― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 17:37 (nineteen years ago) link
if you have at least 1 functioning brain cell, rent don't buy. let the stuff that comes w/ buying be some other shithead's problem.
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 17:37 (nineteen years ago) link
― Brian Miller (Brian Miller), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 17:42 (nineteen years ago) link
― Brian Miller (Brian Miller), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 17:43 (nineteen years ago) link
― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 17:46 (nineteen years ago) link
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 17:47 (nineteen years ago) link
-- carbon (identitymachine...), July 12th, 2005.
Or, in the case of Jersey City, IN the ghetto. $375,000 for a two-bedroom. Not even near the PATH. One of its selling points is "walking distance from HOBOKEN." !!!???
― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 17:49 (nineteen years ago) link
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 18:01 (nineteen years ago) link
― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 18:04 (nineteen years ago) link
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 18:06 (nineteen years ago) link
― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 18:07 (nineteen years ago) link
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA wtf seriously?
― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 18:11 (nineteen years ago) link
― kingfish (Kingfish), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 18:15 (nineteen years ago) link
― TOMBOT, Tuesday, 12 July 2005 18:17 (nineteen years ago) link
so i really don't blame those of you who are totally uninterested.
i guess it's just possible here. you really CAN fuck up here too, but it's possible to buy and it not be totally insane. m.
― msp (mspa), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 18:32 (nineteen years ago) link
― teeny (teeny), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 18:42 (nineteen years ago) link
― Mary (Mary), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 18:46 (nineteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 18:48 (nineteen years ago) link
It will almost certainly not have a great room, those things kind of skeeve me out.
― teeny (teeny), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 18:49 (nineteen years ago) link
― kingfish (Kingfish), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 18:50 (nineteen years ago) link
― Mary (Mary), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 18:58 (nineteen years ago) link
― teeny (teeny), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 19:09 (nineteen years ago) link
And we didn't buy on speculation, either. We bought because we are having a third kid and we need the living space.
― don weiner (don weiner), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 19:23 (nineteen years ago) link
"Walking Distance To Hoboken" should be a ska song.
it's a good thing that you didn't make this recommendation a few years ago, tombot, seeing as that point there were more ska-bands in the hoboken/jersey city area than there are flies swarming around a freshly-squeezed batch of horse shit.
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 19:31 (nineteen years ago) link
Does the *shudder* World Inferno/Friendship Society still exist?
― donuty! donuti! donuté! (donut), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 19:35 (nineteen years ago) link
apparently
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 19:49 (nineteen years ago) link
― don weiner (don weiner), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 20:14 (nineteen years ago) link
― TOMBOT, Tuesday, 12 July 2005 20:18 (nineteen years ago) link
― don weiner (don weiner), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 20:51 (nineteen years ago) link
― donuty! donuti! donuté! (donut), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 21:00 (nineteen years ago) link
― donuty! donuti! donuté! (donut), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 21:03 (nineteen years ago) link
As for hurricanes, we get tons of hurricane effect rain. More yearly inches of rainfall here than Seattle, allegedly.
― don weiner (don weiner), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 21:15 (nineteen years ago) link
― donuty! donuti! donuté! (donut), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 21:19 (nineteen years ago) link
― donuty! donuti! donuté! (donut), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 21:20 (nineteen years ago) link
― don weiner (don weiner), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 21:27 (nineteen years ago) link
I'm thankful I live relatively central to Seattle (renting), but I'm already seeing people thinking about this, and prices of central housing has risen dramatically compared to far-and-away suburbs. I just hope there's a motion/design/architecture present at the time to help centralize and expand those suburbs into their own useful cultural hubs, instead of letting them suffocate and becoming wastelands.. and talk about devalued property.
(hmmm, don't know if that makes sense or not.)
― donuty! donuti! donuté! (donut), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 21:41 (nineteen years ago) link
― h0t h0t h0rsey (Carey), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 22:00 (nineteen years ago) link
Point above being that there are many smart people who think that there is still a lot of money to be made in real estate in the bubble markets. There have been real estate naysayers about this bubble for at least two years, and frankly, there are investors out there who can afford to ride out the bubble even if it bursts.
I might also point out that many people in the 'burbs consider their lifestyles to be full of relevant culture--they see what they do (convenient, quality child rearing, even if it makes for a long commute) as the very definition of their culture. Church, youth soccer, Chuck E. Cheese, and all that shit is their culture. For many of them, it's now multiple-generations deep. Exurbs, suburbs, white flight, whatever--the only reason they even bother associating with the MSA is for the airport, sports teams, and a place of employment.
― don weiner (don weiner), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 22:03 (nineteen years ago) link
― don weiner (don weiner), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 22:04 (nineteen years ago) link
― Mary (Mary), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 02:15 (nineteen years ago) link
― Mary (Mary), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 02:24 (nineteen years ago) link
I might also point out that many people in the 'burbs consider their lifestyles to be full of relevant culture--they see what they do (convenient, quality child rearing, even if it makes for a long commute) as the very definition of their culture
man, do you got that fuckin' right. I never really understood the pejorative context of the insult "breeder" until i got a temp job at a huge suburban mortgage building. The place was filled with mostly middle-class women who primary defining characteristic is spitting out crotch-spawnlings as fast as they can; lots of mothers of varying educational backgrounds and of varying marital status who all had like 3 kids by the time they turned 23.
seriously, it made me realize why much mainstream american pop culture(read: things covered by the E! channel) is how it is. Kids are DEIFIED in our culture, due in part to so many folks having absolutely no identify except in terms of rearing children. These were the folks who'd come home from work, cook dinner, watch American Idol, go to bed, then come into work the next day to discuss the previous night's American Idol all the live-fuckin'-long day. They then would go home, cook dinner, and watch that night's Idol. Repeat for 30+ years.
My buddy had to sit next to them. I hid inside of my clamshell headphones.
also, i should correct myself; that Onion headline above should be something like "Home-Buying Up Among Suburban Lame-o's"
― kingfish (Kingfish), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 03:05 (nineteen years ago) link
m.
― msp (mspa), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 03:35 (nineteen years ago) link
― Lupton Pitman (Chris V), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 08:52 (nineteen years ago) link
Nothing at all wrong with making $75K, although in figuring ROI you want to make sure you consider all relevant factors (inflation, taxes, tax implications, any improvements, etc.) If you are thorough in figuring out ROI then you can accurate compare it to other possible investment vehicles over the same period in real terms.
― don weiner (don weiner), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 09:51 (nineteen years ago) link
That Hissing Sound
― o. nate (onate), Monday, 8 August 2005 14:11 (nineteen years ago) link
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/23/opinion/23harris.html?ex=1125028800&en=3852efb8d3e0f346&ei=5070
August 23, 2005Bubble? What Bubble?By CHRIS HARRIS
Los Angeles
SO, you've been thinking about buying that first home, but you keep reading reports that this "housing bubble" may finally be nearing its peak. Things are cooling off; better sit things out for a while, right? Well, you've never been more wrong in your life.
As an expert in the field - I've spent my entire life living in or behind homes - I can assure you that aside from any moment in the past decade, there has never been a better time to enter the real estate market. Here are two important reasons.
We already experienced the Internet bubble. The crash taught us all that a feeling of invincibility can lead to disaster. Now that we've learned this humbling lesson, there's absolutely no possible way it could ever happen again to us.
More important, the housing market is incredibly durable. Unlike sneakers with lights in them or monogrammed poker chips or - I believe - computers, houses are not some fad that people will any day now look at and say: "This is stupid. I don't want mine anymore." Housing is a basic need, not unlike shelter.
The following Q. and A. should ease any remaining concerns.
Q. Are you sure I haven't missed the boat? Housing prices have risen so much already.
A. Actually, if you look at this chart, which is based on my years of research, you'll find that prices have been remarkably stable. No less a man than Winston Churchill put it best: "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps [a phenomenal time for buying that starter home you've had your eye on]."
Q. Winston Churchill really said that?
A. I don't know why you're arguing with me. I used quotation marks.
Q. With my luck, the second I buy a home the market will collapse.
A. This just doesn't make any sense. There are literally trillions divided by trillions of new homeowners every week. Do you really think the entire market is geared to maximize your bad luck?
Q. I'm still not convinced.
A. Well then, look at these numbers:
Now: 58
Five years from now: 8,472
That's a nearly 15,000 percent increase!
Q. Wow. Wait, what exactly are those numbers?
A. What? What kind of question is that? This is just the kind of foot-dragging that's kept you paying rent on the same roach-infested closet for years while your home-owning friends have gotten fantastically wealthy. Did you know that we homeowners are having Champagne-and-caviar parties every weekend and not inviting you?
Q. Come on.
A. It's true. And sometimes we hire the White Stripes to play. That's right, the White Stripes. You love the White Stripes, don't you? Then buy a house!
Q. Aren't you being a little pushy?
A. What on earth is wrong with you? I'm doing this as a favor. It's not like I'm desperately trying to convince you because I myself have overspeculated in the housing market, now suddenly it's peaking, and if it doesn't continue its insane and completely unjustifiable rise then I'll lose everything. It's not that at all. Just relax.
Q. You relax.
A. I am relaxed. You're the one who's not relaxed. I'm totally fine.
And so to all prospective buyers out there, I say be confident as you pursue the American dream of owning your own home. And to my aunt in San Francisco, I love you and desperately need to ask you for a favor. Please return my calls before the 12th of next month.
Chris Harris is a writer for the forthcoming television show "How I Met Your Mother."
― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 13:26 (nineteen years ago) link
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/08/22/opinion/oped2.650.jpg
― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 13:27 (nineteen years ago) link
http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/16/news/funny/mr_housing_bubble.reut/bubble_tshirt.jpgA disclaimer at the bottom reads, "Not affiliated with Mr. Internet Bubble."
― kingfish fucked up his login (kingfish 2.0), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 13:34 (nineteen years ago) link