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  1. M

    MalibuRenter's summer in Dallas

    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.
  2. M

    MalibuRenter's summer in Dallas

    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...
  3. M

    MalibuRenter's summer 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. ;)" 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...
  4. M

    MalibuRenter's summer in Dallas

    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...
  5. M

    The Hidden Homeless

    I find it amazing how few truly sympathetic cases the media can find. There simply must be someone with a story where you say "Wow, they didn't really do anything wrong. They tried to be responsible and lost their home anyhow"
  6. M

    MalibuRenter's summer in Dallas

    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...
  7. M

    MalibuRenter's summer in Dallas

    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...
  8. M

    MalibuRenter's summer in Dallas

    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...
  9. M

    MalibuRenter's summer in Dallas

    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.
  10. M

    MalibuRenter's summer in Dallas

    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.
  11. M

    MalibuRenter's summer in Dallas

    Here is an interesting example of how Texas and California are moving in different directions. Today Texas voters passed a proposition (Prop 4) to take seven universities to tier 1 research status. That will give Texas 10 tier 1 universities, one more than CA...
  12. M

    MalibuRenter's summer in Dallas

    I drive through Highland Park on my way to work. Nice homes, though many of them are pre WWII. They are in a different school district from Dallas, and tons of people with money move there so they don't "have to pay $20k a year" per child for private school.
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