Irvine Housing Blog

It may seem difficult to believe, but the psychology is still out there that real-estate is a great investment and that now is surely the time to buy since prices are lower than they were at this time 1 day ago.

Of course, the people who tell you that now is the time to buy are the exact same ones who give you a blank stare when you ask them to explain how the bubble inflated in the first place.  You ask them about the debt-to-income affordability and they look at you and shrug.

When people start talking about the economy bouncing back and house prices taking off, the first question that I immediately ask is the following:

“Wouldn’t it be better for the economy if housing was much cheaper so that I would not spend as much money on shelter and have more left over to buy Ipods and Escalades with?”

“Aren’t soaring house prices actually bad for the economy since it causes more and more people to take on more and more debt with little money left over for Ipods and Escalades?”

I typically chalk these types of personalities up to the stereotypical lazy free-lunch American who wants to achieve riches with the most minimal of effort.  It’s like the gambler winning 100K on a game of BlackJack and immediately drawing the conclusion that he is a gambling genius.  He then decides to be a fulltime professional BlackJack player while all those other saps who get up and make things from 9 to 5 are idiots.

Of course we all know how this story ends.

They just want to “get theirs” buy being a person in the middle of a scheme.

They are your bubble-chasers.  While you and I are building and “making things”, these people are trying to figure out how they can position themselves to catch the next bubble and profit off of the patsy bagholder whom is not as astute in bubble-chasing as they are.

So when I see these houses where the owner is asking 100K over what they paid, I immediately ask:

“Why do you deserve a 100K profit at my expense for living in and crapping in this house for the last 2 years?  Hmmm?”

It’s going to be awhile before the masses realize the real-estate is a dumb investment and they are much better off putting their money in the bank.  We have to let a few more knife catchers take the plunge and get stuck holding the bag first.

These people are going to start looking for the casino exits in 2011-2012 as capitulation sets in.  There should be some realistic deals out there by then.

Hey, I’m renting this same model a few streets away.  While I was watching the market in this area I was surprised that this one hadn’t sold, compared to other sales in the area.  It could be that it backs to a major street and isn’t particularly close to a green belt.  Probably there’s more to it than that.

perhaps…. the realtor had been reading…. too much Celine

Sorry I don’t get it.  What am I supposed to be reading into those numbers, besides the fact that they look strange?

With the fake ellipses, I’m reminded of a very old article from Mad magazine in the late Fifties about how advertisers use ellipses to turn a really bad review into a seeming rave, and what will happen when that starts moving into other areas of life.  I think we’re seeing this happen with this listing, and just as how you replace bleeped-out words on television with much filthier words than what were actually bleeped, I can only imagine the horrible Mad Libs your faithful readers will add once they start filling in the blanks.

Let’s start.  “Charming 3 bedroom home with a nice open floorplan (that’s completely unusable by anyone other than minimalists) separate formal dining room perfect for the holidays (if you celebrate Guy Fawkes Day and Charles Manson’s birthday) nice kitchen with a breakfast bar (literally, sitting there on the counter with a glass of orange juice and a can of Slim-Fast) romantic fireplace just in time for winter and fall (in an area where you might actually use it once or twice every three years, while it sucks all of your air conditioning in summer up and into the north wind)...”

http://www.undergroundpolitics.com/index.php/markets_and_economy/wisdom_from_1875.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/index.html?curid=1721323

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/index.html?curid=1721323

The link to the graphic above:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/index.html?curid=1721323

That living room furniture looks like it came from the Starship Enterprise.

Another townhouse fraudulently listed as an SFR.

well, now that credit has dried up and people can spend only what they earn or feel comfortable spending in the absence of credit, man! did you expect stores to fall off the table like that? circuit city is gone, who else will follow?

stunning the contrast between draining thousands in home equity to buy a big-screen tv every year and spending what the average american fool carries in his pocket—it turns out he’s hard put to afford a big mac!

IR, mind posting a few of those better deals in UP?
I’m not buying soon, but I like UP’s location and it’s one of the places I’ll be checking out in winter 2010.

Along time ago I thought theat the day would come when you could no longer “park your money” and make a profit through asset appreciation. The only way to make money would be the old fashioned “value added” approach where you had to physically do something that changed the material universe.I think this housing debacle and the looming baby boomer retirement demographic is going to make that a reality starting today.

Now that’s curb appeal.  Mighty fine looking garage.

The living room reminds me of the SNL skit with the futuristic German(?) couple who are completely nuts and always have insanely uncomfortable furniture.  “Nuni?”  “No! Neww nee”