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| 11/23 |
| 2004/3/16-17 [Reference/RealEstate, Academia/Berkeley/CSUA/Motd] UID:12704 Activity:kinda low |
3/16 Is anyone in the CSUA presently living in any of the North Side
coops on Ridge or across the street from Soda? If so, please email me.
I need a current coop member with clue as a point of contact to
facilitate bringing *massive* bandwidth to the coops. -dans
\_ Where were you 10 years ago when *I* needed you?
\_ Hobnobbing with the sexy technoelite.
\_ Pretty much, yes. That's why I'm in a position to do this
now. -dans
\_ You really want to do business with people who dont pay their bills?
\_ If it gets paid by the central office, there's no problem
\_ Yes it is a problem. Like I said, why do business with people
[Yes, yes, very clever of you to keep replacing neocons
with jews, very amusing, now fuck off.]
\_ this little side bit about jews & neocons is a motdedit
merge failure, right?
who don't pay their bills?
\_ CO pays the bills on time. Don't confuse the USCA (very
lucrative/well funded organization that provides housing
to students at a reasonable cost) with the actual people
living in the coops. You think the coops are really self
governed?
\_ I was there for several years, served on the board,
several committees, met with their lawyers, george
proper, and several other jack offs. I know exactly
how the coops are governed. Another concern is how
you'll bring wiring into the house without it being
stolen. My house bought *1* cable tv connection and
*everyone* had cable in their room. How do you think
that happened? And yes my house paid the *1* bill on
time every month without mommy's help in CO.
\_ I don't think you're suggesting people would steal
CAT-5. If you're suggesting co-opers would steal
\_ Then the co-ops can pay for every room. Like
90% of everyone would use it anyway.
living in the coops. You think the coops are really self
governed?
service, that seems pointless. The co-op could just
pay UCB for access for the whole building and then
everyone could use it.
\_ Nah, they'd charge per room like everything else.
\_ I was saying the CO pays their bills, but the individual
houses might be run by fuck-ups. So if the billing goes to
CO it will be paid on-time. Their main finance person is
Margie Greene <mgreene@usca.org> Talk to her and she'll
point you to other people who can make this happen. |
| 2004/3/8 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:12565 Activity:nil |
3/8 One of my fuse in my apartment has started to trip quite often
recently when using the microwave. It hasn't tripped at all for
about 2 years I've been there until recently, and not much has been
added to the circuit. The fuse switch for this cicuit has "15" on it,
which I'm guessing is the amperage? Would it be *relatively* safe to
try switching it to say, "20" or is there something else I can do?
Almost rest of the fuses in the apartment are rated at 20 and up.
\_ Are they fuses or circuit breakers? If the latter, you can try
replacing the circuit breaker, IFF you are comfortable working around
very high voltages-- the main line coming into the box is hotter
than your average receptacle.
\_ If it is a rented apartment you might want to call the landlord
and get him to fix it.
\_ sodauser-Mon-Hum-Mal-Cha died in His Apartment Building on level 3.
Killed by 15 amps of current while replacing a fuse.
\_ Yes it means 15. Call an electrician since you obviously don't
know what you're doing. Touch the wrong thing and you can die.
Or call your landlord and have him call an electrician. I don't
know who you are but I don't want to find out by reading about it
in the paper. "STUDENT FRIES SELF!"
\_ it's not so much that he'll fry himself, it's that he may burn
the apartment building down. Frying himself would be evolution
in action. -tom
\_ no, it would only prove he is unsuited to an environment where
dealing with high voltage is a survival requirement.
\_ thank you, NERFAMC.
\_ what probably happened is that you or your roommate moved the
plug to one your fridge is hooked up to. try another plug.
\_ or kill your roomie. thatll save a lot of power, too. |
| 2004/3/3-5 [Science/Disaster, Reference/RealEstate] UID:12512 Activity:kinda low |
3/3 I'd like to separate my living room to make it into a room. However
I don't want to put studs+dry walls as my landlord may not like it.
What are other alternatives that gives you good separation (visually
real looking walls vs. paper ones) and is not too permanent? Do they
have thin materials that look good? Thanks.
\_ home depot.
\_ cubicle walls
\_ I like nice Japanese paravans but they don't give you a "real"
wall. -John
\_ I created temporary walls that used a simple system of bolts to stay
\_ I create temporary walls that used a simple system of bolts to stay
wedged into the ceiling without leaving a mark. Email me if you want
details. It worked very well, though I doubt it was earthquake safe.
During the boom, I sublet out the resulting space so that I could
details. It worked very well, though I doubt it was earthquake safe.
\_ Tall cabinets.
manage my own exorbitant rent.
-- ulysses |
| 2004/2/26 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:12410 Activity:nil |
2/24 NM is where they do all the latest/greatest scientific breakthroughs
relating to physics and what not, and it's also a place where really
smart scientists live. Here is my question. How the heck do they
[the gov] keep all these brilliant minds in one of the most boring,
ugly, and inhospital places in the U.S.?
\_ there are far more physicists on the east and west coasts in total.
\_ what are you smoking? Santa Fe & Taos are nice, and there is lots
of nice stuff to do around Los Alamos if you're a person who
appreciates the outdoors...
\_ There are lots of scientists in Albuquerque, too, Sandia
National Laboratory is there, as well as some of Air Force
Research Laboratory. And Albuquerque is not exactly a peach
of a city. Still, it's livable, and it's nice to be able to
have a job and afford a house. Many other locations of labs
such as LLNL and LBL have real problems with housing.
\_ LLNL is in the middle of nowhere. You can get housing there.
\_ Not according to scientists who've tried. Sure you can
get housing further away, but then you have to deal
with all that traffic going into Silicon Valley EVERY
FUCKING MORNING.
\_ What does SV have to do with LLNL? Do you have any clue
where the lawrence LIVERMORE national lab is located?
If your scientist friends are so fucking stupid they're
looking for LIVERMORE housing in the SV area then they
are far too stupid to work in a lab. I live near the
LIVERMORE lab and I've looked at housing in LIVERMORE
and the towns around LIVERMORE and there's plenty of
housing in the LIVERMORE area.
\_ Livermore is not really cheap anymore, but Tracy
sure is.
\_ Livermore is a mix of cheaper older housing and
newer expensive-but-very-nice-for-what-you-paid
housing. Apartments are always available for the
single nuclear scientists out there. Tracy is
nearby, cheap, and the next up-and-coming town in
the area. There are also several other new
developments for those with more money all within
20 minutes of LLNL. A single person can get
Livermore housing. A family person can get
decent housing within 20 minutes. A person of
moderate means can get anything in the area, a lot
it is very nice. I'm still baffled at the SV
comment. SV is not the center of the universe.
\_ The govt wants to make sure that there are no hot chicks for
the scientists to sleep with, so that the details of the next
generation nuclear devices don't slip out of their mounts in bed.
\_ for some reason I think this is a more plausible
explanation than the first two.
\_ You think wrong. There are hot women here. -PeterM
\_ They're all spies. The MiB will be visiting you and
your NKD 'girlfriend' this evening.
\_ Oooh! Threesome!
\_ Sort of. More like an orgy of pain at their
secret love nest in Cuba.
\_ Probably because aside from the gov, there just aren't that many
places hiring these kinds of scientists. Working for the gov is
bound to be more relaxed too.
\_ More relaxed than what? I talked to some contractor types
recently about their working environment. I've got a "todo"
list with 20+ items and all of them are "important". The
contractor has a "todo" list of maybe 5. I'm juggling a lot
of stuff all the time and people are constantly coming to me
for help. I do not feel relaxed, I feel harried. --PeterM
\_ No one works hard for the government. That's the point. If
you feel harried try working in industry where even if you
and everyone else works their ass off and does a good job you
might still lose the contract, your job, or the whole company.
I've done government work. It's totally slack.
\- the port of oakland != research lab
\_ whats the port of oakland have to do with anything?
\_ I told you, I talked to contractors who work in industry.
It's as I said, I'm more harried than they are. It's to
the point where I think industry would be MORE relaxed.
I make no claims about gov't in general though. We are
on a different system here. We get paid according to
what we produce: I got a 10% incentive pay increase
last year, they make an effort to make pay proportional
to production: anyone who wants more money can get it
by working harder and/or better.
--PeterM
\_ Contractors don't work anywhere. Talk to full timers.
If you're one of the very few people working hard for
the government then you missed the whole point of
government work.
\_ so do you get a busy sex life also? or are they also on
your to-do list?
\_ So-so. |
| 2004/2/19 [Finance/Banking, Reference/RealEstate, Finance/Investment] UID:29825 Activity:kinda low |
2/19 So I invested my life savings and took out a second mortgage
on my house to buy EMRG, just like the motd told me to. Now
my broker says he is doing something called a "margin
call" and my wife wants a divorce. What should I do?
\_ When there's something strange
In your neighborhood
Who ya gunna call?
\_ that post for EMRG was when it was at $1.60, now it's
at $2.80? learn to take profits.. or never get in after the
runs
\_ You, sir, are an asshat. |
| 2004/2/10-11 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:12199 Activity:high |
2/10 If you are just an independent agent (real estate, travel, etc.) that
sells a product for other companies but never really stock it in
you own warehouse, do you need to get a seller's permit? -- confused
by the rules' wording.
\_ Depends on the product. Real Estate requires a real estate license,
but not a sellers permit. Sellers permit is for hard goods.
\_ What about an independent agent who sells hard goods for others,
i.e. he negotiates and arranges for the transaction, but unlike
a distributor he never sees or stocks the product himself? |
| 2004/2/6-7 [Reference/RealEstate, Recreation/House] UID:12128 Activity:moderate |
2/6 Anyone have experience with taking a former landlord to Small Claims
Court? I just got our itemized statement of damages from moving out
of our old place, and the landlord is including $1750 for complete
carpet replacement. The carpets did *NOT* need to be replaced --
they weren't pristine when we moved out (wear in high-traffic areas,
small stains), but they weren't pristine when we moved in, either.
Unfortunately, pre-existing carpet problems weren't something I noted
during our move-in walkthrough, and the carpet wasn't discussed during
our move-out walkthrough, either (beyond the understanding that the
\- this is what you should base your claim on. it is ipso facto
unreasonable not to mention a $1000 item at the joint walk
through. you willl certainly win if the fact you state are
accurate. you may be able to get "jerk around" damages.
since you are out of the country, this will be an asspain of
course. i would write the landlord a demand letter [which will
improve your case too] and have it sent from a usa address.
be sure to specify a time by which you want a reply ... say
two weeks. --psb
last thing I'd do before I left would be to steam-clean the carpets).
I can present witnesses (friends who helped us move) to attest to the
condition of the carpets on move-in, but given my lack of backing
paperwork, am I pretty much screwed?
\_ Got pictures? Got a receipt for the steam cleaning? And more
important than any evidence, do you live in Berkeley or San
important than any evidence, do you live in Berkeley of San
Francisco? If so, then you should always take your landlord to
court, no matter how right s/he is because you'll probably win
despite all evidence to the contrary. BTW, $1750 is pretty
fuck cheap carpet. I'd want to see the billing statement showing
the bastards even put new carpet in. Death to landlords and other
property owning scum! The earth belongs to us all.
\_ I lived in San Jose. Unfortunately, now I'm overseas (so I
pretty much knew the answer to the "Am I screwed?" question
before I asked here). When you're talking about average lowball
carpet, how much *should* it cost to buy and install n sq. yards
of new carpet? (Believe me, if it weren't cheap, my landlord
wouldn't be putting it in. That was part of the problem with
the *old* carpet.) -- OP
\_ Unless they have proof of damage, you shouldn't be charged. Normal
wear-and-tear doesn't count. Damage would be torn, stained, rust
or oil stains, burned, etc. In your case, the question is how
stained was the carpet and how large and how many were there?
It would also help to know which city you're in. If you didn't
mention stains on the move-in or have photos, you're not in a
good spot.
\_ Landlord just wants a sap to fall for this trap and buy
free carpet for him/her. Don't fall for it. Fight! Fight!
Fight! Maybe you can counter-sue for lost wages, etc.
\_ your landlord sounds like my old landlord. Is she russian? was
your apt between haste and channing? anyway, i went back to her
and asked nicely and she gave some of my money back. don't know
Fight! Maybe you can counter-sue for lost wages, etc.
if it will work now though. |
| 2004/1/29 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:12002 Activity:nil |
1/28 Want to buy a median priced home? Make $124k first:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/01/28/MNG9N4JGO01.DTL
\_ Housing bubble!
\_ 3.2 jobs/housing unit. Housing crisis.
\_ haha, a Senior Software Engineer makes about that much.
\_ obUntilJobGoesToIndia
\_ obYouAreAFreakingIdiot
\_ showoff
\_ heh, so does a senior sysadmin.
\_ Many couples can swing that. Most single adults cannot.
ObUCGrad.
\_ This is true. On the other hand, with an income of $150K I
don't really feel I can afford $580K. My neighbor is a
neurologist (wife doesn't work) who makes probably twice
that and he's not in a $580K house either. That's a lot of $$$.
\_ the payments on $580K are only going to be about $3K/month,
which should be easily manageable on $150K/year.
\_ $3K/m with how much down payment?
\_ With a 10% down payment, at 6% interest, payments on
a 30-year loan to buy a $580,000 house would be
about $3150, or about 25% of the gross income of
Mr. $150K. Easily affordable. -tom
\_ With 10% down you're be paying mortgage insurance, or
paying a second mortgage.
\_ Uh, no. Only if you think property tax is free.
The PITI is going to be closer to $4K and at
$150K I am bringing home about $7K net. Could I
do it? Sure, but it's not that comfortable and
that is *if* I have $60K to put down.
\_ You keep 7k? BULLSHIT! I keep ~7k each month
of my 120k. LIES! LIES! LIES! YOU LIE! My
friends in Nebraska who are both nurses pay about
50% of their take home for their very normal
nothing special house and there sure as hell isn't
a housing bubble in Nebraska. It's a perfectly
normal number to pay these days in this country.
\_ Yes, I keep $7K and that is with my current
mortgage deduction. It would be less without
it. I am sure you don't mind living on $3K per
month for your cars, insurance, tuition,
utilities, home improvements and whatnot but
some of us try to save money and/or have lives.
\_ Your neurologist probably makes much less than you think.
\_ I doubt it. He's a partner in his practice and is 15
years out of medical school.
\_ You have absolutely no idea what his income or his
total wealth is. Maybe he's paying half his income in
alimony and child support for 5 kids. You have no idea.
\_ I know what a neurologist makes and I know he
only has one kid, but you make a good point
which is that sometimes life isn't rosy and
being stuck with a $4K mortgage when your wife
leaves you with 5 kids ain't fun. You can make
wads of money and still not afford a $580K house.
A $580K house is not "normal middle class". My
neighbor put all of his money into paying off his
student loans and buying his share of the practice,
but I guess you would have him being a wage slave
living paycheck to paycheck because it's "normal".
\_ They can swing it, but it's still a lot of money for a pretty
mediocre house. For families with kids the Bay Area sucks.
That doesn't seem to faze the Indians who live in shitty old
apartment complexes with their multiple children.
\_ why live in the Bay Area? I got smart and moved out.
\_ Most CS jobs are here.
\_ you can get a house really cheap in Bangladesh.
\_ but you're not allowed to work there, white boy. |
| 2004/1/20 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:11847 Activity:moderate |
1/19 I just sold my house but my other house isn't done yet so I need to
rent a temporary storage place for boxes/furnitures, etc. I'm looking
at around 6-8 months. How much do they cost? By the way I'm in S Cal.
Thanks!
\_ They vary in price highly with the property values in the area. Bay
area storage rental places are pretty high -- a 12x25' was going
for ~250/month 3 years ago here in Bay Area. Call around.
\_ I poked around on the Public Storage website a little while ago
and I remember there was some weird pricing going on, like a
closet-sized room was more expensive than a garage-sized one. I
seem to rember the cheapest size was like $34/mo or something.
\_ I found a place ~3-4 years ago for ~$120. It was right across the
Richmond bridge in Marin. Renting a truck to transport stuff is
a must, so going a little further to save $50-100 on storage is
worth it.
\_ This seems like a troll about SoCal and housing prices in disguise.
Otherwise, the OP could have just asked about storage in Ca for
a few months.
\_ Good thing you sold the house and built a new one out in the
desert before the bubble popped. Smart move. Now just make
sure and stock up on guns, gold and canned goods. |
| 2004/1/17-19 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:11820 Activity:nil |
1/17 I had a pipe leak in my apartment, and the lower floor was completely
soaked. I tried to force dry it, but it still smells like saltmarsh
in my livingroom. Is there anything I can do to get the stench out
aside from airing it out or burning my unit to the ground? TIA.
\_ It's stories like these that make me glad that I no longer live
in Berkeley.
\_ Not living in Berkeley. Stuff sometimes just happens, you know?
\_ I have no useful advice, but this reminds me of a funny story.
someone I know had the pressure go up in the sewar pipes enough
to force all the shit from his apartment building up into his
bathroom, all over the floor. there were turds in the bathtub
and all around. He busted a hole in the floor with a tire iron
and an axe, and the shit went down into the landlord's office
in the basement. he'd already tried getting
the landlord to respond and get a plumber for quite a
while, but in true slumlord fashion, there was no response
and all he had was a pager number. true story.
\_ There must be detergents that should be able to get it clean...
cuz there are like some chemicals that can get the stench of
housepet urine out of carpets.... there's probably still going
to be residual damage regardless.
\_ The same thing happened to my basement a couple weeks ago. If
your lower floor has wall-to-wall carpeting, the carpet & pad
(and any other soaked fabric material) should be thrown away.
\_ You need to contact your landlord and get them to replace the
carpet and pads. There's a mold hazard there and you tell him if
he doesn't take care of it you're going to file complaints with the
city and with his insurance carrier.
\_ You can disinfect it by peeing on the floor.
\_ rm? is that you, being a punk again?
\_ How/Why does urine stink up a room for so long?
\_ How do you know - have you tried?
\_ When I was thinking about buying a stinky cat-urined house, I
found info on some product that you could use to get the stench
out. It might work with human stenches, too. Don't remember what
it was called, but I'm sure you can google for it. |
| 2004/1/14-15 [Consumer/Audio, Reference/RealEstate] UID:11779 Activity:nil |
1/13 I just bought a house. I'm gutting the walls right now. I'm debating
2 in-wall speakers vs 4 normal speakers. Pros vs Cons? Where my TV is,
I'm going to do 5+1 surround, this is for the more formal living room.
\_ Is it a pre-1970 house (lead paint=>lead dust contamination)?
\_ yes. pre-WWII.
\_ Hmmmm, well children are more susceptible to lead
poisoning, so if yer worried, get tested. A normal
vacuum won't work for cleanup (lead dust is too fine
to be caught by normal filters - I think you may need
a HEPA filter). Just an FYI in case it interests ya.
\_ thanks. you have to sign a million disclosure acceptances
when buying an older home. once the house is repainted,
are there still hazards (i only skimmed teh disclosures).
\_ very soon, half of the responses below will be posted by jealous
poornuts who will tell you that it's stupid to buy a house in the
Bay Area
\_ still can't get over it, eh?
\_ i don't live in the bay area
\_ it's so stupid to buy a house in the bay area! i'm doing much
better renting and voting for people that will write and strictly
enforce draconian rent control laws which lower the quality of
rental housing while reducing availability! so take that! you
evil and foolish home owner! hah!
\_ did i say anything about the bay area or CA for that matter?
\_ try posting a random string of ASCII characters, and see
how long it takes to turn into a Bay Area housing flame
war. of course, what people on both sides refuse to
acknowlege is that the common denominator of crapulence
is the Bay Area, not renting or owning. I'd rather
own *or* rent anywhere but the Bay Area than own *or*
rent in the Bay Area. You've all fucked yourselves with
your communal idiocy on renatl policy, and yes, the
price of housing is a ridiculous bubble in the bay area.
\_ Are you gutting plaster walls and replacing with dry wall? I
wouldn't. As for speakers, WTF do you want them in the wall?
They are going to be as useful as the intercoms that people
used to love to install.
\_ in-wall vs "box" speakers is a waf question, imo. in the past,
i've found in-wall speakers acoustically compromised. if you
openning walls and laying in wires, why limit yourself to 5.1?
\_ Your question boils down easily: How much do you value the
aesthetics of in-wall speakers? That's a question motd can't
answer for you. As far as convenience, normal speakers
are better: easier to upgrade, easier to install. As far as
sound quality, normal speakers are better: speakers require
a cushion of air behind them to correctly spatialize the
sound. The only advantage in-wall speakers have is aesthetics.
Also, if you don't like cables everywhere, consider just
in-walling your cables, and feed them through a jack. -nivra
\_ perfect answer, thanks. |
| 2004/1/5-6 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:11678 Activity:high |
1/5 Anyone care to share their Bay Area housing market predicitons?
These current prices can't possibly hold up, IMO.
\_ factor of two drop within ten years.
\_ I said it before and I will say it again. These prices will
hold up as long as interest rates stay down. Once rates start
going up, prices will stop going up and will probably drop
a bit. -ausman
\_ That as well as the projected population and the projected
supply of whores is way out of balance, favoring a shortage
of whores. They've run projections through the next 20-50
years and unless we get some hundreds of thousands more
whores than planned we're still going to be short.
\_ Sure, that is why in the long run, pimping is still a good
investment, imo.
\_ Bay Area whore market opinions on the motd are trollbait, IMO.
\_ This is the only area in the country considered to have a housing
crisis (in the sense that there isn't enough). Do the math.
supply of housing is way out of balance, favoring a shortage
of housing. They've run projections through the next 20-50
years and unless we build some hundreds of thousands more
dwellings than planned we're still going to be short.
\_ Bay Area housing market opinions on the motd are trollbait, IMO. |
| 2003/12/24-26 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:11583 Activity:nil |
12/13 I am about to rent an apartment in Mountain View. The contract
allows rent hike with 2 months' notice. Is rent going to increase
in the next year? I am wondering whether I should sign for m2m,
6m, or 1yr.
\_ gee, I sure miss the Bay Area...NOT!!!!!
\_ Rent will increase. LLs (most of the time)
will hike the rent. Some large, corporate LLs may keep the
rent the same or give you a break but this is rare. This is
even rarer in South Bay and rarer than rare for anything less
than a 2-bd. Word of advice: shop around prior to renewal
and negotiate. The rental market is soft right now and it's
thought to remain soft well into 2004. I was able to keep my
rent the same in East Bay even though pretty much everyone in
my apartment complex had a 5% hike. (They just signed the
renewal offer). Oh and it's easier to renew for a deal then
to get out of a deal (penalties?) so I'd say sign for 6m-1yr.
\_ Ignore all the idiots below. The answer is you should sign for
the length of time you expect to be there. In this case you'll
have that plus 2 months to figure out where you want to live after.
The other option is to sign for the shortest period possible if
you're willing to apartment hop every few months to save a few
bucks on rent. In that case get the shortest possible terms.
\- well obviously if you know you are joining the army or getting
married etc you may have a good idea of "the length of time
you epxect to be there" but most people dont, down to the
month. duh. if the person knew the nswer to this, he wouldnt
be asking what to do in the face of uncertainty. --psb
\_ genius boy scribbles to motd again. look genius boy, he made
it pretty clear he's planning to be in the area for at least a
year, his only question is about if he should sign long to
lock in a low rent or sign short so he can move if it drops.
i answered for both the long and short term cases while you
completely failed to do either. your best response was to
tell him to post his name so you could tell him your sob story
in email. go smoke your pipe, genius boy.
\_ please consult madame cleo for answers to all of life's pressing
questions.
\- you are probably best off signing for a year. i know what i
am talking about but i am not going to explain unless you
sign your name. --psb
\_ What does signing name have to do with this? (S)he is not
trolling about chocolate or WMD? The BIG one is coming?
\- because i want to try and stave off
E_CASTPEARLTOSWINE --psb
\_ It seems possible that there may be details that The
psb is not willing to share on motd that he might be
willing to go into via email or chat, etc. Try to use
your brain a little bit.
\_ It was possible until he replied above making it clear
he's got nothing to say.
\_ If the terms for the rent increase are the same for all three
periods of time, sign m2m. Figure that rent will start increasing
late next year, but not that much if at all. More COLA. Not as
many jobs being created.
\_ on the one hand, motd posters fret over a housing price crash.
on the other hand, they worry about increasing rent?
What gives?
\_ It's fun to bash home owners on the motd and spread FUD but when
reality strikes....
\_ It's similar concerns. An increasingly ambiguous economy. A
jobless recovery when real estate prices are increasing thus
allowing landlords to maintain high rents. If the bubble bursts,
homeowners lose lots of equity, but how the housing/rental market
will react is unknown. High unemployment during a recovery means
those with jobs will have fewer opportunities to increase
salaries significantly by trading up jobs.
\_ trading up jobs? what happened to your employee loyalty?!
\_ It went right out with companies cutting pensions.
Legislated out of existence by 401k's
\_ So it's all about money, huh? Sing the corporate song
and think of your cube mates! Team spirit! |
| 2003/11/29-12/1 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:11264 Activity:nil |
11/29 http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/29/business/29RENT.html?pagewanted=2&hp "Apartment Glut Forces Owners to Cut Rents in Much of U.S." According to the article, Bay Area rents have fallen more than 20 percent over the last three years, more than anywhere else. Is that true? \_ http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/11/29/BUGHE3CDHN1.DTL SF rents up as vacancies go down. \_ That's commercial property though, not residential. \_ But yes, rents have fell through the floor in SF. Not as much as they should, though - there is a huge glut of really bad apartments on the market, and many landlords still seem to think its 1998 and are overpricing them. Thus there are a lot of properties just sitting empty, because you can always find a better deal. |
| 11/23 |
| 2003/11/28-29 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:11256 Activity:high |
11/27 http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2246402 "It is time to expose some popular fallacies about buying a home" \_ Thank you for this, though I'm sure you'll get screamed at by some Bay Area owners. \_ I won't comment on the macro economic statements but I will point out that the whole thing falls apart on point #5. My mortgage is only slightly higher than rent in my area. In a few years, I'll own my home and stop paying mortgage fees but renters will keep renting and paying ever higher rent costs over time. My mortgage rate is set and locked. Also, should inflation ever hit big time again, which is historically likely, then my mortgage drops to nothing while rent prices will sky rocket in absolute terms. In the meantime, in order to lose money on my house, it would have to drop in sale value by over 40% (my current break even point taking nothing else into account) *and* I'd have to be *forced* to sell it at that post- crunch point rather than doing what I intend to do if it should happen, which is simply stay there and keep paying my mortgage. Seriously, I was renting for 10 years hoping and praying every day for that predicted housing price drop. It never came. So I finally got a clue and a house and I'm up a shitload of money in the last 4 years. I paid $428k + stuff = $440k. Someone sold the same house for $615k 2 weeks ago in my neighborhood and I haven't been paying rent down the drain for 4 long years. By taking out a 15 year loan and paying in a lot of extra money, I'll *own my house* in full at about the 7.3 year mark. Stop praying and being bitter and reading doom and gloom articles hoping for some crash. Go buy something and stop suffering. Read the article carefully. It says housing prices may remain flat, not crash by 50%. If you bought now and the market value never changed at all you still win in the long run. If you plan on buying to rent it out, I can't comment on that investment as I haven't researched the possibility. I'm just really happy to --not be a renter anymore \_ (1) The issue is not whether you made a right decision buying a house 4 years ago. The issue is whether one should rush into buying a house today. (2) I don't know about the Bay Area, but rents where I live (a big fat city) is actually decreasing, and there are still a lot of empty apartments for rent. live is actually decreasing, and there are still a lot of empty apartments for rent. (3) Don't forget your 20% downpayment and closing costs \_ more like years. \_ I am thinking in terms of the returns generated per year, without touching the principle. (4) Don't forget the extra $ one would be paying on which could cover several months worth of rent if reasonably invested. (5) Don't forget extra maintenance and utilities costs. (4) Don't forget the extra $ one would be paying on a (4) Don't forget the extra $ one would be paying on (7) Don't forget property tax (another few months worth of rent). mortgage over rent (which is decreasing where I live) could also be invested. (5) Don't forget extra maintenance costs. (6) Don't forget mortgage interest tax savings must (7) Don't forget property tax. subtract standard deduction first. (7) Don't forget property tax (another few months worth (9) A likely future scenario would be rising interest rate (current account (iraq, homeland security, new medicare bill) / trade deficits / improving economy) coupled with low inflation (china / india / productivity gains) -> not good for housing prices and mortgages? \_ (10) don't forget homeowner insurance. (equivalent to half to full month of rent.) \_ Living in earthquake country, a 50% housing crash is possible. of rent). (8) Inflation / Deflation tends to be a double edged sword. While inflation may mean decreasing "real money" mortgage payments, it may also mean higher interest rate, meaning that less new buyers of houses or upgrades to bigger houses, and it may also mean if you have ` cash on hand, it would likely generate better returns if invested in stocks / bonds / etc. (9) A likely future scenario would be rising interest rate (current account (iraq, homeland security, new medicare bill) / trade deficits / improving economy) coupled with low inflation (china / india / productivity gains) -> not good for housing prices and mortgages? \_ why should we scream? keep renting from us fools! We love your money!! \_ Ya know, when the bottom finally falls out of the housing market, its going to be really really satisfying to gloat on the motd. Every day. \_ do the math kiddo. The bottom would have to fall out within the first couple years of ownership for it to cause actual damage to a home buyer, once you figure in inflation, equity, leveraged mortgages, and tax savings. I'm not sure how you think you are benefiting by not buying any kind of house... Also, the economist article is counting on a low inflation. Think about what that means. Among other things it means by voluntarily renting instead of owning you're betting against inflation. If you cannot buy a house due to the crazy prices in the Bay Area, and you are just trying to make yourself feel better, then I'm sorry, I don't mean to rip on you. But there is an ugly reality that will only hurt you more the longer you avoid it. Pool your money with a friend or family member, or invest in a cheaper area where you think real estate is more stable. \_ Reality is that I'm just sick of the Bay Area and Kaluforneeah in general. Why get locked into an area that you think you'll be leaving within 5 years anyway? \_ can anyone explain what this is supposed to mean? "Initial interest payments may seem low in relation to income, but because inflation is also low it will not erode the real burden of debt as swiftly as it once did. So in later years mortgage payments will be much larger in real terms." are they talking about variable rate loans and making assumptions that the rate will rise? a low fixed-rate low seems to me to be a good deal regardless of inflation (well, as long as it's positive). [formatted] \_ Say inflation is 4%, and you get a fixed-rate mortgage with payments of $2000/month for 30 years. Your payments are fixed, \_ then isn't this predicated on the assumption that you know how the inflation rate is going to be? if you wait a few years till inflation starts up again, what makes you so sure that some years down the line after that, inflation isn't going to stall again? but inflation means they cost less every year; after 29 years you'd be paying only $641/month in real money. Now, imagine that there won't be any inflation at all for the next five years. That same mortgage is now going to be costing you $780/month in 29 years -- that's the "much larger in real terms" they're talking about. The alternative is to put off buying your house. Say you wait five years, until inflation starts up again. You'll have a higher interest rate -- maybe your payments will be $2300/month -- but inflation will bring them down to $737/month after 29 years, *lower* than your final payments would be if you bought at the lower interest rate now. \_ WOW thanks motd econ dude. So the whole article is based on the premise that if deflation occurs, houses would be a bad bet? \- if i have to venture a guess, i think there are some people here who dont worry about their finances as much because they are perhaps only children of upper middle class parents and know they are going to inherit ~$1million ... of course some are not only children but their parents might be worth even more [and probably paid for their college so no debt]. so rather the prefer to not sweat over this stuff, and they dont personally get much milage over owning a house and they avoid the hit to the cash flow. note: i'm not saying all the people in this financial condition dont worry about it, but some may prefer to say live in an expensive part of SF as renters, and have to income to buy a nice car/stuff, travel, eat out etc. for some of them a home might be even a bigger time liability than money issue. \_ I'm certainly not set to inherit any money. My dad is already dead, and he died poor. My mother is also a poor hippie with little cashflow - she an obligation to leave something to their owns a house but that will get eaten up by medical bills when she is older. I grew up without electricity until I was 5 years old, and without a functioning toilet until I was 11 (do you know what an outhouse is?). So yeah, I worry about money some. For me, its just not the time to be going into debt. Buying a home is a very worthy thing, but I wish motd people would stop acting like its the be-all-end-all of existence and \_ what's this supposed to mean that you're a total idiot if you don't do it. \- seriously: do you have a point here aside from telling your story? you make a reasonable point on the medical bills issue. i dunno how many middle/upper middle class parents see an obligation to leave something to their children vs. "i paid for their college now i get to have a good time". i'm sure it's differnt at harvard/princeton/bennington etc but there are plenty of berkeley families worth 2-4 million with 1-2 kids ... these people have a pretty nice "safety net" and can get away with living a zero savings lifestyle, and not worrying about \_ i dont live in the bay area, and even w/in the bay area, there is a lot of differences in overvaluation based on what part of the bay area. \_ Look at this more simply. For house prices to fall there would have to be less demand. If there's less demand that likely means fewer people able to buy homes. Odds are that the non-home owners will also be in the "not able to buy home" category. The homeowner may take a bath on paper, but the renter likely *still* won't have a house, because the very factors driving prices down will also affect that person's ability to buy (e.g. interest rates). \_ Nah, I have more than enough to buy a house, but I am not buying because: (1) I don't have a need for a big house now. (2) As an investment, the next few years could be mediocre, if not downright horrific. (3) Just like stocks which can become overvalued or undervalued, if the housing price drops sufficiently, it may become fairly priced, and I may consider buying one. (4) In short I am not buying now because I don't want to lose money, or have my money stuck in the house for a long time unable to work for me. (5) Sure, interest rate may go up, but I would be able to pay for a much bigger chunk of the house a few years down the road, and borrowing less, interest rate would play a much less important role. \_ If I owned a house, I'd have to clean drainpipes, which I hate, and I probably wouldn't be able to hear my cute neighbor getting off through t ewals. And that, I think, sort of brings the whole discussion to moot. -John \_ finally, a voice of reason that the rate will rise? a low fixed-rate low seems to me to be a good deal regardless of inflation (well, as long as it's positive). money some. For me, its just not the time to be going into debt. Buying a home is a very worthy thing, but I wish motd people would stop acting like its the be-all-end-all of existence and that you're a total idiot if you don't do it. many middle/upper middle class parents see and obligation to leave something to their children vs. "i paid for their college now i get to have a good time". i'm sure it's differnt at harvard/princeton/bennington etc but there are plenty of berkeley families worth 2-4 million with 1-2 kids ... these people have a pretty nice "safety net" and can get away with living a zero savings, dont worry about the future existence. their future existence. i think various asians also have different expriences in this area. \_ That article links to another article that shows that Britain and most of the EU are >40-50% inflated, whereas the US is only about 15% inflated. 15% over 4 years is <4% a year. It seems like you shouldn't go and buy a house in England, but a 15% drop isn't much given the pros of home ownership. Of course, I don't want to buy a home because I don't want to be tied down... home ownership is like marriage, it ties you down and kills your life, regardless of whether or not it is a good investment. \_ Yea, but Bay Area != US. According to Smartmoney, WSJ's personal finance magazine, Bay Area communities are from 23% to 41% overvalued (For comparison, Chicago, for example, is only 2% overvalued). See above points (1) to (9) on why the other "pros of home ownership" may be overrated. \_ i dont live in the bay area, and even w/in the bay area, there is a lot of differences in overvaluation based on what part of the bay area. |
| 2003/11/27 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:29672 Activity:nil 50%like:11249 |
11/26 Berkeley Frat House Article on Chronicle:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/26/HOL37AMI1.DTL |
| 2003/11/27-28 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:11249 Activity:nil 50%like:29672 |
11/26 Berkeley Frat House Article on Chronicle:
http://tinyurl.com/wr39 (sfgate.com)
\_ I read this out of sheer boredom. Why do we care that some frat
boys are living in an old house? Most of them are old houses. |
| 2003/11/25-26 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:11222 Activity:high |
11/24 Don't overlook a condominium as an affordable first investment. Unlike
years past, when condos were considered a lousy investment by
comparison with detached homes, condos are now appreciating at twice
the rate of single-family residences.
http://csua.org/u/53b
\_ Not a condo, but the whole condominium is a good investment.
A single condo still sux balz!
\_ Sure, but that will stop when they approach the cost of a SFR,
which will always cost more - and the SFR will hold its value
better, too.
\_ Another factor I have heard is that the boomers are starting
to reach retirement age, and their kids are leaving home, and
because of that, many will be downgrading from house to
townhome or apartment.
\_ This was supposed to happen with WWII-era seniors when the
boomers left home. It didn't quite work out that way as the
boomers moved south and west and built more suburbs. The big
change is the increase of single adults (with and without kids)
with homes and immigrants.
\_ OTOH, watch prices on 2-storey units drop as Boomers like my
Mom and Dad realize they won't be able to make it up the
stairs much longer.
\_ Supply and demand affects condo prices more than homes
because it is easier to increase the supply in a given
neighborhood. If there are lots of condo developments
and/or free land nearby, be wary. In as city like SF, you
are prob safer from this kind of thing happening.
\_ hehehe another bitter renter trying to delude himself into
thinking the home he can't afford is a bad ivnestment.
\_ Considering the fervent responses on the motd everytime
someone questions housing prices, looks more like a
bunch of heavily mortgaged home owners worried about
the prices of their houses. Makes good troll bait.
- happy owner of big house not in BA.
\_ Not at all. I was in the bitter renter hoping for a housing
crunch mode until I finally got a clue and just bought
something. I'm up over $150 in 4 years, thanks and not
even close to heavily mortgaged. I'll own it 100% in
~7.5 years.
\_ Down with the Kapitalist bourgeiosie!
\_ What makes you think the next 4 years is going to
be like the last 4 years? The housing price
increase rate during the bubble and interest rate
cutting years is not sustainable. Home price
increase first half of this year - San Jose -1%,
Oakland 1%, SF 1%. That doesn't sound like good
enough reason to rush out to buy a house at all
cost. Interest rate can't go any lower. Latest
news is housing sales went down. Economy is still
uncertain. Besides, the Op may just be considering
uncertain. Besides, the op may just be considering
to buy a house. Just because you have no clue for
a long time, and then made a "smart" move doesn't
mean you
whether it's worth it to buy a condo, or save more
to buy a house. You said you had no clue for some
time before making a "smart" move to buy a house.
Perhaps you should consider the possibility that
you may be quite clueless about what will happen in
the next four years instead of jumping to conclusions
that anyone less than 100% bullish abouthousing
prices is a "bitter renter". |
| 2003/11/1-2 [Reference/RealEstate, Finance/Shopping, Politics/Foreign/Asia/Others] UID:10896 Activity:kinda low |
10/31 Oh great. A Vietnamese man just bought my building and has now
cancelled the property management firm, the cleaning contract,
and the pest control contract. He claims he can do it all
himself. There are 19 units and over 30 people in the building.
This is stupid - 5 years ago they finally beat back the roach
invasion and now this chump is going to let them back in?
Why is he so cheap?!
\_ why do you still live in the Bay Area?!
\_ Where do you live? And who do you work for?
\_ Vietnamese people are always cheap. They are your worst nightmare
as your employee (stupid) and your landlord (cheap). They're
also your worst roomates (dirty). I'm speaking from personal
experience. Do yourself a favor and move out ASAP.
\_ I've got 7 months left on my lease. ARGH!
\_ You can break lease and move now or wait and pay double in
7 months after the economy improves. Or you could kill him.
\_ um, how are we vietnamese dirty?
\_ heh, you'll accept stupid and cheap but dirty isn't ok?
\_ ha that's pretty funny. Anyways, how come Vietcongese
bashing is ok but black/white/jews bashing gets trashed
by motd custodians? Is it because our custodians don't
like Viets as well?
\_ No, b/w/j bashing mostly causes the flamefest intended
by the trolls posting. When that section of the motd
grows to 5 pages, it gets deleted.
\_ Edit it yourself. I like Vietnamese so well I married
one, I just don't see the need to censor idiots. It
is better to let the world see how stupid the bigots
really are.
\_ sheesh, what a bigot!
\_ Property management firms ... snicker. Those are usually
run by lazy, incompetent know-nothing do-nothing english major
suit-wearing money-grabbers who think they are entitled to a
high fee without providing any service. Of course he should
fire them and cut some fat. Helps the economy, if nothing else.
\_ I have yet to see an exception to the rule you state.
\_ personal experience: management company did what was needed to
be done at my apartment complex. it was very industrial and
there was no personal touch to anything but stuff got done. i
moved from there to another complex run by the one-owner-guy and
it was a big fucking filthy broken mess and a fire hazard to
boot! i'll take a prop. management firm anyday.
\_ I think you mean "industrious."
\_ no, I mean industrial. exactly like I said. thanks.
\_ At least your landlord wasn't the Lucky Reddy dude who bring
indian peasant girls to the country to serve as sex slave
and to help clean the apartment buildings.
\_ If you're not an Indian peasant girl what do you care? |
| 2003/10/30 [Reference/RealEstate, Finance/Investment] UID:10855 Activity:low |
10/29 John Templeton predicts that housing prices will fall by 90%
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/P52744.asp
\_ probably not mentioned: the bay area exception
\_ When there is a big one, it will fall to 1/10 the value.
\_ If it does then I'm buying all I can afford, baby!
\_ see also the threat of greater inflation as our economy tanks.
I'm looking forward to my loan suddenly be worth 10 times
what I owe on it.
\_ As bearish as I am about housing prices, I find that hard
to believe.
\_ Actual quote: "After home prices go down to one-tenth
of the highest price homeowners paid, then buy."
The meaning is slightly different.
\_ In my area houses just went over 600k recently. If you
wait until they hit 60k before you buy I hope you really like
paying rent because you'll be paying it for the rest of your
life. Homeless motd kids, keep up the housing price drop
fantasy. I was hoping the same thing a few years ago when
houses here were going for 350k. I bought in at 430k and
no, virginia, there's no end in sight. It's very simple.
More people keep coming in than there is available housing.
The author needs to take econ 1 at some place better than
hayward.
\_ yea, that's what they once said in HK too. No, I don't
think the price will drop to 1/10, but you are the one
fantasizing if you think housing prices always go up.
\_ In the long term, they do.
\_ Son, God is always making more people, He isn't making
anymore land. And yes, historically, housing prices
have always gone up. Real estate is one of the best
long term investments you can make. The only way you
can lose is buying swamp land. Prove me wrong. History
is on my side.
\_ The stock market is also a good "long term" investment
and consistently beat real estate "long term".
That doesn't mean you should buy stocks in March 2000.
Yea, God made like 100 million people in Java, and
is making plenty more everyday, so why don't you go
invest in Java real estate?
\_ Hey good shot as changing the subject. Let me
refresh your memory. The topic was real estate
in the US. This is a growing nation and getting
richer everyday. Here's the econ 1a part: with
more and more consumers who are wealthier each
day than the one before and a housing supply that
doesn't grow as fast, the housing market will
continue to climb until those conditions change.
Java? That was a nice try but ultimately feeble.
Housing prices will continue to climb over the
long haul and unlike the stock market, you can
live in your house after a crash. Housing values
can't go to zero, unlike your portfolio.
\_ Wealthier? Did you even read the article? It
mentioned the increasing debt of Americans
as one of the principle causes of the
predicted crash. That means negative wealth,
if you need a translation.
\_ Housing prices in the Bay Area have been
growing much faster than wealth, income and
population. Much "wealth" was destructed
in the tech crash. Income has gone
down slightly while unemployment has risen.
Only thing sustaining the housing prices
is the low interest rate, which can't
go any lower. You can live in your
house after a crash? Not if you lose
your job. Not only will you not be able
to live in your house, you will still
be responsible for the mortgage which
would be more than what you can get
selling the house. Bankruptcy would
be the only choice left.
\_ If you lose your job the only place you
will live is your mom's basement,
anyway. --dim
\_ I think you would rather live in
your mom's basement without debt than
with a shitload of debt, and debt
collectors going after your arse
day in and day out. |
| 2003/10/27 [Politics/Domestic, Reference/RealEstate] UID:10803 Activity:nil |
10/25 Does anyone here have a good video newsfeed for the fires down in
San Diego? I've got family down there, and local news has been
depressingly lacking. --erikred
\_ no, but here are some photos from hillcrest:
http://www.plocktau.com/temp/fire
\_ No but every morning my car is covered in ash. -50 miles from fires.
\_ maybe they'll burn down a few nice Republican houses and let us
poor schmucks have a chance at getting property in the nice
SD area.
\_ Talk about flame-bait...
\_ Someone needs to break your legs. Nothing personal.
\_ yeah, the Berkeley Hills fire really made for cheap real
estate in Hiller Highlands. -tom |
| 2003/10/24 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:10765 Activity:high |
10/23 Housing prices going to tumble. Old ladies worried about high
property taxes will be happy!
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/P62345.asp
\_ uh, that article says nothing about housing prices. -tom
\_ look for "real estate".
\_ Prop 13 protects old ladies from high housing prices. Anyway,
we've been hearing this for years. If you bought a house just
before any of the last several housing price tumbles and sold it
today you'd have a several hundred percent profit in the Bay Area.
\_ yea, but what if you just bought a house? and even if you have
a 200 percent appreciation, which I doubt you have, believe me,
it still hurts when it goes down.
a 200 percent appreciation, believe me, it still hurts when it
goes down.
\_ doesn't matter at all. the *only* things that matter are
your property taxes, monthly payment, and your final selling
price when you dump the thing years from now. i'm a home
owner who plans to stay for at least 5-7 more years in this
house. the current housing ups and downs mean *nothing* to
me. the weather report is more exciting.
\_ 5-7 years only? LA housing market was crappy for
more than a decade before bouncing back. Housing tends
to have longer cycles compared to the stock market.
If you need a house, sure, but if you are also thinking
of it as a financial investment, think twice. Don't
buy more than what you need, or earlier than necessary.
\_ Typical housing cycle is about 7 years. In LA it
was from 1989 to 1996 or so (top to bottom). Some
people say 1991 to 1998.
\_ Sure. But if you consider it as an investment,
you probably want to look at how long it takes to
go from top to bottom and than back to its
original level and then some. What would be the
return from say 1985 to 1995?
\_ Less than 7 years unless you bought at the very
top. It took maybe 10 years for the people who
did. Real estate rebounds quickly when it finally
heads up.
\_ This looks like the "very top".
\_ Most of us didn't buy this year.
\_ Since when did you become the
spokesperson for the motd denizens?
\_ Maybe, but they said that two years ago.
\_ Have prices risen in the last two years?
\_ yes, they have.
\_ Really? Didn't the luxury home
prices fall? And they say
those usually lead the way.
\_ Keep in mind that once you're in a house it isn't
just an investment but your home. You're no
longer paying rent which has an investment value
of absolutely zero. Property is always a good
investment. Location is the only question.
\_ On the negative side, you do have to pay
property tax, property insurance, various
maintenance costs and higher energy bills.
Also your 20% ($120000?) down payment could be
making money for you if you put it somewhere
else. If you invest the $120000 reasonably
wisely, that alone could cover a few months
rent.
\_ yeah, you could put it in the market! oh,
the same article says the market is going
to tank...
\_ He didn't say all markets. He liked
emerging markets, for example. That
brings up another negative of a
to have longer cycles compared to the stock market.
If you need a house, sure, but if you are also thinking
of it as an investment, think twice.
heads up.
\_ This looks like the "very top".
\_ Since when did you become the
spokesperson for the motd denizens,
the majority of whom probably
haven't bought a house.
house as an investment - it is
illiquid. |
| 2003/10/11-12 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:10597 Activity:nil |
10/10 Save Karyn book:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/977601.asp?pne=11947&0ct=-300
\_ I hate this bitch.
\_ I've never heard of her but if you hate her, I like her.
\_ this is not the middle east |
| 2003/10/10-11 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:10583 Activity:nil |
10/10 How's the south bay apartment rental market right now? |
| 2003/10/5 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:10473 Activity:nil |
10/4 Why would you want a tiger AND a caiman in your apartment?
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/05/nyregion/05MAUL.html?hp
\_ CAGE MATCH! |
| 2003/9/25-26 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:10331 Activity:moderate |
9/25 If I sign a m/m contract for an apt, is there a real chance the
landlord will want to double the rent once/if(???) the economy
picks up? Is there some kind of statewide law on this or does this
vary from one city to the next? I am only concerned with the bay area.
ok tnx.
\_ Double is unlikely. 20-25% was common. Mine went up exactly 20%
during the dot com era when it was really really hard to find
housing and when traffic sucked and when it seemed like all your
friends got rich except you. Thank god dot com dot bombed.
\_ jealous mofo
\_ Use motdedit, you ignorant loser. ok tnx.
\_ I didn't wipe your post. Try again and take your med.
\- this is very much dependent on the city. look at rent
control, vacancy decontrol etc. basically berkeley strongsish
rent control. oakland and sf are medium. --psb
\_ If you're in Oakland, "Rents may not be increased more
than 3% in any 12-month period for occupied units, and
6% in any 12-month period for units vacated after the
landlord terminated the tenancy." Note that the 3% is
dependent on the Rent Arbitration Board; last year it
was 0.6%. URL: http://csua.org/u/4ih --erikred
\_ YMMV. Which city? Each one has different regs. |
| 2003/9/10-11 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:29530 Activity:insanely high |
9/10 Over the last few months, I've noticed occasional noise from my
neighbor downstairs at times when I'm trying to sleep.
Twice, or maybe 3 times, in the last 4 or 5 months, I banged
on the floor at hours after midnight and immediately the
volume on the TV or whatever it was went way down. I took
that to mean he hadn't realized that the noise was disturbing
to me. In any case, the other day, at like 6 am, he had
his bathroom fan (the head of my bed shares a wall with my
bathroom, which is directly over his) on for like 20 minutes
and it woke me up a lot earlier than I planned to get up.
After no response from banging on the floor, I went downstairs
to kindly ask him to turn it off, figuring he had no idea
it was disturbing me and would have no problem turning it
off. In any case, when I rang the doorbell and asked him
to turn off the bathroom fan, his response (without opening
the door) was "Why!?". My response was "Because it's loud,
5 feet from my head, and I'm trying to sleep." His response was
a somewhat hostile "what about when you're making noise?
I don't bitch and moan about it then". My response was
"When was I making too much noise? Seriously. You should
tell me about it so I know if I'm disturbing you." He
finally mentioned something about I was stomping around in
the morning sometimes (I'm not usually an early riser, but
I am up early on occasion). Then he turned off the fan and
walked away from the door without saying he was sorry or
anything remotely polite or civil. He was totally rude.
Anyway, it's happened to me at least twice before, years
ago at a different place, that a downstairs neighbor knocked
on my door late at night and asked me to turn down the music
or stop using the vacuum cleaner or whatever. And I said
I was sorry and turned off the noise and everyone was happy.
Anyway, my question is, was this guy being a total ass hole,
and/or was I being at all unreasonable? Also, do you think
my "stomping" around in the morning was really pissing him
off, or was he just pissed that I was bugging him to turn
his noisy fan off. I really don't want to disturb him, but
I also don't want to be extra quiet for nothing. I figure
if it was really a problem that that I was stomping around
in the morning, then he should have let me know before. If
anyone has had a similar situation/conflict in the past,
is there any action I can take to diffuse the situation,
or any advice you can give me? He seemed pretty pissed off
when I knocked on his door. I've never met him face to
face. He knows who I am from seeing me in the peep hole
when I knocked on his door. I think I know who he is, but
I'm not sure.
\_ must...resist...urge to delete...idiocy...
\_ TV noise after midnight is one thing, but a bathroom fan at 6am
shouldn't be blamed on him. 6 am is the normal get-ready-for-work
time for a lot of people. He can't help that the wall transfers
sound the way it does. In this case, I'd consider you the
ass.
\_ don't bang on the floor. I did it too. Just walk down and
knock. Agree on trying to keep some quiet hours during the
work week.
\_ maybe you are a whiny bitch you can't handle a little bit of
noise. If you need total quiet get a house. Apartment noise
is a fact of life and not being able to handle a bathroom fan
means you need to learn how to be a sounder sleeper.
\_ Hear hear. Dear god, if an occasional bathroom fan is the
height of your troubles, you must have really been in the
exclusive apartment complexes.
\_ Learn to wear earplugs.
\_ OK, so I was being over sensitive and shouldn't have
made a big deal about the bathroom fan. Had I known
his reaction, I obviously would have handled the
situation differently. I was quite confident that it
wasn't going to even be an issue, or I wouldn't have
gone downstairs. But a big part of my question is,
does anyone have any advice of what to do or not to do
so that the situation doesn't escalate. He seemed more
pissed off than he ought to be given the situation.
I'm not saying he was wrong, but he was far from civil
\_ dude, just forget about it. he's not friendly to someone
who comes whining about his bathroom fan. deal.
or neighborly about it.
\_ dude, just forget about it. it sounds like the incident
is over. if he can't even open up his door to talk to you
there's no point worrying about it.
\_ thanks.
\_ Your civility ended with your banging on the floor.
When I was in sk00l, I got pissed off as hell when
people did it to me, but then again, I think I started it.
\_ The idea of banging on the floor is that if he's
sitting around in his underwear, he doesn't need
to get up and go to the door. Even though it
sounds uncivil, isn't it more practical?
\_ stop making excuses and go down there and knock
\_ My apt mgr went to talk to the Cal Rugby neighbors upstairs who
were rough-housing and playing music at 3am on Thurs
nite and got the shit kicked out of him. And these guys
are the ones who complain if you have ANY music on during
finals week. |
| 2003/9/10-11 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:10127 Activity:kinda low |
9/10 http://www.craigslist.org/eby/lbs/15974275.html FIX MY APARTMENT BUILDING! -aspo \_ Ooooh.. it pays $/hr! |
| 2003/8/12 [Reference/RealEstate, Computer/HW/Printer] UID:29322 Activity:nil |
8/11 You aren't a REAL geek unless you've got one of THESE in your house:
http://www.columbia.edu/acis/history/datacell.html |
| 2003/7/10 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:28993 Activity:high |
7/9 http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/09/nyregion/09BUIL.html In the second paragraph: "Another toyed with changing the address to 112 Livingston Street." What's that a reference to? \_ it looks like 110 Livingston Street was an address synonymous with government hell, so the idea would be rename it to 112 Livingston street so it wouldn't have the old name hanging over it. \_ That reminds me of how they voted recently to rename 'South Central' to 'South LA', as if a new name makes it any less of a hellhole. -- ilyas \_ Racist! \_ Capitalist roader! \_ there is difference between actually being hell and merely being associated with hell. --demon by association. \_ Image is everything in media and business. No one wants to live/work/shop in South Central or East Palo Alto, but South LA and Ravenswood are different. Can't blame them for trying. \_ You can blame them for trying to paper over their mess instead of *doing* something about it. I hate quitters like you. Better to be a hater than a quitter anyday. \_ have you seen EPA recently? It has cleaned up a lot. However it still has the name against it. Jsut like they are trying to call Hell's Kitchen Clinton these days. Changing things for the better doesn't help much if everyone still associates the old name with badness. |
| 2003/7/7-8 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:28955 Activity:very high |
7/7 Someone posted some decent headhunters a while back. I'm in NYC but
want to relocate to Cali (preferably SoCal, NoCal ok too). Can someone
repost that list? thanks.
\_ There are no decent head hunters. Just HHs that are slightly less
scummy than others. They'd all screw you and give you aids for
a chance at half a penny. They're in the business of buying and
selling people. Think about that.
\_ Second that. Crocodiles aren't evil, but they will kill and
eat you--it's just in their nature. I have _never_ met a
head hunter who understood (or was really interested) in placing
me in a job that matched my skillset or interests. Best way
to find something good is through contacts. -John
\_ They are as useful (or not) as a real estate agent. Some are
anyone with anything more than 6 months old. -mel
very good. Others are dumber than Davis.
\_ And like real estate agents all of them will fuck you if you
give them half a chance. You can resell your house. Your
career only continues forward building on the past for better
or for worse. Your career is at least as important and maybe
more so than your house.
\_ I had a decent real estate agent, one that did not
pressure me into over bidding and also helped me
by letting me know when a house I was interested
in came back on the market. Then again, this was
his first sale and he had been an agent for less
than a year, so maybe he hadn't learned yet.
\_ Clearly he was new and you probably lost out on many
ways to fuck the seller because of it. If he isn't
helping you fuck the other party you paid for nothing.
worked at sapient for the last 4 years. fwiw,
he went: engineer -> lead eng -> project manager... -abe
He provided no services. In what way was his fee worth
anything to you?
\_ Sign your name. There are a few hiring managers who read the motd,
and the valley is starting to hire again in earnest. -hiring manager
\_ whoah! does this mean things are finally turning around?
-3000 miles from Valley
\_ no they aren't. sorry. check the bay area job listings
online. sucking.
\_ /usr/local/csua/pub/jobs is a start if you can ignore all the
old postings. Come to think of it, I'll go send nag mail to
anyone with anything more than 6 months old and post one of
my own I need to hire -mel
\_ actually, i was posting for a friend of mine. he has five+
years experience, worked at a few startups, and has
worked at sapient for the last 4 years. he's looking for a
product/project manager position. -abe |
| 2003/6/21-23 [Reference/RealEstate, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:28796 Activity:high |
6/21 I will need to find a place to rent starting near the end of this year,
1 bed room or even a studio. Almost anywhere in the bay area is OK.
It must have broadband, not be in a slum/war zone, and not be run-down,
otherwise just want the rent to be as low as possible. Where
should I look into/avoid? When should I start looking? Any url?
http://craigslist.org _/
Ok tnx. -- away from BA for many years.
\_ Adams Point area of Oakland (north side of the lake between harrison
and lakeshore. There are a ton of buildings around me with signs
up. A 1 bd goes for just under $800 most places. And there are
a number of very nice buildings, nice restaurants, decent bars.
BART and freeway accessible. --scotsman
\_ can prob find an in-law cheaply in SF in the sunset/parkside
district.
Office-- their have some good, not-too-expensive places listed.
\_ YMCA?
\_ Your entire running-dog-pound of a country is a war zone.
Love, -Chemical Ali
\_ Didn't this guy get scrubbed in a missile attack or something?
\_ http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=25679
\_ If you're an alum, pay your dues and take advantage of the Housing
Office-- they have some good, not-too-expensive places listed. |
| 2003/6/18-19 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:28759 Activity:very high 57%like:28757 |
6/17 Bay Area housing price drop: http://list.realestate.yahoo.com/re/story.html?s=n/realestate/real/20030618/20030618201 It's about time. \_ Hey genius, they're talking about a 1249 sqft 3BR going for around $450k. You think that's cheap in some way? I've lived in apartments bigger than that. Poor clueless fool, the permanent long term trend is 4 steps up, 1 step down. If you couldn't afford to get in earlier, you won't be getting in later unless *your* finances change dramatically for the better. Hoping that there's some dramatic crash in the housing market before you buy will only cost you more when/if you finally do. Your own link doesn't even say what you claim it says. It's the 18th. Shouldn't you be writing a check to your landlord in another 10 days? \_ which is why many people don't buy until they get in late 20s early 30s. At that point if they are ina field that makes real money they are probably making significant amouts at thier job, and if married they probably have 2 incomes. That is a dramatic change. Wanting to wait till the market drops a bit if you suspect that at it will soon doesn't change anything. I mean if you think you will be able to get more for your dollar in a year it makes sense to just rent for 1 more year. \_ then there's no reason to gloat or hope for a housing collapse. all it means is bidding against other people for the tiny number of houses on the market being sold by those who are forced to sell due to forced moves such as job transfer or divorces. no one else is going to take a loss. housing stock will shrivel to nothing if the prices collapse. \_ Uh, oh, someone woke up on the wrong side of a mortgage this morning. \_ paying off my 15 year in 8 years. thanks for caring. \_ He never said they're cheap. He just said they dropped, which they did. \_ Not unless you consider the one small town mentioned in the article as "the Bay Area". \_ I'm the op and I don't pay rent. I own 2 houses in southern cal where the price has been rising steadily. You sound bitter. Did you buy silicon valley property at a bad time? If so, don't worry. It's just a matter of time before it goes up. Peace to you. \_ I'm up $150k on my home thanks. I'd never buy in the always insanely over inflated SV market. If you're an LA home owner why do you bother posting falsely about pricing in the Bay Area? You're a renter. I doubt you even own the welcome mat outside your door. \_ "always insanely overinflated" is an impossibility; if it's "always" overinflated, that must mean it always goes up as much as everything else. -tom \_ WINNER OF THE PEDANT AWARD, 2003! \_ Doesn't matter where you buy in CA, the price will double (at least) every 12 yrs (historically speaking). \_ do you have a reference for this statement? \_ Silicon Valley is not the Bay Area: http://www.dqnews.com/RRBay0503.shtm \_ dont bring facts into this. i hate that. we're having a very nice little flame fest without any facts and then you come along. \_ yermom. There. Now it's an official flamefest. \_ i feel all warm n fuzzy now. \_ that's what your mom told me \_ Damn it, it's "yermom" not "your mom." RTFM. |
| 2003/6/18 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:28757 Activity:nil 57%like:28759 |
6/17 Bay Area housing price drop:
http://csua.org/u/3a6 (list.realestate.yahoo.com)
It's about time. |
| 2003/4/21 [Reference/RealEstate, Finance/Banking, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:28177 Activity:high |
4/20 I just got a "buy 4 CDs or else we bill you" notice from
Columbia House. (I signed up in '96). I'm tempted to respond
saying they'd never expressed a time limit anywhere in the
membership agreement (moreover, the ad I used to sign up
mentions a "No-Time-Limit Membership"), but I have this
paranoid suspicion that these letters are some columbia house
manager's clever scheme to grift some immediate cash, and
might save both me and customer support time if I continue to
ignore their mailings. Can they really cash me in now?
I imagine almost everyone has had some experience w/
shady CD club.
\_ Yes, as part of the the Patriot Act. Regime Change at Home,
End Racism.
\_ Hey that was a useful reply. Not only did you complete ignore
a decent question and turn it into some idiotic political screed
but your rant was poorly executed and mindless.
\_ Are you saying you expect better in the motd?
\_ Are you saying only white people can ride fast
motorcycles? |
| 2003/3/9-10 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:27633 Activity:moderate |
3/9 Anyone know people at UW or such places who might be interested in
subletting this summer? I'm looking at an internship for Amazon, and
they have a very nice plan if you find your own housing. Downtown
Seattle would be ideal, close to Amazon HQ (the address of which,
afaik, is at: http://csua.org/u/a65 ). If so, mail me or something
Thanks! - jhs
\_ http://Craigslist.org, Seattle: http://seattle.craigslist.org --chris
\_ There are tons of vacancies in Seattle. 50% of the apt.
buildings downtown probably have vacancies. Take your pick.
If you have trouble finding a place, I've even got a room. --saarp
\_ Ah, I should have thought of craigslist, I didn't realize they
did Seattle. I forgot to mention above that I'm looking for a
furnished place (since I'll only be there 3 months) but someone
pointed me to a furniture rental place. Anways, thanks for the
ideas! - jhs |
| 2003/2/26 [Transportation/Car, Reference/RealEstate] UID:27532 Activity:nil |
2/25 Ok this car alarm has been going on for 10 hours straight and it's
parked on the street by my apartment. What can I do about it LEGALLY?
\_ steal the car. Clearly no one will notice. |
| 2003/2/22 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:27496 Activity:nil |
2/22 Help me understand something. Let's say if the owner OKed the
user of firework, then the band is free of any responsibility?
wtf? If someone comes to my house to cook and burns down my
house, am I going to be held responsible because I OKed the
person to cook? I say the fucking band should be sued, or
better yet, a bullet in each one of their head is the only way
to justice.
\_ Did you watch the band leader's interview on the telly? He
is one fucked up dude, and said that the band had permission,
although, he personally didn't check with the owner, he said
the band mgr did. However, another night club owner said this
band pulled the same stunt with his club and used pyro even
though the band didn't have permission. this particular last
time was this past valentine's day. although, prob not the
club's fault, they will prob have to have somebody check out
a band's setup from now on to check for pyro. |
| 2003/2/16 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:27433 Activity:moderate |
2/15 After working in the software industry for seven years, I am
looking into switch to something more emotionally-satifying,
like educational/non-profit/medical care sectors. What's the
next best way to get into a completely new field besides getting
a new degree?
\_ Become a real estate agent. My agent was an engineer more than ten
years ago, then he figured he could make more money by being an
agent, so he switched field.
\_ warning: this is a troll or a lie. real estate agents have the
morals of a corporate trial lawyer with the intelligence of
the average gas station attendant. there is no lower form of
life. why not try dealing crack? better a crack dealer than
a real estate agent. at least the crack dealer *tells* you
what they're selling and doesn't tell you they're your
best freind.
\_ He asked for something emotionally satisfying, not renumerative.
Perhaps if your number one love was money, you could confuse
the two.
\_ You can transition by becoming a SW Eng in those areas. Educ is
probably the easiest, as we always need qualified teachers.
\_ Actually California now has a teacher glut. The shortage was
(and is) in math/science teachers at inner citty schools.
\_ ...and most software engineers have a very strong background
in math and science and live in inner city areas. somehow
i doubt the OP is likely to become an art teacher in suburban
michigan.
\_ url?
\_ ok let me spell it out for you: they want black and
hispanic teachers for the black and hispanic kids. they
do not welcome your cracker white ass in the inner city
schools. same thing for most asians. why must i spell
out these ugly truths for you?
\_ because you're a moron who gets off hearing himself
talk. I know several people who've taught math and
science in inner city schools and none of them were
black or hispanic.
\_ did they teach basic reading comprehension to their
friends? ask for a refresher course. |
| 2003/1/31 [Finance/Banking, Reference/RealEstate] UID:27258 Activity:insanely high 50%like:26400 |
1/31 motd poll: when i consider all of my debts, including student
loan, credit card, and mortgage, and all of my assets, i am
in the black: .....
in the red: ...
debt? What's debt?: ...
living with my parents: ..
living with yermom: .
my parents/in-laws living with me:
\_ For those with a house, being in the red is normal for the
first decade or so.
\_ Don't forget, the house is an asset.
\_ but all that intrest isn't
\_ (Value of house - mortgage) is usually a positive number.
The quickest way to get in the black is to buy a house.
It is not normal at all to be in the red for a decade
after buying a house. --dim
\_ Neither is rent. Shelter isn't free.
\_ Folks, you don't count a mortgage or student loans as the same kind
of debt as your CCs. CC's and other crap are 'consumer debt' which
is money you wasted on junk to live the american lifestyle. Debt
from a mortgage or student loans is a valuable investment in your
future. I have zero student debt, zero consumer debt and over $300k
of mortgage debt. I am way in the black. If I had no mortgage but
$20k of CC debt I'd be fucked. |
| 2003/1/16 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:27119 Activity:high |
1/15 Anyone know if mortgages come in terms other than 15 and 30 year?
\_ Yes, they do.
\_ Yes, you can get a mortgage in almost any term from 1 to 30 years.
\_ URL? From any bank?
\_ Yes. Pick your poison.
\_ I don't know, but say if you want a 23-year fixed mortgage, you can
get a 30-year fixed mortgage and then make a constant prepayment
every month and pay it off in 23 years. --- yuen
\_ I can't explain why, but the spread sheets i've played around
with show this to be a losing manuever. E.g. if you take a 30
year fixed loan at 6 % and prepay such that you are making
EXACTLY the same payments as you would be if you had gotten a
15 year 6%, you don't end up paying off the loan for like 19
years! That's a pretty huge difference.
\_ Your spreasheet is wrong. I checked with the amortization
calculator on E-LOAN (http://csua.org/u/808 and you'll indeed
pay it off in 15 years. I know this calculator is correct
because when I plug in my numbers it matches with my mortgage
statements from the bank. The only other thing to consider is
whether or not there's a prepayment penalty, but even that
shouldn't make a difference of 4 years. Most loans nowadays
don't have the penalty anyway. --- yuen |
| 2002/12/30-31 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:26943 Activity:high |
12/30 Shit, I finally remember what used to be there before Wall Berlin
and someone pulls the thread.
\_ bastard! what was in the building pre-wall?
\_ Cafe Durant, but it's still there, isn't it? Aren't they all
in the same building?
\_ what was... in the space... that USED TO BE
wall berlin. no it's not cafe durant. cafe
durant is ABOVE the old wall berlin space.
Wall Berlin is closed now, the space is going
to become a tea house. what was there BEFORE
WALL BERLIN. I will kill you all.
\_ It was some crappy sandwich place. I remember
eating there before it closed. Let me rattle
my brain some more and see if I can remember
the name.
\_ Togo's?
\_ no togo's was on bancroft.
incidentally why is that lot on Telegraph still vacant?
\_ Evil Rasputin's guy owns the lot. Doesn't want
Amoeba to expand.
\_ so why not build housing? or does he think
students who live there... might shop at Amoeba?
I guess that actaully makes sense in some weird
way.
\_ I dunno. How much property tax does he have to spend
every year on that lot?
\_ Is that all you can think about?
Go back to russia, jewboy. |
| 2002/12/9-11 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:26769 Activity:insanely high |
12/9 What's the legal limit on rent increate in SF? Thanks.
\_ What's the % slav-jew ethnicity of your landlord?
\_ Hardy frickin' har.
\_ 42
\_ I thought that the rental market in SF crashed along with
the .com boom. Was that just for commercial property?
If it also applies to residential property you should
tell your landlord "Rent increase? You on crack? BYE" --PeterM
\_ Rents are still way higher than they were even four years
\_ I'm actually considering buying a house and collect rent to
ago, so if you have been in a rent controlled apt, your
rates are less than market.
\_ I'm actually considering buying a house and collecting rent to
cover (part of) the mortgage, and I'm thinking whether I
should buy in SF or in the Fremont area. Houses in SF seem to
appreciate faster, but because of rent control I might be
collecting much-lower-than-market rent 10 years down the road
if the tenant I find now doesn't move out by then.
\_ I wouldn't want to be a landlord in SF, unless it made
it possible for me to be a home-owner there. You have
almost no rights, besides charging whatever the market
will bear when you have a vancancy. Private property
means very little.
\_ Death to landlords! You have an obligation to provide
affordable housing even if it means you're paying more
in property taxes than you're taking in in rent and
losing money. Tax the rich til they aint rich no more!
\_ And yet landlords still find it profitable to
invest in San Francisco rental housing. Ain't
that something?
\_ Nonsense. As a SF landlord you're not allowed to
sell your property. Clue up before opening mouth.
\_ Don't pay more for a mortgage than you are collecting
in rent. That is bad business. --dim
\_ But the higher the mortgage payment is, the faster the
interest goes down and the faster you pay off the
principle. Doesn't this also apply to rental property?
\- if you dont pay taxes on this rental
income that could make a sizable diff
--psb
\_ Is this a troll? --dim
\_ Well, yeah, that is sort of the point of rent control,
isn't it? To stop out-of-town real estate speculators
from profiting from the housing shortage in SF.
\_ No. Not at all. Rent control is there to force private
property owners to subsidize the socialist system in SF.
If it wasn't for rent control, it wouldn't be such a
nightmare to find housing and the housing you'd find
would be better quality instead of the rat infested
closets you get now for an arm and two legs.
\_ Only if you'd made your millions on the tech
bubble. Rent control exists to prevent landlords
from evicting tenants unreasonably and raising
rents to ridiculous levels in boom times. Remove
rent control and the only place a middle-income
family could afford would be a rat-infested
closet costing an arm and a leg. --erikred
\_ do you have any real world examples of this?
on the other hand, high rents would encourage
greatly the creation of more housing, and with
rent control they have little incentive to
improve the buildings because they can't get
more rent than the other guys anyway.
\_ dont ask for evidence/proof of any hot button
socialist issues or you'll get censored.
\_ Don't you read newspapers? I have seen quite
a few articles about this with interviews
with families. I don't like rent control
though. I like building more housing, but
there are a lot of vested interest,
bureaucratic hurdles that makes that
difficult. - !op
\_ Are you actually asking for real world examples
of places with expensive rents that do not have
rent control? How about Los Altos, Hermosa
Beach, Tiburon and The Hamptons. Somehow high
rents have not had the effect you claim in
those places.
\_ Rent control as a short term solution
to housing problems is ok, but the
real solution is building more housing.
When no new housing is built and rent
control drags on and on forever, it
becomes a problem itself. Newly built
housing should not be under rent-
control.
\_ You know what? You don't find many rat-
infested closets in those places. It just
means it's an expensive area...rent control
cannot make an expensive area inexpensive.
It just fucks things up in other ways.
\_ But it does makes expensive areas
inexpensive, for people who have lived
in rent controlled apartments for a long
time. I know a bunch of long time San
Franciscans who would have had to move
if they would have suffered rent
increases like the market in the late
90s. You can argue that is unfairly
pushes the burden onto new tenants, but
you cannot claim that it does not lower
rents for most. Also, study what happened
in Boston after rent control went away.
Median rents went up much faster than
inflation.
\_ Basically what you are saying is
that the owner and new tenants
have to subsidize the "poor"
people because they have a "right"
to live in a nice neighborhood
even though they can't afford to
pay the fair market rate for that
property. Yeah that sounds fair.
I can understand if its someones
fixed income grandma, but most of
the the time its some luser arts
major who can't get a job outside
of food service because (s)he
wasted four years in college taking
worthless courses about envirno
senitivity (subsidized by donations
from eng. alumni) instead of
\- berkeley funding is pretty
float you own boat so i
think you can to some extent
avoid funding the flakes.
--psb
learning anything useful.
\_ People shouldn't be suddenly
thrown out of their homes
because of wild market
fluctuations caused by
oppurtunistic speculators.
Squatters are bad, but there
having people evicted all of
the time is a recipe for social
instability and an increase
in the homeless population.
Rent control should prevent
people from suddenly being
booted, but it shouldn't
\_ Restored!
depress prices once someone
moves out.
repairs? That's bs. If some landlord was that strapped he'd have
to sell his building, great. Traffic? The city is already
\_ I know this will sound
callous and insensitive
to you, but its an apt.
not a home. If you want
home buy one. If you don't
own it (and never will)
then its the same as a
motel and the owner can
and should be able to
raise the rates on you
in order to maximize his
roi on the property.
\_ Step #1 - tenant gets notice
of rent increase.
Step #2 - tenant plans to move
Step #3 - tenant moves
I don't see where
"instability" steps into the
process of an adult planning
their future. If you have any
expensive with bad traffic and I really don't think rent control
is keeping that in check. Landlords with a bad record will have
problems, well that's their own fault. I think you're over-
estimating the magnitude of these bubbles. As for a retail
shortage, actually it would just mean high retail prices. Which
is again fine, if people are willing to pay for it, if not, let
them go away.
illusions as to the
replacibility of people,
go visit a graveyard.
Letting markets work, works.
\_ Witness the numerous "family-member wants
to move in, so I'm evicting you" cases that
occurred in San Francisco circa 99-00 where
no such family member moved in and landlords
simply jacked up the rent. Also, according
to Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board,
landlord can raise rents to reflect Capital
Improvements (Reg. 1267C). There are lots
of things wrong with Rent Control, but
trusting the landlords to play fair doesn't
seem to work either. Until we get a better
proposal, I'm for keeping it. --erikred
\_ what's so wrong with letting a landlord
evict/raise rents? as long as they have
to allow enough notice time. why do they
owe you anything?
\_ There is more to life than profit.
\_ If all landlords raise rents to cash
in on economic bubbles, the only ppl
who will be able to live in a city will
be families who bought houses early or
ppl making money in the current boom.
Small business owners and retail
workers, already living on a small
profit margins, will no longer be able
to live in the city, making traffic
worse or resulting in a shortage of
retail services for the boomers.
When the bubble bursts, prices will
remain horribly inflated and no one
will be able to afford them; land-
lords will have to lower rents to
compete with each other, lowering
money available for repairs, and
new tenants will be wary of signing
leases with landlords with a rent-
raising record. It makes the whole
system unstable. --erikred
\_ Wisely spoken.
\_ Acutually, stupid opportunistic
landlords go out of business,
and the system works as usual.
If there was money available for
making repairs before this bubble
why would it not be there *after*
the bubble?
What you say doesn't make sense to me. Why would prices _/
remain horribly inflated if no one could pay them? No money for
repairs? That's bs. If some landlord was that strapped he'd
have to sell his building, great. Traffic? The city is already
expensive with bad traffic and I really don't think rent
control is keeping that in check. Landlords with a bad record
will have problems, well that's their own fault. I think
you're over- estimating the magnitude of these bubbles. As for
a retail shortage, actually it would just mean high retail
prices. Which is again fine, if people are willing to pay for
it, if not, let them go away.
\_ Look what happend to those cities without rent control in
the 1970's: Philadelphia, Detroit, St. Louis, when people
just went away. Look at the cities with rent control:
Boston, New York and San Francisco. Which are better
off today? Societies have a vested interest in keeping
neighborhoods intact. I think this beats out a few
wealthy loudmouths complaining about not making more
money than they already are.
\_ uh, they were better off back then also. but also they
had more heavy industry that suffered nationwide.
keep in mind most people "make money off the current
boom." the wages of "little people" go up to cope.
\_ Agreed. --erikred
\_ I will agree to the correlation, but the causal?
more data please.
\_ What all of you are missing out in this SF rent control thing is
the evils of the rent controlled tenant who sublets out rooms in
the apartment for more money than the landlord is allowed to charge
this primary tenant. WTF makes it ok to let this one person make a
profit off the land lord's property and efforts for doing nothing
but sharing the same place they'd be sharing anyway if the land lord
was allowed to control his own property? Subletting out should be
illegal and instantly force the property out of rent controlled
status.
\_ This is a lot of why I didn't vote for EE. --erikred
Clarification: subletting _with_ the permission of the landlord
is fine. The right to sublet against the landlord's wishes
is not. --erikred |
| 2002/11/24 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/China, Reference/RealEstate, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Israel] UID:26614 Activity:high 66%like:26612 |
11/23 landlord survey - your landlord is:
black, white, puertorican or chinese boy: M
\_ what's a "puertorican"?
\_ Ever heard of "Puerto Rico"?
\_ he means Borricuan. (yes look it up).
\_ Yes. What's a "puertorican"?
\_ its "Puerto Rican" with a typo. get over it.
\_ Goddamn, one fucking space left out... it was a quote from a
shitty missy elliot song in case you didnt know.
white:.
black:..
chinese:
dirty, old, and indian:
other azn:
persian: .
\_ are there persians anywhere but iran? why dont people say iranian?
racist:
a jew: .
\_ you mean evil money grubbing vampiric baby killing jew, right?
\_ You forgot lying, and backstabbing.
\_ mmm, vampiric babies
\_ I believe it's a string of adjectives modifying the
object jew but you knew that.
who cares?: .............
small, green, and filled with jam: .
racist: go BEAH
old white woman with 6 cats, 2 birds, and an old mangy dog: .
no idea: . |
| 2002/11/23 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:26612 Activity:nil 66%like:26614 |
11/23 landlord survey - your landlord is:
white:
chinese:
other azn:
a jew: . |
| 2002/11/8-9 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:26473 Activity:moderate |
11/7 does anyone have that link to the 5 part article on real estate?
\_ probably.
\_ Here's the outline:
Para 1: Introduction: The three main factors on real estate prices.
Para 2: Location
Para 3: Location
Para 4: Location
Para 5: Conclusion
\_ part!=paragraph |
| 2002/11/4-5 [Computer/Networking, Reference/RealEstate] UID:26396 Activity:high |
11/4 I'm about 9000 feet from the CO. In an apartment complex.
What kind of DSL speed can I expect? thanks.
The Covad phone answerer claims they already checked my apartment
and it can get 200/64.
What if I move to SF duplex at 7000 ft from CO?
\_ if thats what they claim at 7000' then the results of the MLT
must have been pretty bad... ask them what the results look like.
at 7000' you should be able to get their highest service unless
there is something wrong with your copper pair. if thats the case
then even DSL w/ pacbell will be limited.
\_ Why don't you ask Covad about your potential new address?
\_ http://www.dslreports.com/faq/4676
How about Telco ADSL?
\_ Covad routinely lies to get you to upgrade to more expensive DSL |
| 2002/10/27 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:26334 Activity:nil |
10/27 by 03 repugs will control the white house, the senate
and the house, as well as majority of the governorships.
\_ because you always look smart using cutesy little ad hominen when
discussing your political opposition. you wouldn't look like an
ignorant bratty child. nope, not at all. have a nice day.
\_ And responding in kind makes you look so much more mature. |
| 2002/10/12 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:26162 Activity:high |
10/11 Condo owners and people who bought housing in Oakland: sorry, didn't
mean to upset you. It's just the way things are. We all make
mistakes sometimes. [please stop erasing my apology] |
| 2002/10/12 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:26161 Activity:high |
10/11 On why condos are a bad deal:
1) you have high HOA rates
2) value does not rise with rest of housing market thus putting you
even further behind the curve if you want a house some day
3) politics. you have to deal with the condo board which consists of
your neighbors. the people most likely to run for board positions
are typically those least capable of managing anything.
4) #3 leads to the board not spending money wisely so when you roof
falls in you have to beg the board who are typically *not* your
personal friends to repair it. repairing it will require an extra
HOA fee because they spent out the budget on things like flowers or
repairing *their* roof last year while there was still money. you
are *required* legally to pay whatever they say into the hoa fund.
you can't sell and walk away because they'll put a lien on your
unit which must be cleared before you can sell.
5) there are probably other but #2, #3, #4 are killers.
\_ There have been a few articles lately asserting that at this time,
and particularly in our region, condos have been appreciating better
than homes, though it could be skewed by being on the lower end
and all the other issues are still deal stoppers for me.
\_ if by "our region," you mean the Bay Area, your region
is totally fucked.
\_ #3 does it for me. why not just rent, if you're going to have
some nosey fucks telling you how to live anyway?
\_ Tangentially related: in the past two years, a law was passed making
it really easy to sue the condo builder. You can attend seminars on
how to sue the contractor. Insurance rates for developers building
condos have risen a few thousand dollars to 100k+. So if you're a
bastard, buying a condo might make smart financial sense.
\_ urlP?
\_ you *really* don't want to get into a lawsuit over anything. why
get into a long term situation where your only recourse is a
lawsuit? madness.
\_ #2 is ridiculous. If this were true, condos would get cheaper and
cheaper in comparison to homes. This has not happened.
\_ Yeah, according to that theory, a crack house in Gardena or
Hawthorne would be more expensive than a nice condo in Redondo.
\_ Hmm, that sounds really familiar. -crebbs
\_ Shrug. Do your own math and bet your own money on it. I don't
care. You're a motd poster, you must be right.
\_ Condos are appreciating faster than homes:
http://csua.org/u/3e6
But don't let mere facts get in the way of your prejudices.
\_ Wow, that means my best investment is a condo because we
know it'll eventually surpass the value of a house! Cool!
One year's worth of statistics during a recession is a
great way to determine your best housing buy! Thanks!
\_ What it probably means it that sometimes condos
appreciate faster than homes, sometimes it is the
other way around. Are you really that dense?
\_ What it probably means is you didn't read the link.
If you read the whole article you'd see condos are
still a high-risk (ie: shitty) investment. It's
*your* money. Piss it away any way you'd like. Life
does not have a save/restore feature. Good luck!
\_ Bay Area is an extreme case, and is likely to
get more extreme in the future. Condos doubling
or tripling in price within a few years is a
phenomenon that has happened in many cities in
the world before.
\_ #2 is only true where there is ample land. Your condo in
Manhattan, San Francisco, or lake front Chicago appreciates just
fine.
\_ You can't afford a condo in places like that. If you could you
could easily but a house in a normal place for cash. Your point
is meaningless in this context.
\_ Just illustrating a point. There is a continuum of places
from the Nevada Desert to San Francisco.
\_ Yes and some people buy branded water for their dog, too.
I don't. I doubt you do either. There's no point in
bringing up the extreme cases. Stat 2.
\_ Not really, because my choice is either a condo in San
Francisco or a house in Union City or Vacaville.
\_ The choice is not between house and condo, the choice is between
rent now and buy house in some distant future, or stop renting and
buy condo now.
\_ And get stuck in condo... forever.
\_ Or rent now and still can't afford a house in some distant
future.
\_ So what is the deal with houses in planned neighborhoods that have
HOA dues? Are those just as bad?
\_ No. I pay $65/month to cover basic front yard gardening and
other trivia. They have nothing to do with my roof getting
repaired or not.
\_ So some people are whining that #2 is invalid. No one has yet to
explain why condos are still a good idea given #1,#3 and #4. Even
if I grant #2 is invalid (which I don't but go with me here), the
others should be enough to make any sane person run screaming into
the night. When I rent, the apartment is a throw-away. When it
gets dirty (about the time the lease ends), I just move to a new
one. With a house, I own it, so I'm damned well going to take care
of it. With a condo, I get the worst of both worlds. I don't own
all of it but have other people forcing me to spend my money in
stupid ways. It's insane. I'd rather rent and not get into a
deeply financially risky situation I have limited control over. |
| 2002/10/10-11 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:26148 Activity:insanely high |
10/10 Housing bubble in the Bay Area:
http://list.realestate.yahoo.com/re/story.html?s=n/inman/realestate/20021009/20021009601
\_ Cool! If I wait three years, I can actually buy a home here.
\_ uh, did you actually read the article?
\_ uh, did you? Train harder. It's at the end.
\_ I'm still waiting for the Big One to scare everyone away.
\_ When I was in 2nd grade we had this whole big thing about
safety and earthquake training and whatever because "they"
were +_certain_+ the Big One was coming Real Soon Now. Still
waiting....
\_ Just for info, Inman is a real estate INDUSTRY "news source."
I do not need to read the article to know that this
article will indicate that there is no housing bubble (not
saying there is or isn't just saying that this source
has stong incentive to say "there's no bubble.")
\_ That article says Bay Area prices are vulnerable to a 10% correction.
Consumer Reports says SF home prices are 15% above historical
price/income ratios and Oakland and San Jose are 25% above. All
this points to a correction. But this is not the same as a "bubble."
\_ How is a price correction different from a bubble bursting?
\_ A correction is prices drop back to historical price/income
ratios. A bubble burst is if drops below that level. Some
argue it's more the percentage drop. Six of one, yada, yada..
\_ sez who?
\_ motd wisdom
\_ Wow so you're like totally fucked if you bought in Oakland or
SJ in the last few years, huh? That was a bad bet I guess.
\_ the article suggests a 10% price drop over 7 years. If
you bought 3 years ago in a reasonable area, your home has
already appreciated 50%. -tom
\_ What's a "reasonable" area in Oakland? I wasn't aware
there were any. Have they taken the Murder Capitol
crown from Palo Alto this year yet?
\_ 30+ percent in 10 years? Not disastrous but not
wonderful either.
\_ it's a leveraged investment so your return is
actually much greater than that. A $200K house
with $20K down payment that appreciates to $300K
and then drops to $270K gives you $70K return on
your $20K investment. Plus tax benefits, minus
transaction fees. It's still pretty damn good.
-tom
\_ When did any property in Oakland ever hit $200k
much less go up to $300k?
\_ when was the last time you were in oakland?
of course, by the same rights, when did you
last talk with your head out of your ass?
\_ this was useful. thank you for participating
\_ houses in the hills go for millions.
3/2 in Rockridge is $600K. 3/2 in Temescal
or Piedmont Ave is $500K. The median home
price in Oakland was $341K in August. -tom
\_ Wow! That's amazing! There really *is*
a huge bubble waiting to burst in Oakland.
There's only just so many suckers with
money willing to buy in Oakland....
\_ Oakland's crime rate is lower than
Berkeley's, and is only slightly
above SF's. And really, the crime
rate on Hegenberger and East 14th
really isn't meaningful to someone at
College and Shafter. -tom
\_ Don't forget the 10 years of house payments,
those would count as part of the investment.
\_ Not really...that money would be going to
rent, otherwise. -tom
\_ A typical house payment is larger than
the rent you would otherwise pay to
rent the same space.
\_ Certainly not true in my case. We
went to a bigger house in a better
neighberhood and reduced our net
monthly cost. -tom
\_ So you were paying too much rent??
That's nothing to brag about.
\_ no, we were paying below-market
rent at the time we moved out. -tom
\_ Uh huh. That makes a lot of
sense. My rent on a 2BR was
about $1200 which was typical for
what I had in most of the BA. My
mortgage was $2550 on a non-jumbo
30 year with a decent rate. The
only way you could've ended up
paying less is if you were
renting a house and paying too
much. Let's see some numbers.
\_ we were renting a 2/1 house
for $1450--the tenants after
us paid $1750. Our net monthly
mortgage cost is about $1400
on a 3/2. -tom
\_ Leveraged means additional risk, and you may
lose more than your principle. Also, it's
a huge investment in terms of time and effort.
\_ fine, keep paying rent, I'm sure that's
more rewarding. -tom
\_ I think the idea is more money down, less
risk, still no rent, and buy in a better
area than Oakland. Depressed areas with
high crime rates are always going to be
the first and hardest hit.
\_ Buy a house if you need it. As
an investment it may or may not
work out but be prepared to spend
lots of time and effort on it.
\_ How overinflated are prices in various parts of the LA area?
Particularly the South Bay of the LA area.
\_ South Bay of the LA area? We used to call that Orange
County. Don't fuck with Mickey Mouse, you goon!
\_ No, that's NOT Orange county. It's
basically the SW part of LA county, the
area south of LAX that includes Torrance,
Manhattan, Hermosa, and Redondo Beaches,
Palos Verdes, etc. Definately not Orange
County, doesn't even border OC. I believe
it refers to the southern part of the Santa
Monica Bay, which only extends down to Palos
Verdes, which is probably 15-20 miles west of OC.
\_ Look, boy, I told you before and this is the last
time, DON'T FUCK WITH MICKEY! He has his own
Congressman and will utterly destroy you!
\_ South Bay is bordered by Marina Del Rey and San Pedro.
Coastal cities only. You can find a small place for $400k
in Redondo, but all the other cities will run you $600k+
for almost anything. --lives in torrance
\_ OK. But how overvalued is it? How much will
it likely go down, and how soon, as compared
with the SF Bay Area? Is it as "bad" of an
investment as Oakland or San Jose, which is
apparently 25% overvalued? And, BTW, I live
in Torrance too. Who are you and where in
Torrance do you live? -asb
\_ that article doesn't say "Oakland and San Jose
are 25% overvalued." It's not that simple. -tom
\_ Right now I rent a room in a house near the RH AMC.
If you ask me, I don't think prices will come
down too much in the next few years. The 30% tax
writeoff should offset any losses. But making $70k
I can't afford more than $250k, which means going
inland, which sucks.
\_ You could get a decent condo in the South
Bay of LA for that price, though probably not
in Manhattan or Hermosa. I looked at a condo
for $180k near Vermont and Torrance Blvd.
It was a pretty decent 2 bedroom condo,
around 1000 sq ft.
\_ Condo != house. It's a lousy investment.
\_ Why is it so much worse of an
investment? Sure, you have to pay
big HOA fees, but you save time and
money. You don't have to hire a
gardener or reroof your house, etc.
Is it really such a bad investment,
and if so, why?
\_ Actually, I was considering a new condo
in a decent part of Gardena, but I decided
I'd rather live closer to the beach and in
a better neighborhood. ($220k)
\_ So where exactly did you buy
this $220k condo? Redondo?
\_ I made $72k and with 10% down I could afford $440k
at wash mutual using their hybrid ARM. the 10% down
is what opened doors (borrowed from relative). too
bad I got laid off (luckily before buying anything). |
| 2002/10/3-4 [Reference/RealEstate, Recreation/House] UID:26091 Activity:high |
10/3 I live in an apartment by a busy street and I hear the cars at night.
Would it help if I place an extra acrylic panel on my windows (which
I can get easily from Home Depot)?
\_ Use aluminum foil. Very classy. Your neighbors will love it.
\_ Dynamat. Not as wrinkled.
\_ You're missing out on a key element of the aluminum style. |
| 2002/10/1-2 [Finance/Banking, Reference/RealEstate] UID:26068 Activity:high |
10/1 Does B of A offer competitive mortgage loans? The rates and points
quoted on their web sites seem pretty low, but I can't find any quote
on the final closing costs. I tried to ask over the phone, but I hung
up after listening to the music for half an hour. Thanks.
\_ Don't pay points. It's a loss if you refi.
\_ It *may* be a loss if you sell or refinance, but it may not
be. It will depend on when you do so. Do the math. --dim
\_ How exactly is it a win to spend money on points and then refi
and lose the money? What math? Only if there's *many* years
between the first loan and the refi such that your points had
enough time to pay for themselves. With rates as low as they
are now it would be utterly stupid to pay points with the
belief that rates will be this low again in the X-many years
required for the points to pay for themselves. Once you pay
points, you can forget refis for a long time without taking
a loss on it. Math? Not too much math to figure this one
out.
\_ I don't understand. Since you think rates are low now and
it will not be this low again in X-many years, you think
you won't refinance again in X-many years, right? Then
wouldn't it be smart instead of stupid to pay point that
requires X-many years to pay for themselves?
\_ I have had a mortgage through BofA -- did it through a BofA
loan agent who walked me through some hoops and got me a great
interest rate with no points. My current mortgage was obtained
through a mortgage broker, much better deal this time around. BofA
is not too bad, but a mortgage broker did much better for me.
\_ Try Fremont Bank. They specialize in "no point no fee"
refinancing. |
| 2002/9/30 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:26050 Activity:insanely high |
9/29 Anyone had any success with taking your ex-landlord to small claims
court over idiotic move-out deductions from your security deposit?
Ours deducted such things as $140 for "cleaning windows, inside and
out" and $300 for "mini blind repair (est.)" (only damage that I know
of was that *one* blind had the plastic rod that opens/closes the
louvers snapped off). Unfortunately, I didn't do a walkthrough or
take pictures of such minutia as the move-out condition of every mini-
blind. Landlord is an asshole, so appealing to his sense of reason and
fairness won't be any help. Will I just be wasting my time and getting
into one big he-said/she-said catfight?
\_ I'm not an expert, but I'd say that your odds are pretty poor.
The landlord most likely has documents with notes made during the
initial walkthru, and similar notes during the exit inspection.
If you don't have any records or evidence that they're playing
games with you, then you're basically screwed. Again, I'm not an
expert -- So it might be worth your while to check with any
renter's associations that exist (berkeley has many). Luck. -mice
\_ Actually I think you sould take him to small claims court.
You have to pay a minor filling fee but relaly, if you have
a bill as unreasonable as you say it is you should get back
most of your deposit. Plus you make the landlord have to spend
a day going to court. And, at least in some areas, not sure
about CA, you get things like tripple damages. There are a lot
of landlords abusing deposits and the judges know it. Hell,
just threatening the guy with small claims court might get you
your deposit back.
\_ tripple? treble? What are you trying to say?
\_ Triple?
\_ Take this as a lesson. How to rent: when you move in, *after* you
have signed a contract with the landlord but *before* you have moved
your shit in, you take pictures, and give a written description of
*every* trivial anal rententive mark, gouge, stain, piece of fluff,
dent, discoloration, drip, water stain, or anything else less than
brand new. DO A WALK THROUGH WITH THE LANDLORD WHEN YOU MOVE OUT!
And you'll also want a pre-moveout walkthrough to give you a chance
to correct anything before you're gone and the bastard sends you a
bill. Death to landlords. Protect yourself from landlord scum
and buy a house ASAP. --ex-renter, happy home owner
\_ Walkthroughs on entering and leaving an apartment with the
landlord are SOP here--make sure you also both sign the above-
mentioned written list of damages. And bring a friend as a
witness--even better, if it's a friend who knows what sort of
damages to look for in apartments. -John
\_ Landlords can't charge you for "maintenance" things like washing
windows--it's not your fault they're dirty. You're not in great
shape on mini-blinds and such. -tom
\_ Why not? If you don't clean up the place before you leave,
they should be able to bill you for that. When you refer to
maintenence items I think of items that need replacement, like
bathroom tiling. Not dirt removal.
\_ However you may feel about it, tenants' rights are written as
Tom describes. Cleaning your apartment is basically a courtesy to
the landlord and the next tenant. The damage deposit is just
that, a deposit to cover actual damage. E.g., when my housemate
has a bad day and kicks a baseball sized whole in the wall near
the fridge. --ulysses
\_ Maybe in Berkeley or SF, but not the rest of the state.
\_ In Berkeley, you can get the Rent Board to come to your appt and
video tape it before you move in. It's highly recommended.
\_ How much do they charge for that?
\_ It's Berkeley... if you have to ask... well, it's free.
\_ Tax dollars. Nothing is truly free, except BSD code maybe.
\_ Wasn't BSD code developed in a public university which
runs on tax dollars?
\_ Hmm, got me there. Ok, nothing is truly free.
\_ "property of the Regents of the University
of California"...
\_ Yermom is free. |
| 2002/9/11-12 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:25853 Activity:kinda low |
9/11 How much does it cost to rent a studio in Berkeley? It doesn't have
to be specially nice or fancy. The only requirement is that it should
be within a resonable walking or biking distance from campus.
\_ Your firstborn
\_ Hardly. It's nothing like it was. Where are all the signs
offering finder's fees/bounties/bribes to landlords? Any chimp
with first/last/deposit should be able to get something. |
| 2002/9/5-6 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:25779 Activity:high |
9/5 Is there really a housing crisis in Berkeley? From what I've heard,
the new dorms on College and Durant are empty.
\_ The bubble will burst. the landlords will come to their senses
after not being able to find a renter for, oh, 18 months.
\_ SF landlords are still dropping rents on places that they
couldn't rent out for 12+ months. They're still too high. Given
SF's draconian rent control board & policies, it isn't too hard
to figure out they're better off market than renting low.
\_ We have subsided from the fever pitch of the last few years.
Berkeley is now roughly at par with the rest of the Bay Area, i.e.,
it is still about one and half times as expensive as, say, Seattle.
Whether you want to say that means there is no crisis is your call.
A great many Low Income households (<80% of median household income)
are paying >30% of their AGI for housing, which is the fed and state
criterion for affordable housing shortage. -- ulysses
\_ this is orthogonal to your point, but seattle is getting
worse. from the anecdotes i've heard from folks who lived
there recently, i doubt it's 1.5 times cheaper than the BA.
\_ right now seattle is FUCKED as far as the job market goes.
It makes the BA look good. Housing is really dropping
because of that.
\_ There is no waiting list for housing this year. -tom
\_ No wait list = no crisis. Sounds more like a landlord's vacancy
crisis to me. Anyone know what the coop's vacancy rate is?
\_ Coops are still building new housing.
\_ That doesn't say anything about the vacancy rate.
\_ Tell us what the vacancy rate is then master of the obvious.
\_ Duh! That's what I've been asking for 2 days!
\_ The phone number is (510) 848-1936. Try calling them.
\_ I am renting a room in a three-bedroom house in Berkeley. The house
is pretty nice (although, a bit far away from campus). After
the lanlord jacked up the price from $450 to $600, my other
roommates moved out in march and no one has moved in since then.
I now have a three bedroom house all for myself, muahahaha ..
\_ Can I move in?
\_ The landlord didn't try to stick you with the whole house?
\_ And risk losing his last tenant?
\_ Shrug. I didn't say it was smart. I only asked.
\_ I'm sure he could re-rent it for more than $600. What's
the catch? --dim
\_ You have to sleep with his wife the Russian ex-olympic
swimmer. Just ignore the beard and broad shoulders.
\_ what russian swimmers are there?
\_ I thought the (East) Germans were more notorious
for that sort of thing? -Jon
\_ It was a wide spread soviet victim problem.
\_ Why doesn't he get a new Russian mail-order bride? |
| 2002/7/31-8/1 [Reference/RealEstate, Transportation/Car] UID:25465 Activity:high 58%like:25460 |
7/31 Very funny. Someone changed my original post from "gas station owner"
to "gay prostitute." Here's the post again. -op
I am interested in changing my profession from a full time engineer to
a full time gas station owner. Any comments and/or URLs with more info
regarding gas station ownership, maintaince, liabilities, etc.?
\_ curious. where would you have this gas station? have it in hawaii
\_ Preferably somewhere around the Bay Area. Slightly further away
is fine, but not too remote. -op
\_ Are you from the middle east or south asia?
\_ most people think that owning a gas station is a way of making
money while sitting on your ass all day long. It's not. It's
actually a complicated REAL ESTATE business. It's all about the
location. The difference between housing real estate and
commercial real estate is that it's a lot harder to liquidate
commercial real estate. You'll need to find another sap who wants
to make money sitting your ass all day, just like you.
\_ And you have to take the risk of getting robbed and breathing
toxic fumes all day long.
\_ Actually some 21 y/old HS drop out is running the counter.
You're at home watching cartoons.
\_ I made acquaintance with two would-be gas station owners. One of
them leveraged the equity in his station to acquire another and
so on. He was grossing about $80K/month, but I don't know what
his net was. He seemed to be doing well. The other paid $400K to
buy a station and later had the EPA shut it down because it
needed some ridiculous sum of money to comply with some new
law. He lost everything. There's a lot to it. Why, may I ask,
are gas stations in particular appealing to you? Do you have
experience or friends/relatives with experience in this field? --dim |
| 2002/7/29-30 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:25439 Activity:insanely high |
7/29 What are some instances where the housing market tanked, not due
to natural disasters?
\_ cities where it tied itself to a major industry or army base.
when the company or military base closes shop, everything goes
downhill. Or places where there is a major factory disaster,
like Love Canal in the 70s.
\_ new england has dozens of cities like this that were tied to
manufacturing of various kinds. you may have heard about
Stanley Tool relocating to Bermuda on paper and moving
alot of their production overseas. I used to live in the town
that used to be the Stanley headquarters, and it's really really
sad. houses stay on the market for months and go for nothing
to slum lords that rent them out to the shitheads who have moved
in and destroyed the town as the decent people with the skills
all moved out. once there is a critilcal mass of shitheads in
the town(attracted by the cheap housing), the decent folks become
literaly afraid to send their kids to the local school, and
you pass a realestate event horizon beyond wich only slum lords
dare to tread. If you're the kind of person who likes to
"buy american", don't buy stanley tools. fuck stanley.
\_ Seattle in the '70s. Boeing cancelled the SST program and laid off
several thousand engineers. The trickle down effect wiped out the
local economy for over a decade. This was culminated by the billboard
someone paid for at the edge of town at the time:
local economy for over a decade. This was culminated by the bill-
board someone paid for at the edge of town at the time:
"Will the last person to leave Seattle please turn out the lights".
-- ulysses
\_ Follow on note - the general thinking is nothing like that will
ever happen here because the Bay Area has a diversified
base. The "effect" of the dot-com crash on the housing market
(owning vs. renting) pretty much proved this.
\_ Don't be so sure. "General thinking" has often been proven
wrong.
\_ Yeah. In Alameda, the dot-com crash combined with the closure
of the military base didn't seem to have an effect on the
home prices there.
\_ The dot-com crash didn't kill any jobs which existed
before 1997. If Silicon Valley starts moving operations
en masse to India, the Bay Area would have the same kind
of dropout that the eastern industrial cities had when
all those industries moved overseas. -tom
\_ Nonsense. Jobs are not moving en masse to India. If
you've ever been involved with an Indian project, you'd
know this "all the jobs are moving to India" noise for
the ridiculous FUD that it is. Multi-lingual, multi-
time zone projects are insanely hard to get right. Yes,
a certain amount of the grunge work and QA can be farmed
\_ white flight from major cities had a serious effect on housing
out but those are $10/hr jobs here anyway. All the real
work for American companies will continue to be done
right here for decades to come. The only thing dumber
than sending important work to India is hiring masses of
incompetent H1b's based on fabricated resumes and the
recruiter's word. Been there, done that, seen it fail
over and over. My current company does India work but
only in very carefully measured doses and only the lamer
work. The important work is still done here and always
will be because we don't want the company to go under.
\_ Au contraire. Alameda prices dived after the closure.
Prices on the unfashionable west side were about 200K
for a 2bd 1ba four years ago. Now the mean would be
closer to 400K due to leftover splash from dotcom.
\_ Oops! I was only thinking about the Bay Farm side and
thought it represented the whole city.
\- you should see some of the photographs of places
like Flint, Michigan.
\_ white people from major cities had a serious effect on housing
markets.
\_ The real estate market in SoCal tanked after reaching all-time
highs around 1989. It took about 8 years to recover. Shit happens.
Like the stock market, the general trend is up. --dim
\_ That's the key point here. If you buy something with solid value
such as real estate (and not the stock of Anderson clients) and
_hold it_, then over the _long term_ you'll end up ahead no
matter the ups and downs along the way.
\_ "no matter what" should be replaced by probably not. In
the Bay Area, anything west of the east bay hills should
be safe, unless it's in active gang land.
\_ I'm sure people who bought condos in Allentown in 1972 think
this is great advice. -tom |
| 2002/7/25-26 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:25418 Activity:nil |
7/25 There's this old Disney cartoon about a house that grew old and its
neighbors (hirise) didn't like it, and eventually the house moved to
a new place. What's the name of that cartoon?
\_ "The Little House" see //http://www.bcdb.com/bcdb/detailed.cgi?film=4068
//us.imdb.com/Title?0044841 |
| 2002/6/26-27 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:25202 Activity:moderate |
6/26 Looking to buy a condo or townhouse. Please direct me to some
online listings...
\_ http://www.realtor.com
\_ There are some better sites for some areas. Where are you looking
to buy? -ausman
\_ east bay -- OP's competition (if the same area) |
| 2002/6/25 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:25185 Activity:very high |
6/24 What is the condo market in SJ right now? What can I get for say...
$400K?
\_ May I suggest that you buy a townhouse instead of a condo? I don't
think you'll stay in that condo for very long. You want to get
married and start a family right? single family house is the
best choice, townhouses next, and condos last.
\_ nice condo for $400K. you must be looking in nice neighborhoods
\_ ummm, no. a nice condo in a nice part of sf will run you $600K+.
$400K will get you an ok condo in medium to low priced areas
in the city. take it from someone who just sold a 2bdrm condo
in the city for almost double that.
\_ SJ == SF??
\_ a new 3 bdrm condo in Sunnyvale was $600,000 in 2000. That's why
I left the fuckin' Silicon Valley. The bubble's gonna burst soon.
\_ And what happens then? Prices drop by *GASP* maybe 10%. Housing
prices are not options. Face it. Most of us (us meaning folks
who do not make >$80) will never be able to afford better than
renting here in the Bay Area for the next twenty frickin' years.
\_ Not that I think that will happen but prices can fall by
30% or 50% sometimes (Japan, Singapore, Hongkong, etc.)
after a bubble. |
| 2002/6/23-24 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:25172 Activity:moderate |
6/22 Have housing prices come down in the past few months? I'm a potential
condo/house owner.
\_ no.
\_ Prices have come down for over-$700K homes, most definitely. But
for condos, expect prices to be about the same; but you should
have less competition in the market. A townhome across the street
from mine was in the mkt for 2+ months before being sold for $20K
less than asking price. (this is in inner East Bay) Depending on
where you are, I think things are getting slightly better, although
my advice to you is probably to buy in the Fall after the dust
settles and kids are going back to school (think parents, school
district, etc.) Hope this helps!
\_ one thing to keep in mind is that there is less supply, usually,
in the fall, and prices might continue to rise by then as well,
if this market continues to sizzle.
\_ Do not gamble. Find the house you like most with-in your price
range and buy it now. If the OP gambles and loses they'll be
really fucked later. If they gamble and win, they might save a
few bucks or get a slightly nicer house but there isn't going to
be any dramatic upward *or* downward pricing in only a few
months. Forget housing prices. The real cost is in interest
expenses which are *much* more likely to rise by Fall rather
than decline any further. They're already rock bottom low. You
may not see rates like this again for the rest of your life.
--Happy homeowner who no-cost refied from 30yr/7.8 to 15yr/6.3 |
| 2002/6/15-16 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:25103 Activity:very high |
6/14 They say that condos do not have a good resell value compared to
single family house. Is this really true? -potential buyer
\_ For crebbs: you're making a few mistakes in your SFH vs condo
analysis. 1) SF is not a normal market situation. Any place where
there's too many people and not enough housing of any sort combined
with draconian rental laws like SF has which limit rental stock is
going to drive up all housing prices. 2) time counts. no one cares
that you can buy a condo today and make $5k selling a month later.
What you can't do is make a profit on your condo over the long haul.
At the end of a 30 year mortgage, the mortgage rate is next to
nothing compared to ever increasing income levels. At the end of a
30 year stay in a condo, the condo is going to have ever increasing
dues, maintenance that the condo board has put off for years
resulting in *huge* emergency bills sent to everyone that you're
legally required to pay no matter high the bill. And a "condo
neighborhood" never improves over time. It's a glorified apartment
complex. A SFH community grows over time, has a real community,
and becomes the kind of place people really like to live in. Thus,
I can buy a house today and sell it in 30, 50, or 90 years and it'll
make me a fortune but the condo is a break-even buy at best. Go
look at real world prices outside articifially constricted areas
like SF, compare prices, then come back to the motd with your
theories. In the mean time the smart folks on the motd are all out
buying the nicest, biggest, best house they can afford in the nicest
places they can afford. This isn't a fluke. This isn't because
motd folks are stupid (intentionally obnoxious maybe but that's
another story). Anyway, go get some real data and prove the
conventional wisdom wrong. Later. I gotta go mow the lawn....
\_ Here is Condo vs. Home appreciation for Chicago. Anyplace
where land is scarce is going to show similar data, not
just SF:
http://www.illinoisrealtor.org/iar/marketstats/news_release.html
The difference is even more marked over the last ten years.
\_ admittedly, thus guy got *really* lucky, but i know a guy
who bought a condo on forclosure for something in the 30-40k
range. just as he was moving in, someone offered to buy it for about
60k. he sold it on the spot and bought a real house, using the
profit as down. basically, the buyer wanted a block of
condos, and already owned the adjacent one. like i said, though
he was really damn lucky. not all luck, though, since he somehow
got the real house in forclosure for a great price also.
i think part of the secret is not to trust those fucking
realtor snakes. when they say they're working for you,
they are *lying*.
\_ Generally, yes.
\_ Hogwash. Real estate agents often say this. However, real
estate agents usually have the intelligence of a poorly
trained poodle. Just think about it. If it were true and
had been for the last 20 years, you should be able to get
one hell of a deal on a condo, but guess what, you can't.
(unless condos used to sell at one hell of a premium) -crebbs
\_ Dear Condo Owner, I don't care what REA's say. I don't talk
to them or know any. The ones I did meet while shopping for
\_ Home Owner, you are wrong in too many ways to count, most
importantly, in the notion that homes always appreciate
more than condos:
http://www.realtor.org/rmomag.NSF/pages/indwatch200203041?OpenDocument
property were either evil or stupid. I say this based on
real world data. Go back and compare housing prices over the
years vs. condo prices. A house is a *much* better buy in a
'normal' real estate market. In a place like San Francisco
where local housing laws have artificially reduced the supply
of housing, *everything* will go up no matter how utterly
shitty, slummy, and unlivable for a normal human being. SF
and other shitholes are the exception to the "Generally"
statement above. Over time housing prices will *always*
rise *anywhere* in the country. The same is not at all true
for condos. -Home Owner
\_ Home Owner, you are wrong in too many ways to count, most
importantly, in the notion that homes always appreciate
more than condos:
http://www.realtor.org/rmomag.NSF/pages/indwatch200203041?OpenDocument
\_ Your link is crap. It only goes back to 96 and only
talks in depth about the last TWO years. Try again.
\_ No, you don't know what you are talking about.
Most places in America suffer from a land
shortage and have been experiencing Urban infill
for the last decade or so, causing condos to
to outpace home appreciation. You can bet against
this trend if you want, but your notion that land
is always cheap and people will always be willing
to travel long distances to afford a single family
home is increasingly outdated.
\_ 1st.) i don't own a condo and never have, so you are
wrong twice.
2nd) I am not going to spend the time explaining how
incredibly lame your "Over time" argument is.
3rd) I didn't say anything about "better buy." as that
can be interpreted many ways. (you have a knack for
making meaningless statements). I am referring to the
original poster's point about resell values. And
No one here has explained how it is that condo's could,
for the history of their existence, been getting smaller
percentage gains in price over time and YET, if you go
looking for a condo, pretty much anywhere, it costs
about what you would expect a condo of that size to cost
relative to a house. Certainly very similar to the
differential 10 years ago.
finally.) I could be wrong if e.g., increase in
homeowners dues had a tendency to outpace other
increases. It also may be true for SOME condominiums in
deteriorating complexes but there are also SFR areas
that deteriorate, you just have to pick a good complex
\- i had a coversation about this kind of "rational expectations"
analysis of stuff like "condos=bad", pricing differentials
of good schol district [investment component + consumption
component], etc with a real estate person sitting next to
me on a plane. she convinced me there were certain "sticky"
and dynamic issues that made the simplistic analysis
flawed. for example if you factor in the market's ability
to change the quantity of condos onthe mkt either by new
building or apt conversation, it becomes plausible that there
is some "pressure" against them. ok tnx. --psb
\_ this assumes a purely segmented market. This is not
the case. It seems like a good argument that it is easier
to make condo's than houses in an appreciating market,
so there would be less inflationary pressure on them. But
at the margins (which is where it matters) there are
plenty of home-seekers that would buy a condo if the
price was right. (admittedly there are many who wouldn't)
In appreciating markets, condo's become more attractive
as houses move out of reach of some buyers. As is always
the case with this sort of thing, it is almost impossible
to state what the final effect is going to be. You can,
though, say, as i have thrice now: "look if condos
always gained less than houses, they would be REALLY
cheap RIGHT NOW (they having been around for some time)
and they are not." -crebbs
\_ idiot.
\_ and that argument also falls apart for places like SF
where it is hard to just build condos, and equally hard
to do apt->condo conversions.
\_ You miss the part above where someone talks very
specifically about SF and other artificial markets?
\_ No, SFH generally have better appreciation and hold
their value better (based on past history of the market).
\_ Also keep in mind that if a certain ratio of condo's become
rented in a complex, that potential buyers will not be able
to get financing.
\_ Please explain and(/or) point me to a url. I haven't
heard this.
\_ I dont know a specific url, but this was mentioned in
the chronical financial advice section about 2 weeks ago.
The gist was that in a condo/homeowners complex, where
there are too many absentee owners (landlords renting
out places) they wind up controlling the homeowners
association (as the HOA runs on one vote per PROPERTY,
not per occupant/owner), screwing up resale values in the
community and making financial institutions reluctant to
finance properties in the community. -ERic
\_ also, renter's tend not to take care of the condo's
as well as owner's, e.g. they can become run down. |
| 2002/6/14 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:25100 Activity:nil |
6/13 Say you're going to rent your house. Where do I get a "middle-man"
who will fix stuff and deal with legal issues? How do I get such
info? Thanks.
\_ Legal issues? What do you mean legal issues? As for maintaining
the property, you want to hire a property management company. --dim
\_ property management companies are scum. this will make you
a slum lord, and if you post your address, i'll be glad
to burn your fucking lawn as a public service. do not listen
to this jackass unless you want to be a jackass too.
\_ say they don't pay rent (and you get screwed cuz your
mortgage depends on it) and lets say they're not leaving
unless you evict them... or they sue you for bad wiring
that shocked their cats or something. You know the ususal.
\_ Well duh, isn't it obvious from the above post? All
people who rent out their property are scum. All people
who rent from them are victims and God's Chosen angels.
There are no owners who aren't evil and there are no
renters who would ever even think of doing something
less than kind because it isn't in their nature. If
the renter does something the landlord doesn't like,
they must've deserved it and more. Power to the people!
(Note: this was 100% sarcasm for the impaired among us)
\_ landlord, property owner != property management
company, moron. there are lots of great landlords
out there, just not property management companies.
why don't you try reading a post before you reply?
or just fuckoff.
\_ WTF?! A Traitor To The Cause posting on the motd!
*ALL* landowners are villainous! They just use
these white thug hiring "property management"
companies to hide behind so FOOLS LIKE YOU will
STUPIDLY make a distinction between OWNER and
MANAGER. You think the owner doesn't know what's
going on? FUCK! The vicious evil white owner
*HIRED* the manager to fuck you and all renters on
a daily basis! You've been taken in! There are
*NO* great landlords. The only good landlord aka
slumlord is a dead one. We need to take all the
extra property they're not using and give it back
to the people! Vive La Revolution!
\_ post your address, you fucking pussy, and i'll
burn your lawn. |
| 2002/5/17-18 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:24869 Activity:nil |
5/17 I bought a house ~3 yrs ago. I just found out there is asbestos
tape inside my furnace. Neithe the seller nor the property
inspector disclosed it to me. Can I hold them financally
responsible for taking it out by any chance?
\_ your old house in Santa Clara is shit. Sell it and install linux
\_ Are you sure they didn't disclose it in some tiny little embedded
fine prints on the back of page 247 or so?
\_ They don't have to disclose everything, only things which they
should know about. And asbestos isn't inherently a problem,
any more than lead-based paint is. I doubt you can sue and win.
But of course, you should ask a lawyer if you want legal advice.
-tom |
| 2002/5/14-15 [Science/Space, Reference/RealEstate] UID:24831 Activity:insanely high |
5/14 Anybody have a backyard pool? I don't use it often enough and it's
a major expense. I'm considering making it non-functional for 1
year or more. Draining the water and stopping the pumps, etc. This
procedure have to be reversible though. When I sell my house a few
years down the road I want to start it up again. Is that even
possible?
Thanks. -frustrated pool owner
\_ sell your house. install linux. Seriously though, houses are a
pain in the ass. Do you spend your vacation at Home Depot? HAHAHA
-former bitter house owner (BHO)
\_ ride bike
\_ The short answer is yes. What kind of a pool is it? If it is a
concrete pool then this is easy. If it is a rubber lined pool you
have to be worried about the lining coming loose and it may be hard
to put back in and get wrinkles. (you can always pay someone to
\_ I only have a hot tub but no pool. Draining it wastes all the
reinstall your liner if you have this issue, though it isn't that
hard.) Also, with a rubber lined pool without water you probably
want to keep it covered when it is dry. I don't know anything about
above the ground pools, but i'm sure they're easy too. -crebbs
\_ it's a concrete in-ground pool. Do I need to take any special
precautions on the skimmer or the various pumps? Draining the
pool and shutting the machines off is easy. But I'm worried
about starting the thing up again. I definitely want the pool
to be usable in 2 or more years. Thanks.
\_ obviously you don't skateboard, or you'd know what to do
with it. you'd better take precautions to keep skaters
away after you drain it if it has a decent transition,
or people will sneak in to skate it.
\_ Now, some of you might think the above reply is joke,
but my boss had the same thing. Teenagers snuck into
his backyard and were using his drained-pool. My boss
had it filled with cement(they were just finishing up
when I visited, so he told me his story then). My co-
worker says actually it's a cover for his burying a
a dead body in it and normally you'd think that was a joke
but not if you knew my boss, you might not think so.
\_ i wasn't joking. if i knew where this guy's house
was, i'd skate it myself.
\_ I only have a jacuzzi but no pool. Draining it wastes all the
water (unless you can re-use the water to irrigate your lawn or a
nearby park, for example.) Re-filling with tap water also costs
you $2.18 per 1000 galloon in Alameda county. Just two more things
to consider.
\_ yum. super-chlorinated water on your lawn? |
| 2002/4/22-23 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:24535 Activity:very high |
4/22 How many of you were dotcom paper millionaires a couple of years ago?
And what company was it? Curious.
\_ http://gamers.com. We were too big and too proud, and the hubris got us.
\_ Does paper millionaires count vested options or exercised-and-held
options?
\_ shut the fuck up you banal fucks
\_ Bitter?
_|_
\_ I was. And our company was featured on <DEAD>fuckedupcompany.com<DEAD>
\_ And how much of it were did you end up with?
\_ Less than a thousand. It will almost cost me more
to unlock and sell the shares than what it's worth.
http://www.theonion.com/onion3814/home-buying_up.html
\_ The Onion blew it with this one. Home buying isn't about being
a suburban dork. It's about economic freedom and maturity. Kids
rent, adults buy. Why make someone else rich? Why die poor?
\_ the lame part is when it talks about how you have a 30-year
committment to the mortgage. Unless the renters think they
won't be paying rent 30 years from now... -tom
\_ That's just one of many lame parts. It's endless.
\_ My rent is 1/3rd what a house would run, and I share a 3 bed
place in a nice part of SF (with one other). Renting is for
those who don't want to commit to the area for 5 years.
\_ In 5 years your new rent will be higher than my mortgage. You
think about that one for a few minutes. My grandmother's
mortgage was $156/month on her $300k home when she passed. If
she had been renting all that time her rent would've been about
$1750 for the same place/location/house/etc. and eating cat
food without family help. Also your rent is 2/3rds not 1/3rd
because you're *sharing* with 1 other person. I could rent out
half my house and share if I wanted to cut my mortgage expenses
down. Compare like with like.
\_ Cool, so people who take the Onion's attitude will leave
more houses for the rest of us intelligent people...
- new homeowner
\_ Nonono, as a new home owner you *want* lots and lots and lots of
housing competition now that *you* made it. You are now in
control of your destiny. You can either upgrade in the same area
later when you have more money when the local market is low or
you can sell when the local market is high and move to another
area where housing is low and cash in mega bucks. Renting is for
suckers and short termers and kids. Buy, buy, buy!
\_ You're a bunch of overpaid spoiled fucks, aren't you. Of COURSE
owning is preferable to renting! What else are you going to do
until you've got the frickin' cash? What housing market do you
think we're in? Pittsburgh, PA? |
| 2002/4/8-9 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:24376 Activity:nil |
4/9 Unfortunately my apartment won't allow the bed...
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/04/08/cow.water.beds.ap/index.html |
| 2002/4/4-5 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:24326 Activity:kinda low |
4/3 My former landlord just bitched me out on the phone saying
something about too much of my old mail going to her address.
(My apartment was in her backyard.) Now I'm pissed off...
Is there some easy way to flood her with loads of junk mail?
\_ call the church of scientology and tell them you want to
sign a "friend" up. just don't ever ever ever give them
post office. http://www.usps.gov
your address. they will send a mailing or so per week
until she tells them to stop, then they up it to one per day.
\_ You should be more responsible and forward your mail to your new
address. For starters, file a change of address form with the
post office. http://www.usps.gov Then you can file with the
Direct Marketing Association (http://www.the-dma.org to stop most
of your junk mail at your old address.
\_ Don't file that form! The number one way to show up on junk
mailers' lists is change-of-address forms. If you really want to
reduce the volume, foregoe that form and take care of forwarding
case-by-case. The DMA suggestion is good, but will only stop
mail from member-junk mailers (=~ 75% from personal experience).
For more info check out http://www.obviously.com/junkmail.html
-- ulysses
\_ I e-mailed the USPS last year to ask them to remove my address
from any mailing lists they sell, but the reply said the USPS
doesn't sell any mailing lists. So how do the new addresses
on the change-of-address form go to the junk mailers?
\_ Why don't you just ignore her? You obviously don't care about the
mail.
\_ I don't care about the old mail at all... but I think she
is a total bitch and I think it would be funny and probably
really piss her off if I could get a bunch more junk mail
going to her house. I guess I'm a vengeful person.
\_ get some credit card numbers from the trash at a gas
station where the reciepts contain numbers(there are
lots of these) and order from a payphone tons of stuff
to her place. the credit card owner will not be charged
when they see that 100 dildos have been sent to some random
address, but she will be investigated for fraud.
\_ I suggest prozac, meditation, maturity and letting it go.
I don't see what you think you have to seek revenge for,
anyway. Growing up would make your life happier.
\_ Fill a paper bag full of dog poop, put it on her
door step, light it on fire, then ring the doorbell
and hide somewhere (where you can watch the fun). I
did this once when I was in Junior High School and it
was real funny. You are still in Junior High School, right? |
| 2002/3/27-28 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:24251 Activity:kinda low |
3/27 Anyone have any information on apartment sublets in Paris?
I'm going there from may 6 - june 6 and am looking for a place
to stay. thanks! -sax
\_ depends on your budget. Google and rec.travel.europe
are your friends
\_ would you want to stay in a hostel? |
| 2002/2/22-23 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:23954 Activity:high |
2/22 Why do alarm companies install the home alarm panels at visible places
in your house? Someone can just break in to your house and use a
hammer to smash the panel within the 45-second delay, and nothing will
beep or call the police, right? I'm thinking if it's worthwile to
install one. Thanks.
\_ Because when the panel goes out the alarm company knows? Or maybe
you've discovered The Secret Method no one else has ever considered.
\_ the keypanel and the alarm box are two different things. You'll set
off the alarm in the box if you smask the panel. The alarm box is
generally hidden on the premesis. Interestingly, the alarm cannot
call the police if you have the presence of mind to first cut the
house's phone lines (at the MPO, usually outside where bell techs
\_ MPoE: Minimum Point of Entry
can get to it).
\_ in some cases, there's a wireless transmitter installed by
alarm company to monitor any intrusion or for system
maintenance.
phone line is cut. I'm sure it's something like a pinger
that check to see that the alarm is alive and happy. --dim
\_ Many have an option to automatically "call" if the phone
line is cut. I'm sure it's something like a pinger that
checks to see that the alarm is alive and happy. --dim |
| 2002/2/22 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:23947 Activity:very high |
2/21 Since I started the thread awhile ago, I felt I should post some info.
There's a misconception in real estate that the seller pays the 6%.
Take a house, for sale by owner, for example. The Seller with an
agent can sell a house for 400k, and give 24k to the two agents,
pocketing 276k before closing costs. A for sale by owner can sell
for 280k, make 4k more than if he were to sell thru an agent, and
the buyer also saves 20k. Where does the 6% come from? The selling
price. Who pays the selling price? The Buyer. The 6% is a markup
for agents paid by the buyer. In actuality, it does come closer to
3%, since sellers will insist on splitting commissions. Of course,
in hot housing markets, throw this out the window. -nivra
\_ You meant a $300k house not $400k, right?
\_ [motd mathd was here]
\_ That's because the seller is paying the 6%. All houses are
priced with that 6% in mind. The reality with FSBO is that
buyers and sellers split the savings, but it's much harder to
sell the house. The seller is benefitting from the service more
than the buyer. Also, someone must pay for the buyer's agent if
there is one. All that really matters is the net. Is that what
you are saying in a roundabout way? If so, duh. --dim
\_ the agent is of no use to the buyer whatsoever unless they are
clueless. to buy a house you need a lawyer, and that's it.
this is in direct contradiction to certain advice given
by loudmouth idiots on the motd.
\_ *Which* agent? A buyer's agent certainly is useful. An
attorney, while beneficial, is not required either in
California. Do you have a point? --dim
\_ Who is going to show you houses without a buyer's agent?
The online/public MLS doesn't show addresses and if I was
selling my house and a non-agent random fuck called or showed
at my door, they're *not* getting a tour. And there's no one
to even let you in if the house is vacant. You're a fool.
You're not getting a discount off the house without an agent.
With 2 agents, they split the fee, with 1 agent they take the
whole fee.
\_ FWIW, the only friends I know to buy a house for <$400 in
Berkeley in the past two years found the house on their own
while riding around on their bikes and did all the
preliminary talking directly to the seller. Their agent
(i.e., the buyer's agent) only helped them shuffle the
papers for the sale, though that was non-trivial.
\_ I'm having a hard time replying to this. I'm honestly
not sure why you're telling us this. What does this
have to do with anything?
\_ IIRC, a lot of the time, a single-agent (who's
acting as both buying and selling agent) deal
will only net the agent 4.5%; there are sticky legal
ramifications of being both, though...
\_ If you're the buyer and they have an agent, then the
seller's agent also becomes the buyer's agent. You are
going to get screwed. Beware when they ask to get your
OK to run an approval on you, then they know exactly
how much they can soak you for. There's nothing
anywhere that I've ever heard of that says 4.5% for a
single agent.
\_ Y'all realize that if the agent works for a brokerage
house (ie: coldwell) then they split some of their 3% with
the broker. So a buyer or seller's agent may get as little
as 1.5% on the transaction.
\_ Sure sure but that wasn't the point. The idea was how much
it costs the buyer/seller to have an agent, not the final
destination for that fee. |
| 2002/2/21 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:23931 Activity:high |
2/20 Do builders like Shapell or Kaufman & Broad deal with individuals or
just real estate developers? Anybody know? I want a standard
house (not custom) built on a plot of land.
\_ Why? The cost of construction would probably dwarf the cost of
design? Why not just go custom? |
| 2002/2/5-6 [Reference/RealEstate, Computer/SW/OS/Windows, Industry/Startup] UID:23783 Activity:insanely high |
2/5 I'm a sysadmin. Made a house-call to fix CEO's wife's computer.
She already did a great job of troubleshooting so there wasnt
much for me to do. Instead I came up with a simple alternative
that worked. She was very thankful and now sent me a Fry's gift
certificate for a couple hundred dollars. Is this too much money?
What should I do? Just send a thank-you card? Or decline it and say
I was just happy to help and was just "doing my job"?
If kept, I will spend it on something my colleagues will also enjoy.
Please give any advice, motd.
\_ Thank you card. It's annoying to have your gestures of thanks
declined.
\_ thanks for helping confirm this for me.
\_ Is your CEO using company resource for personal need?
\_ she's a big part of his continued success. if he does well,
the company does well and so does my job and stock do well.
Anyways, I had to go out there to check on other things.
\_ Return the gift and ask for sex instead.
\_ Only if she's hot. Is she?
\_ She's hella hot. No sex.
\_ I'd send her a thank you card, use the money to buy something,
and not talk about it to others. You might want to mention it
\_ Seconded.
to your CEO, depending on what kind of guy he is.
\- thisisthecorrect advice. this probably isntthat much for a
ceo and family.
\_ Split the gift money into two halves. Buy yourself something nice
with one half and a gift for your CEO with the other half..
\_ That is just weird.
\_ Nice! I can see it now. "Dear PCWorld forum...."
\_ Buy her a nice sex toy as a thank you.
\_ With a Fry's gift certificate?
\_ One of those vibrating joysticks?
\_ It is *not* part of your job to do house calls. I've done house
calls because it was clear that if I didn't I'd be looking for a
new job. Unless it says so in your contract, house calls aren't
included. Think I'm being a dick? Who is liable if you get
injured? Slip on their floor? Get in an auto accident? The
insurance company won't cover you for worker's comp. You're fucked.
Take the gift, send a nice thank you to her and don't tell anyone
else about it. Don't do it again if at all possible. The 'gift'
is not a gift. It is payment for your work as a consultant. Don't
do any weird shit like splitting it and buying a gift for them or
mentioning it to the CEO or anything else. You're nice but very
naive.
\_ You bring up some good points I did not think about. I think it
is part of my job even though it's not written down anywhere
I set up their computer systems at this home. I also helped
with their home down south (flew on a jet).
\_ So they paid you extra/bonus/OT/whatevr for being their
personal compupet setting up their computers and home networks
all over the country? This isn't your job. You're being
taken advantage of. Let's compare. I'm the admin at an
online place in the Bay Area. I work less than 8 hours a day,
I don't visit homes, I don't do windows, I don't fill out
time sheets, I don't kiss anyone's ass, but I do report to
stupid people (can't have it all) and I make a lot more than
$100k. The parent company is 50+ years old, stable, private
and will never IPO but I'll have this job as long as I can
stand it. Which job would you rather have? |
| 2002/2/5 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:23778 Activity:high |
2/4 Rent Ceiling Database, maintained by Berkeley Rent Stabilization
Board. Allows you to see the rent ceilings on all apartments in
Berkeley:
http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/rent/rentsearch/search.asp
\_ Communists.
\_ Privileged rich fascist. You sit here enjoying your free
CSUA email account while you hope to steal money from
students, poor and disabled folks and keep people homeless!
\_ Publishing this information is a GOOD thing. In fact,
having this data public will make it easier to remove
all rent control since tenants will no longer be at a
disadvantage because they lack information about the market.
The big question is, does this help or hinder landlord collusion?
\_ Hmm, so my neighbor whose moaning I used to listen to thru her
door while her bf did her is paying $950/mo, if that's still her
living there.
\_ This excites me.
\_ So what does it mean if I'm paying more than the amount listed
here for my apartment? Can I get my rent reduced or something? |
| 2002/1/30 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:23720 Activity:high |
1/30 Anyone here buy their own house without an agent? Looking for good
sources of info. websites, books, etc. -nivra
\_ what a coincidence! I was gong to post almost esxactly the
same question today. I talked to a realtor, and it became quicly
clear that he was interested in helping himself and not me.
in my area, http://www.realtor.com has lots of really great listings, but
i have not figured out to what extent one can avoid hiring your
own sheister bastard realtor.
\_ I'd probably recommend against it for a first house; the
process is pretty complex and unless you know the ins and outs
you'll probably wind up costing yourself more money. And
some seller's agents will refuse to work with you if you don't
have an agent. -tom
\_ This is all true, plus you won't even see the listings for a
lot of houses or won't know about an open house. You also
don't look like a serious buyer to the seller even if their
agent is willing to talk to you. Don't be cheap but don't
feel you're required to use the first agent you meet. Shop
around and go with someone you like. I've met some *really*
sleazy agents before. Also don't let them push you into more
house than you feel you can afford. Good luck!
\_ I strongly recommend against it, unless you are experienced.
Yes you can keep the 3% commission to yourself when you don't
have an agent, but the risk of something going wrong is too high.
The whole process is pretty complicated, and I still don't
understand it even though I had a good agent explaining it. I
think you should concentrate your effort on finding a good agent
than on trying to learn about the process.
than on trying to learn about the process. -- yuen
\_ Actually, the seller is going to pay the 6% anyway. If
you don't have an agent then all the better for his
agent. As a buyer, you don't save anything. The part
about not getting listings or seeing caravan sheets is
bullshit, though. In my area both the MLS and the
twice-weekly caravan info are online for free. I usually
had a heads-up on my realtor. It was still useful to have
a realtor for legwork and phone tag, though. --dim
\_ If you knew the listings better than your agent then hey,
big hint, your agent sucked. They have up to the minute
pays only 97% of the selling price.
listings on their workstation. Your agent is getting paid
to do more than just play phone tag for you. You should've
found another agent who knew wtf they were doing.
\_ Really? I know the seller still pay 6% anyway, but I
thought the buyer and the selling agent get 3% each if
there's no buying agent which means the buyer effectively
pays only 97% of the selling price. -- yuen
\_ No. What happens in that case is that the seller's
agent is considered to be a dual-agent and pockets
the entire fee. They like that. I was in that
situation when I made an offer on a house I found
before I had an agent. That one didn't close
(thankfully) and I later got my own agent. --dim
\_ I'm absolutely clueless wrt agents. What makes a "good" agent, or
what are the signs of a bad one?
\_ our agent was very good. I'd say the qualities that made
her good were that she was very understanding of our general
anxiety about the process, and did a lot of explaining
about what was going on at each point. She actually
discouraged us from buying a house out of our price range.
She also knew the area very well and had good contacts
with mortgage brokers, house inspectors and building
engingeers (we needed an estimate on foundation work).
I think the biggest warning sign for me would be an agent
who pressures you to make a decision, or to buy a
particular house (especially an expensive one). -tom
\_ Another good sign can be that the agent is being frank.
My agent covers South Bay and southern half of East Bay.
when I asked him to also show us some houses in Alameda,
he said although he can find us listings and handles the
whole process for us with no problem, he won't be able to
tell us whether a certain price is good or not
since he's not familiar with that area. So he doesn't
recommend himself for that area. Another good sign was
that he told me to bid down on a particular house two
years ago when every other house was being bid up.
-- yuen
\_ It is possible to avoid the 6% by buying a house for sale
by owner directly from the owner. There aren't many of these
on the market though. http://www.allthelistings.com seems
to have the most. -ausman |
| 2002/1/23-24 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:23641 Activity:high |
1/23 Battle of the Monoploistic Giants, AOL vs M$FT: http://chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-020122aolsuit.story?coll=chi%2Dnews%2Dhed \_ Hemlock or arsenic? Damn.. I can't decide! |
| 2001/12/22-24 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:23341 Activity:high |
12/21 I'm thinking about installing an alarm system at my home. The
telephone wiring box at my house is at a very visible position facing
the street. If someone cuts the telephone wire to my house before
breaking in, what good is the alarm system now that it can't call the
police station or the moniter center? Thx.
\_ Not sure, I'd have to take a look to check out the situation. Where
do you live again?
\_ There is no point to a monitored service. Response times are
too slow to be of any use. --dim
\_ I disagree. A monitored alarm is a nice complement to a safe.
Ideally the safe should be on a separate zone from the rest of
the house, but even if it's not, a slow response time is still
fast enough to prevent a burglar from getting into your safe.
Perhaps you don't need a safe, but I do.
\_ Why not get a safe deposit box at that point? If I'm
a thief I take the safe and open it later. But I'm sure
your safe is actually a vault... --dim
\_ You're not going to take a safe with you before the
company monitoring the alarm gets there, especially if
it's properly installed (bolted to the foundation with no
side or rear access without going through a wall).
Even without proper installation, it'll take a thief
some time to maneuver a couple thousand pounds of steel
out of the house. A safety deposit box is suitable for
a subset of my needs; the safe is suitable for others.
\_ Wouldn't the cut phone lines signal the alarm company?
\_ Yes. We have an alarm and that's how it works. I have no idea
why some people think response time is "too slow". Too slow for
what? The last time my alarm went off 3 cop cars were here in
under 5 minutes while my alarm was deafeningly loud. I don't
care if someone does a smash n grab. The alarm is for personal
safety and to deter some Night Stalker type person from hanging
out for a few days torturing us while no one outside knows.
Some random thug *might* get away with my TV. He won't have
enough time to hang out doing anything else. |
| 2001/9/24 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:22609 Activity:nil |
9/23 so, you can take money out of roth ira to buy a house. does that
house have to be in the US?
\_ yes |
| 2001/9/6 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:22327 Activity:nil |
9/5 Does anyone know where one can find rent control laws and ordinances
of Santa Clara. I remember a new law that went into effect beginning
of this year saying that rent increases greater than 10% requires at
least a two month advance notice. -phlo
\_ I can't believe a cal alum can't even use google or da yellow pages
or city hall or the mayor's office to figure out something
as Berkeley as Rent Control.
\_ Try HUD. -- yuen |
| 2001/8/17-19 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:22155 Activity:moderate |
8/17 Anybody looking to buy a house? Do you care to comment on the housing
market in the bay area now? I heard things have cooled down a lot
since early 2000. Thanks.
\_ From what I see, prices just aren't growing as fast as they were,
but they're still increasing. Compare average/median prices year
over year...I saw this in the paper and they still increased,
but expensive houses increased much less (and averages being what
they are, some of those will have decreased).
\_ Ditto. It's not that the prices are going DOWN, it's just the
price increase that's slowing. My agent said condos/townhouses are
most likely to close under asking price, but then someone else might
argue that condos/townhouses' resale value isn't as hot as that of
single family residence (i.e. house). Approach with caution, wait
out the market until after this summer. Inventory seems to be more
abundant so far. - jthoms (also looking for a hse)
\_ Prices are certainly declining in many regions. With interest rates
where they are, it's a good time to be a cautious buyer. Find the
home you really want. If you have to compromise, wait.
\_ In Southern California, inventories are very, very low. I think
a lot of people (buyers and sellers) are waiting. What they are
waiting for I have no idea. --dim
\_ Houses are sitting on the market much longer. I think it is
only a matter of time before prices start to go down.
\_ it's called denial. virtually every single buyer is into denial.
wait a few months and prices will start crashing down. it is just
like the real estate of the 80s |
| 2001/8/14 [Finance/Banking, Reference/RealEstate] UID:22115 Activity:nil |
8/14 How do I retrieve an article that appeared under the "Today on MSN"
section in http://www.msn.com just half an hour ago but is now gone? Thx.
\_ what link are you looking for? ford recall, pcs passe, 6 new car
reviews, gap school uniforms, etc. -uctt
\_ The one about home prices and refinancing and growing equity
loans.
\_ http://moneycentral.msn.com/articles/invest/extra/7686.asp
-uctt
\_ Thanks a lot! I read it half way thru and then
accidentally closed my browser. How did you find it? |
| 2001/8/6-7 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:22021 Activity:high |
8/6 I have two pair of copper phone wires going from point A to point B in
my house. Is it possible to create a functioning 10 base T connection
with these wires?
\_ Probably not.
\_why not?
\_ Yes, and I'm speaking from experience. 4 of the lines are used for
shielding and you might get some signal degredation but nothing
you'll notice running on a 10bT network (at least I didn't). -jeff
\_ thanks. It worked for me too.
\_ I run 100bT over my extra copper in my house. --aaron |
| 2001/7/25 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:21946 Activity:nil |
7/25 I have a space in my unit to rent that works well for
people who need a temporary location while looking for
permanent housing. Contact me if interested. -ulysses |
| 2001/5/25 [Finance/Banking, Reference/RealEstate] UID:21359 Activity:insanely high |
5/25 Hey, is it worth wasting an extra $25/month in mortgage interest
to have an extra $200/month in pocket money? (comparing 15 to 30) -nick
\_ _In general_ if you can afford the 15 year, you're better off in
the long run. Talk to a loan person at a bank to go over specifics
for your loan.
\_ Most 30 year loans have pre-pay penalties. Banks prefer to have a
\_ Not from what I've seen. Certainly my 30 year loadn has no
prepayment penalty.
long income stream on paper, that they don't have to modify with
prepayments. If you are able to pay it off in 15 years easily,
go for it!
\_ Some idiots posted below.
\_ YMMV. Lots of people buy houses so that they have LESS spending
money, because when you have lots of extra spending money, you
can easily "blow" a lot of it... either the $500/mo Fry's habit,
nice restaurants, nice whores, clothes, or whatever. If you can
afford a house, you probably are doing somewhat ok, and can live
without the extra $200. On the flipside, money is meant to be spent
so what is the point in saving it all? Find your own balance.
What's your lifestyle? What do you want it to be?
\_ You mean 15 vs. 30 year mortgage? You do realize how much more you'd
pay on the 30 year, right? If you can affort it, you'll accrue
equity much faster with the 15 (because of compound interest, equtity
growth is _not_ linear).
\_ Non-sense. You don't know any better. The fastest way
to build equity is to have a 30-year-loan (hence lower
monthly payment) but pay the same amount each month
month as you would with a 15-year-loan (hence you pay down
more principle each month).
\_ How is this different from getting a real 15-year loan with
the same interest rate? (Not to mention that 15-year loans
usually have lower interest rates than 30-year ones.) -- yuen
\_ Exactly. All that matters is the interest rate.
\_ IANAFA (I am not a financial advisor). Depends on what you want
to do with it. Can you live without it? If not, then go for 30,
of course. If you can, then perhaps putting the $200 in something
that will earn more than your mortgage interest rate will be a
good investment. I would highly advise against just blowing the
$200, but I'm very conservative financially.
\_ In comparing interest, do remember that debt paid is debt
paid whereas investment earnings still has to be taxed. |
| 2001/4/20 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:21028 Activity:nil |
4/19 What's the difference between "rate" and "APR" in a mortgage? |
| 2001/4/17 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:21006 Activity:nil |
4/16 is $500/month good rent for haste+ dana? I can get this for 1 year.
\_ Studio? 1 bdrm? That's good for just about anywhere around here.
If it's a room in a place with others, you may find better.
\_ it is 4 bdr, 1 ba, $500/ea shared utils, cablemodem included
\_ sounds like a good deal -- the 1bathroom is a big bummer, but
for $500, I could cope. |
| 2001/4/7-8 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:20897 Activity:moderate |
4/7 If I wanted to stop paying rent until they removed me (2 months?)
is that something that would show up on my credit history. Or could
I avoid any real consequences?
\_ Yes, it could. It might even become a judgement if your
landlord goes that far.
\_ do judgements go on your credit report? Does an eviction
go get reported as an eviction or what?
\_ Apps usually ask if you've been evicted before. They also have
the condition that if you lied on your application, you can be
evicted. ;-) |
| 2001/3/18-19 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:20836 Activity:high |
3/17 Does anyone think the housing market will crash like the stock market?
I heard housing prices are already down some 4%
since beginning of the year.
\_ No. It's only going to get worse. Look back at 1998's prices, the
last time the housing market "crashed". Prices now are way higher
than before that so-called crash. If you have some fantasies about
buying some jobless dotcommer's house for a song, forget it.
\_ 4% is peanuts. They're still going up in my area. The town houses
are now up to where the low end houses were a year ago in my area.
\_ In my area the housing prices are up. Last fall houses like mine
(okay my parents) were going for ~ 750K - 900K, today my mom and I
went walking and we saw several houses for sale with the prices
ranging from 950K - 1.1M.
I'm giving up my plan to move to Saratoga, San Jose is too expensive
for me. Guess I'll have to start looking somewhere cheaper like
Campbell or Freaqmont.
I'm giving up my plan to move to Saratoga, as even San Jose is too
expensive for me. Guess I'll have to start looking somewhere cheaper
like Campbell or Freaqmont.
\_ Fremont homes are about 630k-700k
\_ Uh no, homes in my uncle's neighborhood (Ardenwood) are
more like 350k to 450k. Still, I don't fancy living that
close to the riff-raff. Oh well, I guess I'll just have
to wait for my portfolio to recover.
\_ um. no, 600k for homes in aredenwood
\_ Well, the house two doors down from his is listed
for 425k. I just saw it today. Mind you he's near
880, Deep Creek and Paseo Padre and the houses in
his area are older ~ 15 yrs.
The nicer ones are about 600k, but I'm not
interested in paying 600k to live that close to
riff-raff.
\_ but by then, everyone else's will recover too and
prices will go back up
\_ Well, its pay 400k for a house in freqmont now
or wait till my 400k becomes 1m and buy a house
then. In Saratoga, the prices for the houses I'm
looking at have hovered around 950k to 1.25m for
the last 5 years. Not many buyers on the high end.
\_ Ardenwood? Ew.
\_ I hear Modesto is still fairly cheap.
\_ And Fremont is a pit, too.
\_ what's wrong with Fremont?
\_ is your head too big already?
\_ anyone know a good contractor or architect?
want to demolish a home, rebuild one w/ a basement
\_ Are you in CA? If so, you probably can't get a permit to build
a basement because of the earthquake zoning laws for residential
properties.
\_ a number of new homes in the Bay Area have included basements.
besides, wouldn't it be okay with some sort of rolling
foundation (like in the Winchester House)?
\_ my uncle did that with a new house after a teardown. Added
a whole other basement floor with office, big-screen movie
room, 2 bedrooms, pool-table and separate entrance
\_ which contractor did he use? can you email me- turin
\_ actually houses w/ basements are better to survive
earthquakes because you have easy access to install steel
support mounts on the main supports thus reinforcing them.
\_ Well there are other problems with basements and earth-
quakes. I remember Prof. Chopra in CE explaining in some
class, something about standing waves or something. Wish
I had been paying attention. Oh well, it was almost 6 yrs
ago and I only took CE because of some stupid department
policy.
\_ Going to pay 500k for a knock down and another 300 to build
over it?
\_ demo jobs are 20-40k and done in 2 days (demolition)
\_ Just be prepared to wait 6-9 months for them to have time.
\_ That's "to have to time to get started on it".
\_ Depend on the price-range the house is in and location.
I bet the most expensive homes will take a hit. More moderately
priced homes, maybe not so much. Those in excellent school
districts or easy commutes...you know. I personally know of two
recent sales, in Union City and San Jose, both got sold
for slightly above asking price, but each only had two bids.
But both i would consider sort of on the high-priced-end for
this uncertain economic time. My aunt sold a Los Altos home
about 1.25 year ago for an outrageous profit. The guy who bought
it did some minor remodeling and 9 mos. later put it back on the
market, asking $1,000,000 more than he bought it for. The
house is still for-sale. Not sure if it even got any offers.
\_ I have been house hunting in San Francisco for six months,
and I can tell you that houses here have definitely gone
down. About 10% for the 1M+ properties and a bit less for
the "reasonable" 500M one bedroom condos. -ausman
\_ 10% down for a million+ house isn't a big deal. The numbers
on that end of the scale are semi-random anyway and much more
dependent on the details of that particular seller and
location than the market as a whole. 500k for a one bedroom
condo is insane even if it was 600k the week before. |
| 2001/1/17 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:20344 Activity:kinda low |
1/16 Luxury apartments for rent/lease in East Bay other than The Landing,
1200 Lakeshore and Pacific Park Plaza? (Don't say Bridgecourt or
Emery Bay) |
| 2001/1/5 [Computer/Rants, Reference/RealEstate] UID:20238 Activity:very high |
1/3 At what temperature do you set your heater? After last month's $140
PG&E bill, I lowered mine to 63 degrees and wear two sweatshirts around
the house.
\_ 78. $200 bill.
\_ 40
\_ Wear a wool cap. You lose a lot of heat from your head.
\_ spare us a lot of suffering, and just wear a bag over your head.
\_ Somewhere in the 70's. Just pay the $200 bills, geek boy.
\_ Issues of responsibility go beyond fiscal prudence. -tom
\_ buy fluorescent energy saving lightbulbs, they'll save u $$
\_ just turn off your heater entirely, that's more efficient than
leaving it slightly on.
\_ Indeed. My southern exposure apt is finally pleasant for once.
\_ Who uses a heater? Our apartment is heated by the four computers
and various assorted other electronic devices.
\_ 13 dollar electircity bill and a toasty warm apartment. Love
that central heating.
\_ $36 for electricity plus gas. Living in a house in Fremont,
central gas heater turned off, even the pilot light. Just wore a
coat and closed all windows.
\_ If you can move the water heater and the cloth dryer to inside the
house or at least re-direct the exhause pipes to pass through the
living space befoing going to the outside, the leaked heat should
warm up the house somewhat. But that's quite a bit of work to
do and I didn't do it. Plus you have to reverse it in summer.
--- yuen
\_ That's a really bright idea. The walls will be nice and damp
as an added bonus...
\- just have your utilities billed to your employer in
return for working from home. --psb |
| 2000/12/21-23 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:20147 Activity:low |
12/20 Anyone looking for a house in Berkeley? Is it just me, or are there
really really few houses on the market right now? Why? Is it just
because of the holidays?
\_ yah don't you know houses are the ultimate christmas present
\_ Most folks won't move over the xmas holiday unless they have to.
\_ I've heard from a couple realtors that basically no real estate
activity occurrs around this time. (My company was in a space and
needed to break our lease... the owner said we could either be out
by Thanksgiving or pay until January 1st.)
\_ Why would you want to own property in Berkeley anyway? |
| 2000/12/19-20 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:20128 Activity:high |
12/19 Has the housing price dipped lately? I am considering buying a
house.
\_ suprisingly, it hasn't. It has slowed down though. When I
bought my house in Jan I had to bid with 30 other people, now
there's only 3-5 bids per house. I'm even more suprised that my
house has been appraised at 15% above what I paid. Incredible
given the stock market condition.
\_ Older 2-bdrm townhouse in shittiest location (but in Sunnyvale):
asking $340K, sold last month for $430K. And brand-new 2000 sq ft
townhouses in Mt View, start $1million. Houses *may* slow more
since now people may be forced to settle for a townhouse
driving the prices of those up.
\_ $1million? BS. URL?
\_ Shrug. I'd believe it. What I don't believe is that
housing price rises will slow because of town houses.
Not per se. The town house 6 blocks over will never be
in the same price range as the houses in the area. If
you're saying that people will simply give up on houses
and live in a townhouse, then that means building more
townhouses, fewer new houses and thus an increase in the
price of houses as they're even rarer than they were. As
a homeowner, I'd be quite happy to see the end of new
housing starts all over the BA and just new townhouses
and zero lot liners instead.
\_ and higher density, more noise, more traffic, etc.
\_ It's happening now. It's just a matter of time
and degree. Those who don't want it or can't take
it or whatever will go elsewhere. Living in this
area is a choice. It isn't mandatory. I don't
intend to spend the rest of my life here.
\_ God is making more people but is not making more land. No surprise
that housing hasn't dropped in a significant way. Guy down the
street sold his ugly house after 9 months with a 50% gain only a
month or so ago.
\_ Man is making more land. Flattening hills in East Bay, Fremont,
San Jose and taking up former ranch and farm lands in same.
But then Cisco and Sun and them keeping hiring more people
and bringing them to this area. Where are they gonna live?
\_ You've seen the "housing" in Fremont, SJ, etc? I've done a
lot of hardcore house hunting in those and many other places
around the south bay. That isn't housing. That's a cesspool.
\_ Cisco and Sun (and others) are in the process of moving
jobs to places like Texas. The Bay Area housing boom will
level out if not bust. I wouldn't live in a place like
Mountain View if you paid me to. Los Gatos? Pacific
Heights? Sure. Sunnyvale? Not. There's a sucker born
every minute.
\_ Forget Texas, Sun is going overseas - Ireland,
Russia, and India are the high-growth campuses
for Sun now.
\_ Sun recently acquired 200 employees in
Mnt. View. ;-) - ex-cobalt employee |
| 2000/12/12-14 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:20083 Activity:moderate |
12/12 Anybody know if there are any Tahoe cabin/house rentals where they let
you rent for only 1 or 2 nights? All the ones I've seen have like
3 night minimum. I need a cabin/house for 6 people (3 couples)
Thanks!
\_ just stayed in one.. 3 bedrooms plus a fold-out couch slept
6 comfortably.. could sleep up to 10 w/ sleeping bags and such
and a 2 night minimum.. north shore 1/2mi off Tahoe Rd. down
89 towards Homewood... http://www.granlibakken.com --shac
\_ Granlibakken is a very nice resort. They also have
an absolutely WONDERFUL weekday (monday-thursday)
rate, of ~$70 each with breakfast and lift
ticket to Alpine or Squaw.
\_ Rent a room at MGM and have an orgy.
\_ Think about the average, what you have they for you?
\_ Don't you mean "How to think about the average, what
you have they for you?
\_ Everybody gotta deviate from the norm.
\_ Doing a weekend orgy and not willing to pay for the stay? |
| 2000/12/5-7 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:20008 Activity:nil |
12/5 Bid on renting apt space in the Bay Area
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/12/04/BU126539.DTL&type=tech_article |
| 2000/11/9-10 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:19700 Activity:nil |
11/9 Is the number of senate seats or house seats per state dependent
on the population of the state? - reformed ex-commie
\_ no. yes.
\_ house -> based on population (min. 1 per state, otherwise
every ~ 600K people +1 seat)
\_ Does that mean we have > 1000 seats in the house?
\_ I think its 435 seats, but I could be wrong.
senate -> two per state
Every state has a equal say in the Senate, in the house
its based on population. Madisonian Checks and Balances.
\_ is it a fixed 435 house members no matter what size of the
country?
\_ No. The house was much smaller when there were only 13
states. |
| 2000/10/29-30 [Politics/Domestic, Reference/RealEstate] UID:19596 Activity:nil |
10/28 http://www.votexchange2000.com \_ Also see <DEAD>www.voteswap2000.com<DEAD> |
| 2000/10/9-10 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:19446 Activity:very high |
10/09 Motd poll: how many CSUAers have children already?
\_ More interesting poll would be how much longer
until the child of a CSUAer flames his/her parent
on the MOTD?
\_ How many CSUAers are still children?
\_ I would assume all of us are.
\_ I don't wanna grow up, I'm a CSUA kid.
\_ we're all happy creative children until the day we get real
industry jobs, get married, and become house slaves (ie. you
buy a 30 year old $850,000 house in Silicon Valley and spend
all of your spare time and savings on house work).
\_ While you are complaining, you seem quite proud that you
bought a $850000 house, and quite happy that you are now
a house slave.
\_ Who says you have to get a job/house in SV? I left the valley so
I could have a house *and* raise a family on one income. -emarkp
\_ where do you live? MONTANA? KENTUCKY? ARKANSAS?
\_ ARKANSAS, the state that brought you Bill Clinton. |
| 2000/10/1-2 [Reference/RealEstate, Academia/Berkeley/CSUA] UID:19382 Activity:low |
09/30 NOTICE: EXPECT SIGNIFICANT SODA DOWNTIME IN THE NEAR FUTURE.
A meteor the size of an apartment building is expected to land on
Soda Hall in the near future. Life as we know it will cease to
exist, and you will no longer be able to wall. You have been warned.
\_ but walling is our life?
\_ Are backups up to date? |
| 2000/9/19 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:19295 Activity:moderate |
9/19 How many of you hide at work to avoid house work? Eg, constantly
using the I need to do this project excuse to 1) use cleaning service,
2) pay somebody to mow the lawn, 3) eat out all the time, 4) avoid
family visits, etc. Has "I-work-for-a-startup" become an excuse for
totally slacking off on life's other responsibilities?
\_ Look, if I can bill $100/hr working, It'd be stupid to spend
10 hrs a week cleaning/doing house work when I can work that time
(for $1000) and pay some lackey $10/hr to do the housework. |
| 2000/9/12-14 [Reference/RealEstate, Recreation/House] UID:19230 Activity:kinda low |
9/12 Gardening question: in general, if you plant a tree's fruit will the
fruit grow? Or is there some special pollination process with a male
tree that must happen? Or does this totally depend on the species
of the tree? There are some ginkgo biloba trees with fruits near
my house, I'm thinking of taking some of its fruits.
\_The answer is; you must buy a ginko tree from a store. First
of all, Ginko trees are not angiosperms...they do not have fruit. What
looks like fruit is really a strange sort of cone/seed structure that
is only found in ginko trees today, (all the rest that had this feature
died out over 10,000 years ago.) And the odds are the seed inside the
structure is not fertilized. It's true that ginko trees are monoicious.
each tree has only male parts or female parts. (yes, female trees
stink.) Therefore, unless there is a grove of male trees near,
(and there better be alot because these trees are wind
pollinated,) the seed is not fertalized and cannot grow into a
mature plant.
\_ Stop it. Stop it right now with this filthy discussion.
Such sexually perverse questions do not belong on the MOTD.
In general, if you plant a tree's "fruit" it will not
grow. You must plant the seed...this may seem picky, but take the case
of bananas sold in stores; they have no seeds in them so planting
one will not grow a banana tree. further more there are certain
things that must happen to some seed for them to sprout, such as
soaking them, freezing them, or passing them through a fruitbat's
gut.(yes, there are a few I can think of that require this).
Answer; it totally depends on the species of tree.
-sofia (Bio Major)
\_ Ginkos are special cases, as each ginko tree is only male or
female. Most plants are hermaphrodites and have both male and
female parts, stamens and pistels. Some of those can self
pollenate, some can't. However, there is generally enough
pollen in the air to pollenate just about anything you will
grow.
\_ so the answer is? What do I have to do grow a ginkgo tree from
its fruit? Take the fruit and do what with the male tree? I
don't see any pollen-looking thingies on the male trees.
\_ You shove it up the male tree's ass.
\_ But he/she was talking about planting the fruit, which already
contains the seeds which come after pollination, right?
\_ err, sorry, yah. Seeds are what create plants. They
are pollenated already. Of course you are probably not gonna
get a tree unless you pay some attention to how and when you
should plant the thing, and you may jsut want to get a
plant from a nursery or read about cuttings. Some trees
do cuttings really well and those tend to give you a nice
year's head start.
\_ Try not to plant a female tree. The fruits stink.
\_ this generalizes well.
\_ luck of the draw with seeds |
| 2000/8/25-27 [Reference/BayArea, Reference/RealEstate] UID:19098 Activity:very high |
8/25 Any place in the bay area where I can find a house < $300K? Don't
tell me East Palo Alto. I'll settle for townhouse, but not condo.
\_ WEST OAKLAND IN THA HOUSE MOTHAFUCKA NIGGA PLEEZ!
\_ just come heavily armed with a shotgun and a kevlar vest..
\_ Power armor. Have it developed.
\_ don't hold your breath. what we need right now is a massive
\_ I actually looking. It's true.
10.0 earthquake to physically destroy most of the computer
industry around here before prices go down...just enough
destruction to drive a large part, but not all, of the tech
companies out. *sigh*
- (racially insensitive, mood swings)
\_ You think you can get a house in E Palo for under $300k? Don't
be stupid. They're not giving them away in EPA anymore.
\_ Yeah, nowhere can you get a perfect view of 35mm shells flying
by your window at 2am in the morning.
\_ I was actually looking. It's true.
\_ 35mm? Either you are trying to shoot down aircraft, or are
watching big-screen films or have robots in teh streets.
\_ You won't find a house of under $300K in the bay area.
\_ a friend of mine bought a 2br 1ba with bay view and backyard,
in East Oakland a couple months ago for $250Kish. It's not in
an elite neighborhood, but it's on the "good side" of High Street
by the 580. It's possible, you just have to compromise. Another
friend of mine bought a 3br 2ba house for $330K in Clayton (by
Concord/Walnut Creek -- and yah, it is one of those 70s style homes
with frightful orange and green walls inside, but she figures she
can easily fix that) two weeks ago, so my guess is that there
are 2br 1ba houses for less than $330K out that aways, too. --chris
\_ The compromise being that you fear for your life and your wife's
well being at all hours, but gee the house was such a bargain.
\_ There are still houses ~ 300K in Newark/Union City/Hayward
(~ 500k new) Other places you might want to look are milpitas
(alviso), downtown (getto) sunnyvale, e sj. Town homes in 300k
are still available in the w sj & cupertino area, but these are
really small (~ 900 sqft).
\_ Well, if you consider Pittsburg still in the Bay Area, my gf's
sister bought a 2-story 6-bdrm house out there for $350k.
\_ I don't. Might as well live in Texas.
\_ Pittsburgh is in Pennsylvania. That's not Bay Area.
\_ pittsburgh, california, you fucking dweeb
\_ Pittsburg, CA, versus PittsburgH, PA
\_ back in november I saw a house go for 150K in oakland on
MLK in between ashby bart and and childrens hospital. Right next
to bart tracks.
\_ There are a lot of houses in flatland north Oakland (not
Rockridge) that go for less than $300k. Of course, a trivial
search on http://realestate.yahoo.com would have told you that. -tom
\_ or http://www.listinglink.com
Mark my words: a new 2bd/2.5bath townhome
\_ yeah and spend $60K just to make it reasonably livable.
when you could spend a little more on a new home in Newark
and have that house appreciate MUCH faster. And a new home
wont suck up all your time to get it fixed.
\_ When I moved into my place, we redid the foundation,
electrical, plumbing, heating, and floors, and
it cost, in total, about $30K. And it's way the
places to buy(i work in Palo Alto), unless
you have a well-paying job in SF or Contra
Costa, then you can buy in North
Oakland/Rockridge for cheap and stay
near some nightlife/culture. But if youre
buying a house, you probably cant afford
to go out anyways,heh.
hell nicer than anything you can buy in Newark.
-tom
\_ not now.
\_ And Oakland sucks and it'll never appreciate.
I think you made the wrong choice.
\_ actually oakland will appreciate, but NOWHERE
near as fast as Newark will the next 2 years.
Mark my words: a NEW 2bd/2.5bath townhome
in Newark purchased today will appreciate
nearly $100K in the next 12-18 months.
I'm looking at that area ASAP, but also
considering an older townhome/house in
S'vale, just to keep my commute sane.
I am screwing myself by generating
competing buyers, but really those are the
places to buy(esp if u work in Palo Alto
like me), unless you have a well-paying
Would you like to pay for a detailed study? or is
complaining less expensive? THINK about how the govt
tracks this data and you'll see.
job in SF or WC, then you can buy
in North Oakland/Rockridge for cheap and
stay near some nightlife/culture. But if
youre buying a house, you probably cant
afford to go out anyways,heh.
\_ ooh yeah, Oakland sucks, it's so horrible
to have a dozen real restaurants, a
good grocery store and a movie theatre
within 3 blocks of my place. It would
be so much better if I had to drive 5
minutes to get to the Taco Bell/Burger King/
Applebee's strip. Not to mention an
hour drive to get anywhere with any kind
of nightlife or culture. As for
appreciation, I bought it for $265K,
similar houses in the neighberhood are going
over $400K, 1.5 years later. -tom
\_ You have a funny idea of 'good'. If I
want what Berkeley, SF, or anywhere else
has to offer, I can drive to the slums,
and then *go home*. I don't have to
*live* in that shit. And how often do
you _really_ enjoy that really great
Oakland nightlife chill'n' on da korna
wit da homeez? Asking price != selling.
People in slums always talk about how
great the culture is. They have nothing
else to talk about. Check the crime rate
and let us know.
\_ gee, racist trolls from reiffin.
how original. -tom
\_ As usual, "whatever you say tom."
I've asked you before to just
add my standard reply to your
garbage for me to save me the
effort. Is it that hard? I'm
not a racist but if it makes you
feel better to think so, that's
ok with me. Whatever. -reiffin
\_ how about, we'll just
imagine your replies and
you can just go away. -tom
\_ "We" who? You speak for
all motd readers? Or is
that the "royal we"? The
truth is I'll never go
away as long as you're
around. You're so easy,
I can't help but bait
you. You take yourself
so seriously when no one
else does. -reiffin
\_ Purchased a new home in SJ for $530K
10 months ago. Now similar homes
in the area sell for nearly $900K. And
the new homes in area with larger lots
are being offered at $1.1million (as
a *starting* bid). Problem w/ Oaktown
is that the good parts are built up.
But SJ and UC/NWK have *new* homes
being built, which are of course more
expensive, but drive up the price
of neighboring homes a lot more than
usual. LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION!
And all my neighbors drive lexus,
porsche, bmw, mbz and there's 1 ferrari
\_ uh, when you add supply, the
price goes down (relatively). -tom
\_ tend to agree with tom on this
thread. i wouldn't call his
decision to buy a house in
oakland stupid. a friend of mine
bought in oakland for $100K 2
years ago, and the house is now
worth $300K. Yah, he had to fix
it up, but he likes everything
he put in, instead of having to
put up with someone else's decor.
plus, I don't particularly care
for a permanent living situation
in Newark/SouthBay. --chris
\_ i think you all would
both change your
mind if you were the
one who got mugged
or even killed in the
area. not the
preferable place to be.
not to be racist either,
but those things happen,
and with greater freq.
there.
\_ Believing in crime
statistics isn't racism.
\_ price should go down but they
do not, because the new
prices for neighboring lots
go up, while supply still
strips demand (until the stock
market crashes that is).
If someone wants to live in
the same area, they HAVE to pay
similar prices. You do not
understand BA RE very well.
It more complicated than Econ 1
The homes are not worth that
amount of money, but that's
the market, and people have/had
"free" money to toss around
so what do they care? Yes, BA
market is all topsy-turvy. And
Oakland simply has a bad rep
so it can never grow as fast.
Even though it's the best
place to live for many reasons.
Sigh, I lived in Rockridge for
5+ years and would still be
SJ & it's too hot and stuffy.
there if the commute was
reasonable. The water sucks in
SJ. Weather too hot and stuffy.
Gasoline is 20 cents higher.
BIKE is near useless.
No cool movies. But they
do have fewer bums and a Fry's
\_ BAY AREA by COUNTY BREAKDOWN OF HOME SALES
\_ You want these numbers by city, not by county. Some of these
counties are a mix of very nice cities and shitty slums. County
numbers are misleading.
\_ Breakdown by city would be misleading too. i.e. oakland.
\_ That's true. A lot of these cities are large and have
very varying areas and prices. The county numbers are
completely worthless, however. Cities numbers still
have _some_ value.
\_ Gee, County numbers have _some_ value too. The only
thing that is worthless is your all-or-nothing attitude.
Anyways, I was trying to help answer the poster's Q.
\_ Your call. I don't pay attention to misleading
numbers that clump *huge* areas together under a
single heading. You can if you'd like.
\_ You cannot find the numbers.
MEDIAN PRICE
County July '99 July '00 Pct. chg.
Alameda $278,000 $340,000 22.3%
Contra Costa $250,000 $269,000 7.6%
Marin $438,000 $550,000 25.6%
Napa $199,000 $269,000 35.2%
San Francisco $375,000 $470,000 25.3%
San Mateo $425,000 $503,000 18.4%
Santa Clara $390,000 $483,000 23.8%
Solano $162,000 $195,000 20.4%
Sonoma $249,000 $290,000 16.5%
Source: DataQuick Information Systems |
| 2000/8/23 [Recreation/Sports, Recreation/Computer/Games, Reference/RealEstate] UID:19077 Activity:nil |
8/22 Looking for studio in downtown San Jose. anyone knows the average
rent there?
-/-- It wasn't here for very long before getting trunc'd, but for the person
looking to teach programming to a 10-yr-old: http://www.toontalk.com
"ToonTalk is a video game for making video games." -David Kahn, 10
"It's an animated world where kids can make, run, debug, and trade
programs."-Ken Kahn, David's dad and inventor of ToonTalk
--mogul |
| 2000/8/17-19 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:19023 Activity:kinda low |
8/17 Anybody on soda have more than one house? Is the mortgage on the
second house also tax-deductible? I heard that mortgage interest
deduction is lower for 2nd homes. Can someone confirm? Thanks.
\_ It is less (as it's not a necessity to have a second home). But
you can get around this if you have enough equity in your first
home. Buy the second home for cash from a loan on your first home,
then you are just extending the payments on your first home, and
still only have one mortgage to pay.
\_ If you intend to rent out the other place I don't think that you
can get a mortgage deduction. The deduction only applies to your
primary residence. Like the previous poster said, get a equity
loan on your primary house and use the cash to buy the second one.
That way you will have one paid off house and you will get 30%
back on the interest that you pay for the higher loans. Also if
you homestead the second property and/or put it in an estate it
can't be accessed by creditors in case of bankrupcy. If things
go south you will still have a place to live free and clear.
\_ Well I don't have enough equity in the first house to do
this. Not yet at least. But I still want to cash out some
more stock to buy the 2nd house for renting it out. Do you
have a lawyer or CPA do estate planning? Or do you just read
a book? What book would you recommend? I hate giving up
control of my finances, but it get more complicated the more
money I have. Ugh...
\_ CPAs, like any hired help, don't do anything without your
direction. They help you do what you want to do; go see one,
try to get a good reference. A good CPA is an invaluable
resource towards converting that stock into a productive
base you can grow on.
\_ I agree. A good CPA or estate/tax lawyer will help you
and give you decent advice but you have to set the
direction. The reason I know about some of this stuff
is that I've been investing since I graduated HS. When
I got to Cal my parents gave me enough to make it for
two yrs tops without working/investing so I gave myself
a crash course (necessity is the mother of invention).
\_ Wow, you had it so rough. I got a job to support
myself for 4+ years. Hunger is the mother of
motivation.
\_ That was rough? I turned down a grad school
admission in Palo Alto to get a job to support
myself and put my sister thru college (Haas School),
and she's paying out-of-state tuition for all four
years.
is that I've been investing since I graduated HS. |
| 2000/7/21-22 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:18752 Activity:kinda low |
7/21 Anyone do a transition from tech to non-tech career?
\_ yes. from tech -> real estate broker/stock guru. Make more money
than 99% of you coding monkeys out there. Only founders can match
the cashflow I generate. A single real-estate transaction I do
is worth more than your typical .001% share in an IPO.
\_ Uh... Who said 0.001%? Try 0.2% minimum. Higher usually. I
think you need to rethink your monetary calculations. I think
you really missed the money plane. At least you caught the bus. |
| 2000/7/19-20 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:18717 Activity:low |
7/18 Anybody know of a real estate listing service that especializes in
vacant land/farms/ranches? Everything I've come across are all on
regular houses. Thanks.
\_ man realestate |
| 2000/7/19-20 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:18714 Activity:very high |
7/18 Roommate wanted for an apartment on Haste and Shattuck; $442/mo
rent+DSL. /csua/pub/housing/gh.haste
\_ man ghetto
\_ isn't there a cat house on that corner? or is that a block down
shattuck?
\_ about 2 blocks down. unless you mean yermom.
\_ AW FUCK!!! I lived there. That place was the nastiest
apartment complex in the world. It gives slumlords a good
name.
\_ WORD. I paid $390 in '90.
\_ wow, 442 a month and you SHARE A ROOM! Gah.
\_ Welcome To Berkeley Housing 2000. Enjoy the Ride.
- paying 500 to share a studio
\_ paying 1300 for a studio. -SVer
\_ people are sharing studios? Don't you have to be
very "friendly" with your roomate to share one?
\_ no thanks, I was smart and got a place from a friend who was
moving out -paying less than that for his own place
\_ as i said before, i'm glad i'm out of berkeley b/c that
housing situation out there is all fucked up...
-- bitter depressed alum
\_ Why are you depressed? You're gone. -happy home owner alum
\_ I'm depressed b/c i'm just sort of fucked either
way. It's one of those "Reality Bites" syndromes.
if i want to move out of my folks house,
I'm fucked b/c the rent around here is super-high.
If I stay though, I'm going to eventually
lose my sanity. Fucked again. If I move out
of state, jobs in the industry I'm in will
be much scarcer and take a 10K pay hit. Fucked.
Getting married would be a good way to solve
the problem, but I'm about 10 million years
away from that. Besides, finding somebody
where kids are an option are scarce too.
Fucked again.
This is of course not a unique problem, but
it's a wholly negative way to view life in
this absolutely wonderful "internet economy"
that's just benefitting SO many people.
-- depressed, bitter, and esp poor alum |
| 2000/7/17 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:18691 Activity:very high |
7/16 My lease is up Aug 15 and the landlord just raised my
rent from $1750 to $2250. shitdamn!
\_ If you're working full-time in a tech job and renting, you should
consider buying a condo/townhouse/house instead. You have more
money than you think. It just takes courage to be frugal. I
graduated four years ago and just bought a house. I saved 40-50%
of my take-home pay every month. You'll be amazed how much money
you can save by bringing your own lunch everyday and only watching
matinee movies. -frugal and happy homeowner
\_ Four years ago houses cost half as much....
\_ true, but hopefully your salary has kept up. I saved
enough for downpayment after 2 years of working. It took
me two more years because I didn't want to spend my life
savings in a single transaction. I highly doubt that
a programmer that earns 70-100K a year can't save enough
for downpay in a couple of years. LIke I said, it takes
courage to be frugal.
\_ yeah, or MOVE THE FUCK OUT OF THE BAY AREA.
-paying under 300 a month for a nice place in
a nice neighborhood walking distance from work
\_ And earning nothing. When I sell my house and leave
the bay area, I'll have the money to buy 10 places
likes that and retire on your rental money. How's
the walk?
\_ um, i'd have to be earning $140K to have "kept up".
And how in the hell will i save up $100K for the
downpayment, so that i can qualify for the $400K
mortgage? Even skipping lunch and movies wont get me
that. Sure, obviously it can be done because
others do it...but how?
\_ 1/5th of 400k is 80k, not 100k. And you don't need
to spend 400k on a house... yet.
\_ I didn't say you should skip lunch. I said bringing
your own lunch. I make less than 100K a year but I
was still able to save enough for downpay. Try opening
a savings account and direct deposit 30-50% of your
AFTER-TAX paycheck into it. And NEVER WITHDRAW A
PENNY FROM IT. Live from the rest. If it means never
eating out or buying shit at Fry's so be it. Yes, it
is hard to do this. It takes courage to do this. But
you can do it! Also... be sure your SO is doing the
same. Two people saving is better than one person
saving. This doesn't work if your better half is
not living the same lifestyle. And why are you only
looking at $400K houses? Your first car is not your
dream car, your first house shouldn't be your dream
house either. Look at condos or townhouses first.
\_ Don't get a condo. It's a loss.
\_ Have you ever considered the fact that they think you're
a slob and they want to force you to move out?
\_ what city are you in? this is illegal in most places (well, many,
not most)
\_ Pete Wilson outlawed Rent Control in California shortly
before leaving office. Anyone who started renting after
1/1/99 in Berkeley is exempt from rent control protection.
\_ no the CA legislature outlawed VACANCY rent control.
That is, once someone moves out the landlord can raise
the rent as much as he wants for the next tenant. Used
to be in Berkeley that when someone moved out the
landlord could only raise the rent something like 5%.
\_ 15%. Don't exaggerate.
\_ no 15% was what they raised it to in the interm
when they were easing out rent control. And even
that they could only do twice in the 3 year period
that that was part of then rent code. Just cause
you are a young'n doesn't mean you have to show
your ignorance.
\_ doesn't mean all renter protection is out. Berkeley, for
one, still puts severe limitation on how fast the rent
can rise while the same tenant(s) is/are occupying
\_ actually very few places
\_ San Jose.
\_ Annual "inflationary" raise in rent is common, but NOT $500
at a time! My Walnut Creek landlord raises rent by $50 every
year so far, while in Albany my rent stayed the same for 6 yrs
at $1050 for a 2bd-2br. Depends if you have rent control in
your city.
\_ I live in North Oakland/Rockridge. Good-sized 1bd-1ba apt w/
security gate, covered, reserved carport, on-site laundry
room. Original rent: $550. Landlord has raised rent twice
in past 5 years. Now rent is: $566
\_ yes it is called rent control
\_ And it's in Oakland.
\_ My girlfriend lived in a brand-new complex near Fremont BART
with her sister. They had to move out after lease was up because
the complex was bought out and the new owners raised the rent
by $700 ($600 if you were a returning leasee), no matter if it
was a 1BDRM or 2BDRM.
\_ Landlords are evil. We must return the land to the people! |
| 2000/7/13-15 [Transportation/Car, Reference/RealEstate] UID:18668 Activity:moderate |
7/13 Pictures from the Underhill movie night party and protest
(more housing less parking) which happens every Saturday
night all summer, http://www.bclu.org/underhill
\_ Don't need more housing. Need more parking.
\_ UCB needs far more of both. Housing is more important
for incoming students though.
\_ I can sleep in my car. I can't park in my bedroom.
\_ If you live that close to campus you don't need car.
\_ Sigh. No. You're confused. Nevermind, it
isn't worth explaining.
\_ all of you new undergrads, and people who want to find
a different place to live...you guys are all totally fucked.
thank god i'm out of cal. -- fucking bitter alum
\_ The problem with this sort of 'protest' is you're pitting two
different needs against each other inappropriately. You should
be making noise about more of everything. Certainly the university
owns enough lands to satisfy both needs. You're creating a false
sense of value. Both are important. Both should be taken care of.
The resources are there.
\_ that was actually pretty sane. I'm sure someone will
delete that response
\_ it's a load of shit. The university is using nearly
all of its space now. Office space and lab space both
take priority (in University thinking) over students or
parking, yet office and lab space is getting horribly
squeezed. Where is all this land the University can
use? There are three plots near campus; Underhill,
People's Park, and the Oxford Tract. Underhill is being
built on, People's Park is a political quagmire, and the
Oxford Tract is getting a seismic replacement building.
So, uh, where else do you put student housing and/or
parking? -tom
\_ Check out a map of the city with UC owned land marked.
It's *everywhere*. They own a *huge* chunk of the city.
I was floored the first time I saw it. And no, it isn't
just the obvious campus and other UC marked areas. As
far as "People's Park" (it's neither), they should've
paved it years ago. It's a criminal sesspool and a
waste of perfectly good land. Politics be damned. The
worthless opinion of the typical city citizen has never
stopped UC from doing anything else. |
| 2000/6/12-15 [Reference/BayArea, Reference/RealEstate] UID:18449 Activity:low |
6/12 Looking for 2-3 bedroom house in Berkeley/Albany/Emeryville/Oakland
area that I can be very very noisy in w/o disturbing neighbors.
Under $2K a month...email sky if you know of any and I shall shower
you with gratitude. -sky
\_ hopefully not of the amber-colored kind
\_ My urine is glow in the dark orange -sky
\_ "drink my yellow spray!"
\_ I don't know any home owners in that area I dislike.
\_ Ok. But how about areas where you want the property value
to depreciate? -sky
\_ Liability is a big concern for me.
\_ I think there are probably a few charming places within walking
distance of West Oakland BART. -John |
| 2000/6/5-6 [Reference/RealEstate, Finance/Investment] UID:18417 Activity:high |
6/5 Poll: Stock market will do the following in the next 2 weeks
rise 1
fall 0
.com bubble will burst and housing will again be affordable 1
stay in the same range as now, little up/down 1
\_ summary: the bay area sucks. leave after graduation, and you
can spend your smaller salary on a superior lifestyle.
\_ The .com bubble bursting won't make housing affordable. All the
.com people in the bay area won't suddenly vanish over night. This
is the theory/prayer of the poor (under $125k total income). Forget
it. Since the spring down turn, housing prices have continued to
_rise_. Housing prices are based on supply/demand more than on .com
cash which is another semi-myth.
\_ You're not gonna buy a decent HOUSE earning only $125K!
You need some one-off stock options.
\_ Under $125k?? ouch. How expensive of a house can you get for
that income anyway?
\_ How far do you want to push it? Get a really expensive
loan and pay some high rates and you can go to $650. If
you're not insane, you can do $400k without losing sleep.
\_ There will continue to be *need* for housing if there's
a stock market crash. In economic terms, "demand" is
the combination of "need" and "willingness/ability to pay".
So while a stock market crash won't necessarily reduce the
need for housing, it will reduce the demand.
I think it's unlikely prices will significantly drop,
however. The first thing that will happen is a reduction
in over-bids, and then houses will start to stay on the
market at lot longer at current listing prices. There's
a lot of slop there to take out before anyone will start
cutting prices on houses. -tom
\_ Going from 1 day on-market-to-sale to 7 days on-market-
to-sale is still way out there especially compared to the
rest of the country where 6+ months isn't unusual and the
bid is almost always under asking, not over, and usually
includes non-cash incentives from the _seller_.
\_ so under what condition will housing again be affordable?
\_ How about a nice game of Global Thermonuclear War.
\_ At which point housing goes to those with the most
functional weaponry.
\_ None really. There are always more people but God isn't
making more land. Historically speaking, housing prices
_always_ rise. Yes, there are periods of ups and downs
but overall, especially in the bay area, housing will
continue on the upward slide to infinity. The cheaper
housing just moves further out and there's a very limited
amount of 'core' housing (ie: close to SV and/or SF).
Think of this, a new home in East Palo Alto, the recent
murder capitol of the country (or was it world?) will run
$400k to $450k _and_ you have to *compete* to get it. In
short, don't hold your breath.
\_ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/hotnews/stories/01/Bhomes.dtl
Housing prices have already stopped rising. |
| 2000/6/1 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:18380 Activity:kinda low |
5/31 I own a small apartment complex (real estate investment). It's
currently vacant. After some renovation I'm thinking of only renting
it out to local school teachers. Rent is expensive in this area and
I think we're losing good teachers because of it. I want to give them
low rent. Is it legal to (a) rent it out only to school teachers?
If not, is it legal to quote them a lower rent than non-teachers?
This is not a troll. I want to know if this can be legally done
without getting sued. Thanks.
\_ I don't think it's illegal; after all, that big brick apartment
complex at the corner of hearst and arch only rents to
non-students, and they never had any legal problems it appears.
it's a kind move you are making..and plenty of people
state strong cases below. Just as long as you do not
discriminate according to race, sex, and religion, you
are pretty much clear.
\_ You're hereby reminded that the motd is not a lawyer, or even
a human being. It is a collection of non-lawyer specimens (which
are, arguably, homo sapiens). Despite what we all think we know,
you are running a VERY high risk taking any advice posted on here
at face value. Go and see a lawyer. The money it'll save from future
potential lawsuits will be worth it. -nonlawyer
\_ I would say that it's illegal to quote teachers lower rent or
rent only to teachers.
\_ You would probably be wrong. HUD has a program which sells
houses to teachers at 1/2 off, i suspect that you would
not run into any problems doing something similar yourself.
To ban all non-teachers, you might have to call yourself
a teachers co-op or some such. (note that the Co-ops in
Berk. rent some houses only to students, so why not be
able to rent only to teachers) In fact, you should call
yourself a non-profit for teachers then pay yourself
whatever your yearly profit would be and you can get
good tax breaks (and probably shelter other income if you
are clever)
\_ I know the gov't can have programs like this, but I'm
not the gov't! :-) Coops have to be non-proft, I'm not
ready to do that yet. I will still generate income
from my tenants, I just won't be gauging them. How
about those "retirement" apartment complexes? They're
discriminating on the basis of age and they're for-profit.
\_ :-[ , It's legal. (that clear enough)
Also, you seem to be a little confused as to the
nature of non-profits. You can set up a non-profit
just for this bldg, pay yourself an excessive salary
[the money does not know where it came from]. The
salary you can pay yourself is virtually limitless
(certainly more than you are going to make in "profit"
on a "small" apartment comlex (unless we have widely
differing ideas on what "small" is). It is only
the non-profit COMPANY that can't make money (and
that isn't really true either) You as the founding
executive can still pull in a great deal.
\_ My understanding is that it IS legal to discriminate on the
basis of a tenant's profession. (e.g. refusing to rent to
a lawyer is permissible, but don't be surprised if they sue
you anyway ;) You of course cannot discriminate on the basis
of race, religion, etc., but occupations are not a quality that
is protected against such decisions.
\_ Ask a lawyer, not the motd. How can stupid people attain and
keep so much money? Never ceases to amaze me.
\_ You wanna know what never ceases to amaze me? Motd censors. I mean,
you decided somehow to keep the stupid GQ rice picking thread,
which is of course of no merit other than purely sociological
wankering. THis is fine. That's one of the functions of the motd.
When someone asks about real estate, does s/he expect a correct
answer? Maybe, who knows. That's just all part of this grand
experiment known is the soda motd. I found it interesting to
read the responses to this thread, because I, apparently like
you, was amazed that someone would ask such a question in this
forum. Does that mean we FUCKING CENSOR it? FUCK FUCK FUCK.
\_ hey, which of you fucking idiots nuked the rest of this
thread? FUCK YOU ASSHOLE |
| 2000/5/9-10 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:18212 Activity:low |
5/8 Any suggestions for online apartment listings for East Bay (around
Fremont / Hayward)?
\_ The listings you'll find online will be for the expensive
apartments in this area. If you want to find a reasonable
apartment, drive around and visit a few complexes. Anything
with three or more stories will be expensive. Vacancies abound. |
| 2000/5/3-4 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:18164 Activity:moderate |
4/33 Where can I find housing information for the Berkeley area? Is there
a on compus organization that can help?
\_ hahahahahahahahahahahaaaa!!!!!!!
\_What's so funny?
\_ Housing? What do you need housing for? Sleep on Telegraph
in a box, save you the $1,000 rent you'll have to pay
for a 10'x10' studio in Berkeley.
\_http://www.housing.berkeley.edu/housing/cal_rentals/index.html |
| 2000/3/24-25 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:17842 Activity:kinda low |
3/23 I'm thinking of installing ethernet in four rooms in my house. Yes,
it does involve going into the crawlspace. Has anybody done anything
like this? Or had a contractor do it? How much $$$ did it cost you?
\_ I just got a big drill and drilled holes. my landlord
will hate me one day, oh well.
\_ Not really. He'll make you pay for the damages.
\_ Fuck that. Go wireless. Cheaper and it won't be outdated in
3-5 years.
\_ Does it provide the same bandwidth as T1 or T3?
\_ The high-speed wireless systems (e.g. wavelan, airport) run
at 11Mb/s; this is faster than a T1 (1.45Mb/s), comparable to
slow ethernet (10Mb/s), and slower than a T3 (45Mb/s) or fast
ethernet (100Mb/s).
\_ Cheap systems are doing 1.6 - 2.3 mb/s which still tops
a T1.
\_ 11 Mbps = 1.3 MB/s == slow local-net file-copy
hey, what's the latency on WaveLAN, etc.?
Could it be so bad you can't play net games?
You might want to check range (downstairs one side of
the house, upstairs the other side of the house)
\_ I'm using airport at home. It works quite well
and I can even play UT and Q3A without any delays.
I'm getting the full 10Mbit since my airport base
station is connected to a full duplex switch port.
\_ I know someone who does that kind of work. I have no idea how
much he charges. Email me if you want his contact info. -sony |
| 2000/2/1 [Reference/RealEstate, Academia/Berkeley/CSUA] UID:17396 Activity:nil |
2/1 female northside aptspace avail: /csua/pub/housing/northside2-1-2000 |
| 2000/1/6-8 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:17175 Activity:kinda low |
1/6 Anybody know where I can find exact maps of school districts? I'm
looking for a house and I want to know which school district a house
belongs to. The web sites of the particular school districts that I'm
interested doesn't have that info. I'm wondering if there's a central
depository for such things. Also is there a good place to look at
school rankings? http://realestate.yahoo.com has some, but I'm looking for
others. Thanks.
\_ There's a book called "McCormick's Guide" that even has average
SAT scores. There's a web site selling it but I forgot the URL.
My sister got the book from her real estate agent free. -- yuen
\_ Maps change too quickly, and are not centrally stored anywhere.
You'll find one at the district office of whatever districts
are in the area. Post your location and somebody here will know
what the good schools are.
\_ Try http://www.greatschools.net for this and other info. -emin
\_ Expect outdated and incomplete information en masse
-been there, tried that |
| 1999/11/30-12/2 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:16978 Activity:moderate 52%like:17958 |
11/30 living room for rent: /csua/pub/housing/CollegeAveApt.99
\_ damn, im glad i dont live in berkeley anymore. thats twice what i
pay for a whole floor of a house in a nice neighborhood.
[chopped]
\_ damn, i wish a 9.0 earthquake would hit, fuck up all of silicon
valley, and get housing/rental costs back to normal.
\_ That won't change anything. A huge stock market crash would put
lots of housing on the market for cheap though.
\_ how's that? A stock market crash doesn't really hurt
the people who already have bought. -tom
\_ Some of us secretly hope for even that.
\_ Sure, as long as you're not affected by layoffs or
in some similar fashion. --dim
\_ Wouldn't matter. I can get a loan for a cheap
house without IPO money. I'll never get enough
money for a house as things are without it. Any
job will get me a cheap house. Bring on the
layoffs. |
| 1999/11/3-4 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:16818 Activity:moderate |
11/2 What are good online rental urls for those looking for housing
(either as a roommate or a lease) in SF? thanks
\_ <DEAD>www.tryleavingthefuckingbayarea.com<DEAD>
\_ That site appears to be down. Is the address spelled
correctly?
\_ DNS problems. Should be corrected shortly.
\_ http://www.ehousing.com I am not sure if this qualifies as good
though..
\_ http://www.rent.net kinda cool. You can search by price, etc |
| 1999/11/1 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:16801 Activity:insanely high |
11/1 I was kind of surprised to find out that JFK jr. lived in an
APARTMENT in NYC. Does anyone know if he owns property? With
all the $ he has, I'd expect him to own jumbo jets and huge property
\_ who let this moron into CSUA? We have better things to do
then gossip about celebs who you will NEVER meet, never sleep
with, and never spend one moment of their f.u. lives thinking
about you. And besides, you ever lived in NYC, you know how
how much his "apartment" cost?
\_ What's wrong with an apartment? I'd rather live in a small apartment
in NYC than in a big house with a yard and a white picket fence
out in the suburbs.
\_ Ah, yes! The joy of being young and foolish and full of
one's self and opposed to all that one can't have! Down
with The Man! Rise up, America's Youth! Fight the good
fight against your elders! Oppose all those over 30!!!
RIDE BIKE! USE LINUX! HATE MICROSOFT! YES! YES! CAN
YOU *FEEL* THE GOOD VIBES!! OOOOH! Death to happiness!
Up with sour grapes!
\_ you know you can own the apartment you live in.
\_ is it still an apartment if you own it? |
| 1999/9/9-10 [Reference/RealEstate, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:16489 Activity:low |
9/9 That lightning storm was cool.
\_ tstorm caused by 9-9-99 problem. read about it at
http://www.nytimes.com
\_ Make sure to watch again the next time I do yer mom.
\_ You couldn't handle my mom, little boy.
\_ my mom neither. She's evil.
\_ Yeah, especially if you lost power or had your house burn down.
\_ Yeah, and steak knives are cool until *A RAVING MANIAC KILLS
YOUR WHOLE FAMILY IN FRONT OF YOUR VERY EYES WITH ONE*!!!!!!
Did you have your house burn down? Find some fucking joy.
\_ Yes, I did. Thanks for asking. |
| 1999/7/12-13 [Reference/RealEstate, Reference/BayArea] UID:16114 Activity:high |
7/12 Save 1015! Preserve the SF House Meat Market from gentrification!
http://www.1015.com -sameer
\_ Meat market? hardly, unless you crave chaste asian booty. if
you really want to get laid, go to 1984 and stand in one
place for awhile.
\_ for the record, the housing next to 1015 is a public
housing project --caliban
\_ shhhsh. stop actually being informed about anything you
rave about.
\_ why the hell should i sign a petition that gives me absolutely
zero info on the issue? (and on a website that consists of
nothing but shockwave for that matter)
\_ Wow... I read the site and the shockwave crap and this place sounds
like a nightmare! Is there a petition I can sign in support of
closing it down forever and preventing another such menace from
popping up elsewhere in the city?
\-1015 has got to be one of the most obnoxious places in sf.
i cant believe i have given my money repeatedly in the past
to people that treat you that rudely. --psb
\_ i was there once and remarked only that it was really
dirty and they charged twice as much for halfsize drinks.
and their website is an atrocity. -lila
\_ 1015 does completely suck ass in all the ways mentioned
here. however: there are a couple of worthwhile events
that happen there, people renting the place out for a night.
usually weeknights, i would stay the HELL away on a weekend.
more importantly though, and why people like sameer and i,
are heavily involved in throwing underground parties that
have as their goal to provide quality, inexpensive experiences,
contrary to the typical 1015/club scene, is 1015's role in
city politics. the city will be able to shut more clubs
down, based on noise/bullshit, if 1015 loses this battle.
it'll be like a preceedent, and those of us involved with
the club scene don't want that to happen. it's already
impossible for certain types of people to throw certain types
of events with certain types of music - the city has thrown
up a vast array of obstacles, and even if you surmount those,
you wind up needing to charge $25/person (unacceptable in our
circles for a one-night event) and sfpd can march right in
and shut it down for *no reason*. so it's not about 1015
as a great, swell club, it's about the future of soma, and
the ability for new tenants to push old tenants out, crushing
established businesses. there's a good article in the
/sf weekly/ regarding this phenomenon:
http://www.sfweekly.com/1998/012799/cothran1.html
-- caliban
\-what happened to the old "coming to a nuisance" defense?
an appropriate name in teh case of 1015. --psb |
| 1999/7/4-6 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:16069 Activity:kinda low |
7/05 Anyone know of any good housing leads in Berkeley? Need to find a
2 bedroom apt or a room to rent. Must be a quiet place. Any leads,
send email to paolo@csua.berkeley.edu Thanks.
\_ ucb.market.housing
\_ *rofl*. Um, sorry... -- ilyas
\_ Actually ilyas, that's where I found the the huge place 1
block from Soda for $375 that I always taunted you with.
Engineering people often post their ads there instead of the
UC's housing programs, so it's good if you're looking for
stuff on Northside. Yes, I got lucky as hell, but still. -bz |
| 1999/4/28 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:15714 Activity:nil |
4/27 What are people's experiences with subleasing apartments and getting
caught?
\_ if your lease specified no subletting and you got caught, you're
probably going to have to give your landlord a blowjob. otherwise
tell him to kiss your ass. |
| 1999/1/28-29 [Recreation/Dating, Reference/RealEstate] UID:15315 Activity:high |
1/28 Five years ago I fell deeply in love, but when I got out of the army
she was married. I bought a house across the bay from her, so I could
see the green light out at the end of the dock behind her house
every night. Recently I learned that her husband was having an
affair. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, my love's cousin moved
into the house next to me. I'm considering asking him to ask her
to tea so we can see if we still have a relationship. What should I
do?
\_ Just Do It!
\_ If you believe she still has feelings for you, go for it. But the
most preferable method is to do it YERSELF, aka do not rely on
her cousin. You get more brownie points this way.
\- And remember you DON'T ask her out for relationship but to rekindle
the long lost tie and to catch up. In another word, to let her know
you're there for her and but don't confront her about relationship
yet.
\_ NOT a good idea. She's not a virgin anymore.
\_ can we got some lady to comment on this, please?
\_ Yeah. Fitzgerald sucks. |
| 1999/1/3-4 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:15168 Activity:high |
1/3 RENT CONTROL, RIP.
\_ Just don't move out. |
| 1998/12/6 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:15077 Activity:nil 54%like:14690 |
12/5 Housing available. See /csua/pub/housing/GrizzlyPeak.txt |
| 1998/11/30-12/1 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:15045 Activity:high |
11/29 Hey all, my company is paying for my relocation from SF to LA. they
said that i can just give them a fair quote of what it would cost
if i hired movers and they will just give me the cash and i can
rent a uhaul. anyone know a fair price to move a one bedroom
apartment with furniture down to LA?
\_ What company is this. If you're a CS major I'm surprised that
you're passing up possible bay area jobs for something down in LA.
\_ 1) Questions end with a question mark: '?'
\_ csua motd grammar is different than traditional grammar
ie: f u cn rd ths thn u cn gt a jb n cptr pgmmg.
\_ that wasn't funny when you posted it yesterday,
either. -tom
\_ tom, you should be the last person to judge
other people's sense of humor.
\_ sign your name, wimp. -tom
\_ It's not a motd standard to sign name.
\_ it's still cowardly to insult someone
without signing your name. -tom
\ It's not so != that u can use ie when u mean e.g.
2) By moving to LA, he may get a significant raise in buying
power. And hey, maybe he doesn't want to live in the bay
area--had you thought of that?
\_ And the less people who stay in the Bay Area, the
better the standard of living for the rest of us
natives.
\_ I would have loved to stay in the SF bay area. But
as it is, I can actually afford a 3 bedroom house with my
$70K salary (on a 15-year mortgage) down here, and not
have to dodge bullets or druggies going to the corner.
\_ He also has few alternatives to moving out of LA if he
decides he wants to leave this company. BTW, the money
they give you for moving may be taxable. -jor
^may^is
\_ It's tax-exempt if (simplifying) you stay with the
company for a year, but if they pay it to you as
income, you'll have to itemize deductions to avoid
paying taxes on it. Better yet: save receipts for
all move-related expenses (including movers,
transportation to LA, temporary LA hotel, etc.)
and have company reimburse you -- then they
handle the deduction.
\_ Why not call some movers for 'an estimate?' You're shopping around
anyway?
\_ Exactly. How much it'll cost depends on weight and their
time. If you have them pack, get better insurance than the
standard 80 cents/pound, etc, the price goes up. Getting
that insurance requires that they pack your stuff. That
costs also. Get an estimate that includes proper insurance
and packing costs for breakables and give tham # to your
employer. --been there |
| 1998/10/23-25 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:14812 Activity:nil |
10/23 Room for rent near campus. See /csua/pub/housing/tpc -tpc
\_ do you and sony share a time machine?
\_ you should read Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency -jctwu
\_ 10/23/2003 Room for rent near campus. Please respond quickly,
otherwise someone else could beat you to this highly
desirably apartment! -bsmith, time machine user |
| 1998/10/13-15 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:14770 Activity:kinda low |
10/12 Can anyone recommend any sources for basic mortgage / real estate
advice? We want a 2nd $50K mortgage but everyone has a sh*tty
credit record except me so my parents are considering selling
the deed to me (and getting a new interest rate). Never understood
what "points" are.
\_ Points are upfront charges that the bank gets which get tacked
onto the loan. So a 8.9% is the same as a 6.9% with 2 points.
\_ thx!
\_ Check out http://new.realtor.com which explains pretty much
everything there is to know about real estate.
\_ thx! DOLBY!!
\- "buysing a home in calif" or soemthing like that from
Nolo is not a bad book. explains what "points" are, what
"escrow" is etc. --psb
\_ escrow, isn't that the predecessor to lucifer?
\_ No that's Microsoft you fucker |
| 1998/9/28-29 [Reference/RealEstate, Academia/Berkeley/CSUA] UID:14690 Activity:nil 66%like:14678 54%like:15077 |
9/28 I need a friend. /csua/pub/housing/ABATTOIR - danh
\_ I already have lots of friends. now i need a roommate. - danh |
| 1998/9/25-28 [Reference/RealEstate, Academia/Berkeley/CSUA] UID:14678 Activity:nil 66%like:14674 66%like:14677 66%like:14690 |
9/25 I need a roommate. /csua/pub/housing/ABATTOIR. - danh |
| 1998/9/25-26 [Reference/RealEstate, Academia/Berkeley/CSUA] UID:14677 Activity:nil 66%like:14678 |
9/25 I also need a roommate. /csua/pub/housing/Campbell_CA*. -andrewh |
| 1998/9/14-15 [Reference/RealEstate, Computer/SW/OS/Windows] UID:14591 Activity:nil |
09/13 Studio for sublet for semester or longer.
http://soda.berkeley.edu/~hitran/sublet.html -hitran
Please don't delete this.
\_ try putting it in /csua/pub/housing
\_ Learn how to make a real web page, not just using MS crap that
puts in IMG src="file:///C:/My%20Documents/rent/floorplan.gif"
(like we can see gifs on your stupid winblows machine)
\_ And while you're at it, learn how to spell |
| 1998/9/13 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:14584 Activity:high |
9/12 Urgent: Have to sublet my appartment/studio because of emergency.
Prime location, furnished, $500 rent see webpage for discription:
http://soda.berkeley.edu/~hitran/sublet.html Please if you know
anyone who needs housing, have them contact me. -hitran
\_ Your web page image (and english) are badly broken. |
| 1998/9/11-13 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:14574 Activity:nil |
9/10 Room in 4br house in Belmont. Awesome house. Mail ali. |
| 1998/7/24 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:14376 Activity:nil |
7/23 A friend of mine needs temporary housing until Aug. 28. Please
email me if you know any availability. -- zyin
\_ There is no housing, only Zuul. |
| 1998/7/20-21 [Reference/RealEstate, Academia/Berkeley/CSUA] UID:14350 Activity:nil |
7/20 2BR 1.5 BA 2-story apt. $800/mo. avail. Sept 1.
(see /csua/pub/housing/CV.txt for more info) -sony |
| 1998/7/10-13 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:14311 Activity:high |
7/9 who wants my $650/mo studio on channing near dana? --aaron
\_ no, but i'd like your $650
\_ no, but i'd like your sex -John
\_ his dog is named sex
\_ I've had John's sex. Anyone want it? I'm done.
\_ what would make any studio worth $650?
\_ any studio near campus is at _least_ that much.
\_ I pay less for my 2-bedroom near campus.
\_ If you pay less than $650/mo for a 2 bedroom
then you must live in a shithole.
\_ He's sharing with 3 other people or
something. Economic reality comes to
Geekville.
\_ Only if you're stupid or too lazy to shop around.
\_ you must not care about the conditions
you live in... i've _rarely_ seen a
habitable studio for less than $600
that's near campus.
\_ Live in the Co-Ops. $400/mo, food included.
\_ If you call that living. I call it a form of punishment.
Our prison system is more humane and sanitary. |
| 1998/6/19 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:14227 Activity:nil |
6/18 Anyone looking for housing in Redwood City? I might be moving soon so
I wanna get people to takeover my place. It's a studio and $600/mo
utilities included. email me if you're interested - mch |
| 1998/6/12-13 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:14209 Activity:kinda low |
6/11 Any tips on how to get the most out of a car salvage deal? My
landlord wants to get rid of his (I think 70s era) Mustang. New
carburator, windshield intact, prolly bad clutch. Best offer so far
$50. -reeser
\_ so is it totaled, or does it run or what? pick-a-part type places
might give you more money. Or it might be worth more as a
tax-writeoff to one of those charitable-type-institutions. -ERic |
| 1998/5/26 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:14138 Activity:moderate |
5/24 Greetings to everyone just kicked unceremoniously out of the dorms...
-brg
\_ Go get an apartment. The contract dates were known. Stop whining.
\_ he's been looking for housing for months. go insult
someone your own size.
\_ can someone say co-ops?
\_ Don't do it. Fucking ratholes. -John
\_ Ach, traitor! - brain
\_My old housemate got into a co-op, but she can't
move in until August--I guess summer sublet is the
best bet for now, or storage and go home.
\_ Apply for a summer co-op spot. Always room.
\_ It isn't *that* hard. Does he shower before meeting
the landlord? Drool on them? Blow smoke in their face? |
| 1998/5/7 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:14064 Activity:nil |
5/6 What is a good online apartment finder? |
| 1998/2/3-5 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:13611 Activity:moderate |
2/2 Lake Merritt studio for rent. The landlord and building
management are pretty cool. Available at the end of Feb. See
/csua/pub/housing/LakeMerritt.studio for more info. -sony
\_ how much for rent?
\_ what happened to the current tenant?
\_ they're dredging Lake Merritt for the body after they
failed to pay the rent last month
\_ he moved in with his boyfriend.
\_ aspolito lived here?
\_asspolito lived upstairs. |
| 1997/5/15 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:32149 Activity:nil |
5/14 studio apartment available now at 2511 Hearst Avenue, 2 buildings
down from Soda Hall... look in /usr/local/csua/housing/2511, e-mail
me for info -lolly |
| 1997/3/24 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:32096 Activity:nil |
3/24 Southside room for rent,
see /usr/local/csua/housing/FR.room.southside
for more info jcwu |
| 1996/6/5 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:31847 Activity:nil |
6/03 Looking to find a new place to live, moving in ASAP.
If you think you might be able to live with me, please
consult ~tmonroe/pub/apartment. It makes it even easier
if you have a vacancy in your place, but I'm doing a little
looking of my own. Thanx! -- tmonroe
\_ you might want to put this in /usr/local/csua/housing |
| 1996/2/12 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:31815 Activity:nil |
2/9 Roommate Wanted, to share a large apartment 100 yards from
Soda Hall. Non Smoker. Mail nweaver@cs for more information. |
| 1994/4/15 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:31565 Activity:nil |
4/14 I need a 1 bedroom Studio starting next semester or
late summer. Having it near campus would be nice.
If you know of something, please e-mail - vlad@soda
\_ Me too! -alanc-
\_ Hey, me too. And i don't even care about being close to
campus. -ciyer
\_I guess that makes four of us... -icrew
\-sigh, i guess this is a good time/place:
i'm trying to find an occupant for one of the rooms of my 2bdr
apt in berkeley. details in ~psb/apt. mail me Qs if any. --psb |
| 1994/4/11 [Finance/CC, Reference/RealEstate] UID:31556 Activity:nil |
4/11 For those insufficiently clueful, why has soda been down so much?
The memory shortage, or moving equipment around the office, or....
\_ It has nothing to do with the office, since soda isn't in there,
but here's a quick run-down of how often it has been rebooting:
reboot ~ Mon Apr 11 01:16
reboot ~ Mon Apr 11 00:20
reboot ~ Sun Apr 10 22:38
reboot ~ Sun Apr 10 22:17
reboot ~ Sat Apr 9 19:26
reboot ~ Sat Apr 9 16:30
reboot ~ Sat Apr 9 06:48
reboot ~ Fri Apr 8 21:12 |
| 11/23 |