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    Calling IHB artists to design an IHB T-shirt

    I'm envisoning a mountain with the height based on house price index of OC 1996-2006 from left to right then you have a cliff and a house in a bubble with the owner on the roof looking down. =3
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    Cell Phone Help

    My verizon service is horrendous but Cingular is bad here also. I'm at the corner of Culver and Michelson in Irvine. I get between no service/no bars/1 bar. T-mobile's coverage map has me at 1 bar. So maybe i'll have to switch to Sprint. I can't imagine what my bills would be though. 458...
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    Who are the slow drivers on the freeways?

    I have been told by several rental car companies the sole reason for the steep under 25 surcharges is to discourage African-American renters. Can insurance companies discriminate based on race directly though? I know African-Americans drive faster and drive longer distances to family reunions...
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    Laguna Crossing & Orchard Hills Postponed to 2009

    bkshopr: Your descriptions are spot on for the different generations of an asian family. I can definitely say the descriptions of the 1.5 generation and ABC are 100% correct. I was a little puzzled at some of the 20 something ABCs buying houses in the $1.2-1.4M range until I discovered...
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    Stock Performance

    With the massive devaluation of the dollar basically any funds placed in foreign markets since 2003 seem to have turned to gold. I don't think however that will persist as the dollar may be undervalued against the euro, kiwi, AU$, and Brazillian real even though it is still massively overvalued...
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    What happens when the builders go bankrupt?

    Well generally if a builder goes bankrupt it is going to be sold in regional batches to avoid self selection. So lets assume say Lennar went under. You would sell all of their land holdings and unfinished/completed homes in a particular area as a group. For example: Florida as one tranche...
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    Headlines...

    Just to be clear the BoE does not set the LIBOR. The LIBOR is set as an lending rate based on a poll of the rates that British banks charge to other banks. Right now Barclay's is a bank the other banks do not wish to lend to due to ABCP issues. So the rate has been soaring based on the...
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    T-minus ? until Countrywide goes under.. . .

    My call is BofA basically said the servicing rights+fees from doing conforming loans was greater than the value of the mortgage assets they hold minus warehouse lines and legal/accounting liability CW has. If they genuinely were not sending out 1099s to their brokers the legal liability could...
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    Foreign money, who are they?

    My my ocorbust you seem quite angry over these posts. A few things to consider. 1) Many high earning people have skills that are not region specific i.e. they can earn their income in multiple locals. Do I really believe if we have two people in Director level positions...
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    Family incomes and home prices from the 2000 census

    Okay per craigslist: http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/apa/409093384.html $5000 3/2 on the sand. http://www.zillow.com/HomeDetails.htm?zprop=25467007 Zillow:$3,057,623 <dl class="infoList"><dt>Sold 08/11/2003: $1,975,000</dt></dl>Puzzle me this transaction? guess it must...
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    The Irvine/OC price premium

    Haha I actually know someone who makes north of $1M per year living in a 3/2 rental at $2500 a month in Tustin. I also know someone who makes $250,000 a year who bought a $235,000 place. Just depends what suits your fancy. I'm sure there are people making $40,000 per year that bought $400,000...
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    The Irvine/OC price premium

    (B) property transferred to a spouse, between parents and children, etc., is not reassessed; Source:http://www.caltax.org/research/prop13/prop13.htm
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    The Irvine/OC price premium

    Probably quite a few. There are also some people with depraved low valuations. 1516 E Oceanside Newport Beach, CA 5/4 3083 SF <dl class="infoList"><dt>2006 Property Tax: $2,638</dt></dl>1520 E Oceanside Newport Beach, CA 4/4.5 2014 SF <dl class="infoList"><dt>2006 Property Tax...
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    The Irvine/OC price premium

    Both Janet and I know that the older more established areas will have less foreclosures since the owners are less leveraged (hopefully) and are bigger beneficiaries of Prop 13. We both probably feel guidelines will be tighter than in 2005 in 2011. Interest rates could be 8% to purchase a...
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    The Irvine/OC price premium

    Since Janet did loans she can verify that the front and back end ratios of properties went through the roof during the housing bubble. If I recall correctly people generally stretched to buy homes under Alt-A programs. There will be mass layoffs in the housing industry so a lot of us will...
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    The Irvine/OC price premium

    Depends if you paid 10x income for your house then no you probably can't contribute to your 401k. If you pay a more manageable 3x income you probably can. I agree a 400-450k median is definitely plausible for Irvine. The median rental for SFR in Austin in July 2007 was $1225 per month...
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    why the smart ones among us are renters

    Here is what my portfolio is in: 49.77% Real Estate 14.10% Cash Equivalents 0.11% Bonds 18% North American Equity 3.12% Pacific Equity 4.39% European Equity 10.50% Emerging Markets Equity
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    What's the point?

    I know referral-only brokers who push through 4 points on every deal. Depends on your clientele and the level of service you provide. Yes even $20-30k to the broker may make sense for many borrowers. If you deal with clientele that are likely to shop and/or you want more transparency from the...
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    Bush suspends debt-forgiveness tax

    My understanding of the test is that you have to be insolvent both before and after the debt forgiveness. The solvency test includes exempt assets (retirement assets) so it is more likely that you will reduce rather than eliminate your tax liability through insolvency. Bankruptcy does wipe out...
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    Bush suspends debt-forgiveness tax

    The more important question is what cap rate are people willing to accept on houses. If nirvinerealtor is correct that people are buying in plaza at 3% caps all cash there is some froth still in the investment home market. If that moved closer to 5-7% caps then you could see some significant...
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