patrick.net

allah,

I'm not too surprised. I've heard of some people in LA who would stave off foreclosure proceedings by giving 1/32th of their worthless equity to a relative, to force the lender to restart the foreclosure proceedings for their relative. Allegedly, this would go on for years, as one relative gets foreclosed on, they'd give another 1/32th to another relative, and so on, everytime a new owner comes in, the bank would restart the process.

The end result is that a lot of people get their credit completely trashed over a couple thousand dollars in mortgage payments, but people seem quite willing to do that over a couple thousand in free rent, so plenty more people should be willing to do it for 10 or 100 times that much money.

I missed all the fun. I spent all day purging needless junk from my garage and come back to find that you guys have been living it up with a new troll toy.

RC,

Yea, I purged all his earlier stuff. He came in here and started lashing out at DinOR, lol. DinOR. He's one red hot controversial character. Then he complained that you'd banned him from Ben's Blog.

Hint to trolls: don't admit you've been banned other places, and don't pick on the nice guy regular (especially an old chicago boy).

FAB,

I don't think you can fix that on your Trio. The way wordpress formats its output is "squeezed" at the margins, so it renders terribly on any kind of PDA that tries to keep the formatting in tact. You might try to find a proxy somewhere for Trio's that takes a URL and reformatts it in plain text for your device. (disclaimer, i'm not a fan of wordpress)

Visited a friend (fellow renter) in Danville (East Bay) today. It looks like the wheels are starting to come off RE in the Danville/San Ramon area. I passed dozens of open houses on the way there. We took a little walk in the afternoon and went by a couple of open houses - no traffic at all.

3 or 4 THs in my friend's complex up for sale. One of them has been on the market since September, price reduced from 680K to 588K (in several stages since Sept), this is for a 3 BR 1500Sq Ft TH in Danville. Homes still outrageously priced there, of course, but it looking as though the bust is gathering momentum. (These THs were selling for 250K-300K about 5 years ago).

Earlier today, was chatting up my neighbor (he quite a tech job for real estate a couple of years ago). He sounded depressed. But he did say that "we've hit bottom and things will look up once school starts". I nodded politely, related the incident to my friend and we had a hearty laugh.

The next few years are going to be very interesting, as ARMs reset en masse into higher rates, and consumer spending slows dramatically. The "silicon valley is immune from RE downturns" theory is about to get a good test.

LILL,

Smart move calling in the X-man. Another troll gets a well deserved size-13 boot up his ass. Or perhaps it was just our old pal, Juku/MP/CuriousCat/WoopAss/cruiser/LittleWorried/etc. under a new identity. Either way, good riddance.

No kissing or fondling either, that’s reserved for HARM

Dearest X, I am most flattered (and don’t anyone go and get the wrong impression now :P ). I recommend extending these privileges to our resident hotties, LILL & SQT too!

Blog Party?

Labor day?

X,

Count me in!

I have a Palm Treo 700W and whenever I try and read the patrick.net on the phone/PDA all the text shows up in the middle of the screen with wide margins. Does anyone know how to fix this??

You can display full width by choosing: Menu | View > | One column

I don't think you should delete their(the trolls) comments, but if you do, there should be a troll archive somewhere on this site where all their sniplets can be placed. This way when all is said and done and the house prices freefall, we are in a recession (and possibly lose all our jobs), and there isn't much to talk about anymore, we can take out the troll archives and laugh it up over how wrong they were.

I wrote:

> I have a Palm Treo 700W and whenever I try and
> read the patrick.net on the phone/PDA all the text
> shows up in the middle of the screen with wide
> margins. Does anyone know how to fix this??

Then Randy H. wrote:

> I don’t think you can fix that on your Trio. The way
> wordpress formats its output is “squeezed” at the
> margins, so it renders terribly on any kind of PDA

Then Different Sean wrote:

> You can display full width by choosing:
> Menu | View > | One column

I want to thank Different Sean for the tip. Patrick.net now looks great on the phone.

The Treo is one of those things that I wish I got earlier. I almost didn’t sign up for web access (I was just going to get a SD Wi Fi card), but now I use it many times a day…

The common thread that we seem to find in virtually all trolls is that just can't fathom that someone would actually HAVE A CASH POSITION!

Why is this so incomprehensible to trolls! On any given day I have millions of dollars on my money line in cash with different clients from ALL WALKS OF LIFE! Some are going through life events or just sold out a position and want to wait to see what comes next before redploying their cash.

Why is this SO DIFFICULT for trolls to understand! Sheesh.

I suppose in this "Borrowallyoucangetyourhandson Society" the notion of "saved" or "paid up" equity is totally freakin' alien!

How would the new bankrupty laws affect her? Can the bank not go after her? Is this because of some law about first mortgage on a house?

I still have a lot to learn about this stuff

Claire,

I really couldn't say. For me this is like asking me how do I perform abortions. (Well I just don't). I'm not qualified and I DON'T WANT TO KNOW!

I've got to imagine that it will be difficult if not impossible for the original lenders to monitor. It's not against the law to go out and shop for a new home! (Even with slightly dinged credit). You see, being an FB is all about having flexibility! You know, keeping your "options" ope? This gal had absolutely NO REMORSE and was actually purring like she'd pulled off a quite a little financial "feat"!

Scumbag.

LILLL,

I'm sure I didn't "invent" it but if you're in a generous mood I'll gladly take credit!

I think I read somewhere that on a first loan, the bank can't go after you for the shortfall, but if it's a refi or heloc they can, that's why it's in the best interest of banks to offer you a refi to "help you out". I was wondering if someone more knowledgable would know. I sincerely hope this lady did a refi. Was it on this blog where someone said realtors were buying new homes up Vallejo way, cashing out $100,000, and then planning on living rent free for a year before walking away?

What is this going to mean for all of us? Surely, it will make it harder for us all to get our houses when we are ready - because of all the scandals and tightening of lending standards?

LILLL/allah,

What a great idea! Maybe we could roll out the "Dumbest Things Ever Said by a Troll" for a special October 2006 Pay Per View!

*October marking the first anniversary of the market "peak"!

Claire,

Uh, it's hardly just realtors pulling of this cute little stunt. Isn't everybody that's doing a "cash out re-fi" basically living off of the same borrowed time?

Oh but I do agree, the fact they're "industry professionals" elevates the scumbag factor considerably!

Claire,

The upside to a tight lending market is that it'll push a lot of buyers out and force selling prices down. It'll be very good for anyone with excellent credit and a large chunk of cash for down payment.

DinOR,

That's fairly bad. I guess a lot of Americans don't care if they go bankrupt anymore, "owning" right now is just so important. Maybe they still think housing will go up 20% a year for another 10 years and bail they out (though if that ever happened, they'd just spend the loot on HELOC bought toys.

But I'd still say the daisychain foreclosures is the stupidest and scuzziest practice I had ever heard of. It's hard to believe people would wreck their credit so an irresponsible family member can stay in their home for another 8 months, but it's allegedly a real practice in some parts of the country.

DinOR, that was my point exactly, none of these fools are ballers. Perhaps I am just bitter I didn't borrow my way to riches.

surfer X,

We had to extinguish a troll and borrowed some of your classic lines. Hope you don't mind.

The above is a TRUE story and frankly I was a little miffed the whole day! Can you believe the brass on these people? Since damn near everybody was "raiding the till" with their cash out re-fi's how big of a leap is it to engage in this type of scuzzball activity? Evidently........ not much.

astrid,

The use of the term "daisychain foreclosures" gave me a visual I could live without!

What can I say, when you're funny, you're DAMN FUNNY!

DS,

Thanks for the tip. My device is a PocketPC that I hate, and can't seem to get anything to render decently on. Seems I need to trade in for a Trio.

Anyone have any opinions on Win - v - Treo - v - BB? My wife swears by the BlackBerry, but I can't even get patrick.net on that thing at all. Just comes up blank page when I nav to the blog from the main page.

Get your instant equity right over here!

John Haverty says:
Fascism is basically blowback against the “commie itch.” High taxes, ridiculous subsidies, nation haters and general denigration create a home for fascism.

Hm.
The Nazis (in Germany) are kinda well-known for raising taxes for the wealthy, generously subsidizing families with gov't money, creating rent controls, building millions of units of subsidized, government-owned rental housing, creating a mandatory government-run pension fund, writing the 40-hour week, paid overtime (at 125%) and paid vacation into law, etc. etc.
Sounds like a worker's paradise straight out of the commies' playbook, doesn't it?

But you're right: Nation hating was kinda frowned upon in those times.

All the authoritarian governments pretty much operate the same way. They all have faceless public enemies/boogeymen, little respect for personal property, and very little regard for due process. The main difference seems to their propaganda designs. Red symbols of working for Communists, mystical evidence of racial superiority for the Nazis, the fascii for the Italian Fascists.

DinOR,

Huh? Sorry if I brought up an inappropriate sexual imagery. I was thinking of an interconnected chain of foreclosures, not a foreclosure on a group sexual activity...both are kind of disturbing though.

All the authoritarian governments pretty much operate the same way. They all have faceless public enemies/boogeymen, little respect for personal property, and very little regard for due process. The main difference seems to their propaganda designs. Red symbols of working for Communists, mystical evidence of racial superiority for the Nazis, the fascii for the Italian Fascists.

DinOR,

Huh? Sorry if I brought up an inappropriate sexual imagery. I was thinking of an interconnected chain of foreclosures, not a foreclosure on a group sexual activity...both are kind of disturbing though.

Get your instant equity right over here!

I love how it's an ad for Flordia real-estate posted in Long Island.

Now, there are some stereotypes that could make this relevant, but I doubt that's what the author was intending

This Mountain View resident has a great idea for solving the problems in the Bay Area:

http://www.burbed.com/2006/08/12/mountain-view-has-too-many-jobs/

Editor:

Walnut Drive

The guy does live in a house that has a ZESTIMATEâ„¢: $1,122,739. It looks like it might be pre-prop 13.

The common assumption seems to be that Mountain View doesn’t have enough housing.

California should be run more like Texas. Remove prop 13, raise property tax to 3.25%, remove state income tax, remove growth restrictions.

Peter P,

I'd like to see more high density housing interspersed with green space. I'm glad BA doesn't have LA type sprawl up to the tip of every hill.

I’d like to see more high density housing interspersed with green space. I’m glad BA doesn’t have LA type sprawl up to the tip of every hill.

I agree. What is wrong with 10-story condo buildings with 10 full-floor, 2500 sqft units? The footprint of the unit is probably quite small.

ajh,

I thought the secret to wealth was to make a lot of money and don't spend any money, except for the wealth gurus' tapes and seminars and newsletters.

The whole idea of holding on to RE was a lot more realistic when people could afford to carry two mortgages and a tenant's rent could cover all of the landlord's monthly expenses. Nowadays, only 10% or so of the people can afford to buy the home they live in and rent is about 50% of ownership costs...so that would be a "no!" :)

I usually like to get numbers here:

http://viewfromsiliconvalley.com/id125.html

Median and average of recent transactions are not good measures.

Anyone have any opinions on Win - v - Treo - v - BB? My wife swears by the BlackBerry, but I can’t even get patrick.net on that thing at all. Just comes up blank page when I nav to the blog from the main page.

hmm, not really... i took a Win Mobile 5 device because 1) i got a $250 loyalty rebate from my phone provider and limited models to choose from, and 2) i want to reliably sync outlook -- my calendar (meetings, reminders, appointments), contacts, and the occasional e-mail -- between 2 or more PCs and laptops, and have a '2nd brain' copy handy in the Palm -- it's a microsoft world, so the transfers should work most reliably on an M$ device. i had an intrinsic mistrust for doing this with other palm OSes such as palm, symbian and blackberry, which is just a training and instinct thing, i suppose... (or indoctrination). it's horses for courses, tho, depending on any one person's particular needs -- for instance, i wasn't particularly fussy about having a hardware keyboard, and liked the phone-like compactness of the imate -- altho the inability to get simple HTML up on a BB tells you something perhaps... apparently they're very popular amongst baby politicos in DC on the other hand...

the treo 650 looks pretty classy too...

2. So many people have bought into the current madness, that the authorities have to tiptoe around the necessary corrective action because of the possible electoral backlash.

hmmm, i know... there's a major state election here in 8 months, and i'm trying to convince the minister for planning to commit to implementing thousands of affordable housing places -- which would have a flow-on depressive effect for all the specuvestors in those areas... it's a political nightmare... although NYC council has committed to 165,000 affordable housing places over the next 10 years...

I love how it’s an ad for Flordia real-estate posted in Long Island.

Now, there are some stereotypes that could make this relevant, but I doubt that’s what the author was intending

Actually it's a smart marketing idea that is targeting the remaining sheeple that are looking for a house on Long Island and thinking "hmmmmm lets see, with $300K, I could buy a one bedroom bungalo with a sagging roof and old car parts scattered all over the .0001 acre yard and pay $7K a year in taxes here on LI or........., I could get a really nice brand new house in FLA, GA, NC with 5 bedrooms and 4 baths and pay only a couple of thousand in taxes".

Look at this post

Doesn't POS stand for "piece of shit"?

I’m not betting against human greed.

I _WILL_ bet against human greed if its opponent is human fear.

I love fear. Fear is the most powerful emotion. :twisted: