patrick.net

Wow! Did you see the house at 19040 Brook Lane - Very cute place, spacious 3/2 on large lot in a GREAT location, and in Saratoga!! Remodeled, granite and everything. I was sure it would go at least 100K over asking, but after JUST 19 days, it is already reduced by over 50K - AND IS STILL SITTIN ON THE MARKET!

*shrug* I guess as long as people want to sell, there will be sellers. Oh well, I am just going to wait a while longer and enjoy the whether.

Confused Realtwhore

ConfusedRenter Says...

Actually, I don't give a $hit what ConfusedRenter says. His ass needs to be banned.

The biggest thing is waking up 35 or 40 and realizing that life is what happens when you wait.

Actually, the biggest thing is waking up and realizing you're a failed IBanker trying to scrape by as a Realtwhore and thinking the only way to drum up business is to troll a RE Bubble blog.

If you truly believe this, I pity you, for you must be near death.

Everyone knows the #1 goal of newlyweds regardless of age and circumstance is sex.

F'ing hilarious! I guess "CR" is truly confused. "lol" and "I'm shocked!" You guys make me chuckle!

If you ask parents to be, many would refuse to raise a child in a rented apartment or house. Don’t know what’s so bad about it, but so many people just refuse to do so. They want to establish roots.

Family roots are build on shared adventures, commitment and dedication to the upbringing of the children. When Pops is working 2 jobs to pay for the house and the whole family is scrimping at the end of the month to make the mortgage payment, that's the roots of a divorce or an early grave.

I just finished carving pumpkins with the kids in front of a cozy fire. Rental house, sure, but ask my kids if they cared. How are the FB families faring/feeling this ghoulish season? See how deep those family roots go after the foreclosure hits.

skibum Says:

> Actually, I don’t give a $hit what ConfusedRenter says.

It looks like I’m not the only one that has a hard time reading the ConfusedRenter posts…

I don't feel sorry for those guys, because they hitched up with high maintenance women. The Male Ghetto that Silicon Valley has become just makes matters worse for them. It is a poor value proposition.

OO Says:

> FAB, just curious, how do these highly educated
> women skillfully find out whether you own a home?
> Isn’t it a bit too vulgar to make one’s intention so
> obvious? How old are they usually?

It is obvious since most single “women” will keep drilling down to get the info they want. Young “girls” (in their 20’s) just want to have fun (and another free drink) while married “ladies” just want to talk (and often complain about their husbands who have had too much to drink)…

Most SF women in their 30’s on a mission to get married want to know 1. Where you live (and if you own or rent), 2. Where you went to school (and if you went to grad school) and 3. What you do for a living (to estimate how much you make)….

I try to give vague answers, but they will just keep asking questions until they get the information they want:

Q: Where do you live?
A: The City
Q: What part of the city?
A: Not far from Laurel Village
Q: What street?

Q: Where did you go to school?
A: Here in Northern California
Q: Where in Northern California?
A: The East Bay
Q: Where in the East Bay?

Q: What do you do?,,,.

One of the things that attracted me to my wife was her desire to save money. Pretty early on, I bought her a diamond necklace and her response was "I'd rather have Cisco stock!" which really endeared her to me and is a pretty amusing thing to say, in any case.

Unfortunately, we want to save for somewhat different reasons, which may end up causing us trouble down the road, but for now, we are saving together.

I never really understood the whole "peacock" thing, where you pretend like you are richer than you really are, in order to attract a disirable woman. Doesn't this backfire once she figures out you have $40k in credit card debt? I guess for some men, this doesn't really matter, since they have accomplished their goal by then.

Liberals don't really oppose positive (or even only hopefully positive) change. A better word for these kinds of people is reactionary. But I have to admit that the Bay Area sure has a lot of people who oppose change and vote Democratic. Sometimes they have been on the right side of history, like when they stopped the Urban Redevelopers from tearing down beautiful old victorians and building concrete bunkers, like they did in the lower Fillmore, to when they stopped Caltrans from building a freeway right through Golden Gate park.

But this is an example of where they are wrong. Berkeley needs more people living downtown. I was a Cal student and this corner in particular could use a facelift.

Luckily for me, I met my wife long ago, when we were both very young and just out of college-poor-and-debt-ridden. When we moved in together we were renters in Chicago and the only people who owned were older boomers pretty much. Even after we got married we didn't even think about buying, only about paying off our loans and saving. It seems like today every 25 year old is talking about "needing" to buy a condo before they're priced out forever.

We did the first-home stretch thing, the upgrade, the nesting, the de-nesting purge (ironically which happened shortly after our son came). And now we rent. I like to complain about how much renting sucks for us, but it's been pretty tolerable. Probably because my wife and I both are on the same page. I just think I'm lucky to have met a good woman early enough for us to have both made the journey from the beginning together. It's a lot easier to ride through rough spots when we've both weathered all the same storms.

FAB,

that is hilarious. I usually shy away from these women right away, and thank god when I met my wife, we were both dirt poor students, and she is from a richer family than me. if there was a gold digger in our family, it should have been me.

I also have to say that these girls are not very smart. A better way to do would be:

Date 1:
Gal: Where do you live?
FAB: City
Gal: Gosh, I heard that rent is going up these days in the City, did you have a hike in rent?
FAB: I don't think the rent hike is going to last.
Gal: My landlord is nice, because I kept writing him personal notes to keep him on good terms, what about yours?
FAB: Writing notes sounds like a good tactic.
Gal: (thinking to herself, this sucks, can never squeeze anything out of this chap)

Date 2
Gal: Where did you go to school?
FAB: East Bay
Gal: Oh, you must have gone to UCB, I have a pal, Joe Schmuck, who went to Haas, happen to know him?
FAB: Haas is a good school, your pal went to grad school or undergrad at Haas?
Gal: He did his MBA there, I heard that the starting pay is about $160K, is that true?
FAB: That sounds like a lot of money.
Gal: (this guy is hopeless, sounds like a dick).

:-)

SFWoman,

sounds like you are just a 3-4 years senior than my wife, you should have overlapped with her for one year.

It also sounds like in our last conversation, we did refer to TWO different suicide incidents. Well, that says a lot about the suicide rate of our school. When I was there, the entering class already comprised 30-35% women. But I am all for having more girls on campus!

Little Worried,

my theory is, lots of the renters of today are the prospective buyers who got scared by the recent downturn and decided to become bubble sitters. Understandably, they are in better financial situation who can turn into buyers any time, and they obviously demand a better quality of life while bubble sitting. Ask the bubble sitters on this site, FAB, Randy H, skibum, none of them, I believe, will rent in less desirable areas.

Little worried I glad you get 1 bedroom after only little search, maybe soon you get also lucky and get big mortgage, then you not be so worried. maybe you get very lucky and have prime area mortgage, then you maybe not so worried.

FUCK OFF TROLL.

OO,

Or just for moving Wellesley and Smith closer to the Charles. :)

Dude says:

".The biggest thing is waking up 35 or 40 and realizing that life is what happens when you wait."
_____

skibum Says:

Actually, the biggest thing is waking up and realizing you’re a failed IBanker trying to scrape by as a Realtwhore and thinking the only way to drum up business is to troll a RE Bubble blog.
_____

Ha, ha! Yup!

"7% was stated on the low side" (e-mail Lowball rec'd from realtor (TM))

I've never understood how NAR could let local realt-whores get away with this? Regardless of their credentials this is pretty irresponsible talk, especially when you follow it up w/ 12% per year appreciation on the high end!

Apparently realt-whores don't need to single handedly support the market they just need one GF for this month's commission check. That's what makes this all the more wreckless. Because e-mails like this are done in bulk all they need is one potential FB that NEEDS to believe this garbage!

Lowball, if you could link that e-mail here it would help to put this into context. TIA.

Randy H. Says:

> I just think I’m lucky to have met a good woman early
> enough for us to have both made the journey from
> the beginning together.

There is a lot of pressure from society to get married before you buy a house (and once you are married have kids). Finding the right wife is a lot like finding the right home.

It sounds like Randy married a smart younger woman with manageable student loans and a lot of potential (that is kind of like buying a nice newer home with a manageable mortgage in an area that is getting better).

I was thinking that a city home is a lot like a city girl and a country home is a lot like a country girl. In the city you can find a tall thin old money girl (that probably grew up in a tall thin Pac. Heights home with a view of the bay) or a nice average looking hard working girl (that probably grew up with hard working parents in West Portal). The sophisticated country girl probably grew up in a vineyard and rode horses while the working glass country girl probably grew up on a working farm and drove tractors…

FormerAptBroker Says:
It is obvious since most single women will keep drilling down to get the info they want.

Drilling down, that would be a change. Many of them aren't even that subtle. Even saying that I am married doesn't always help - a good 25% just take that in stride as a minor detail to be sorted out later.

"So, you work at XYZ, huh? Wow! How long have you been working there?" My stock answer is: "Oh a little over a year." Which is (technically) absolutely true.

SP

George,

Stick to your guns! Look, so many people just assumed we "bought" our ahem, upscale condo. If that's what they want to believe b/c it reaffirms their basic premise that it's always better to own, then who am I to pee on their parade? If they do a double take and say "Well you did buy correct"? Well when you explain to people that you're on a lease w/option to buy they're like, Oh he's "o.k". Meaning you can pull the trigger w/the drop of a hat and it seems to shut most people up.

Why not take this route? You're a sophisticated guy, just baffle 'em w/some BS, that way everybody gets what they want.

SFWoman,

Could be worse! You could be stuck in Portland!

George,

I do hear ya'. She sounds like she's pretty sharp and I'm not trying to pull the wool over someone's leg here but it's not like you're buying the house (and then just "living" together!) The folks need to look at things from THAT perspective!

In spite of what some here might insist, lease/option can be a smart way to go. If you're not able brow beat the seller into doing an avg. of 2/3 appraisals at the end of the lease period you should be able to at the very least simply walk away from it altogether if the pre-agreed upon price is way above FMV in 2008/9. The seller doesn't want his only potential buyer to walk so you may be able to renegotiate. Also (particularly if you paid a premium for the option) if you think you can sell it at a profit (stranger things have happened) you might be able to have a clause to allow you to simply sell the option and pocket the difference.

SFWoman,

A couple we know took a job in So. OR and have since been transferred back. It' was so bad that Alex said the only part of the week she actually looked forward was going to the Walmart in K' Falls! Had it not been for the twins she might have made a break for it.

George,

Well it certainly isn't lost on me! We still have a "first right of refusal" even though our lease has run out and we are month to month. So if we saw something else that just had to had to have we can walk away in about as much time as it would take me to disconnect the washer and dryer! If the owner has a firm offer on the table we can meet it or beat it and stay put (albeit w/much higher monthly exp.)

Depending on one's level of confidence in their shopping skills being able to "re-assign" the option to a 3rd. party can be a valuable asset in and of itself. Especially for people that are new to the area, relocating or in a temp. situation.

After renting since 2000 and moving several times I've gotten use to it. I do want to own a home. However, the way this country and the economy is heading frightens me more. I think things are just starting to the downside.

Allah,

Southern families are a little different and George is a big boy. Anyway hey thanks for the heads up on forsakencraft's "Radio Talk Show"! I called in and had a blast with the guy! He plans on doing it every evening and they are HUGE fans of Peter Schiff! At this point it's no problem getting through as a caller and you can discuss just about anything bubble related. Lots of fun.

George,

I agree with the others; caving is bad. Doing nothing is also bad, of course, which is why I might be tempted to run off to Greece for a week, or similar.

Justme,

(re: sifting for wealth) That's why it's a good idea not to list income, and to be suitably vague. Of course, once it's someone's digging, that's almost a license to start screwing with them. Dates are supposed to be fun, right?

I'd prefer a SFH in SF to a condo, but I don't consider those /things/ in SF to be SFHs. They don't even have real yards, and the sides touch!

(re: sifting for wealth) That’s why it’s a good idea not to list income, and to be suitably vague. Of course, once it’s someone’s digging, that’s almost a license to start screwing with them. Dates are supposed to be fun, right?

...which implies that you're sifting for sexual conquests with the benefit of a clear conscience ("she was just a money grubber, so who cares"). If instead you're running into these women at parties, as FAB describes, that's more of an indictment on you and the parties that you attend than on the female sex in general.

Being interested in the financial sense/position of your mate is fair metric. You guys deride the gold-digger extreme, but the opposite extreme, the gal who doesn't care about money and who would live in a hovel with a big-hearted starving artist, is equally suspect. The mean is best.

Randy is also correct that it is easier if you meet your mate when you're both dirt poor, so you can appreciate the fact that she stuck with water at dinner. Just don't fool yourself; sound finances are an important part of a sound marriage.

FRIFY

I couldn't have said it better.

My wife can drive a tractor, by the way. A combine and front loader too. The really big kind. I think she used to run her father's diesel tractor trailer to the elevator too. I can't do any of those things so far as I know. If it all goes to hell we can always retreat to the interior and farm, and I'm not talking about the "victory gardening" kind of farming, but the "this sucks, let's get out of here" kind.

FRIFY; I used the wrong word there; I didn't mean screwing in the physical sense. I do have /some/ standards.

Just remember to tip a bit more if you drink water at dinner.

Though if I was on a first date, I would be impressed if the restaurant was a good value and my date could gracefully navigate through dinner (firmness with waiting staff, different forks for salad and main course, decent tip at the end). For a second date, any demonstrated ability for home cooking (if this person can't make salmon taste good, why would I want to spend my life with him or her?) would impress.

Is southern Oregon really that bad? I found the scenery there to be rather dreamy and Reedsport had the best jerky I've ever had in my life.

"a big-hearted starving artist"

I will preemptively agree with Peter P and say this is automatically a suspect category. Throw both of them (starving artist and co-hovel dweller) into Gitmo!

FRIFY; I used the wrong word there; I didn’t mean screwing in the physical sense. I do have /some/ standards.

I'm a guy - you don't need to apologize to me. Just be fair to those gals out there in the singles market.

Anyway, my charges were mainly directed at FAB who makes his misogynistic generalizations a running part of his commentary.

@Randy,

Somebody's gotta help you keep these boys in line. ;-)

If rich husband searching is an avocation for some women, does bedding hot materialistic women also count as an avocation for some men?

"Is southern Oregon really that bad?"

The scenery is wonderful and it really is a beautiful place. The problem is you can't eat scenery. Like Bend "pre-bubble", it's poverty with a view. The recent influx of CA's has introduced some level of sophistication but in most towns the first day of hunting season is the biggest day on the calendar!

If rich husband searching is an avocation for some women, does bedding hot materialistic women also count as an avocation for some men?

Yes. The hot materialistic women and the rich playboy men deserve (and can have) each other.

Markets in action are a beautiful thing to behold at times. Take the "market" for coupling. While there is plenty of superficiality and randomness involved, somehow the "market" seems to "allocate" the proper "resources" to the best fitting "use" of those resources.

Or as FRIFY said, often where you find yourself is more a reflection upon you than upon everyone else.

Lowball,

I understand. Even when directed to a single individual this is out of line. I don't know where you're at but I know of no one that's calling for 12% appreciation this year let alone the next 7!

In my business this is a major no-no. We've discussed the utter lack of accountability in RE endlessly. Until we get some measure of ethics installed we can all continue to look forward to these "gunslinger" tactics for some time to come.