Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
Jazzman
Participant[quote=spdrun]How could offers decline 100% in Vegas? This would mean no offers. Do you mean that active inventory is up 103%? [/quote] Apologies, that is what I meant.
ParticipantThat may depend on your definition, but I don’t really want to get drawn into comparisons, as it only ruffles feathers. But that there are stark, lifeless places that seem to have little going for them is pretty self-evident. Whether you would wish to apply the term “souless” to them is academic. California has many good things going for it, but housing can be expensive. There are many other places that have good things going for them that can be less (or more) expensive. Many factors determine home prices, and fortunately we have a choice if we find some of those factors unpalatable.
ParticipantAlors, merci beaucoup! We’re off in July to get the house sorted out. The elderly owner is having problems finding a new home so there are some issues, but fingers crossed everything should work out OK. I’m not sure the market will pick up much this year. One problem is the Euro is still so strong and 50% of foreign buyers are Brits. Draghi (ECB Chair) has at long last hinted at actually doing something to ease the problem in June, but we’ll just have to see. Incidentally, you can buy a very nice home for much less than the prices quoted in the article. You’d get a castle for +€1m.
ParticipantThibault, I feel for you. As an expat I recognize many of the symptoms. I’m probably a bit older than you so most of my family have passed on, although I still have friends in Europe. It sounds to me like you are a bit down in the dumps. I usually long for my home when that happens, and then it passes as something nice happens. Your work sounds like another issue. If it is killing you then deal with that first. On your next trip to France, tell your friends and family how you feel; perhaps they are better able to offer support.
ParticipantSeems like your choice really. You could always borrow the money from the lender/owner, default, and claim you’ve been paying them 2008.
ParticipantIn some senses Russia, west of the Urals is close to Europe, and as far back as Peter the Great, the influence is there. French was the court language in Tolstoy’s time, but the Soviet Union was by its nature isolationist. So there’s an historical, cultural, and racial connection. But I’ve never heard it mentioned that Russia was ever a contender for EU membership. Trade ties and closer diplomatic ties, yes. Even countries the size of Poland and Turkey needed to be weighed up in light of their relative sizes. Russia would just be too big.
Russians do get a bit of a bad rap in Europe. I don’t think they are anymore arrogant that other peoples (I spent five months in Russia and speak Russian), but many gained new-found wealth very quickly and probably flashed it around a little too much for European tastes.
The EU was set up to counter US influence, and Eurasia is to counter both. I think that says it all about insecurities.
The game changer will be if Putin is tempted to send troops into eastern Ukraine. I believe he wants to, but the outcome may be too unpredictable. From what I can glean from the media, the pro-Russian troublemakers are few in number, so hopefully the situation will die down. The Ukrainian government is actually doing the right thing by not intervening. So perhaps they’re not all the belligerent thugs we first assumed.
Participant[quote=FlyerInHi]Seems to me like this is a European problem. Why are we taking ownership of something that was created in Brussels? Let the Europeans lead with the sanctions and sacrifices to their economies.
The Russians want a first among equals position to be eventually integrated into a greater Europe. But the western Europeans were seeking to draw Russia into Europe under their own terms rather than Russia’s.
So now we have a Russia that will seek its own way forward.
The Crimean pensioners doubled their pensions under Russia. Seems like a good deal for Crimea so far.[/quote]
It is on Europe’s borders, but it is also on NATO’s borders which is a US inspired entity. I’ve not heard that Russia wants to be integrated into Europe and there would likely be problems with that.But whatever, it is amazing that after two world wars, followed by the Cold War, there are still these tensions and flare-ups. The Soviet threat has gone, Russia is no longer a super-power, and there seems to be a wish for a return to the good old bash Russia days. I’m not saying Russia is guiltless. I’m saying we are all complicit. We vote these politicians into power and they act like children; unable to resolve their differences, creating tensions, misleading, and then holding the electorate and tax payer to ransom. How dare they! They are public servants. We are the public and that makes them the servants. We pay their wages. And then there’s the problem of knuckleheads …is that part of the human condition as well? May be it all is ..I give up.
Participant[quote=Huckleberry]
Obviously we’ve been pretty far removed from a tyrannical government…Honestly what’s the first thing you would do if you were a dictator that wanted to push the US to a hard core socialist/communist government?
[/quote]There seems to be something slightly contradictory about these two statements. Whatever, it’s your country, but here are three frameworks for viewing the issue:
1) Leave things as they are and accept that rights over-ride homicides.
2) Introduce gun controls in an attempt to reduce homicides.
3) Outright ban on guns in an attempt to reduce homicides radically.The arguments for all three have been done to death (if you’ll excuse the pun). The problem is not so much that something needs to be done, but with mindsets that are so strong, attempts to change them just entrench each side’s position.
If you wanted to ban guns, it would probably be more fruitful to start with the proposal that open hunting on your fellow countryman is perfectly legal, and widely encouraged. If your bank is foreclosing on your home, you simply extinguish your bank manager. If your neighbor’s dog pees on your front lawn, you eradicate his whole family (including the dog of course). Taking your adversary’s argument to the extreme may, I say may, just help him see things from your perspective. You’d need to be serious, and not let on 🙂
ParticipantIf Putin uses the recent disturbances in eastern Ukraine to annex them, that is a game changer in my view. There’s no historical precedent to exclude these areas from the Ukraine that I am aware of. If it goes that way, granting some autonomy to them may avoid confrontation.
Participant[quote=jeff303][quote=CA renter]Right. Though it’s not politically correct to say this, I see no problem with what Russia did. The people voted. Done deal.[/quote]
Umm… are you serious? However one feels about what happened, it clearly wasn’t a fair vote. There was no “status quo” option on the ballot! More objections are outlined in this discussion: http://www.reddit.com/r/NeutralPolitics/comments/216ltf/why_is_the_international_community_opposed_to_the/%5B/quote%5D
I don’t know if we can know that for sure. What we do know is that Russians are the majority, and from my own experience of meeting them, they are a patriotic bunch. Having said that, they will have been fed on a steady diet of “we’re on this right side of this one”, which mirrors what we are spoon fed by our own media and politicians. Things have now curiously morphed into an energy war. With the US claiming it will be a net exporter of energy in five years, Europe apparently needn’t worry about its dependence on Russia. That then drives Russia away for the West and to China, Brazil, and Syria. Suddenly, the world becomes a safer place again, just like the cold war. Wonderful!ParticipantI think it’s not so much about whether Russia did wrong, but about whether her adversaries are as guilty of these kinds of infractions. Nobody is squeaky clean when they know they can get away with it. In the Crimea case, it’s a bit like someone offering a room to friend to use, but that arrangement gets complicated when the friend sublets the room.
ParticipantGood one CAR. I like this:
How this plays out is anybody’s guess right now, but this much I know: one should NEVER underestimate the ability of the average Russian to bear hardship, nor should one ever underestimate the West’s lack of fortitude once any situation becomes politically unpalatable.
What else do I know? Well, I know that neither Russia nor China feels the US’s place at the top of the food chain is either justified or indefinitely sustainable, and they both smell weakness.
I ask myself what is all the fuss over Crimea? If Europe had come to Ukraine’s aid when they wanted it, none of this might have happened. They’re now moaning about Russia breaking international law, and refuse to put this into any kind of context other than “the club disapproves”. I think the shifting sands are indeed relevant. How much and how soon is (as the author points out) anyone’s guess, but that middle finger to the West is getting braver. China’s territorial claims are definitely one to watch. The Yuan is probably one to watch. But against the backdrop of dwindling resources, climate change, and global indebtedness there’s enough distractions to occupy policy-makers for a few decades to come.
Participant[quote=joeypants05]Do many people actually put a whole lot of stock in what the zestimate says? I’m looking at buying a house and I certainly don’t pay much attention to what the estimates on zillow and/or other sites says a property is worth because to me they don’t mean much as the estimate doesn’t represent what a seller is willing to sell for or what a buyer is willing to pay. I simply look at the asking price of a house and what other comparable houses have sold at because those are actual numbers. Do the zestimate and other estimates just fulfill the curiosity of what your house is worth today (much like checking the price of stock that you have no intent of selling) or is there more to it then that?[/quote]
If you tell home owners their homes have gone up in value, they’ll believe you. If you tell them they’ve gone down in value, they won’t. Do Zestimates do more damage than good? I don’t think so, since comps and appraisers bring more credible evidence of values when the time comes to sell. If you want to know what your home is worth, look at comps in your area and don’t forget to deduct selling costs.ParticipantThis debate about Zillow was going on years back. Trulia not much better in my view. Redfin is better as it allows you to choose the comps. The first two it chooses are often enough to give you an idea. Redfin also guides you through how to do a CMA (comparative market analysis). They also do their own market analysis reviews.
-
AuthorPosts
