When I was a kid, for whatever the reason, I thought that you'd reach China if you dug far enough into the ground.
Turns out I was wrong. Instead, my digging would have led me to the Indian Ocean.
Here is a mapping tool showing where on the other side of the planet you'll end up if you dig straight through the earth's center. Happy traveling:
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1 comment:
Jeez, Dave, I thought you took to hitchiking across the Galaxy . . .
I just clicked on your link at KTWN and found you've started posting again.
I'm busy too:
http://www.a1anews.com/ (Check out yesterday's entry concerning median home prices dropping 10% in just one month out in California!)
http://www.rocktrueblood.blogspot.com/
You'll want to view these specific latest two:
http://rocktrueblood.blogspot.com/2009/02/cnbcs-house-of-cards.html
http://rocktrueblood.blogspot.com/2009/02/end-of-rampant-american-consumerism.html
By the way, I seem to have attracted some of this blog's old trolls. One pesk cotinues to email me, which I have spam blocked now. I'm sure he (she) is an irate Key West Realtor.
Lastly, here's an anecdote which I intend to write about in the near future: Key Westers still living in homes and who've not made a mortgage payment in months. (Today's Citizen talks about politicians suffering foreclosures. One of them, Denise Henriquez, Tax Collector for Monroe County, has not made a mortgage payment on the home she still lives in since March 2008. I personally know someone in the same boat, I know two people who did the same thing and had their homes short saled by their lenders. None of these sales were ever listed in the MLS . . . which would have helped to drop median prices all the faster)
Anyway, getting back to my anecdote: I saw a Solan Village town home 3/2 listed as a short sale on Keywestmls.com not long ago, let's say 8 weeks ago.
The home was completely tricked out. The master bath was tiled very nicely with a big spa tub, the kitchen had the stainless steel appliances, the flooring was hardwood, granite counter tops, etc., etc.
Eight weeks ago, this place was being offered for $245,000. It had once sold for $600,000.
A couple I know offered the bank/lender $225,000. The bank hemmed and hawed and when they came to the table, they told this couple, "We'll sell it to you for $225,000, but you'll have to pay off the previous lender's 2nd mortgage which he only owes $9,000".
So this couple walked away from the deal feeling they were escaping a predatory lender.
Flash forward to two Fridays ago. This couple walks into the bar and waves me over. They tell me, "You'll never believe what happened today. Remember that condo/town house? Well the lender calls us out of the blue and asks if we are still in the market? We tell them yes, we're looking at several other properties in New Town. Then the bank lender asks abrubtly, 'Would you buy the Solana Village property at a $180,000 price tag today?'"
They jumped on it.
They saved $45,000 from their original bid. They also do not have to worry about the $9,000 paydown of the previous owner's 2nd mortgage. So this young couple saved $54,000 by NOT buying just 8 weeks ago.
And, their place is the nicest Solana Village home I've ever seen on Keywestmls.com (it's no longer listed there as a short sale, nor, interestingly enough, has it listed as "sold").
One more thing: this sold townhome is tricked out and doesn't need a single renovation . . . except for the deck out back my friend intends to build into a private sauna/workout room.
When I look at all the other Solana Village homes 2/2s which need renovation or which look like hell, I shake my head at the owners who are asking way more than what my friends just paid for a fully renovated beautiful 3/2.
And yet the local NAR is still pounding the same song and dance, "It's never been a better time to buy a home."
As I just pointed out on my blog, they've been saying this NAR mantra all the way to the peak and then over the cliff. And they are still telling us to buy, buy, buy when we know Case Schiller is predicting a much bigger decline to come.
Lastly, I for one think we will blow through the median trendline of old, just as property did in the Great Florida Real Estate Crash of 1929.
Durable assets are in a deflationary nosedive. Cars, boats, RVs, houses, the inventory on these items are growing daily. (The repo man is busier than ever before and now their shows are replacing the house flipping shows on cable.)
To sell off these horribly depreciated durable asset items, you must drop the prices even further for people to afford them. Why? Because most Americans have no cash. They are busy paying off debts. To sell a hard core durable asset, you have to find one of the few Americans who actually saved some cash while all others were living off debt.
In the land of those blinded by debt, the one eyed man with dollars under his mattrress is King.
But why explain this to you? You saw it coming, you knew, and yet you too got lambasted as some kind of Chicken Little for telling it like it is.
Keep posting brother. And I'll add your blog to my new A1ANEWS website bloglinks.
It's great to see you back in action.
Rock Trueblood
p.s. After I give you some props in a new post, maybe some of your old trolls will come "home" to you. I know you've been missing them.
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