[ltokuda]

“You can leave a static image on an LCD display for weeks and there will be no memory of the image.”

That may be true, but we recently found out that if you leave a static image on for about 5 months, you actually can burn in the image. My co-worker did this with a Sony Bravia LCD TV (one that sits on his bench in the lab at work). The TV probably got turned on in May and didn’t have any inputs connected. It sat there displaying the “VIDEO 2” message the whole time. Finally, my co-worker needed to use the TV for a project and noticed the burn-in. It was a suprise to all of us.

Obviously, this is an extreme scenario that probably won’t happen at home. Unless you plan on torturing your TV in this way, I wouldn’t worry about burning in a LCD (edited).

[ltokuda]

“You can leave a static image on an LCD display for weeks and there will be no memory of the image.”

That may be true, but we recently found out that if you leave a static image on for about 5 months, you actually can burn in the image. My co-worker did this with a Sony Bravia LCD TV (one that sits on his bench in the lab at work). The TV probably got turned on in May and didn’t have any inputs connected. It sat there displaying the “VIDEO 2” message the whole time. Finally, my co-worker needed to use the TV for a project and noticed the burn-in. It was a suprise to all of us.

Obviously, this is an extreme scenario that probably won’t happen at home. Unless you plan on torturing your TV in this way, I wouldn’t worry about burning in a LCD (edited).

[ltokuda]

There’s also a 26% decrease in Seal Beach, OC, per Zillow.

Sale History:

09/05/2007: $1,310,000
07/11/2007: $1,242,000
09/07/2005: $1,775,000
05/13/1999: $615,000

The house info on Zillow is a little out-dated. This house is 2700+ sq feet and is right across the street from the beach (with a partial ocean view). This was a Countrywide REO which was reposessed on 7/11/07. Countrywide listed the house $1,269,000 and it sold in a couple of weeks.

[ltokuda]

There’s also a 26% decrease in Seal Beach, OC, per Zillow.

Sale History:

09/05/2007: $1,310,000
07/11/2007: $1,242,000
09/07/2005: $1,775,000
05/13/1999: $615,000

The house info on Zillow is a little out-dated. This house is 2700+ sq feet and is right across the street from the beach (with a partial ocean view). This was a Countrywide REO which was reposessed on 7/11/07. Countrywide listed the house $1,269,000 and it sold in a couple of weeks.

[ltokuda]

There’s also a 26% decrease in Seal Beach, OC, per Zillow.

Sale History:

09/05/2007: $1,310,000
07/11/2007: $1,242,000
09/07/2005: $1,775,000
05/13/1999: $615,000

The house info on Zillow is a little out-dated. This house is 2700+ sq feet and is right across the street from the beach (with a partial ocean view). This was a Countrywide REO which was reposessed on 7/11/07. Countrywide listed the house $1,269,000 and it sold in a couple of weeks.

[ltokuda]

To be fair, the bill was passed by a vote of: 348-72. So at least you can take comfort in the fact that both parties are willing to screw you over.

[ltokuda]

Wow! I always thought Powayseller was a bit wacky. But now I’m inclined to think there’s something medically wrong with her. I hope she gets help.

[ltokuda]

I guess technically, there is a national housing market. You could group together any variety of products and call it a market. The stock market, for example, tracks a huge variety of stocks. Stock prices are also effected by a combination of national and “local” factors. The stock market has done very well over the last 2 years. NEW was a stock. So does that mean it did well too?

The real question is how does the national housing market effect your decision to buy a property. The answer is generally “not much”. The main factors in deciding whether a property is a good purchase are the local factors. If you find a property in a growing city where high paying jobs are moving in, you can put 5% down, rent it out, and get a positive cash flow after all your expenses … what’s wrong with that?

bigmoneysalsa gave an example of choosing between Seattle and Boston. If Seattle becomes too expensive and Boston is cheap, then (all other things being equal), people will leave Seattle and move to Boston. The key is that for the people in Seattle, its a bad time to buy a house, while for the people in Boston, its a great time to buy a house.

cow_tipping believes that prices will go down everywhere (on every property in every town in every state). That’s a bold prediction. Personally, I don’t believe it. But I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

If you listen to what the long haired dude was saying, its that there are places where you can get good buys and places where you can’t. He searches the country for good areas and invests in them. So in his case, the time to buy is now, IF he finds the right property for the right price.

This is the type of “debate” we see a lot of on TV where none of it is very informative. One guy is arguing “buy” and the other guy is arguing “don’t buy”. But one guy is talking about Texas and the other guy is talking about California so they’re not really talking about the same thing. If the moderator were any good, he would focus the debate on specific markets (e.g. real estate in Austin). That little news segment only served to confuse rather than to inform.

[ltokuda]

I think they’re both right. There is no national housing market. Some markets are going to crash and others are going to continue to grow. So for a real estate investor, there are always opportunities … as long as you know which market to invest in.

[ltokuda]

I agree with tube_ee. The fact that she’s willing to hurt the kids and use them as pawns says a lot about her. Your brother-in-law needs to put his foot down. If that’s enough to cause a divorce, then their relationship wasn’t very good to start with. From the sounds of it, though, it seems like you’re brother-in-law doesn’t have the will to stand up for himself. Train wreck.

The best thing you can do is make sure that you don’t get suckered into “loaning” them money. Just let the chips fall where they may.

[ltokuda]

Juice, at this point I think it would be risky for your parents to tap into their 401k. It seems like you’re trying to fix their debt immediately, then are hoping that they’ll change their lifestyle afterwards. The problem is that if they don’t fix their lifestyle, they’ll be even worse off.

So maybe they should change their lifestlye first. Once they train themselves to live within a reasonable budget, it will be safer for them to use their 401k.

When I first moved to California (and wasn’t making too much money), the key for me was having a budget plan. It was pretty simple plan (rent+utilities+household items, car+gas, food, presents, and vacations+entertainment). The rent and car related paymets were basically fixed every month. So the only thing I had to concentrate on was limiting my food, presents, and entertainment. It wasn’t hard to do because I always knew what I could and couldn’t afford. Following this budget allowed me to pay off my credit cards every month.

I would suggest that you work with your parents to come up with a budget plan and see if they can stick to it. If so, then they’ll have plenty of options for reducing their debt.

[ltokuda]

I read his new edition of “Irrational Exuberance” recently and what he said in the interview corresponds pretty well to what he said in the book. In the book, he gives a lot of insight on how bubbles form and how they grow. But he concludes that there’s no way of predicting where or when they will form. And there’s no way of predicting when they will pop either. It was a great book with interesting data and analysis. But, ironically, the more you analyze the data, the more you realize how uncertain the future can be. In that sense, I find Shiller’s response to be completely in line with his analysis (i.e. He acknoledges that he doesn’t REALLY know what is going to happen).

[ltokuda]

The latest news is that Rumsfeld is going to resign.

[ltokuda]

Two things will make this strategy work:

1) You have to invest your savings in something that will at least keep up with inflation. A 5% CD would do.

2) You need to increase your monthly savings at the rate of inflation. So if you start off saving $1000/month and inflation is at 4%, you should be saving $1040/month a year later. Hopefully, your job will give you pay raises that will outpace inflation.

If you do these two things, you should be able to accumulate your %20 downpayment in less than 8.3 years.

[ltokuda]

I did a quick calculation for the Dow 30 and came up with the following:

P/E: 18.54
PEG: 1.66

It seems overvalued to me but maybe someone else has another take on it? Is there a fundamental reason why the Dow 30 would be a good long-term buy and hold opportunity right now? Also, are there any charts showing the historical P/E of the Dow?

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