So you are positive the nuclear holocaust is coming but you are not willing to find your own "hole"/bomb shelter to live in? Did you ever hear the fable of the grass hopper and the ant? I think you should dig your self a solid bomb shelter, and go live in it, just make sure you have an internet connection so that your buddies on the interwebs can inform you precisely when the world is coming to an end, you wouldnt want to be caught off gaurd, like the lowly grasshopper from the story....
when did I say a nuclear holocaust was coming - what are you talking about? just go back to your "persians are the new boogey man" mind screw. I dont fear one single persian, so I am doing just fine enjoying my life without fear!
my buddies make the right calls - and early ;-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8Hk1-BpXO8 . . . . . . . . you were my light work for the night - LOL!
Speak for yourself. Not braggin' but I am a little tired of everyone whining about the housing market in California. People who bought a brand new cookie-cutter tract home with granite countertops in some remote suburb with a Walgreens and a Chuckie Cheese on the corner are the ones that are underwater. The ones that repeatedly took cash out of their equity are underwater. They can't even refinance to current rates. The bank says my place in LA has appreciated 20% since July 2006. It was built in 1966 by a very well known architect. Art doesn't depreciate. 20% is no great achievement but it is notable when the surrounding area dropped 50%. I flipped one in Chicago in the winter of 2006 for a quick 15% after commission and lawyers fees. It was built in 1927 and was a gem. I didn't even have to list it or put up a sign. The broker had a buyer that had been interested in it for years. The previous home in SoCal appreciated about 250% over 4 years before I sold it in July 2005. It has lost half its value since then and the owners abandoned it a few months ago. I feel a little bad but I didn't force them to buy it. Again, no listing and no sign on the lawn. The agent walked out to her car, got on the phone and had a buyer 10-minutes after we met. Its about buying carefully and looking for value. I could do it tomorrow if necessary. There has to be something special about the property. Not an oddity but some feature that makes it unique. It is a matter of homework and looking at dozens of homes before buying. Back on topic it is probably true that SoCal is not the safest place to run a nuclear power station but you can't just get rid of them and not replace the generation capacity somehow and you can't expect other states to supply all of your power. Its madness for the long term. Who is going to locate a factory in a place that cannot guarantee that there will be sufficent power to run it?
We bought our home in 1992. At the peak the of the market in 2007 it was worth almost ten times what we paid for it. It's still worth about seven times our purchase price and the mortgage is paid off. I wasn't complaining, just stating the facts.
+1, as they say. I think the American borrowers are at least as much to blame as the banks or anyone else. My houses are paid for, and sure, they've gone up and down in value, extremely. I have neighbors who continue to pay their mortgages, even though they may be underwater. They signed the for the loan, they continue to pay the loan. Don't know too much about the Nuclear generator in Cal, hope everything turns out ok. c
A multiple gain of 7 times, nice move that tomdavis , and you got to live in it also.Nothing to whine about there.
Yeah, Tom is a smart homeowner. It took discipline to not treat his home like an ATM machine at the peak market. I remember my neighbors buying motorhomes and financing vacations etc with second mortgages or home equity lines of credit. I felt like a bit of a schnook for not doing it but most of those folks are underwater now.
I have to give the "smart homeowner" credit to my wife. Twenty years ago she scoured the area for months looking for the lowest priced home in a highly desirable location, then insisted we pay for it with a 15 year mortgage.