Well, no open houses for us this past weekend. I had to work on Sunday and the weather kept Debra and Aurora inside the apartment for most of the day.
No great insights from me on this springy Monday. Here are a few links I’ve collected over the weekend for your enjoyment and edification.
- A Hidden Benefit of the Downturn [NY Times]
- If you’ve got the scratch for a construction project, either building a new home or renovating your old one, you’ll find a lot of builders who are anxious to compete for your business.
- Home Decorating With The Obamas [New York Magazine]
- Our new first family has decided to forego the customary $100,000 an uncoming President gets to renovate the White House. Instead, the Obamas will be paying for redecorating the White House’s private quarters out of their own pocket
- Suffolk County – Asking Price vs Sales Price [Long Island Real Estate Guru]
- The gap between the median asking price and median selling price remains significant. The Guru provides us with a nice graph, although I think that he misinterprets the data somewhat.
- Aaron Spelling’s Widow lists home for 150 million [Wall Street Journal]
- Apparently, the recession isn’t hitting everyone exactly the same.
Since Ms. Spelling announced her planned move to Century City, she’s fielded roughly a dozen calls from qualified buyers, including some hotel investors, estimates Stephen Goldberg, her attorney. She didn’t consider lowering the price. “The ones who could afford it three years ago, can still afford it today,” he says. $150 million “is not a lot.”
As Jackie Gleason used to say, “a mere bag of shells”.
- Populist Anger Made Simple [Obsidian Wings]
- Some of the “masters of the universe” that helped steer our economy off a cliff are upset that they’re being scapegoated and abused. I think that a lot of them should count themselves lucky that there aren’t people camped outside their door with torches and pitchforks.
“The Guru provides us with a nice graph, although I think that he misinterprets the data somewhat.”
That dude needs a tutor. Or a word processing program that has spell check.
Hey! That man is a NY State certified real estate professional! Nothing but the best from that industry. I’ll give him this much: he’s come to learn that 6% of nothing is nothing – its in his financial best interst to sell two houses at $300k than to try to sell one at $500k.
There are many conceptual flaws with the conclusions he draws from his data, I’d have to know more about his data to be sure. What one can powerfully say supported by his data is that asking prices, even a broad survey of asking prices, are an inflated view of where the market is. Corrolary – reductions in asking prices are equally meaningless. Any real estate sales flack can show you a parade of ‘refreshed’ withdrawn and relisted homes that chased the market down, only to come back on higher than the previous ask.
More importantly, Case-Shiller index is out for Jan ’09 – down 19% over last year, down 29% from peak in summer 2006; currently equal about late 2003 in nominal (non-inflation adjuted) terms. I can hear the Prince tune playing now… 1999.
Too good not to pass along.
http://finance.yahoo.com/focus-retirement/article/106827/Ramit-Sethi-Yes-You-Can-Still-Be-Rich?mod=fidelity-startingout
The author interviews and enterprising 26 year-old has a book (and a blog, natch) regailing us with his investment experience. Money quote from the article:
“The past doesn’t predict the future, but it gives us a fairly accurate view of what’s likely to happen.”
Someone buy that man a dictionary.