Real estate

Top 18. Aug 5, 1999 7:37 AM

» Roger_Babson - Norm...

Pacific Heights?! Hillsborough?! Why would I want to live in the Bay Area during a depression, when real estate prices could fall 40%-50%?!

As for being rich, my any standard, I reached that goal in 1991.

My primary residence is on 87 acres in the Pacific Northwest that I purchased in the mid 1980s. I have 31 acres with a earthship-like home in the Catalina Mountains with a tennis court. And I have villas in Marbella (now being overrun by young Irish professionals) and Zurich.

I travel so often, frequently with my family, that I need the comfort and familiarity, and it permits the opportunity to entertain partners and their associates. I often open the villas to my partners, their families, and close associates.

When I am in the Bay Area, I typically stay with my close friend and former high-tech colleague in Half Moon Bay.

Regards,

-- posted by Roger_Babson

Top 19. Aug 6, 1999 9:43 AM

» tele - Kirk

Your answers were right on. I should have put a smiley face to my questions as I didn't mean for them to sound so strident. There are actually very few people that are so wealthy that they can spend money completely as they please without crimping their future financial security. This threshold (I think BB calls it monopoly money - the next step after critical mass) is probably different for each individual, but I think pretty hard to achieve below 8 figures. The membership in this club is still fairly small as a percentage of the total population.

-- posted by tele

http://www.bestrates.com/

Top 20. Aug 6, 1999 10:38 AM

» litab16 - Home Loan Rates

Here's another good one for rates. You don't have to register to access the rates:

-- posted by litab16

Top 21. Aug 7, 1999 6:07 AM

» tele - Roger

Marbella is a nice place to have a villa. I was there in October 1997 (stayed at the Don Carlos) and had a great time. I had never been to Spain before and didn't know what to expect. I don't think I was ever so pleasantly surprised in my life. The scenery was gorgeous, the towns of Marbella and Malaga were very pleasant. Some of the hillside towns were spectacular. And I discovered how much I like gazpacho when it's prepared properly!

-- posted by tele

Top 22. Aug 29, 1999 1:15 PM

» tele - SF Bay Area Doesn't Have All The Fun

Friday's WSJ had a listing of the 10 hottest (in terms of median home price pct appreciation) real estate markets in the quarter ending 30 June. Number one was Seattle. Number 10 was San Diego. Neither San Francisco nor San Jose were among the top 10 which also included Miami, Boise, Bradenton , FL.

Although govt stats say we only have about 2 to 3 pct inflation in the shelter component of the CPI, I wonder about that. According to my most recent property tax statement, the market value of my home has increased 28 pct since one year ago, and is now nearly 3 times what I paid 10 years ago. This doesn't seem to be an isolated occurrence (see letters to editor in this weeks Barrons re understating of real estate inflation).

On an inflation related point, Gary Shilling has a good column in the latest Forbes about inflation in the service sector vs inflation in the manufacturing sector.

-- posted by tele

Top 23. Aug 30, 1999 7:48 AM

» RandeS - tele,

tele,

Just goes to show you, the government is good at understatement when it might mean shelling out more (lower inflation = lower COLA for entitlements) and good at overstatement when it means higher tax revenues (higher property value = higher property taxes). Looks like the WSJ was right on too -- today's new home sales show a robust increase everywhere but in the West, which was actually down from the prior period.

-- posted by RandeS

Top 24. Aug 30, 1999 11:34 AM

» tele - Good point Rande

Fortunately in FL local govts can't use increases in market values to raise taxes as assessed values are limited to 3 pct annual rise unless house is sold at which point the new assessed value is the market value ie sales price (similar to Prop 13 in CA). This applies only to an owner occupied primary residence.

My feeling about inflation is that it is low for discretionary items, but much higher than what govt stats say for mandatory expenditures (taxes, insurance, etc),financial and some other assets (real estate), rent in many parts of the country, etc.

-- posted by tele

Top 25. Feb 3, 2000 2:48 PM

» Happy - interest rates

For quite some time the interest rate on 30 yr home mortgages, conforming, has been about 1% over the Treasurys 30 year bond. No longer.
Treasury rate 6.1%, 30 year no pt. mortgage about 8 3/4%. A 2.5%+ diference. This is very important.

Who likes inflation? Highly leveraged real estate owners is who. I reached crititcal mass, in the late 70's from real estate. I was 30.
Also gold mining share holders like inflation. I hit a 12 bagger in 1980 with high inflation. And, I did it with a large chunck of my equity.

The current interest rate down draft reminds me of 1998 when panic hit the Ruble and Long Term Capital turned out to be anything but long-term.
I applied for new commercial and home loans, that day. But rates quickly went back up, before I could close. Fortunately, I kept my papers in and when rates dipped in Jan 1999, I made my move. Got 6 1/2% on home loan and 7 1/2%on commercial properties. This was time when I advised Kirk to get a 30 year home loan. But, I thinked he didn't.

-- posted by Happy

Top 26. Apr 27, 2000 10:41 AM

» Phish - Rent in San Jose

A friend of mine just moved from Sacramento to downtown San Jose. There he rented a 750 sq ft, 1 bedroom apartment in a building constructed circa 1930.

How much you ask? A mere $1400/month if he signs a 6 month lease.

Not bad, huh? Of course he had to qualify and get on a waiting list first.

-Randy

-- posted by Phish