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picpoule
ParticipantYeah, the amount of debt forgiven counts as income in the eyes of the IRS. So the seller gets a nice big bill from the IRS for the extra income when there’s a short sale. I don’t think a lot of sellers understand this, because it’s something new.
ParticipantBobbie Dooley rules!
ParticipantI think Switzerland still has mandatory military service and every household has a weapon.
Powayseller, I just want you to think about some things. Sometimes war is necessary and has very good consequences. For instance, WWII wiped out Nazism and Fascism in Europe. Because of WWII, Japan went from a feudal to society to become one of our strongest friends. Our Civil War held the Union together and ended slavery. Little girls in Afghanistan can go to school now, women are in the legislature in Afghanistan, an impossibility under the Taliban. There are no more rape rooms and killing rooms in Iraq and Saddam Hussein will not be able to go to war with his neighbors anymore. None of this would have been possible without war. I’m all for peace, but sometimes peace can only be attained by war.
Participant“One reason Americans are not loved is because we are loud and obnoxious.”
Perry, have you heard any German tourists lately? Talking about loud and obnoxious! Have you been in an English pub with everyone drunk and therefore yelling and insulting you because you’re an American? Have you been to Italy lately? They’re not exactly a quiet bunch. Americans are quiet and polite as mice compared any of these groups. But let’s move away from the stereotyping and note this: speaking of Germans, as I recall, some citizens of German towns were screaming like pigs in protest when they thought we were going to close our bases down.
The reason we are disliked is because of trendy, virulent anti-Americanism fostered by ignorance, bigotry, and anti-capitalism. We’re hated because so far we’ve managed to buck the trend of centralized governments taking more and more of people’s individual freedoms away. Today, the only people it’s okay to be a bigot against is Americans and oh, yes, “the Jews.”
ParticipantPD, you’re so right. Spending for defense is among the primary responsibilities of the federal government. It’s right there in the Preamble to the Constitution. But education funding is something for the individuals states to provide at least in theory (don’t even ask me about the US Dept. of Education). The reason the educational system is so inefficient in California is that the school districts are top-heavy with administrative costs for the bureaucracy that it creates an imbalance when it comes to the classroom environment.
Just as an aside, people having children who shouldn’t have them is a big problem causing many social ills, but to me it would seem a bit heavy handed for the government to dictate who should have children. Enforcing the borders and penalizing employers who employ illegals would have done a lot to mitigate this problem in California. It’s too far gone now, though.
ParticipantDitto to North County Jim.
ParticipantUnder California law, if you’re over 55 and move to another residence in the same county, you can keep the same property tax rate as your former residence. This can sometimes apply to moving to another residence in another county, although some counties refuse to extend this reciprocity.
ParticipantAlong the same line, we better hope that Calderon wins the Presidential election in Mexico on July 2, because if he doesn’t there will indeed be a stampede that will be astronomically worse than what’s happened here under Vicente Fox.
ParticipantI agree with your comment abou all the Mediterranean style 3000+ sq. ft. homes. These are not custom homes, they’re just expensive tract homes! Give me Laguna Beach any day! Oops — except for the property taxes, at least as those custom homes are priced in Laguna today.
ParticipantWhat if Bernanke continues to raise interest rates? Won’t that help the dollar?
ParticipantI have no data to back this up, but I think that for those for whom price is no object, the higher end market will stay stronger and/or take longer to soften. The wealthy can always afford expensive homes. But I would not want to pay the property tax on a $2.5 million dollar home, plus exobitant HOA dues and other fees, even if I could afford it.
ParticipantI agree, as a landlord, I don’t like to lose a good tenant. I raise the rent when the tenant moves out. I don’t have an ARM on that property, thank goodness!
ParticipantI’d have to research it, but due to our anemic economic situation, the retail sector is probably not exactly robust. The tech sector bust, combined with a downturn after 9/11 really hit CO badly and we’ve been reeling ever since. I’d say the State economy in general is not doing well. I do know that the State government had a multi-year budget shortfall, which seems ameliorated a bit due to a raise in taxes (sigh). My instinct is that when people lose jobs in CA it’s a big enough State that’s fairly well diversified that people can find work there again. This is not the situation in CO. There aren’t an abundance of jobs here. We’re just fly-over country; not very important on a broader view of things. But I doubt CO’s poor economic performance over the last years have affected much of the U.S. economy. CO is a small state, unlike CA.
Powayseller, too bad you’re not in CO! What you’re anticipating to happen in CA seems to be on it’s way out here, even without any real estate bubble!
ParticipantIt seems to have already hit Colorado, and we did not experience a bubble. Today Colorado has the top rate of foreclosurese in the country. As I have said in one of my other posts here, the high foreclosure rate did not follow bubble-like appreciation, but rather was due to heavy job losses and a recession we never really recovered from. The link you cite adds to the blame other factors such as more home construction beyond existing demand, ARMS, IOs and unlicensed mortgage brokers. It’s here. Next come the falling home prices as sellers find they have to compete with all the foreclosures on the market. What’s responsible for the high foreclosure rate here is not what is in play in CA.
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