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SQT,
Precisely! I don't start the day out a "bitter" person. Generally I wake up well rested and refreshed with almost childlike anticipation. I'm kind to my family and pleasant right up until I turn on Bloomberg's and check the financial/mainstream news. Let's be clear here, greed does not bother me. Not a lick. What does start my sunny disposition down a dark alley is "unrealistic expectations"! Yeah, that's right!
I bought my "condo" all of six months ago and I thought surely by now the FED would have lowered rates, the IRS would see the foolishness of taxing "flippers" on any of their profits, the fountain of youth is found my backyard and bidding war ensues! Now is that asking so much?
Like many of us my day doesn't start out "grumpy" but unless heavily sedated it's bound to end that way and you just try to find what small pleasures you can along the way. Like when one of these asshats gets it broke off in their a$$ sideways. It gives you the strength to do it all over again the next day.
Dinor,
I'll use your approach. I wish I didn't worry about stuff as much. Worrying makes me bitter, and bitterness makes me pissy. I wish I was one of those guys that just finds everything funny and amusing, can survive a piano falling from 10 stories on his head, dust off his hands and walk away giggling....
But I aint that kind of guy. Instead, if I change the oil in my truck and am half a quart off on the dipstick, I get concerned. If I see people acting ( In my opinion) stupid, I say stuff. Like yesterday I saw two women looking at a for sale sign in front of a two bedroom house. " It's too expensive!"- I holler as I ride by. How rude and uneccesary on my part.
I actually wish that one day I would wake up and view the housing thing as something that will correct in time, and just drop it.
Silly things annoy me too. Like seeing one of those 50something year old rich moms pushing a quadruple seater stroller full of hormone-induced kids. Who cares? Lots of things annoy me, and hopefully someday I'll just get over it and be concerned about myself more rather than other people, as stupid as that may sound.
John M,
Hey thanks! And just to show you I'm not the bitter guy I've been painted as, I'm going to let you have the first "knee to the groin" on my very own personal asshat flipper dummy!
Would that be cool or what? Your very own personal asshat flipper dummy to wail on? We could market that with interchangeable heads!
Is it ok for a threadmasters/authors to comment about other authors, or is this thread just for non-authors (aka, plebians, common rabble, hoi polloi, "the great unwashed", et al)?
Because if I'm allowed to comment, I just want to talk about how wonderful that HARM is, with all his astonishing creativity, supreme grasp of the fundamentals and sharp, incisive wit. Oh, almost forgot --he's also devilishly handsome to boot. Not many people can balance having all that going on AND still manage to be modest about it. I really admire him!
The other thread authors really suck ass for the most part --except the X-man, of course!
Hi All,
Okay, so I may be a little off topic this instant, but I though you might like to know from someone who lives in Mountain View (right in the shere of Google) that rent prices are increasing a little bit (I am a renter) and that I have been keeping an eye on some of the real estate (not all sectors, in fact, just a very narrow one in a specific area - i.e. a good school district) and I have to report that there has been some price reductions - some houses are relisted as a new listing others plain show that they are a reduction - reductions in the ranges of $50,000 - $100,000, one even for $200,000. Now, it’s only a few so far, but surely this would indicate that even Los Altos/Mountain View are not going to escape a bubble bursting! Maybe it will only be the less desirable properties - i.e corner plots and ones with rooms without permits; on busy roads etc; but I’m starting to get a little excited even if I’m going to have to wait another couple of years before I can afford to buy.
By the way, I have lurked here for a long time and have to say I like you guys and you even make me feel happier knowing there are others out there. Alas, my crystal ball is all cloudy, so I will not bash anyone for their views, only time will tell who was correct and who wasn't. Speculate on, I say!
Bubba,
I for one view the mainstream belief that the bubble exsists as positive. In fact, sites like this were formed to inform... the misinformed about housing and how things aren't as they should be. If everyone knew what was up, as you point out- many do, then the result will ( hopefully) be a widespread slowdown in sales, and an eventual correction.
I've kidded about this being "my bubble" b/c after all "I" found it? The truth is I wish this had hit the MSM long ago. Sure there are times when I revel in my bitterness and on occasion it IS fun. But not all the time, not everyday. My kids are soon to be 19 and 22 so their confronting this is not some pie in the sky concept. It's now. I'm hardly a fan of bubbles and it wouldn't bother me if I never saw another.
Little Al,
I do hear ya! I used to feel that way for the longest time but now with this thing imploding before our very eyes I doubt unless you're getting price reductions e-mailed directly to your blackberry we could be watching it under any more of a microscope. Patrick does his level best to bring us the worst.
Randy H
2006 Jun 21, 4:45am
bubba,
Well said. The biggest fear of an iconoclast is that they themselves become icons of dismay.
Randy H
2006 Jun 21, 4:46am
My only gripe is the way that SQT continually insults everyone; but then I find surfer-X's pandering and groveling a bit much at times too.
Peter P
2006 Jun 21, 4:46am
I don’t think it’d be appropriate for me to continue my Astrid War for her biased deletion methods while she’s gone on vacation…so I’ll decline.
Has the spam stopped?
Alas, my crystal ball is all cloudy, so I will not bash anyone for their views, only time will tell who was correct and who wasn’t. Speculate on, I say!
Pansy! ;)
I wish I didn’t worry about stuff as much. Worrying makes me bitter, and bitterness makes me pissy. I wish I was one of those guys that just finds everything funny and amusing, can survive a piano falling from 10 stories on his head, dust off his hands and walk away giggling….
I know two of these guys, Ben in $anta Cruz and Ken in Berkeley. Both are pathologically happy. They are truly amazing guys, a direct Ben quote, Surfer-X to Ben, "man, your life really sucks, you just keep get handed a poo sandwich", Ben with hugh smile and laughing "yeah I know" dude is just never down. Ever. Yeah he likes to gripe as much as the next guy but never lets it get him down. Me on the other hand......
LILLL,
Wondered about Chris myself. It's like someone "got to him"! The Anderson Forecast is one of the few bright spots in a RE world of darkness. My first guess (being negative and bitter) was that he rec'd some kind of threat or something. The stick first, then the carrot?
SQT,
You’re just saying that because you’re afraid of the Surferman.
Well, it's that plus he can rip on Boomers like nobody's business AND he's hosting our next blog party (July 4th). You Bay Aryans should come, btw. Santa Barbara's not too bad a drive, right?
I will now have to think of a bunch of really reasonable arguements as to why you really suck.
I look forward to tasting your delicious, succulent venom -mmmm... :twisted:
find surfer-X’s pandering and groveling a bit much at times too.
Man I would really like to help DinOR knee some McDebtors in the nuts, please please can I help you do this? I think that there is way too much hate out there, Peter P should be able to eat as much as he wants and gain nary an ounce, pleeeeeeeeeeeaaaaase let the bubble pop horribly.
____________________
P&G mode off.
he’s hosting our next blog party (July 4th)
HARM do you swing, if so man are we so in. ahahahahahahahahaha
Claire,
Keep on postin'! At least you got a rise out of the surfer-dude.
T Lynch Hmmm, how old are you?
Ok here goes, as Luke Skywalker is filled with rage, Darth Vader (his father) sees the hate and compliments him on it, and says Luke I'm your Father Meaning your hate is good young Luke, nuture it, it is your destiny.
I am 28 by the way and was born around the time the Star Wars saga began.
Nope, you're too young, Star Wars came out in 1977, saw it as a very young bitter boy.
SP,
Yes, exactly. As I mentioned to Little Al I too waited with baited breath to see the articles of the day but collectively we have managed to go way past that.
"Yo, knucklehead cub reporter!" Put down your damn I-pod thing for a minute, quit e-mailing your girlfirend and give 300 words on this mortgage fraud thing!"
Google, google, yahoo, phone call, phone call. There ya go boss! (Goes back to e-mailing girlfriend)
I can't believe I used to foam at the mouth for these fluff clone pieces but we're way beyond that now, aren't we?
I will have to rewatch Star Wars, I thought he was simply stating a fact in the hopes that it would cause Luke to go over to the dark side
Mmmmm Claire.
Don't let SQT's bitterness infect you, she's filled with rage/hate and as we type is passing the rage/hate to a younger generation.
SQT, Ni Kung Fu Zhu Ha (your kung fu is the best!)
T Lynch Says:
Would the safer bet for me be to wait until say 2008 and just continue saving more money for the downpayment and if the housing “bubble†doesn’t burst by then would it be safe to say that the slow down was a “soft†one and not a full on collapse? Or is there no telling how long or when this “bubble†may burst and that I will always pretty much be flying blind when buying a home?
"Difficult to see. Always in motion is future." - Yoda
DJ…games…water balloons. No booze or profanity……
LILLL did you mean "BJ's, water games, booze and profanity?"
Man cuz I am so in :)
T Lynch,
That's what I'm doing......
Although I think Sacramento has started bursting already..... look at all their inventory...
We don’t have the land/building restrictions you see in the BA, and the sprawl out here has been massive.
Yes, driving up to Tahoe each winter, I notice more and more developments along I-80. It looks like soon enough the sprawl will reach Davis in one direction and Auburn in the other.
SQT,
I guess I'll never forget my first "X-Rant". (Do any of us forget our "first" time?) I'd been checking the web site for maybe a year and wasn't even sure what a "blog" was. The articles were great and I enjoyed knowing I wasn't the only person tracking this debacle in the making. And for a year it was fine. But I needed (ya know, wink wink) the "harder stuff". You know, (in the back room) wink wink. Keep in mind that back in the day we had trolls, and they provided endless entertainment as they were disemboweled. I'm sure there are those out there that visit just for the X-Man and scroll through just for the "punishment"! Randy H's well reasoned comments (while intellectually satisfying) just don't pack 'em in like X.
Sir Peter P, Lord of Crustaceans, is also very fond of ceramic knives.
whack-the-author:
DinOR: Are you drinking happy juice all the time, or what? Even your rants come off sounding nice!
ww2 nee nomadtoons: I enjoy the anecdotes, but somehow I feel like I know more about TN than I ever really wanted to know.
RandyH: one word - obfuscation.
Different Sean: I do enjoy the posts, but, oh yes, please tell us which edition of the "Liberal Manifesto" you keep at the bedside.
SP: You have a knack for saying exactly what I'm trying to say, but much more eloquently.
Mr. Haverty: most likely to go postal?
T Lynch,
Oh I'm gonna cry - I am totally screwed where I am, your house prices sound great (of course they are probably not), because I am stuck in Silicon Valley - 3b 2bath in a nice school district - $800,000 to $1.2m - how can we ever afford that?
Don't overstretch yourself - it'll be more misery than it's worth.
T Lynch,
From an asking of $299,000 to comparable (if not identical) homes selling for 230K? Whoa! That's a 23% hit. "Do you know how much that hurts a guy?"*
Guys, this is why I'm not a fan of down payments. At least not anymore than is absolutely necessary than to get the deal done. 20% downpayment (which btw virtually no one does any more) foof! Kuh-rispy!
*Vin Diesel's line in the movie "Boiler Room".
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Here's your chance, have at it. The grumpiness level is rising. Longtime readers probably have sensed the subtle shift in discourse here at Patrick.net. We do have a lot more readers now, and this will only continue to grow as the correction proceeds. But us authors are also increasingly disagreeing over issues that before seemed minor, but now seem more fundamental. In the beginning it was easy: do you believe there is a real-estate bubble or not? But now debate is mired in details of sticky this, hard or soft that, or inflation/deflation the other.
So, take this opportunity to whack-the-authors. Let us know what each of the "on-air personalities" here does that annoys, disturbs or bores you. Is it Randy H's never ending econobabble? Or HARM's fundamentals fundamentalism? Maybe Peter P's metaphysical contrarianism? Surfer-X's descriptive suggestions to select commentors? Maybe even SQT's unshakable reasonableness pisses you off, or astrid's philosophical introspection. Perhaps it's just the daily digressions on sushi and kitchen knives...
If we can't laugh at ourselves then we'll never hope to improve upon the lot we've drawn. Consider it a roast. Help us to see ourselves as you see us. (Obviously, the definition of "Troll" will be a bit different for this thread. Feed surfer-X at your own risk.)
--Randy H