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I can certainly understand wanting to own because I am struggling with those feelings myself. There are good things about renting but I am happier owning. I’m also willing to pay a little premium in order to own my house. Just yesterday I did a bunch of calculations on a place that may come up for sale in a neighborhood where I would like to own. We could make it work with a 6.5% fixed. However, when I subtracted tax benefits and principle payments and then added in homeowners and property tax, I was left with a number that was $1,500 more a month than I could rent the place. Further, the opportunity cost on the money I would have to put down in order to buy the property works out to $1,200 a month at 5% interest. Plus, I did not even add in the opportunity cost of the extra $1,500 I was going to have to shell out every month. This was all assuming that the property does not drop any more than the 10% it has already seen.

I have to beat myself over the head with the numbers periodically in order to resist the lure of owning.

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If you look at it from an evolutionary standpoint, men look for a fertile female (a certain waist to hip ratio is a good indicator of fertility – Marilyn Monroe is a good example of a figure in that ratio), women look for a male who will give her offspring the best chance of success. As a human, that means a successful man who can easily provide for all of the needs of her children. Further, we both look for symmetry in face and form.

Having said all that. I did not care that my (future) husband was stacking produce when I met him. He was hot (and still is)!

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I have a lot of respect for realtors who are telling it like it is, too. It must be very hard not to parrot or believe the party line when the truth will very likely harm your own bottom line.
I talked to a realtor last weekend who was trying very hard to sit on the fence. He never lied to me (RE always goes up, can’t loose) even though he clearly wanted a sale. How could he not? That is how he gets paid. He did admit to me that it would not hurt me to wait a bit before buying.

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Speaking two or more languages is a great goal but the official language is and should remain English. Immigration and integration is also great. That is how our country grew. However, it should be done legally. Perrychase, you say you grew up France. Clearly you came here legally. That doesn't bother me one whit.

I'm not against immigration, folks. I'm against ILLEGAL immigration. I feel pretty certain that we all understand what ILLEGAL means.
BTW, perrychase what do you think of groups (the DGLFLF) in France that are going to significant lengths to keep English words from cropping up in everyday usage in France? One of their recent beefs was with the word e-mail. They want French people to say courriel instead.

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Diatribe? He was basically quoting Mexican law! I shortened illegal immigrant to illegals and you are using this to cast aspersions on me?

I never said that I think illegal immigrants come here for free social services, although it is certainly true that some come here for exactly that reason. This isn’t “faith” or “belief” it is truth.

You keep trying to paint me as some sort of racist or mexican hater. That seems to be your favorite weapon.

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So just because we can afford certain programs, we should offer them to illegals? I’m not buying that.

As for listening to Limbaugh, I don’t actually tune in to his show (not that there is anything wrong with people who do), although I have heard a few. A friend sent me an email some time ago with this quote. I agree with many things he has to say and disagree with many things he has to say.

You claim he is “inciting many to hate, or to join vigilante groups.” How would you know that if you don’t listen to him yourself?

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I say RE will go down another 30%. However, the 10% – 15% drop happened pretty fast. We could go deeper than that if the pace keeps up.

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I support legal immigration. I do not support legalizing everyone who is already here, that just encourages illegal immigration.

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I’m thinking davidpeace might have house for sale in Escondido. Instead of planting a St. Joseph statue in his yard, he’s trying drum up interest in Escondido real estate and convince us all that the giant spike in prices is reasonable sunshine tax.
There is no way this guy has been reading Piggingtons or he would not have trotted out the same old mantra about how great it is to live here.

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Diego,
People who are against illegal immigration are not “xenophobic, wannabe klansmen.” Save the slurs for when they really apply, otherwise, they lose all meaning.

What would you think of the following:

If you immigrate to the United States of America, you must speak the native language. You have to be a professional or an investor. We are not going to take unskilled workers. You will not be allowed.*
There will be no special bilingual programs in the schools, no special ballots for elections, no government business will be conducted in your native language.
Foreigners will not have the right to vote nor will they ever be allowed to hold political office.
According to the Limbaugh Laws, if you’re in our country, you cannot be a burden to taxpayers.
You are not entitled, ever, to welfare, to food stamps, or other government goodies.
You can come if you invest here, but it must be an amount equal to 40,000 times the daily minimum wage. If you don’t have that amount of money you have to stay home. If you do come and you want to buy land you will not be allowed to buy waterfront property in the United States. That will be reserved for citizens naturally born in this country. As a foreigner, you must relinquish individual rights to property.
You don’t have the right to protest when you come here. You’re allowed no demonstrations, you cannot wave a foreign flag, no political organizing, no bad-mouthing our president or his policies or you get sent home.
You’re a foreigner. You shut your mouth or you get out, and if you come here illegally, you go straight to jail and we’re going to hunt you down ’til we find you.
These are the Limbaugh Laws.
I can imagine many of you think that the Limbaugh Laws are pretty harsh. Well, let me tell you this, every one of the laws I just mentioned are actual laws of Mexico, today. I just read you Mexican immigration law. That’s how the Mexican government handles immigrants to their country.

The source is Rush Limbaugh.

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The link from above. Yea! I figured out to make a proper link today.

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Speaking multiple languages is something that I think all Americans should strive toward. However, English is the official language and business should be conducted in English. Immigrants know when they come here that English is the language of the land. They should be expected to learn it. We should not be pandering to them.

As for immigrants paying taxes, many of them do. However, they pay far less in taxes than the community ends up spending on them. Some immigration is healthy but floods of illegals coming across the border is not.

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Teaching your children to eat healthy is very important. I severely limit junk food and soda for my kids. I very rarely buy chips and only allow my kids to have a sugar drink (including Gatorade – I can’t believe how many parents have bought into the crap that Gatorade is health drink!) about once a week or less. I do not absolutely forbid these things, however, as I am teaching my children moderation. Treats are okay, as long as you do not have them everyday. Having been the victim of an eating disorder, I am trying to give my children healthy attitudes toward food.

I never miss my son’s baseball games, if I can help it. It means so much to them to have you there. I try to plan meals that take a long time to cook (so that they can be in the oven or crock pot while I’m at the game) or plan something that can be thrown together quickly when we get home.

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1) The blame America syndrome
2) The “we wanted 9/11 to happen” fools

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