patrick.net

I don’t want another “homeowner” lecturing me or anybody else on this board about being an investor again!

I will humor them. Entertainment. I always smile when they do that.

Jeebus H. Christ, first and foremost very very very, vanishingly small numbers of McDebtors "own" their home. They rent, they just rent from a bank. Sure, some have equity but I hazard a guess that most do not.

Own=you have the title.
Not-own=bank has title.

Suck it long,
Suck it hard.

unless you like messing w/wookies

Didn't work for Jabba the hut, and I personally wouldn't recommend it.

:)

What do you guys think about this about my seeing almost no for sale signs?

Your prior comment answers your question.

I was in Santa Cruz county for the holidays- especially in the mountains-

I was in SC also, but in town and there are a bizzilion for sale signs.

test

Update from the best place on earth: I was in Santa Cruz county for the holidays- especially in the mountains- VERY FEW ALMOST NO for sale signs anywhere.

Holiday. No traffic.

I talked to people there- most things sell VERY QUICKLY when they go for a sale.

As of when? How quickly? Most people still remember only the summer peak.

From what i’ve heard from local people that have been there for years, some parts will see a 15% price correction, but when prices go up 50, 100 grand a year, a 15% reduction won’t help people much. -meaning it won’t help young people who want to get in there someday.

Wishful thinking.

Santa Cruz is not even served by a single interstate. I am not sure why it is considered so nice.

Surely the number of interstates a place has doesn't determine its quality of life.

If that were so, LA would be the best place on earth!

@seattledude,

What you saw is an artifact of: 1) A robust booming economy where real wages continue to grow and grow and grow, 2) the fact that Santa Cruz has ample jobs locally to support the average 800K $hitbox, 3) people have Faced Reality and just plain knuckled down, 4) the marijuana trade is up, have you seen the price of a good sack nowadays? (Jack?), 5) the RE market in $anta Cash mirrors what's going on in the rest of Ca, clear market fundamentals at work here. Supply Vs. Demand. period. I think those of bitter, jealous, moronic renters on the sidelines should either buy in now or stay BJM renters forever.

Surely the number of interstates a place has doesn’t determine its quality of life.

If that were so, LA would be the best place on earth!

No. But it would be nice to have at least one freeway that connects to the interstate system. Hwy 17 is not stress-free to drive on, you know. :)

I have to say that San Diego has the best freeway system I have seen though. NoCal has too many design flaws. Just count the number of four-leaf clovers we have here. Many do not have collector-distributor roads and were designed for 55 mph traffic in the 60's.

Maybe I’ll just go pitch a tent somewhere and live there and skip the whole kids, wife, mortgage part

Or as it's know down here, might as well trip out by the beach and drink beer. I lived in Portland for about a year, man I didn't think it was possible to be so depressed. Lovely weather, freaking drizzle all the time, not rain mind you, or sun, just slate gray skys with drizzle. Do I put the umbrella up or down? Screw that place, must be a booming market for prozac though. Cute chicks, good beer, couldn't wait to leave. Never even registered my car there.

seattledude, have you considered living closer to where you work, so that you don't have to commute? I took a 1/3 pay cut in the mid 90s to get a job in San Francisco and give up the 2 hr each way commute to San Jose. It was the best choice I ever made.

I could have moved to San Jose, but then I'd have had to live in San Jose.

I had to pare my lifestyle back quite a bit, sell the car and buy a motorcycle instead, move in with two other people in a big house, but all in all I am glad I did it.

Peter P, yeah I live in San Diego for about a year and half after my stint in the Army. I was just back down there for New Year's. I forgot how great the freeways are there. Wide, new, uncongested.. it was kind of amazing. I am sure the 8 is still crowded at rush hour, but other than that, I didn't see any congestion at all.

Hey, what's up with all the recent Portland & Seattle bashing?

Apparently, some of us here are *still* unaware (despite my best efforts to educate) that the Pacific NW coast is Shangri-La/Xanadu/El Dorado all rolled into one. A true fern-n-redwood utopia where the unicorns roam free between rivers of milk and honey. Jobs grow abundantly there among the many exotic varieties of mushrooms, magic or otherwise. There's no traffic, pollution, social problems or overpriced $hitboxes. Sure, it rains more than most areas, but only at night or when you're indoors.

I've never actually lived there, but I'm sure my unsubstantiated wish-projections are all 100% true.

Mr. UP, good to see you here. Hopefully the UP family BMW/Mercedes/Range Rover fleet made it through the last storms unscathed. :)

Olympia is pretty cool and housing is relatively cheap comparitively.

Ollllll leeeeee beeeeeer.

I know a dude that moved from Ca to Seattle and loves it, but then again he has declared the sun his mortal enemy. Have you considered becoming a Vampire?

@SQT,

Check out Mr. Up's link to Santa Cruz data. It shows inventory rising & sales falling pretty consistently since this summer. Regardless of how many signs are up on any given weekend, there's no question that we're just at the beginning of a long and painful correction and credit tightening cycle. If it follows the pattern of past bear markets, the list-pull-relist game will play out slo-mo over several years. I wouldn't sweat the small stuff.

Santa Cruz Co. is a small market - less than 300K people total - sort of like Marin.

@seattledude & Surfer-X,

Clearly, you're just conspiring to keep people out of the NW with your scurrilous disinformation campaign. So transparent :P .

Update from the best place on earth: I was in Santa Cruz county for the holidays- especially in the mountains- VERY FEW ALMOST NO for sale signs anywhere.

Also, perhaps the storm washed away all signs. :)

@HARM

There is no spoon.

@SQT,

Jack should be fine, it's Marin afterall, the flood waters were likely Evian. And those super savy locals probably just bottled it up and sold it.

seattledude, I understand now. Worse traffic than the Bay Area? Wow, that is saying something.

I know a couple of people that do high tech stuff in Sacramento and live in the Gold Country. They make half of what they would here though. They seem to think the trade off is worth it though.

SurferX, we just managed to board the GV for Mykonos prior to the ugliness, leaving the domestics to protect the compound and the auto fleet.

Oh, I would expect that you have already upgraded the GV to a G550. Hmm...

If Seattle traffic is really as bad as seattledude says, then maybe the monorail (mass transit) wasn't such a bad idea.

Peter P, come on now clearly Mr. UP is a Hawker 4000 type of guy.

Mr.Up you should visit Cairo. It has all those things you would want to see on your Middle East trip. Plus it is an amazing city, especially if you can afford a nice room.

But don't go in the summer or fall. Too hot and smoggy.

as you can see -it’s quickly turning into Carmel North
no sign of correction anywhere in sight.

Carmel, Santa Cruz, SLO, Santa Barbara and Vancouver are similar type of markets. They will turn later in the cycle of MIRAGE effects.

Love Cairo, and we still go even though the level of armed security required there since ‘97 is a pain. It is amazing, you’re right.

Isn't Cairo very dangerous?

I read something interesting today:

http://tinyurl.com/7shql

This news article from the Mercury News describes how someone with a $3,300/month (after tax) was able "afford" a $500,000 mortgage, was promised a rate of 5.3%, but it went up to 6.7% on closing, yet he decided to go ahead without revising his budget numbers.

He also borrowed a second loan, too, because he probably had no cash for a down payment, and wanted to avoid PMI, to start with.

The reporter blames the realtor, but I think the buyer should also share the blame. It looks like he actually believed his own phony income numbers, and never even bothered figuring out whether the monthly mortgage payment can be sustained by his monthly take-home pay.

Mr. UP, couldn't just have your BMW security shipped for your arrival?

Isn’t Cairo very dangerous?

Peter P, for peasant loser renters perhaps, but not for esteemed members of the homeowner community like Mr. UP. Are you kidding, the jihadists can see his clear superiority a mile off.

Are you kidding, the jihadists can see his clear superiority a mile off.

Yes, he can probably stop a terrorist with just a look.

Welcome back, brightc. Looks like the Merc is becoming our friend.

@Robert Cote', oddly enough being the pathetic renter I am, the wife and I are looking to rent a 2/1 $hitbox in Santa Barbara. Found a 1920's hovel for $1950 a month, we feel lucky. What's even more odd is that this $hitbox would sell for 1.5mil or so. I've never been very good at anything, especially math, but to me and my marginal intellect, the number just don't jive.

@seattledude: thank Mr. Up for the Santa Cruz info --he posted the link.

Actually the monorail was a lame idea- basically it was just politicians who wanted a shiny new train. There are many problems with the monorail but the main reason is it isn’t flexible enough or big enough- it’s range is too short.

Sounds like it's about as intelligent/cost effective as the L.A. money sinkhole a.k.a. "Metrorail red line". Spend 5-10X as much as comparable above-ground light rail costs to get a subway in L.A., where it rarely rains and never snows. Plus, we have earthquakes, which raises the possibility of cave-ins at some point. Luckily, common sense never comes between a politician and his dreams (and my money).

Darn -- failed to close the italics after 'short.'

I remember one day in 1984, cutting high school, sitting on the
beach at Santa Cruz...or was it Twin Lakes? It was Twin Lakes (right next door to SC but a little less crowded).

Belly full of Cali Coolers (they were new, then)...Blam!
6.4 earthquake! An earthquake of some size feels really weird on
the beach. Sharp, like someone pulling the rug out from under you.

It wasn't until working at the IBM manufacturing plant in South San Jose on that warm Oct. 17th that I felt the REAL wrath of Mother Nature with that 7.1 Loma Prieta. For a few moments, I thought I was a goner.

By the way, what does "uber" mean?

I see that word used here and there.

Thansch...

Mr. Holiday, man, I think I saw there back in '84.

Uber=big large, as in large and in charge. Slang comes from the Hun.

By the way, what does “uber” mean?
I see that word used here and there.

From Urbandictionary.com:

Uber

1. The ultimate, above all, the best, top, something that nothing is better than. Also Ãœber

2. Term with literal meaning of "above" in German. Brought to the mainstream in the early 80's by hardcore American punk band, the Dead Kennedys when using the term in the anti-Californian government song "California Uber Alles", which is a take off the German motto of "Deustchland Uber Alles", which translates to "Germany above all." The term was picked up in their native California stomping grounds by the typical surfers and "punks" and extended from there to many teenagers, the majority of which use the term online.

Thanks, Peter P. Just got back from my vacation. I'm looking at my ZipRealty listings for the first time in the year, and here's what I'm seeing:

* I see some mysterious houses all of the sudden added into my list, although their listing dates are back in October. I guess I just caught a break and these oh-so-wonderful real estate owners have decided to give me a break and drop their house prices into my range.

* I see a couple of townhouses and condos having brand-new prices, probably just to celebrate the New Year, holiday season, and all. The discounts are 2%, give or take. Am I too optimistic to expect a 24%, give or take, annual home value increase?

* When is spring? The spring I've heard so much about? Maybe I should buy now and lock in the 2% discount before spring, when houses will go back to the usual appreciation!

I know I'm gonna love this coming buyer's market! :-)

Oh, so "uber" means pimp.

Thanks dudes.

Prolly did see you there Surfer-X. The waves by the rocks are pimpola.