Bob Casagrand

[NotARocketScientist]

Guess I won’t be posting any links from Docktor Kleinhaus anytime soon…

Seriously PowaySeller, we do appreciate the link. Good quality data well parsed. But who hasn’t made a fart joke in church at one time or another? I’d give SDR a pass on this one if it was me.

[theplayers]

I don’t think that pointing out that Bob’s last name means “big house” is derogatory, disrespectful, or “horrendous”. I also see the (harmless) humor in it, a realtor with a name that happens to fit his profession. I, too, prefer civility on this user forum, but powayseller, your dislike for sdrealtor is obvious, I think you overreacted. Just my opinion…

[CardiffBaseball]

Lighten up Francis

[rankandfile]

I would like to hear Bob’s input as I have a LOT to learn about this business. The namecalling, well, just let it slide and be thankful that Bob doesn’t have any brothers or colleagues names Neil.

Bob’s offer to provide accurate MLS data is commendible and should be highly welcomed by the members of our blog here. I’d like to take Bob’s offer a step further and offer to personally help him in creating an accruate, oomprehensive, public-access MLS database that anyone can see. Now if he is willing to go for something like that, he will be have the stuff made of legends. I am sure that there would be others in the blog that would also volunteer to help create the new MLS database…let’s call it OpenMLS.

The offer is yours, Bob? Deal or No Deal?

[lostkitty]

“Thanks for sharing that and participating in this forum. I invite you to consider my point of view…”

I went to a podiatrist once named Dr Shu, and, dont read this if you are easily offended… but I also saw a gynecologist once named Dr Kunstman. Say it fast. I couldnt keep a straight face, but I said nothing. No kidding!

That said, I do understand why powayseller feels the way she does. SDR has picked on her and her recommendations repeatedly. Almost invariably he is involved when there is a tiff on this board. I dont think he meant any harm this time, but it does get old.

[powayseller]

My expectation of a realtor on this forum, is that he will give us market insights such as that provided by Bob.

[North County Jim]

My expectation of a realtor on this forum, is that he will give us market insights such as that provided by Bob.

It seems your implication is that SDR has not provided any market insight. I think you’re wrong but if that’s what you feel, why don’t you state it directly?

[powayseller]

I believe that the realtors on this forum should provide market insights, such as that provided in Bob’s newsletter. In response to this thread started by desmond, I would expect any realtors on this forum (there are several, let’s not pick on one of them), to add to it. For example, they could say. “I also see a high vacancy rate in my area”, or “1/3 of my customers say they are leaving San Diego”, or “I see something different; in my area, investors are busy buying up properties”. I am looking for market insights from the realtors.

Look at Bugs. What a professional. He has a cool head, and continuously teaches us about the market conditions. Privatebanker has taught me so much. He’s written many posts about REOs back in the 1990’s, and has a solid knowledge of banking and investing. Chris J taught me a lot about trading and investing. None of these guys gets sidetracked by having a laugh at the expense of a colleague. I thought sdr’s comment was a cheap shot, and was the only thing he had to say about a report so valuable, it has been quoted on numerous blogs so far. It’s up on ocrenter, Ben’s blog, and Patrick.net.

[UP IN ARMS]

was posted on craiglist forums like 5 mins after the first post also.

[sdrealtor]

I provide plenty of insight on this board as most would agree. Bob provides summary statistics of what he is able to glean from the data rather than experience in actual transactions. On the otherhand, I am involved in the sales/purchases of real estate on a daily level and report what I am seeing with my feet on the ground!

Some folks want to hear great analytical disection of data but real estate is very different from many markets and frequently defies data analysis. Some of you scream for data but when you get it you realize it isnt really what you want to hear. The data has been telling you median prices are rising while I have been reporting falling prices for months hear.

As for the report being quoted on numerous blogs? Of course it was. It says what the bublle bloggers want to hear so everyone is posting it. As an overview the report has alot of merit but real estate is an individual sport conducted a on property by property basis.

[kiki]

“When you have hispanic kids growing up in homes that english is the second language you will naturally see lower API scores for them that will pull down the schools average”
“There is an ethnic bias against education among Mexicans, because they don’t value education as much as whites or Asians”

PS and SDR, as a Hispanic (not Mexican) I have to tell I was a bit offended my the generalization “ naturally will see” “Mexicans do not value education” .

I have not skimmed the threads, I read them twice to make sure I was not missing anything. SDR you first said “naturally” as if were a fact for Hispanics kids to perform lower than average and then say that you were talking abut poor areas or ethnicity serves as surrogate for househould income.

I have no stats or do not know any Hispanic with kids going to school here is SD so both you SDR and PS could be right about your statement, here is SD. However I think it has a lot to do with the class of people that live here.

I come from middle class from a country in South America and the consensus among us (middle and upper class families) is that schools in the US are horribly bad. Higher education is great but middle and high school are really bad. English is not first language for any of us. I studied one year in the Midwest and have friends that have spent summers or year in various cities in the US (parent in the Army, doing advance studies, or diplomats) and all of us agree that school was a piece of cake (even lazy kids got As) , which was great while studying here but sucked when we had to come back to our country and we had to learn everything that was not taught to us to pass to the next grade. My sister and I had to spend a whole summer studying all we missed during that year.

I am sure if you compare kids from the same educational background Caucasian, Asians or Hispanics will score same in average. Most of the immigrants here are less educated and that is why it may seems it is the Hispanics. Same if you compare poor Caucasians, Asians and Hispanics maybe they all perform equality bad.

Anyway, I do not think neither SDR or PS meant bad, they only pointed a fact from their experience or data that they had available. I only wanted to give another perspective to it.

“Thanks for sharing that and participating in this forum. I invite you to consider my point of view…”

[UP IN ARMS]

San Diego Unified API scores

African American (not of Hispanic origin) API 658
Hispanic or Latino API 655
White (not of Hispanic origin) API 830
Asian API 811

Number of Students Included in the 2005 API 88,276

http://api.cde.ca.gov/APIBase2006/2005Base_DstApi.aspx?cYear=&allcds=3768338&cChoice=2005BApiD

[Anonymous]

Kiki, I don’t believe it is possible for higher education to be “great” in the U.S. if middle and high schools are “horribly bad.” How do you think that could happen?

[powayseller]

It’s a cultural thing. Americans value sports over education, Chinese value education over sports, Mexicans value family over education. Cultural preferences. I also think Mexicans have a very strong work ethic. I admire Mexican values very much, and am proud to have a Mexican that married into my family.

So sdrealtor is almost right in saying that ethnicity is a proxy for test scores. But mainly because the middle class and rich Mexicans stayed in their home country, and the poor Mexicans came to the US.

Test scores are a proxy of the education level of the students’ parents. Lower income means less educated parents, so less emphasis on studying and lower test scores. So if you look at a school’s ethnicity and poverty level, you can guess the API. More Chinese and whites means higher API. The Chinese make sure their kids learn English and catch up in the classroom. The Mexicans are not as concerned. You’ve got Mexican families, where the parents don’t even bother learning English. It’s just not that important to them.

I am foreigner myself. I learned English at age 9. It took me 3 months to learn English, and I was bored in school, because the American schools are behind the German schools. I had to skip a grade, because I was so bored, compared to the German schools. The germans value education, esp. engineering, and they are well known for their engineering products.

Let’s not confuse facts with prejudice.

I don’t know about other South American countries, in terms of their importance placed on education.

I don’t say Americans are better for valuing sports over education over family. Americans will put their parents in a nursing home, but I bet a Mexican would never do that. A Mexican mom will hold her baby while she vacuums, while an American mom is content to dump her kid at day care or leave it in a crib while she is cleaning. I cannot judge which value is better, only that different cultures place different values on education. And this shows up in the API.

Mexicans are just as smart as Chinese. It’s just that the Chinese parents push their kids so hard to study. That is the only reason their test scores are higher. But how often did you see a Chinese play soccer or basketball? How many Chinese start a business? Are they creative, playful, able to enjoy themselves if they have failed at something? I don’t know, because they are forced by their parents to study so much. Chinese don’t care if their kids are athletic.

So while all people have the same ability to learn academically and excel in sports (except the Africans do have the genetics to be the fastest runners), cultures emphasize different skills and values. I think we can learn a lot from the Mexicans about being close to our families. I admire their comraderie and hard work ethic.

[Anonymous]

To suggest that genetics plays a role in athletic ability (i.e. africans are faster runners) but does not play any role in academic ability is pure ignorance. Wake up and smell the coffee.

You are half correct though. In the case of the Mexican immigrants clearly the majority are from the poor and uneducated class so naturally their kids are less likely to set any academic records in school. Part of the reason for this is exactly as you say, that education is not stressed in their culture. The other part is that they are probably not coming from the best genetic stock in terms of academic intelligence.

Not sure what any of this has to do with housing.

[Author]

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