| WIKI | FAQ | Tech FAQ | |
 http://csua.com/feed/ | |
| ||||||
| 5/17 |
| 2013/8/1-10/28 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:54722 Activity:nil |
8/1 Suppose your house is already paid off and you retire at 65.
How much expense does one expect to spend a year, in the Bay
Area? Property tax will be about $10K/year for a modest $850K
home. What about other stuff?
\_ I think at age 65, health insurance is the next biggest expense.
\_ I am thinking that we can have a nice middle class
lifestyle for the two of us on $40k/yr. Maximum Social
Security is about that, but I intend to have enough
saved that I will be fine even without SS. |
| 2013/7/31-9/16 [Reference/RealEstate, Finance/Investment] UID:54720 Activity:nil |
7[31 Suppose you have a few hundred thousand dollars in the bank earning
minimum interest rate and you're not sure whether you're going to
buy a house in 1-5 years. Should one put that money in a more
risky place like Vanguard ETFs and index funds, given that the
horizon is only 1-5 years?
\_ I have a very similar problem, in that I have a bunch of cash
I need to use for a remodel in the next 1-3 years. I don't
know for sure what to do with it, but I think that the
stock market is too risky for something that you really
want. I am probably going to put it into CSJ. Let me know if
you come up with a better plan.
\_ why are you waiting for remodeling? It's not like the cost
of remodeling will fluctuate wildly like stock or even
real estate.
\_ It takes a while to get the architect to write the plans,
get it through planning, etc. We got the money by
taking a second out on our house and wanted to lock
in interest rates now. |
| 2013/7/29-8/23 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:54716 Activity:nil |
7/28 Mountain View, the not so pretty side:
http://mv-voice.com/news/show_story.php?id=7189 |
| 2013/6/3-7/23 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:54685 Activity:nil |
6/3 Why are "real estate" and "real property" called so? Does the part
"real" mean something like "not fake"?
\- without going into a long discourse into common law,
it is to distinguish land/fixed property from intangible
property [like a patent] and movable, personal property,
like your car. Real property has historically had special
rules, like needed written contract to sell/xfer.
Somewhat curiously, tangible/"movable" property
is also called "chattels", however you may get some
odd looks if you use that word ... but that word doesnt
just apply to cows. There is a lot of detail in this
book, ... like "what is the difference between disseisin
and novel disseisin" ... however it may be OOP:
http://www.amazon.com/Law-Land-Evolution-Legal-System/dp/0671243225
See also "actual malice".
--psb
\- BTW, one of the primary reason for the distinction between
real/personal property, is that until the mid-16th cent, real
property *could not be handed down in a will*, while
personal property could be. This was partially solved
by something called "livery of seisin", which had it's own
problems, until eventually addressed by the Statue of Wills
under Henry VIII ... something you probably didnt learn
watching THE TUDORS. (again, I'm speaking of england, which
is most relevant to the US. And the only area I am familiar
with).
\_ Is your wife still considered chattel property?
\_ Not in California.
\_ How about in Texas? |
| 2013/3/21-5/18 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:54634 Activity:nil |
3/21 Holy crap is Bay Area real estate on fire right now. I keep
getting outbid by hundreds of thousands of dollars on places.
\_ does more home-owners mean fewer people will be renting,
driving the demand for rental down? -poor renter
\_ I am kind of doubting that, but it might work.
\_ what is the zip code that you're bidding on?
\_ 94114, 94131 |
| 2013/3/11-4/16 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:54622 Activity:nil |
3/10 I'm trying to help my parents, in their mortgage there's an
"escrow" amount. What exactly is this? From reading Google,
the loan company uses the escrow account to pay for home
insurance, but they've been paying home insurance themselves.
I'm really confused on what this fee is.
\_ Without an escrow account, you write checks to your insurance
company and the County yourself to pay for the insurance and
property tax. Your (usually) monthly mortgage payment stay fixed
property tax. Your (usually) monthly mortgage payment stays fixed
for the duration of the loan. With an escrow account, your
mortgage bank sends money to your insurance company and the County
at the right time to make those payments. Your (usually) monthly
mortgage payment is increased by approximately 1/12 of the annual
insurance premium and property tax. You receive interest for the
money that is sitting in your escrow account and hasn't been
applied to those payments. At the end of each 12-month period,
you'll need to make extra payment to the escrow account if the
mortgage bank under-estimated your insurance or property tax
amounts by too much, or you'll receive a refund if the bank
over-estimated by too much. The bank will also re-estimate the
amounts for the subsequent year, and adjust your monthly mortgage
payment accordingly. |
| 2013/2/19-3/26 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:54610 Activity:nil |
2/19 I just realized that my real estate broker has a PhD in plant
molecular cell biology from an Ivy League school in the mid 70s.
Now she has to deal with a bunch of young dot-comers, and they're
pain in the ass. -Only a BS in EEC$
\_ My agent used to be a hardware engineer. He switched to real estate
when he got laid off during the 80's. Now he's doing very well.
\_ Are you trying to buy a house too? I am trying to buy in Noe and
I keep getting outbid by 200-300k. Insane.
\_ Here in the suburbs, homes are cheap and plentiful for all! |
| 2012/12/21-2013/1/24 [Transportation/Car, Reference/RealEstate] UID:54567 Activity:nil |
12/21 Is it possible to use my Fastrak on a rental car?
\_ Don't know if you're supposed to, but I think it works under normal
situation (i.e. you're not speeding, your windshield doesn't block
the signal, etc.) The problem is that if the reception is bad and
the toll tag doesn't beep, the booth will take a picture of your
rental's license plate and fine the rental company because the
vehicle is in violation. Then the rental company will make you
pay.
pay the toll plus the penalty.
\_ I have done it plenty of times. -ausman |
| 5/17 |
| 2012/8/21-11/7 [Reference/Law, Reference/RealEstate] UID:54462 Activity:nil |
8/21 I'm trying to negotiate rent renewal and my manager came
back saying she can't do that due to Fair Housing Laws
that states that if they adjust price for one person
they need to adjust price for everyone else. Is this
an actual law or some bullshit she just made up?
\_ Probably bullshit.
\_ LOL, BS. You can negotiate rental once the lease is up, unless wherever
you live has some weird housing laws.
\_ LOL, BS. You can negotiate rental once the lease is up, unless
wherever you live has some weird housing laws.
\_ http://www.echofairhousing.org/images/FairHsgLaw.pdf
The law prohibits setting different terms, conditions, etc...
\_ I am a real estate broker. You can set different rents for different
tenants. She is full of shit. The Fair Housing Law is about
race, color, religion, sex, and so on. For example, you can't charge
more to an Asian tenant than a white tenant based on race. However,
you sure as hell can charge different rents to tenants if there is
no discrimination. |
| 2012/5/25-30 [Transportation/Car/RoadHogs, Reference/RealEstate] UID:54400 Activity:nil |
5/25 Sorry suburban hicks, properties in walkable cities retain
better values:
http://dc.streetsblog.org/2012/05/18/study-resilient-walkables-lead-the-housing-recovery |
| 2012/3/1-26 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:54324 Activity:nil |
3/1 So much for George Bush's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ownership_society http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/25/business/homes-arent-selling-but-its-an-apartment-landlords-market.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all |
| 2011/12/15-2012/2/6 [Reference/RealEstate, Industry/Jobs] UID:54260 Activity:nil |
12/15 Does anyone have experience investing in apartment buildings
I'm not really looking to invest, but I want an apartment
to live in, and I'm not happy with the leases I'm encountering
for instance one requires 2 years of tax returns with the
application. I'm in a position to buy a building, but I've
got no experience with this, and I don't want to learn that
it was a bad by losing a lot of money. --jwm.
\_ I bought a two unit building and live in the top. It has
worked out pretty well for me. Email me if you want more
info. -ausman
\_ jsl and I run a small 4-unit, and have for a while. Property
management can be a lot of work. You could hire property
managers to do it for you but it cuts into income. -mehlhaff |
| 2010/7/12-23 [Politics/Domestic/Gay, Reference/RealEstate] UID:53881 Activity:nil |
7/12 Y.M.C.A. is renaming to Y.? Why? (Pun intended.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/12/us/12Y.html?no_interstitial
\_ because M is oppressive patriarchy in action, and C is a bad
word. Probably they will get rid of Y as ppl live longer.
\_ it will turn into http://AFGNCAAP.org
\_ They should go back to their old name, U.S. Soc for Eugenics.
\_ Gay club and eugenics don't mix. They don't reproduce. |
| 2010/1/12-25 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:53626 Activity:nil |
1/12 http://economicsofcontempt.blogspot.com/2008/07/official-list-of-punditsexperts-who.html Who got the housing bubble wrong. \_ This post is good enough to be a news article on Yahoo Finance. |
| 2009/11/29-12/8 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:53549 Activity:high |
11/29 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091129/ap_on_sp_go_ne/glf_woods_accident "Police first went to his $2.4 million house ......" For a world's top athlete making hundreds of millions of dollars, isn't it strange that Tiger Woods lives in a mere $2.4m house? \_ No. \_ what's so weird about it? what makes you think that's the only house, residential property, or simply property he has? and even if he has 1 billion, why would it be weird to live in a mere 2mil house? what can you get with a 20mil house that you can't with a 2mil house, in Florida? \_ seconded. Go look at some FL real estate listings guys \_ Bill Gates drove a Toyota (then later a Lexus), Andy Grove drove a Saab, and Ikea founder drove a Volvo. Is that weird? \_ You're ignoring the not-street-legal 1/2 mil Porsche he kept at home. \_ I wonder if that's because the GPS on Toyotas and Lexuses runs Windows CE or XP Embedded or something. \_ I'd have thought that as the richest man on the planet, Gates always goes around in a convoy of bodyguards. \_ I heard he's afraid of pie attacks. \_ When I met him in the hallway at Wired Magazine, he only had some woman and Steve Ballmer with him. I have heard that he know travels with at least some security these days though. he now travels with at least some security these days though. \_ and you didn't take the opportunity to sucker-punch him? \_ I stared at him for a while and considered spitting on him, but then incorrectly decided that he was just some poor SOB who had the misfortune to look like Bill Gates. Afterall, what was the probability that I might actually bump into him? Turns out that he was there for a photo shoot. \_ Good thing you didn't. Bill Gates curse is even more effective than Soda blacklisting you from Silicon Valley. \_ what the hell are you talking about? what blacklist? \_ Talking to people from Sun, I am pertty sure they would have hired me just for that. Ellison probably also. \_ if you have to work at Sun or Oracle, you're probably desperate for a paycheck, or is an indentured^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H H1B visa holder who wants a greencard. \_ I met a limo driver who insists who drove Gates and his wife to his house in Rancho Santa Fe (or thereabouts). They hadn't eaten so they wanted to stop on the way. They went through the drive through at Burger King. He claims Bill's wife pulled BK coupons out of her purse which they used. \_ as silly and improbable as this story sounds, it is in fact consistent with what people say about Bill Gates for many years. \_ What's improbable about it? The things that are interesting about fast food remain interesting when you have a ton of money. Chez Panisse doesn't have a drive-through. And the coupon thing is about personal pleasure in getting a perceived deal, it's not about saving 25 cents. -tom \_ Can a limo actually negotiate the tight turns at a BK drive-thru? \_ ding ding ding, thanks for pointing out the inconsistencies in this bozo's statements. he is a suspect now -monk \_ not all limos are stretch limos. \_ I'm not sure it was a limo. I should have used the word 'chauffeur'. It could have been a town car or even an SUV for all I know. I didn't ask. I doubt it was an actual limousine. \_ I have to say that I am pretty surprised. You'd think he'd have more property (=privacy). I am sure he owns a lot of other properties, but that's not the point. \_ A story about the world's richest man and his wife using coupons is funny. Guess what, the world's richest man's time is more valuable than yours. Why would he waste time cutting and redeeming coupons? That's stupid. I don't know why Sergei doesn't travel with an elite squad of hot blond Russian Spetnatz assassins. Eric travels with some security. Who the hell let him go to Iraq? |
| 2009/11/23-12/2 [Transportation/Car/RoadHogs, Reference/RealEstate] UID:53540 Activity:moderate |
11/23 "Warming's impacts sped up, worsened since Kyoto"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/sci_climate_09_post_kyoto
\_ what do you propose we average Joes do about climate warning?
Oh really? Yeah, exactly.
\_ Make life choices which reduce your carbon impact. Communicate
with your representatives that you consider this an important
and urgent issue. What else would average Joes do about
anything? -tom
\_ the average Joe will not give up his/her SUV and living
in suburbs and ex-urbs (which are the reasons that increase
our needs for energy).
\_ Some average Joe/Jane won't give up loving in suburbs
while willing to give up his/her SUV; Some average
Joe/Jane won't give his/her SUVs while willing to
telecommunte twice a week; some average Joe/Jane won't
telecommute while willing to become vegetarian; etc.
And, like you said, some average Joe/Jane won't give up
anything. Ideally, the problem can be very easily solved
by everyone giving up N things. But very few people in
the free world would be willing to do that. So we'll have
to rely on most people giving up 1 or 2 things out of their
own list of N things. (For me, I didn't give up living
in suburbs. But I wear a jacket at home in winter instead
of turning on the heat, use a fan in summer instead of AC,
line-dry my laundary in the backyard instead of using the
gas dryer, skip the plastic or paper bags when grocery-
shopping, gave up my SUV and got a Prius, and literally
dig through the household trash to find recyclable and
compostable items that my wife and in-laws fail to
separate out.) --- OP
\_ The average Joe will do whatever is effectively marketed
to him. SUVs and suburbs have been effectively marketed
to average Joes. We are starting to see better marketing
of environmental and quality-of-life issues, but we need
more. Also, we need to stop subsidizing carbon production,
which is where legislative action is needed; if the
suburb dwellers were paying the true cost of their
lifestyle, it would be much less attractive. -tom
\_ I get what you are saying, but this could be said
about any group. "Bike riders will do whatever is
effectively marketed to them". Otherwise the
marketing wouldn't have been effective. -- jwm
\_ That's a bit tautalogical, sure. But my
point is that the idea that everyone should
live in a big house in a faceless suburb
with two SUVs (or now, an SUV and a Prius)
is the result of 60 years of corporate
marketing, and corporations are really the
only beneficiaries. Just as corporate marketing
changed what the average Joe wanted, marketing
of social responsibility can change what the
average Joe wants. -tom
\_ I agree. The way we as a society have used
marketing has been damaging. --jwm
\_ I'm sorry, but I cannot agree that "corporations
are really the only beneficiaries." I really
like having land around my house. I use it to
grow food, for recreation, and for privacy. I
went to my coworkers ultra-chic condo which
cost over $1M and had koi and Italian fountains
everywhere, but I wouldn't care for living in
close quarters like he does. He even told me
he is looking for a single family home for
various reasons all related to the density of
the housing. You may think there's no benefit
to a SFR, but millions of Americans disagree
and that is how most Americans lived 200
years ago. I think that mixed-use/loft/high
density housing is something pushed on us by
corporations and SFR more closely reflects
the rural areas most Americans lived in prior
to the Industrial Revolution.
\_ Who said anything about condos? I live in
a house in a city (Oakland). -tom
\_ Plus the Richmond and Sunset Districts in
SF are also primarily houses. -- !PP
\_ So are Hancock Park and Beverly Hills
in LA, but most people can't afford
to live there. If they want a nice house
with land they have to leave the city.
\_ The complaint was against a "big house in a
faceless suburb." How can you possibly
argue that a big house in Oakland is
somehow superior to a big house in a
suburb like Lafayette? Same damn thing.
\_ 1) The house in Oakland is smaller.
2) The house in Oakland requires less
driving.
Pretty simple, really. -tom
\_ Neither of these are necessarily true.
\_ They are both true as averages.
-tom
\_ They don't _have_ to be.
These are external to the
idea of suburbs. You can
build smaller houses in
the suburbs. You can take
BART to SF from Lafayette
as surely as you can from
Oakland. One thing you _cannot_
do is build affordable SFR in a
city, which takes us back
to condos.
\_ You're right, if reality were
completely different than it
is, houses would be smaller
in Lafayette and people
in suburbs would drive less
than people in cities. But
on this planet, houses are
larger in suburbs and people
drive more. -tom
\_ I think you need to
focus on the problems
you are trying to
address and "suburbs"
and "housing density"
are not them. You can
live in the city and
drive a lot (reverse
commute, which some
people do) and you
can build a huge
energy sucking house
in the city, too, if
you are rich.
\_ I said "make life
choices that reduce
your carbon impact";
someone else asserted
that "average Joes"
would not give up
their SUVs in the
suburbs. I'm pointing
out that that assertion
is unfounded. -tom
\_ I think that most people want both the
advantages of density (short commutes, walkable
neighborhoods, more community) as well as lots
of space for themselves personally. Most people
just want more of everything, but the planet
cannot support this kind of lifestyle for
6 billion people. This is just a simple fact
of physics, not something that has anything
to do with corporations. The earth is probably
already past its carrying capacity, according
to many scientists.
\_ The idea that people should live in
identical large houses with large yards
and large fences, a long drive away
from the places they want to go, was
basically invented in the 50s by and
for corporations. Before that virtually
all development was mixed-use, and
our population was denser despite being
much smaller. From 1950 to 1990, Bay
Area population more than doubled,
while density actually decreased. Most
of that change was due to the construction
of freeways and related destruction of urban
neighborhoods, with housing moving from
urban, mixed-use to suburban and isolated.
Now things are starting to swing back the
other way, which is a good thing. Very
little of this has much to do with what
the average Joe wants, except insofar as
he's susceptible to marketing. -tom
\_ This is a lie. Like I said, before the
Industrial Revolution more people
than not lived in large houses with
large yards a long drive away from
\_ There was driving
before the Ind.
Rev.??
\_ certainly not
autos but I would
guess PP means horse
and buggy drives
town. The population was not denser
at all. This era you wax nostalgic for
was an artifact of the Industrial
Revolution where workers moved to slums
in large cities in order to work in
factories. It's laughable that you think
that corporations in the 1950s invented
the suburban lifestyle. What corporations
invented was *DENSE CITIES*. From
1950 to 1990 what we saw was _AN
IMPROVED STANDARD OF LIVING_ and now
that our standard of living is
eroding we are seeing more people
living like cockroaches. Not only
that, _ALL_ of this has to do with
choices people make. You give marketers
_WAY_ too much credit. I live in a
house built at the turn of the century
and it's not hard to see why people
wanted to move to their own brand
new box in a new suburb. (Example:
one bathroom). That's not an
artifact of marketing, buddy.
\_ Overpopulation and resource depletion
leads to a declining standard
standard of living. Why is that
surprising to you? People have lived
in large crowded cities since at least
the Roman Empire, you are nuts to
think that this is a modern invention.
Sure, subsidence farmers lived spread
Sure, subsistence farmers lived spread
out, but cities were denser before
the automobile. Have you been to any
of Europe? I prefer my solidly built
turn of the century house to the ticky
tacky crap that passes for "luxury"
these days. And btw, people used to
live in much smaller houses, so you
are wrong about the "large houses"
part, too. -!tom
http://www.moyak.com/papers/house-sizes.html
\_ 1. I prefer my old house, too,
but that's because I like
the character. You can realize,
though, why post-WW II families
thought that moving to a new,
modern house with a yard and
2 bathrooms was appealing.
2. By "large houses" I mean a
large footprint (less dense).
Houses have gotten larger over
time, but the lots they are
built on has not.
\_ So "large house with large
yards" really means "small
house with large yard" in
your language? Could you
please clarify which defn
of "large" you are using next
time, so I don't get confused?
Thanks in advance.
3. Large crowded cities were not
a very common way of life.
This is a modern innovation.
From Scientific American,
September 2005:
"From the beginning of the
Christian era to about
1850, the urban population
of the world never exceeded
7 percent. The Industrial
Revolution quickly changed
that--today 75 percent of
people in the U.S. and
other developed countries
live in cities, according
to the United Nations."
You tell me which is more
recent.
\_ Prior to the industrial
revolution, people outside
of cities were organized
in family units; multiple
generations would live
densely within the same
house or on the same land.
The land provided most of
the daily needs of the
group, requiring little
travel relative to current
practice. The concept of
"commuting" is a modern
invention (and a carbon-
expensive one). -tom |
| 2009/9/15-24 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:53371 Activity:nil |
9/15 Phillip Garrido's home is worth about $179K, according to
Zillow. Anyone want to buy properties in Antioch?
http://www.zillow.com/homes/map/1554-Walnut-Ave-Antioch-CA_rb |
| 2009/8/20-9/1 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:53293 Activity:moderate |
8/20 I'm researching into properties around San Jose. They say that the
only desirable areas in San Jose are Almaden and Evergreen. I
did some research and property values for these two are prohibitively
high (one in the 800K, and the other one over 1M). Is there anything
else in San Jose that's not dumpy?
\_ How about Willow Glen? Depends on what you find desirable.
\_ What's your price range and what are you looking for (big house
versus small condo)? Just because the median is $800K doesn't
mean you can't find something for less or, alternately, that the
$800K house is big enough.
\_ Who says that those are the only desirable areas? Are you looking
for a well built house in a safe neighbhorhood or are you trying
to impress people with your zip code? I bet you can even find
\_ I just bought a 600K condo in the 212. that impresses some
people.
\_ What does that get you these days, a studio?
\_ 1bdr, 1ba, hells kitchen aka "midtown west" now as
it's called, Buyers market right now. Granted the
monthly is about $4k/mo but that's peanuts if you
are a sw architect.
\_ I guess the guy's point is:
What's impressive about a $600K condo in NYC? At that
price it's probably 750 square feet and in a
marginal area. The average New York condo is $644K
and in Manhattan it is $1.1M. So you bought a
smaller and cheaper than average place in a fringe
neighborhood. I am happy for you. NYC is great.
Impressed? Not so much.
houses in those areas for less, if you go for something smaller.
How much house do you feel that you need?
\_ Rose Garden is a nice district. -sj hater |
| 2009/7/28-8/6 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:53212 Activity:nil |
7/28 My girlfriend and I took care of my girlfriend's nephew for 3 weeks
while his mom was off working for the Air Force (she is a reservist
and a single mom). As part of that my girlfriend stayed at her
apartment a lot, watching him and the cats. Occasionally he stayed
at our house. It was a lot of responsibility. The weekend before
she got back we spent a lot of time cleaning her place. In fact, I
would say it is a lot cleaner than the way she left it. She got
back Sunday and came to our house to get her son before going back
to her place. She was off Monday to recuperate before going back to
work today. We are a little miffed that she hasn't called to say
thanks or ask how things went. We thought she'd be pleasantly surprised
that everything was clean and straightened up. We don't want a
medal or anything, but a call saying "Wow. Thanks for taking care
of the place. It looks great. Cats are fine." would have been nice.
Are we right to be a little (a lot) pissed at this point?
\_ Yes, she should be fawning over you and your gf. That said, she
is probably tired, there is only one of here. Also, I hate it
when people clean up my stuff. (did you thrown anything out?)
\_ I absolutely did not throw anything out. I hate that, too.
We just did all the laundry, including things like bath
mats, vacuumed, mopped, cleaned the toilets and tub, did
all the dishes, made the beds, arranged the furniture (not
*re*arranged but made sure things like pillows were in place),
emptied the trash, dusted, sorted the mail, and all the
typical stuff. I know certain things (like dusting and
vacuuming) hadn't been done in a while based on the condition,
which is why i say we left it cleaner than she did.
\_ Do you mean Monday as in yesterday? Yes, I think you should give
her a couple of days at least. I am sure she is overwhelmed. At
least you got a taste of what being a parent is like. Are you going
to have any of your own?
\_ Chill, give it a week. You're tired from all of this? Imagine
doing it every single day.
\_ Not really tired by it. Did I say that? However, how much
trouble is it to pick up the phone, if even just to ask if
we had any problems or issues while she was away? I know I
would definitely want to know what happened while I was gone
and I think it's polite to call and say "I noticed you guys
cleaned the place up. Thanks."
\_ Did you make sure to thank her for the sacrifices she has made to
help defend you and your country? Maybe now would be a good time!
\_ She may not have even noticed. 3 weeks of training would certainly
wipe my cache about the state of cleanliness in my house. Why don't
you just feel good about having done service for a loved one? |
| 2009/4/23-28 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:52896 Activity:low |
4/22 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/garden/23sanfran.html How did a 26 y.o. and a 29 y.o. buy a $1M house (and then spend another $1/2M on a remodel)? \_ dot com money? \_ Bank of Mom and Dad + leverage. \_Bank of Sugar-Dad + cleavage. \_ You don't need mom&dad when you got a bunch of stupid creditors. \_ What the (*@&$@# does a 33 year old x-skater board dude do for a living-- a bass player for Space Vacation, a heavy metal band. What the fuck? If you're over 25 and still not successful, give it up! What a (*@#$@# loser. \_ People don't come right out and say "trust fund baby". |
| 2009/4/5-13 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:52802 Activity:kinda low |
4/5 In the Exurbs, the American Dream Is Up for Rent:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123845433832571407.html
\_ "As land values rose, the couple's combined mortgage and property
tax payment soared, to $2,900 from $1,500." Uhh, for some reason
I don't think the wsj is being totally honest here. Property taxes
doubled the mortgage? Really?
\_ Could happen in places without Prop 13, which the anti-Prop 13
people ignore. My mother-in-law bought a house back East for
a lot less than it probably should have sold for. She then
spent some money fixing it up. Then the real estate bubble
hit. At the height her property tax was $8K/year and her
mortgage was $9K/year. It started at $14K/year for the
mortgage and $4K for tax, but she refinanced the mortgage
when rates fell and the tax doubled. So in this case her
expense was about the same ($18K vs. $17K) but her tax bill
almost overtook her mortgage. That's ridiculous to happen in
7 years.
7 years. BTW, the article says: "No one in the history of
the world ever washed a rented car." Well, I rented a truck once
and went offroad in the mud and snow with it. I did take it to
the car wash before I returned it because it was a mess. |
| 2009/3/19-23 [Reference/RealEstate, Reference/Tax] UID:52732 Activity:high |
3/19 Communist/Socialist House reps pass bill taxing bonuses at 90% for that
portion of the bonus that pushes you over, for individuals, total AGI
> $125K ($250K married) working at an entity which took >= $5B in TARP
money. A disgrace to meritocracy. Cost of living in Manhattan is
expensive you know?? It's a good thing it only starts for the 2009
tax year!
\_ ha ha you're stupid
\_ I think it's not fair to be based on household income. I think it
should be based on the income of the person (married or not)
getting the bonus.
\_ It's an unconstitutional bill of attainder.
\_ That's not obvious.
\_ corrected again after reading the bill
\_ It should have been 99%. Seriously, the people owed bonuses should
become third- or fourth-tier creditors; if there's anything left
to pay them after paying back the govt., fine. If not, tough.
\_ "While the House legislation calls for a 90 percent tax, Rep.
Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., chairman of the tax-writing House Ways
and Means Committee, said he expected local and state
governments to take the remaining 10 percent of the bonuses."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/aig_outrage
\_ what is your suggestion? continue to let those free-market
guys run the banks and continue their practice of leveraging
35:1 ? let me know.
\_ Rent a cheap condo in Brooklyn and take a train to work. $250K
is plenty to live in Manhattan too. Just find a cheaper place to live
take the kids out of $30K/year private school.
is plenty to live in Manhattan too. Just find a cheaper place to
live take the kids out of $30K/year private school.
\_ If 250K/year isn't enough for you to live in a nice condo
in Manhattan you need to stop doing 10k of coke a month.
\_ A 3 BR apartment is about $5-7K/month. $12K/month doesn't
seem like much with those prices. I think the guy who
\_ A 3 BR apartment is about $5-7K/month. $12K/month (after
tax) seem like much with those prices. I think the guy who
said Brooklyn or Jersey was more on the money.
\_ And really, who can live on just 7k a month?
\_ Slippery slope. I bet you can live on a lot less
than you make, too. Most people can. Once you start
trying to define a "minimum livable wage" you have
already lost and might as well embrace communism.
\_ You are really bad at this reading comprehension
aren't you. Are you the same person who was mad
because those dirty poor people don't live
on potatoes and milk? |
| 2009/3/17-23 [Reference/Law/Court, Reference/RealEstate] UID:52724 Activity:moderate |
3/17 I posted on 2/10 about a landlord that stiffed me $600 on
my deposit. I wrote him a "strongly worded letter" and followed it up
with a "Pay up or I'm going to file a small claims court in 10 days"
template. He didn't respond so I filed a claim, but the day I filed
a claim, he wrote me back and added $250 to the deposit. If I hadn't
already spent the $60 on the filing, I would have been happy and taken
the money and gave up. As is, I think I should probably still do that,
but I'm interested in learning about the whole legal process. Anyone
have any experience with Small Claims Court? Is it as fun/fascinating
as it sounds? The worst part is that I'm guessing that the judge won't
give me the 2X deposit that I'm suing for because he's no longer acting
in "bad faith"...
\_ Unless you can claim your costs are greater than $250, the
judge will probably get annoyed at you for wasting time
and public resources. What are you going to ask for ...
you cant say they reason your pursued the case was to see
how the system would work. If you proceed, you definitely
want to have on record an explanation to the former landlord
why the current settlement still leaves you short and what it
would take to resolve it [i.e. "I spent $X in costs and time T,
which is worth about $Y ...]. What did your landlord's letter
say? [Also, I am not sure if your cashing the check has any
legan bearing ... if a landlord tried to evict you but takes
legal bearing ... if a landlord tried to evict you but takes
money from you, it alters the situation for him].
\_ I appreciate your advice, but I don't understand "costs >$250"?
He's still deducting $250 from my deposit for things like paint,
but I lived there for 3 years, longer than the typical life of
cheap apartment paint. Can you not sue in small claims for $250?
I don't want to waste the judge's time, but I thought small
claims was for exactly that... small claims.
\_ I thought you meant the landlord sent you a $250
"bribe" on top of what he owned you to drop the
case for double/punitive damages/costs. I didnt
realize he still left you short. I think you need
to clear up the accounting if you want motd.advice.
By the way, there are a lot of obligations in CA for
landlord w.r.t. to deposits, especually if he doesnt
return the whole amount. You might look at the Nolo
Press book for renters.
\_ Small claims is, technically, for anything up to $1,000;
after that, you jump up to regular court. That said, the
trend in modern justice is toward mediation and, well,
breaking even, so since you're already getting what you
wanted (minus $60), a judge is likely to tell you to get
lost. -!pp, IANAL
\_ limit is now $7,500 in CA for small claims
\_ See? More evidence that IANAL.
\_ I don't understand, did he deduct $250 from the money he
owed you (and therefore still owes $250) or did he add
$250 to the money he returned? If it is the former, you
can still reasonably sue, if it is the latter, I can't
see what your claim would be.
\_ If he gave you back $600-$250 then hell yes you can
take him to small claims (and may even be able to ask
to add your filing fee to the judgement if you win).
If he gave you $600+$250 then shut up and take your money.
\_ He owed me $1060 and gave me $600+$250=$850. So he still
owes me $310 (+filing fee?). Are you suggesting I shut up?
owes me $310 (+filing fee?). Should I sue or shut up?
\_ He owed me $1060 and gave me $460+$250=$710. So he still
owes me $350 (+filing fee?). Should I sue or shut up?
\_ up to you, but I would at least write him a letter
or e-mail saying you got his extra $250 and he is still
short $x, and you still feel stiffed and will still sue
unless he pays up. Judges like to see this follow up
since if it works, it saves them time.
\_ Seconded. Make copies of everything you send so you
can show it to the Judge. Oh, and buy a book on how
to collect your judgement if you win; it's not just
a matter of having the Judge make the landlord hand
you the money.
\_ 1060 - 850 != 310
\_ Derr, at least the math in my letters to him was
correct. Here's the real accounting:
Deposit: $1060
First Check: $460
Second Check: $250
I'm going to cash the check today and have someone
serve him papers tomorrow. I will also write him
a letter saying that I received his second check
but that he is still short $350 and that he should
pay me the $350 or contact me if he wants to settle
this out of court. Thanks for the tips. Also,
Nolo Press is awesome.
\- Nolo >> Texas
\_ Inflamed hemorrhoids >> Texas. |
| 2009/3/10-17 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:52692 Activity:moderate |
3/10 Sure glad I didn't take suburban guys advice and buy a big place
in the outer suburbs:
http://tinyurl.com/b68rty
\_ My house just got appraised for 2x what I paid for it in 2001,
which is down from 2.5x in 2007. I'm really upset about it,
especially since the appraisal was because I refinanced at
4.5% and my payment now is lower than it was when I bought.
\_ Are you perchance a LANDLORD WITH A YACHT?!?!!?!?!!!!!
\_ What is the N Cal equivalent to Riverside? Castro Valley?
San Leandro? Dublin? Tracy? Antioch? Just trying to get
a sense what it is like since I've never been to Riverside.
\_ Riverside County is relatively similar to Contra Costa County.
But downtown Riverside is relatively dense and almost urban.
There's a UC there and a lot of the sprawl cities (e.g.
Moreno Valley, Beaumont) are built around Riverside, not LA.
I just checked Wikipedia and Riverside (city) has almost the same
density of Castro Valley (~3,900/sq mi), but Riverside County
is much less dense than Contra Costa.
\_ professions? crime rates? demograph?
\_ Riverside isn't much like Contra Costa County. I'd compare
it to Modesto.
it to Modesto or Stockton. Contra Costa is more like
Orange County. Riverside does not have very many wealthy
enclaves like Contra Costa County does. Maybe you can
compare Riverside to Davis, too.
\_ Nah, Davis >>> Riverside.
\_ Davis is maybe 1/10th the size of Riverside.
\_ Riverside is much wealthier than Modesto. A better
comparison would be Vacaville. Maybe Vacaville plus
Vallejo.
\_ And a 10x better place to live. Which says something
about how shitty Riverside is.
\_ Perhaps, but all the other cities in the "Inland
Empire" are worse.
\_ I was going to say that Riverside was nicer than Modesto
and then I looked at the demographics and I have to admit
you nailed it. Concord is actually pretty close to
Riverside, in most ways.
\_ Concord is not similar to Riverside in my mind.
Concord has a BART stop that gets you to SF
quickly. Concord is a bedroom community for SF.
Riverside is too far from LA and San Diego to really be
influenced by them, so it (and San Bernardino) are
more like Stockton. I'd live in Concord area but
I'd never (again) live in Riverside area.
\_ Riverside has terrible air quality and the "909" (area code) is
ridiculed as being a meth capital. Moreno Valley passed up Fresno
and was the murder capital of the US a short while ago. I think that
Beaumont was the fastest growing "small city" in California in 2006
and 2007. The IE has a lot of bad things about it. Upside is
proximity to Palm Springs, maybe Temecula (wineries)?
\_ Gotta agree, Riverside smells like cow-ass
\_ You are confusing Riverside with Chino here. Chino smells
like cow-ass, Riverside like car-ass. |
| 2009/2/27-3/6 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:52656 Activity:nil |
2/27 Woah, check out inflation-adjusted home prices over the years
http://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2009/1/30/saupload_case_shiller_chart_updated.png
\_ Yeah, during the top of the bubble people kept saying prices
needed to drop 50%, looks about right. |
| 2009/2/26-3/5 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:52641 Activity:kinda low |
2/26 REAL ESTATE, IT ONLY GOES UP! LANDLORD - WITH A YACHT!!!!!!!!one
\_ I use to be boat person, now I own boat. -John Vu
\_ you call now, make money in real estare wit no money down, i come
here make money wit no money down, look at these women!
\_ Nice thing about being a landlord is that some schmuck pays
the mortgage for you whether the property is going up or down in
value and after 15-30 years you own it free and clear, whatever
it ends up being worth.
\_ I hope you have a gun for when the mob zeros in on you.
\_ I used to subscribe to this kind of wishful thinking too...
but look around. What would have to happen before angry
mobs actually revolt against landlords? Additionally, there
is nothing unethical about renting out real estate. It's
just money management. Time to grow up, kids.
\_ For your first question: food shortages, fuel rationing,
rolling brown/blackouts on a regular basis (not just
your occasional hot summer), runs on multiple banks,
and a significantly greater lack of law enforcement
and/or National Guard. In short, not a chance. It's
why there's not even a dozen miles between Harlem
and the highrise luxury apartments yet said luxury
apartments don't ever get burned down.
\_ The nice thing about renting is that someone else takes care
of mantience, I can move whenever I want, and someone else
takes the risk. It's not like there aren't ups and downs to
both sides.
\_ True. Most of the advantages to renting have to do with
mobility, but there are others. For instance, you might
be able to rent in a nicer neighborhood than you can
buy in which could lead to perks like better schools.
However, in terms of accumulating wealth and in other
ways, too, (for instance political) the system is skewed
towards landowners. |
| 2009/2/20-22 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:52612 Activity:nil |
2/21 anyone go to school with Kip Macy?
He's back in jail
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/19/BATV161A1R.DTL&tsp=1
\_ This is REALLY funny:
http://daemonflux.blogspot.com/2008/09/day-one.html
\_ Whatever you disgruntled anonymous tenant advocate.
\_ Drilling holes in the floor to get your tenants to go away
doesn't work. kipmacy was a dumbass. and greedy. all
he had to do was wait a year and he would have gotten his
condos
\_ Gee, ya' think? |
| 2009/2/10-17 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:52550 Activity:nil |
2/10 I've mailed my landlord about excess withholdings from my deposit
(certified mail), quoting legal code and all that. I'm going to write
him a followup letter saying he never responded. Is the next step
to go to some free legal clinic and then take him to small claims?
Any advise? (I've actually been looking forward to this for a while...
when I moved in, I knew this would happen so I've tried to keep
good documentation).
\_ It depends on where you live. Do you live in a city with a
strong Rent Control board? You might be able to just go to them.
\_ IANAL, but as I recall you can get triple damages on unjustified
deposit withholding.
\_ IANAL, but as I recall you can get triple damages on unlawfully
withheld deposit money.
\_ In CA, It's twice deposit + damages. I lived in LA and now am
in SF. I ACCESS for free legal help but my landlord is in LA. --op
in SF. I ACCESS for free legal help but my landlord is in LA.
--op
http://law.onecle.com/california/civil/1950.5.html
\_ Send the letter, but are you willing to go down to LA to
go to court?
\_ Yes. I go down there about once a month. He owes me $600
and double the deposit would be an additional $2K. Plus,
I've never been to non-traffic court, so I'm kind of
looking forward to the experience of sticking up for the
little guy (that's me).
\_ The ex-landlord lives in LA? |
| 2009/2/4-8 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:52507 Activity:nil |
2/3 There's a glut of apartments out there. Three units on my floor
(of a 80 unit apartment) are now vacant, in less than a month.
The weird thing is my landlord is increasing the rent by $200
a month, bumping it to $2200. I'm told her about the rate out
there, and she only budged $100. WTF, is this common? Oh well,
time to look for another place. I hate corporate managed apartments.
\_ Where? Berkeley? SF? LA? |
| 2009/1/29-2/6 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:52485 Activity:kinda low |
1/29 S&P Case-Shiller 20-city home price index shows San Francisco
1 year home value change: 30.8%.
\_ + or -?
\_ http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/27/real_estate/home_price_losses_continue
\_ SF MSA... includes Oakland, Bay View, Novato, etc.
\_ Bay View is SF
\_ Yes, but including it in SF numbers doesn't really give a
picture of someone who wants to buy in SF and not get shot.
I've been waiting and waiting for prices to fall and only
in the past 6 months have I see a decline in areas that I'd
be interested in, like the Mission, Hayes Valley, Alamo Sq,
Duboce Triangle, Noe, etc.
\_ Tell me about it, I'm in the same boat. I just know
that when prices go down x% most of that is in the
shittier areas. And from what I've seen prices have hardly
dropped in the places you are looking. It's frustrating.
\_ The less desirable areas are first down and last up.
That doesn't mean prices in nice areas haven't dropped,
because they have. It will take interest rate hikes
to bring prices down. As long as you can get a
mortgage for 4.5% prices will remain pretty high.
\_ TIC rates are well above 6% so 4.5% is not relevant...
although the TIC auction ideas are promising.
\_ If TIC = APR (which I think it would be) then nope.
Under 5%.
\_ You clearly have no idea what you're talking
about. If P=NP=Bananas=Sputnik, then under 5%.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/31/BUM615JQNS.DTL
\_ How much have prices dropped in the areas you are
interested in? |
| 2009/1/22-26 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:52438 Activity:high |
1/21 One datapoint on rental prices, please post yours if applicable.
Please don't give me this "this is why I buy a home" crap. Not
everyone has money:
-S Cal, $2055/month with 9 month contract expired. Signing one
more year=$2055/month, month-to-month=$2255. Bunch of empty
parking spots and people moving out, but according to the
manager the economy hasn't diminished rental demand.
\_ Oakland, Grand Lake District: 2.5 BR, large living room,
large kitchen, $1125/month.
\_ Thanks for the data! Is the trend going up or down in this
weird economy? I expected rent to go down because of all the
empty spots but nothing changed. -op
\_ People still have to live somewhere. If anything, it might
go up because of all the people who can't afford to own
a home and have to rent again.
\_ That is true, but when I survived the dot-com, a bunch
of people moved OUT of Silicon Valley back to their
homes. I know a bunch of 2nd class engineers went
back to LA and Orange County, and a bunch of marketing
people went back to Nebraska, Arizona, Ohio, etc.
\_ Well, that is certainly happening now too (people
moving back to cheaper locations).
\_ Why do you say that? SF population seems stable,
perhaps even growing.
\_ Nevermind, what I meant is practically a truism
(it's always happening somewhere in the Bay
Area). I don't have any special knowledge on
current rates of occurrence.
\_ Between 1950 and 2000 SF gained about 1,000
people in population with a big dip in
between. Since 2000 it has declined:
http://www.usbeacon.com/California/San-Francisco.html
\_ http://tinyurl.com/am39ft
San Francisco has attained the highest
population on record with a population of
824,525 on January 1, 2008. This continues
the significant upward trend in growth that
began in 2006. The city grew by 1.5 percent
this year.
http://tinyurl.com/dmklko
The U.S. Census Bureau admitted underestimating
the city's 2007 population and raised it to
799,183, according to a statement from the
mayor's office.
Where does usbeacon get its numbers from?
\_ I rented out my house in Fremont via the Housing Authority. The
rent, determined by the Housing Authority, hasn't gone down. BTW
it's 4-bed 2-bath 1444sqft, 10-min walk from bus stop, not walkable
to BART, $2165/mo.
\_ Livermore (Far East Bay), 3Bed 2Bath 1200 sq ft, duet $1600 a month.
In Livemore rent prices have increased significantly since the
housing crash. All the foreclosed people need to rent now.
That said, my rent is pretty low.
\_ Why are you renting in Livermore when housing is dirt cheap
relative to the real Bay Area?
\_ Basically we're just biding our time a bit. When it starts
going back up, I don't think it's going to go very fast, so
we're just waiting for a house we like at a price we like.
You're correct that we could afford to buy right now.
\_ Why don't you buy? I pay less mortgage than that at 4.875%. You
can borrow about $400K for that rent (without even considering
tax deductions). With your $40K down that means maybe a $500K
place once considering taxes. You can find something for that.
\_ I'm looking for a job. Will you find me a job? Then maybe
I'll consider buying. Thanks for your thoughtful response asswipe
\_ I know of a couple of job possiblities in interesting
startups. One with languages in Menlo Park, and one with
Social networks or scientific computing in Viriginia. -jrleek
\_ Sorry to hear that, but with no income *all* rent is
expensive. However, if I lose my job at least I can live on my
home equity and, like I said, my payment is less than that
guy's $2K rent.
\_ Most likely, you bought the home when the price was
lower than it is today. If you buy the same home today,
will your mortgage still be less than $2K?
\_ I just told you that you can borrow $400K for $2100
per month. My house is worth more than $450K
according to the recent appraisal, but I have seen
houses in my neighborhood for sale for $450K. For
\_ I don't know anywhere in California desirable where
you can actually buy a non-condo, non-townhome,
real single family HOUSE for lower than $450K.
Maybe in Valencia and or San Dimas and Compton,
but not Pasadena or Santa Monica where 2nd tier
tech jobs are located. -1st tier techie in LA
\_ 1. Nothing wrong with San Dimas or Valencia.
Lots of people live there. They are no
worse than Fremont or Sunnyvale.
\_ Sorry but average income and education is
WAAAAY higher in Sunnyvale than these
dumpy places in LA. Also, if I buy in
San Dimas, how many good tech companies
will I be able to work at with a Masters
degree in EECS?
\_ Lots of aerospace companies in the
area. From Valencia you can work in
Palmdale. From San Dimas you can
work in Orange County. I don't understand
your point. We're working under the
assumption that you HAVE a job, not that
you are trying to relocate. What
does "average income and education"
get me? Do you want a nice house in
a safe suburban area or do you want to
find a mate? Make up your mind.
2. $450K or less gets you a condo in WeHo,
a house in Pasadena ($550K median in
the "not bad" ZIPs), Monrovia, Northridge,
slums of Encino, or Simi Valley. None of
these places are luxurious like Malibu,
but you can't have champagne taste and
beer budget.
\_ Monrovia not exactly cheap due to the
average large lot size. Northridge? What
jobs do they offer in San Fernando again?
\_ The SF Valley has Yahoo! in Burbank
and lots of entertainment jobs like
Dreamworks, Disney, etc. It's also
not a bad commute to the Westside if
you can work offhours. You seem to
be under the mistaken impression
that all the good jobs are on the
Westside, but there are a lot of
highpaying jobs other places. Downtown,
for instance, has the highest paying
jobs in the city, Westside included.
From pharmies like to Amgen, cool
startups like the one I interviewed at
which made fingerprint-based safeties
for guns (lots of EE jobs there),
prototyping companies like Applied Minds
(http://www.appliedminds.com and
animation companies like Dreamworks, lots
of companies need engineers and are not
based on the Westside. I think you are
too narrow-minded, like a lot of
Westsiders are. Life doesn't exist
east of the 405, I know. Get over it.
I'm not in medicine, law or porn industry.
Anyone having to commute on the 405 to
get to "save rent and get real city jobs" is
a moron or has a high threshold for pain.
\_ Redfin shows me 48 homes >$450k in
Monrovia.
\_ Redfin doesn't talk about the
Monrovia gangster. They're blacks
feuding with the Mexicans btw.
\_ In the bad area of Monrovia
by the freeway, but the
northern part is nice and not
too expensive.
3. In the Bay Area you could buy in Albany,
Santa Clara, Dublin, Concord, Pleasant
Hill, Novato, San Rafael, Pacifica, or
Milpitas - among others. These are
ordinary towns just their LA counterparts,
\_ Any of these are commutable to Silicon
Valley fortune 500 jobs or startups. When
I live in Northridge or Valencia, what
jobs will I get there?
\_ Tangent. Someone asked where in CA
you can buy a house for $450K. I
told you where. Sounds like you
agree that these are reasonable
locations so buy there.
\_ Santa Clara is in the heart of the
Silicon Valley. Milpitas is not too
far away. There are also now many
cheap homes in San Jose.
\_ I thought GOOGLE is the heart of
Silicon Valley considering they
store, process, and output more
information than any company.
ordinary towns just like their LA counterparts,
but it beats renting and you are never
going to get that house in a wealthy area
by renting and saving. Buy a starter home,
pay some down, wait for equity to build,
and move up. In 15 years when my house is
paid I can sell it and buy in Santa Monica
if I want to have another mortgage, whereas if
you rent it will be much harder to get
there - unless you rent very cheaply and
dump every last cent into the stock
market. I prefer to live in my own house
in the interim, but that's me.
$3K/month you can borrow $600K and have even more
choices. Makes more sense to me than $2400/month
for a 2 BR in SF (which is a steal BTW and not
common), but that's me. If you are going to rent
to save money then rent a cheap place with a
roommate. Luxury apartments (and their associated
high rents) are a waste of $$$. I guess some people
like to live in an apartment and drive a Porsche
(I see this all the time in luxury buildings) but
to me it seems retarded and I love nice cars. Plus,
when I bought my house I only had a beaten up
Nissan and a just-paid-off Honda. Now, some years
later, I have two luxury cars because my salary has
risen while my rent has not. In another 15 years I
won't have any rent at all except property tax.
\_ I own a 8 unit apartment building next to Downtown Oakland,
all singles and studios. I've had to rent 3 units within the last
2 months and haven't had to drop my prices. Although, I
already rent low, studio ~650 and 1brdroom ~900. My buddies
who have 2 bedroom/ 1 bath houses say that the competition is
pretty fierce these days, probably because there are so many
foreclosures going on the market as rentals lately. There is an
article in the SF Chronicle talking about the current Bay Area rental\
situation. -scottyg
article in the SF Chronicle talking about the current Bay Area
rental situation. -scottyg
\_ I just moved in to a new place in SF a few weeks ago. 2bdrm $2400.
I negoitated the rent down at this place and also several others in
the city. I did this after someone who was listing a 1bdrm for $1800
told me that the price was flexible.
\_ http://mullinslab2.ucsf.edu/SFrentstats
Rents are pretty stable in SF. |
| 2009/1/14-22 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:52379 Activity:nil |
1/14 How is it that an APR can be lower than the interest rate?
\_ if it's an ARM, initial rate(s) are higher than future adjusted
rate(s). I believe the quoted "interest rate" is for the year(s)
before it starts adjusting. APR is calculated over the life of the
loan.
rates, based on the reference index + spread. I believe the quoted
rates, based on the reference rate + spread. I believe the quoted
"interest rate" is for the year(s) before it starts adjusting. APR
is calculated over the life of the loan.
\_ So if the rate is 6% but if the ref rate + spread = 5%, the APR
is based on 5%+fees? Sounds like the APR is not very helpful
wrt ARMs.
\_ I agree. Especially if you consider the ref rate is insanely
low today and can be something else in 1 to x years. If the
ref rate goes insane in 2 years, you can re-fi yes, but you
just lost on all the fees, and the opportunity to get the
insanely low fixed rate. Mr. Market loves you, then fucks
you in the ass.
\_ I know a few people whose ARMs are going flex but bc
LIBOR is so low, they get to keep their low rates. My
old roommate is about to refi to a 30 year fixed w/ Wells
for about 5%. Mortgage=$417k.
\_ Another way: the mortgage company pays you points. For instance,
if I want a 30 year fixed loan at 6.5% right now I am probably
going to get points which will lower the APR to maybe 6.25%. |
| 2008/12/17-28 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:52263 Activity:nil |
12/16 CalPERS borrowed heavily to get into real estate deals at the peak
of the housing bubble (guess that shouldn't come as a surprise)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122947172015212225.html
\_ It is funny, I warned the chair of the CalSTRS board about the
housing bubble back in 2005, I wonder if that had anything to
do with them not investing as heavily as CalPERS. -GS |
| 2008/11/24-29 [Consumer/Camera, Reference/RealEstate] UID:52085 Activity:nil |
11/23 Is there any photo rental place near the Fremont or Hayward area where
I can rent backdrops and a stand for shooting family portraits? I
see that Looking Glass has such rental, but I now live in Fremont. Thx.
\_ Can't help you there, but I'm wondering what kind of camera
equipments you have? Do you already have the strobes?
\_ I don't have strobes, but I have two electronic flashes and two
Photogenic Eclipse 45" umbrellas (I wish I had got the 60"). All
I need is a backdrop.
\_ if you know exactly what you are doing is one thing. If you don't
have a clue what kind of strobe
\_ ??? |
| 2008/11/17-20 [Finance/Banking, Reference/RealEstate] UID:52029 Activity:nil |
11/17 sub prime loans doesn't automatically mean total crap loans
http://www.slate.com/id/2204583
\_ LOL |
| 2008/11/17 [Reference/BayArea, Reference/RealEstate] UID:52008 Activity:nil |
11/18 I wish SF housing values went down to the same when this was made
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mY2JR2_0QI |
| 2008/11/4-5 [Reference/RealEstate, Industry/Jobs] UID:51819 Activity:nil |
11/4 A different kind of detention:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081104/ap_on_re_us/bay_spill
"Living rent-free in apartments and hotels, they are permitted to roam
San Francisco and the surrounding area. They continue to draw their
salaries, and each also receives $1,200 per month in witness fees,
more than the monthly salary of at least one detained seaman."
"Some of them are going to school to learn English."
Life under detention is good, man. |
| 2008/10/29-31 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:51726 Activity:nil |
10/29 Huge housing bubble!
http://csua.com/?entry=26148
\_ ObSwami |
| 2008/10/28-29 [Reference/RealEstate, Finance/Investment] UID:51712 Activity:nil |
10/28 http://tinyurl.com/6l3kpr (wsj.com) http://tinyurl.com/364bdv (boston.com) Oldies but goodies, Greenspan sez: - More H-1Bs -> Buy more overpriced homes -> Home prices stabilize -> Overpaid engineers/professionals make less -> PROFIT! |
| 2008/10/27-29 [Reference/RealEstate, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:51692 Activity:kinda low |
10/27 Sales of new homes up 2.7%. Really disappointed. I really wanted
a doomsday scenario. Still pissed about how home prices rose 50%
in less than 4 years. Life is so fucking unfair. I want
SOCIALISM NOW!!! Fuck Capitalism.
\_ What do you think got us here?
\_ France? Socialism?
\_ Poorly regulated markets and an easy money policy promulgated
by an Ayn Rand flunky. What do you think got us here?
\_ They need a 1-year chart of this overlaying 2006 to 2008.
The "no jumbo" crash happened September 2007 I think.
The "no jumbo" crash happened September 2007 I think, which would
make 2007/2008 Sep yoy easily positive.
make 2007/2008 Sep yoy easily positive, which is what happened with
the existing home sales numbers. |
| 2008/10/13-16 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:51498 Activity:nil |
10/13 It bypasses appropriations, bypasses the congress, it's in your closing
documents. This from day forward we will all be paying 4.2% basis fee
of $420 for every $100,000 mortgage in your closing paper will have
papers. You'll have a new little line in there, a new fee that we're
going to all pay to go straight to these affordable housing funds which
the states then hard wire to La Raza, ACORN, groups like that.
\_ THOSE BROWN PEOPLE ARE STEALING YOUR MONEY!
\_ We are becoming France and in Texas we done want to be France.
\_ It's hillarious how quickly ACORN become the 25%ers new Hitler. |
| 2008/10/12-15 [Finance/Banking, Reference/RealEstate] UID:51485 Activity:nil |
10/12 Fannie and Freddie originated only 15% of subprime loans in 2006
Private firms made nearly 83 percent of the subprime loans to low- and
moderate-income borrowers that year.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/53802.html
\_ But those horrid dark skinned people ruined our economy by letting
the Democrats force them to take home loans they knew they couldn't
afford. I think it was terrorist plot by all those muslim sleeper
agents that have been infiltrating our elected government for a
generation now. |
| 2008/10/9 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:51448 Activity:high |
10/8 Thinking of going back to Silicon Valley. How's the job market
right now in the middle of the housing crisis? Are companies
hiring or laying off in general? Are rent + home prices stable?
\_ 1 hiring freezes at many large companies
2 layoffs of bottom 5-10% common
\_ my company NEVER does big layoffs. Always letting people
go every few weeks or so
\_ YHOO, MRVL, EBAY, HPQ
3 home prices downward slope
\_ how much downward? 5%? or 10-15% like nationwide?
\_ all right, seasonally we may be okay. my impression is that
we've entered the "stare-off" part of the cycle. also,
cheaper houses are selling in volume, which is driving down
the median home price.
\_ Home prices are down in less desirable areas and have been
flat for about three years in more desirable areas.
\_ What is less desirable? San Jose? Milpitas? Sunnyvale?
Places like Saratoga and San Mateo keep going up up up.
\_ Desirable: Cupertino, Saratoga, Los Altos, Los Gatos
\_ No, San Mateo has come down in price:
http://www.redfin.com/city/17490/CA/San-Mateo
Looks like about 12% down from Oct 06 to today.
San Jose (most of it), Santa Clara and Milpitas all
qualify as less desirable. How about "less expensive"
and "more expensive" then, is that clear enough to you?
\_ Cool chart. Why is there a big gap starting Jan 08
between house and condo? |
| 2008/10/8-9 [Reference/RealEstate, Finance/Investment] UID:51438 Activity:nil |
10/8 Fed cuts interest rate by 1.5%. It's going to save the housing
market! Yeah baby! Good job! Make America an ownership society!
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/fed/main-surprise.asp
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/fed/winners-losers_surprise.asp |
| 2008/9/29-10/4 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:51330 Activity:nil |
9/29 Angry 401(k) holders are calling politicians asking them why the
bailout didn't go through. Australia pressuring Congress to pass the
bill to prevent the global economy from imploding. Real estate and
financial lobbyists massing for DC.
... Predictions?
IMO, I don't see why we can't have a blue ribbon panel examine the
issue and figure out how to inject the money.
\_ i lost around $40,000 off my 401k..but i prefer preserving
\_ I lost around $40,000 off my 401k..but I prefer preserving
freedom instead of passing this commie bill
\_ I agree.
\_ We need a much more commie bill than this, one that partially
nationalizes the banks and lowers everyone's mortgage. And for
$700B, we could get it.
\_ i can has a free haus?
\_ More like, you can get a 10% coupon on the house you
overpaid for in 2006 and stay in it and pay the
mortgage, instead of dumping yet another Notice of
Default on an overstressed financial system.
\_ http://www.ihasabucket.com
\_ Huh?
\_ I'd be curious how many people actually want to keep
the mortages. House flippers probably don't want to.
I also met a couple that bought a house pretty cheap 15
years ago, but pulled out tons of equity, and have now
been foreclosed. Do they actually want the house? I
don't know. |
| 2008/9/25-10/1 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:51308 Activity:nil |
9/25 How the Bush Administration forced Fannie to lend money to
sub-prime borrowers and feed the housing crises:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/3l4enj |
| 2008/9/23-29 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:51269 Activity:low |
9/23 wtf. Wells Fargo w/9.14% APR jumbo (non-conforming) 30-year fixed in CA.
\_ Welcome to a shitty shitty economy.
\_ My parents had a loan at 13% in the early 1980s. You do realize
that this 5-6% stuff is at or near all-time lows, right?
\_ Yeah, I feel really sorry for those poor SOBs who have been
trying to time the housing market and missed out on a once
in a lifetime opportunity to borrow at 5.25%.
\_ Yeah, sure now that $600,000 house is $350,000, but at 5.25%
it totally would have been worth it.
\_ Prices in my neighborhood have not gone down at all. I
guess they have gone down in places like Antioch and
Gilroy, so if you were shopping there, I guess you are
right.
Gilroy, so if you were shopping there, you are right.
\_ If rates go up, prices go down, and the market stagnates.
Not a good time to own OR buy.
\_ I'd disagree, now is a great time to buy if you are willing
to sit on a place for a minimum of 5-7 years. Prices are
great and cash is king. I've been finding great deals
in rental property.
\_ Where are you that prices are great? They just aren't
suck.
\_ It's a great time to own. The only better time to own
was before I did. I don't think people who bought in 1958
are too worried about it being a bad time "to own".
Bad time to buy? Maybe. Bad time to own? Never.
\_ Sorry, bad time to have recently bought.
\_ Or to sell.
\_ Put another way, I would hate to be someone who wanted to sell
a property. As someone interested in the highest sale price, I
would want the easiest loan terms possible (no down, no doc, stated
income, option ARM, low interest rates). bank gives me the purchase
money, i've converted the property to cash--my hands are clean. |
| 2008/9/8-14 [Reference/RealEstate, Reference/Tax] UID:51107 Activity:nil |
9/8 Dear landlord question. If my net flow is negative (e.g.
rent - operation cost < 0), can I write off my loss for tax purpose?
Say I work a 9-5 job and make $100,000K/year, and my total
rent - operation cost is $20,000 loss, is my taxable income
$80,000K? In addition, can I write off HOA+repair+advertising+etc
in addition to my net loss, meaning a taxable income of
$80,000K - (operating costs)?
\_ Yes and yes, but you can only deduct $25k/yr. Losses roll over
though. Depreciation reduces your basis though, so some of this is
recovered when you sell. In some situations (AMT) you cannot use
this deduction and there is a phaseout over $100k, so if you make
over $150k you don't get to use it at all. Talk to a tax advisor. |
| 2008/8/25-31 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:50962 Activity:nil |
8/25 I don't understand this subprime thing. Why can't people
just refi to get a new teaser rate? It's still historically low.
\_ you probably don't have negative equity, e.g., bought at $500K with
zero down, the place is now worth $350K and you paid interest-only
for two years?
\_ Why can't you just do interest-only until home prices go
back up? Why is there a "Oh shit I need to declare bankruptcy"
\_ interest-only lasts for only 2-3 years
\_ My parents have interest-only rental properties, and
they last for 5 years. They keep extending for decades
and decades. Nothing bad has ever happened.
\_ Which is fine until the property appraises for less
than the loan amount. At that point you can't get
a new loan because there isn't enough collateral.
\_ they probably have equity, and they're probably not
subprime loans. subprime means no doc, low/no down.
if you can prove sufficient income, have equity /
reasonable down, it's not subprime, and you can refi
like your parents.
\_ Yes you're right they have "leverage", a term
my mom uses a lot, and yes they bought properties
long long long time ago so it's not such a big
deal when the market goes down for only 5 years. -pp
\_ fyi, "leverage" in real estate means when you
buy one house, mortgage it to get cash out, use
that cash as down for one or more other houses,
etc. You multiply your gains as long as the
growth in value of your homes exceeds interest
payments. if home prices fall across the board,
yer fucked.
people also use leverage for stock market trading
and currency trading in addition to real estate.
investment banks and hedge funds are almost
always highly levered.
fundamentally, leverage is borrowing money to
multiply a gain (or loss).
\_ No, the loan isn't subprime, the borrower is.
\_ it can be both
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_lending |
| 2008/8/25-31 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:50960 Activity:kinda low |
8/25 You too can have 250 sq feet for only $280K
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2008/08/24/BUTM12GQMI.DTL
\_ Totally, utterly ridiculous. It didn't work for the tiny little
Japanese many years ago, it's not going to work for Amerikanjins.
\_ What do you mean it didn't work for the Japanese? I thought
that this was a normal size for a Tokyo studio.
\_ They tried in 1970-1972. Look up the Nakagin capsule. It's
a tiny little studio capsule project that failed miserably:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/esthet/3753156
http://ereview.com/pix/places/Japan_Nakagin
\_ Those rooms are less than half of the size of the SF
project. -tom
\_ Yes but 1970 Japanese men were less than 1/2 the
size of 2008 American men.
\_ Your information is interesting but irrelevant to the
apartments being listed above. There are tons of these
1DKs in Japan. I have friends who live in them. They're
the only apartments that starving students can afford.
\_ It's called a 1DK (one bedroom, one dining room/kitchen), and
there are plenty of them in Tokyo and Osaka, not to mention many
other smaller cities. They're generally meant to be apartments,
not condos, but hey, to each their own. You can get a bigger
condo in Oakland for ~$300k according to http://Zillow.com.
\_ They aren't supposed to be full time residences.
\_ rabu hoteru!
\_ Ever seen a Parisian apartment? That is on the big side.
\_ Totally, utterly ridiculous. It didn't work for the tiny little
Japanese many years ago, it's not going to work for Amerikanjins. |
| 2008/8/25-31 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:50959 Activity:nil |
8/25 My family has been using a particular real estate agent for everything,
including home purchases, rental home purchases, and rental home
leasing services. She's a very sweet old lady, a close family friend
(well, more of my mom's friend) and only takes 1/2 of the commission
that all the other agents take. She has been trying to help me sell my
home for a while but with the current down-market I'm thinking of
turning it into a rental property. My place is at an area that she's
not familiar with and that she's too far (+50 miles) to show to
prospective clients. I'm thinking of switch to a more local agent.
I feel awfully bad for "ditching" her since she's a family friend.
What can I do to minimize any potential misunderstanding while
keeping our family relationship good?
\_ so you're kicking a sweet old lady to the curb? good job.
survival of the fittest. Stop by at the Salvation Army and pick
up a used copy of Atlas Shrugged for her.
\_ Ignore troll above and just tell her why.
\_ #f, above advice promotes free market competition which
is good for everyone in the long run
\_ Actually, you might even ask her for a recommendation.
\_ Not a bad idea, because she can still collect a referral
fee from the other broker.
free from the other broker. |
| 2008/8/22-29 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:50944 Activity:nil |
8/22 I'd like to rent out my condo. What's a good place besides
craigslist to post my listing? I don't want to go through craigslist
anymore after a bunch of bozos didn't show up, or were people
with bad credit rating, etc. I don't mind paying a little (5%)
for listing, credit check, etc. Thanks.
\_ You can hire a property management firm to do all the dirty work
for you. I think they charge one months rent/year plus something
like a half month rent everytime it turns over. YMMV.
\_ Seconded -- I have a property manager for my townhouse, she's
great, found me a perfect tenant in under a month, and only
charged me $800 up front plus $75/mo for a place that rents for
$2200. I don't deal with anything, except ok on things like
approving the replacement of a major appliance.
\_ How did you find her? More info please? Thanks!
\_ It was a referral from my ex-neighbor who is a realtor.
That might be the place to check -- realtors.
\_ In CA professional property managers *must* be licensed
real estate brokers with a couple of exceptions.
\_ I thought you just needed to work under a broker. I
know someone who is just starting out (read: cheap)
that I can refer you to in the east bay. -scottyg
\_ There are a lot of things a person working
under a broker can do (e.g. collect rent)
but they can't do everything. They are just
working as an assistant to the broker. |
| 2008/8/20-26 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:50910 Activity:nil |
8/19 Quick landlord question. If I'm paying X interest per year to a
rental property, does that mean I can write off X from my income?
Or do I do a (home-value)/27.5 depreciation for Schedule D? Can
I do both?
\_ You can do both, but you add the rent as income. I think you
know this, but it's the value of the improvement (less land)
depreciated over 27.5 years and then you have more profit when
you sell because your cost basis is lower.
\_ So if I didn't make any improvement (it came as is and I spent
$0 on improvement), then I can't do depreciation? Damn!
\_ No, you can still depreciate the value of the building over
27 and 1/2 years. Whacky, I know, but this is how the tax
law works. You probably need an accountant.
\_ "Improvement" means improvement to the vacant land, the
best example of which is a building. If you buy an investment
property to rent out for $300K and the land value is $200K
then you can only depreciate the value of the building itself
($100K). You cannot depreciate the entire $300K.
\_ Funny the government defines "improvement" as anything
better than the baren land
\_ Why is that funny? If you bring power and sewer to
the lot you've also improved it. You can spend a
lot of money on these improvements.
\_ I will convert a land to dumpster where people
dump shit into it. Will that increase the value
of the land since I spent money digging and putting
up infrastructures for it?
\_ Yes, because that's an investment setup, where
the payoff is people paying you to dump there.
If you don't charge, that's your problem.
\_ That makes complete sense. For a condo, MOST of the value
is in the building and not the land.
\_ الله أَكْ! |
| 2008/8/8-13 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:50826 Activity:low |
8/8 Interest rates have risen over the past several years, but for now
are still at historically low levels. Favorable interest rates,
combined with the new first-time homebuyer tax credit of 10% of the
price of a home (up to a maximum of $7,500, applicable to certain
home buyers) might add up to a good time for you to start searching
for your new home.
\_ if I wait, I can collect more cash, wait for interest rates to go
up, which will cause house values to go down. Then I can buy:
- a cheaper house
- with higher interest rates
- and a smaller mortgage (on account of a cheaper house and having
more cash)
- and I can refi if the interest rate drops
- and live like a renter for the next 3 years while the other guy
is 3 years into his $800K mortgage already
is 3 years into his $800K mortgage already
\_ What if it's not 3 years? What if rates rise but prices
don't fall enough to offset them? If you can comfortably
afford to buy now then just buy now. If you can't then don't.
PS. Is there some reason you keep deleting this?
\_ it's not me that's deleting it.
if I can comfortably rent, why not rent? I can always buy
later with more down payment.
\_ How do you know that home prices are going to go down?
Which area are you interested in?
\_ how do you know home prices are going up?
\_ I don't know which way they are going to go. Neither
do you, actually, you are taking a chance.
\_ I agree.
\_ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt_GhcQ5EtU |
| 2008/8/4-8 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:50772 Activity:nil |
8/3 Bombings Target Animal Researchers
http://csua.org/u/m09
I gotta say, it takes a special kind of crazy to target a
neuroscientist for working with mice. |
| 2008/8/2-8 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:50764 Activity:nil |
8/1 America's Most Overpriced ZIP Codes (SF #6)
http://preview.tinyurl.com/6y7264
\_ I am curious, are you predicting that SF real estate is going to
fall more than the median for the next few years? Cause I sure
don't think that will happen.
\_ Me? I don't know. I'm posting a Forbes article. Maybe it won't
grow as much as the median? An investment's worth is usually
considered for its growth potential. Do you think housing
"P/E" is irrelevant?
\_ I think in the long run, housing in SF is a better
than average real estate investment. I am not so sure about
that specific zip code listed (The Sunset). Rents are shooting
up right now, so it should improve the P/E situation, but I
think that different regions of the country have different
P/E's and will continue to do so, for very good reasons.
\_ San Jose is 10th. I should have bought a property in Sunnyvale
and San Jose 10 years ago. Every one of my city friends says
it's a dump but the suburban loving ones bought it long time
ago and never looked back. ARGHHHHH FUCK my city friends.
\_ Well, 1998 isn't now. I doubt SJ was in the same price vs. rent
class then. (to be fair, "SJ" and "SF" are too broad when this
article is referring to specific zip codes)
\_ Why didn't you buy a house in the city 10 years ago then? |
| 2008/7/29-8/5 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:50724 Activity:nil |
7/29 Turns out that putting people in housing actually reduces
homelessness, who could have guessed that?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/us/30homeless.html?hp
\_ And we care because... ?
\_ Does that include a nurse maid to wipe their ass? I thought it was
"teach a man to fish", not "give him a fish."
\_ Because the govt wastes time and money to create reports on such
obvious matters? -- !OP |
| 2008/7/29 [Reference/BayArea, Reference/RealEstate] UID:50716 Activity:high 90%like:50720 |
7/29 Swami! Your prediction is off by 6 months!!! You SUCK
http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/28/real_estate/another_home_price_dip/index.htm?cnn=yes
\_ Wow San Francisco went UP by 22%. How about San Jose, Sunnyvale,
Mountain View, Santa Clara, etc?
\_ Fuck SF. Let them pay for their own stupid bridges. |
| 2008/7/23-28 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:50666 Activity:low |
7/23 San Diego wants to be a sanctuary city, a foreclosure sanctuary,
that is:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/5f9lpv
\_ Wow, that's an interesting idea. I think I'll go buy 10 houses
in San Diego!
\- "Bang Fax", one step beyind JingleMail
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/23/national/main4287473.shtml
\_ Does life insurance cover suicide? Doh!?
And will the house be haunted now?
\_ I just don't get this, why shoot yourself? Why not go down,
guns blazing, defending your property?
\_ Because not everyone is a violent psychopath?
\_ Better to shoot yourself? |
| 2008/7/16-23 [Reference/RealEstate, Politics/Domestic/California/Prop] UID:50601 Activity:kinda low |
7/16 Support air-drying laundry. Save energy.
http://www.laundrylist.org
\_ I just learned that a friend's home owner's association has a rule
against drying laundry outside, even in your backyard. I'm still
flabbergasted by this.
\_ Why? Some won't even let you keep your garage door open
longer than it takes to put your car in.
\_ Most HOA's do. This is one of many activities associated with
poor folks, that are perceieved as lowering property values.
\_ Banning this in front yards I can understand. But backyards?
\_ Banning this in frontyards I can understand. But backyards?
\_ Some HOAs don't even let you keep your garage door open for
longer than it takes to park your car.
\_ Is this for lowering auto theft rate? If not, I'd think
leaving doors open on garages with Porsches and Mercedes
inside would raise property values.
\_ No, it's because the inside of garages is usually
cluttered with junk. BTW, my old neighbor used to park his
new Porsche on his lawn. Talk about conflicting statements.
\_ So, I figure a lack of HOA add $20,000 or so to the value of
the house. Any opinions?
\_ I don't know, but a lack of HOA fees probably adds value.
\_ depends on HOA amount... but do some math
\_ Rule #632 why you should never buy a condo - stuffy HOAs
telling you what to do.
\_ HOA is not limited to condos.
\_ Don't most new suburban developments these days have
HOAs?
\_ Yes it is very true. Take a look at the Rosedale
Community in Azusa. You have 2 HOAs. One is the North
HOA at $150, and the other one is the South HOA at
about $150. Then there is Mello-Roos that jacks your
property tax to about 1.75%, because the state of
CA no longer can pay for new schools in that new
area. We're talking about "cheap" homes between
$450K to $750K.
http://www.rosedaleazusa.com/community
New SFH today have HOAs in addition to Mello-Roos.
I'm talking about S Cal. N Cal doesn't seem to have
that type of shit, presumably because it's regulated
growth so no need to rebuild schools/pipes/wires.
\_ ^regulated growth^farther from Mexico^
\_ what does Mehico have anything to do with this?
\_ Rub your two brain cells together and you
will figure it out.
\_ I get it, you think IMMIGRANTS cause all
the problems that S Cal has. Yes immigrants
are bad GO BACK HOME IMMIGRANTS!
\_ ILLEGAL immigrants are hard to plan
for and regulate. |
| 2008/7/15-23 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:50584 Activity:nil |
7/15 Nouriel Roubini feels a great disturbance in the Force:
This is by far the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Hundreds of small banks with massive exposure to real estate (the
average small bank has 67% of its assets in real estate) will go bust.
Dozens of large regional/national banks (a la IndyMac) are also
bankrupt given their extreme exposure to real estate and will also go
bust.
Some major money center banks are also semi-insolvent and while they
are deemed too big to fail their rescue with FDIC money will be
extremely costly.
In a few years time there will be no major independent broker dealers
as their business model (securitization, slice & dice and transfer of
toxic credit risk and piling fees upon fees rather than earning income
from holding credit risk) is bust ...
\_ Young Padawan, you have obviously never lived through a real
recession. My WFC is up 25% today, BAC up 10%, KRE and KBE up
recession. My WFC is up 33% today, BAC up 22%, KRE and KBE up
almost as much... |
| 2008/7/14-16 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:50569 Activity:kinda low |
7/14 Ahem, in case you've all forgotten... HOUSING ONLY GOES UP!
BUY NOW BEFORE YOU'RE PRICED OUT!
\_ Hold on, is this in response to the banking industry, where
you believe that owning a home is a good hedge against a collapsing
banking, or... that you are being sarcastic and waiting for the
banking industry to drag down the housing market and laughing
at people who are tied up to their homes?
\_ you're doing a great job scoring points against your imaginary
friends.
\_ tom is imaginary? Dang, that explains a lot.
\_ Please provide a reference where I suggested to anyone that
housing only goes up, or that they should buy before they're
priced out. Idiot. -tom
\_ I agree. Now is a great time to get a good deal. Unfortunately it
is much harder to get a loan. I've found quite a few cash flow
positive investment properties lately. Also, all of the big
investment groups are gathering cash to buy up all of the available
properties while everyone else shies away.
\_ Why didn't the Great Swami warn us this was going to happen? |
| 2008/7/11-13 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:50533 Activity:nil |
7/11 The Failure Of Neoliberalism
Charlie Rangel and his 4 rent-controlled apartments in NY, including
one he uses as an office.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/nyregion/11rangel.html
\_ Is this a sarcastic joke about the previous post on neoliberalism,
or am I missing something?
\_ I didn't post the 'neolib' comment. Some dumbass keeps adding
it. -op |
| 2008/7/1-14 [Politics/Domestic/Election, Reference/RealEstate] UID:50432 Activity:nil |
6/30 Grim proving ground for Obama's housing policy
The Boston Globe: http://csua.org/u/lu6
\_ I hate to sound like a partisan defender, but what do the failures
cited in this article actually have to do with Obama or his
proposed policies? Many of the failures began before he became a
State Senator.
\_ This is actually Bill Clinton's fault. |
| 2008/6/25-7/14 [Reference/RealEstate, Politics/Domestic/SocialSecurity] UID:50373 Activity:nil |
6/25 Home owning Baby Boomers generally screwed
http://csua.org/u/lsr
\_ This describes my parents to a T. We are all screwed, actually,
but the Boomers are screwed more. |
| 2008/6/18-24 [Reference/BayArea, Reference/RealEstate] UID:50290 Activity:nil |
6/18 Slowest May in 20 years for Bay Area housing
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/18/BUBP11B99U.DTL
"The median price paid was $517,000, down 21.7 percent from a year
ago."
"Sales of all home types in San Francisco dipped 3.7 percent, as prices
declined 5.4 percent to $790,000."
Ok this is good, but I need MORE!
\_
_ _ _ _ ____ _ ___ ____ ____ __ _____ _____ _ _
| | / \ | \ | | _ \| | / _ \| _ \| _ \ \ \ / /_ _|_ _| | | |
| | / _ \ | \| | | | | | | | | | |_) | | | | \ \ /\ / / | | | | | |_| |
| |___ / ___ \| |\ | |_| | |__| |_| | _ <| |_| | \ V V / | | | | | _ |
|_____/_/ \_\_| \_|____/|_____\___/|_| \_\____/ \_/\_/ |___| |_| |_| |_|
_ __ __ _ ____ _ _ _____
/ \ \ \ / // \ / ___| | | |_ _|
/ _ \ \ V // _ \| | | |_| | | |
/ ___ \ | |/ ___ \ |___| _ | | |
/_/ \_\ |_/_/ \_\____|_| |_| |_|
\_ Your a fag.
\_ And you're (== you are) an embarrassment to all English speakers.
\_ Housing prices go up and down but if they go down enough there will
be a huge ripple effect through the rest of the economy. You may
find you don't have a job after housing drops another x% |
| 2008/6/11-13 [Politics/Foreign, Reference/RealEstate] UID:50221 Activity:moderate |
6/11 http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/easternsuburbs/story/365899.html Family finds backyard is off-limits because of conservation easement. "Kevin King and his wife, Donna, dream of installing a backyard pool But the young couple got a rude awakening when their pool contractor drove to Lancaster Town Hall to get the construction permit this spring. "That's when the Kings learned for the first time since buying their home in 2003 that they legally have only a 3-footdeep yard in which to build their pool. "Or to enjoy a swing set with their kids, ages 3 and 5. "Or to do much of anything else, it seems. "Turns out the Kings technically aren.t even supposed to mow the grass in their 60-footdeep backyard because of a conservation easement." \_ Gotta love reporters that don't ask questions. Why the hell didn't these people have due diligence done on their property when they bought it? This sort of thing should be in any contract. \_ Yeah, I'm sure the easment was there before they bought the property. \_ Yeah, the easement was there before they bought the property. \_ Srsly. Why is this news? My neighbor when I was growing up had a large easement on his property. It was part of the reason why his lot was bigger than the others for the same price. I forgot why it was there but eventually he got it removed and now his property is worth more. \_ The question was asked in the article. The couple claims they don't recall the paralegal who sold them the house mentioning the easement. They admit to not doing their due diligence in the article. I think the interesting thing here is that the the easement. They admit to not doing their due diligence in the article. I think the interesting thing here is that the easement is completely pointless in this case. \- As associate of an associate of mine bought a house in Los Gatos. It would later turn out the seller paid a nearby autobody shop to close up shop during the buyer's visit. The sale was reversed later on on those grounds. Interesting to note the remedy was an action, not money damages. \_ Totally different case unless you are arguing that the easement was not disclosed which is possible but seems unlikely. |
| 2008/5/30-6/2 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:50097 Activity:low |
5/30 http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=11465476 Graph shows fall in Case-Shiller national home price index indicates worst year-over-year numbers than the Great Depression \_ yet I still can't afford a decent home in Silicon Valley even with my near 6 digit salary. \_ I graduated from BERKELEY yet I'm still debugging other people's code. Some CAL English maj graduates still work at McD's. So what??? \_ Name one. \_ yeah, it blows doesn't it? \_ Sounds like you are underpaid relative to the others who live in your area. Move somewhere else or make more money. \_ Define "decent"? Are you looking on one income or two? |
| 2008/5/28-6/1 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:50078 Activity:moderate |
5/28 I've ruled out the possibility of getting a gun when I collect
rent in shady neighborhoods. Instead, I may get a Taser. What's
a good Taser to get that I can conceal well? Taser C2 seems a bit
whimpy, but Taser M18-L is a bit bulky.
\_ I tell the landlady I got a job, I'm gonna pay the rent.
She said 'Yeah'? I said 'Oh yeah'. And then she was so nice.
Lord she was lovey-dovey. So I go in my room, pack up my things
and go. I slip on out the back door and down the streets I go.
She a-howlin' about the front rent, she'll be luck to get any
She a-howlin' about the front rent, she'll be lucky to get any
back rent.
OW OW OW THEN SHE TAZED ME OW OW OW OW OW OW OW
\_ that is illegal. taser should only be used for SELF DEFENSE.
ditto with guns. baseball bat, golf clubs, fists are ok
in any situation. at any rate, your land lady can't kick
you out. it takes like a whole year before they can really
evict you, physically.
\_ Not even. The unlawful detainer action can be completed
in 30 days and it's not more than another 30 before the
sheriff comes to kick you out, depending on the schedule
of the court.
\_ Non-payment of rent is a 3 Day or Quit kind of eviction.
It can go pretty fast, even in a place like San Francisco.
\_ Also depends on whether tenant files an Answer; if so,
welcome to extended court action.
\_ No one got my joke. sad.
\_ Why not pepper spray?
\_ Ever heard of a property manager?
My godfather is a slumlord and he ended up selling certain
properties when the tenants didn't pay rent because he was afraid
to go collect it. He should've used a property manager also.
It's worth a 10% fee to not get a bullet.
\_ a 10% decrease in revenue for me is 20% loss a year. -op
\_ Sounds like a crappy property to own. Why did you buy it?
\_ loooooong story. I lived in it till I moved out -op
\_ explain why you haul around your wife draped in expensive
jewelry while you collect rent? or is that another guy?
\_ expensive jewelry = relative. iPod and Nike shoes are
considered fancy in ghettovilles
\_ We sure have a lot of ambidextrous landlords with
concealed carry permits on the motd.
\_ I'm pretty certain this is the same troll.
\_ I am a LA Sodan (Toluca Lake). My wife shot a Home Invader
two years ago (before we were married!) and it was a huge
legal hassle. In fact it might have bankrupted her if she
wasn't friends with the cops (she was an Assistant DA then).
According to her lawyer, "it was a good thing you killed
him, because if he was just injured and around for the trial
you probably would have lost the suit." By the way, I learned
about this the day before we were married. Bay Area Sodans:
Do NOT judge people from LA. LA is Different! There are
dangerous people here. -mossberg590@gmail.com
\_ Whoaaa!!! MOST ENTERTAINING RESPOND EVER. Thanks!
\- ^EVER^EVAR |
| 2008/4/24-5/2 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:49826 Activity:low |
4/24 Landlord with a ... Yacht??? No, with landlord rage.
http://www.csua.org/u/lce (sfgate)
\_ More: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/27/MN0R10CDQC.DTL
\_ Is he a Libertarian?
\_ No, but he is a CSUA'er.
\_ can't finger macy
\_ 'finger kip'
\_ That's awesome, we should go visit him in prison. It's
Allumnus outreach. Did anyone here know him?
\_ Man, they must have some awesome rent to put up with that.
\_ Once they sue him for everything he owns they will be
doing even better. Also how the hell do you buy a 6 unit place
for 1 million in sf?
\_ http://www.csua.org/u/lci (5 units, okay)
Rental property in The City is valued mostly on the basis
of the CapEx, so a building with very low rent isn't worth
much.
\_ That's not the property.
\_ At 20% down that will pay for itself from day one
That seems more than reasonable in SF in this market.
\_ Yeah, but you have to put up with crappy tenants
who won't leave even after you saw a hole in their
floor! Selfish tenants.
\_ PITI + maintenance (1% of cost) per year comes out
about even in my book, which isn't too bad, but still
not exactly a great investment. What are you counting
on here to make a profit, capital gains?
\_ Deductions + gains + rents will go up (a lot once
someone moves)
someone moves). And, if you hold on to the property
for long enough some of that money is going to come
back to you when you sell.
\_ Why would you do that in SF when you can do the
same thing in another city that doesn't have a
draconian rent control board?
\_ Tahkisis will triumph!
\_ Sometimes the motd is awesome. -- ilyas
\_ If you invest $200k in the stock market and
hold it long enough, you are bound to eventually
make some money that way, too. Though I have been
thinking more about retirement lately and realize
that some rental property is about as close as
us private sector slobs are going to get to a
pension. At least rental income will tend to
increase with inflation.
\_ Our Heros are in the paper again:
http://www.csua.org/u/lcy |
| 2008/4/23-5/2 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:49816 Activity:nil |
4/22 My company is relocating me for a while (2 years probably) and I'm
thinking of renting out my condo since it's really not a seller's
market. I'm hoping to break even or lose just a few hundred dollars
a month by renting it out. How does one calculate depreciation on
a rental property? I've heard about the Form 46XX amortized
depreciation form, and without having to do really weird calculations
that only accountants understand, how much deduction can I expect
to get from a $500,000 condo that was built in 2003?
\_ $(Value of improvements)/27.5 per year for 27.5 years. With a house
you have to deduct the value of the land as it is not an
improvement (obviously). I am not sure how it works for a condo
since there is no real land value. Maybe you can depreciate on the
full $500,000. Remember you have to report the rent as income, but
you can report the mortgage as an expense. When you sell the
property you may owe more tax as you have to deduct the depreciation
from the cost basis. I would get an accountant, because it will
be worth your while at that point as far as finding out which
maintenance expenses you can deduct or not and which are
deductible in the year paid versus depreciated over their
useful lives. Built in 2003 is not relevant. It could have been
built in 1803 and you can still depreciate over 27.5 years if
you just bought it. (It's 39 years for commercial property.)
\_ most useful, THANKS. BTW is HOA considered expense? How
about property tax?
\_ Yes and yes.
\_ 1. Property Tax is operating expense
2. Utilites are operating expense if you pay them.
3. any trips you take there to check out the property is
expense
4. Mgmt fees if you have a property manager
5. Mortgage expense is only the interest portion.
6. Closing Costs for buying the property is an operating
expense
7. Max is 25k per year you can write off and the rest
carries.
\_ I've never heard about this. Is this amount
a) rent MINUS sum of expense?
b) sum of expense?
If it's a) then great, but if b) then a lot
of landlords are screwed since operating costs
almost always exceed that amount (just put in
interest mortgage and tax for a cheap $500,000 home)
PS I just found out I will have a bunch of deductions and
end up GAINING more than I loss ($3000/year) AND I may
gain even more if I sell my property. It's really great
to be a landlord. I love cheap condos.
\_ #7 was confusing. He means you can write off 25k of
losses vs. your regular income. But this actually
has a phaseout at higher income levels. Making $3k/yr
isn't really that great, since you will have to pay
taxes on it, at your marginal rate.
\_ Don't forget rental property insurance premium and
maintenance/repair cost. -- !PP
\_ Don't enter the rental business if your condo is in SF. See the
"Landlord" thread above. |
| 2008/4/22-5/2 [Politics/Domestic/California, Reference/RealEstate] UID:49797 Activity:nil |
4/22 Yes, they are illiterate peasants.
http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=61193
\_ "Back in January, he became the first Colorado lawmaker censured
by the House, after he kicked a newspaper photographer for taking
his picture during a prayer." Sounds like a classy guy.
\_ He was in prayer, and someone was at his feet clicking away. He
nudged him away with his foot. And what does that have to do
with the correct statement that most (if not all?) illegals from
south of the border are indeed illiterate peasants?
\_ Do you have a link for that? Just curious.
\_ http://cbs4denver.com/politics/bruce.photographer.kick.2.636572.html
"Bruce told the committee that the photographer goaded him and
was responsible for creating a disruption. Bruce also denied
that what he did was a kick, saying he gently pushed the
photographer away with his foot."
\_ Colorado house votes 63-1 to censure him. Did all those
Republicans who voted for the motion fear Political correctness?
\_ Colorado house votes 62-1 to censure him. Did all those
GOP members who voted for the motion fear PC?
http://www.csua.org/u/lbz
\_ so he calls it like he sees it, and gets in hot water. This is
classic stifling effect of 'political correctness'
\_ THE MAN IS KEEPING HIM DOWN!
\_ being a jerk has always been impolitic |
| 2008/4/15-23 [Reference/RealEstate, Finance/Investment] UID:49754 Activity:nil |
4/15 Massive numbers of homes with negative equity
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2008/04/15/BULE105CR4.DTL&o=0
and the associated article:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/15/BULE105CR4.DTL
I had no idea the negative equity problem was as widespread as the
first link would suggest.
\_ It's "Number of homes purchased in 2006"!
\_ It's "homes ***purchased in 2006*** with negative equity"!
\_ well taht certainly lowers the scale of the problem, but its
still pretty big.
\_ "most affected are those who bought recently with little or no money
down". hahah, damn fools.
\_ I'd rather be negative equity with no money down than in the
same situation but 20% commited.
\_ Well, with 20% down and the same price they would be in a
better situation with the mortgage. The example woman
seemed to still want to live in the house she bought.
She bought more house than she could afford, relying on
unreasonable price increases.
\_ ObSuburbsSuck |
| 2008/4/8-12 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:49687 Activity:low |
4/8 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23997412 Short sale rules the market! Auswami was right!!! \_ Swami predicted a nadir in 2007. \_ Meh, 2 out of 3 ain't bad. \_ Swami did no such thing. Swami was making fun of the request. -GS \_ at least twice? \_ http://csua.com/2005/03/22/#36812 http://csua.com/2005/06/06/#37986 false false (sarcasm is hard to detect over ascii, I admit) \_ What's the sarcasm? Swami really didn't think the housing market would go down? Swami thought it was OK to predict doom but not to make any specific predictions? \_ Your brain has been classified as: small \- you must pay me 5cents |
| 2008/4/7-12 [Finance/Banking, Reference/RealEstate] UID:49678 Activity:nil |
4/6 Famed Venice eatery offering discount to 'poor' U.S. tourists
http://www.csua.org/u/l8c
'A sign posted outside the restaurant at the weekend reads:
"Harry's Bar of Venice, in an effort to make the American victims of
subprime loans happier, has decided to give them a special 20 percent
discount on all items of the menu during the short term of their
recovery."' |
| 2008/4/6-12 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:49674 Activity:kinda low |
4/6 Boy, you thought the suburbs sucked? Try the exurbs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/realestate/keymagazine/406ariz-t.html
\_ What are you getting at? This article seems to be mostly about
being the 'sucker' in the housing shell game.
\_ What I learned from this article that this is yet another
example of a dumb blond. How about you? -Asian
\_ The bits I found most interesting:
"They happily left space in subdivisions for playgrounds and
five new elementary schools, which they thought would help
bring in the young families they were targeting, but they did not
leave space for parks for older kids or for a high school."
"In 2005, the local school district appointed a
superintendent, John Flores, who began pleading with the
developers for space for a high school (for a while,
Maricopa schools were admitting 300 new students every
month). But it was to no avail. Amy Haberbosch, Maricopa's
former director of planning, told me that developers
believed high schools lowered property values; she said one
developer told her he'd rather build a jail on his property
than a high school."
\_ Well, I think they're right about the high schools, from their
own narrow perspecitve. It is evidence of their narrow focus
on building homes they think people will buy rather than
building a community.
\_ I've lived near Berkeley High. I'd much prefer that to
living next to a jail. But more importantly it made
it clear just how fucked people who moved to the boonies
because "it's better for the kids" are going to be in 5
years. Especially when they can't afford to move because
the market has melted.
\_ Berkeley High isn't much better than a jail.
\_ Wait, let me guess... because there are black
people there?
\_ No, because there are criminals there. My gf
worked at a store on Shattuck and a Berkeley
High student worked with her. He would tell her
which guys were packing, which people were
stealing, which people could be confronted and
which were dangerous, and so on. Yes, they were
all black, but I think that's an issue you
raised first.
\_ Guess what, there are criminals in the world.
Even in suburban high schools.
\_ There are more criminals concentrated
in urban high schools than just about
anywhere else except maybe jail, which is
why they lower property values.
\_ Any evidence for this statement?
\_ Other than college campuses (which
self-select a sample) where else do
you find a few thousand adolescent
males (most likely to commit crimes)
in one place?
\_ So, the answer is no, I take it?
There are probably many more criminals
at Vallejo High than Lowell,
for example.
\_ Provide a counterexample of
a place other than prison
that has a higher concentration of
criminals than our high schools:
Just one. Lowell vs. Vallejo is a
tangent.
\_ No, it is not a tangent because
you said "urban" high schools.
The counter-example is easy:
any public housing project
anywhere in the country.
\_ Okay, I'll accept that
example. So we have
jail, public housing,
and high schools.
Anything else?
\_ I am having a tough time
coming up with anything.
\_ So, how does it feel to be an idiot racist? |
| 2008/4/2-6 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:49640 Activity:nil |
4/2 Time to just start using taxpayer money to tear down excess housing?
http://www.csua.org/u/l6d |
| 5/17 |