patrick.net

FAB,

I can buy that a lot of carpenter/plumber/contractor business is all cash & off the books, but if every one of those jobs (not the just the owners/foremen) made that kind of dough, then CA median housing : income ratio would be low enough to *almost* justify asking prices.

You can't take a few personal acquaintances from a fairly *select* group of people (your business associates) in the posh neighborhoods where you live & work and then extrapolate out to the whole population. If Patrick.net represented an "average" group of people, then the "average" Californian would have a Masters/PhD and make six figures.

I also don't buy the myth of all these "rich illegal aliens" all making $100k. If that were true, why are immigrant neighbrohoods in CA so poor --10 people living to a room, etc. And why not just hire an American to do the same thing (fewer potential legal liabilities)? The whole idea of hiring illegals is you pay crap, work them to death, don't provide any benefits, and fire them at will.

Shoot, I did house painting and yardwork during H.S., college and also moved furniture and did warehouse work after college (only jobs being offered). I would have killed for *any* job that paid that much.

There are simply not that many jobs as a % --cash-based or otherwise-- that pay that much. If there were, the housing bubble would not exist.

The rich illegal aliens is not entirely a myth. many immigrants are willing to work more/hr, save more and spend less. They become rich not because they get more $$/hr but because they are willing to save more and spend less.

Peter P bought a house. Makes it less pleasant to read about falling prices.

looks like more and more patrick.neters are pulling the trigger.
I am waiting for the day when patrick will buy a house :-)
Anyways, looks like the market is now in a state where its not easy to say whether to buy or not to buy.
It was pretty obvious ( atleast in patrick.net) in 2005 that buying was not the way to go.

I'll buy a house the day it's cheaper than renting. For me, it's not even close yet. It's just so damn cheap to rent by comparison with owning in Menlo Park, and anyway, prices are still falling.

But I do admit it has turned around in a lot of cheaper places. You can actually buy houses in Antioch and parts of Oakland and rent them out for a tidy profit, if you can handle collecting the rent from people who are probably on the edge financially. And maybe armed.

True, I had not thought about it, but rents (and therefore property prices) would be lower without Section 8 type subsidies.

But you can't let families with young kids be homeless. We should take care of our fellow citizens at least that much. What's a better way to do it?

True, I had not thought about it, but rents (and therefore property prices) would be lower without Section 8 type subsidies.
But you can’t let families with young kids be homeless. We should take care of our fellow citizens at least that much. What’s a better way to do it?

No, of course not! People who can ill afford to have children should be subsidized by those who work for a living. 'Magically' squeezing out children should give you a free spot on the public trough. If welfare recipients want to have dozens of children (by god knows how many baby~daddys) they should be encouraged to do so because we 'can't let families with young kids be homeless'. 'We should take care of our fellow citizens at least by that much.' *rolly~eyes emoticon*

Peter P bought a house.
Almost as stunning as when surfer-x capitulated. Do you know the city where Peter P settled?

Where is HARM? Did too much sun in Walnut Creek fry his brain?