[Californiabrownbear]

http://www.kfmb.com/features/consumer_alert/story.php?id=78317#

[Californiabrownbear]

Santeeman,
The homes I’m referring to are east of Magnolia and north of Mast. These are older homes built in the 70’s.

Without getting too specific, the home we purchased 6 months ago is in a nice little neighborhood near Santana High and the house was vacant for so long due to a long probate fight between family members of the deceased. It had 2 or 3 buyers before us and fell out of escrow due to the seemingly endless probate. We purchased for $75k less than one of the previous buyers, and in fact our home inspector made a bid on our home (intending to flip it), but was outbid by another buyer during the frenzy of ’04.

[Californiabrownbear]

Santee does have vacant homes. I purchased a fixer upper 6 months ago that was vacant for 2-3 years (probate). I have taken walks through our neighborhood and seen several vacant homes for sale. They are all fixer uppers, and flippers would have jumped on these 1 year ago.

[Californiabrownbear]

A little off topic, but…
“The stars have truly alligned…”
“I’ll even pay for your home to be appraised.”
That Hayes Barnard guy who is ruining people’s lives with his option ARM radio ads drives me absolutely insane. And his exaggerated inflection is so annoying.

[Californiabrownbear]

This story made it to the Drudge Report yesterday!

[Californiabrownbear]

Gin is a permabull. I emailed him once after he was quoted making irrational claims (spewing NAR arguments for rising home prices) in a UT article, but never received a response.

[Californiabrownbear]

Sdrealtor, you are “very optimistic, open mind, educated, world traveler respectful to other realtors” so that makes you a great realtor.

I’ve worked with a number of immigrants in tech and now finance and none of them write this horribly. It’s hard to even discern what she’s attempting to convey. It is irrational thinking that has propped up prices as people make emotional decisions to buy or sell, and this woman’s decision is clearly based on feeling with little regard for market fundamentals.

[Californiabrownbear]

You are hopeless. Please find something better to do with your time.

[Californiabrownbear]

Why don’t you give SDRealtor a break? How many realtors have the guts to post on this site let alone admit they are a realtor on a housing bubble website? SDRealtor is bearish, although he doesn’t share your extreme position on the slowdown so you attack him even when he discloses information that is difficult to obtain without access to the mls. Unfortunately for some people his information hits a little too close to home. Can we please stop the attacks on those with differing opinions?

[Californiabrownbear]

I was told it was due to cost savings, but I’m not aware of the specifics driving the move. Our corporate HQ are located in a place that’s costlier than San Diego, so workers comp may be one factor. Labor cost is certainly one factor.

[Californiabrownbear]

I work for a nameless large banking corporation in California with branches across our state. Corporate is planning on moving all employees that aren’t customer-facing (IT, corporate, research, etc.) to Arizona to save costs. The senior VP of our department fought the move and we are staying put. None of us have any desire to live in the desert. Apparently corporate is still planning on moving all behind the scenes employees to Arizona. There are rumors that customer support may be outsourced to a call center in Idaho to save costs.

[Californiabrownbear]

We purchased an apartment conversion townhouse in the college area approx 3 years ago. 10 units in our complex with identical sq footage identical improvements so perfect comps.

That said, summer of ’04 a unit sold in about a week for $420k, last summer another unit was put on the market for the same price. I’ve been reading patrick.net for the last 2 years, mish’s blog occasionally and piggington for maybe a year? so I have a fairly accurate gauge of market conditions.

The market here in the College Area had really slowed down since the summer of ’04, but the realtor told me at the first open house she was confident it would sell at that price. I took great pleasure watching her waste Sunday after Sunday hosting open houses. She finally dropped the price to about $390 and it sold promptly.

Approx 55 days ago we placed our townhouse on the market at a range from $400-420k. Our’s has a number of improvements and to my wife’s credit it is tastefully decorated and shows like a pottery barn catalog. We just accepted an offer for $380k and needless to say we are happy to accept it. The number of condo conversions in the College area is soaring, and while we aren’t getting out at the peak we are taking a healthy profit.

I convinced the wife to bubble sit for 1 year, but she didn’t want to rent longer than that. Nesting instinct I guess. I think 1 year isn’t long enough and that prices will really hit a low 3 years from now. We’ll see. I guess it doesn’t get more current or anecdotal than that.

Even though I disagree with you on political issues I appreciate you taking the time to post PowaySeller. You are keeping this forum lively.

[Californiabrownbear]

It’s ironic to me that people who show so much discernement and skepticism with the NAR/NAHB party line can completely buy into the liberal “they do work no one else will, they pay taxes like we do, they are just here to work, etc.” talking points. Granted, many illegals are here to work and if I lived in a country with such a disparity between rich and poor I’d do everything possible to get into the land of opportunity.

I also agree that Bush advocates amnesty and has done nothing to curb illegal immigration. I have worked with a number of colleagues from Russia, UK, India, China, etc. who spent years trying to emigrate legally to the US and Bush has slapped them in the face by proposing amnesty for illegal immigrants. Wages for 2nd generation immigrants are now lower due to the arrival of recent illegal immigrants who are willing to work for lower wages, so this helps educated workers like myself procure goods and services at a lower price. But uneducated or lower wage workers cannot capitalize on these lower costs due to their declining purchase power.

[Californiabrownbear]

Tucker, you beat me to the punch. I typed a similar response only to lose my wireless connection and lose my response.

2 of my neighbors live 10 to a house. That’s how you can live on < minimum wage and survive. How many people seriously live on less than minimum wage? Those guys in front of Home Depot sure aren't working for less than minimum wage although I'm sure they are paying SS tax, self employment tax, fed and state income tax, the good contributors to society that they are. I'm sure they're spending much of their money here to keep our economy strong and providing others with jobs. I resent someone being labeled a racist for disagreeing with the use of public funds to finance those residing in the US illegally. I resent the rising health care costs, insurance costs, and law enforcement resources used to combat the massive influx of illegals. I also resent those that hire illegals and perpetuate the lawbreaking.

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