Pasadenan's Discussions

Just think, we gave Iraq enough Uranium-238 (free) to destroy the U.S. 25 times over; all they need is a partical accelerator and a delivery method. The U.S. has always liked to promote terorist organizations and provide them free resources. 

$80k loss per ownership housing unit?  From the number Zillow posted last September, mine has already dropped $350k. Of course I could have never got what Zillow estimated at that time anyway since the market was already slowing and their estimating algorithm had major problems.  

My property taxes are only about $2k per year, house insurance less than $1k per year, and I have no payments.  I can't afford to move right now for numerous reasons.  The bubble equity was imaginary anyway.Still, it is sad; I keep thinking, "but what if I could have cashed out at the peak..."? 

Tax gasoline at $9 per gallon for transit, and the demand of gasoline will drop to the point we will not be dependent on foreign oil, and the (untaxed) price of gasoline will drop to a very reasonable number.  The problem would be "solved" as people would have a transit option, and alternative fuels would become competitive and have distribution. (U.S. automobiles would need the Brazilian "multi-fuel" conversion). But the oil industry stocks would substantually plummet. 

The ethanol thing is just a government subsidy of corn through the farm bill and ends up using more oil for the fertilizer.  Just another way the mega-corporations rip off the public through special interest legislation. We don't need nor want corn to be used for energy.  We don't even want corn to be the major ingredient in all the food products we buy.  Tax gasoline, stop subsidizing corn, and let the market figure out better economic alternatives. 

I've made some "assumptions" in the extrapulations I did on the adjacent graph from Zillow Affordablity Index data. The real questions are:1) What is the true long term inflation rate in California land and housing?  (Blue line represents about 7% annual but some say it should be 4%). 2) How much will values over-shoot the inflation line before it goes back to normal. I really don't expect it to suddenly shift from rapid down to "flat-line"; I expect it to overshoot, then gradually increase back to normal inflationary decline of the dollar value. But from my extrapulation, I don't expect the bottom to hit in the Gateway area of Sacramento until after the beginning of 2009.  Even then, it may not since there is still a huge back-log of foreclosures coming from the very bad lending practices over the past several years.  The overshoot may be a lot more extreme than anyone expects.  

For all the people that state the CPI is a good measure of "inflation" for the average household, I have not found one yet that can tell me exactly what is in the index, how each item is weighted, and how it compares to their actual spending patterns.  My "experience" has consistently been 7% inflation when looking at the same items over a fairly broad time span. But of course this doesn't reflect market, money policy, and other fluctuations that are provided by the graph presented. 

Azrob - Even if one's house had negative value, there is no requirement to get anyone to "take it off your hands"; you are much better just living in it; or if a mortgage company holds a lien, let them "take it". But the only cases I can think of for "negative value" are environmental issues for which the government holds the individual responsible, such as a gasoline or oil spill.  Eventually even major amounts of Asbestos or Lead may make a property fall into this category, but so far houses with lead or Asbestos are not considered "brown fields".  I'm also concerned in some areas with concentrations of Radon or other radioactive issotopes.  Even mold may eventually become a long term liability issue. Until then, most properties will not have a "negative value". Perhaps a "percent decline" would be more appropriate than trying to attribute a fixed dollar decline for each housing unit? 

I've been enjoying the real bank offered 0% interest on money loaned for almost a year, and expect to be doing so for a while longer.  And even their promised rates after the 0% "teaser" are less than what is being offered for mortgage 1sts and HELOC's.  (As long as one keeps up with the minimum payments on time). Now since inflation is well over 8% in the food and energy sectors; if I could just figure out how to store at minimal costs and resale at the inflated costs, with the 0% bank rates I should come out at least 8% ahead? (Of course in addtion to the storage and re-sale problems, there is also the "credit limit" issue).    

PlarUSA only pretended to buy a $400k condo in Pasadena; his house is in Irvine and all the others are imaginary.  He doesn't even come to Pasadena and the only things he knows about it is what he read on Zillow (mostly what I posted) or what he saw on a website.  (Eg; he stated PCC's library has windows facing Colorado Blvd, but failed to mention the major construction projects presently occuring on the campus.  Ex2; he states a condo on Delmar & Mentor is comperable and in the same "neighborhood" as a condo on Ohio St at Marengo.  Ex3: he mentions that Rick's Burger has lost its lease {to allow for a mixed use development project} but fails to mention that they have been given an extention {since construction is slowing...}.  Ex4: he states he is getting "what he wants" for rent for the condo, but he doesn't even know what rents are in Pasadena for various kinds and locations of property). There are two previous "foreclosures" on the market in my neighborhood; perhaps the tour will go by my house?  (It won't be foreclosed since there is no loan).