patrick.net

Headset,

That's CHEAP! I'd jump all over that! Why in no time ar all you'll be selling it at.......

Uh, that's about a 24.8% decrease. A "dull" knife, but falling nonetheless. I'm not intimate with your area but HARM is keen to remind us that in many ways this is actually a "land bubble"? Lots alone in "high end" OR subdivisions can run 100/200K? I know Randy H is fond of his charts (and I at least look at the charts) but at the end of the day I guess a 2 X 4 costs what a 2 X 4 costs so I'd want to see what the "structure" costs were (inclusive of labor) allow for a respectable profit for the builder and guesstimate what the lot would have sold for circa 2000/1 and use that for a baseline?

FAB,

LOL!

I suppose I should have expected as much! It's just that they talk so casually about high profile CEO's getting the axe (when you know they couldn't run a hot dog stand) and volume like it was just so many bushels of......corn?

LILLL,

Like Doug H says, when a seller pulls off a major profit; he's brilliant!

(When a buyer gets a lowball offer accepted; he's a scumbag!)

Astrid:

This all so staged it is scary as hell the degree of power and manipulation this administartion has on the markets. I can make on feel that no matter how prudent we make decisions they can be overridden with just a few phone calls. It just proves that "we the people" are powerless. The timing is just too perfect.

Everyone who has followed this blog knows where the economy was heading especially in regards to the HB. Now it seems to have reversed course? Oil, gas, natural gas, gold, silver, copper all down. Bush's rating climbing again? FTF?

SFWoman,

Martin Pring covers this topic extensively in "Investment Psychology Explained". He must be having a field day with this! I believe his book pre-dates both the tech and housing bubbles. He doesn't spend a great deal of time placing valuations on commodities but rather the focus is on the mania that ensues! It's a little dry but he does have his moments.

I won't say "it's made my career" but he is a healthy dose of some much needed sobriety from time to time!

Sylvie,

I just overheard that commodities had their worst 3 week run since the 1980's!

Do I feel like a "victim" of the PPT (Plunge Protection Team)? Well, we all had this sinking feeling that whoever's in power likes to do a little "window dressing" before elections so, no surprise there! The Admin. has got to be "wetting 'em" though over the rapid descent in housing prices and sales! I'm sure that behind closed doors the Pres. is chewing major butt b/c he was probably told none of this would even begin to surface until he was out of office (if it happens at all!) The REIC is a HUGE lobby and judging from the lack of candor we got from Dave Seiders and Tom "the tool" Stevens at NAR I'm not looking for any death bed confessions soon.

That's about as "political" as I get.

Name one thing that makes the city of Detroit worth even a cursory glance?

Well, if some of Al Gore's apocalyptic prognostications come true, Detroit might not be a bad place to be--cold winters will be milder and then there is the proximity to one of the world's largest sources of fresh water. Also, the Tigers are having a good year.

M. Cote,

The big three are suffering more than poor leadership and poorly designed car (though most of their offering are unattractive in my eyes). They're saddled with a huge pension scheme, a dreadful distribution network, and working out of the most labor friendly states in the union. Henry Ford had a clean slate, some solid technical innovations, no foreign competitors and a work force who died quickly after retirement. While I'm no fan of the big three, a large portion of the blame should rest with the short sighted (and extremely conservative AKA hidebound) unions and state legislatures.

"Also, the Tigers are having a good year."

Damn! I hate when Detroit sports teams have good years.

Detroit is a mess. The capable residents have left and there are ex-Detroiters everywhere.

Makes ya wonder if voting in November will do anything or make any difference?

It's F'd up. What kind of lesson will this become if the higher up's in washington save the FB's collective asses?

Robert C,

Wow! You're really serious about this thing! Good for you, I just noticed that for the week ending Sept. 8th Oil & Gas plus Coal and Consumable fuels were all down over 10% for the week. (That's a tough week in anyone's book).

Of course here in Portland a number of people (and firms) trade lumber. If you get a chance check out "Random Lengths". It's a sixty year old trade pub. that covers dimensional lumber. I'm NOT a lumber trader so I'll take "dimensional" to mean 2 X 4's? A lot of these guys swear buy it.

Even the "Surreal Estate" column in SFGate is acknowledging the slowdonw in SF:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/g/archive/2006/09/15/carollloyd.DTL

What exactly constitutes a "spot"? Every agent I spoke to gave me lists of fatal flaws, and many of these lists overlapped. Unfortunately, most of the flaws are out of a seller's control: bad location (across the street from a housing project, bus stop or other "undesirable" vista), no parking, massive foundation problems, no outdoor space.

Funny how horrible location, foundation issues, etc count as "spots."

astrid,

What's with you and the Motor City? Yeah, I hate the Tigers (then again I'm a White Sox fan) but what IS it with you girl?

RC,

www.randomlengths.com for the "skinny" on making toothpicks out of logs!

DinOR,

My boyfriend is an ex-Detroiter and a fanatical fantasy baseball (and fantasy football and fantasy basketball and sometimes even fantasy hockey) player. I know the Tigers' performance doesn't really change his fanatical devotion to fantasy baseball, but watching him watch baseball is also not fun for me.

RC,

Yeah, the Rock Bottom Brewery and Moose Mulligans would fill up with lumber traders shortly after we got off on Friday and I would listen to these guys and take mental notes where I could but they track (and worship) totally different indices than we would. The Philadelphia Paper Index?

Uh, so it's my turn to "rack" and your turn to buy?

Robert Cote,

As long as you play the Commodities with money you can afford to lose; it's a rush! I played it back in the '80's, lost my ass, never went back. It was one of my more brilliant investment moves.......

I had an extra $10K and decided to play the Sugar/Cattle Futures instead of buying some crummy stock called Microsoft. Went in with 10.....out with 3.....and the rest, as they say, is history.

I had an extra $10K and decided to play the Sugar/Cattle Futures instead of buying some crummy stock called Microsoft. Went in with 10…..out with 3…..and the rest, as they say, is history.

You lost only 7K in futures? And you were discouraged?

Seed corn is the same as regular corn, unless the seed corn producer dusted it with pesticide or fungicide or Gibberellic acid.

What happened to Maria Bartiromo?

I decided to play it safe. Plus, skibum gave a good link to all the CNBC anchors so there's no reason to restrict ourselves to Maria B.

Robert Cote Says:

Seriously, Detroit/Hartford/Buffalo/OPAC du jour who cares? The reality is that dense urban conurbanations are old news, obsolete. Obsolete is not dysfunctional nor useless nor worthless. Just bypassed by modern trends. Anyone here ever pay to visit Jamestown or Williamsburg or Sturbridge Village? Good, I see a few hands raised so I shall continue. Are they “obsolete?” Sure. They make money BEING obsolete. Any disagreement? Good. Moving on to team or regional loyalty. Any reason to use this? Yes, the Dallas Cowboys are still “America’s Team” a generation after their legitimate zenith. Now “DETROIT.”

Good points. The trajectories of these cities and in general population across the US is a fascinating subject. Industrialists started/expanded factories (Carnegie, Ford, etc etc) in these cities and provided jobs, and as those industries faded or continue to fade today, the "infrastructure" that remains is neglected and decays. Now that the US is supposedly a "service" economy, the new job centers are in the South and the West. Now, why did THAT happen? It can't just be that a bunch of engineers gathered and formed a critical mass in Silly Valley, and everyone moved to where the jobs are. I doubt it's just the weather. Americans knew about California and the South long before these places supplanted the Northeast and Midwest as growth areas. Maybe it's as simple as a confluence of these factors I mentioned, but maybe there's more. It's also relevant to this board, as the question it raises is, if costs are so cheap in places like Detroit, why doesn't a company like Intel just basically up and move there? Otherwise, companies here have higher costs (salaries, office rent, etc). The BA bulls would of course say, it's because this place is so "special."

newsfreak Says:

In the old days, businesses needed to be near water in the Rust Belt, now businesses seem to need to be close to China. Maybe we could build offshore office platforms and everyone can work out in the Pacific Ocean?

Then why not move businesses to Mongolia? I hear Ulaan Bataar real estate is through the roof (of the yurt)!

Who is this Lady Jessica wench?

Lady Jessica Atreides is from Frank Herbert's Dune. She is member of the Bene Gesserit, whose members are all the result of (and active participants in) a breeding program spanning millenia. Hence, "Breeding the perfect CNBC reporter".

Regardless of the type of dried corn, you need a grain mill if you want to eat it. There's no point for most people to plant grain corn or even sweet corn though, you'll get much better returns by planting raspberries or tomatoes or cucumbers.

newsfreak,

speaking of seeds and growing stuff and such, how goes the first year of PA homesteading? Would you be interested in doing a cucumber and tomato test patch next year? (cuz I have about 15 varieties of each and space for maybe 2 of each)

newsfreak,

Some of the newer varieties of "burpless" cukes are allegedly less attractive for squash bugs, there's also a variety called Little Leaf something that is allegedly completely immune to squash bugs.

I also have a ton of sweet pea seeds and zinnia seeds. The sweet peas need to climb teepees but they might do well in your relatively cooler summers.

Remind me to send out some seeds before next spring.

If it's just broken glass, that should be no problem except for root crops (which are usually better in above ground beds anyways). Now might be a good time to manure the food crop areas and plant a cover crop of green manure. I think a couple varieties will overwinter even in zone 4 or 5. If you have a local costco or Sam's club, they usually have good daffodil bulb deals around this time of the year.

SP,

Here's a link to whitefly management. I think you're doing the right thing, but I've never dealt with a very serious infestation. My tomatoes often get whiteflies late in the season and I just douse the plants with water. They seem to move away after a couple days of this.

For outdoor, they're usually not too bad. I'd spray the worst afflicted areas, wait a day and hose down the plant, especially the backs of the leaves.

For indoor plants, you'll probably need several sprays of pyrethrin over a couple weeks. Move the plant to a shady outdoor area away from other valuable plants. Spray it with pyrethrin, paying attention to the back of the leaf. Spray the leaves with water after 2 days. Then spray pyrethrum again. Wait a week or so to make sure they're gone, then bring the plant back in.

I've never tried the yellow card traps so I don't know if they're any good.

Japanese beetles are pretty impossible to get rid of. You can do a milky spore treatment for your own grounds but unless you have fence barriers, they'll just fly in from the neighbor's property. I shake them into plastic grocery bags and then tie the bag and put it on asphalt on a sunny day. That usually kills them in 10-15 minutes.

eek, forgot the link

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7401.html

Peter P,

Whaddya think of this?

http://tinyurl.com/eh332

New Thread:

State of the Landing

Whaddya think of this?

I always liked the LS. However, I hate hybrids. Too much unnecessary complexity. I think the LS460L is good enough, but it is still way above my price range at this point.

The styling of Lexus is getting too liberal though. I still prefer the look of the old-generation Audi A8L.

http://tinyurl.com/e7h4t

SP

Yes, I got a listing sent to me today for one in Los Altos - too much for me, but reduced from 1699000 to 1499000 - $200,000 reduction (I guess about 12% reduction)! One house listed on LA/MV border in an area where others are listed for 1.1m to 1.4m has been listed for $899950 - I suspect to try and get foot traffic and a higher final price!

And the Mercury News was showing declines in the medians (if only 1 or 2%) at the weekend - I can't wait to see tomorrows!

Unfortunately - it is only the beginning and I will have to be patient :-(

I want those prices to drop like a stone......but at least those people that were telling me it wouldn't happen here are starting to be proven wrong!

Peter P,

I like the new Lexus look, it's quite distinctive in a discreet and aerodynamic way.

newsfreak,

You're lucky! My parents used to have Japanese beetle infestations of near biblical proportions. I could shake up to 20 bugs off of one rose flower. That, plus the deer (that will eat specifically deer proof things like foxglove and lenten rose), the clay soil, and the awkwardness of a quarter acre suburban plot, made gardening into a masochistic exercise.

SP,

Pyrethrum extract is pretty safe for people and pets, so I don't think you need to suit up if its just pyrethrum extract. I try to minimize its usage since it can kill beneficial insects and burn some plants.

Unfortunately, hibiscus is quite attractive to white flies in my experience. If you foresee a permanent source of infestation, try treating the next infestation with ladybugs or lacewings first - that might be a more permanent solution that will help your neighbor. Call up local nurseries and ask, they should cost $30 or so for a case of eggs.

As for cars, I'm not a fan of the current generation of MB and BMW exteriors (and I heard the interiors are clunky too). I thought the previous generation was distinctive and stylish. Ditto the new VW Passat, the last generation was so nice that the redesign seems like drawing feet onto snakes.

oops,

unattractive = not unattractive

sorry

Well if you go outside the inbred financial circles, Mrs. Vicente and I think this breeder pair would make pretty babies: