Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
September 24, 2006 at 7:30 PM in reply to: Two Sunday front page articles in Union Trib regarding condos #36254
PerryChase
ParticipantI also love Vancouver. The drive up to Whistler ski resort is beautiful.
Did you know that Vancouver revived its economy thanks to well-to-do Chinese immigrants in the late 1990s right around the time Hong Kong was being returned to China? I beleive that anyone who brings $100,000 into Canada can have legal residency and eventual citizenship. Canada has a policy of welcoming prosperous immigrants, especially from the Commonwealth.
America has a similar program also but the investor must bring in $1 million and create 10 new jobs. Investing in the stock market won’t do.
We maybe able to solve our retiring boomer problem by welcoming rich immigrants. The Chinese are very hard working. In one generation, they built HK and Singapore to a higher per capita GDP than Britain, their former colonial masters. That will also bring in tons of willing and able home buyers.
Yes, anyone can show up at an emergency room and be treated. There’s a federal law requiring treating all emergency room patients regardless of ability to pay. That’s only a one time treatment, there’s no follow-up to chronic diseases at the doctor’s office.
ParticipantWhat? I’m a little confused. jg, I thought that you were a big supporter of our intervention in Iraq.
ParticipantHumm… but buying a house and paying twice the amount of rent in interest to the bank is not throwing money away?
It shows how the real estate industry has brain-washed us into thinking that renting is wasting whereas buying is “investing.”
I would say, regardless of buy or rent, make up your shelter budget and go for the best house for that budget.
ParticipantBarnaby is right. It’s a question of taking a little risk, approaching people and making friends. I think the key is to reach out and talk to people.
Having grown up in Europe and other parts of the world because dad’s work moved us frequently, I can say that America is one the most puritan of all cultures. We want “black and white” moral clarity. In America, you have to believe in God, any God; but you must believe in God.
We are polite and friendly but we don’t feel comfortable making “friends” with people who don’t belong to our same group (church, work, etc..). I think that’s because America is a big country and we self-segregate into neighborhoods. For example, people who are solidly middle class would live in Carmel Mountain Ranch. People who think of themselves as upper middle want to live in Carmel Valley. We are isolated in our cars and don’t get a chance to bump into others. I think it’s so dull to live in cookie cutter houses and talk to cookie cutter people.
If you want to make friends of all kinds, New York City is the place to be.
Participant4plexowner, if undocumented immigrants, if legalized can earn enough to start investing in the stock market and housing, would they not be a plus to our society and economy? At least they would help feed the retiring baby boomers.
“Tree Huggers” have supported higher density urban developments and mass transit for a long time. Are you saying this strategy is good in a world of scarce oil and increasing polution?
ParticipantGreat information, North County Jim. Thanks for keeping us updated on SEH.
I have a feeling that after that house sells, some of the neighbors will be blinking too. 😉
ParticipantAlso speaking personally, I bought in 1989 so I don’t really care where the market goes in the future. I agree, a house is to live in, not to live-off of.
Having bought at the top of the last downturn (1990s), I certainly learned my lesson and will never do that again. While I was never upside down on my house, I can assure you that it’s no fun knowing that your more recent neighbors bought for less than you paid several years back.
Yeah, life is about careful planning, not gambling and following the pack.
September 23, 2006 at 9:30 AM in reply to: I cant take it anymore! It’s a TRACT house not a TRACK house #36171Participant“Amorturize” for amortize, or “amorturization” for amortization.
ParticipantI’ll keep the politics in the Off-Topic forum.
I only mentioned here because JES drew the parallel betwen the NAR’s tactics and those of the government and the military — “a classic game of information operations and their goal is to influence the mass psychology of the American populace.”
I read JES’s other analogies in other threads. He sounds like a smart reasonable man to me.
BTW, I’m far from a bleeding heart liberal. I’m more of a Lincoln Chafee kind of conservative.
ParticipantI also was here in 1990s slump. Prices did go down 25-35%. Carmel Valley (North City West at the time) was a mess and so was Faibanks Ranch. Habor Club and other developments downtown went bankrupt.
1990s is when San Diego lost its financial industry (Home Fed, Imperial Savings, Executive Life, etc…)
September 22, 2006 at 6:45 PM in reply to: Could a Fed Funds Rate of 3% Revive the Housing Market #36135Participantpowayseller, you put it very well.
You post is very scholarly and few would find any faults with it. It’s free from the “strong and witty” style of delivery that others complained about, but which I miss. 🙂
September 22, 2006 at 1:38 PM in reply to: I cant take it anymore! It’s a TRACT house not a TRACK house #36097ParticipantReal estate “magnet” instead of “magnate.”
ParticipantI believe what’s different this time it that the slump will be deeper for the following reasons:
1) Thanks to the Internet, people have much better access to data so the knowledge that prices are down will be widespread. In 1990s I had to rely on my Realtor to give me data.
2) Our society has become much more mobile so people will need to move for different reasons. People are now using their homes as stepping stones to better homes, and they won’t want to be ride out the market in “undesirable” houses. The divorce rate might even spike putting even more houses on the market.
ParticipantI wish that someone with real estate sales database and MLS access would setup an ongoing listing of all the properties sold or listed at or below purchase price since 2001. San Diego Market Monitor is a good start but we need a spreadsheet type database for the whole county.
I’d do it if I had data access. If I were a real estate or economic student, I’d make it my project. I suppose that if you had County sales records, you could match up the resales by parcel number.
Stats are too impersonal. Nothing is as powerful as real life examples.
-
AuthorPosts
