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  1. urbanrealtor
    June 30, 2011 @ 8:49 PM

    Dear Buddha:
    I want a rocket

    Dear Buddha:
    I want a rocket and a pony and…..uhhhh….a new chart set showing payment and ppsf over time with median income held constant.

    Its all I have ever wanted.

    That and maybe some empirical evidence showing that lower marginal tax rates in the highest brackets lead to job creation.

    But I would settle for the charts and the pony.

    • Rich Toscano
      June 30, 2011 @ 9:08 PM

      There’s something very
      There’s something very similar here:

      http://piggington.com/shambling_towards_affordability_yearend_2010_edition

      (except it’s CS index instead of ppsf, and per capita income instead of median income bc the latter is not available as far back historically)

      This is from Feb but I am planning to update it soon.

      • urbanrealtor
        June 30, 2011 @ 10:45 PM

        Yes.
        I know.
        It is posted on

        Yes.
        I know.
        It is posted on the front window of Principle Real Estate Group.
        Would love to see the updated version.

        And the pony.

        Anytime soon?

      • Rich Toscano
        July 1, 2011 @ 8:55 AM

        urbanrealtor wrote:Yes.
        I

        [quote=urbanrealtor]Yes.
        I know.
        It is posted on the front window of Principle Real Estate Group.
        Would love to see the updated version.

        And the pony.

        Anytime soon?[/quote]

        Understood. 🙂

        I’m hoping to get to that within the next couple weeks.

        On that other issue, would you settle for two cats?

      • pencilneck
        July 1, 2011 @ 10:18 AM

        According to experts the
        According to experts the average weight of a pony is 600-650 lbs and a house cat is 9-12 lbs. By weight this makes a pony worth around 59.5 cats. But weight, strictly speaking, is probably irrelevant when it comes to house pets.

        Assuming that Urbanrealtor wants to keep the pony as a pet makes the hedonic adjusting of one pony to an unknown quantity of cats a little more complicated. Rather than weight, the most important aspect of a pet is obviously its surface area. Taking the cubic roots of their average weights makes a pony worth at least 4.1 cats.

        Nice try Rich.

      • FormerSanDiegan
        July 1, 2011 @ 11:28 AM

        pencilneck wrote:According to
        [quote=pencilneck]According to experts the average weight of a pony is 600-650 lbs and a house cat is 9-12 lbs. By weight this makes a pony worth around 59.5 cats. But weight, strictly speaking, is probably irrelevant when it comes to house pets.

        Assuming that Urbanrealtor wants to keep the pony as a pet makes the hedonic adjusting of one pony to an unknown quantity of cats a little more complicated. Rather than weight, the most important aspect of a pet is obviously its surface area. Taking the cubic roots of their average weights makes a pony worth at least 4.1 cats.

        Nice try Rich.[/quote]

        But since cats have 9 lives, and ponies have but one, wouldn’t that make a pony worth ~ 0.455 cats ?

        I am sure there are plenty of people who are in factor of fractional cats.

      • Rich Toscano
        July 1, 2011 @ 1:59 PM

        pencilneck wrote:According to
        [quote=pencilneck]According to experts the average weight of a pony is 600-650 lbs and a house cat is 9-12 lbs. By weight this makes a pony worth around 59.5 cats. But weight, strictly speaking, is probably irrelevant when it comes to house pets.

        Assuming that Urbanrealtor wants to keep the pony as a pet makes the hedonic adjusting of one pony to an unknown quantity of cats a little more complicated. Rather than weight, the most important aspect of a pet is obviously its surface area. Taking the cubic roots of their average weights makes a pony worth at least 4.1 cats.

        Nice try Rich.[/quote]

        In my defense, one of them is grossly obese. But anyway, weight and surface area are arbitrary measures. FSD noted number of lives; I would also propose that these particular cats can outperform a pony in the following skills:

        – Vomiting on the sofa.
        – Making an unholy racket.
        – Walking on my head when I’m trying to sleep.

      • urbanrealtor
        July 1, 2011 @ 9:42 PM

        pencilneck wrote:According to
        [quote=pencilneck]According to experts the average weight of a pony is 600-650 lbs and a house cat is 9-12 lbs. By weight this makes a pony worth around 59.5 cats. But weight, strictly speaking, is probably irrelevant when it comes to house pets.

        Assuming that Urbanrealtor wants to keep the pony as a pet makes the hedonic adjusting of one pony to an unknown quantity of cats a little more complicated. Rather than weight, the most important aspect of a pet is obviously its surface area. Taking the cubic roots of their average weights makes a pony worth at least 4.1 cats.

        Nice try Rich.[/quote]

        This leads me to recall my favorite aphorism of the philosopher Jayne Cobb.

        “If wishes were horses, we’d all be eating steak.”

        I doubt he would have settled for cat.

        Though they are tasty.

      • moneymaker
        July 9, 2011 @ 11:30 AM

        If you’re talking surface
        If you’re talking surface area you need to square 4.1 giving you roughly 17 cats. A prime number of cats. Kinda makes my skin crawl as I have already been exposed to 2 cats and each has issues.

      • lindismith
        July 14, 2011 @ 12:09 PM

        Rad thread!
        I miss the Piggs!

        Rad thread!

        I miss the Piggs! Need to lurk more often!

  2. Jazzman
    July 1, 2011 @ 8:24 AM

    Am I wrong here, or didn’t we
    Am I wrong here, or didn’t we get seasonal blips even at the height of the bust?

    • Rich Toscano
      July 1, 2011 @ 8:53 AM

      Jazzman wrote:Am I wrong
      [quote=Jazzman]Am I wrong here, or didn’t we get seasonal blips even at the height of the bust?[/quote]

      This graph would answer that question best:

    • FormerSanDiegan
      July 1, 2011 @ 11:26 AM

      Jazzman wrote:Am I wrong
      [quote=Jazzman]Am I wrong here, or didn’t we get seasonal blips even at the height of the bust?[/quote]

      Seasonal variations have been there all along.

      The difference is that during the ride up, and rapid descent down, the magnitude of the longer term changes far exceeded the magnitude of the seasonal or short-term effects. Now that House price action is essentially flat, seasonal fluctuations are larger than or of the same order of magnitude as the long-term changes and thus appear more important.

      As the market flattens or remians relatively flat, people will “rediscover” seasonal patterns in homoe price data.

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