freedomCM - 05 November 2009 10:32 AM

Geotpf - 05 November 2009 07:42 AM

Well, top rate universities don’t come for free.  Californians don’t want higher taxes to pay for them.  Texas has the advantage of lots of oil, so they can keep their taxes on other things low.  California can’t do that.

huh?  texas *taxes* oil extraction to pay for higher education.  In california, just this summer,  the republicans killed a bill to start taxing oil extraction.

Exactly my point.  Texas has lots of oil to tax, so they can tax other things less for the same amount of revenue.  California doesn’t have (much) oil to tax, so they have to tax other things more, or get less stuff (like fewer universities).

freedomCM - 05 November 2009 10:32 AM

Geotpf - 05 November 2009 07:42 AM

Well, top rate universities don’t come for free.  Californians don’t want higher taxes to pay for them.  Texas has the advantage of lots of oil, so they can keep their taxes on other things low.  California can’t do that.

huh?  texas *taxes* oil extraction to pay for higher education.  In california, just this summer,  the republicans killed a bill to start taxing oil extraction.

There is a lot of oil around California.

Plenty of blame to go around.  IIRC, the repubs squashed a bill that would tax oil extraction, but not allow additional drilling.  On the other hand the Dems squashed a bill that would allow an existing oil platform to be used to increase production, and produce $1.8 Billion in revenue to the state’s coffers.  Repubs supported that one, but Dems squash project.

A pox on both their houses.

I noticed another difference while putting up some pictures today.  In Texas, people use simple screws and nails to hang things.  No complex mountings or quake gum.  They assume pictures will stay put.

MalibuRenter - 08 November 2009 04:26 PM

I noticed another difference while putting up some pictures today.  In Texas, people use simple screws and nails to hand things.  No complex mountings or quake gum.  They assume pictures will stay put.

Earthquake hazard is very low in Texas.  This map shows the highest hazard areas in the U.S., primarily along the west coast, but also a spot in southeast Missouri, where some of the largest earthquakes in North America were recorded in 1812.  So you trade California’s earthquake hazard for the tornado hazard in Texas.

The quake hazard near St Louis is horrible.  Seldom, but the worst in recorded history in the US.  The quakes in the early 1800s rang church bells in Boston.

I ran across an interesting report yesterday.  http://www.rockinst.org/pdf/government_finance/state_revenue_report/2009-10-15-SRR_77.pdf

The Rockefeller Institute has a regular series on state tax collections.  It may come as shock to many Californians that there are many other states whose revenue has declined more, but who were able to actually fix their budgets and maintain their credit ratings. 

CA has known about its structural deficit for a long time, and about the volatility of its revenue sources.  However, a dozen states have had bigger percent declines in state revenues: Alaska, Florida, Arizona, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Utah, Idaho, North Carolina, Nevada, Delaware.  So, how much press have you seen about SC, VA, NC, and DE being unable to make cuts or agree on new taxes?

Yep, that’s what I thought.

MalibuRenter - 10 November 2009 03:38 AM

I ran across an interesting report yesterday.  http://www.rockinst.org/pdf/government_finance/state_revenue_report/2009-10-15-SRR_77.pdf

The Rockefeller Institute has a regular series on state tax collections.  It may come as shock to many Californians that there are many other states whose revenue has declined more, but who were able to actually fix their budgets and maintain their credit ratings. 

CA has known about its structural deficit for a long time, and about the volatility of its revenue sources.  However, a dozen states have had bigger percent declines in state revenues: Alaska, Florida, Arizona, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Utah, Idaho, North Carolina, Nevada, Delaware.  So, how much press have you seen about SC, VA, NC, and DE being unable to make cuts or agree on new taxes?

Yep, that’s what I thought.

Well, we have prop 13.  Without prop 13, or even with a more limited version (primary residence only with an income limit, excluding commercial, industrial, rental properties, and second homes), we’d be fine.  Since that’s not possible, and there’s no big oil or gambling revenues to tax, California is screwed.

If you live in Dallas, you will note a large number of police officers.  They are out patrolling our neighborhood in the evening.  Actual police officers in uniform are in many stores.  These aren’t minimum wage “security” that you often see in other cities.

I haven’t been able to figure out the exact story, but it appears that the local police can work in their off hours in full uniform.  In terms of actual security, it’s like having a larger police force.  I think it also must result in far fewer problem in the stores where they are working.  Nothing like having the witness be a police officer who can just haul you off. 

I am guessing this is a good arrangement for the officers.  They would be able to work more hours if they wanted, or not.

Posted this on the main blog, but thought it might be interesting here.

I’m buying a condo in Dallas next week (for investment).  20% off of original list, 5% off of most recent list price, 1/3 off of peak.  Distressed seller, mildly below recent sale comps.

Aftertax cap rate around 5%.  No problem getting it to cashflow.  My guess is a slight drop in resale value over the next two years.  Maybe 10-15%.  Nothing like the (additional) implosion I’m expecting in CA.

By the way, anyone notice anything changing for you personally due to the State’s budget crisis? 

I saw a rather scary map about CA unemployment today, http://www.sacbee.com/1232/rich_media/1698037.html

Congratulations, Malibu.

Great link - linkified.

What is scarier about CA is that fact that the stats don’t show “underemployed” numbers.

The latest thing I’ve noticed is how many people I run into who used to live in LA.  Lots of them in Dallas.

Migration of some form must explain most of the drop in LAUSD’s enrollment.  District enrollment is down about 9% in 7 years, and the drop is getting faster.  This matches with my speculation that a lot of people have left LA.  http://blogs.csun.edu/news/clips/2009/11/04/falling-enrollment-threatens-lausd-budget/

MalibuRenter - 25 November 2009 05:35 PM

The latest thing I’ve noticed is how many people I run into who used to live in LA.  Lots of them in Dallas.

Migration of some form must explain most of the drop in LAUSD’s enrollment.  District enrollment is down about 9% in 7 years, and the drop is getting faster.  This matches with my speculation that a lot of people have left LA.  http://blogs.csun.edu/news/clips/2009/11/04/falling-enrollment-threatens-lausd-budget/

I wonder if illegal immigrants returning home has contributed to that decline?  There’s is certainly less work for everyone all the way around.

JCie - 25 November 2009 06:40 PM

MalibuRenter - 25 November 2009 05:35 PM

The latest thing I’ve noticed is how many people I run into who used to live in LA.  Lots of them in Dallas.

Migration of some form must explain most of the drop in LAUSD’s enrollment.  District enrollment is down about 9% in 7 years, and the drop is getting faster.  This matches with my speculation that a lot of people have left LA.  http://blogs.csun.edu/news/clips/2009/11/04/falling-enrollment-threatens-lausd-budget/

I wonder if illegal immigrants returning home has contributed to that decline?  There’s is certainly less work for everyone all the way around.

It appears that immigrants of all kinds are leaving.  People returning to other US states, H1 and student visa expiring, illegals leaving. 

I haven’t driven through the areas lately where there are huge numbers of recent low income immigrants.  About six months ago I saw an awful lot of for rent signs.

MalibuRenter - 25 November 2009 05:35 PM

The latest thing I’ve noticed is how many people I run into who used to live in LA.  Lots of them in Dallas.

Agreed - during our time in Dallas, we met many CA transplants.  Funny thing tho….I’ve met many people in SoCal that used to live in TX. 

Migration of some form must explain most of the drop in LAUSD’s enrollment.  District enrollment is down about 9% in 7 years, and the drop is getting faster.  This matches with my speculation that a lot of people have left LA.  http://blogs.csun.edu/news/clips/2009/11/04/falling-enrollment-threatens-lausd-budget/

No surprise - it’s happened before.  When we left CA in late 1992, we had to find a mover that had a truck in CA to move us out of state.  At that time, so many people were leaving, they had trucks outside of CA, with few returning.

“Agreed - during our time in Dallas, we met many CA transplants.  Funny thing tho….I’ve met many people in SoCal that used to live in TX.  ”

I knew several of those when I lived in LA.  To the best of my knowledge, all of them either left CA, or are in the process of leaving now.

Without a lot of close relatives nearby, people are more likely to move.  The people most likely to move are the people who already moved recently.

Also, companies are sending CA jobs to TX, here in Orange there are some hi-tech companies doing that. CA loss is TX gain.

Being a LA transplant to Houston, and now going back to LA, I’ve noticed that the traffic has greatly improved from what I remember in previous visits.  I visit LA about 2-3 times a year so the change is very noticible.

autox - 30 November 2009 02:22 PM

Being a LA transplant to Houston, and now going back to LA, I’ve noticed that the traffic has greatly improved from what I remember in previous visits.  I visit LA about 2-3 times a year so the change is very noticible.

That would be a relief, especially if the people off the road were slow drivers, or those without auto insurance.

We finished our condo purchase in Dallas today.  The close took about 12-13 minutes, including smalltalk about Thanksgiving.

There are some differences with CA.  One of them is that you don’t have to pick any of the intricate choices about how to hold title, like tenants in common, joint survivor, married as sole property, etc.

You also don’t have to report your sales price as public record.  Upon inquiring to both the realtor and the title agent, neither could come up with any compelling reason to disclose or not.  The closest they got was it was easier and slightly more likely to get a tax reassessment downward if you purchased for less than the currently assessed tax value (which we did). 

The closing was considerably faster than when I bought my last car.  Interesting comparison, because I paid cash for both.  It takes longer to buy a car in CA than a house in TX.

Oh, and forgot to mention.  It took 10 days from accepted offer to close.  If it hadn’t been for Thanksgiving, it would have been 5-6 days.

MalibuRenter - 30 November 2009 05:18 PM

We finished our condo purchase in Dallas today.  The close took about 12-13 minutes, including smalltalk about Thanksgiving.

There are some differences with CA.  One of them is that you don’t have to pick any of the intricate choices about how to hold title, like tenants in common, joint survivor, married as sole property, etc.

You also don’t have to report your sales price as public record.  Upon inquiring to both the realtor and the title agent, neither could come up with any compelling reason to disclose or not.  The closest they got was it was easier and slightly more likely to get a tax reassessment downward if you purchased for less than the currently assessed tax value (which we did). 

The closing was considerably faster than when I bought my last car.  Interesting comparison, because I paid cash for both.  It takes longer to buy a car in CA than a house in TX.

Congrats on the new purchase.  I hear that getting property insurance can be a bit challenging in Texas, is that true?

autox - 30 November 2009 02:22 PM

Being a LA transplant to Houston, and now going back to LA, I’ve noticed that the traffic has greatly improved from what I remember in previous visits.  I visit LA about 2-3 times a year so the change is very noticible.

Traffic always drops during recessions, because fewer people with jobs means fewer people commuting, fewer people going shopping, fewer people going out to dinner/movies/amusement parks/clubs/whatever.

USCTrojanCPA - 01 December 2009 02:42 AM

MalibuRenter - 30 November 2009 05:18 PM

We finished our condo purchase in Dallas today.  The close took about 12-13 minutes, including smalltalk about Thanksgiving.

There are some differences with CA.  One of them is that you don’t have to pick any of the intricate choices about how to hold title, like tenants in common, joint survivor, married as sole property, etc.

You also don’t have to report your sales price as public record.  Upon inquiring to both the realtor and the title agent, neither could come up with any compelling reason to disclose or not.  The closest they got was it was easier and slightly more likely to get a tax reassessment downward if you purchased for less than the currently assessed tax value (which we did). 

The closing was considerably faster than when I bought my last car.  Interesting comparison, because I paid cash for both.  It takes longer to buy a car in CA than a house in TX.

Congrats on the new purchase.  I hear that getting property insurance can be a bit challenging in Texas, is that true?

Not at all.  Call up any insurance broker from progressive to state farm, and they can do it over the phone in 10 mins.  Trust me, I had to do this on a Sat when I found out my previous insurance wouldn’t renew because they couldn’t find the house.

USCTrojanCPA - 01 December 2009 02:42 AM

MalibuRenter - 30 November 2009 05:18 PM

We finished our condo purchase in Dallas today.  The close took about 12-13 minutes, including smalltalk about Thanksgiving.

There are some differences with CA.  One of them is that you don’t have to pick any of the intricate choices about how to hold title, like tenants in common, joint survivor, married as sole property, etc.

You also don’t have to report your sales price as public record.  Upon inquiring to both the realtor and the title agent, neither could come up with any compelling reason to disclose or not.  The closest they got was it was easier and slightly more likely to get a tax reassessment downward if you purchased for less than the currently assessed tax value (which we did). 

The closing was considerably faster than when I bought my last car.  Interesting comparison, because I paid cash for both.  It takes longer to buy a car in CA than a house in TX.

Congrats on the new purchase.  I hear that getting property insurance can be a bit challenging in Texas, is that true?

I haven’t noticed any problem, but it might be easier on condos.

autox - 01 December 2009 04:27 PM

USCTrojanCPA - 01 December 2009 02:42 AM

MalibuRenter - 30 November 2009 05:18 PM

We finished our condo purchase in Dallas today.  The close took about 12-13 minutes, including smalltalk about Thanksgiving.

There are some differences with CA.  One of them is that you don’t have to pick any of the intricate choices about how to hold title, like tenants in common, joint survivor, married as sole property, etc.

You also don’t have to report your sales price as public record.  Upon inquiring to both the realtor and the title agent, neither could come up with any compelling reason to disclose or not.  The closest they got was it was easier and slightly more likely to get a tax reassessment downward if you purchased for less than the currently assessed tax value (which we did). 

The closing was considerably faster than when I bought my last car.  Interesting comparison, because I paid cash for both.  It takes longer to buy a car in CA than a house in TX.

Congrats on the new purchase.  I hear that getting property insurance can be a bit challenging in Texas, is that true?

Not at all.  Call up any insurance broker from progressive to state farm, and they can do it over the phone in 10 mins.  Trust me, I had to do this on a Sat when I found out my previous insurance wouldn’t renew because they couldn’t find the house.

They couldn’t find it physically to take a look at it?  Or they couldn’t find it on a map?  In either case, if this is recent, it represents a real problem for them.