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Strawberry Picker Buys $720,000 House on $15,000/year Income


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2007 Apr 13, 7:12am   25,761 views  336 comments

by HARM   ➕follow (0)   💰tip   ignore  

This is not a joke.

Strawberry Picker Buys $720,000 House on $15,000/year Income

HARM

P.S. Sorry about the lazy post. I didn't have time to come up with something witty, but I'm sure you'll be able to help me out in that department.

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41   Peter P   2007 Apr 13, 9:14am  

since the minorities usually believe that someone from their country will not screw them

LOL. Greed is the universal currency.

42   sfbubblebuyer   2007 Apr 13, 9:15am  

I think Prop 13 should be interpereted to make the 2006 buyers' property taxes grow at 2% a year. See how long until they pay the same as people who buy in a few years.

43   DaBoss   2007 Apr 13, 9:23am  

"What is so good about the city anyway? Cities are bums magnets."

I guess you never had a real Italian Cannoli ?
Saw 100 people running in the street buck naked on Saturday Afternoon?
Saw a live show (Rock, Pop, Opera in the ParK, etc etc ) ?
Went to a Art gallery ?
Went to a baseball football or Golf event ?
Been to a actual trade or hobby convention ?
Go to a night club, where the women actually do go back to your place for the evening ?

I dont see this happening in the SouthBay or San Mateo County, Did you...
... frankly one Wine Festival is all can tolerate for the summer?

44   skibum   2007 Apr 13, 9:24am  

I guess you never had a real Italian Cannoli ?

I beg to differ. SF doesn't have real Italian cannoli. They pale in comparison to those you can get in NYC, Boston, or Philly.

45   DaBoss   2007 Apr 13, 9:25am  

Randy H -

Saw your 1996/2006... that was great man!
Dont you want to Bitch slap the banks?
and ask "Whats a matter with you!"

46   skibum   2007 Apr 13, 9:25am  

I will agree that most of the South Bay is a soul-sucking oppressive hell.

47   sfbubblebuyer   2007 Apr 13, 9:25am  

I lived in SF in my early/mid twenties. Loved it. Not exactly where I want to raise my kids, however. I'd like a yard. :)

48   DaBoss   2007 Apr 13, 9:28am  

I guess you never had a real Italian Cannoli ?

Try Marahs on Columbus....

The point being ... you aint got nothing in the
south bay! Damn boring.

49   DaBoss   2007 Apr 13, 9:30am  

"South Bay is a soul-sucking oppressive hell."

Your being way to nice about the South Bay!

50   DaBoss   2007 Apr 13, 9:30am  

"South Bay is a soul-sucking oppressive hell."

Your being way to nice about the South Bay!

51   Peter P   2007 Apr 13, 9:33am  

I beg to differ. SF doesn’t have real Italian cannoli. They pale in comparison to those you can get in NYC, Boston, or Philly.

Many of my favorite restaurants are not in SF.

NYC has much better Italian food.

Saw 100 people running in the street buck naked on Saturday Afternoon?

Can I have them arrested for indecent exposure?

Went to a Art gallery ?

Europe has more.

Went to a baseball football or Golf event ?

You mean crowd?

Been to a actual trade or hobby convention ?

I have been to a gemstone show in San Rafael. I Bought a Tibetan meditation bowl.

Go to a night club, where the women actually do go back to your place for the evening ?

Huh?

52   Peter P   2007 Apr 13, 9:34am  

The point being … you aint got nothing in the south bay! Damn boring.

There are plenty of good restaurants on the Peninsula though.

53   Peter P   2007 Apr 13, 9:35am  

Los Altos has a much nicer downtown. It has fewer weird people walking around.

54   Peter P   2007 Apr 13, 9:42am  

Palo Alto has pretty good Italian food now on University Ave.

You still need to go to SF for a nice French dinner though.

55   Peter P   2007 Apr 13, 9:59am  

At least, you should be able to block by IP addresses and/or keywords.

56   DaBoss   2007 Apr 13, 10:02am  

Many of my favorite restaurants are not in SF.
NYC has much better Italian food. ---> Move to NYC
Saw 100 people running in the street buck naked on Saturday Afternoon?
Can I have them arrested for indecent exposure? ----> Why?
Went to a Art gallery ? Europe has more. --- Move to Europe
Went to a baseball football or Golf event ? You mean crowd? --> Yea!
Been to a actual trade or hobby convention ?
I have been to a gemstone show in San Rafael. I Bought a Tibetan meditation bowl. ---- Ever been to the Heigh Ashbury???
Go to a night club, where the women actually do go back to your place for the evening ? Huh? ......... Oh you prefer the Fat Chunky kind in San Jose.

LOL! Sorry Peter ! Your just not a great date!

57   StuckInBA   2007 Apr 13, 10:03am  

3.1B for Double-click ? Crazy. At least they will not add as much legal trouble as YouTube.

58   skibum   2007 Apr 13, 10:04am  

There are plenty of good restaurants on the Peninsula though.

I wouldn't say plenty, unless by good you mean passable. SF and the East Bay have MUCH better food.

59   azrob   2007 Apr 13, 10:05am  

The spanish is a bit rough on the "raunchy grande" page; But I am not mexican, so maybe that will pass for mexican spanish...It reads more like english written in spanish, the grammer is bad and the accent marks are missing on at least 50 words.

One of the reasons I got my license as a real estate agent (My full time job is university professor) was intense disgust at the abuses I saw other agents and especially loan officers commit on recent immigrants.

On another note, many many times I advised clients to buy less house and use fixed rate financing, but I have never had a client follow that advise. I think countrywide's advertisement from a couple years ago sums it up best: "Don't let the payment stand between you and the house of your dreams." What the f*&^ kind of advise is that?

60   skibum   2007 Apr 13, 10:10am  

Try Marahs on Columbus….

I'll give it a try - thanks for the tip. I'll have to say, the cannoli bar is set very high for me!

Similarly, like Peter P said, the Italian food in all of the Bay Area leaves a lot to be desired.

61   DaBoss   2007 Apr 13, 10:23am  

Skibum - I will take your word for it.

I heard that Millers on Polk imports their Bagels from NYC daily.
They have some other good deli items NYC style.

62   e   2007 Apr 13, 10:38am  

Similarly, like Peter P said, the Italian food in all of the Bay Area leaves a lot to be desired.

"Fifth and Madison" in Palo Alto gets a thumbsdown from me.

In part for their ridiculous name. It's not even a funny joke.

The only redeeming aspect is they have mortadella - that's hard to find.

63   e   2007 Apr 13, 10:39am  

From what I have seen almost all the sales in crappy parts of San Mateo, Redwood City and the Bayview/Hunters Point have been to low income minorities who don’t speak English or understand the term “NegAm/IO”…

That reminds me, I need to move to RWC or somewhere more North this summer. Between 92 and 84. Pref closer to 101 for commute purposes.

And, I'll still be a JBR.

Any recommendations?

64   skibum   2007 Apr 13, 10:46am  

“Fifth and Madison” in Palo Alto gets a thumbsdown from me.

Other "Italian" places around here that get my thumbsdown:

- Il Fornaio: overrated, bland food
- Bucca de Beppo: chain store quality
- Rose Pistola: overrated, flavorless
- Kuleto's: bland, feels like a "Cheesecake Factory" inside

Much better, but still problematic:
- Olivetto: good food, but it's not really Italian
- Quince: same as above

I've never been to Don Giovanni up in Napa, but I suspect it would be similar to Olivetto or Quince in criticism.

65   astrid   2007 Apr 13, 10:49am  

Peter P,

Even though my professional responsibility professor specifically warned giving any kind of advice over the internet, I think this is generic enough to be okay.

You have an annual gift exemption of $12,000. Those theoretical philanthropic organizations would have to be exceptionally generous for this to ever be a problem.

66   skibum   2007 Apr 13, 10:50am  

That reminds me, I need to move to RWC or somewhere more North this summer. Between 92 and 84. Pref closer to 101 for commute purposes.

If you want commute convenience, that particular location, and you don't care about ambience or culture, I'd go for Foster City or Redwood Shores. They'd be fine for renting, but I'd never buy there (built on landfill). For more stuff to do, San Mateo is not bad. Lot's of decent restaurants in downtown.

67   astrid   2007 Apr 13, 10:54am  

Oh wait, bad advice. Substitute "philanthropic organization" with "mom dad"

68   Malcolm   2007 Apr 13, 10:55am  

SFBubble says
"I think Prop 13 should be interpereted to make the 2006 buyers’ property taxes grow at 2% a year. See how long until they pay the same as people who buy in a few years. "

It will drop with the current values. It can only go up a maximum of 2% a year if the value goes above an overall 2% per year.

69   astrid   2007 Apr 13, 10:56am  

I will never understand Olive Garden, why wait in line for food you can prepare in less time and 1/2 the money (or 1/5th the money if you use their ingredients)?

70   Malcolm   2007 Apr 13, 10:56am  

Wouldn't it have been smarter for him and his friends to buy a farm instead?

71   astrid   2007 Apr 13, 10:58am  

Hobby farming is expensive and very tiring.

72   astrid   2007 Apr 13, 10:59am  

Whereas career farming will buy you a $720,000 house!

73   astrid   2007 Apr 13, 11:01am  

The Housing Bubble Correction be Napoleon's Russian campaign + Hitler's Russian campaign.

74   MtViewRenter   2007 Apr 13, 11:02am  

Skibum,

My wife really likes Pezzella's in Sunnyvale. It's a bit pricey for the style of food (dishes her grandma would make at home). We're not Italian food connoisseurs though.

75   sfbubblebuyer   2007 Apr 13, 11:13am  

Malcolm,

I know they'll go down. Laws like that are never 'fair' or 'balanced' in any way, shape or form.

I'd support prop 13 if it had a means and age qualification.

76   DaBoss   2007 Apr 13, 11:16am  

"So the housing premium required in CA in the 50s and 60s was not as high as the premium required today in an economy dominated by Microsoft, Google, Cisco, Intel and so many companies based in CA."

What about the other side of this logic why not factor in the employers that went under... like hundreds of Computer, Semi, Semi-Equipment Maker, Networking, Software and others..... Bay Networks, Ask Computers, Ungerman Bass, Tandem, Amdahl, Norton, AltaVista, Atari, Excite, "old" Borland, Fairchilds and so many names we lost count. Seibel, Maxtor, Hyperion added to the list recently. .... THEY ALL WENT BUST... you know failed to survive. Many didnt survive because their employees were too expensive.. Their mortgages were far more than the employer can bear and be globally competitive. And that was in the 80 and 90's...

What is this PREMIUM people talk about?

FYI, Microsoft was never in CA. They were in New Mexico and then moved to Washington.

77   DaBoss   2007 Apr 13, 11:18am  

I forgot to add the other Google darling in its day "Netscape"

Hey ever recall that one???

78   Malcolm   2007 Apr 13, 11:18am  

Why fly planes into the WTC? Al Quaeda could have done way more damage to the economy if they had just had the foresight to put their resources into the subprime market.

79   sfbubblebuyer   2007 Apr 13, 11:20am  

I forgot to add the other Google darling in its day “Netscape”

I always refer to it as "Nutscrape" in my head.

80   OO   2007 Apr 13, 11:21am  

Actually I don't know of any extreme cases like that in real life. The more extreme cases I know of is like $250K household taking on a $750K to $850K mortgage, which is manageable if you know these people in person, because they live a really really frugal lifestyle, driving an entry-level car, having no vacations, buying clothes only on half-off sale etc., and doing everything possible to minimize tax.

There is only one couple that borrowed way over their head, over $1.5M in debt on a household income of less than $250K, but the guy joined GOOG right after it went public, so I figured he'd be ok.

I don't think a typical professional couple household in BA are that crazy. They usually max out at a debt load of 3x income.

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