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Jack - property taxes? Are you trying to get me to go to bed...I think it's working.
L:eCAS, don't be a piggy. Oink oink.
HARM. An English major? Criminy! Nice AG translation.
Zephyr, nice tag, all wind. I don't know where you get your numbers from, but, far as I have read, we "manufacture" in the sense that we still assemble parts that are brought in from elsewhere, but we don't manufacture from the ground up like we used to.
As for houses, we differ. I marvel at how crappy modern construction is. I think construction was at it's best in the 60s and 70s. The houses don't have major defects, and they weren't popping em out like a big McMansion machine outta Dr. Seuss.
My sister bought a 700k house, huge, new, 2 years ago. 1 year later, there's about 1/2 " of settling under the baseboard trim. The A/C system is ineffective, and the place just seems thin to me. Oh well, just my take. I'll take a 1970 colonial over a 2000 colonial with the huge difference in price.
Escaped: The manufacturing info came from an article in the Wall Street Journal this week.
Most houses in most decades have been fine. However, during the boom years during the 1970s and 1980s an unusually large volume of houses were disastrously defective. Everybody was suing everyone else about it. It was a zoo.
Peter P
2005 Jul 20, 4:37pm
I feel i know people here better than the ones I see every day.
This is why I suggest a party. :)
So far, only you and gabby have "replied".
I'm more than happy to come to a BA party...I have a nice rented house with a back yard!
Peter P
2005 Jul 21, 2:15am
I’m more than happy to come to a BA party…I have a nice rented house with a back yard
Cool
I wouldnt mind another ally either so that the bubbleheads dont gang up on me!
Convince Fake P.
Peter, it's a long drive for me, but if you make the party on a weekend and give me some advance warning, I'll try to be there. Btw, I like the idea of having it when we start seeing some negative price numbers in the BA.
Fake, I *dare* you to come and meet your nemesis, Darth Bubblehead!
Peter P
2005 Jul 21, 2:51am
So, Peter P, when something unpleasant happened to you, try not to ask others why, ask yourself first…:p
I am clueless. Please enlighten me.
Peter P
2005 Jul 21, 2:54am
HARM, where do you live again?
Fake P is most definitely invited. He is certainly not my Nemesis. (After Star Trak 10, that word has very bad PR)
Still don't know why he thinks that I am his nemesis though. I am rather moderate, no?
Peter P
2005 Jul 21, 3:04am
Paul_from_Oz, banks cannot lose right now because there is still liquidity in the MBS market. However, there are signs that the liquidity of the MBS market may be drying up. In that case, banks will be forced to hold the loans and they *will* care.
When this happens, it will be more difficult to get loans, the property market will be more depressed, and the MBS market may further dry up.
Suddenly, liquidity is not there when it is needed the most. But liquidity is always not there when it is needed. All participating elements in the market right now are both causes and effects. When homes are appreciating, they keep reinforcing themselves. When house prices are flat or falling, these elements will race to take themselves apart.
I am not an expert. Please feel free to poke holes in my theory.
Peter, I'm from Alhambra (7 miles east of downtown L.A.).
RE: Fake P. I think he *likes* being your nemesis, Peter. Don't spoil it for him ;-) .
Peter P
2005 Jul 21, 4:04am
Peter, I’m from Alhambra (7 miles east of downtown L.A.).
That is a LONG drive. Do you happen to operate small aircrafts?
Fake P. I think he *likes* being your nemesis, Peter.
Too bad. I actually like him. ;)
Peter P
2005 Jul 21, 9:05am
Hmm... a Jedi that refuses assistance and holds grudges... an open-minded dark-side that embraces differences...
We are in a mirror universe?
"Yes, a Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware of the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan's apprentice."
--Yoda
That is a LONG drive. Do you happen to operate small aircrafts?
For the opportunity to meet my online friends, but a small price to pay!
Peter P
2005 Jul 21, 2:54pm
For the opportunity to meet my online friends, but a small price to pay!
Perhaps we should have a Lost Vegas retreat instead. Then everybody's drive is no longer than that to the nearest airport. ;)
Nothing if not ambitious Peter P. Even seen the movie "Go"?
I see some bizarre twisted story unveiling if Vegas is introduced. And I'm not saying that's a negative by any means:) Sure I'll sign up if this is going to be the blog reality show.
Peter P
2005 Jul 21, 3:54pm
Even seen the movie “Go�
I actually have!
I see some bizarre twisted story unveiling if Vegas is introduced.
Perhaps you will win the jackpot and decide to buy a bigger house anyway? ;)
I rather admired Veritas's candor. He at least sees the unyielding temptations and knows from where they come (like he, I do believe
we are programmed ... commercials and advertisement are the most
subtle forms of mind control ... they try to influence or change the brand
that you buy ... if they weren't successful, advertising dollars would be
negligble by corporations, which is not the case).
The next step on his financial progress is to not feed these temptations.
You are what feeds you.
Peter P
2005 Jul 22, 5:53pm
It may be "just me" but I think Marina is a confirmed troll. It is hard to say whether a market is going up or not when there is a divergence between median/average price and volume. This divergence is certainly not good news for those who think that the sky is the limit.
« First « Previous Comments 165 - 185 of 185 Search these comments
It seems that Americans have become permanently addicted to debt –and not just housing debt, either. The savings rate in the U.S. has now fallen to virtually zero, for the first time since they began recording it in 1947. That’s right folks-- zip, nada, bupkis: tinyurl.com/czwm8. The total household debt load for Americans is also at the highest level in recorded history: tinyurl.com/c4s97. For most people alive today, living in debt is neither shameful nor unusual, as it was to generations past. It’s become the new American way of life.
So who’s to blame… the debtors? Whatever happened to concepts like thrift, fiscal responsibility and “living within your means� Did anyone force you to use your cash-out refi to buy another 50†plasma & trip to Europe? And what about the lenders –are they totally blameless? The very institutions that prop up the economy (Fed, banks, CC companies) not only don’t discourage people from over-consumption, they actively encourage it and seem to do everything possible to increase it.
Is it really fair to label Americans as (mostly) a bunch of over-consuming, hedonistic spoiled brats? Are traditional notions about thrift merely quaint and old-fashioned (pre-MasterCard = pre-historic)? Is perpetually rising debt meaningless in the new global credit-based economy? Is this really a sustainable “New Paradigm†of debt and consumption-driven prosperity and there’s no going back?
Or, are we slowly consuming the collective legacy of generations past, present and future, leaving little but IOUs to pass along to future generations? If so, can the tide ever be turned, with or without a financial calamity on the scale of another Great Depression? Can the ethics of thrift and self-sacrifice ever return to American culture, or are they just obsolete artifacts of a bygone era?
HARM
#housing