Yet another fumble, Tim. Stay away from math and other dangerous areas before you hurt yourself.
If the real estate market caves, your "gazillion" dollar home is worth half as much (for example), but you can buy twice as much in a replacement home (again, for example.) The problem is not trading one house for another; this is a zero sum game no matter whether the market is rising or falling. The problem is the leveraging (you should look this term up) of real estate to fund lifestyle choices including other, more expensive real estate.
So how does this leveraging apply to the "sand states" of CA, AZ, NV and FL? Please do a little homework before your next "minute of wisdom."
Whew! Ol' "williakz" tried to rip you a new one, Tim! But I don't think you're quite ready for a colostomy bag just yet! *LOL*
For most the past year, I was out in the West coast, specifically Fresno (America's MOST agriculturally productive county - $5.3 BILLION dollars), and frequently crossed the Sierras through Sonora Pass into to the Carson Valley area with Minden, Gardnerville, Tahoe and Carson City, Nevada, returning through Carson Pass. (By the way, Tim... it's pronounced "nəˈˈvädə," NOT "Nuh-vaah-duh. At least that's how Nevadan's pronounce it.) [The reader should familiarize themselves with a map of central CA & NV.]
Anyway, I saw firsthand the devastation of a crashed real estate market in Fresno. Fresno is CA's 6th and the nation's 36th largest city, (Fresno MSA is Fresno County, pop. ~910,000±).
I was considering for purchase a couple of pieces of property, including one that had previously sold for $1,700,000 during the height of the real estate boom not too many years ago. It was a much older nearly 4,000 sf house in an established, nicer quiet neighborhood with numerous trees, on a larger corner lot, which included a circular driveway, diving depth pool, tennis court, guest house, with a bearing mini grove including orange, apples, grapes, grapefruit, pears, figs, roses and 20 foot tall hedges surrounding the property for privacy. The asking price was well under $225,000.
See the satellite pic, SE corner of 2200 block of S Minewawa St & E Atchison: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=wxb&ei=WMEgSpSSHua9twfdg-2_Bg&resnum=0&q=2200+s+minnewawa+fresno+ca&um=1&ie=UTF-8&split=0&gl=us&ei=YcEgSqyOH5CEtwfQ1ry6Bg&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1
Sure, it needed some fresh paint, new carpet, updated appliances, and a few other things, and maybe new roof in a few years, but it was one heckvua nice property, one that a man could raise a family in, with plenty of room for both families and friends to visit and even stay for a while, and lots of yard for kids to run around in... and with safety.
I considered another in the Old Fig part of town, which is older (1950), established established neighborhood, which also had a guest house, hardwood floors, well, storage tank, almond, apricot, orange, lemon, pistachio, tangelo, cherry, apple, plum, fig, as well as grape vines. Though it was smaller in size and tract square footage, it was nearly $125,000 more.
Eventually, homesickness set in, and I decided to return to Sweet Home Alabama.
A good friend whom with his wife and their 4 children + mother lived in the older part of town called Sunnyside on Butler Avenue. It was uncanny how many houses were foreclosed and lay empty. In a one block area, I once counted 15 houses. It was STUNNING to consider the implications, to say the least. And that was just one portion of the Sunnyside.
I guess the long and short of it is that during the time I lived there, I learned a whole lotta' things, including some of the issues which drove the inflation of real estate prices - which in great part were folks coming from 'Frisco and hoping to make a quick buck by "flipping" properties. Some indeed chose to reside there because of the lowered cost of property, but others hoped for rapid profit and drove a market through an artificial inflation.
While those activities were neither exclusive nor unique to that area, they were sponsored in large part by nationally known regional lenders (Wells Fargo, et al) whom also sensed opportunity for significant profit and encouraged unscrupulous lending practices.
Yet another fumble, Tim. Stay away from math and other dangerous areas before you hurt yourself.
ReplyDeleteIf the real estate market caves, your "gazillion" dollar home is worth half as much (for example), but you can buy twice as much in a replacement home (again, for example.) The problem is not trading one house for another; this is a zero sum game no matter whether the market is rising or falling. The problem is the leveraging (you should look this term up) of real estate to fund lifestyle choices including other, more expensive real estate.
So how does this leveraging apply to the "sand states" of CA, AZ, NV and FL? Please do a little homework before your next "minute of wisdom."
williakz
Whew! Ol' "williakz" tried to rip you a new one, Tim! But I don't think you're quite ready for a colostomy bag just yet! *LOL*
ReplyDeleteFor most the past year, I was out in the West coast, specifically Fresno (America's MOST agriculturally productive county - $5.3 BILLION dollars), and frequently crossed the Sierras through Sonora Pass into to the Carson Valley area with Minden, Gardnerville, Tahoe and Carson City, Nevada, returning through Carson Pass. (By the way, Tim... it's pronounced "nəˈˈvädə," NOT "Nuh-vaah-duh. At least that's how Nevadan's pronounce it.) [The reader should familiarize themselves with a map of central CA & NV.]
Anyway, I saw firsthand the devastation of a crashed real estate market in Fresno. Fresno is CA's 6th and the nation's 36th largest city, (Fresno MSA is Fresno County, pop. ~910,000±).
I was considering for purchase a couple of pieces of property, including one that had previously sold for $1,700,000 during the height of the real estate boom not too many years ago. It was a much older nearly 4,000 sf house in an established, nicer quiet neighborhood with numerous trees, on a larger corner lot, which included a circular driveway, diving depth pool, tennis court, guest house, with a bearing mini grove including orange, apples, grapes, grapefruit, pears, figs, roses and 20 foot tall hedges surrounding the property for privacy. The asking price was well under $225,000.
See the satellite pic, SE corner of 2200 block of S Minewawa St & E Atchison:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=wxb&ei=WMEgSpSSHua9twfdg-2_Bg&resnum=0&q=2200+s+minnewawa+fresno+ca&um=1&ie=UTF-8&split=0&gl=us&ei=YcEgSqyOH5CEtwfQ1ry6Bg&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1
Sure, it needed some fresh paint, new carpet, updated appliances, and a few other things, and maybe new roof in a few years, but it was one heckvua nice property, one that a man could raise a family in, with plenty of room for both families and friends to visit and even stay for a while, and lots of yard for kids to run around in... and with safety.
I considered another in the Old Fig part of town, which is older (1950), established established neighborhood, which also had a guest house, hardwood floors, well, storage tank, almond, apricot, orange, lemon, pistachio, tangelo, cherry, apple, plum, fig, as well as grape vines. Though it was smaller in size and tract square footage, it was nearly $125,000 more.
Eventually, homesickness set in, and I decided to return to Sweet Home Alabama.
A good friend whom with his wife and their 4 children + mother lived in the older part of town called Sunnyside on Butler Avenue. It was uncanny how many houses were foreclosed and lay empty. In a one block area, I once counted 15 houses. It was STUNNING to consider the implications, to say the least. And that was just one portion of the Sunnyside.
I guess the long and short of it is that during the time I lived there, I learned a whole lotta' things, including some of the issues which drove the inflation of real estate prices - which in great part were folks coming from 'Frisco and hoping to make a quick buck by "flipping" properties. Some indeed chose to reside there because of the lowered cost of property, but others hoped for rapid profit and drove a market through an artificial inflation.
While those activities were neither exclusive nor unique to that area, they were sponsored in large part by nationally known regional lenders (Wells Fargo, et al) whom also sensed opportunity for significant profit and encouraged unscrupulous lending practices.