much, or worse yet gets someone (else's) bodily fluids all over the bag, it's easy to clean!

"“These bags are really easy to be taken care of, it’s made of PVC and you can just wipe it with a damp cloth”. PVC, maybe he became a RW and made lots of money since."

That's where truthiness kicks in. It doesn't matter if the Burberry bag is exactly the same as a knockoff at 1/20th the price, as long as your gut tells you it's valuable.

Ben's blog is back --for real this time. Content and everything:
http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/

My hybrid is my first new car. My other car I bought two years old in ‘94 and still have.

Lexus' hybrids are top notch. However, I still do not see a reason to get one yet.

PVC!? I *heart* my Tumi bag, but it's made out of a semi-durable material. (Counts back... it's been 10 years since I got it, and none-the-worse for wear.)

They are asking $842/square foot for an apartment that is uglier than any college dorm I have ever lived in.

Who needs such a huge laundry room? Why do they have multiple machines in such a small apartment? Is this about the 2x of everything again?

He gave it to me as a gift (an odd gift for someone who never washes or cleans her car).

Don't worry. Lexus gives you a free wash everytime you bring it in. :)

It is one of those apartment building laundromats.

Huh? 8-O

This apartment at The Brannan costs less than $800/sqft:

http://tinyurl.com/r2h54

Why would anyone want an apartment with communal laundry at that price?

SFWoman Says:

http://www.sfarmls.com/scripts/mgrqispi.dll?APPNAME=Sanfrancisco&PRGNAME=MLSLogin&ARGUMENT=9%2FoO2od4QnB890WxsI26ZKKu9IiMM07LbNaqq54WqYo%3D

I enjoyed looking at the turquoise-colored bathtub.

I guess they *can* say the the kitchen has a stainless steel appliance.

New thread: Brave New Market Revisited

SFWoman,

That realtor should have stuck to one picture (of the street). The more I see, the less appealing it looks.

I consider any parts of my body expensive realty, why would I pay $$$ to put other logos on my body? Shouldn't the manufacturers pay ME to put their logos on my body parts?

I will carry a LV briefcase with the frigging LV motif all over it if LV pays me $100 a day for carrying it around, not too much to ask for, right?

OO Says:

I consider any parts of my body expensive realty, why would I pay $$$ to put other logos on my body? Shouldn’t the manufacturers pay ME to put their logos on my body parts?

You mean, like this?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/06/30/national/a064000D81.DTL

SFWoman..

...ah yes, the chav cuture...one of the things I really don't miss about living in London any more.

The worst culprits for 'logo on everything' seem to be the cheaper stores like Old Navy or A&F. Its next to impossible to get a T-Shirt there that doesn't have thier logo blazoned across the entire front. Why pay good money for advertising when your shoppers can do it for you by wearing your clothes?

exotic mortgages may have been around 'forever' (well, since the 80s), but the use to which they are now being put is incorrect and dangerous. option ARMs were originally created for cashed up investors at the high end who wanted to increase their deductions later in the life of a loan by deferring interest payments, or for other reasons. they were never intended as an ordinary mortgage vehicle for people who have been told their property is guaranteed to appreciate at 7-10% a year forever, so just hold on and wait. people are then mortgaged at the absolute limit of what they can bear just paying artificially low interest, on low-doc loans given to them by unscrupulous or thoughtless brokers and lenders.

similarly, interest only (I/O) loans were designed for knowledgeable investors to maximise their returns in the immediate present by increasing the tax deduction component of their investment.

this kind of half-baked, ungrounded guff where you blame the victim who is only trying to buy a place in an overheated market, aided and abetted by unscrupulous brokers and lenders, is not very helpful. why would borrowers select an option ARM or I/O loan if it is inappropriate for them? surely the advice of their lender would also be that it is inappropriate and they would refuse to make the loan, if they were acting prudentially? people seem to have no problem being granted these loans, or having them pushed on them, as a 'solution' to housing unaffordability which has been spiralling beyond their control.

Chav culture? Rooney! Rooney! Rooney!

"Victoria v K Moss? She did snag Becks……"

It must be voodoo or a part of Beckham's deal with the devil. That woman is seriously scary and not human.

Vegas? Had a great time there so i decided to go condo hunting on/near the strip. 600k for a 300 sq foot "studio". "Shaq bought one!" No thanks. Turnberry million plus; bus loads of specuvestors pouring into sales trailor. No thanks. Homes in Summerlin(?). 5-6 bedrooms 900k+ never lived-in lining the streets. streets abandoned except for tattooed skateboard pickup truck types. Streets lined with for sale signs one next to another. Realtor:They are all invested in newer 1.5-2 mil homes in other developments.. great opportunity...make an offer...you can rent it for at least 2000/mo...I will clean it for you... drive you to the airport...a man of your status must have a house here... you must drive a 760i...never find an opportunity like this. The clincher? My LA friend: "Vegas is passe."No deal. Mortgage broker fresh off the boat from Bosnia: "I bought ahouse for 450k and sold it next day for 475k. It is crazy. You buy a house , extract equity, and put it in our "Money Manager System". Barely out of community college and she wants to manage 900k. Really?