26 posts
Last October I posted about my upcoming eviction. I live in the highly desirable neighborhood of Ballard in Seattle. In the past few years rents have increased and developers have been responding to...
Read more →In 2005 I watched the real estate craze from a front-row seat in San Diego. My home value rocketed up to insane levels. Those with homes were drunk with excitement on how much money their home was...
Read more →Catchy title, eh? I exaggerate, but there definitely is an undercurrent of hostility between different parties in the housing crisis. When I posted Mr. Microsoft vs Seattle Billy, the comments...
Read more →Last September in the post Another Reason Real Estate Prices Will Drop Further, I outlined how the banks that got burned by easy lending would be forced to tighten their lending. At the time of the...
Read more →Some of my readers are already familiar with Seattle Billy. For those that missed those posts, here is all you need to know. - Bought a condo conversation at the absolute top of the Seattle real...
Read more →Back in March, I posted an entry called The Financial Wisdom of Seattle Billy. He is a likable guy, but when it comes to financial decisions, he is the perfect gauge of what not to do. From that...
Read more →Yeah, home prices are falling. That is old news. I'm more interested in what is going on in the rental market. When I went looking for a rental unit back in May, there was little offered and the...
Read more →In the post Irrational on the Way Up, Rational on the Way Down?, I touched on the psychology of would-be home buyers that watch prices drop faster than they can save money. Saving money and delaying...
Read more →I'm continually amazed on how otherwise intelligent people fail to learn the lessons of history. Whenever an asset class gets into an inflated bubble, the bubble does top out and the blowback is a...
Read more →On March 9th, 2006 after receiving the money from the sale of my house in San Diego County, I wrote in the post Won The Lottery : > Yesterday, I received the money for the sale of that house. It was...
Read more →A few people in Seattle have asked me if this is the right time to buy a house. They don't really want my answer. They want to buy and want me to agree with that decision. My needs and their needs...
Read more →Please don't blame me. It isn't my fault your home price is plummeting, your 401K is getting rocked, and your bank is in trouble. I'm just a student of financial history who saw things differently...
Read more →Last fall I meet a good hearted nice fellow named Billy. Actually that is not his real name. I'm protecting his real name. Billy is a college graduate working a white-collar job. Billy is also a...
Read more →Every so often I'll get asked when I am going to buy a house again. My response is not until after prices bottom. This is when I'm asked to give a date prediction. It's not that easy. Instead of...
Read more →One of the criticisms I received for selling my house in 2006 and going into the rental market was that I wouldn't be building equity. Yes that is true. As a renter I wouldn't have the opportunity to...
Read more →Almost a year ago, I responded to a question posted on the San Diego Blog website. > What are your thoughts on the San Diego real estate market? Can we expect that prices will level (have they...
Read more →Almost a month ago I announced that I would be selling RanchoSanPasqual.org. I created the RSP site to help sell my house. My house sold. Now it's time to reduce my commitment to this site. I have...
Read more →From Wikipedia: > In Greek mythology, Cassandra was a daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy whose beauty caused Apollo to grant her the gift of prophecy. However, when she did not return...
Read more →Here are 3 tips I'd like to pass onto anyone considering buying or renting downtown. 1. Avoid low-floor corner units - Being low means you get to hear a lot of street noise. Having that unit on a...
Read more →From San Diego's own Reasons Unbeknownst on Are Economists Too Optimistic on Housing's Soft Landing?: "I do not see a Housing Bubble; rather, we have an extended asset class" B.R. (Barry Ritholtz)...
Read more →The chart below was borrowed from The Big Picture blog. This one image is more valuable than my Finance degree from college. Because investing is never completely rational, understanding the...
Read more →Last month I told a friend not to do a for sale by owner. In that post I went into detail why you need to court buyers agents more than ever. Someone asked me what I would do if I had to sell my...
Read more →A friend of mine recently told me she was going to sell her house herself. She asked me what I thought of that idea. Here is what I told her. > There are 2 cycles to the real estate market. A buyers...
Read more →You always hear how renting is dumb and you are just throwing your money away. Under normal market conditions owning is a better financial decision than renting. However, real estate prices today in...
Read more →Back in the late months of the dot-com days, I sold all my stocks and used the money for a home down payment. It turned out to be a brilliant move. Had I stayed in the market another 6 months, a...
Read more →In 2001, I placed a 5% down payment on a house that was priced at $389,000. Quite a few people shared reservations that I wasn't making a very wise decision. One aunt who had previously lived in...
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