patrick.net

RealisticOptimist1 says

I wish this could go mainstream, but unlikely. Just this weekend I was out with friends and talk about the house next door (I rent) being up for sale for 350k with 10k in taxes was viewed as a "good price." I was trying to make a joke about it being a "bargain," but to my disappointment, they took it seriously. Keep in mind this house sold for 195k in 2001, and taxes have more than doubled since then.

This could go mainstream!

Just loan your copy to them for a while.

Any chance of this being an iBook?

If not I'll order the dead-tree version on Amazon.

Vicente says

Any chance of this being an iBook?

Yes! That's next.

I just finished the Kindle enrollment, and Elliemae was right that I could skip the exclusivity of Kindle "Select". So the Kindle version should be out within a day. The .doc format was really bad, so I left it as PDF, but that got a few formatting issues as well, like missing page breaks. But at least all the content is there.

Now for the iBook format... I will see if I can get that done tonight.

Mandy Lifeboats says

I'm going to the Clark County Republican Central Committee meeting tonight in Las Vegas. The book should be arriving this afternoon, just in time for me to bring it with me to show it around.

Thank you! I think they'll like it, especially since Las Vegas had just about the worst bubble and crash of anywhere in the US except maybe Phoenix.

Not available in stores!

I'd like for stores to carry it, but I don't have a distributor, and bookstores don't like to deal with each individual author.

Elliemae told me that she paid the $25 to createspace.com to have "expanded distribution" through stores and other online sellers, but all they did was undercut her price, bringing her profit to $0, so she doesn't recommend that that.

Call it Crazy says

elliemae says

Women are emotional when it comes to home buying. And men have no ammunition against emotion.

It's not JUST home buying... they are emotional with every other issue of life!!

Humans are emotional beings. I used to generalize that it was "all the womens fault", until I experienced my assumptions in real life role reversals first hand, over and over again. It just seems to manifest itself differently, and we see it through our male eyes,,,,

Both men and women are emotional, just about different things. Different triggers set us off, and they align by gender. Speaking as a man, what sets me off the worst is lack of respect. When a coworker maligns me or makes light of what I do/did, I get angry as hell. When my wife makes the mistake of belittling me or talking down to me, even if she has a point about something, I get mad! If she nags at me like I'm a child that needs to be told again and again, I get mad, and nothing productive is accomplished.
On the other hand I think that women are set off more by the presence of or lack of shown love. If I refuse to help my wife with something, that to her, shows lack of love and she gets upset. If I don't compliment or dote on her and make her feel like I want to be with her, again lack of love = meltdown. If I, heaven forbid, make a disparaging comment about her person, that is just asking for an estrogen bomb! Forgetting birthdays, anniversaries, v-day etc are all manifestations of a lack of love.
Guys might feel love for their sweetheart all the time, but she needs us to show it for it to be any good for her.

At the risk of getting called sexist, I think you're right about that.

Men are wired to be acutely aware of their position in the heirarchy, and respect is how they measure that. Women want to know they are personally valued by their mate so that they can count on his help when they need it. Maybe an overgeneralization, but I don't think so. It just follows from reproductive biology.

Having had roosters and hens, you can clearly see gender roles there. There is no political correctness in chickens. The roosters are cocky. The hens are good mothers who need that rooster around for protection and support. Roosters feed the hens sometimes, giving them bugs and such.

The attitude toward owning a house is partly just biologically different in men and women, IMHO.

The Kindle version is now available!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009DRL91K

I'll make a separate thread about that.

Men are wired to be acutely aware of their position in the heirarchy, and respect is how they measure that. Women want to know they are personally valued by their mate so that they can count on his help when they need it. Maybe an overgeneralization, but I don't think so. It just follows from reproductive biology.

Yes, men and women are wired differently, but...it is not binary. There is a scale of behavior and while men tend to be grouped at one end and women on the other, depending on the behavior, there can be a lot of overlap.

There are probably many women who have felt pressured into buying a home by their "conspirator" husbands.

Also, these chapters:

Your Parents 27
Your Wife's Parents 27
Your Wife 27

Indicate that the book was written for men. Why not "Your Spouse's Parents" and "Your Spouse?"

Having had roosters and hens, you can clearly see gender roles there.

Humans generally have a much wider range of behavior than most other animals so it is a difficult comparison to make. I would wager that even with roosters and hens, if closely studied, you would see a "scale" of behavior.

I’ll be buying the book. I’m a very happy renter but in the market to buy when the time is right – right house, right price.

And I’m picky about any house I might purchase so I’m contentedly hunkered down in my apartment with wood floors, new carpet, upgraded ceiling fans, 24 hour fitness center, black appliances, detached garages, totally awesome pool with 24 hour access that my daughter loves and I don’t have to maintain, and concierge services. Everything has an upside and I’m enjoying the positives at my apartment. Missing an attached garage with the ability to wash my cars at home and the opportunity to putter around the yard gardening, but heck, now I’ve got more time to read and sunbathe!

And leo707’s totally right about that “overlap.” The female in me would have appreciated reading a gender-neutral chapter titled “Spouse” because while I’ve always wanted a wife, someone to do all the things for me that husbands have always demanded and felt entitled to, I have no plans to acquire one! I’m a rational, logical, self-sufficient female who works on her own cars and houses and tends towards facts and analyzing. To me the most important and exciting part of a house is the garage – ha! I think things through thoroughly and figure if it doesn’t work out in the timeframe that it takes me to process something then that means it just wasn’t right to begin with.

One of the most perplexing criticisms I receive from men and women is that I don’t engage in the games females normally play, and tend to process things logically instead of emotionally. It seems that we’re usually expected to fill specific gender roles and it throws people off when I don’t fit in the “female” box. Of course I sport long hair and high heels to try to even things out, but I think that just annoys the women and confuses the men!

There’s just no winning…

leo707 says

Indicate that the book was written for men. Why not "Your Spouse's Parents" and "Your Spouse?"

Because it really is the wife who wants the house much more than the husband, in general. Sure, there is overlap in gender roles, but the roles remain quite clearly distinct. The overlap does not make the fundamental differences irrelevant.

I was guessing before when I said that the pressure to buy is 2/3 from women and 1/3 from men, but after finding that article showing that 21% of sales are to single women and only 10% to single men, I'm pretty certain that I guessed right.

We should not let political correctness blind us to the reality in front of our eyes. I once had a debate with a coworker who claimed that there was no difference at all in capabilities between women and men. Zero. She did not have a good answer to the fact that there is no overlap at all in the world's records in weightlifting in the same weight class, for example.

We are animals and necessarily have the gender differences of animals. Not that they have to dominate everything, but they cannot be wished away or simply ignored either.

Got the book, and I am reading it now. My favorite concept is still...you rent the money, or rent the space. And at this point in my life, renting the space is much better for me...and is just as equally, my "home"!

happycamper says

Got the book, and I am reading it now. My favorite concept is still...you rent the money, or rent the space. And at this point in my life, renting the space is much better for me...and is just as equally, my "home"!

Please send me feedback on how to improve the next edition!

One thing I need to do is add a disclaimer saying I know it's not always the wife who is the one who wants to buy...

Please send me feedback on how to improve the next edition!

Also, don't forget to write a review on Amazon.

happycamper says

My favorite concept is still...you rent the money, or rent the space.

Yes, and even if you own outright without any debt, you're still renting the space via the opportunity cost and risk of loss. You're giving up alternative uses of and income on the money, and taking on the risk of falling equity. That's a little subtle for most people to get though.

Yes, and even if you own outright without any debt, you're still renting the space via the opportunity cost and risk of loss. You're giving up alternative uses of and income on the money, and taking on the risk of falling equity. That's a little subtle for most people to get though.

Agreed. Even if you pay off the mortgage, there is still the matter of taxes, ins., repairs, etc. and hoa fees, it you are lucky enough. So, you are correct...even if you "own" , there are still costs involved, not to mention the alternative uses of $$ and risk of falling equity you mentioned. Really, there is no such thing as owning it free and clear when you look at it from a broader perspective.

There is a fallacy here. This 'owning outright' all depends on
1. What would it rent for
2. How much cash paid
3. Get a HELOC but avoid using it unless you are super smart about it

If you do 1 and 2 well then,

4. You have an investment that earns income and will also gain value over time

If you do 3 right, then
5. You have liquidity.

Investing in the stock market is very risky and there is no box left to move into if you don't get it right.
Maybe use the worthless certificates to build a nest?

KILLERJANE says

4. You have an investment that earns income and will also gain value over time

Not necessarily. House prices in Amsterdam are the same as they were 350 years ago, in terms of years of work to buy a house.

And prices in Japan have been falling for what, maybe 22 years now?

But yes, I agree you have to look at what it would rent for and how much you have to pay for it. If the rent is high and the price is low, sure, then it's a good deal and you should buy it. See http://patrick.net/calculator.php

KILLERJANE says

4. You have an investment that earns income and will also gain value over time

Not necessarily. House prices in Amsterdam are the same as they were 350 years ago, in terms of years of work to buy a house.

And prices in Japan have been falling for what, maybe 22 years now?

But yes, I agree you have to look at what it would rent for and how much you have to pay for it. If the rent is high and the price is low, sure, then it's a good deal and you should buy it. See http://patrick.net/calculator.php

Ironic, you read my mind just now reading another thread on both issues! Japan is the PERFECT example.

you're still renting the space via the opportunity cost and risk of loss. You're giving up alternative uses of and income on the money, and taking on the risk of falling equity.

PRECISELY.
You do realise you are now going way over the heads of many around here.

You just have to be smart and cover your bases and have a back door plan. That goes for many areas of life.

Vicente says

Any chance of this being an iBook?

If not I'll order the dead-tree version on Amazon.

Well darn, it's harder than I thought. iBooks demands a brand new ISBN for the digital version, which would cost me $125 (what a scam!)

And they're demanding I give them a credit card number to sell my own book, nothing to do with my getting a new ISBN. Weird and slightly disturbing.

And they won't accept my PDF file, but require that I figure out how to reformat it to the ePub format.

Finally, it looks like you can just read Kindle books on the iPad:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000490441

So maybe I should just recommend that if people want to read the electronic edition that they use the free Kindle reader for iPad?

Quigley says

When my wife makes the mistake of belittling me or talking down to me, even if she has a point about something, I get mad! If she nags at me like I'm a child that needs to be told again and again, I get mad, and nothing productive is accomplished.
On the other hand I think that women are set off more by the presence of or lack of shown love. If I refuse to help my wife with something, that to her, shows lack of love and she gets upset. If I don't compliment or dote on her and make her feel like I want to be with her, again lack of love = meltdown. If I, heaven forbid, make a disparaging comment about her person, that is just asking for an estrogen bomb! Forgetting birthdays, anniversaries, v-day etc are all manifestations of a lack of love.

sounds like you married the wrong girl!

Amazon e-mailed me today that my copy shipped. They collected sales tax, even though I placed the order last week, so I guess we're doing our part to finance the drug war, the medical-industrial complex, and Marcus. Anyway I look forward to the book :)

I'm still waiting for my own copies! I have not seen a physical copy of the final book yet.

But several people wrote me that they got their copies, so it's coming.

But several people wrote me that they got their copies, so it's coming.

Yeah, I got an email from Amazon today with tracking number. Also, with tax...

The damn sales tax thing is one reason I'm not selling it myself. The state wanted my address, bank account number, SSN, driver's license number, and much more besides, and that's just for a "seller's license", to be allowed to collect the sales tax.

Sheesh. Sales tax is the first tax that should be eliminated in favor of a land value tax. It would be the same amount of revenue, but the paperwork and harm to commerce would be far less.

land value tax is interesting.

I prefer my idea of 'why dont they just print all the money they need and eliminate ALL TAXES'.

half the federal budget is printed up money now via fed reserve buying bonds the chinese wont buy. fast forward 10 years they will be printing up 80% of the fed budget. The feds can simply cut checks to the states OR BETTER YET the fed reserve can buy up any and all gov bonds with printed money!

The damn sales tax thing is one reason I'm not selling it myself.

Reorganize PatNet as a church, you may become exempt. I'll join, especially if it scores me an exemption from ObamneyCare (currently only the Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian "Scientists," and certain Baptist sects are on the list of IRS-approved religions). One caveat though, tax exemption isn't automatic; Romney's cult has it, but Tom Cruise's cult continues to struggle. Wishing you a Happy Festivus, solstice, comet, or whatever :)

PockyClipsNow says

half the federal budget is printed up money now via fed reserve buying bonds the chinese wont buy. fast forward 10 years they will be printing up 80% of the fed budget.

If the Fed and Treasury continue on that path, the American Dollar will go the way of the Zimbabwe Dollar. Every government that discovers it can print "free" money fools itself as if it were the first to try that, and the story always ends badly. A fiat currency is like fire: an extremely useful invention when used properly, or a disaster if it falls into the wrong hands.

PockyClipsNow says

I prefer my idea

Funny -- I preface nearly every other sentence with those very words...

Quigley says

When my wife makes the mistake of belittling me or talking down to me, even if she has a point about something, I get mad! If she nags at me like I'm a child that needs to be told again and again, I get mad, and nothing productive is accomplished.
On the other hand I think that women are set off more by the presence of or lack of shown love. If I refuse to help my wife with something, that to her, shows lack of love and she gets upset. If I don't compliment or dote on her and make her feel like I want to be with her, again lack of love = meltdown. If I, heaven forbid, make a disparaging comment about her person, that is just asking for an estrogen bomb! Forgetting birthdays, anniversaries, v-day etc are all manifestations of a lack of love.
Guys might feel love for their sweetheart all the time, but she needs us to show it for it to be any good for her.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/hPIxrzmatq0

RealisticOptimist1 says

I wish this could go mainstream, but unlikely. Just this weekend I was out with friends and talk about the house next door (I rent) being up for sale for 350k with 10k in taxes was viewed as a "good price." I was trying to make a joke about it being a "bargain," but to my disappointment, they took it seriously. Keep in mind this house sold for 195k in 2001, and taxes have more than doubled since then.

This could go mainstream!

Just loan your copy to them for a while.

They'd never read it, which is why I don't even bother engaging in discussion. :/

Elliemae told me that she paid the $25 to createspace.com to have "expanded distribution" through stores and other online sellers, but all they did was undercut her price, bringing her profit to $0, so she doesn't recommend that that.

Anyone can be an online seller - so if you pay for the "expanded distribution," that means not only can bookstores order it but also the Amazon online booksellers can too - only they receive all the profit.

So, when you pull up a book on Amazon and there are a bunch of options (a few of which undercut Amazon by less than a buck and one that sells it for $60 (!), most of the time these sellers are ordering from Amazon the same way as if you ordered directly from Amazon - only they're reping the profits. Does that make sense?

I put my book up for $16.95 plus s&h; and believe me - it's a bargain considering people pay thousands out of pocket when they qualify for Medicaid, or they hire a case manager to assist with placement when they still have to make the decisions anyway - but some asshole listed it immediately for $16.19.

I learned alot about the publishing angle. Let's get real - if my book sells enough that a publisher is interested in it, I can deal with it at that time.

RealisticOptimist1 says

hey'd never read it, which is why I don't even bother engaging in discussion. :/

10K in TAXES!!!...you must be TEXAS!

elliemae says

I put my book up for $16.95 plus s&h; and believe me - it's a bargain considering people pay thousands out of pocket when they qualify for Medicaid, or they hire a case manager to assist with placement when they still have to make the decisions anyway

I agree your book is really valuable to the right crowd (people in need of good nursing home advice), but that crowd is rather sparsely dispersed through the general population. So general advertising is probably not going to be very effective, and maybe even word of mouth will be difficult because the people who need it probably don't even know each other.

Somehow you have to advertise right to the audience that is in need of nursing home info. Maybe people here have ideas on how to do that?

I'm still waiting for my own copies! I have not seen a physical copy of the final book yet.

But several people wrote me that they got their copies, so it's coming.

I got the book on 17th and finished reading the book on 17th night itself. One thing I did not like is about the spouse pressure, it is little exaggerated. My wife got mad by reading that page (btw she always tells her friends to read patrick.net before going with a realestate agent to see homes).

Overall its a great book, but a small one.

crazydesi says

the spouse pressure, it is little exaggerated

Is it better to just delete or neuter that part of the sake of political correctness and inter-gender harmony, or to keep it for the discussion and controversy value?

I believe there is truth in it, but I can also see how it can be perceived as offensive.

crazydesi says

Overall its a great book, but a small one.

Thanks. Part of the idea is not to waste any words.

crazydesi says

the spouse pressure, it is little exaggerated

Agreed. On the other hand, we live in a society where house, translated, "home" is an emotionally charged concept that has been around for a long time. That is a tough one to get past. Especially, when so much of our society promotes the concept as part of "the American dream". Personally, this bubble has created a new way of thinking for me in regards to that American dream, that perhaps I may not have been open to before.

Sheesh. Sales tax is the first tax that should be eliminated in favor of a land value tax. It would be the same amount of revenue, but the paperwork and harm to commerce would be far less.

But it also means less government control of individuals. We can't have that.