patrick.net

Face,

I live in SCAL and have never lived in the Bay area (though visit family there fairly often). Why are you questioning my knowledge when I'm agreeing with you? I already said it was immune to any non-existent "crash" --what more do you want?

Yeah - I loved Firefly!

Looks like those who love Firefly love it very much.

It is my all-time favorite sci-fi show. Sorry Cap'n Kirk. :)

HARM :

You forgot that in BA everyone buys with 20% down and has a FRM. So the meltdown in Subprime lenders will have no effect. If a financial need arises, people either just demand and get a raise, or sell some of their stock options and get new ones granted to replace them.

Otherwise, plan to grow some gray hair while waiting for the BA meltdown.

Again, you are correct. Overextended borrowers do not age or grow gray hair. Aging is an affliction reserved for JBRs.

Aging is an affliction reserved for JBRs.

No wonder I have gray hair. I should have bought with a Voodoo loan. I knew it!

I’m not very knowledgable about other curries, but Chinese “curry” is pretty weak and never mixed with dairy products or coconut milk. Still makes for a good meat and potato dish though.

Japanese curry is very good with seafood, 'specially shellfishes.

I don't remember it too well now, but I remember I loved Blake 7 when I was a kid and was so upset when that was cancelled.

I don’t remember it too well now, but I remember I loved Blake 7 when I was a kid and was so upset when that was canceled.

I did not even know about Firefly until they talked about it on this blog last year. Then the show suddenly arrived from Netflix...

Unfortunately for Firefly, it was not shown primetime, so it did not pick up a huge fan base quick enough to stop the show from being canned.

Unfortunately for Firefly, it was not shown primetime, so it did not pick up a huge fan base quick enough to stop the show from being canned.

Too bad. :(

Well, at least it got a movie. What other canceled shows get a movie? :)

Again, if you can’t afford it without a “voodoo” loan, don’t buy it, and try to make more money.

This is why I am a JBR. And I will grow old with gray hair. Homeowners will be immortal because they will never age.

See, immortal homeowners + new babies + they are not making any more land = prices will never go down.

Not advice of any kind

The spring bounce that will test your resolve ! How true. I was fully expecting the following report. (Be prepared to hear more from the RE bulls on this one.)

http://www.sanjoseproperty.com/newsletter.html

From my anecdotal evidence, the gist of the report is indeed true. People are catching the falling knife. The arguments I have heard are same as FaceReality gives. In one line - no crash has happened, so it won't happen.

(The people I talked to were tired of waiting for the crash, stock market is good, there is still no shortage of funny money and some wanted to take advantage of buyer's market and buy before the prices go again in spring. Their words, not mine.)

I honestly have no problem with it. I won't mind if people get into bidding wars again and the frenzy pushes even the last bear into buying. I have never told anyone to not buy, and I will not. It's their money, not mine.

Peter P - not many get a movie, I think the hope was that if the movie was a blockbuster, then the networks would pick the series up again. There are quite a few websites dedicated to Firefly and the "browncoats".

Otherwise, plan to grow some gray hair while waiting for the BA meltdown.

I don't think that I will have to worry about that problem ;-) At the rate I am loosing hair, there won't be anything left to gray ...

There are quite a few websites dedicated to Firefly and the “browncoats”.

I know.

How are they going to pick up the series again after the events in the movie?

Again, if you can’t afford it without a “voodoo” loan, don’t buy it,

Cannot disagree with that. But what will happen to those who bought before they got a chance to read your advice ? Are there any such people in BA ?

The FB's will have grey hair before I do

At the rate I am loosing hair, there won’t be anything left to gray …

Perhaps we should have a thread about keeping your hair as a bubblehead.

Cannot disagree with that. But what will happen to those who bought before they got a chance to read your advice ? Are there any such people in BA ?

Can they un-buy their houses?

We need a spring bounce for the thread bubble too.

Arghhh.
s/loosing/losing

Oh - I could think of a million story lines for Firefly - but it is unlikely that it will be revived.

Oh - I could think of a million story lines for Firefly - but it is unlikely that it will be revived.

Have you checked out some of the fanfics out there?

Goodnight all.

Peter P - no - are they good? Really must sign off now.

The best quote I heard in a while ... from a friend's friend who bought it Cupertino after a bidding war just a few days ago.

It doesn't make any financial sense to buy a home ... but I can't wait forever !

Now how could I argue with THAT ? :-)

(That's when I wrote the comment about how the combination of funny money and dual income couples will support Cupertino ... for a while, and invited mighty wrath on this board.)

Peter P - no - are they good? Really must sign off now.

Good night.

Some of them are better than others. Just check out the usual fan sites. They have links to the fanfics.

(That’s when I wrote the comment about how the combination of funny money and dual income couples will support Cupertino … for a while, and invited mighty wrath on this board.)

Wrath is better than boredom. :(

There are clearly some owners in a bad financial situation - just not enough of them to impact the area significantly.

I guess I am in the wrong company then ! EVERYONE I know has bought using either an ARM (3/1 and some rare 5/1) and used a second mortgage, because they couldn't afford it with 30 year FRM and 20% down payment. But that's not a surprise, as I am also one the very few sub 200K income person.

There are clearly some owners in a bad financial situation - just not enough of them to impact the area significantly.

s/bad/good
s/impact/support

I wonder... :roll:

I was wondering how FaceReality figured out HARM doesn't know much about BA.

And that the sidewalks are paved with gold.

Ah ! That gave it away HARM. The sidewalks are NOT paved with gold. Yet. We are still working on it. Once the first round of Web 2.0 IPO are over, we will get it done pronto !

It is not just the wealth of the local population here that is preventing a meltdown.

It is the wealth in China and India. Poor countries, yes, but with half the world's population, even the smallest population of their elites is a massive number in proportion to the size of the Bay Area. And they all want to live here, or at least have a residence here, or buy their kids an education for an H1 so their kids can live here.

Some of their wealth is capital that people worked so hard for, and traded at WalMart for some of those cheap goods, those recycled dollars finding their way into Bay Area real estate.

When the Bay Area starts to get as crowded and unpleasant as places like Bombay and Taipei, that's when they won't covet buying more property here. But if you have seen those places you will know that we still have a long haul ahead of us till this area has become spoilt like those places.

You know, they are at least tens if not hundreds are places on earth that are as special or more special as the Bay Area. I have never heard of a place that is not considered special by its residents.

To me, Bay Area is special because I am here. The moment I leave, another place will become special.

When will we have thousand-comment-threads again? :(

On the bright side, rents are still low (relatively speaking). So there is that.

On the bright side, rents are still low (relatively speaking). So there is that.

Rent is really quite low, considering that everybody makes 600K+.

Thanks to our friends at
http://www.viewfromsiliconvalley.com/id298.html

We have the following information.

House prices in Silicon Valley make most of their annual increases in the spring. Since 2003, prices after June 1 showed a median change of:

2003: 0.0%
2004: +1.8%
2005: -0.7%
2006: -7.8% (= -$60K!!)

But BA is immune to any melt-down. This is just a buying opportunity.

My point is, what changed in that 5 months, did the valley add tens of thousands of jobs and all the elite from India and China suddenly discovered the fantastic bay area.

No. But the New Paradigm was suddenly discovered. :)

Face Reality Says:

There are clearly some owners in a bad financial situation - just not enough of them to impact the area significantly.

Based on what facts do you claim that, smart ass?
The fact that you've just interviewed two sales guys who are making $400K-$600K a year doesn't seem to be that relevant.
Do you know that 65% of mortgages in BA taken in last 2 years have been ARMs?