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Price war!
4153 EL CAMINO WY #E, Palo Alto, CA 94306
3/2 1,399 N/A 08/02/05 $545,000
4149 EL CAMINO WY #F, Palo Alto, CA 94306
3/2 1,399 1400 SF 08/02/05 $589,000
I have seen one of them before many weeks ago... I think the 545K one is a re-list!
Deleting comments has nothing to do with free speech. MP can start his own blog and we will not stop it. I do not see how cluttering space with nonsense is free speech.
I just finished my law degree and I passed the CA. bar exam last month. I am a 50 year old high tech wash-out engineer who decided to practice construction law.
I figure that my business will be great for next several years, after the bubble bursts representing the folks that are damaged by RE fraud and construction defects.
I am not here to solicit business, as I have been reading this blog for sometime.
It just amazes me the stupidity of the sheeple that are buying these defective bubble infested prosperities.
Like I said, I think business will be good until I retire in several years.
Good luck to us all!
Jack, thanks for the excellent analysis. I really admire your objectivity. :)
It just amazes me the stupidity of the sheeple that are buying these defective bubble infested prosperities.
New Attorney, I totally agree. All new constructions that I have visited recently are all crappy. I guess builders are incentivized to build as quickly as possible in bubble times.
Anon, they are anon buyers. No information is available. ;)
I guess those are innocent flight-to-quality purchases by trusts and HNWIs.
In short: granite on cardboard
I have more faith in modular homes. If the modules are to be transported and craned into position, they need to have at least a certain degree of structural integrity.
"[Marin] could very well even appear to correct more steeply than the Bay Area in general for one or two months in a row, and then shoot up the next month as other BA communities continue a more predictable path of correction....The rest of Marin has a far greater diversity of housing types and small town atmosphere, and is far harder to predict.
"
Just yesterday, I saw a small (~1000sqft) '20s bungalow on Sir Francis Drake (SA) listed at $799K. Despite the "location, location, location" mantra, I simply wonder how that "value" will hold long-term, taking real economic factors into account. If we take Marin home prices from 20 years ago, account for inflation and perhaps some intangibles over 20 years, how do those numbers compare to the market? Are people commiting financial suicide on a grand scale simply to own a home in Marin? I have to wonder...
Houses maybe…no they are crappy in terms of construction but that doesn’t mean they are defective, does it?
hellboy, crappy constructions means that it is easier to find defects. When prices are down, people tend to sue over the smallest "defects" in order to get out.
You must admit though, what is 50K for a prize like a Yugo? They are the cutting edge of Serbo-Croation technology after all!
I thought Yugo is an upscale super car. The salesman told me that prices will only go up because boomers will buy Yugos, and they are not making them any more.
Veritas,
If Jack's suggestion doesn't work, tell her "La Paloma" translates as "the vulture" (it actually means 'the dove').
Italics use before the words to be italicized and after to closed the italics. substitute a b for bold.
Oops. That worked before. I'll just put in the tags.
hopefully that will go through ok.
Oh. Guess I needed to take a computer programming class for that. Good stuff to know for a blog though.
Back to the topic at hand. I've heard of the US buying its own debt too, but I have no clue how that works.
@CF,
"Housekeeping" indeed.
As to your question, the Fed already "owns" about half of its own debt (in the form of U.S. Treasuries/bonds) --as much as foreign and domestic private investors combined: tinyurl.com/atvry. I guess it all pretty much works the way you describe --the government keeps running larger and larger deficits, so it keeps "borrowing" more money from itself. Basically the modern way of printing more money.
How could MP be evicted if this is an open blog?
We can use clues like language, IP address, and e-mail address.
Unfortunately, if they print it and spend it, won't they have to tax the people to be able to pay it back or cover interest at least?
Unfortunately, if they print it and spend it, won’t they have to tax the people to be able to pay it back or cover interest at least?
That's what I was wondering. The government can try to play a shell game of sorts with the debt, but in the end it has to paid off somehow. Doesn't it?
Gee... I wish I were a central bank, so I could lend myself unlimited piles of money --at a "preferred" rate that I get to set myself. Then I could tell everyone, "this debt is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, if not God himself".
How could MP be evicted if this is an open blog?
Please don't evict him, as I enjoy his provocative comments which give interesting viewpoints.
Please don’t evict him, as I enjoy his provocative comments which give interesting viewpoints.
I wish you hadn't said that. He needs no encouragement.
Unfortunately, if they print it and spend it, won’t they have to tax the people to be able to pay it back or cover interest at least?
That’s what I was wondering. The government can try to play a shell game of sorts with the debt, but in the end it has to paid off somehow. Doesn’t it?
Well... not exactly. A goodly portion of your tax dollars (can't recall the exact figure -25, 30%?) goes just to pay the interest on the National Debt each year. But the beauty of being a central bank, means you never really have to pay it all off. You just replace old bonds that mature by issuing new ones.
Pretty sweet, huh?
Does anybody know if the money that is printed is backed by gold anymore. Central banks around the world used to hold gold to back their currencies, but in the early nineties they started selling their reserves. (Guess they thought they didn't need it anymore!)
Jack says:
"If you are playing it safe, it might be the best investment location wise, but if you are looking for the most percentage of appreciation, perhaps a less expensive neighborhood somewhere else in the Bay Area might make more of a jump, since Marin is already so high."
Well, I presented this example because it's the most out-of-control property I've seen to date in Marin, a possible case study for the topic at hand. Including taxes, that property is about $4600/month--for a 1000sqft hovel. In terms of an investment, I cannot honestly regard that property as one,--no more than a Thomas Kinkade painting sold at 100X value can be considered one. At this point, I don't consider any property in the bay area a "solid investment". While we do own property here and silicon valley, thankfully none of that's leveraged to the point of great risk.
By contrast, I've been scanning my home region, Puget Sound, and there's a number of attractive properties (real homes) within a Seattle commute for a fraction of that San Anselmo bungalo. But guess what--I'm even wary to buy there, since I suspect the same dynamic is underway. So my inclination is not to buy--but sell off/rent.
@AntiTroll from Oz,
Don't know about other countries, but not in the U.S. anymore. Nixon took us off the gold standard back in 1971.
General background on the gold standard & Bretton Woods agreement: tinyurl.com/cm6qw
Don’t know about other countries, but not in the U.S. anymore. Nixon took us off the gold standard back in 1971.
Maybe the banks have us on a new standard, the "Debt standard"
AntiTroll from Oz, I think the land of expensive watches still has a significant gold reserve.
Maybe the banks have us on a new standard, the “Debt standardâ€
It wouldn't surprise me if that's the actual name for it. :-)
AntiTroll from Oz, I think the land of expensive watches still has a significant gold reserve.
Issue maybe is who owns the gold. Is it the FED, government, or privately held?
I was trying to answer your question about the relative strenth of Marin County compared to the rest of the Bay Area, all other things being considered equal...The bungalow is priced based on wishful thinking. Watch it sit
Agreed, I think some areas of Marin have innate desirability (such as Ross, Kentfield, etc.), while others to a casual visitor look pretty much like middle-road housing--w/ working-class infrastructure (poor roads, above-ground electrical). Perhaps the desirable areas will carry the less to a degree during a correction. In any case, it will sure be interesting to see where all this leads!
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At hymie's request:
"So much of the current economy has been dependent on this bubble. So many construction jobs, interior design etc. related to HELOCS, consumer spending in general. I truly believe that the as interest rates rise and the money available dries up, it is really going to saturate the market. When rates adjust, all payments go up. As a result, consumer spending decreases. This is not good for the business climate, but definitely necessary. I think that when consumer spending/confidence shifts, it will have a direct impact on the economy. Perhaps just a matter of time. How many people know friends whose jobs are dependend on the curent housing market? I just went to a Dodger game with a guy whose entire life depends on putting in granite countertops. I honestly would hate to be him in two years. He thinks that the FED should keep the interest rates low no matter what. I don’t get it. Does anyone believe that the current market is codependent on these sorts of things? Once again, we are not PRODUCING!!!"
Housing currently accounts for only 13% of California's overall economy: tinyurl.com/a64pl.
However, it accounts for HALF of all private sector jobs created in the past two years:
"...of the 243,000 private payroll jobs added in the state in the past two years, 122,000 can be directly tied to the housing market, according to UCLA Anderson. “In short, a sector of the economy that makes up 10 percent of total private sector jobs is accounting for 70 percent of the total job gains.†tinyurl.com/dereu
Does this mean when housing prices (and building activity) declines, a recession in CA is unavoidable? Obviously some jobs are more vulnerable to RE than others, but a downturn will no doubt affect us all to some degree. How do you think your job or company will weather the storm? Are there any "housing bubble-proof" jobs? Discuss...
#housing