"And there shall be a great wailing and gnashing of teeth"

This woman thinks Obama's going to pay for her gasoline and mortgage

Oh, things are going to get interesting next year.

From John Cooke of Prudential Connecticut, October's Inventory (no, John, I didn't deliberately cut out your identifying material - I just couldn't fit it in the screen shot - it's down below.) Click on the numbers to enlarge, if you wish.

After tomorrow, this kind of horror will be a thing of the past.




Exotic dancer sues for discrimination

"Onward, Comrades!"

Fuel of the future:

Ethanol producer goes bust.

Update: Goldman drops coverage of all ethanol producers

Will those Republicans stop at nothing?!


Florida officials refuse to establish polling place for nudists.

I blame Katherine Harris.

17 Marks Rd. Rvsd

Here's what's happening with at least one property in town:
Sold $2.250 million-5/10/2004
ACT $2.835 9/01/05
Sold $2.494.5 7/24/06
ACT $2.695 4/10/08
Now $2.295

I'd say we're back to 2004 prices and still dropping.

Feminists lose sense of humor, Criticize GPS-fitted chastity belt. Well when the One is elected and shuts down our electrical plants no one will have to worry about these things after the first battery charge. Unless, of course, insecure macho-types can fit their loved ones with solar powered units.

I've lost my socks - is my shirt next?

Hilfiger Sale
435 Round Hill Road was purchased for $18 million by Tommy Hilfiger back in October '05, had a ton of new (and expensive) modifications dumped into it and was put back up for sale earlier this year for $27.9 million. It was reduced today 21% down to $21.995. Subtracting the money spent improving it and commissions, taxes and all the other assorted transaction costs, I'd guess that Mr. Hilfiger is already out-of-pocket from owning this house for three years; and he hasn't sold it yet.

It's "Think of a Pirate Day"!
Or it is on this blog, at least, so I thought to check up on our Somali pirates who've been sitting on a Ukrainian freighter stuffed with tanks and big-time weapons since September 25th. The update? They're still there! The long promised Russian warship is finally approaching but other than that, no one seems to be going anywhere.

I knew you were curious.

"Of course it's safe - trust us, we're Swiss!"

UBS - the next Bear Sterns?
If you believe these allegations - and I do - UBS peddled Lehman Brothers' notes as "Good for Retirement" when, of course, they were unsecured promissory instruments which are now worthless. UBS wasn't the only bank selling junk it described as valuable but they do seem to have engaged in a large number of activities like this or that were just plain illegal, and pretty much continue to insist they did nothing wrong even as they pay back billions. Those auction-rated securities come to mind - UBS was unloading them for its favored corporate clients while dumping them into private clients' accounts even when it knew they were illiquid. Aiding and abetting tax dodgers via Swiss banking secrecy laws hasn't helped the bank's reputation or its bottom line, now that federal prosecutors are on to them.

What gives with this bank? The people I know who work for UBS are outstanding individuals who would never act unethically - never. So how did rogues come to get free run at the place? It has to be the fault of upper management but, regardless of the cause, things look increasingly dismal for this institution.

(I notice that one of our town weeklies ran a chart purporting to show sales statistics for the month of September, 2008. The paper obviously failed to notice that the numbers provided it were for the year, not just one month. Since I had run the actual sales numbers for September and October just last Friday, I thought I'd repost them here, for easy reference and to set the record straight.)Here are the same sales statistics for Sept.- Oct., grouped by percentage of original listing price. Again, forgive the poor formatting but the numbers are, original price, selling price and % of final to original.


69 Rockwood $2.295 - $2.729 - 119%
7 Ginko $1.150 - $1.275 - 111%
28 Lockwood Dr. $1.495 - $1.595 - 106.6%
18 Orchard Hill $1.895 - $2.0 - 105%
990 North St. $ 672 - $ 685 - 102%

11 Island Drive $15.75 - $15.5 - 98.4%
22 Bramble $1.575 - $1.525 - 97%
25 Ridge St. $1.695 - $1.650 - 97%
18 Sherwood $5.4 - $5.2 - 96%
37 Sachem $ 915 - $ 860 - 94%
5 Hollow Wood $ 699 - $ 650 - 93%
5 Lockwood Dr. $1.575 - $1.4425 - 92%
27 Dandy $2.549 - $2.349 - 92%
4 Cross Ridge $1.340 - $1.210 - - 90%


123 Shore Rd $3.2 - $2.8 - 87.5%
25 Birchwood $4.2 - $3.6 - 86%
83 Rvsd. Ave. $1.750 - $1.50 - 86%
101 Brookside $6.995 - $5.995 - 85.6%
17 Suburban $1.995 - $1.695 - 85%
29 Old Wagon $ 849 - $ 720 - 85%
62 Cat Rock $2.25 - $1.9 - 84%
49 Arcadia $2.495 - $2.075 - 83%
29 Irvine $2.585 - $2.150 - 83%
67 Hillside $2.8 - $2.325 - 83%
10 Keofferam $2.940 - $2.415 - 82%
268 Round Hill $5.6 - $4.6 - 82%
29 Spring St. $1.950 - $1.6 - 82%
70 Pecksland $3.7 - $3.0 - 81%
752 North St. $4.9 - $3.9 - 80%

60 Gold $ 610 - $ 481 - 79%-- [paid $495, 2003]
3 Old Farm Rd $1.995 - $1.525 - 76% --[pd.$1.75, 2003]
4 Old Round Hill $14.5 - $10.875 - 75%
12 Deep Gorge $1.250 - $ 937 - 75%
16 Beechcroft $8.295 - $6.15 - 74%
47 Will Merry $1.895 - $1.350 - 71%

11 Hettiefred $3.375 - $2.349 - 69.6%
83 Circle $2.795 - $1.885 - 67%
21 Wilshire $3.495 - $2.180 - 62%
279 Davis $ 899 - $ 550 - 61%


11 Langhorne $28 million - $13.75 - 49%

30 Nearwater Lane
Then and Now
In January 2005 this property was listed for sale as a building lot for $1.199 and sold immediately via bidding war for $1.305. 18 months later the builder, having done little to improve the lot other than tear down the existing house, put it back up for sale asking $1.595. Buyers weren't convinced that scraping off an old house was worth that kind of premium so the property didn't sell until July, 2007 and received only $1.215. If you think that this story illustrates that the ones who make out best are those who sell at the beginning of a boom, rather than at its end, you'd be right.

In any event, the new owner has indeed built a very nice new house and has been trying to sell it for $3.195 since April. Today it was marked down 6% to $2.995. That might be enough to move it; then again, it might not.

Nickola Tesla at work raising money
The real estate agents' carmaker of choice, Tesla Motors
has raised $40 million from existing investors. They were shooting for $100 million but settled for what they could get, I suppose. Just as soon as there is any real real estate news to report we'll get back on track here. Until then, perhaps you'd like to learn about Mr. Tesla's 19th Century version of the tinfoil hat.
Would you order a car that was based on this "science"? So far, 1,200 techies have - perhaps that shield against delusions doesn't work so well after all.